An Apology: To the Government and People of Israel

This is my two hundredth post. I've been busy, but I'd hoped to make this a bit of a celebration. Instead, I'm posting this with tears on my face, confronted with a reality I find unbearable. I am certainly not a blind supporter of US policy, and never have been. There are any number of incidents that disturb me, and policies I oppose. But President Obama, in his speech in Cairo last week, has gone too far.

Go to the link and read the original post which upset me. I have no idea how many things Erick Erickson and I would agree on, but on this issue we agree totally. I can't even bring myself to repeat the offending quote. If I simply retyped it, my fingers would feel filthy for the rest of my life. If you read the archives of this blog for January, you'll see that I tried to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt any new president deserves.

I'll admit, I've never thought any politician would be able to do much to make the world a better place, but some of them at least manage to avoid making it noticeably worse. Now, his defenders will no doubt say it was just a speech, and he was trying to appeal to his audience... No! That is not an excuse. First, because such a comparison is so utterly outrageous, so horrific, it deserves to be treated as the type of propaganda it is: a "Big Lie". Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, would be rubbing his hands in glee if he read that statement. And any statement we can imagine making Goebbels happy is inexcusable.

And it is not just a speech. There is the context as well, a context in which America, a huge country, seeks to use our power to force Israel, a small and young country, into a false peace which will destroy them. The Palestinians in charge have made it plain they are murderers, bent on Israel's total destruction, and that they are willing to violate any promise they make. Any deal under such conditions will eventually prove to be a fatal one.

Let me be very clear here. I don't hate Palestinians as individuals. Many of them may honestly wish to live in peace. I hope they get that wish. I cry when I see reports of women and children killed. The difference is, instead of blaming Israel as so many people do, I look at the facts. Many of those innocent deaths were planned, as a cold calculation, by the leaders who want to use them as propaganda. Many of the ordinary people are misled by their leaders' lies. Their blood is on the hands of their own leaders. And now, the country I live in is siding with those vicious monsters.

We're singling out the very people so many other nations have persecuted and tried to exterminate for thousands of years, and we're trying to hand them over to their enemies. Then, when the inevitable tragedy happens, we'll shrug and say it wasn't our fault, because we really believed the Palestinians wanted peace. Perhaps some of them do - but not those in power! Those in power want blood, and that blood will be on the hands of anyone who helps them.

If you read this, you can ignore it. It isn't very well written; it's a blog post, after all, not a polished editorial. But if you ignore it, you too will be guilty. Every individual has a choice: to speak out and oppose such wrong, or to stay silent. If you stay silent, you will be just like the Germans at the end of World War Two who claimed they knew nothing of the horrors that took place in their own cities and towns. If true, it was because they turned away, because they didn't want to know.

I've sent the following message to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D. C. to let them know that they are not utterly alone in the world. Governments may be against them, but not every individual agrees. I hope you'll consider doing the same.

To the Government and People of Israel;

I am an ordinary American citisen, with no power or authority to speak for anyone but myself. Recently, though, I've been distressed observing some of the policies of the government I live under. In specific, I've found the insistence that the nation of Israel deal on equal terms with terrorists who have consistently violated their earlier obligations, made their intentions to destroy Israel every bit as plain as Adolf Hitler ever made his intent to kill Jews, and who continue to murder innocent Israeli citizens, utterly repugnant. As far as I can see, this serves no purpose other than to cement our President's reputation and gain him political capital as the President who "solved" the tension in the Middle East.

I was not alive when Adolf Hitler was in power, and so I could only hope, if I ever saw anything so terrible happening again, that I would have the sense and the courage to speak out. Now, I do see something that may prove just as terrible happening, although I hope it will not be allowed to go that far. I must at least speak out. I have little power to stop it. I am one voter, with one vote, all but drowned out among the sea of idiots who believe the half-truths and outright lies published in our press. (After seeing how our reporters refuse to print the truth out of fear of reprisals, I am ashamed that I ever considered becoming a journalist.)

Yet I do have the ability to speak, publicly. If I fail to do at least that much, I am guilty of whatever harm is done to Israel. If I were a Jew, with the "right of return", I would move to Israel to stand beside you as you struggle to survive. I am not, so I cannot do that, but I can at least add my voice to those protesting this travesty of justice. I am ashamed to live in a nation that is putting more pressure on Israel than on Iran or North Korea, nations guilty of real crimes. I am ashamed to see an innocent country and her innocent citisens punished in my name.

When I read some of the outrageous statements made by President Obama in Cairo - so outrageous I refuse to even repeat them - I could no longer bear to remain silent. When I consider what the country I live in now stands for, I am sick. I cannot bear the thought of living in a country guilty of actions any Nazi would be proud of. Yet I cannot prevent those actions. I can only apologise for them, insofar as they are carried out in my name, and beg the government and the people of Israel to keep in mind that not every American agrees with the moral depravity which would deliberately equate actions taken only as a defense against unprovoked attacks with those meant to exterminate an entire people.

In fact, I would like to thank Israel and her people for standing firm against terrorists who believe murder is a legitimate political tool. I for one am glad you are there to do what my country has lost the decency or the courage to do.