I GIVE UP ON ISRAEL
I GIVE UP ON ISRAEL
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JOSEPH FARAH
Editor’s note: Originally posted May 15, 2006, this column by Joseph Farah has generated unprecedented response from readers and has been republished in dozens of publications across the globe.
WASHINGTON - I have a reputation as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters.
That reputation is due to several factors:
As an American journalist of Arabic heritage, I have done my best over the last 20 years to shatter the myths surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict - misperceptions based largely on effective lies, purposeful distortions and relentless propaganda efforts by Arab and Muslim regimes and their apologists among haters of America and Israel throughout the world.
As a freedom-loving Christian American journalist who had the opportunity to put my own boots on the ground in the Middle East, it is obvious that the Arab and Muslim world is dominated by tyranny, fascism and anti-Semitism - hardly a world we should want to see expanded.
As a journalist, I found that Israel was the only country in the Middle East that respected the free press. This again became obvious recently to us at WND when our own Jerusalem bureau chief, Aaron Klein, was prevented from traveling to Syria because he is Jewish.
The Jews, a people who have survived the deaths of many empires that tried to destroy them - including but not limited to the Egyptians, Romans, Babylonians, Persians - have only one homeland, Israel, continuously occupied by them for 4,000 years and never a nation-state belonging to any others.
Yet, despite all this, I am through defending Israel - at least the regime currently in power in Jerusalem, this useless coalition seemingly hell-bent on committing national suicide.
Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a man I once considered, like his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, a reasonable, rational, level-headed defender of his country, is set to visit Washington with his hand out.
He is asking for an initial commitment of up to $10 billion in direct U.S. aid to implement his plan for national retreat, appeasement of the global jihad and a new sellout of more than 200,000 Israeli civilians who have made their homes in historically Jewish lands in Judea and Samaria at the behest and recommendation of earlier Israeli governments.
Olmert is coming here to seek administration and congressional support for a new round of “disengagement” - this time from 90-95 percent of what we often call “the West Bank” and even including large sections of the city of Jerusalem, once regarded as the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
He does this fully knowing that last summer’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip has been an unmitigated disaster for the Jewish people, Western Civilization and freedom in general, as the terrorists from Hamas - kissing cousins of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Iran’s Hezbollah organization - now control the territory and more than ever threaten the lives of Israeli citizens.
He does this fully knowing that Hamas is preparing to establish a Taliban-like state through the Palestinian Authority - including the new territories ethnically cleansed of Jews.
He does this fully knowing that these newly abandoned lands will be, like Gaza, used as terrorist staging grounds and forward operating bases that will threaten not only Israel but neighboring Jordan and Lebanon as well and, eventually, liberated Iraq.
So I’m through making excuses for Israel. I’m through trying to understand the incomprehensible moves of a self-flagellating nation. I’m through trying to point out the moral rightness of a state and a people who themselves fail to discern right from wrong.
Like Jesus 2,000 years ago, I look at Jerusalem today and I weep.
I know I speak for many Jews and Christians throughout the world who see Israel’s surrender as a cowardly betrayal, a sign that the Jewish state puts more faith in Washington and “international diplomacy” than in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of turning away from their God. Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of putting faith in kings and men over the promises of Heaven. Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of compromise with its ruthless enemies who seek not only the destruction of the Jews but the oppression of their own people.
Enough of “land for peace.” It has never worked - not in Israel’s history, nor in any other nation’s history. Enough of retreat. Enough of unilateral withdrawals. Enough of staged surrender. Enough of the appeasement with evil. Enough of the madness.
Compromise with evil is evil. And that’s what Israel is doing. As for me and my house, I will not be a part of it. I will continue to serve the Lord and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
One thing is for certain. That peace will not come under the leadership of men like Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon. If the Israeli people want to disengage, it should be from so-called “leaders” like this - “leaders” in the image, likeness and tradition of Neville Chamberlain.
SPECIAL OFFER: If you want to understand the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Joseph Farah recommends Joan Peters’ “From Time Immemorial.”