Securing the Jewish State While Pursuing Peace
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From Modest Beginnings to a Vibrant State Israel Among The Nations: Securing the Jewish State While Pursuing Peace Israel’s 60-Year Test Written by Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2008 © Dow Jones & Company. All rights reserved. Sixty years after its birth, Israel continues to test the I would argue the opposite: that no other country BELOW: Places such proposition that reality counts for more than perception. has been so circumspect in using force against the as this crowded open market in Jerusalem were provocations of its enemies, nor has any so consistently commonly targeted by The Web site eyeontheun.org keeps a running tally of preserved the civil liberties of its own citizens. That Palestinian terrorists all United Nations resolutions, decisions and reports goes double in a country so constantly beset by so many to cause the greatest of civilian casualties. condemning this or that country for this or that human- threats to its existence that its government would long rights violation (real or alleged). Between January 2003 ago have been justified in imposing a perpetual state NEXT PAGE: and March 2008, tiny Israel - its population not half of emergency. LEFT: Prime Minister that of metropolitan Cairo’s - was condemned no fewer Shimon Peres visiting than 635 times. The runners-up were Sudan at 280, the For reasons both telling and mysterious, Israel has a woman in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon Democratic Republic of the Congo at 209 and Burma at become unpopular among that segment of public opinion after she was injured in a 183. North Korea was cited a mere 60 times, a third as that calls itself progressive. This is the same progressive Hamas suicide attack at many as the United States. segment that believes in women’s rights, gay rights, the an Ashkelon bus stop. rights to a fair trial and to appeal, freedom of speech and RIGHT: Prime Minister Is Israel the world’s foremost abuser of human rights? A conscience, judicial checks on parliamentary authority. Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan confer considerable segment of world opinion thinks that it is, These are rights that exist in Israel and nowhere else in securing on the Sea of Galilee while an equally considerable segment of elite opinion the Middle East. So why is it that the country that is shore after signing thinks that, even if it isn’t, its behavior is nonetheless most sympathetic to progressive values gets the least of the Israel Jordan reprehensible by civilized standards. progressive sympathies? peace treaty. the jewish state while pursuing peace NIR LEVY/SHUTTERSTOCK © ➤ 113 ISRAEL AT 60 The answer, it is said, is that as democratic as Israel may Is it anti-Semitism? One dare not suggest it, since the BRET STEPHENS be in its domestic politics, it is nothing but bloody-minded standard by which anti-Jewish bigotry is judged today is Mr. Stephens writes as far as its foes are concerned. In May 2002, at the height considerably stricter than what is usually used in the face The Journal’s Global of the so called al-Aqsa intifada, I reviewed Israeli and of allegations of racism, sexism or homophobia. View column on Palestinian casualty figures, sticking to Palestinian sources foreign affairs, which for Palestinian numbers and Israeli sources for Israeli ones. But whatever it is, the constant assault on Israel’s morality runs every Tuesday Much was then being made in the Western media of the has had its effect. Beyond Hamas, beyond Hezbollah, in the U.S. and is fact that three times as many Palestinians as Israelis had beyond the competition between Jewish and Arab also published in the been killed in the conflict - evidence, supposedly, that numbers west of the Jordan River and the ever-growing European and Asian despite the suicide bombings, lynchings and roadside number of Iranian centrifuges spinning a nuclear future editions of the paper. He is a member of ambushes perpetrated daily against Israelis, Palestinians for Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, Israel is beset by the fear The Journal’s editorial were the ones who really were getting it in the neck. that, being unloved, it is unworthy. “The anti-Semite board. From March makes the Jew,” said Jean-Paul Sartre, as if Jewishness was 2002 to October But drilling down into the data, something interesting something conferred rather than practiced. 2004 Mr. Stephens turned up. At the time, 1,296 Palestinians had been killed was editor-in-chief of by Israelis - of whom a grand total of 37, or 2.8 percent, A sibling notion, seemingly benign but insidious, is that The Jerusalem Post, a were female. By contrast, of the 496 Israelis killed by Israel’s right to exist rests ultimately with the acquiescence position he assumed Palestinians (including 138 soldiers and policemen), there of others, which in turn is a function of their perceptions. at age 28. At the Post, were 126 female fatalities, or 25 percent. This is also known as “legitimacy.” he was responsible for the paper’s news and To be female is a fairly reliable indicator of being a Perhaps not surprisingly for a state that was born of a U.N. editorial divisions. noncombatant. Females are also half the population. If resolution (which the U.N. has never since ceased trying He also wrote a weekly column. Israel had been guilty of indiscriminate violence against to disavow), Israel has been uniquely mindful of how it is Palestinians, the ratio of male-to-female fatalities would perceived. Yet a nation that constantly feels the need to not have been 35-1. demonstrate its right to exist, rather than simply assert it, WEB puts itself to an endless test, which it may someday fail. RESOURCES: These are not complicated facts. Yet the effort to think Ministry of Foreign them through is rarely made. Is it laziness? I think not, For 60 years, [Israel] has survived mainly through Affairs: because the image of demonic Israel, presented in copiously courageous and improbable acts of assertion, yielding an www.mfa.gov.il/MFA footnoted and ingeniously mendacious books like “The unfolding set of realities that defied perception. It’s the only Office of the Israel Lobby,” is the product of a great deal of effort. formula by which Israel’s next 60 years may be assured. ◆ Prime Minister: www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: www.jcpa.org Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the nations Center for Special GPO-ISRAEL NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION Studies (C.S.S.): the terrorism-info.org.il International Policy Institute among for Counter- Terrorism: www.ict.org.il israel © OHAYON AVI AND SA’AR YA’ACOV, 114 HILLEL SALUTES ISRAEL AT 60 C M Queens College Hillel, 1947 UCLA Hillel, 1967 San Diego Hillel, 2003 Israeli students participate in Hillel activities. Y CM MY CY Hillel: e Foundation for Jewish Campus Life supported the creation of the State of CMY K Israel and has been an unwavering friend ever since, oen in the face of Israel’s detractors. In addition to its pro-Israel education eorts on college campuses and in communities across North America and around the globe, Hillel has nine centers in Israel, providing meaningful Jewish experiences for Israelis and study-abroad students alike. Hillel Israel’s Steering Committee Edgar M. Bronfman Chairman, International Board of Governors Mr. Yossie Ciechanover Mr. David Kulitz Mr. Eyal Arad Hon. Nachum Langental Julian Sandler, Mr. Igal Brightman Mr. Dov Lautman Chairman, Board of Directors Mr. Adam Bronfman Mrs. Michal Modai Mr. Avrum Burg Hon. Yaakov Neeman Wayne L. Firestone Hon. Ram Caspi Mr. Shlomo Nehama President Mr. Ami Ginigar Mrs. Suzi Proper Prof. Boleslav Goldman Prof. Itamar Rabinovitch Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life Hon. Tzvia Gross Amb. Zalman Shoval www.hillel.org Mr. Yair Hamburger Mr. Shmuel Slavin Rabbi Yossie Goldman Managing Director, Hillel Israel ISRAEL AT 60 Breaking the Automatic Majority A Blueprint for Israel and the United Nations Written by Dan Gillerman, Ambassador of Israel to the U.N. As I prepared to depart for New York just over five years ago, friends and family asked why I accepted the seemingly impossible task of being Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. “No one will talk to you over there,” they would say. “Everyone knows the U.N. hates Israel.” Others would cry, “Oom Shmum!” citing Ben- Gurion’s famous quip that the U.N. (“Oom” in Hebrew) is meaningless (“shmum,” a Hebrew dismissive). Five years later, I can say that these fears proved largely unfounded. Israel is not boycotted at the United Nations, and our Mission has very good relations with most delegations. Personally, I even developed relationships with ambassadors of countries that have yet to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. We enter the United Nations building each and every day with our heads held high, knowing that we represent a wonderful country, built by a special people, who are committed to democracy and human rights, and have made significant contributions in the arts, sciences, technology, and culture for the greater between Israel and the moderate Palestinian Authority ABOVE: The plenary benefit of all mankind. leadership, these resolutions, regurgitated each and every meeting of the General Assembly during the year, ignore the reality on the ground. Worse, they serve election of the President Yet, surely, this internal pride does not mean that the as theatrical rhetoric to feed the insatiable addiction of of its sixty-third session in Israel-UN relationship is entirely rosy. To a certain some for blaming Israel. New York. extent, my friends were right. Though Israel has been a member of the United Nations for nearly 60 years, it is The annual resolutions also perpetuate a one-sided still subject to differential treatment.