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Bibi, don’t help me.
The Israeli prime minister’s speech last Thursday championed Israel, Jewish New Yorkers and all the Jewish people. He correctly affirmed the barbarity of Arab aggression and their ongoing threat to Israel’s survival. He stressed how the hypocrisy of Israel’s critics persists and intensifies.
It is doubtful that many people took Benjamin Netanyahu seriously when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. The foreign diplomats who booed him and walked out on his speech are the least of his problems. Netanyahu’s credibility was shallow long before he landed at JFK, and he made it worse with his speech.
People worldwide are incensed over how Israel waged war against Hamas, claiming that Israel indiscriminately killed civilians in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and then commenced a war with Iran that it cannot win. Netanyahu, nicknamed Bibi, has alienated many Israelis over internal policies, and Jews in America and elsewhere are being blamed for Israeli activities by more people.
At long last, Israel will hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 27 to determine if the right-wing coalition that Netanyahu leads will remain in power or be voted out. Hopefully, a new government will replace the current one under Netanyahu. Possibly a new government will institute sensible policies to protect the people of Israel without abusing its military powers.
We can readily agree with much of what Bibi said on Sept. 24, but he has still led one of the worst governments Israel has ever endured. Of course, the Israel Defense Forces was responding to terrorists’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but the military response is at best questionable. We quote from the speech’s transcript:
“While Hamas did everything possible to keep Palestinian civilians in harm’s way, often at gunpoint, Israel did everything possible to get them out of harm’s way,” he said. “We sent millions of text messages warning civilians to leave combat areas. We made millions of phone calls. We dropped millions of leaflets.”
I can envision how Israel’s critics will answer that: None of Israel’s text messages and phone calls could prevent 74,000 deaths. Their figure is attributed to numbers provided by the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
He was right that Jews in Judea/Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) are subject to periodic attacks, often fatal, but his answer to settler violence against Arabs was absurd.
“What they (the media) cover is a handful of juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees,” he said. “Occasionally, they light some fires. I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism. We’re a country of law. So we put Shin Bet on them. But that’s what they call settler violence.”
That “handful of juvenile delinquents” is causing an immense amount of damage in Arab villages, according to news reports. What does it matter how old the assailants are? If Netanyahu “won’t stand for vigilantism,” why doesn’t he stop it? If it is true that Israeli soldiers ignore the troublemakers or even help them, is he doing anything to end it?
“And the number of casualties a year?” the prime minister continued. “Maybe two or three. In the total time this has been discussed, maybe two or three dead.”
Is he crazy? In front of the entire world, he was dismissive of Arab deaths caused by Israeli civilians. Notice how he neglects to speak in full sentences.
Bibi’s advice to me – as well as all other Jews worldwide – suggests how out of touch he is with us:
“So today I have one message for Jews around the world: Raise your head high. Be proud. Be confident. Don’t be intimidated. Stand up,” Bibi said. “Not everyone is standing up. Because unlike Israel, there are some, and most recently, especially in Western Europe, who have chosen not to stand up.”
Right now, Bibi, we are under fire – rhetorical fire – and we do not feel safe standing up. It would help if you explained what you are trying to do so we can pass it on to your critics. These critics look to their Jewish neighbors for an explanation. Most of us are silent because we are as confused as everyone else.
If this is your idea of helping us, Bibi, we don’t need it.
The myth of Arab Muslim victimhood is cheap propaganda stemming from the failed Arab attempts to destroy Israel and throw its Jewish population “into the sea.”
The anti-Israel left, to which Mr. Ticker belongs, continues to pander to the irrational, bigoted demands of the Middle East’s Arab Muslim majority to suppress the region’s only non-Muslim state in favor of yet another Arab Muslim country.
That blatant disregard for the rights of anyone who is not an Arab Muslim is precisely the reason why the Jews of Israel had to fight for national independence.
The mere existence of Israel proclaims the national rights of the Jewish INDIGENOUS population of Israel; a country and a people that predate Arab colonialism–and will outlive it as well.