Five Towns residents and shuls join to support Israel

Over 200 residents and community leaders came to Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence Monday night to show support for Israel in a rally that had been called before the November 21st cease-fire halted the rocket barrage from Gaza into Israel and Israel’s return surgical strikes.

Following prayers for the State of Israel, the welfare of the U.S. and forthe Israeli army, led by community rabbis, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy spoke briefly, lauding Israel’s Iron Dome defensive system for “saving many lives” and the newer David’s Sling for longer range missiles. “We will be there for Israel,” she declared to applause, noting the bipartisan support in most of Congress, working to “make sure that Israel will stay strong and have the equipment that it will need.” She also said that she would be visiting Israel in the next few weeks.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was the principle speaker. He reported that he had just returned from Israel with a brief stop at the UN in anticipation of the Palestinian Authority’s bid this Thursday to upgrade their status to that of a non-member state. In a wide ranging talk to a riveted audience, Hoenlein praised Israel’s careful defense, and pointed out the world’s indifference to Jews under attack, Hamas’ determination and attempts to not only destroy Israel but all Jews, and the threats to world stability emanating from Iran and other Islamist countries and movements in the Middle East and world-wide.

Citing this week’s Parsha and Yaakov’s fear of being killed and his distress at having to kill to save himself and his family, he extrapolated that to the current situation in Israel, stressing that “Israel could have carpet bombed Gaza and ended it” but only killed 100 in Gaza of whom Hamas acknowledged that 80% were terrorists (Hoenlein said that meant 90%) in 1,000 sorties and that all hit their targets. One reporter criticized a surgical strike that took out one building, leaving the adjoining buildings intact and their laundry still hanging on the line. Throughout the briefing sessions, Hoenlein said that lawyers were ever-present in the room with the Defense and Prime Ministers with each decision. Noting that the conflict was not about land, territory or occupation, since Israel pulled out of Gaza, leaving not one Jew behind, seven years ago, it was only about Hamas’ rejecting Israel’s right to exist. “And they (the Israelis) don’t want to go back,” he said.

“The most amazing aspect of the coverage we witnessed,” he said, “ is that you can’t believe what you read, hear and see.” He described a photo, distributed by the UN, on the front page of the New York Times, of a father carrying a bloody child that was actually a seven year old photo of a car accident victim, and other photos of the conflict in Syria being passed off as from Gaza. Thousands of bombs were fired from civilian sites in Gaza into civilian centers in Israel, children sleep in air raid shelters, suffering severe and constant psychological trauma and many have been injured in rocket attacks with “not one session of the human rights council,” he said.

He recounted that Christians are murdered throughout the Arab world but “where is the outrage?” Hoenlein often meets with leaders from Arab countries who tell him that they know that “Israel is a source of stability in the region, Iran is a common enemy and Israel is a common ally” but they will still condemn Israel. Israel supplies Gaza’s electricity, fuel, and water, and medical care in Israeli hospitals, and throughout the eight days of the conflic,t kept the borders open providing those in Gaza with tons of food.

Egypt, “a real country,” said Hoenlein, is in turmoil related to its failed economy, Syria is a colonial state held together with ”gum and spit and no common identity,” and Libya is a conglomeration of 147 tribes with various languages and extreme cultural differences. Arab countries are pushing for empire status attempting to reconstitute the past, the Ottoman, the Persian, the Sunni Crescent, a Wahabi Empire and the Moslem Brotherhood who already has an empire, said Hoenlein. “One little country, one little sliver of land” is blocking their aspiration, he said, “the values that Israel stands for is the enemy.” He said that Israel is the only place where America can leave military equipment and conduct military exercises in safety and share technology and intelligence for the mutual benefit of the U.S. and Israel. He noted that Israel is the one stable country in the middle east, with Egypt and Iran jockeying to divide Syria, Iraq a “stooge” of Iran and Jordan “teetering.” He emphasized the silence of most of the Arab world during this conflict, that they fear the Moslem Brotherhood and Iran more than Israel. They have to “stop the influx of weapons into Gaza. The people in the south have suffered too long. The U.S. didn’t pressure Israel into the agreement, the limited action achieved the goals that Israel wanted.” He noted that “Manhattan is more densely populated than Gaza and Karachi is eight times more densely populated than Gaza,” and no one is fighting for them.

“Iran is the fulcrum,” stressed Hoenlein, noting that Syria and Gaza were diversions and Iran has ramped up its goal to build a nuclear weapon and that it will now take only three months to get weapons grade uranium; “They have created a new reality and are closing the window.” It will change the Middle East, he said, with 14 Arab countries seeking to go nuclear. “As long as we say we will engage with them, it buys time to negotiate, it’s not serious. We have to weaken them from within, enforce sanctions without giving exemptions to countries; they are supporting terrorists worldwide. The U.S. has to set a clear deadline. We have to mean what we say.” They need to see a strong West. “The Arab countries are looking for the U.S. to lead.” He said Iran’s influence is spreading to South America, Africa, Europe and North America, with patrols finding uniforms and Korans along the Texas border. “There is not a single month that Islamists are not arrested in the U.S.,” he said.

Hoenlein said that the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons are now in Syria, that the U.S. should “leverage” the aid to Egypt to reign them in and that Congress should cut off aid to the PA. Abbas is guilty of “continued incitement and knows that he never has to pay the price for it, the aid doesn’t get to the people, and his kids are multimillionaires. We always let him off the hook.”

He highlighted the media’s double standard with Israel and their hiring local Arabs as stringers to report the news in Arab areas. He praised Israel’s public relations efforts, with pictures “in real time, utilizing twitter, facebook, showing the truth.”

UNESCO, he said, was busy renaming thousands of years old Jewish sites as mosques and Moslem sites. “You would think they have something more important to worry about than denying the Judeo-Christian heritage, but they understand that if they take away our past they take away our future.” He pointed out recent archeological discoveries in Israel. “G-d is telling us that we have the privilege of a state, technology and a friend in the U.S. as an ally.” He recounted a speech he gave to a large gathering of Christians in San Antonio. He asked if anyone remembered the ten spies who spoke against Israel and no one could, but when asked to name those who defended Israel, loudly cheered “Caleb and Joshua” over and over. “The lesson of history is that those who stand with Israel stand forever,” he declared.

He concluded by stressing the importance of being involved and “how much of a difference we can make” that “Jewish power is a myth but we should make it a legend” and “live up to the responsibility we all have.” He stressed the importance of signing up for dailyalert.org and leadershipactionnetwork.org that presents “talking points “ and “action recommendations,” to enable concerned individuals to be articulate defenders of Israel.