Meanwhile back in the real world…writes Michael Kuttner
The VIP’s have returned to their countries and the oratorical funeral eulogies have subsided.
Jerusalemites can breathe easy now that roads have been re-opened and the suffocating security dislocation of the past week has passed. Having been bombarded with overblown rhetoric, gratuitous advice and unsolicited lecturing by Barak Obama and Bill Clinton we are faced with reality again as opposed to flights of fancy.
Michael Kuttner
The legacy of Oslo has once again hit us full in the face. We must deal with its disastrous consequences as opposed to all those who either admonish us from a safe distance or who prefer to pretend that peace is just around the corner. The latest leftist politically correct narrative is to accuse anyone who refuses to rejoice over the prospect of surrendering parts of our land to terrorists as desecrators of the legacy of the late Shimon Peres. This legacy which has been elevated to the infallible level of revealed dogma has resulted in murder and misery for innumerable Israelis.
This past week has vividly demonstrated not only the utter failure of Oslo but also its dire consequences for the citizens of the Jewish State. Any more explicit examples would be hard to find.
The American President and Secretary of State had hardly departed before the first malicious manifestation of hypocrisy burst onto the scene. The White House press office routinely issues transcripts of the President’s speeches for dissemination worldwide. Included at the top of the transcript is the location of the speech. Therefore on this occasion the speech given by Obama at the funeral of Shimon Peres showed the location as Jerusalem, Israel. However several hours later while still flying back to Washington, the White House issued an amended transcript showing just Jerusalem and with the country Israel crossed out.
This incredible piece of two-faced chutzpah demonstrates yet again that flattering platitudes of solidarity which emanate from time to time from certain politicians are mere hot air and insincere verbiage. Where on earth do Obama and Kerry think the funeral of Shimon Peres took place? In some unnamed country? The Mount Herzl cemetery is in Israel’s Capital which happens to be Jerusalem. If they are unhappy with this fact why did they bother to turn up? Why burble nonsense if you refuse to recognize that the place where you are speaking is located in the State of Israel? Where do they think Israel’s Parliament is located or for that matter the President of the State? When they lay a wreath at Yad Vashem do they think that it is located in some unmentionable country? One can think of no bigger insult to the memory of the late Shimon Peres and also to the people of Israel than this exercise in crass behaviour.
Yet another ship of fools once again became ship wrecked on the shoals of ignorant and idiotic delusions. This all women farce which included a Green Member of the New Zealand Parliament came equipped not with any humanitarian aid but rather with a raft of far left slogans reminiscent of past now defunct Communist regimes. Obviously the intent was not to assist those in genuine need but rather to seek publicity and garner headlines in the media. After all, if they really had intended to bring succor to the genuine suffering Arab masses they would have sailed for the coast of Syria where Muslims are slaughtering each other and untold misery is destroying that country. However we all know what sort of reception they would have received. Instead of being towed to Ashdod and sent packing to their home countries they would have ended up as victims of a conflict which is unsurpassed in cruelty and humanitarian deprivation. As their real agenda was to smear Israel any thought of advertising Islamic barbarity now on full display elsewhere was the furthest thing from their hate filled minds.
Receiving a heroine’s welcome from supporters on her return to New Zealand the MP can now bask in the fictitious glory of a botched attempt to falsely vilify the Jewish State. The media led by Radio New Zealand provided a free platform for the dissemination of the usual lies and one-sided distortions.
Welcome to another day in the real world of international double standards.
Just before Yom Kippur a drive by terror attack took place targeting commuters waiting at a light rail stop in Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arab responsible was swiftly eliminated but not before an Israeli policeman and civilian were also fatally wounded. With Obama and Clinton’s eulogies of post Peres peace visions & legacies still ringing in our ears one would have expected swift condemnation of this terror from the much touted leader of the PA. Those who had enthusiastically embraced this false dove of peace at the funeral surely must have been let down yet again. Silence reigned from Ramallah and instead the officially sanctioned media launched into their usual siren songs of hate and incitement. Look at these examples (courtesy of PMW) of the “new Middle East” and realize how reality is totally divorced from hallucinatory hoopla.
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=18885
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=18875
Meanwhile elsewhere in the world, two unrelated events underscore the cockeyed state of affairs we face.
Swiss lawmakers have passed a bill banning the wearing of burqas. The stated goal? In their words, “to maintain public order and respect for the dignity of women.” Imagine for a moment if Israel had passed such a law. The international community would have erupted into a frenzy of self righteous condemnation. However the Swiss are perceived as squeaky clean so this did not cause any ripples in the corridors of the UN.
The election circus currently taking place in the USA is a damning indictment of a system and society corrupted by materialistic mayhem. Regardless of whoever eventually triumphs at the polls the prospects for inspired leadership and solidarity with Israel’s fight against the forces of bigotry and toxic Islamic hate look extremely remote.
As I write these lines UNESCO is poised to declare the Temple Mount and Western Wall as Islamic Holy sites and the UN Security Council under the chairmanship of New Zealand is about to meet to discuss the threat to world peace of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
Jews in Israel and throughout the Diaspora will instead focus on celebrating Sukkot – The Feast of Tabernacles. Reminding us again of the journey to the Promised Land and the festivities which took place at the Temple and in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, this pilgrim Festival with its Jewish roots planted firmly in the places now delegitimized, sends a strong message.
We have returned and we are not going anywhere else.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
Ron Burdo,
They wouldn’t be there if they were alienated from their Jewish ancestry/heritage. Jews living in Israel are there precisely because of their sense of ancestry/heritage. What an absurd thing to say.
Correction – Israeli is not a Jewish state, but a state of people of Jewish descent, many of them are totally alienated to their Jewish ancestry/heritage.
Good on you, Michael Kuttner. What a stirring and declamatory article. No, we are not going anywhere else! But we really do have to start calling every act of hypocritical rhetoric for what it is straightaway. We do need to come down hard. Please, Israel, do not allow the likes of Obama and Kerry to rattle on with their absurd, lengthy, lecturing prattle, using important official occasions to do it. If they want to come and show off to the world, let it be conditional on recognising beforehand any press release assigning the name of the country they will be in with the location Jerusalem. If they don’t want to do that, let them stay away, let their absence ring out loud.
What a terrible state of affairs overall, with all the issues Michael elaborated. You know, Michael, it’s worse living in the Diaspora, being surrounded by the tune of the day ringing so loudly and consistently, chiming hatred and historical inaccuracies. I, personally, react whenever and wherever I can – in print and verbally – and will continue to do so, but it falls on deaf ears. So many want to believe this stuff, even those who aren’t involved in any way and don’t have much knowledge – what’s worse, they’re not interested enough to do their own research or consider other perspectives.
We need to devise a public relations machine with the force behind it the Palestinian propaganda campaign has had since the 1970s. We need to think it out carefully and completely, devise a focus and framework within which the thrust will continue unrelentingly. Not just respond ad hoc to each occasion that demands it. Unfortunately the rest of the world matters, and its obscene ‘global’ interplay that manifests across the board, affecting everything from the economy and jobs to notions of cultural rights, is virulent. We do have to make a concerted effort to fight bullies with an agenda, in a very public way, which would expose our perspective, insist on it.