Yesterday, the World Jewish Congress had a full-page ad, that they paid for, in the New York Times. It was a six sentence message from WJC President Ronald S. Lauder. It first informs that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will come to the U.S. and meet with President Barak Obama next Monday. The purpose of the ad is to call for improved relations between the two allied nations–Israel and the U.S.
U.S. President Obama has had a somewhat stormy relationship with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, and I don’t blame Obama for it. I blame Netanyahu. So do a lot of Jewish political experts in Israel and others who have served in its political government or military. When Netanyahu’s coalition government was falling apart this year, and Israel had elections, Netanyahu was losing in the polls taken only days before the election. About three days before the election he said for the first time in his political career–apparently feeling desperate at the prospect of losing the election–that there would be no creation of a Palestinian state on his watch. That was dynamite, causing conservative hardliners to keep him in office. That statement was like playing the race card in U.S. politics.
To make matters worse, the last time Prime Minister Netanyahu came to the U.S. he spoke to Congress without exercising the customary protocol of asking the approval of the U.S. administration. The Prime Minister arguably was lobbying against the U.S. and its European allied nations signing an agreement with Iran concerning its production of nuclear energy that conceivably can be converted in time into nuclear weapons. That represents interfering in another’s country’s political process. This agreement with Iran was later completed, it being only days ago.
This WJC ad in the New York Times calls for Netanyahu and Obama, as the chief representatives of their nations, to “move the relationship forward on a positive path. Together, they can invitalize the American-Israeli alliance to ensure the future security of Israel, help stablize the Middle East and bring the entire world closer to peace.” Nothing is said about what most prevents these last two matters from happening–the Israel-Palestinian conflict. That’s why Arabs are so angry at Israel and its chief ally–the U.S. They regard the Palestinians as their “brothers,” and that is why Arabs support Palestinians in their plight. It was arguably the main reason for the formation of Al Qaeda. (Osama bin Laden’s primary spiritual mentor in his life was a Palestinian.)
So, in taking out this ad, the WJC is not being real. Nothing is said in it of Israel’ continuing occupation of Palestinian territory it captured nearly 50 and 70 years ago. It is the UN that declares the West Bank “occupied territory.” And Israel should have no objection to this designation since it joined the UN when this language was a part of the UN charter.
Since this ad in the New York Times says nothing about Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, the words in this ad are hollow and empty. The WJC needs to seriously address the main problem in the ad. Israel exists as a nation because of its God, the God who made a covenant with Israel and attached Torah to it. God says to the nation Israel through Moses in Torah, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19.18). And it adds, “you shall fear your God; I am the LORD” (v. 32). For Israel to continue to mistreat Palestinians by not loving this neighbor as itself, thus not favoring Palestinians having their own sovereign state as Israel does, bodes ill for Israel, and perhaps Jews in general, in the future because it is not fearing the LORD its God. I pray this does not happen and that Israel wakes up spiritually because Israel is asleep.
You may say that Israel does not have a god/God. This is both true and not true. Although Israel operates secularly, it now has several religious parties in its parliament, the Knesset, that wield substantial political power in Israel. And although a large portion of Israeli Jews are irreligious, thus turn their backs on the God of Israel, Israel’s covenant with God is still in force. And for many Evangelical Christian groups and church denominations in the U.S. to not sound a prophet’s warning to Israel, rather ignore the Palestinian’s plight and give carte blanch support to Israel regarding it, is a total sham.
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