The columnist Uncle Tom Friedman wrote this week about the performance of the White House during the Obama Administration; "While President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have gotten a lot of things right on foreign policy, they’ve made quite a mess in Israeli-Palestinian relations, where they’ve alienated all sides and generated zero progress. They’ve been inconsistent — demanding a settlements freeze then backing down — unimaginative and politically wimpy". Tom Friedman forgets to remind us how he has made every effort to convince us that Obama could be trusted to safeguard Israel. But today, almost three years later, when the Jewish state – by virtually all accounts – is infinitely more isolated and more maligned than ever before, it seems utterly foolish to have any faith in Obama now or ever. No, we cannot depend on the current US president, for he is a failed leader – at least as far as Israel is concerned.
Maybe we should remind President Obama about the true narrative concerning the Middle East. In this respect I think he can learn much from PM Netanyahu despite Obama not being particularly sympathetic to Israel's PM Netanyahu. We the public can certainly could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview with British television during the retaliation against Hamas' shelling of Israel.
The interviewer asked Netanyahu: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" (A nasty question if there ever was one!)
Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?"
Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) "Why not?"
Netanyahu: "Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen , some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?"
PM Netanyahu was asked during the interview about Israel's so-called occupation of Arab lands. His response was, "It's our land". The reporter (CNN) was stunned- "It's our land...
"Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict."
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem - Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE, Two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land of Israel for the past 3,300 years.
3. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 CE lasted no more than 22 years.
4. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem and has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem.
5. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Tanach, the Jewish Holy scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran.
6. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never visited Jerusalem.
7. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray towards Mecca, with their backs toward Jerusalem.
8. All Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
9.. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.
10. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. Even today, Arabs living in ALL of Israel (from the river Jordan to the sea) still bear surnames of the villages from whence they came – from all over the Arab world.
11. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
12. The PLO's Charter still calls till today for the destruction of the State of Israel.
13. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
15. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
16. The UN was silent while the Jordanian Arabs systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
17. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like a policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
As we approach the moment of truth in September when the United Nations ignores historical facts and distorts prior resolutions passed by the UN itself, we must all stand up and unashamedly claim the truth, this is not a narrative, it is the truth, the land belongs to the Jewish Nation.