Obama and Netanyahu at the U.N.

posted by Jerry Waxman

[U.S. President Barack Obama spoke eloquently at the United Nations today. Several hours after Obama's speech, Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also spoke eloquently and passionately at the United Nations. Below is the part of the text of Obama's speech that is relevant to Israel. Afterward, are 4 videos with Prime Minister Netanyahu's entire speech. (I will defer commentary and / or criticism of these speeches until tomorrow. But here's a preview. Obama was dead wrong about at least two things. But he was right about the children. )]

President Obama’s speech – the segment concerning Israel – begins here.

“I will also continue to seek a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world. Yesterday, I had a constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas. We have made some progress. Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security. Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians. As a result of these efforts by both sides, the economy in the West Bank has begun to grow. But more progress is needed. We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.’

‘The time has come to re-launch negotiations – without preconditions – that address the permanent-status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians; borders, refugees and Jerusalem. The goal is clear: two states living side by side in peace and security – a Jewish State of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people. As we pursue this goal, we will also pursue peace between Israel and Lebanon, Israel and Syria, and a broader peace between Israel and its many neighbors. In pursuit of that goal, we will develop regional initiatives with multilateral participation, alongside bilateral negotiations.’

‘I am not naïve. I know this will be difficult. But all of us must decide whether we are serious about peace, or whether we only lend it lip-service. To break the old patterns – to break the cycle of insecurity and despair – all of us must say publicly what we would acknowledge in private. The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks over a constructive willingness to recognize Israel’s legitimacy, and its right to exist in peace and security.’

‘We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It is paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the night. It is paid by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own. These are God’s children. And after all of the politics and all of the posturing, this is about the right of every human being to live with dignity and security. That is a lesson embedded in the three great faiths that call one small slice of Earth the Holy Land. And that is why – even though there will be setbacks, and false starts, and tough days – I will not waiver in my pursuit of peace.”

“Project “770″

Making life a little better all the way around.

Netanyahu Speech at UN Part 1

Netanyahu Speech at UN Part 2

Netanyahu Speech at UN Part 3

Netanyahu Speech at UN Part 4

“Project “770″

Making life a little better all the way around.

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Open Letter To President Barack Obama During His Visit To Germany
by Jerry Waxman

To the Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America

Dear Mr. President:

Yesterday you visited a concentration camp alongside Elie Wiesel, who had lived in that camp in his youth.  I’m sure you didn’t need to visit a concentration camp to appreciate the struggle of the Jewish people throughout history. But I appreciate your commitment to history in insisting on actually visiting the place of so much suffering.   As some historians have done, you tied the Holocaust to the birth of the State of Israel.  This may or not be a true cause and effect, but there is a correlation.

I won’t elaborate on other correlations in history, just point them out as a matter of interest.  From the time of the ancient Greeks up to modern times, any empire or nation that singled out the Jews for persecution soon lost the power they once had, and never fully regained it.  The ancient Greeks took over Jerusalem, and soon afterward lost their empire.  The same with the Romans.  In 15th century Spain, the Inquisition targeted Jews, and Spain has never again enjoyed the status it had prior to that event. And in 20th century Germany — well, no need to elaborate.

The question, then, is where does America fit in?  America’s revolt against the King of England was financed largely by a Jew.  And Jewish men and women , since America’s earliest history, have enjoyed more or less equal standing with other citizens.  America allowed Jews to immigrate when other countries were making life harder for them.  And America has had the strongest friendly relationship with Israel since its early days as a Jewish state. I’d like to think that America’s rise as a world power, and its prosperity as a nation have something to do with its treatment of Jews and its relationship with Israel. 

Today, encouraged by your speech in Cairo, America is expressing a more anti-Israel leaning than it has expressed in the past.  Hopefully, you personally do not share the biases of those in the media and the public servants, past and present, who publicly point to Israel as the cause of problems in the middle east while overlooking historical facts showing Israel as the only nation in the region which has made any concrete efforts to attain peace. 

After your visit to Buchenwald, journalists asked you questions, and your answers were encouraging, at least to me.  They asked if the Jewish experience in the Holocaust should be instructive to Israelis in their treatment of Palestinians.  You correctly brushed off the question and said there was no parallel.  When asked about Israel’s commitments to the “road map”, you pointed out that everyone is focusing on Israel, while you also mentioned Palestinian commitments.  And to another journalist you said you have no patience for those who would deny history. 

Mr. President, are you aware that the president of the Palestinian Authority wrote a doctoral dissertation claiming that the Zionist movement inflated the tragedy of the Holocaust?  Are you also aware that Mahmoud Abbas has never shown remorse for his involvement in terrorism, including the murders of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics? 

Are you aware, Mr. President, that no Palestinian leader has ever shown sorrow or remorse when an Israeli is killed in a terrorist attack?  In fact, Mahmoud Abbas continues to praise and celebrate the acts of violence against Israel. While, in the Palestinian Authority families of suicide bombers are given stipends, any Palestinian who helps Israelis to thwart terrorist attacks faces the death penalty, the same as a Palestinian who sells property to a Jew. 

The Palestinian people are deserving of better lives, but they continue to appoint leaders who support violence against Israel.  Furthermore, to indicate that the “intolerable” conditions under which the Palestinians live today are caused by Israel is to deny fact. The fighting between the different factions within the Palestinian community has caused greater damage and more frequent casualties than Israel’s army has. 

In your speech in Cairo, you encouraged building up of Muslim people, their women, their children, their rights to education and pursuit of prosperity.  And while you recognized the legitimacy of a Palestinian state, you said the United States does not recognize the legitimacy of Israeli settlements. You spoke of prior commitments to the roadmap. 

You said nothing of how Israel has already made sacrifices beyond comprehension while the Palestinian Authority has done nothing. Isn’t this a sort of denial of history, Mr President?  Isn’t recognition of a Palestinian state – which has never existed – and the denial of the Jews to build in their homeland, a reversal of truth?

Also in your speech, and again while you were in Germany, you spoke of not clinging to the past.  Mistakes were made, and now we need to move on.  While you spoke of America’s involvement in Iran and Iraq in this regard, the significance of your presence at a concentration camp alongside the Chancellor of Germany was not lost on me. 

Ms. Merkel could finally say the same thing to the Jews of the world as you said to the Muslims about moving on from the past.  And while the Holocaust and all the causes that led up to it must never be forgotten, the German Chancellor could now publicly join the call for the Jews to stop building in their homeland to make way for a state for the Palestinians – whose past and present leaders were and are admirers of Germany’s Fuehrer of the Third Reich.

Mr. President, one of the greatest mistakes of the last 16 years has been the attempted implementation of the road map to peace.  It has not worked.  It has resulted in escalated numbers of Palestinian casualties, and of Jewish casualties.  Today, it is not realistic to believe that the Palestinian leaders will do what is needed for the roadmap to work.  Mr. President, it is time to put the roadmap away and move on. 

Peaceful relations between Israel and the Arab states may not come about in the foreseeable future.  But Israel does have people and leaders who can, with support from friendly nations, implement solutions that will  benefit all the people in the immediate region, Muslim, Christian, and Jew. 

As president of the United States, you have a unique opportunity to help correct the wrongs that have been done in this region.  It will take courage, and it will take reassessing some of the policies you have stated so far.  But America’s interests are best served when it helps Israel to attain peace and prosperity for all the people within its borders.

Wishing you much success
Sincerely,

Jerry Waxman
Sderot, Israel

P.S. Your trip to Normandy is much appreciated in my family. Like your great uncle and your grandparents, my father and his brothers and sister served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II.  As American Jews, they were especially motivated to serve America at that time.

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Open Letter To President Barack Obama in the Wake of His Address in Cairo on 4 June 2009

I'm writing to you from Sderot, where I live. You visited this town last year. In your speech in Cairo you referred indirectly to Sderot's unique disposition in the tragedy of "the roadmap." On the one hand I want to thank you - for speaking directly to the terrorists in front of a world audience, telling them that violence does them no good. On the other hand I want to tell you that you've let me down. You've let down the people of Sderot, where you talked about our right to defend ourselves.

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Passover, A Lesson In Unity

by Jerry Waxman

It is Erev Shabbat and the second day of the Passover holiday.  Much has occurred lately to remind us of how we, Jews, are consistently singled out for “special” treatment. 

Barack Obama and his family hosted a Passover Seder in the White House.  This is encouraging to Jews everywhere.  The president even remarked that  the story of the Jews’ Passover flight from Egypt was “among the most powerful stories of suffering and redemption in human history.”  Furthermore, he said, “As part of a larger global community, we all must work to ensure that our brothers and sisters of every race, religious culture and nationallity are free from bondage and repression, and are able to live in peace.”

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These are nice words.  But we have to wonder who he’s talking about.  In his recent pronouncements, he has joined the world community in calling for Israel to abide by the Saudi plan.  He has said the current situation is unacceptable, and there is only one solution – the Saudi plan.  Aside from the fact that “only one solution” betrays a very limited imagination, has anyone in the world leadership community ever bothered to ask, “What interest do the Saudis have in making a plan for Israel?”

Anybody can have a Passover seder. But the only ones who can possibly identify with the story are those whom the story is about.  Us.  No other nation on earth has a similar history. In every generation since we left Egypt, there has always been someone or some ones who have threatened to destroy us completely. That threat is very real today, but we cannot expect any of the world leaders to comprehend that threat as we do. 

We cannot fault President Barack Obama for thinking as he does.  We cannot even fault former President Bush for orchestrating some serious mistakes which Obama is about to repeat.  The responsibility lies with us.  The Jewish people only survive, let alone thrive, when they act in unity. 

That is what the story of Passover is about.  We all left Egypt together, as one people with a common purpose.  We all were headed to our own homeland together.  There was always room for differences in opinion.  But when it came to preserving ourselves as a nation, we were all in agreement that that was a worthy cause.

Today we are not only scattered geographically, we have severe conflicts amongst ourselves as to whether we deserve to exist or not.  Or whether we even should  have a homeland of our own.  Too many Jews have become apathetic and don’t even see the threat that is present today. Too many Jews have “forgotten.”

In case you’re wondering what threat I’m talking about, Iran is only part of the problem.  There are some 23 countries, most larger in area and population than Israel, that would like to wipe the Jewish state off the map.  A pro-Palestinian media (and propaganda) campaign has succeeded in getting much of the world – including scholars at major universities – to think like the leaders of those 23 countries. 

I may have the advantage of perspective. I live in this tiny land mass that all our neighbors want to take us out of.  Here we have front row seats to what happens when we go along with the whims of world leaders:

Recently, under pressure from the European Union, the U.N., and the United States, Israel took down some checkpoints and relaxed security in many areas. Last week, an Arab came into a Jewish town, and killed a 13 year old boy with an axe.  He tried to kill a 7 year old as well, but that boy survived and is in stable condition. Most agree that this attack would have been much less possible had security not been relaxed.

The sad thing is, we know that incidents like the above rise whenever Israel makes concessions.  Another sad thing is that many people don’t realize who the targets of these attacks are.  It is not just the people who live in Israel, it is the Jewish people wherever they live. 

There is always good news! We always win in the end, somehow.  That’s what it says in the Haggadah.  We always get saved.  But it is never by magic.  We only get saved when we all decide to save ourselves. 

And that is another message of the Passover Seder, I think.  We preserve our nation by preserving our customs.  We preserve our customs by handing them down from generation to generation. At the Seder we remind ourselves and the next generation of how our customs got started; and why we make this occasion different from all other nights.

Remarkably, I think, the majority of Jews in the world, regardless of their affiliation or their personal beliefs, like to join a Passover seder.  In Israel, it appears that most who are not religious by any means, refrain from eating chametz for the entire holiday. Why? Maybe they identify with being Jews.

Maybe that is what will save us this generation, the realization of who we are; the realization that we are separate from the other nations, not because we try to be; but because that just happens to be the way the world sees us.  So, yes, we can gladly join the global community and “work to ensure that our brothers and sisters of every race …. are able to live in peace.”  But we also understand that the global community has never welcomed us with open arms, and we have the responsibility of working to ensure that we continue to survive as a nation.  And that comes when we unify and live in peace amongst ourselves. 

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach to all, including all who live or work in the White House. 

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