By Moshe Ram
As the High Holidays approach, I want to take this opportunity to wish all of our friends in the Jewish communities throughout the Midwest a Shana Tova. May there be peace and prosperity for the Jewish people all over the world in the coming year.
Unfortunately, prospects for peace remain as remote as ever. This past year, we have again witnessed the terrible toll on the people of Israel as the Palestinian terror campaign reaches its third year. These attacks have been directed primarily against civilians, especially women and children.
Few Israelis have not been touched directly or indirectly by terrorism. However, the Israeli people steadfastly go about their daily lives despite the ever-present danger of a maniacal suicide bomber blowing him- or herself up in a café, bus or market. Their heroism in the face of horror is universally admired.
However, when the Israeli government has attempted to uphold its fundamental duty to protect its citizens, its actions and policies are often harshly criticized by the world community, including even segments of the American Jewish community.
I have been asked many times: “How can we support Israel when we disagree with some of the government’s policies and approaches? How can we reconcile Israel’s actions with our own values as Jewish Americans?”
There is no contradiction between support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and reasoned and responsible criticism of the policies and practices of any particular Israeli government because these are separate questions.
Waves of violence
During more than 25 years in the Foreign Ministry, I have served under Israeli governments that have spanned the political spectrum from left to right. Whatever doubts and criticisms I may have had regarding a particular position or policy, I always focused on the only fact that mattered: ensuring the continued existence of the Jewish State of Israel against those who sought to destroy the Zionist dream.
Those who criticize, from a human rights perspective, curfews, closures and withholding of permits for Palestinians to work in Israel should understand that these measures were not in effect before September 2000. They resulted from the despair and frustration of enduring waves of Palestinian violence and terror for the last three years.
As Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., Dan Gillerman, recently stated: “[E]very gesture made by Israel, and every risk taken for the sake of peace has been answered with criminal action and inaction on the part of the Palestinian leadership, under [Palestinian Authority President Yasser] Arafat’s control.”
Those who badger Israel under the banner of human rights should spare some of their concern for the Palestinians’ gross violations of the most basic human rights of Israelis: the right to a life free from terrorism.
Those who criticize the construction of Israel’s security fence should understand that this project is supported by the vast majority of Israel’s citizens to provide the most fundamental form of national security: a border that can’t be crossed at will by anyone bent on killing innocent Israelis.
In addition to the threat of Palestinian terrorism, the 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War that we commemorate this year should serve as a painful reminder that the potential for conflict persists with all of our Arab neighbors.
The open hostility of Syria and Syria/Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon are major concerns. The well-documented support Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups receive from Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states is a clear and present danger. Iran’s development of a nuclear weapons capability should set off alarms around the world.
As we enter this holiday season of reflection, we should note another recent milestone: the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Principles, Sept. 13, 1993, on the White House lawn. The hopes, held by so many people in the region and throughout the world, were that the leaders of both sides were committed to a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The euphoria generated by that historic moment was based on the willingness of Israelis, including then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to believe Arafat’s commitment to abandon terror as a means of achieving political goals. Arafat’s cynical betrayal of his promise has resulted in a decade of death and destruction.
The responsibility for this suffering and the failure of Oslo, Camp David II, the Road Map and all the plans, initiatives and cease-fires between, must be placed where it belongs, in the hands of Arafat and the terrorists he supports.
Given the depths of despair and distrust to which Israeli-Palestinian relations have sunk, is it impossible to envision a time when peace, or at least an end to violence, can become an attainable objective?
Perhaps there will be some hope for better times when Palestinians stop worshipping shahids (martyrs) who destroy innocent lives and instead choose to revere as heroes, men such as Rabbi Dr. David Applebaum (z”l), who devoted his life to saving the lives of others by treating the broken bodies and spirits of victims of terror attacks.
Let us keep them and all victims of terror in our thoughts and our hearts this High Holiday season, as we continue to pray for Israel and the Jewish people. And may the coming year be blessed with the peace we all so fervently seek.
Moshe Ram is Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, headquartered in Chicago.
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