Southfield, Mich. (Jewish Renaissance Media) — Before, it was there. Now, it is here.
And the challenge for America — suddenly aware that it is as vulnerable as Israel to terrorism — is to stay as true to itself as the Jewish state has.
Deciding what to do, America might learn from the tough discipline that Israel has demonstrated in the year since the new intifada began.
To begin with, the United States must never adopt the tactics or mindset of its enemies. It must strike at them, but with maximum precision and effect. If it were to unleash the full force of its military against, say, all of Afghanistan because it believed that Kabul had allowed Osama bin Laden to mount this horrendous action, it would be no better than the terrorists.
While President Bush was correct in expressing a national resolve to find and punish the perpetrators, he must tread carefully in proposing to find “no distinction” between terrorists “and those who harbor them.” By that standard, Israel would have reoccupied the West Bank and Gaza after the suicide bombings began — likely killing thousands of Palestinians who have enthusiastically supported Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
America must continue to stand for personal freedom and liberty, the very characteristics that so enrage and challenge the fundamentalist. While America must exercise heightened caution to protecting its citizens, it must not behave, for example, as if every Arab here and abroad is committed to destroying this nation.
Whatever courses of action it chooses, it must try to find backing from the rest of the world — just as Israel has tried to do. It must show that its actions adhere to the highest standard of morality and are not simply an exercise in projecting military might.
Often during our dreadful Tuesday, national leaders spoke of how the attacks “changed everything” and required draconian responses. That would be the wrong response; it would be taking a path of evil that the fundamentalists walk. We need to preserve our balance between vigorous protection of national security and equally vigorous protection of civil liberties.
As Jews, we understand better than most what it is like to witness the massacre of our innocents. Our prayers this week for those who died in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the hijacked planes are heartfelt cries against the assault on the sanctity of human life.
In summoning its powers to deal with this still barely understood national calamity, America must cling to its national character — to its hopefulness and generosity, to its belief in justice and in the value of working for a better world.
We have long been a light unto the nations of the world. During this uncertain period of darkness, we cannot let that light go out.
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