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Commentary
by Dr. Gerhard Falk |
Peace
We Jews
regard peace as the most important goal in the life of any one person, in the
life of the family and in the lives of Israel and all the world.
The
evidence for this immense desire for peace is understood by anyone who has ever
recited the Kaddish prayer, which we say several times during every Jewish
service. That prayer includes the sentences: “May there be abundant peace from
heaven and life upon us and all Israel. He who makes peace in his heights may he
make peace upon us and all Israel.”
The Hebrew
greeting “Shalom” also means peace and the famous citation from Isaiah 2:3,
which is set in stone in front of the United Nations building in New York,
reads: “..and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more.”
You can
look up I Chronicles 22:8; Psalms 68:30 or Psalms 79:10 or numerous other
references, all showing that Israel and the Jewish people have for millennia
taught the world not to make war and to prefer peace.
To date,
unfortunately, this lesson has not been learned and the Arab haters and their
supporters continue to attack innocent Jews in Israel, in France and wherever
Jews are defenseless.
Likewise,
the haters have attacked our country, as demonstrated by the monstrous cruelty
of 9/11 when three thousand Americans were indiscriminately slaughtered by Arab
haters and their allies.
Seeking
now to produce another Holocaust, the European nations, allies of the Arab
haters, have once more begun to beat Jews in the streets, burn down synagogues,
boycott Jewish produced goods and exclude Jews from jobs and academic meetings.
Because
the same hate mongers who attack Jews are also attacking our country everywhere,
our government had no choice but to got after the killers in Afghanistan and
Iraq. It is of course the first duty of any government to protect its citizens
from murder. That is the reason the government of Israel was forced to reoccupy
the areas of Israel mainly inhabited by the Arab settlers in Israel, i.e., Judea
and Samaria.
Seeking to
protect Americans from further “9/11” attacks, our President, George W.
Bush, sent our armed forces to Iraq, whose government pays homicide bombers for
killing Americans and Israelis. That country is also the source of much of the
slaughter of Christians in Africa, in Asia and in Europe. The Europeans, always
admirers of bloody dictators like Hitler, Arafat and Hussein, tried to prevent
the war against Iraq because they make so much money from giving Iraq the means
to produce weapons of mass destruction. Now, however, the die is cast. The war
is on and it behooves us as Americans to support our men and women who are dying
and risking their lives in that war.
Because we
value freedom of speech above all our values, we of course want to protect those
who protest the war in the streets. These protesters pretend that they are for
peace and against war. The truth is of course and evidently otherwise. The truth
is that the anti-war protesters are for war. They want to make war upon Israel
and the Jewish people instead of war against Iraq and the Arab hate mongers.
Look at
the signs carried by the so-called “peace activists” at their street
rallies. Innumerable signs blatantly appeal to hatred of Jews. The signs call
for the destruction of Israel, the persecution of American Jews and the burning
of synagogues.
Moreover,
the San Francisco “peacenicks” refused to let the anti-Israel Rabbi Lerner
speak at their rally because no Jews are allowed.
When will
we ever learn? The Israel haters want to bring on another Holocaust. If you
don’t know what that word really means you might want to see the recent movie
“The Pianist”, although that is of course far short of the real experience.
Now we are told by the haters that the war against Iraq was instigated by “the
Jews” and is only in the interest of the Jews. This crazy interpretation flies
into the fact that the Bush cabinet does not contain a single Jew and that
hardly any Jews voted for George W. Bush. Yet, the prime American Nazi, the
publicist Pat Buchanan, wrote that the war is being fought “to make the world
safe for Israel.” Buchanan was strongly opposed to the election of
Gore-Lieberman in 2000 because Lieberman is a Jew. He urged his followers to
vote Republican. Now, however, that George W. Bush turns out to be a strong
supporter of Israel, Buchanan curses Bush and claims that Bush is a “tool”
of Israel.
It is of
course true that Israel was severely threatened by the weapons of mass
destruction in the hands of the Iraqis. It is also true that Israel receives
massive aid from our country. Finally, it is true that much of the electronic
weaponry used by our armed forces was invented in Israel. In the Buffalo
Jewish Review and elsewhere, you can read all about the tremendous help that
the Israeli electronics industry has provided our country.
In view of
all this, do not be fooled by the so called “peace” activists. They are our
enemies. They don’t mean peace. They mean the peace of the grave for us and
for Israel. May they be recognized for what they are and may our armed forces be
victorious soon in the interest of real peace. Bimheyro v’yomaynoo,
Shalom u’vracha.
Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications,
including Grandparents:
A New Look at the Supporting Generation (with Dr. Ursula A., Falk, 2002),
& Man's
Ascent to Reason (2003).
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