Thanking the President
Major Orthodox organizations were quick to thank the President for his unequivocal articulation of Israel’s right to defend herself. In the best tradition of hakoras hatov, these messages went out:
Agudath Israel
We at Agudath Israel of America, and our constituency of Orthodox Jews across the United States, salute your clear and unwavering support of Israel’s security, both in the past and the present.
Your recent public words confirming our nation’s endorsement of Israel’s right to defend herself, and placing responsibility for the current conflict squarely where it belongs, in the lap of Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, was deeply appreciated.
As were your actions in 2010 committing considerable special aid to Israel for the expansion of the Iron Dome missile interception system, which has played so crucial a role in recent days in preventing loss of innocent life and destruction of property. We join all our fellow Americans and people of good will the world over in expressing our gratitude for your strong leadership and wisdom.
In a time when some other nations, sadly, seem equivocal regarding terrorism, whether waged by individuals or by state actors like the current government in Gaza, the clarity of vision and resolve you have demonstrated sets an example of how principle is more important than politics.
We thank you and want you to know that our prayers are with you.
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the world, expresses its gratitude to President Barak Obama for his statements supporting Israel’s right to protect the safety of its citizens and integrity of its territory in its current defense against the continuous bombing originating in Gaza. The President rightfully stated that “there is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes.” Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA, stated, “We encourage the United States government to continue its strong support of Israel until the terrorist threats to Israel’s population has ended.”
But take note of Whom we should actually rely on.
See this from R Lazer Brody:
There’s a hard fact and no-exception rule of spirituality that our prophets and wise men have taught us throughout history: As soon as a Jew trusts in anyone or anything other than Hashem, the object of his trust will not only disappoint him, but turn on him as well. In other words, they thought that they were leaning on the Rock of Gibraltar, but it turned out to be a wobbly reed. This has happened over and over in history, for it’s a rule that’s ingrained into Creation. Be honest with yourself and contemplate it. It will help you decide what you must do in the nearest future.
Hold off on the paeans, please. Obama has done nothing more than make a statement – mere words, his specialty. Words are important too, but they are of limited utility. And the notion that this president “committed” aid to the Iron Dome progam is risible. Funding for the Iron Dome was purely and entirely a project of the House, together with the Pentagon. It’s delusional to think Obama even knew about it, much less cared about it.
Meanwhile, Iran quietly continues to build it’s nuclear weapons. When people talked about concerns with Obama, it was because of Iran, not Gaza. Indeed, many wonder if the provocations from Gaza – a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran – were not deliberately intended to obscure the latter’s race to go nuclear. By causing Israel to focus on Gaza, its attention to Iran is diverted. More than that, Iran understands well that if the US gives its blessings to the Gaza distraction, it will feel it’s fulfilled its obligation to the Jewish lobby, and Israel will have exhausted its favor reservoir when much bigger issues loom. I am one of those millions who did not and does not trust this president on Israel. If and when push comes to shove, we shall see how he responds. I pray God I will be proven wrong.
I voted Republican both times, but it is for the reason of having the credibility to make statements like these, that I agreed with R. Shafran’s article(“Political Campaigns…and the Jewish Problem”) which takes into consideration traditional shtadlanus sensitivities derived from next-week’s Parsha(“What’s more, and more troubling still, we seem to forget that we’re still in galus…Do we ever stop to consider that affronts, whether based on nonsense or fact, particularly when lobbed into the public sphere, can easily come back to haunt us should the candidates we choose to vilify win?”)
Actions speak louder than words. It is crystal clear that Obama is exerting enormous pressure on Netanyahu not to let the IDF to do its job and enter Gaza, on the ground, which is the only chance Israel has of eliminating the missile threat.
In addition, he has brought in Morsi, head of the Moslem Brotherhood, to be a broker between the Israelis and Hamas, which is an offshoot of the Moslem Brotherhood.
Either Obama is naive beyond hope or he is dastardly.
If my history is correct, the best President for the Modern State of Israel other than Harry Truman himself, was actually Lyndon Johnson, because he basically left Israel alone to do whatever was necessary to defend itself, with America’s only involvement being to send Israel more weapons if they needed them. With Israel’s full power unleashed, it was able to carry out the modern day miracle of the Six Day War. Unfortunately, since then, Presidents such as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have found ways to tie Israel’s hands, resulting in Israel giving up more and more land, and all they get for their good will gestures are more and more attacks by their hostile islamic neighbors. So while I also found myself liking what Barack Obama recently said, really the best thing that he could do for Israel is to simply leave it alone. Cease fires seem to only be called for when Israel tries to defend itself from the relentless, brutal attacks of its hostile neighbors.
Obama’s “unequivocal” show of support was only for show. The superimposition of the current hudna will only allow Hamas to regroup and reload. There has also been the threat of withholding Iron Dome resources. The big winner is Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. In the current ceasefire, the US has not indicated any consequences for Hamas to break the ceasefire… which it already has.
Dresden, not Neville Chamberlain, solved an earlier genocidal mass movement. That the US fails to cite at every opportunity that the Hamas charter says they love death more than we love life is an intentional choice that harms Israel in the public eye.
There was no noting of the violent treatment of the “collaborators” yesterday and the distribution of candy.
Regarding Raymond’s praise of LBJ, I suggest he read Michael Oren’s book about the Six Day War. LBJ was paralyzed by Vietnam and feared confronting the USSR in the mideast. LBJ was empathetic but wasn’t willing to take on State as Nixon did during the Yom Kippur War. Nixon had more coarse antisemitic feelings but bulldozed State and ensured Israel’s having sufficient resources to prevail. I’ll take the antisemitic leader who does the right thing over the “friend” who dithers any day. Carter and Zbig were the eager midwives to the modern violent Islamic revolution. Clinton dallied and let OBL go and Pakistan go nuclear, allowing the first Islamic bomb and thereby introducing a catastrophic dynamic to the realpolitik vis a vis the “religion of peace”.
My read is that Obama is upset with Hamas for jumping the gun. Obama wants to deliver everything he ever promised to Khalidi.
The current skirmish was used by Hamas to probe the strengths and weaknesses of Iron Dome. Hamas still has 90% of what it started with. Hezbollah has 10x as much in the north. Hezbollah will use what was learned to improve their deadliness for the time when they will engage Israel.
Bellus interruptus prolongs conflicts. Conflicts end when the belligerent’s dream dies and a benign victor elicits two words: “unconditional surrender”. We’ve had warm relations with Germany and Japan for nearly 70 years not due to diplomacy but due to Patton, MacArthur, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only when Palestinian mothers would eagerly hobble their sons before allowing them to walk to their murderous madrassah will we see coexistence. Only when there are imams in Gaza, Judea and Samaria who are willing to be televised preaching in their mosques the rejection of the notion of “dar al harb” applying to either the land of the Little Satan or that of the Great Satan will this existential conflict end.
How exactly does Israel go for total, conclusive victory when the leaders of its “allies” prefer the other side?
Esther 8:10-11 says: And they wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, … that the king had granted the Jews that were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, and to slay, and to cause to perish, all the forces of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey”
Continuing in verse 17: “And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day.”
I wonder how we should or should not apply these pesukim to the recent announcements from our president.