Hamas War

Friday, August 7, 2015

Diplomatic Isolation, Good or Bad for Israel?

President Ruby Rivlin's recent comment about Israeli isolation shows the neurotic hypersensitivity of many Israelis.
Ruby Rivlin, Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Israeli president warns of isolation over row with US on Iran"I am very worried by the battlefront (that has opened up) between Obama and Netanyahu and by relations between the United States and Israel," Rivlin told the Maariv daily.
"The prime minister is leading a campaign against the United States as if we were equals, and that is liable to hurt Israel," he said.
"We are to a large extent isolated in the world at the moment... I'm not a pessimist but for the first time I see that we are alone." (News-yahoo-AFP)
Remember that Labor Party head Isaac Herzog's big campaign promise was that he could get along better with Obama than Netanyahu.

Unlike Rivlin and Herzog, I was born and raised in the United States. And PM Bibi Netanyahu actually spent some very crucial years growing up there, too. I'd say that we know the USA a lot better than Rivlin and Herzog. There's actually something very troubling in what Rivlin said.
"...as if we were equals..."
It sounds very much like he has a serious inferiority complex when it comes to the United States. And like many/most Israelis, he seems to have an inflated and distorted idea of the reliability of the Americans as trusted allies and supporters of Israel.

During most of the sixty-seven years since the establishment of the State of Israel, the attitude of the American State Department was ambivalent at best. In November, 1947, it recommended voting against the United Nations resolution supporting a Jewish State. After much personal debate then President Harry Truman instructed the American delegation to the UN to vote in favor. And over the next twenty years or so, until after the 1967 Six Days War, the USA did not offer any aid to Israel.

Remember that we defeated the Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians in 1967 without the help of any foreign country. We had no allies, and that was good! Yes, you read it correctly. I have no doubt that foreign allies would only have slowed down the Israeli victory if not preventing it completely. The so called "help" we got from the Americans during the 1973 Yom Kippur War actually made it more difficult for us to fight.

Even the greatest military experts of the second half of the twentieth century agree with me on this. There is no logical explanation for Israel's victory in 1967. The numbers just don't add up. Our Arab enemies had more military arm, power and fighters than we had. Also tactically and geographically they were much stronger. They also had allies, and the United Nations cooperated with their plans to destroy Israel by withdrawing peacekeeping forces when Egypt's Nasser demanded they do so.

All that the State of Israel had was the prayers of the Jewish People and the Help of Gd.

Since I remember that time so clearly, I do not fear "isolation." I also remember too well how contrary to our great victory in 1967, we were almost destroyed during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. And during those frightening days, instead of praying, fighting and praying, the Israeli Government kept on consulting with Nixon and Kissinger, who were planning a stalemate. They had hopes that America would be invited in to "keep the peace."

Considering the difficult history Israel has had with the USA, I just can't understand why most Israelis, including some of our highest ranking political and government officials, can still worship the myth of American friendship and superiority.

8 comments:

Sharbano said...

I never understood the infatuation some people have thinking the US government is even pro-Israel. The evidence is quite the contrary. The US has been in bed with Arab oil from the beginning thanks to Standard Oil among others. Maybe we should give a copy of the book "The secret war against the Jews" to the leaders in Israel. They seem unaware of what goes on behind the scenes. Or, maybe they want a 'king like the other nations'.
What I find truly disgusting is how settlers and/or the religious are treated by the government, at all levels. It seems as if they do so in order to placate the nations. To take this approach against fellow Jews is not only against Torah but against common decency. Even the nations don't stoop to this level. The last I've heard there have been three under detention and yet not a word from these people against the onslaught of terrorist activities by the Arabs. But since the nations were in an uproar about an Arab house firebombed and "assumed" to have been perpetrated by a Jew then the leaders allow their hands to be tied. It's as if when a Jew dies at the hands of an Arab it's no big deal. I have become so thoroughly disgusted and inflamed by what KEEPS going on and nothing is done. It reminds me of Yeshayahu 57:1.

Batya said...

thanks, Sharbano, exactly

Shiloh said...

Very good Sharbano. We will be just fine if we decide to fulfill our destiny. Why we don't believe? Shabbat Shalom

Anonymous said...

Like in WWII when we had Nuremberg laws imposed on us to remind us yes, indeed we are Jews, the Creator is trying to remind us of our place in the world and it is not in the back pocket of the United States.

Emunah

Anonymous said...

Good comments. Israel is never alone. We have H'!!!

Leah said...

Well, the other thing is at the End of Days chazal tell us that we have no one to rely on accept Hashem- that the geulah comes when we are all alone.
To me it's not a bad thing.

Sharbano said...

WOW!!
I just read this from Diskin regarding religious Zionism taking over Israel.

"This is, without a doubt, a victory for the ideology of religious Zionism, but it's a pyrrhic victory," he wrote. "It's a tragic victory."

It is clear, now, for all to see that many in the "establishment" are in utter fear of religious Jews. I only suspected that the unwarranted harassment of religious Jews were due to their hatred. It is Now conclusive. I'm reminded of what Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak once said to a person in the audience. The person was complaining about a Torah life and all its restrictions. He turned it around, as he usually does, and said Torah gives freedom. We do the same things as the secular. We only do it differently. One example was going to the beach, the men go here and the women go here. I believe it is the same with those in the establishment in that they "fear" a Torah lifestyle, and accordingly the religious Jew is the embodiment of that lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure that we've ever had a leader who truly believes in Hashem. (They might believe that there is a Gd, but they didn't actually believe in Him.) Without belief in Hashem, the world must be a very scary place for an Israeli leader. All that stands between us and our enemies is the Israeli army, a few nukes and good ol uncle sam. I guess we have to pray for Hashem to strengthen their hearts.

But in any case Rivlin as president is not supposed to be involved in politics.