Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Moral Blindness

I recently came across a commentary regarding the situation in Israel and the Middle East that was just SO refreshing and unexpected. Additionally, I may have discovered a new favorite author, as this is the third or fourth commentary that she has written that was deep, insightful and completely appropriate, not to mention full of truth. It seems hard to find such commentary in this current age, and it is always surprising when we do.

Author Caroline Glick, who writes for the Jerusalem Post has written an editorial which is well worth reading - and below are a few paragraphs which reveal her insight and depth of analysis:

"Our World: Convenient moral blindness"


Moral blindness in the face of evil is depravity. But in the upside-down moral universe of our world, moral blindness has become a badge of honor. If you refuse to call evil by its name, then you are a moderate. And if you stand up to evil, you are an extremist.

...according to The Wall Street Journal US President Barack Obama has been discussing Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal with Egypt. According to the newspaper’s account, the US is discussing Egypt’s demand that the Middle East become a nuclear-free zone. A senior US official claimed, “We’ve made a proposal to them [Egypt] that goes beyond what the US has been willing to do before.” Some US Jewish groups have called for a protest of Ahmadinejad outside the UN building. Others have called on state delegations to stage a mass walkout during his speech.

But none have attacked the administration for agreeing to the false moral equivalence between Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s nuclear program. None have condemned Obama for discussing Israel’s purported nuclear program at a time when Iran, which has declared its intention to destroy Israel, is racing toward the nuclear finish line.

Then too, the American Jewish community is silent as Obama strong-arms Israel into indirect, administration-mediated talks with the Palestinians. It is silent even as it is widely reported that Obama has threatened Israel that if it builds homes for Jews in Jerusalem or refuses to accept a Palestinian state by next year, he will impose his own “peace plan.”

The American Jewish community is all but mute as Obama does to Israel what Berkeley is doing to Israel.

The fact of the matter is that defending Israel against its enemies isn’t a freedom of speech issue. It is an issue of right vs. wrong. Israel is the state of the Jewish people. It is a great ally of the US. Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem were legally allocated to the Jewish people by the League of Nations Mandate in 1922 and that allocation has never been cancelled or superseded. Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and neighborhoods in united Jerusalem are not illegal. The IDF did not commit war crimes in Gaza or anywhere else. Arabs are full citizens in Israel. When Israel fights, it fights to defend itself from aggression.


The aggression launched against Israel is conducted by societies and states that refuse to recognize its right to exist. It is launched by societies and states that ignore the laws of war, that refuse to respect even the most basic human rights of their own citizens, let alone of Israelis.

The Palestinians have yet to find even one leader who is willing to accept Israel’s right to exist or the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in our land.


This is the truth. This is where the defense of Israel begins. And it is the absence of this truth and this defense from the lexicon of Jewish American students and community leaders in recent years that has brought about a situation where the only reason not to attack Israel is because it is “a waste of time.”

It is the absence of this truth and this defense that has enabled a situation where the president of the United States can maintain the support of the American Jewish community while allowing others to equate Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal with Iran’s nuclear program, and while treating Israel as if it were the root of all the pathologies of the Arab world.


In a world that is dominated by political correctness, and a simmering, ongoing hatred of Israel - an article like this is - simply put - refreshing. Perhaps that is how the truth feels these days, in a world full of lies and deceit - refreshing.

No comments: