I promise you it won't happen again:
Germany, 1938?
Arlene Peck
19 October 2001
"When the vehement anti-Semitic rhetoric began in the early days of Hitler, I have often wondered at the reaction of the Jews, “Damn fools, why didn’t they leave when they had the chance?” After all, the signs were clearly there to see. As I grew older, I began to realize that only Israel was the haven for every Jew around the world in case, G-d forbid, it happened again. Had the Jews of Europe been able to flee the Nazis and go to a country that would have accepted them, six million innocent people would have escaped the slaughter and ovens of Germany.
Ah, but that was then, today is a different time and place. America is the melting pot of the world. We’ve learned from our mistakes and history could never repeat itself…or could it? Life changes in the blink of an eye. Not so long ago, all we had to worry about in the United States was Madonna’s concert, shark attacks and the crimes of Congressman Gary Condit. Now, the newspapers and the entire news coverage is of Taliban, Taliban, Taliban. All they discuss is the success of our modern technology over people with the IQ of an eggplant. Their social skills are rooted in the ninth century. Even in the ninth century, I believe, people lived in houses, while this group has settled under rocks and in caves.
Yet, these same barbaric souls are crying out deploring the mistreatment of their Palestinian brothers. Had they checked closely, they might have noticed that, before Sept. 11th, about 150,000 of the Palestinian Arabs made a daily trip into little Israel as part of the Israeli work force, a reality I’ve always found almost mind-boggling considering the precedents of terrorist behavior.
It’s no wonder the terrorist Bin Laden feels a kinship with Yasser Arafat and has publicly embraced the Palestinian cause. Chairman Arafat has been the father of modern terrorism for several decades. Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad were weaned on the antics of Arafat. So, is it any wonder that Bin Laden rushes to identify with the man who, a decade ago, closely aligned himself with Saddam Hussein? However, this time the leader of the Palestinian Authority has to be careful to tow the line and appear to be in a coalition with the West in the new war on terrorism. It is a coalition that strongly depends on countries like Saudi Arabia, which appear to be, despite their protests to the contrary, closely aligned with the terrorists in terms of political and financial support. Arafat, at the same time, in order not to anger his terrorist support groups, must accede to their demands and not lose whatever support he still has.
During all of this positioning between President Bush and Arafat, who is caught in the middle? Why should Israel be responsible for opening the gates to allow these workers/terrorists in to work in the Jewish homeland? Yet, if Israel keeps these Arabs out of little Israel, they are considered to be strangling the Palestinian work force. The human rights organizations are out in full force deploring Israel for compromising the rights of the Arabs. However, those human rights groups are conveniently blind to the fact that these same ‘rights’ are unheard of in any of the twenty-two Arab countries. Rather, in many of those countries, the populace is murdered and mutilated daily.
Prime Minister Sharon is publicly rebuked for surgically hunting and executing terrorist leaders who have aided and planned attacks on Israeli citizens. So why is President Bush applauded when he says that we are in a war with terrorists and we will find them and destroy them? His ratings rise when he states that the United States will not, and with good reason, negotiate or ‘make a deal’ with Bin Laden and his band of terrorists. So why is Israel attacked for not wanting to negotiate with terrorists or their governmental supporters until all acts of terrorism stop? As of this writing, there have been over one hundred suicide attacks within Israel since the signing of the horrific Oslo Accords. Arafat is Israel’s Bin Laden, so why must Israel be forced to sit down and make a deal while under fire?
I hear the anti-Semitic discussions on the radio about Israel being at fault for everything that has happened. The talk shows are full of rhetoric of how the United States must change their preferential policy towards Israel. President Bush, and now Tony Blair, only exacerbate the situation when they publicly state the need for a Palestinian state carved out of the Jewish State of Israel. I wonder if they have given any thought, considering the past history of the PLO, what would be on the horizon with this Palestinian state. The first thing that state would probably do, considering Arafat’s close ties with Saddam Hussein, would be to align itself closely with Iraq. We speak about routing out terrorists, yet this Palestinian state would become a prime training ground for Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. What influence would be given in the Middle East to Russia and China, once they would have a platform beside the only democracy in the Middle East? The current Arafat regime is totally corrupt. It stands to reason that this territory would continue to be closely allied with the narco-terrorists in the area and serve as a springboard for their activities.
We would do best to consider all the major intelligence information that Israel can provide about the terrorists and how to find and handle them.(Dumb American Foreign Policy thus far). Instead, Bush seems bent on keeping Israel out of the coalition against terrorism so not as to offend the true terrorist states such as Iraq, Iran and Syria. I don’t understand the logic, but, somehow, Israel being attacked by Scud missiles from Iraq and suicide bombers from Gaza, Ramallah and Hebron is not cause for retaliation. That would ‘upset’ the coalition. It’s OK for the United States to bomb and hunt those that offend us, but not for Israel.
What does it take for those who believe that Islamic fundamentalist terrorism will just go away to realize that violence has always been their method of operation? Other than Turkey, all of the Islamic regimes have achieved and maintained their power, not through ballots, but through bullets. I don’t think that the Arab states truly care about their brothers as much as they are unified in the hatred of the ‘Jews’.
There are lessons to be learned from 1938. Unlike our brothers then, we do have a place to go today. History probably won’t repeat itself, but it could. For the sake of every Jew around the world, we cannot let Israel be sacrificed to appease the Arabs, the United States, or anybody."
Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess.
israelnationalnews.com
PS The Resolution of the conflict with the PLO will be on Israeli Terms and Grounds. You don't like it? Do something about it Sissy? Pay us a visit. |
