Who is like this people, Israel? For all our divisions and differences of opinion, at a time of crisis there is no segment of the world population that comes together like the Jewish people. So let’s express it clearly and succinctly right up front: this, in part, is what irks our critics.
For those out there who are trying to figure us out, this is what is so puzzling. We are diverse and vehemently disagree about so much, but at the same time no one quickly unifies and comes together like the global Jewish people.
We can disagree about politics in Israel, whether it is the proper time to move forward on extending Israeli law to Judea and Samaria. Many would agree that after 53 years in those communities, it is time to legally normalize them.
But if you refer to the same action as “annexation” and bringing Israeli “settlements” under Israeli law, the same people who believe that the premise of the paragraph above is reasonable will protest aggressively that this is not a good policy, not now and not ever.
The word out there is that by July 1, Prime Minister Netanyahu will officially extend Israeli law to the communities in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinians and the Europeans are saying that this will be a game-changer and that all hell might break loose if and when this occurs.
Israel has said that she is prepared for any eventuality. Also, we have to remember that the Palestinian leadership said the same thing when the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital three years ago, and despite the giant-sized threats, there was no response and nothing happened.
Will extending sovereignty to Israel’s biblical heartland be met with a similar response, or do Judea and Samaria mean more to the local Arab population in the Shomron than Jerusalem does?
There is no easy answer, and the Palestinians have to consider that their objections to Israel’s sovereignty are not supported by the major Muslim countries in the Middle East—Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. That does not only facilitate the move, but it isolates the Palestinian leadership.
To better understand what is going on from the territorial context, it is important to note that in the past, Israeli leaders like Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert were prepared to give the Palestinians sovereignty over 95–97% of the territories. All Israel had in the course of decades of negotiations was 3–5% of the area, which would have included the major settlement blocs, or population centers, like Efrat and Ariel. It is important to note that the Palestinians rejected all these offers.
The Trump Plan that so many of the leading Arab countries are supporting allows for Israel to control 30% of Judea and Samaria. That is a significant change in the dynamic and formulation of what peace between Jews and Arabs might look like someday. On the other hand, however, it does not take a scholar to understand that if the Palestinians rejected a plan that apportions 5% of what they call the West Bank to Israel, their reaction to a proposal of 30% of the territories being recognized as part of Israel will be less than gracious.
Let us hope Prime Minister Netanyahu takes these long-overdue bold steps and that he does so as promised, pretty soon.
On 53 Years Later
For those old enough to remember the 1967 Six-Day War, many of us can recall, even all these years later, exactly where we were and what we were doing during that special time for the Jewish people.
I was in elementary school, and it was the only week in all my years in yeshiva that our rebbe welcomed a radio into school, with the whole class spending part of the morning after we davened Shacharis listening to the latest news from the war front.
I can still vividly recall when a reporter from the region said that Israel had shot 80 Syrian fighter planes — I think they were MIGs — out of the sky, and that Israel had not lost any planes in that aerial offensive.
I’m not sure where I was when Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, but I recently watched a historical video of General Motta Gur directing troops through what looked like the Jaffa Gate to the Kotel, and then a few moments later one hears his charged words, “Har HaBayit b’yadeinu — the Temple Mount is in our hands!” Those actions and those words changed everything for us as Jews and those who love Israel.
I don’t know what possessed the hanhalah of the yeshiva, but they allowed us to go out during what was usually class time to stand at subway stations and ask for donations, which were placed in a pillow case and then sent to one charity or another benefiting the war cause. During that week or so, we became more than just incidental bystanders to what was going on; we were able to play an active and important role in the making of history. There was no politics or division that we were aware of. All we knew was that Israel was at war and we had to do our part to help her. Those were great and important days.
Cuomo and De Blasio
There are online petitions circulating calling for the impeachment or the removal from office in some fashion of both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. And that is not because they are bad or evil people, as some have concluded.
Unfortunately, both of these leading officials have been revealed as misguided and terribly inept now that we can view their performance in the context of both the coronavirus and the riots and violent looting on the streets of New York.
The businesses that were not shut down by the virus are being paralyzed, if not ruined, by the nightly rioting on the streets of New York. Mayor de Blasio’s first instruction to police earlier this week was that they are to proceed lightly against those breaking the law in New York. Governor Cuomo also danced around the issue, expressing his solidarity with protesters in the name of political expediency and so as to retain his popularity with his natural Democratic constituency.
On Monday, after a call with governors, President Trump said that if governors in states that had nightly looting would not act, he would send in the U.S. military to control the situation. The New York reaction came from Attorney General Letitia James who said she will take the administration to court to prevent them from sending in the military to stop the violence and the looting. Please don’t tell me that means that the New York political hierarchy wants to protect those committing criminal acts.
Republican City Councilman Eric Ulrich of Queens says that both the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations have dropped the ball when it comes to managing the coronavirus and the violent street protests in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing in Minnesota.
On the matter of Cuomo bungling by demanding that nursing homes take in COVID patients, Councilman Ulrich says the governor “made a deadly decision and he has blood on his hands.” The governor ordered nursing homes in New York State to take in COVID-19 patients and said that any nursing home that did not take in patients still apparently harboring the virus would lose their licenses to operate.
So far, over 12,000 nursing home residents have died as a result of the Cuomo mistake. When the governor’s colossal error was exposed, he directly cast blame on President Trump. If you’re curious about the number that died, it’s true that New York State admits to 6,000 such deaths, but Cuomo’s office overlooked the number of nursing home patients who died in hospitals. A technical oversight, apparently.
Councilman Ulrich says that there should be a state investigation, and if the state won’t do it, as he expects will be the case, he is pushing for a federal investigation into the governor’s executive order that resulted in so many deaths.
“The city is unraveling,” Councilman Ulrich says. “It’s time to bring in the National Guard.”
Mayor De Blasio’s only distinction is that he is doing a worse job managing these matters than Governor Cuomo is. It seems that the anarchists and rioters that are doing so much damage to the city are able to do so because they have the support of the mayor.
You will recall how livid the mayor was about the funeral in Williamsburg a few weeks ago that attracted his personal attention. Mr. De Blasio warned the Chassidic community that the next move was mass arrests of those who did not wear face masks or did not socially distance.
All of a sudden, protesters and rioters are running wild by the thousands, without any attention being paid to face masks or social distancing, and all you hear from Mayor de Blasio is support for those marching and consorting as if there never was a coronavirus. Does Mayor de Blasio have one policy for Chassidic Jews and another set of rules for everyone else? It’s sad and unfortunate but despite the mayor’s denials, that is exactly what it looks like.