Viva Israel

I recently had my senses assaulted by a pro-Intifada, letter-to-the-editor in my local newspaper. By now, most of us have been subjected to our unfair share of anti-Semitic rants condemning the tiny State of Israel to the trash heap of history, for having the audacity to defend herself against relentless attacks from every nook and cranny of its northern and southern borders. Yet, as these venomous letters continue to come fast and furious, the all too common response by all too many is no response at all. However, after mulling the thought over, under, sideways and down again, I could not let this particular letter go unchallenged.


In suggesting that "Palestine" has been "militarily occupied for over 40-years", the writer failed to mention that the Arab nations rejected the Palestine "Partition Plan" which was created through U.N. Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. This two-state solution to the crisis between the so-called Palestinians and Jews received the support of thirty-three nations, including the United States, France and the U.S.S.R. It guaranteed both the Jews and the Palestinians, living under British-rule at the time, their own independent and internationally recognized state. The Partition Plan was accepted by the Jews, which is one reason there exists a Jewish State in the Middle East today, but it was rejected by the Palestinians, and the Arab states, which is essentially why a Palestinian state does not exist today.


However, even before the historic U.N. vote, according to Emanuel A. Winston, a Middle East Analyst & Commentator, Arab political leaders were declaring their resolve to destroy a Jewish state in the heart of the Middle East. In November of 1947, according to Winston, Dr. Hussein Halide of the Palestine Higher Committee, called for a "holy war to be waged on the Jews", promising that partitioning the land would lead to an Islamic crusade against the Jews. The same month, according to a November 30th New York Times article, and cited by Winston in a 2002 commentary, key members of the Arab League announced a Program for the "occupation of Palestine by the armies of the League and the forcible prevention of the establishment of a Jewish State". A few months later, in April of 1948, the United Nations Security Council released the following statement: "Armed Arab bands from neighboring Arab lands have infiltrated the territory of Palestine and, together with local Arab forces, are defeating the purpose of the Partition Resolution by acts of violence".


Winston goes on to point out that it was just a few months later, on the same day Israel proclaimed her independence; Azzam Pasha of the Arab League announced "Arab intention to wage a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." Twenty-four hours later, a full-scale invasion of Israel by the armies of Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Yemen began and the Jews have been fighting for their very existence ever since. Yet, even now, it is the Jews who are constantly accused of engaging in criminal and terrorist acts. This is revisionist history writ-large and head in the sand par excellence.


Never in the history of the world, has a nation ceased to exist for over two-thousand years and then been reestablished in a single day. Israel is the exception. Since declaring its independence on August 14, 1948, the Jewish State has needed to be in a constant "state of war" readiness. In spite of this turbulent existence, Israel has been a blessing to the United States and the rest of the free world. With Israel, America is allied to a militarily adroit and economically vibrant western-style democracy. It is of course true that we help Israel through economic aid and other important non-monetary commitments, but this is a small price to pay for what we receive from this tiny nation in return. Not the least of which includes Israeli technological innovations.


According to Alan Caruba, of the National Anxiety Center, in a recent column published on the Free-Market News Network, cell phone technology was developed in Israel by Motorola, as were most of the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The Pentium NMX Chip technology was also designed in Israel according to Caruba, and AOL’s Instant Messenger application was developed ten years ago by four young Israelis. And that's not all, Caruba goes on to point out that, on a per capita basis, Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees than any other nation in the world and except for the United States, Israelis file more patents on new inventions and processes than any other nation on the planet.


Over the past 100 years, the Jewish people, who represent barely 0.02% of the global population, have produced eight Nobel Peace Prize winners, fifty-three Nobel winners in physics, ten in literature, thirteen in economics and forty-three in medicine. In 2004, according to Caruba, two Israelis received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "having discovered a process that will lead the way to DNA repair". This is an incredible accomplishment by any measurable standard.


Why the world insists on begrudging these amazing people the right to live peacefully in their ancient, biblical, homeland, even when that means living adjacent to an angry race of people who hate them and are hell-bent on liquidating them, is curious at best, sinister at worst. And regardless of how you actually feel about the crisis between Israel and the Arabs, and even assuming you believe there is more blame on the part of the Jewish state, the following two sentences really should say it all:


If the Arabs laid down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews were to lay down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.

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The author is a member of the Carpinteria City Council which is a small coastal city located in Santa Barbara County, California