There’s a certain look to a widow who’s in her mid-twenties, whose husband was killed in Gaza in January. Eyes swollen with tears, yet with steely determination at the same time. A certain vulnerability on her still very young face, and a face that seems too old for her age, all at the same time. An image of pain and of unspeakable sadness, but not asking for pity. Was it just me, or was it clear that even in the midst of her unbearable burden, she knew full well that she – like the young husband who was taken from her far too early – is part of something much larger than she is? Is that why, looking at her, I had a sense of – more than anything else – strength?
I would have liked many more people to see her. President Obama, for example, as he prepares for another stab at Middle East peace-making. Hillary Clinton, who’s now telling us to make peace lest we lose American support in the looming confrontation with Iran. All those Jews out there, beating their breasts, despondent that the Jewish state is so “un-Jewish” in its seeming unwillingness to make peace.
We hear all those people – of course we do. And as we do, we can’t help but wonder if the world has begun to tire of us, to regret the decision that it made on November 29, 1947. (We know without doubt, for example, that were the UN to vote today, Israel would not be created.) Calls for Israel to negotiate with Hamas despite the latter’s commitment to Israel’s destruction, the poisonous environment of Durban II and the Obama administration’s willingness to engage with Iran even as it continues to enrich uranium, all contribute to this sense.
So to all those who are wringing their hands about Israeli intransigence and inflexibility, on this eve of Israeli Independence Day, a brief word about nations, and states, and purpose. For without understanding purpose, there’s no understanding Israel.
Israelis elected Ehud Barak in 1999 because he promised peace with the Palestinians. When Barak put the majority of the West Bank and even parts of Jerusalem on the table, most Israelis went along. The deal fell apart because Palestinians unleashed the Second Intifada. The majority of Israelis supported Ariel Sharon’s decision to disengage from Gaza and to uproot all the Jewish communities there. They even elected Ehud Olmert in 2006, after he ran on a platform of further withdrawal from the West Bank. How did a country that has continually favored painful concessions for peace end up with Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister respectively? It is that which Obama, Clinton and all the hand wringers must understand if they have any hope of being heard here.
To appreciate today’s Israeli sentiment, all those people would do well to keep in mind two iconic photographs on which virtually every Israeli is raised. These images have come to represent two radically different eras – Jewish powerlessness under the Nazis, and Jews at the height of their power, when they captured the Old City of Jerusalem from the Jordanians.
The former period is represented in the minds of many Israelis by a black and white photograph of a Jewish boy, probably no older than nine or ten, dressed in his finest coat and hat, his black dress socks pulled up almost to his knees. He is the model of innocence, of European-Jewish financial and social success, and yet, he is pitiful – the very picture of vulnerability. His parents are not at his side, and no onlookers have come to comfort him. His hands raised high in surrender as a Nazi points a gun in his direction, the boy’s fate depends entirely on the whim and will of his enemies. He might as well already be dead.
A very different image was taken at the Western Wall in the aftermath of the paratroopers’ conquering of the Old City during the June 1967 Six Day War. This photo, by David Rubinger, is equally iconic. It, too, portrays Jews and soldiers – three, in fact. But now, the Jews and the soldiers are one and the same. No longer is the Jew the frightened boy looking away from the Nazi’s gun somewhere in Europe. He is home, in Jerusalem, responsible for his own destiny.
Nothing in this image celebrates war. The soldiers’ weapons are nowhere to be seen. Their helmets have been removed. The figure in the center is young, almost boyish. What captured the Jewish imagination was not the Jew as soldier, but image of a Jew whose existential condition had been entirely altered in the period between those two photos, all because of the creation of the Jewish state. The Jewish state, Zionism promised, would radically alter the condition of the Jew in the world. No longer would Jews live and die at the whim of others. No longer would our children’s safety be dependent on what our enemies decided.
Today, Israelis are concerned that that has begun to change, that we are sliding inexorably back to the reality represented by the first image. For eight years, Palestinian rockets and mortars turned Israeli childhoods in Sderot and other cities into years of incessant fear. Thousands of Israeli children studied and slept – and some died – at the whim of Palestinian Kassam-launchers. And when Israel finally did respond, the world’s outrage was instantaneous.
Now, Israelis wonder if the Americans have quietly resigned themselves to a nuclear Iran. If Israelis become convinced that that is the case, it will be not Netanyahu or Lieberman, but American policy, which will have caused Israeli intransigence. For an Iranian nuclear weapon, even were it never used, would reverse the change in the existential condition of the Jew that Israel made possible. Once Iran has nuclear capacity, every Israeli parent will put their children to bed at night knowing that once again, our survival and that of our children will depend not on what we do, but on what others decide our fate should be. An Iranian nuclear weapon would represent not only a failure of American deterrence, but the failure of the promise of Zionism, to create and sustain a Jewish state that could keep its citizens safe.
An international community committed to significant progress in the Israel-Arab conflict must first convince Israelis that we are not being abandoned, that the world is committed to the purpose for which Israel was created. Very few of us relish sending our sons and daughters off to war, to bear for life the scars of battle, or worse. We, too, would like nothing more than an end to this horrific conflict. Our voting record proves it.
But as we prepare to celebrate independence once again, one fact must remain clear: we will not end the conflict at all costs. That is what the international community must demonstrate it understands. For on this Erev Yom Ha-Atzma’ut, as on all the others, we, at least, know well what is at stake. Given the choice between sending our children off to fight yet again, or of returning to the world of that first photograph in which someone else will decide if we live and for how long, almost all of us will choose the former.
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Tags: Army, dispatch, Israel, Israeli, War, Zionism
Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel...
The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else. 
Let’s face reality. Israel is being abandoned by the United States, which has chosen a new path of transnational progressivism. Israel is being abandoned by American Jews, who are mostly left-wing secularists whose torah is The New York Times.
The question for Israel is not what Obama will do, but what Israelis will do to assure their survival.
The world has been suckled at the breast of “The Great Lie” and we as Jews have done little to wean them off this poisoned milk.
The Great Lie is that we the Jews displaced the indigenous peoples of Palestine in 1948, or if a person is educated they might point to the colonial powers in the 1920′s or the first Aliyah in the 1880′s, as the moment when we the Jews committed a grave injustice against the helpless Arabs. Hence we the Jews are the root cause of Palestinian suffering, they the victims, we the oppressors. Nothing could be further from the truth and yet as great as we are as the People of The Book, something deep in our psyches or souls prevents us from powerfully and effectively destroying this Great Lie.
Imagine for a moment if we as Jews could articulate simply and in unison, united behind the singular truth, that it was and still is our ignorance of the facts behind the decline of the so-called Arab population and its own venal hatred of their so-called brethren that caused the decline of the Palestinian Arab population, not the Jews, not the creation of the State of Israel. History bears witness to these facts: the deadly rivalries of Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese and Jordanians,their depradations and oppression of their feudal tenant farmers and their internal rivalries against their Turkish overlords for over three centuries, led to the decimation and desolation of the Holy Land. The Jews bore an even heavier burden from these amoral rulers or overlords. It was Muslim disunity that prevented any safety in the Holy Land, prevented any security or permanent settlement outside a handful of cities throughout all of Palestine. If this history were known and the truth be shouted from every Jewish mouth, then the myth of Arab displacement by Jews would be overtaken by the truth of Arab rivalry and self-destruction. But instead, even we who know the truth, allow ourselves to engage in the debate of who is responsible for the fate of the poor Palestinians of the 21st Century by starting the debate after 1945 when the European Jews found refuge in Palestine, soon to become Israel. How different the debate would be if we insisted that the fate of today’s Palestinians has its roots in the 19th Century NOT in the Twentieth Century after WWII. I appeal to you Daniel Gordis and your colleagues at the Shalem Center to begin the narrative of Arab oppression and displacement, in the 19th Century, before the Jews of Europe and the colonial powers entered the picture. And then continue the narrative up to the modern era. I am available to discuss the importance of shifting the debate on to our terms and not the terms of the ignorant and the anti-Semitic, Jew and non-Jew alike. It was and is Arab hatred and rivalry for power against their fellow Arabs, using that term loosely, that is the primary contributor to the current fate of the poor oppressed Palestinians. The Jews and Israel had a minor role in the devolution of the state of the Arabs of Palestine. Therefore it falls to the true perpetrators of these crimes against humanity to be forced to pay the price for what they have wrought, not us the Jewish people, nor our brethren in Israel. It is time to lift the veil of ignorance from the hearts and minds of all people so that we may turly Save Israel, Emet.
Democracy, humanity, equality … these are wonderful ideas but you cannot apply them while fighting for your own survival with the mercyless and fanatic enemy.
Daniel, you have the ability to put into words what the average Israel loving Jew (and how can you be a Jew without “loving” Israel?) feels and the comment by Ken sums up the US – non-Jews and human rights instead of Judaism, Jews.
I am a Jewish Australian woman, 77 years old, living 100km from Melbourne. Dr Gordis, you speak for me, but my heart breaks that with fear and despair lest the world let Israel be destroyed. Please continue to raise your voice, urge others to do the same, before our heartland so longed for is lost. Is it apathy, is it poor PR, is it loss of faith in our calling to The Land, is it government and policies, is it an uncaring Diaspora? Speak up, Israel!! Don’t leave it all to Daniel Gordis. To whom, shalom from a little old lady in Australia.
Very well said. I think the thing to remember above all is that except for a moment of ‘temporary sanity’ at the UN vote of partition, at no time has any country been willing to do anything other than offer lip service to the idea/reality of Israel. That will never change – and why should it? Countries act in their own self-interest as they see it, no matter how self-destructive. We here in Israel need to do the same, but realize that our self-interest revolves around our commitment to survival. And that commitment requires us to stand on our own two feet and declare that we will take responsibility for ourselves and our people, first and foremost. Words and actions that confirm this commitment will ultimately gain us the respect that we need, first from ourselves (most important), and then from the world at large. They will never love us, but they will have to respect us. Only then can we move forward.
Thank you for this excellent article.
Israel would indeed not be created today – unless it were to be a United States puppet nation prevented from having its own army.
The world feels comfortable only with a Jewish state that exemplifies your first photograph. Until 1967 Israel was by and large adored – the image of the valiant David against Goliath – weak, yet strong enough to precariously survive – allowing the world to alleviate itself of its guilty conscience about their past track record of mistreating to the Jews. For that reason, any show of Israeli strength is judged according to a completely different set of criteria than any other country. Any attempt at self defense against acts of aggression that no other country would tolerate renders us a warmongering, pariah state. Any misdeeds that we do (and there are many) are deemed far more severe than far worse ones committed by other countries.
The attitude of the international community that allowed the president of Iran to stand up and make the remarks that he did last week at Durban II is therefore not surprising.
The US is now assuming a stance in which Israel will be backed against the wall and forced to be comply to these criteria, while no demands are being made of Hamas to moderate their uncompromising stance towards us. In essence, the world is making it clear to Israel: go back to exemplifying the first photograph, or you will not be ensured survival, because you no longer fit our criteria of the Jewish state with which we feel comfortable.
Yasher Koach.
You wrote “An international community committed to significant progress in the Israel-Arab conflict must first convince Israelis that we are not being abandoned, that the world is committed to the purpose for which Israel was created.”
No significant progress in the Israel-Arab conflict can be made and no commitment of the international community will be convincing — unless the international community acknowledges that (for the near future, at least) Israel cannot be expected to take risks with respect to its security, even at the expense of halting the “peace process”.
Thinking that PM Netenyahu and Lieberman will be any different than the previous people in power is an illusion.
There will be business as usual as these two continue in the same fashion of giving in to the forces that be.
Dear Folks
Here is an article that UIA should adopt as the reason it is collecting money – the defence of Israel and the defence of the Jewish people!
When we Jews cower behind our wives skirts, ( a show of solidarity WITHIN the confines of our shule so no- one can see us) the Muslims win another round without firing a shot!
They are winning by default , folks – just like the Nazis did !
And again we are standing by watching and wringing our hands!
See the article below and read ( again) the reminder in the attachment above. Are we good Jews again???????
What are you doing to PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN???????????????t
Are there any among you who believe you can continue about your daily lives and that NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU?
Then watch this video please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU
We must adopt a new approach to the Muslims – we must fight fire with fire – we must become more vocal and visual and pro – active and join together to “have a go” – or simply accept we will be like the little fellow in the first picture ( see below).
Send this on as you wish.
Neville
________________________________________
Mr. Gordis -
An excellent article. I, as an American Jew, am deeply regretful that I voted for now President Obama. I thought he would make a difference, at least for Israel; but now I’m not so sure. I have no wish to see Israel forgotten or destroyed and am doing all I can in my limited power as a citizen of the US to make a difference for my homeland. Keep up the good work.
Rabbi,
Todah rabah.
I hope that President Obama and Secretary Clinton read your article. Perhaps, even the L.A. Times and N.Y. Times would publish it. I am sending a copy of it to them.
It should be included in school curriculum.
Right on Rabbi Gordis! You “hit the nail on its head”. We will distrubute this as far as we can. Thank you.
The fate of the world is sealed. Obama is not abandoning Israel, is abandoning the US and the economies of the rest of the world.
Under threat the only solution Israel will have ,in time, will be the deployment of its nuclear power on Iran and the Persian Gulf before they do it. Israel cannot fight a conventional war against a country that would lose millions of people without concern as they did against Irak. I envision a paralysis of the world’s economy when access to oil will not be possible in the context of radiation. The US, Europe and the Chinese will suffer because of their lack of vision. Russia will laugh.
Very well written article. Ironically the soldier you refer to in the picture in front of the kotel (the blonde)was recently interviewed and has become a “post zionist” whatever that means.
“Just as we reached our present status with our own might alone, so we must continue to conquer our state with our own might, in the hope and confidence that the world of power will accept us when it sees that we, too, possess the strength to safeguard what is ours.”
from the Haaretz Editorial from the day Israel was born
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1081755.html
(well worth reading)
A friend recently forwarded your column to me. I am sending you the response I sent to him and all his correspondants.
Dear Irving and friends,
I rarely reply to all recipients of an e-mail. As a matter of fact, I rarely reply to the e-mail articles that I receive. However, this piece by Daniel Gordis is different. I am deeply offended by his contrasting of the photograph of the fearful Holocaust victim with the brave Israeli soldiers of 1967, no longer frightened and in charge of their destiny. This drivel smacks of the old Zionist demeaning of the “galut” and discounting the unique bravery that enabled our people not only to survive oppression but to create cultural landmarks that still inspire.
Yom Ha-Atzmaut is not the time to point fingers or to speak negatively of some of the more dubious achievements of the State of Israel. So, unlike Mr. Gordis, I will hold my peace. However, one could produce other pictures from contemporary Israeli life that would not contrast so favorably with the young boy in Nazi Europe. How about the fearful children of Sderot? How about the helpless families of kidnapped and missing soldiers?
As a religious Jew, I am grateful for the Divine gift of a Jewish State just as I honor those who sacrificed in so many ways to create that state and defend it over the years. However, I will not do so at the expense of the honor of generations of “stateless” Jews who preserved their heritage and identity with pride and dignity in the face of enemies as fierce as those who threaten the State of Israel. Their unique form of bravery proved that their fate was NOT up to the whim of their enemies as Mr. Gordis alleges. They should not be subjects of pity but models for inspiration.
Yom Ha-Atzmaut Sameach!
Prof. Jonathan Helfand
As a Christian who loves Israel and the Jewish people, I can say that I am willing to fight along side of you. We are with you. You are our older brothers! Shalom always from Beulah Prayer House.
Dr. Gordis,
Thanks for this exceptional essay.
Yasher koach!
Dan: Your Dad would have been so proud had he read what you wrote. I listened to many of his sermons and his messages to all to fight for the right of Israel to exist and prosper. During a recent visit to Yad Vashem, and sitting at a large table i9n the cafeteria with a busload of Ladies and men from Alabama who were on a tour, I was amazed. For some reason they assumed I was not Jewish and they carried on for 30 minutes about how the Holocaust was REAL !! In addition they told while drying their eyes after the visit upstairs, of their visit to Egypt and how everyone should go to Egypt first before coming to Israel. “Look at what these people did” was one of a hundred phrases she and all the others were saying. She was angry at her Babtist Ministers for not promoting more trips to Israel since he was not in faavor of the one this group came on. She told me and others that she will admonish all the ministers back home and organize more trips to Israel. Then she said to me, “Does your Minister encourage your members to visit Israel?” To which I replied,” Our minister and ministers just like him in America encourage with gusto the visits to Israel and even arrange the tours.”.. She replied, ” Now you sall got the right kind of Ministers”. I let her relish that conversation as is; since I am sure I will be forgiven for not destroying thst illusion.
It is a tremendous job remaining to be done to educate the non Jews who are ignorant about Israel; and for Judiasm for that matter. BestWishes, Bob Appleton, P.E.
Excellent. You have artfully articulated the real meaning of Zionism. This means that the Jewish state should not be expected to bow to America’s perceived interests in the region, when Israel own security is in grave danger. Yes, Jewish lives must take precedence even over trying to be supportive of our most important ally. Given that understanding, American Jews now need to search their souls to determine are they genuine Zionists or simply Jews who take pride in Israel’s achievements but become very uneasy and step away when Israel will not fall in line?
Rabbi Aaron Rubinger
Well-written. Thank you.
In the 20th century during the first half of Israel’s existence the teenagers in the army expressed this sentiment with slogans such as “My grandfather died an unarmed victim in the camps. I shall fight for the Jewish people.” In the 21st century a certain amount of decadence has crept into the zeitgeist of the kids entering the military. They do not identify with Yoni in their required reading of _The Letters of Yonatan Ben Natanyahu_ as easily. They often have a “sophistication,” and are eager to listen to all points of view. They buy into the morale relativism of other Western politicos, Western media, and the ruling class of Europe or the USA. Olmert’s speeches exemplify this attitude. They often yearn for the passive-aggressive victimhood of Judaism before the Jewish state. They buy into the victimhood of the great lie so successfully propogated by Arab petrodollars.
The glory of freedom and self-determination are poorly communicated and preserved among Israelis. Your piece here is a fantastic jewel that can help inspire another generation of free Israelis.
Thank you!
I only worry about Obama’s seeming “moral equivalence” stand.
It would, help if Israel would dismantle the settlements. Israel bears some responsibility for the inability to find a peaceful solution, even in the face of Palestinian intransigence.
If I’m not mistaken, the child in that first photograph actually survived and came to Israel after the war. Does anyone have more information about his fate?
Dr. Gordis,
I always feel enlightened after reading any of your work. I am looking forward to speaking with you at temple Emanu-EL in Closter, New Jersey this Shabbat.
[...] Jews, Nazis, Palestine Mandate, Six Day War I recently stumbled upon Daniel Gordis‘ article on the purpose of the state of [...]
To All,
I am an American ashamed of the president of my country. I am an American who is proud that Israel has been our best friend for so long. To not be supporting you is wrong. But, you have never really had our FULL support, and it is sad.
Israel has always been willing to be the one to cease fire, withdraw, even having the upper hand, Israel is the one who shows they want peace. But it never comes.
I have, for ever, watched Israel and been so proud everytime. So strong a will, so willing a heart. But, you can not afford that anymore. You must know that to withdraw anymore is to surrender the advantage you will need to survive. Mr. Netanyahu is a good man and strong willed. I hope he lives up to his reputation. He always has.
Man, I wish we had F-22s escorting your pilots. We need to be there with you.
Ashamed in California,
Glenn Flowers
As ax ex-machalnik of 1948 vintage I fully support everything you said in your article. In 1949 I thought that if we fill our enemies stomachs with good food, give them good houses to live in and all the good necessities of life, they would learn to live next to us, in peace.
Now I know that over the years they have been offered these things but they don’t want them!. They just want to kill us.
When they change their minds and really want to live in peace and properity, only then will it be possible to do so. Until that time Israel has to be prepared to FIGHT for the right to live. And this we must do, regardless of whatb the rest of the world might say
Avi Grant