Author: Zak Mazur Milwaukee Wisconsin
USA
Publication: Jerusalem Post
Date: May 7, 2002
URL: http://www.jpost.com/Letters/25585.html
Judging from the news and what people
are writing in the Jerusalem Post letters section, it seems as if the entire
population of Europe has been stricken by a collective amnesia.
Day in and day we Jews are subjected
to these self- righteous, patronizing comments from various individuals
from Europe telling us things we already know, suggesting we do things
we already did.
A recent letter from a well-intentioned
Tom Freke of London, UK, is a case in point. He wrote regarding so- called
"misinformed comments about Europe" espoused by many Jews and Israelis.
Following are his replies and my
responses:
"1) The gradual resolution of the
Northern Ireland "troubles" has come through a political process, not military.
The UK government sat down with terrorists, while bombs were still going
off, to achieve the relative peace we have today."
Mr. Freke, ever since Israel signed
the Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1993 there was a huge spike
in the number of Arab terror attacks, and a huge spike in Jewish victims.
The number of Israelis murdered from Arab terrorism between 1993 to the
year 2000 makes anything the IRA ever did look like child's play. Nevertheless,
after 7 years of terrorism (despite the fact Israel was ceding territory
during that time) former Israeli PM Ehud Barak offered 97% of all the disputed
territories. So Israel already went that route, sir.
"2) The EU support for the Palestinians
does not make it anti-Israel. This is not a zero-sum game."
It's not that the EU supports the
Palestinians. Lot's of Jews and Israelis support the Palestinian goal of
statehood as well. Our problem is not so much that the EU is pro- Palestinian
as much as it really is, well, anti-Israel. Yes, anti- Israel. The EU holds
Israel under a moral microscope that no country could ever hope to adhere
to, which EU states don't adhere to themselves. The EU uses a double standard
on Israel and we reject that because a double standard implies a form of
bigotry. Recently a number of EU states voted for a UN resolution that
justified the use of violence and terrorism against Israel. For sake of
brevity, I will stop here, but there are, sadly, many examples of EU animus
towards Israel
"3) The EU generally believes that
a military "solution" to the Intifada will not work. Imprisoning and killing
Palestinians is, from this view, a recipe for the creation of more hate."
According to a poll taken before
Passover by an-Naja university (A Palestinian university), 78% of Arabs
polled supported continued suicide bombings in Israel. This, mind you,
was before Operation Defensive Shield. Before the Passover Massacre, there
were up to ten bombing attempts per day! Since Operation Defensive Shield,
there has been one "successful" bombing attack, in Jerusalem.
At this point in time, a military
"solution" has worked better than most people expected. Is it the final
answer? Of course not, but even PM Ariel Sharon is aware of that, which
is why he said Israel is committed to future negotiations.
From our view, even if there are
now a few more Palestinians who hate Jews and Israel and want to kill us,
well, so what? I mean, 78% of all Palestinians wanted more bombings BEFORE
Israel's incursions, so how much worse can it really get?
"4) The EU has more experience of
terrorism (ETA, Corsica and N. Ireland, to name three) than most."
Not one EU country has ever faced
the scale and scope of Israel's terrorist threat. If any country has now
tasted a sample of what Israelis have been dealing with, it's the United
States of America. It's child play when the terrorists call in their bombings
ahead of time, as most European terrorists do.
Perhaps Europeans don't realize
this, but many Jews in America and Israel are beginning to absolutely hate
them. In my own family of extremely secular Jews, we no longer discuss
what the Arabs are doing or saying about us. Rather, most political conversations
are about the Europeans. I think I speak for most Jews, religious and secular,
when I say that we feel utterly betrayed by Europe.
You betrayed us! You told us that
when we offered to give up the West Bank and Gaza and share Jerusalem that
you'd line up behind us. We were told that once Israel was seen as making
huge strides for peace, all morality would be on our side without question.
Well, Europeans, we did what you
suggested. We turned around looking for help when the Arabs began attacking
us after rejecting our outstretched hand for peace. We turned around but
you were gone. We looked to the other side and we found you- You are standing
shoulder to shoulder with our enemies who are dedicated to Israel's destruction.
Zak Mazur (zamazur@yahoo.com)