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Michael Anbar , PhD, is a professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo. Formerly a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, he is the author of , published by iUniverse.
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By Michael Anbar
November 28, 2005
In the last few days there has been an uproar about the extensive concession Condoleezza Rice managed to extract from PM Sharon. People called to protest that pressure exerted by the US Secretary of State on Israel, which might have disastrous consequences for the Jewish state in the long run. I have serious a problem with that protest, as I question not only its effectiveness but also its justification.
I can understand Condi's position. However, it is hard for to me to understand how and why Israel has recently become a banana republic in the true sense of the word. Clearly the corruption of the Israeli administration allowed Condi to achieve whatever the Arabists in the State Department have been asking for since the establishment of Israel in 1948. However, I see no point in sending protests to the American Administration that follows a policy it believes is the best interest of the United States (with which I strongly disagree).
This is purely the US's business and it will be America that will bear the consequences of this policy by losing its international stature in the foreseeable future. Caving in to demands of the Muslims today is not different than trying to appease the Communists during the Cold War. Consequently, it is not impossible that the US will be ready at some point in time to sacrifice the Jewish state for political gain, as GB did to Czechoslovakia in 1938. In any case, it is not for the US to safeguard the national interests of the Jewish state -- this is up to the Jewish people.
If the Israelis do not revolt against the disastrous policies of their own government, why should I, here in the US, act against their collective will? Why should I object if they prefer to accept the dictates of the pro-Arab US Department of State? Israeli polls indicate that Sharon will be reelected as PM in his new party. This means that the majority of Israelis endorse his suicidal policy, which contradicts everything Israel was standing for in the past in the political arena. The Condi episode is not an outrage to be condemned, but a direct consequence of Israeli policy in the last few years.
It boils down to an ethical question: Does one have the right to prevent an individual with full mental capacity from willfully committing suicide? Essentially, it is a conflict between traditional ethics based on Jewish religious premises, and the "modern" secular principle of promoting the rights of the individual above those of society. "Liberal universalists," including the majority of liberal Jews, disavow traditional ethics in favor of individual rights (see their support of arbitrary abortion, euthanasia and other self-destructive modes of individual and social behavior). Why then should one wonder about their indifference witnessing the suicide of the Jewish nation? Certainly, they are not going to prevent it.
What is truly surprising is the Israelis' behavior, which is strikingly reminiscent of the behavior of European Jewry during the Holocaust -- following a cowardly, self-serving leadership that cowed to the intimidation of their mortal enemies (those leaders seemingly started to believe that Jews are truly subhuman and therefore have no civil rights, just as many Israelis seem to believe today that the State of Israel has no sovereign rights). No Israeli PM before Sharon was ready to capitulate, virtually unconditionally; to give up without anything tangible in return vital political and territorial positions, one after the other, under diplomatic and/or economic pressure.
We must learn form history. Like the Muslims today, Hitler did not hide his intent to eradicate the Jews, and he was fairly successful -- he eradicated a third of the world's Jewry. Most Israelis and many American Jews (at least those who continue to support Sharon or his anti-national, i.e., anti-Zionist, socialist allies) seem to utterly ignore the explicit Islamic mortal threats against Israel and the Jews (just because they are Jews, very much like Hitler did).
They seem to have lost not only their traditional national-religious values and their political compass (giving up Zionism amounts to giving up Jewish national identity -- please open up the Bible or the Siddur), but also a basic biological imperative -- the instinct of survival, both at the national and individual levels.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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