As Jews around the world prepare to usher in a New Year on September 9^th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarks on a fresh round of direct Middle-East peace talks in Washington, not seen since 2008. Despite the optimistic and joyous nature of Rosh Hashanah, we cannot help but notice the black cloud of uncertainty that hovers overhead. The timing of the negotiations and Tuesday’s murder of four Jews in Hebron is far from coincidental, and is thus shrouded in symbolism. The terrorist attack in Hebron was intended to communicate a clear message regarding the future of the Jewish State and of its people – Jews are not welcome there. In particular the murder of a pregnant woman, the annihilation of two generations of Jews, sends a deafening message to those who wish to reside within their historic homeland and reminds us of the manifestos of terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah who vow the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.

In the wake of this most recent terrorist attack against Jews in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu will face many difficult decisions in the year to come. Questions abound as to whether Bibi will remain loyal to the Likud party and its Zionist ideals, or whether he will buckle under Washington pressure and repeat the demoralization of Israel during the era of Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. In his desire to soften his hard-line image, will he stay true to his campaign promises or risk a similar Likud split like that which occurred under Ariel Sharon’s administration?

President Barak Obama has openly stated that Hamas was “purposely trying to undermine these talks” and advocates a staunch effort from all sides to achieve a peace agreement within the year. However, to ignore the threats to the Jewish State, as seen in Tuesday’s murders and decades of terrorist attacks within Israel, is to side with the Palestinians who took to the streets of Gaza and the West Bank in celebration of the Hebron murders.

We see in the media the notion that the most immediate threat to the new round of peace talks is the impending conclusion to the building moratorium in the West Bank set to take place on September 26, 2010. To call the building of homes for Jewish residents within Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) a “threat to progress” is to deny the rights of the Jewish people to freely inhabit the Land of Israel. Bibi will soon be forced to decide whether the moratorium on building is to be reinstated in an effort to appease Mahmoud Abbas and continue the “peace” negotiations, or whether to keep his pledge to his coalition partners against the construction freeze.

Perhaps the single-most hopeful area of understanding and cooperation between the negotiating parties is the issue of Iranian nuclearization, one that should be at the forefront of Middle-East peace discussions considering the imminent threat Iran posses to the entire region. The Iranian nuclear bomb will after all not differentiate between Jews and Muslims residing throughout Eretz Israel, which includes Judea and Samaria. The fallout will not even spare the radical Jihadists in Gaza. Thus far, Obama has proven himself to be only a diplomatic opposing-force to Iran’s ongoing nuclear efforts, implementing the equivalent of slap-on-the-wrist sanctions. The question remains, will Obama proceed to deal with the Iranian threat pro-actively, or will his previous responses to Iran merely have set the stage for future reactions?

So, as we sit joyously around the Rosh Hashanah dinner table next week, let us not only remember the victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attack which left 6 children orphaned, but also ruminate on the uncertain future of Israel and the Jewish people that hinges on the current Middle-East peace discussions in Washington and on the decisions made by Prime Minister Netanyahu. We can only hope for a sweet year amidst the mystery that surrounds negotiations as perilous as the Iranian threat.

Tisha b’Av is an opportune time to focus on the true history of Jerusalem and its eternal connection to the Jewish people.  This was the very focus of B’nai Brith Canada’s recent ad in the National Post.

President Obama, in his now infamous speech in Cairo, gave voice to the critics of Israel that would choose to rewrite the truth.  In his speech, he negated 4,000 years of an integral connection to the land of Israel and the capital of Jerusalem by focusing on the creation of the modern Jewish state of Israel in 1948 from the ashes of the Holocaust, without the context of history.  By severing this bond, it becomes easier for Obama to suggest that the capital of the Jewish state could be divided up as a sacrifice to peace negotiations.  At a time when even the notion of Jews building homes in their country’s capital draws the world’s scorn, it is imperative that we look to history to understand the truth surrounding Jerusalem.

Since King David proclaimed Jerusalem as his capital 3,000 years ago (1004 BCE), Jerusalem has been the nucleus of Jewish national life.  Since ancient times, Jerusalem has been the national, historic, and political capital of the Jewish people.

In terms of religion, Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism.  Jews across the world turn to the direction of the holy city when they pray, and Jerusalem is mentioned throughout the Torah.  During the Jewish exile from Jerusalem and throughout a history marred by oppression and despair, the Jewish people have always yearned to return to their capital.  In daily prayers, Jews across the world call for the rebuilding of Jerusalem as a symbol of the renewal of Jewish life in their national homeland.  The city is the location of the ancient Jewish Temples, the last Temple destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.  The sole remnant of the holy temple, commonly known as the Western Wall and located in the heart of the Old City in Jerusalem, to this day serves as the quintessential symbol of Jewish faith.  Today, Jews from across the globe gather to pray at and place folded prayers into the crevices of the Western Wall, a location where Jewish scriptures say the Divine Presence rests.

Legally speaking, among the legitimate claims under international law is the fact that legal title to Jerusalem rests firmly with the world Jewish community.  This context is also part of the history many wrongly choose to ignore.  On April 25, 1920, in San Remo, Italy, the supreme allied powers ratified the Treaty of Sevres, which to this day serves as the essential document in the establishment of the map and boundaries of the modern Middle East.  In the deliberations leading up the ratification of the treaty, the Zionist World Movement was represented by Chaim Weizmann, while the Arabs were represented by Hashemite Prince Faisal.  In the end, the agreed upon solution resulted in the promise of a Jewish homeland on what is currently the territories of Israel and Jordan, including all of Jerusalem, and the Arabs would essentially get the rest of the region – currently, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc.  In 1921, Prince Feisal’s expulsion from Lebanon resulted in him requesting control over the territory on the east side of the Jordan River (present-day Jordan).  Weizmann agreed to this handover of land initially appropriated for the Jewish state in return for the promise that all the territory west of the Jordan River, including Jerusalem, would fall to the Jewish homeland – a promise agreed to by both the Arab leadership at the time and the British.

In the realm of international law, the 1921 agreement to this day serves as the binding legal accord regarding the status of Jerusalem.  All of the other treaties resulting from the same deliberations that led to the Treaty of Sevres have been judicially upheld.  However, when it comes to the legal right to the historical capital of Jerusalem, public opinion and Obama’s new policy positions appear to give more weight to the illegal Arab occupation of the Old City and the eastern part of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, following the failed Arab attempt to destroy the nascent Jewish state, than on the legally binding agreements and international law precedents which clearly state that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish State.  Detractors of Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem point to the UN Partition Plan of 1947 which proposed “internationalizing” Jerusalem and dividing the rest of the land between an Arab and a Jewish state.  While the Jews, in their ever-lasting hope for peace in the Holy Land, accepted the plan, the Arabs did not, and in turn declared war.  The Arab failure to accept the UN Partition Plan therefore declared it null and void in international law since it was never implemented by the parties.  As a result, the agreements of the 1920s acknowledging Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem hold to this day.

It was only in 1948 that the Jewish people were able to re-found their national state.  In the War of Independence which saw modern-day Israel’s birth, Jordan illegally occupied Jerusalem.  During the roughly 20 years from 1948 to 1967, until Israel liberated its capital city, the illegal occupation resulted in one of the darkest chapters in the history of the City of Gold.  In violation of the armistice agreement which ended the war in 1948, Jews were denied the right to worship at their holy sites.  Out of the 59 synagogues that stood in the Old City for hundreds of years, 58 were demolished or desecrated.  The historic Jewish cemetery in the Mount of Olives was methodically desecrated and Jewish gravestones were even used for paving paths to and flooring for Arab Legion latrines. Jews were forced to continue to yearn for a united capital city through barbed wires and ongoing suffering.

Today, in the rightful hands of the Jewish State of Israel, Jerusalem has grown to be a bustling urban metropolis.  Renowned across the world as a progressive modern city, the city is home to countless institutions and pilgrimage sights of the other great faiths as well.  Only Israel has maintained these religious locations with honour, dignity and respect, affording worshippers from all walks of life the freedom to freely worship, irrespective of their faith.   It is another inconvenient truth to recall that the Palestinian Authority has allowed the ongoing desecration of Jewish and Christian holy sites (recall the firebombing of Joseph’s Tomb as one striking example) under their control.  State endorsed propaganda continues to deny the historical and legal connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

It is crucial to remember this context when the issue of Israeli “building” in Jerusalem comes up in the news and the Obama administration criticizes Israel.  No other faith or ethnicity has the historic, religious, and political ties to Jerusalem that the Jewish people do.  Just as the Americans have the right to build up their capital, Washington DC, unimpeded, so does the Jewish State of Israel have the authority to build in their undivided capital city.   Want some more inconvenient truths?  Consider that poll after poll of Palestinians living in Jerusalem indicate that the overwhelming majority wish to remain in the Jewish state of Israel should peace negotiations succeed.  Consider also that Jews, who have had a continual presence throughout history in the city’s  make up, live today in all parts of Jerusalem, east, west, north and south.

It was widely reported that Obama hosted a Passover seder meal service for some of his staffers and friends this year.  Someone at the table should have taken the opportunity to remind the President of  the United States of the concluding words of the Hagaddah:  This year we [the Jews] are here.  Next year in Jerusalem.

The conference, which is billed as North America’s largest Islamic conference, and will be taking place in Toronto from July 2nd to 4th, was originally scheduled to be spotlight Dr. Zakir. Naik, who is quoted as saying that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”. An India-based Islamic preacher, who is known for his antisemitic, anti-Western, homophobic and pro-terrorist statements, he was recently banned from Britain and there are numerous reports circulating that he will also be turned away from our borders if and when he tries to enter Canada.  While the decision to ban Naik should be applauded, there are still many reasons to worry if you are a Canadian.

The Journey of Faith Conference will be chaired by Imam Saed Rageah, the now infamous imam who was caught in a video posting ranting against Christians and Jews from his Toronto-area mosque.  Rageah also called on Allah to “destroy” the enemies of Islam in the video.  According to reports, several of Imam Rageah’s young congregants have disappeared from Canada. They might well be fighting alongside a Somali terrorist organization closely affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

Abdullah Hakim Quick will also be speaking at the so-called conference, as will British-based Islamic lecturer Abdur Raheen Green.  According to the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority, Quick has called for capital punishment for homosexuals.  Green, for his part, has rallied in favour of jihad in his video lectures and has called American and Jews the real “terrorists.”

Malaysian-based President of the Al Khadeem Organization, Sheikh Hussein Yee, will be another one of the speakers participating.  In a video lecture, Yee has stated that Jews are eternally damned to hell and are the “most extreme nation in the world”.

Just these past few weeks, we have seen fundamentalism in action in Canada. Canadian Muslims have been convicted of murdering their own children in the name of “honour”. In the Toronto 18 case, home-grown terrorists were plotting to truck-bomb Canadian high-rise buildings and behead our Prime Minister in the name of worldwide jihad.  We also continue to lose our finest men and women on the battlefields of Afghanistan to Islamic extremists who take offense to girls going to school and the modernization of their society.

While some commentators in Canada, including Jonathan Kay of the National Post, suggest that the decision to ban Naik from Canada was ill-advised, I strongly disagree.  In my opinion, every Islamist speaker on the Journey of Faith’s conference agenda who is known for support of terrorism, derogatory comments towards people of other faiths, or disregard for Canadian values, should be banned from this country.  We as a society must come to the conclusion that to enter or live in our country is an honour and a privilege, not a right.

A new and perverse theory on antisemitism seems to be taking hold, and some of its proponents come from very unlikely quarters.  Let us take the example of a long-time friend of Israel, Liberal MP Anita Neville.  In comments at a hearing of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, she alleged that the Jewish community faced a possible “backlash” of hate in response to the Harper Government’s proclamations in support of the Jewish State and its decisions to defund organizations engaged in antisemitic activity.  What is surprising is that her comments were tantamount to a repeat of various other statements emanating from organizations such as the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), which also recently alleged that the government’s support of Israel is “fostering” antisemitism.

To B’nai Brith Canada, Canadian Jewry’s senior advocacy organization, suggesting that the government’s clear and principled policies on the Middle East and on countering antisemitism are creating a backlash against the Jewish community is simply preposterous.

All mainstream Jewish organizations in Canada have continually appealed to governments of varying political affiliations to counter, both verbally and materially, all manifestations of antisemitism in Canada, and to stop the moral equivalency between the democratic state of Israel and the terrorists who seek its destruction.  These Jewish organizations, ours included, also urged governments to ensure that there be full accountability for all taxpayer dollars funding overseas NGOs, and to give unqualified assurance to Canadians that these funds will not be utilized directly or indirectly in promoting un-Canadian activities such as glorifying terrorism, the publication of textbooks that include antisemitic and anti-Christian material, or any other activity which undermines the legitimacy of a fellow democracy and ally.

Today, Canada has exactly such a government.  It has assumed the responsibility of ensuring that there is full accountability for Canadian taxpayers’ dollars in the foreign aid that we distribute.  As an example of this principled position, we recently learned that Canadian funds which used to be sent to the general fund of UNRWA (an organization with a history of terrorist infiltration) have now been redirected to food aid.  Specific projects which will lay the groundwork for a fully-functioning justice system in the West Bank, a crucial element in building a strong Palestinian civil society that will strive for peace, will also be funded.  How ironic it is that there are now suggestions that this sort of accountability in the re-distribution of Canadian aid dollars for the benefit of the Palestinians will somehow lead to a backlash against the Jewish community.  How sad if such a far-fetched notion were true.  How short-sighted to try to create any kind of conceptual justification for such activity.

The demonization and delegitimization of the world’s only Jewish State amounts to antisemitism: it is the denial of the legitimate right of the Jewish people as a collective entity to self-determination in its own homeland in much the same way as Jews as individuals were denied basic human rights accorded to all others in the past.  This is a statement which has emanated not only from Canadian parliamentarians from more than one side of the political spectrum, but indeed from authoritative sources and public figures from across the globe.  Pushing the idea that taking action to denounce and defund exactly that type of antisemitism in Canada will somehow endanger the Jewish community is ill-advised since it unwittingly gives license to the base motives of Jew-haters everywhere.

In essence, the newest theory on antisemitism seems to go like this: when the Government makes policy changes which support an ally and fellow democracy, Jews are ultimately responsible and, therefore, bring upon themselves any repercussions from antisemites who take offence at those changes.  Such an assertion would be laughable, if not for the chorus of disparate voices saying just that.

If, according to the likes of CAF, action taken against the enemies of the Jewish community and Israel will in some way encourage antisemitism, than what is the suggested course of action?  Is our government supposed to sit back and continue sending millions of public dollars to obsessively anti-Israel entities in order to appease them and their Canadian supporters?  Is this to be done out of fear of the purported “repercussions” to be faced by Canadian Jews?  The success of appeasement in solving global issues in modern history has a very sad track record. We would do well to bear that lesson in mind, instead of crafting theories that could, unfortunately, become self-fulfilling prophecies.

The irony of President Barack Obama summoning American Jewish leadership for a chit-chat in the Roosevelt Room at the White House recently was certainly not lost on students of Jewish history.

To American Jewry, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the beloved president of the community: they adored him, voted for him, and could see no wrong doing in his actions. The Jewish community today, or about 80% of it, has embraced Barack Obama with the same vigour as their predecessors embraced FDR. But there is a slight difference: I believe that in Obama’s case, there is also an element of fear present.

When President Obama summoned the Jewish leaders to the Roosevelt Room, he was quite clear about whom he wanted present, and whom he wanted excluded. Similarly, President Roosevelt had a Jewish invitation list made up of primarily one, Rabbi Stephen Wise. Rabbi Wise was, in the historical sense, a court Jew. He was the most famous Reform Rabbi in the United States during World War II and, at the same time, was considered the most influential Jewish and Zionist leader in the country. Historically, there were court Jews who put themselves on the line in order to advocate for issues which directly affected the security and safety of the Jewish community. These court Jews would plead with kings, bishops, and princes to rescind orders which negatively affected the Jewish community, to remove heavy burdens of over-taxation which became oppressive and unbearable, and would even intervene to try and stop edicts from being proclaimed which were detrimental to the very welfare and existence of the Jewish people. Rabbi Stephen Wise did not fall into the same category as these court Jews.

For as millions of Jews were being massacred in Europe, Rabbi Wise, during his meeting with FDR, had tea and chatted about the weather, sports, and other issues of American concern. He refused to press the President to act in order to try to save those Jews who were condemned to die in the Holocaust. A protest from the United States declaring that those responsible for the genocide of the Jewish people would suffer serious consequences when the war was over, might have given the Nazi killers some pause. But Stephen Wise did not ask and President Roosevelt kept silent.

Jumping to the recent meeting with President Obama, the attendees collectively reflected a Jewish communal leadership that was intent on supporting the President, no matter what he was pushing for. From the description provided by those in attendance, this is exactly what happened.

There was no strong voice present calling for a united Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, or for the inalienable right of Jews to live in their ancestral homeland, including in Judea and Samaria. There were no voices that called the notion that Jews in Judea and Samaria should be forcibly removed from their homes so that certain areas become Judenrein by its true adjective: obscene. There was also no one to tell the President that such an exercise was recently tried in Gaza and resulted in massive failure and terrorist training camps where Jewish communities had once thrived.

At this point, it is interesting to note that just as Obama recently did, FDR denied many Jewish organizations access to his tea party with Rabbi Wise. The Bergson group, led by Hillel Kook, and a delegation of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, that was rousing American Jewry from their slumber and warning of the killing machine in Europe, were both denied entry by President Roosevelt. Nationalists from the Jabotinsky movement and the Orthodox Vaad Hatzalah, who were involved in various rescue efforts at the time, were also shut out of the meeting. These organizations were to march on the streets and fill Madison Square Gardens, but no tea with the President and Rabbi Wise.

Today, the organizations that were excluded from Obama’s private tea party have been thrust into the spotlight and given the responsibility to advance the opinions of what may appear, at first glance, a minority but, I believe, will rapidly become the majority among American Jews. It will be up to B’nai Brith International, the Young Israel Movement, and the Zionist Organization of America to lead the American community in the cause of proclaiming Jerusalem as the united capital of the Jewish people and, at the same time, to assert that Jews have a historical right to live throughout Eretz Yisrael. No dictate from the White House, Moscow, Tehran, or, for that matter, any other place in the world will change the Biblical Covenant that the Jewish people have that gives them the religious, historical, and legal rights to settle their own land. The Jewish Aboriginals have reclaimed and rebuilt their national home according to the road map laid out in the Old Testament, the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Sadly, the one individual who, more than any other, failed in his moment of trial was Steven Savitsky, President of the Orthodox Union. It was his challenge to speak on behalf of the Orthodox Zionist world and to clearly articulate to President Obama the position of this significant component of the Jewish community. Rabbi Yaffi, the Reform leader, clearly had the time to make known the position of his movement which, not surprisingly, was in total support of President Obama’s policies. On the other hand, Mr. Savitsky apparently did not feel he had enough time to argue the case for Jerusalem and object to the edicts of the President. Mr. Savistsky would be well served to review Megillat Esther where Mordechai reminds Esther when she is afraid to intervene with the King that G-d will still save his people, but only Esther will lose her place in history. Sadly, Mr. Savitsky missed that message.

Rabbi Stephen Wise

On the surface, election results point to two political parties – Likud and Kadima – that are diametrically opposed on all major issues and incapable of working with each other. To many, this appears to be an unsolvable situation. In reality and upon closer examination, the dynamics point to a very different unfolding scenario.

The national vote reflects the inner struggle of the Jewish soul.  It is an attempt to reconcile essential survival and security issues with that of peace.  Thus, we have the two basic fundamental concepts locked in unison, survival and peace. These two all too often competing tensions form the crux of our Jewish dialectic.   On the one hand, the Israeli public wants instant gratification, and it wants it now. The organization Peace Now perhaps best embodies this school of thought. Its name, by definition, emphasizes peace now, and all the wonderful things peace will bring: the cessation of rockets raining down on Israeli town, the ability to go about one’s daily life without fear, and to be accepted as a fellow human being in the society of nations.

On the other hand, the schizophrenic Jewish soul also screams out: We are all about deferred gratification.  Yes, we desperately want peace, yes we want acceptance, but it has to be a meaningful and secure peace.  Never Again is a slogan not only reserved for the era of the Holocaust but also for the era of the post-Oslo Accords.  Never Again should we rush into a hasty fallacious peace accord that results in the subsequent growth and strengthening of terrorism in the north and in the south. Never Again should we negotiate away our security, a move that resulted in Israel being the target of two infamous intifadas, and which led to its building a security fence in order protect its citizens from terrorists that showed no hesitation in striking at schools, buses, cafés and discotheques.

This age-old internal struggle of the Jewish soul has again manifested itself, this time on election night in Israel.  Throughout the campaigning, the Israeli public was again a captive audience to the all too familiar rhetoric about the need for relinquishing territory in order to shore up Palestinian Authority leader Abu Mazen. Politician after politician sought to make Israelis understand the importance in engaging in confidence-building measures for the Palestinians, while ignoring the need for confidence-building measures for their side by Palestinians and Arab countries.

Debate in Israel crystallized around which political party could best provide both security and peace. Which party could best reconcile these twin concepts that form the core of the Israeli spirit?  It appears that as the soul was struggling with itself, the body voted for physical survival, with the national parties forming the largest voting bloc in the country, and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman a potential kingmaker.  The primal urge for self-defense that has historically served Israel so well appears to have faired better than the alternative which could only have offered a quick fix whose inherent flaw is marked by the absence at present of a partner for peace on the other side.

Meanwhile, the only certainty that we can rely on will be the traditional play of power politics that is so much a part of Israel’s system of governance, with coalition negotiations already underway before a Prime Minister is even named. What can we expect in the days and weeks ahead? More of the same rhetoric demonizing Lieberman, whose own history is that of a Cabinet Minister in the Kadima Government, which also included the Labour Party.  We will also no doubt hear more about the extremism of Netanyahu, who in reality can best be classified as a progressive conservative and a pragmatist. We should also recall that Netanyahu too, and many of his Likud colleagues, sat together with Kadima and Labour. At the end of the day, there is much more commonality than can be imagined.

Nothing is yet a foregone conclusion, neither the makeup of the coalition, nor the march towards peace. It is true that the Jewish psyche is indeed a strange one, honed by thousands of years of struggling to survive. The State of Israel is its modern-day incarnation, infused with the realism and determination that bespeaks its just over six-decade history.  Israelis want a peace that must be based on real security with a real partner on the other side. This is the challenge that will ultimately be faced by whichever leader assumes the political helm.

As a North American, I pledge my full support to the United States Army in its ongoing struggle against Al-Qaeda, another radical Islamist terrorist group, and its various offshoots worldwide.

As an honourary member of the Commonwealth of Nations, I applaud the efforts of the British and Australians in their struggle against radical Islamist fundamentalists who have made it their mission to destroy the value systems of liberty, human rights, dignity and tolerance that we herald in Western civilization.

As a friend and supporter of democratic India, I commend the country’s armed forces for their resolve in battling radical Islamist forces, the devastating effects of which the world witnessed with the heinous attacks against civilians in Mumbai.

As a citizen of the world, I fully support and stand behind Israel in its war against Hamas – a war that Israel did not start, but which was imposed on it – a group that is yet another incarnation of radical Islamist terrorism.

Israel has finally said “no” to eight years of Hamas attacks comprising more than 12,000 missiles and rockets on its civilian population, on children going to school, on farmers working in the fields, on families sitting in their homes, on individuals attending religious services, on people enjoying an afternoon in the playground or at the shopping mall.
Hamas is a terrorist organization engaged in terrorist acts. There are 900,000 Israeli residents who are currently under immediate threat.

Israelis who engaged in the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, without taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of its civilians, must now regrettably correct this major oversight.

Rockets falling on Ashdod, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, and Kibbutz Aza are all a prelude to what awaits all of Israel if Hamas is not stopped effectively. My fellow citizens of the world are also all at risk if Hamas is not defeated. It may seem now that the war is taking place in a far-off land, but if we are to do nothing, the day will come when there will be another Mumbai, another 9/11, and this next time at our own doorstep.

To Israel’s credit and especially its army’s, after the shock-and-awe attack of more than 500 air assaults, it should be clear that these assaults were meant to dismember Hamas and were not an attack on the Palestinian people. Logic dictates that a military force conducting air, sea and ground attacks could have easily decimated the civilian population in the area. Instead, Israel has sought out very carefully to locate the vast infrastructure of the Hamas terrorists and the terrorists themselves. Sadly, civilian lives were lost because Hamas has a tendency to hide behind women, children and even place rockets in or near mosques. The blame must be put squarely on Hamas for endangering innocent Palestinians.

The lies regarding the lack of humanitarian care, the lies regarding Israel’s random killing, the lies keep mounting, along with apologist statements for Hamas. But we are fortunate that there are more and more elements within our global society that are prepared to take a longer view and not trigger what in the past was an almost reflexive knee-jerk reaction in support of what has become known as the “victimized” Palestinian versus the “evil” Israeli. Citizens of western societies are slowly waking up to the dangers posed by radical Islamist fundamentalists and are more attuned than ever to their tactics.

Israel has now demonstrated that it has the ability and resolve to move effectively against terrorism. All political parties in Israel, from right to left, have finally come together in unison, determined to defend its citizens against the ongoing incessant onslaught of Hamas terrorism. Bibi Netanyahu, who is running for the position of prime minister, has put aside his own ambitions and has acquiesced to the government’s request that he act as its spokesperson throughout the world. President Shimon Peres, the leading dove in Israel, fully supports this defensive war.

The Egyptians have made it abundantly clear that they too see Hamas as the aggressor, as indeed have so many other Arab countries. At the end of this military exercise, it is imperative that Abu Mazen, the elected leader of the Palestinian Authority who was thrown out of Gaza by Hamas, come back to Gaza and take back the leadership role he has abdicated. He must play a pivotal role in establishing stability for his people. The job is great, but so too are the opportunities.

He must ensure that every tunnel used for smuggling rockets and missiles is blown up and every member of Hamas is properly tried in a fair court of law for being a member of a terrorist organization. Once law is re-established, perhaps we will begin to see a glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow for the Palestinian people, while at the same time ensuring the safety and security of the Israeli population.

(This op ed was published in the Jewish Tribune, January 6, 2009)

If ever there was the need to be imbued with the great fighting spirit of the Maccabees, that time has come. Now more than ever, it is essential that we find our inner strength and determination to confront the Jihadists like Hamas and Hezbollah, and, yes, even Fatah’s Al-Aqsa and Tanzeem militias. Instead, we see in Israel a leadership embroiled in an election campaign that shows no clear direction for the future.

The Labour Party, which at one time had nearly absolute control of Israeli society, is all but shattered, surviving under a leadership composed of yesterday’s chiefs and burdened by their overwhelming failures.  Ehud Barak, the man whose folly in southern Lebanon initiated a unilateral withdrawal that created the de facto Hezbollah State, is leading a party which will perhaps end up in fourth or fifth place in the Knesset.

Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister of Kadima, a party which must bear responsibility for the creation of ‘Hamastan’ in Gaza and the debacle that was the second Lebanese War, is primed to once again be a player in the forthcoming elections.  

Bibi Netanyahu, a former leader of the Likud who has returned to head the Party, now faces a strange confluence of players on his list. There are those who appear to be ideologically closer to the Labour Party, such as Dan Meridor who has been credited with trying to influence Bibi to make the major dramatic move of relinquishing the Golan Heights. There are other players, like Moishe Feiglin, who want to return to the traditional roots of the Likud Party, and follow in the ideological thrust of its predecessor Herut Party.  

In the midst of these most difficult times, the ultra Orthodox Party is divided into two camps because various segments cannot agree upon which slots they will get on the electoral list.  Not to be outdone, the Nationalist Zionist organizations of the right are equally divided because they also cannot agree on their allocation slots on the list. How pitiful when you think of the fact that rockets are falling and people are endangered, and their worry appears to be: “What number am I getting on the list?”

As Kafkaesque decisions surround the notion of ceasefire, and as rockets and mortar shells begin to penetrate deeper and deeper into Israel, threatening cities such as Beersheva, the Government response has been to beef up the siren system in Beersheva and contemplate building new bunkers. This to date has been the major decision taken by the Government: children living in the endangered and targeted areas will now have to forego their outdoor recess so they can remain indoors.

I am now waiting to see how ingenuity will be used to transport the children from their homes to the schools and back so they avoid the outside.  Perhaps we will see the realization of such innovations as “Beam me up Scottie” space travel, which will take on a new meaning in Israel.

Daily threats by various Israeli Ministers who proclaim “Enough is enough”, and re-affirm that Israelis cannot continue to live under threat, have been rendered meaningless. Tzipi Livni’s threat to topple Hamas is countered by Ehud Barak’s declaration that those promising to topple Hamas are “individuals who do not know what they are talking about”.  

Instead of this lack of national resolve, we must rally, and exhibit the true spirit of the Maccabees, the very same spirit that led to the founding of the Jewish State some sixty years ago. At a time when we should be saluting the six decades of Israel’s vibrant democracy and celebrating it freely, we are instead looking at improving early warning alarm systems, building bunkers, digging-in deeper and rewarding terrorism by allowing hundreds of terrorists out of Israel as a “confidence-building” measure for Abu Mazen, a man who as head of the Palestinian Authority, cannot even visit Gaza as Islamic fundamentalists would surely assassinate him.

In such a world we hope that some sense of reality will prevail and that common-sense will dictate that the solution lies not in the appeasement tactics of an Israeli Chamberlain, nor does it lie in building deeper bunkers for children so they can enjoy recess underground.  A Government has the duty and obligation to defend its citizens from terrorism.  Perhaps the world Jewish community must awake to its responsibility to speak for the citizens of Israel who have almost entered into a period of shellshock and appear to have accepted the daily barrage of attacks, a situation that is unacceptable to any Western society.

The lesson of the Maccabees, both militarily and spiritually, must once again illuminate our Jewish soul. May we aspire each in our own way to be strong, resolute and determined to face the challenges ahead. Happy Hanukkah. Hag sameach and a peaceful New Year to all.  

No sooner had Tzipi Livni, leader of the Kadima Party, called for the dissolution of the Knesset in the run-up to an early election in Israel, then the international media predictably kicked into gear. The verbiage and tone of the world’s press – including Israel’s own leftist-dominated media – took up the mantle of demonizing Bibi Netanyahu and resumed its now-tired refrain about the “death of the peace process”. 

The Toronto Star has already heralded Livni’s inability to create a governing coalition as “kill[ing] the chances of a deal with Palestinians”. The paper’s Middle East correspondent speaks of the year-old talks aimed at forging a peace settlement between Israel and moderate Palestinians, as if that possibility were really within our grasp. He, like so many other journalists, upholds the illusion that there was truly a meaningful dialogue in play and that Abu Mazen was ready in position to deliver a peace treaty on behalf of the Palestinians. If only. 

This desperation to maintain an illusion is further reflected in the many negative references made to Bibi Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party. It is Netanyahu’s insistence, they claim, on keeping Jerusalem as the united Jewish capital of the State of Israel that is the real obstacle to achieving peace. 

A reality check would certainly be in order, but one that will likely not be readily forthcoming.  The policies of Kadima have proven disastrous in terms of advancing any sort of meaningful peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, at the time presented as the panacea that would usher in a new era of peace, has instead brought about a de facto Hamas terrorist state.  Abu Mazen, the head of the Palestinian Authority, cannot even enter Gaza due to security risks and fear for his own life.  His supporters were recently saved by an intervention of Israeli defense forces to ensure Fatah forces would not be murdered by Hamas operatives in Gaza. 

The overtures by Ehud Olmert towards slicing up Israel were rejected by Abu Mazen, just as Ehud Barak’s efforts to try to appease Yasser Arafat were similarly in vain.  This fruitless and relentless strategy of offering up everything for nothing at all, it is claimed, within the terminology of “meaningful dialogue” and moving forward towards a peaceful resolution to the problem.  

Explain this, to the people who were forced out of their homes in the communities they had built in Gaza at the encouragement of the Labour and Likud governments. They now languish, for the most part, in make-shift homes, forgotten by the peace negotiators.  They can attest first hand to the emptiness of such “meaningful” peace negotiations. So too can the residents of Sderot and Ahskelon who continue to endure missiles being launched from Gaza, striking at the heart of their communities. 

We are asked to give credit to Abu Mazen for his constant demands that Israel provide confidence-building measures. Indeed, Israel complied by releasing more and more terrorists from Israeli jails so that they could rejoin Fatah’s Al-Aqsa and Tanzeem militias, the “moderate” terrorist operations of Abu Mazen. 

Yes, upcoming elections in Israel will prove to be heated and the rhetoric will undoubtedly become uncivilized.  The accusations and mud-slinging already piling up against Bibi Netanyahu will no doubt boil over into hysteria, with such claims that his election victory might spell the end of this glorious road to peace that started with Oslo, and which has resulted in two intifadas, thousands of Israelis maimed, murdered and scarred for life. This path also included the withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the abandonment of Christian allies in this security zone, only to be replaced by Hezbollah, which is currently estimated to possess between 40,000 to 50,000 missiles and artillery that can easily reach all of northern Israel. 

It would be remiss of me not to point out that the individual responsible for the unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon was Ehud Barak, who has had his own resurrection in the Labour Party and who now leads that political faction.

Proportional representation in Israel makes every vote crucial. But, at the same time, it is inconceivable for any single party to have a mandate to govern effectively.  Whoever wins the next election will be required to cobble together another coalition. I am convinced the results will not be dramatically different for the current government’s composition under Kadima leadership, especially considering that Kadima is leading in current polls.  

Nevertheless, Ehud Barak has already met with Bibi Netanyahu, presumably to strike a deal that would have him serve as Minister of Defense under Netanyahu’s leadership, should Netanyahu win. There may well be a large contingent of Kadima members who defect and return to the Likud Party fold, depending on how the political winds blow in the first few weeks of the campaign and what safe seats they can be given on the Likud list.

Shas will feel more comfortable sitting in a Likud Government since it will not have to worry about the division of Jerusalem and can concentrate solely on procuring more funding for its electoral base.

Avigdor Lieberman and his faction will likely be glad to join a Likud-led led government, although he had no difficulty serving in the Kadima Party. 

The fragmented small right-wing parties will undoubtedly lend their support to the Likud Government as will an ultra-Orthodox Party, The United Torah Party. All these, incidentally, except for the handful of small right-wing parties, participated in and/or propped up the Kadima government.

The essence is that the next election will be unlikely to produce a government that will represent a drastic, dramatic departure from the existing one, as the Western media would have us believe. Israeli political constraints do not offer much room for maneuvering. The dire predictions by media of a Bibi Netanyahu victory undermining all the supposed gains made in a fictitious peace process is just the traditional pundits doing their usual spin- doctoring. Here is another reality check: Bibi Netanyahu is hardly the right winger that the leftist media wish to conjure up.  One should remember that he waited until the very last moment to leave Ariel Sharon’s government before it actually conducted its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.

In the landscape of Israeli politics, coalition-building all too often trumps ideological principle. 

In his latest writings, Edgar Bronfman, at one time one of the most powerful financial leaders in American Jewry, pontificates on the state of antisemitism in North America.  He quickly dismisses it as no longer an issue.

I still remember the pundits who at the time of the signing of the Oslo Accords were also quick to tell us that there would no longer be the need for Israel advocacy organizations since peace was now upon us. Let us remember that Yasser Arafat, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, would eventually receive this most coveted of honours. The premise was that between Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and now Abu Mazen, we would all enjoy tranquility in our old age. If only these pundits had been correct.

They were prepared to turn a blind eye to Yasser Arafat’s terrorist operations, his use of PA machinery to incite hatred and glorify violence. They ignored the deadly havoc wrought by Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and the Tanzeem militia. They discounted too Hezbollah and Hamas.

Many of these same pundits are now hard at work once again. Their new mantra: antisemitism is dead. Perhaps, Edgar Bronfman has not himself faced any antisemitic incidents personally.  Mr. Bronfman may go from country estate to golf course, from yacht club to exclusive far away destinations, or wherever his heart desires, and mingle with the elite. I challenge Mr. Bronfman, however, to spend one month as a visible Jew wearing a kipah [skullcap], perhaps having peyot [sidelocks], wearing a bekishe [long black coat] and walking the streets of the cities in North America.  Better still, perhaps Mr. Bronfman could carry an I Support Israel sign on campus during anti-Israel Apartheid Week.  After that, he could advise those of us on the frontline of fighting antisemitism that it is no longer an issue.

Maybe, if Mr. Bronfman would be so willing, we could organize a guided tour for him of the rural town of Ste-Agathe, Quebec, so that he can visit with Jews whose windows have been smashed and property vandalized. Better still, while in Canada he can do a cross-country tour and visit a Jewish cemetery where gravestones were overturned last year. He can travel to synagogues that were defaced with antisemitic graffiti. He can visit the community of Moncton, New Brunswick, where the Jewish community is now grappling with security issues, their synagogue the object of vandalism during the High Holiday period.  The incident follows an act of vandalism during the summer when a swastika and the word “Retards” were spray painted on the same synagogue’s front door.

And the list goes on, should Mr. Bronfman care to learn more, he could volunteer to staff B’nai Brith Canada’s 24-hour, 7-days-a-week Anti-Hate Hotline, which victims call to report antisemitic incidents, not at yacht clubs or golf clubs, but rather in schoolyards, on campus and subways, in restaurants, at community centres and on public streets. Everywhere, in fact, where grassroots Jewish Canadians live and breathe.

Mr. Bronfman would be well-advised to read B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents to understand the mood that prevails in North America.  Sadly, we have always had well-meaning and good Jews who simply were not able to look beyond their own environment and see the clouds on the horizon.  We, in Canada, have only to remember that indeed there were such Jews whose silence was deafening as the St. Louis was being turned away from the shores of Canada.

Today’s very real challenges require the concerted efforts of all. However, as much as one may wish to turn a blind eye to the realities of antisemitism, bigotry, and hatred, we can ill afford to do so.

As the pundits of yesterday show us, we need to learn from our mistakes.