September 30, 2011

Mahmoud Abbas Is No Anwar Sadat

It’s the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is followed by Yom Kippur. We listen to that strange instrument called the shofar, made of a ram’s horn, with long plaintive and short bleating notes resounding in synagogues around the world. The mix of dissonance and energy calls for reflection and renewal, and we’ve got a lot to reflect on, particularly now that Israel and the Palestinians are once more the focus of ferocious debate. (As they always seem to be.)

Jews once raised glasses of sweet wine with a toast, “Next year in Jerusalem.” It was a wistful challenge to hope in remembrance of their ancient temple, twice destroyed.

It’s the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is followed by Yom Kippur. We listen to that strange instrument called the shofar, made of a ram’s horn, with long plaintive and short bleating notes resounding in synagogues around the world. The mix of dissonance and energy calls for reflection and renewal, and we’ve got a lot to reflect on, particularly now that Israel and the Palestinians are once more the focus of ferocious debate. (As they always seem to be.)

Jews once raised glasses of sweet wine with a toast, “Next year in Jerusalem.” It was a wistful challenge to hope in remembrance of their ancient temple, twice destroyed.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Jews around the world felt it all the more crucial to regain a homeland, to have a place where they could be safe and secure. The world, or most of it, agreed. The Nazis had targeted the Jews for extermination, and it was time for the Jews to have their own sacred homeland. Now they have the homeland of that famous toast, but must fight constantly to keep it.

The United Nations General Assembly, on a remarkable day in November 1947 (before the United Nations had become an international joke), endorsed the idea of two states in Palestine – one for Jews, to be called Israel, and the other for Arabs, to be called whatever they wanted to call it. The Arabs rejected the idea completely. They were determined to destroy the Jews and get it all. The secretary-general of the Arab League announced on Cairo radio, “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre.”

It didn’t happen, but only because the Jews took on Arab armies from the region and whipped them all. The Jews went on to govern themselves and built a prosperous, independent state. The Palestinians have spent the years since nourishing violent grievance.

The “what if” questions abounded last week when Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations for instant endorsement of a Palestinian state, without resolving disputes with Israel. What if the Palestinians had accepted statehood when it was offered to them 64 years ago? Life in the Middle East could have been very different for everyone.

There was only one, brief, breathtaking moment, in 1977, when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat surprised everyone with a promise that he would travel anywhere, “even Jerusalem,” to discuss peace. He redeemed that promise and paid for it at the hands of Egyptian assassins.

Mahmoud Abbas, alas, is no Anwar Sadat, despite the pale imitation of a warrior he offered after his speech to the U.N. “I’m ready to meet any Israeli official at any time he wants,” he told Fox News. “But to me only for a meeting I think is useless.” Abbas revealed himself to be only a puffed-up poser.

President Obama, with his history of “tough love” for the Israelis and pandering to the Palestinians, wanted to dissuade Abbas from making a spectacle at the U.N. but was unable to summon the courage to do what was necessary to do it.

Afterward, the president, aware of his offense to the Jews and other friends of Israel, gave a strong speech to the General Assembly, saying the usual nice things about peace. But the United States wants most of all to be spared having to use its veto in the Security Council. The Europeans are so cowed in the face of big talk from the Arabs that such “world powers” as Nigeria, Gabon and Bosnia have the balance of power in the Security Council. In the spirit of the times, Abbas returned home to a hero’s welcome, promising a “Palestinian Spring.”

Benjamin Netanyahu got it right when the Israeli prime minister called the spectacle at the U.N. a performance at the “theater of the absurd.” With Lebanon, controlled by Hezbollah, presiding over the U.N. Security Council, we’re treated to the pretense of terrorists presiding over the world’s security.

President Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to Israel, such as it may be, in a video message wishing the Israelis a happy new year: “As Jewish tradition teaches us, we may not complete the work, but that must never keep us from trying.”

The sentiment deserves several blasts of the ram’s horn and a little reflection over what might have been if the Palestinians had taken the offered gift of statehood more than a half century ago. We can only dream of what the world might have been spared.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.