Letter to the President
Thanks to the Internet, it's really easy to write to our leaders these days. I've written three letters to President Obama so far. I heard in an interview that every day he reads 20 of the hundreds of thousands of letters he receives so that he can keep in touch with the American people. As I don't really expect to be one of the 20, I'm sharing my letter with you. As always, I ask you not to flame.
Dear Mr. President,
This is the third letter I'm writing to you since your election. The first was after I'd finished Dreams From My Father, which I said was like "personal transparency," really revealing who you are to the public. My second letter was a suggestion that you might want to allow your daughters to be poster kids for literacy, and though they'd naturally choose their favorite books to promote, I put in my recommendation for anything by Bruce Coville, but especially his 4-part series beginning with My Teacher Is An Alien. But now I want to discuss the issue nearest my heart, and that's Israel.
I've been a gung-ho supporter of yours since reading Dreams, and I love your people-first message overall. So I was deeply disturbed to listen to VP Biden yesterday telling the pro-Israel lobbyists to let up on security measures because they are restricting the Arabs' freedom of movement. Those same measures are saving lives. Terrorism happened with even more frequency when that wall and those checkpoints were not in place. I understand that not all Arabs are terrorists, but some are, and as long as they pose a threat to innocent people - even children and babies! - it's just not sensible or humane to let up on them.
I'm the most dovish Orthodox Jew I know. I supported "land for peace" and the Oslo accords in the beginning, which put marginalized me within my own community. But Israel already gave land for peace. In 2005, thousands of Jews in Gaza left their homes because of the Oslo and later deals. Did Israel get peace in return? No, Gaza just became a launching pad for missiles into Israel. So how can Israel be forced into giving more concessions when the Arabs aren't even holding up their end of the deal? And who's going to enforce it if not the U.S.?
I know this simplifies things, but I have experience in peace negotiations myself - between my kids. My youngest is top in his class and shows all kinds of good character traits that make me proud. My middle is not as good a reader (though he's catching up, thanks to Bruce Coville), is jealous of youngest, and sometimes attacks him violently. The easier thing for me to do is to tell youngest, "Just stay away. Don't provoke him," but really, it's middle who has to change. He's got to go to therapy, he's got to learn anger management, and I have to be stricter about punishing his violence.
I know it's a very tough situation; I'm talking about two kids, and you're dealing with whole nations. And so I pray for your success constantly and pray for world peace most of all.