Mr. President, Sir,
Towards your
visit to Israel next week, please allow me to convey to you some
thoughts which your hosts will not tell you.
But first, a brief background: On November 4, 2008, the historic day that you were elected President, I lived in the US, although I did not have the right
to vote. I remember that day clearly, as one of the most exciting days of my
life. I saw beautiful people, Black and White and Asian and Hispanic, tears in
their eyes, saying that in their wildest dreams they had never imagined that
they would live to see an African-American person elected for the highest
office. They said that they didn’t support you because of the color of your
skin, but because your words have filled them with hope and inspiration, and
that those words were mobilizing them for action, to do what is good and just
in this world. Only then I fully realized, what it really meant for a great
leader to motivate and encourage people.
Ever since then, you sir, have provided me with many reasons
to be content from your election: you managed to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, rightfully known as the Obamacare act; With great
effort, you have amended some of the economic destruction which had been left
over by your predecessors, the Bush family and their gang; you have consistently
supported the expansion of Civil Rights, the rights of minorities, same-sex marriage,
ceasing the hypocrisy of the illegal interrogation at Guantanamo; you have acted
courageously to reach out to the Muslim world and Muslim cultures, and more.
However, in one issue, which is particularly close to me
being an Israeli citizen, you gave me some disappointment. By this I mean, the
Israeli issue and in particular, the Zionist-Palestinian Conflict (wrongly
known as “The Israeli-Palestinian” or the “Israeli-Arab” Conflict.
Mr. President,
All Israeli governments have always walked on the boundary
between arrogant, vain conceitedness, and childish whining; between manic
euphoria of Messianic Days, and the depression of pessimism and despair. This
is a country whose citizens are demanding from their government a feeling
of security, at the expense of security itself; who will not be satisfied
with less than absolute personal security for every (Jewish) citizen (as if such
perfect security exists in any country) – at the cost of security for all,
including securing the future, welfare, health and education. A country whose residents
stick their heads in holes in the ground, ignoring what is taking place within
walking distances from their homes, and hopping from festivity sprees, as if
tomorrow’s reality only existed in fairy tales. The Israeli public is a rare
collection of brilliant talents, with wide islands of excellence, but at the
same time it is a collective of straying individuals asking for decent leadership,
a request left empty handed. Every community, be it comprised of the most
gifted and well educated (such as, for example, university professors), needs
leadership and inspiration; who else knows this better than you, sir, who
provided such inspiration to one of the biggest communities on this planet, at
times of hardship.
The Jewish people have always been blessed with
extraordinary skills and talents in all walks of life – save the realm of State
leadership (Jews have excelled in positions of consulting and managing key
functions such as finances and administration in great empires throughout
history – but only as seconds to the country leaders). The political discourse
in Israel involves an odd and impossible mixture of power-addiction and
arrogance, with existential anxiety from every hiss of the wind. We keep telling
you the Americans, over and over again: We do not need your help, as we are
strong and self-sustained; but dare you not make the tiniest cut in your aide
to us, or we will get back to you come election day, through the powerful
Jewish network (which we shall call Anti-Semite to whoever even dare to suggest
that it exists!) We do not need your favors, just leave us alone – but please don’t
abandon us to the mercy of the Security Council.
I understand your concern, you being the U.S. government, from
putting too much pressure on Israel. You "need the Jewish Vote", You
are afraid that the Israeli public should unite against any kind of outside
pressure, and you do not want to get in return the “Unintended consequence”. So I must tell
you, the honored President of the United States: Have no fear! You no longer
need the “Jewish Voice" (if such a thing really exists – than the anti-Semitists
are correct!) in order to be re-elected; on the other hand, this vote shall be
yours forever, anyway, should you reach out to the State of Israel, and help
her escape this injurious situation and return to the original Jewish values.
The vast majority of the Jewish public, both in your country and in ours, is
far from extremism, it does not support the settlements project from
ideological reasons, and a great majority of us have already come to realize
that the Occupation is corrupting us. Many of us feel disdain for our petty,
crooked and hedonistic politicians. The Israeli public, by enlarge, is in a
state of stagnated despair of the situation, and I think I can prove this: the
majority of the public supports the well-known compromise with the
Palestinians, and yet – it also supports the bloc of parties which makes sure
that this compromise shall never materialize! How is this possible? – In my
view, this is a typical syndrome of despair and fear: we generally don’t support
the Right wing ideology, but yet we unite behind it, due to the lack of any foreseen
alternative. This is due to what the Right does best – the art of Fear, and the
illusion of Power. The Israeli public feels the lack of leadership, and only
because of this it prefers the known and the comfortable. Most Israelis today
are motivated by a sense of survival, and by short-term calculations. If only
there was a man or a woman who came even close to you sir, to give them a bit
of inspiration, vision, some hope for the future – they would rise to the challenge,
and follow that leader through shine or rain.
This nation has no problem dealing with the difficulties and
suffering – if they come with the hope of a better future. Nietzsche said: “(S)he
who has a Why to live for, can bear almost any How.”
If only the public knew, with its utilitarian senses, the
price of refusal, deadlock, and stubborn stupidity (you know what I mean) – they
would kick their outdated leaders out into history’s trash cans. Most of the
Israeli public – including parts of the Right, even some ultra-Orthodox, and
certainly the Arabs – have no interest whatsoever in the continuous suffering
for the caprices and Messianic fanaticism of the current government.
There will always be extremists and fanatics, who in their
arrogance believe that the voice of God speaks from their mouths; for whom,
matters of national considerations are seen as nonsense. But they are a
minority in my country, thank God. And the majority will be able to defeat them,
even if it will take force, God forbid (but I believe it will be required,
unfortunately). Even in your country, there has been a terrible civil war, which
ended in a triumph of justice and equality. Well, not so much, but much better
than before the war.
So I, as an Israeli who loves this Land (not so much the
State), and who is worried about the future of this state; as a father of two
young men serving in the Settlements Defense Forces (better known as the IDF),
and as a former American who felt the spirit of history on the day you, sir,
were elected President – I ask you: Please, next time that a proposed resolution
to condemn the State of Israel is brought to the UN Security Council – please DO
NOT VETO IT! Please vote for the condemnation, for sanity, for the historical
reconciliation and against this selfish, sectorial and criminal government. Next
time that the American public demands from you to cut the foreign aid budget, because
they are fed up with funding lunatic regimes, while the US has a 16 trillion
dollars debt – thou shalt not be afraid! Please cut the aid to Israel, an aid which
allows its government to continue to fund the evil settlements project, which
is unjust and illegal (even in the view of the Israeli law!), an aid which
funds a minority in my country, living at the expense of the Israeli public and
US tax payers, does not produce anything valuable, working in administrative
work, and with its Chutzpah argues that it is the “real essence of Israel.” Such
acts on your side will surely be answered by hysteric criticism from loud
minorities, but also by the vast support of the sane majority, in Israel as
well as in the American Jewry. Easy it shall not be, but I am confident that
you, as a true leader, who sees the well-being of his country as his primary
goal, rather than his own survival in power, shall work this through. Go in this
way and be blessed! God that you and I believe shall be on your side, Amen.
God bless you, God bless America, and those who are in favor
of the Audacity of Hope.
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