Next Week In Jerusalem

By Larry Gordon

We are looking forward to an exciting week in Israel with the Israel Heritage Foundation, led by Dr. Joe Frager and Rabbi David Katz. Both have worked diligently over the last few years shoring up the important relationship between the U.S. and Israel. The plan next week is to meet with numerous members of the Knesset and communicate with them on the work we are doing here to protect and defend Israel during these very trying times. For many years, the reality of the relationship between Diaspora Jews and Israel was that we are here and they are there. That is, that there are 5,600 miles between New York and Tel Aviv. But somehow, while the geographic distance has not been altered, we have indeed drawn closer, and if we don’t see ourselves as one unit after all these years, then at least the world at large views us without any such divide, either physical or emotional.

For the last fifteen years or so, we were almost always accompanied on these excursions by former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. The governor has a special, long-time attachment to the IHF. This year, we are looking forward to meeting in Jerusalem with Ambassador Huckabee, the newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

In fact, going to Israel with Mike Huckabee as U.S. Ambassador will most likely be a more unique and different experience than any other previous trips or missions. Huckabee holds probably one of the most important positions in the diplomatic world today. Keep in mind that as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, he represents President Trump, and the president has an ambitious plan that he would like to see implemented in the region once Israel can get a handle on this lengthy war with Hamas in Gaza.

Just a year ago, we had the opportunity to spend some time at several events in Israel with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley of North Carolina. At the time, it was in the heat of the campaign, so to speak. There was an enormous amount of work to be done in terms of the election here on the home front.

I recall Mr. Whatley saying last summer that there was only one exception to the policy of limiting international travel during a tough campaign, such as the one they were in the midst of managing, and that was to take a few days off to visit Israel.

One of the great wonders of our modern world is how countries that exist over hundreds of thousands of square miles cannot reconcile themselves with the immeasurable dot on the map that is the State of Israel. Unless you are squinting and trying to focus on the map, or happen to have a magnifying glass nearby, you will most likely be unable to discern where Israel exists on the map.

While the country is geographically small, it is no small matter. Countries in much of the world today have one foreign policy agenda, and that is in some way to marginalize or at least blame Israel for all the world’s ills.

For almost 20 months now, Israel has been engaged in warfare with the Hamas enemy in Gaza. The talks on ending this war involve Egypt and Qatar as negotiators, and are hung up on one major issue, which is whether there should be a permanent peace at the conclusion of the war or a 60-day cease fire as requested by Israel.

From our vantage point, it seems nonsensical that this is the matter of contention. First of all, what sovereign nation signs “peace agreements” with terrorist groups? If that is in fact what is going to happen, it might be the first time that such a formal peace agreement is signed by these two parties. They have made a ragtag agreement in the past that they used to maintain quiet for a while. But terrorists, by their very definition and their raison d’être, violate agreements as soon as they are signed. That’s why they are terrorists and not much more can be expected of them.

I fail to understand why Israel does not sign any agreement that the Hamas terrorists put forth that would allow all hostages, living and otherwise, to be freed and move on from there. On October 6, 2023 there was peace between Hamas and Israel. Then Hamas broke that peace by orchestrating a massacre, which resulted in the ongoing war.

I don’t understand why Israel is standing on such ceremony and insisting on a temporary ceasefire instead of a full ceasefire. Once Hamas violates the agreement, which is inevitable, that does not mean that Israel has to remain steadfast and committed to this so-called peace deal. Once the deal is broken for all practical purposes, not only is the ceasefire over, but a new war will be declared.

Ambassador Huckabee, who is a very busy man with so much going on, will hopefully have some time to meet with us and bring us up to date on the various issues that currently dominate the region.

One of our most successful missions to Israel was a few years ago when we had future Congressmembers like Claudia Tenney, Nicole Malliotakis, and Nick Langworthy. All three were out of government at the time, but all three also were elected the following year and subsequently re-elected as well.

It’s not that the Israel Heritage Foundation has the “magic touch,” but what is felt by those involved with the IHF is a sincerity about the stature of the American Jewish community and the all-important U.S.-Israel relationship.

These are enormously challenging times for Israel and Jews who reside in the U.S. We desperately need one another and especially so at this point in time, we need to be on guard against the movement to elect people to Congress and statewide offices that are anti-Israel, which is just another way of saying they are antisemites.

Sadly, we can now better understand how attitudes against the Jews unfolded in the late 1930s in Europe. At the same time, in my travels to Israel over the last 40 years, I can’t remember a time when there was not some kind of a crisis or another that had to be dealt with. So, is this ongoing war just another crisis? Hopefully, but it just doesn’t have the same feel as those crises of former years.

To that end, we need to be united and vigilant, and that is where the Israel Heritage Foundation plays such a crucial role. n

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