Accept Israel's right to exist

By Mitchell Levin

In freshman philosophy courses, the question was “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it really fall?” In the real world, the question is, “If a rocket lands in Israel and the media do not report, did it really take place?”

I don't know about the first question, but I do know that the answer to the second question is “Yes, yes indeed.” On May 19, 20, 27 and 28, rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel. They were among 350 rockets and missiles that various Arab groups have fired into Israel since the start of 2010. Where did the Arabs get the rockets? They were shipped into Gaza.

Israel has been forced to cordon off Gaza in an attempt to limit the shipment of weapons and munitions into the Arab entity because they are being used as part of an attempt to destroy Israel. The people manning the ships that were turned back off the coast of

Gaza admitted that their goal was to break the Israeli cordon, which would mean that an unlimited supply of weapons and munitions would reach those who have publicly sworn to destroy Israel.

Can you imagine the United States sitting idly by if anybody was firing barrages of missiles? We have been fighting two wars for almost 10 years because of one attack. And remember that American combat troops did not go to the Middle East to fight for Israel. They defended Arabs in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from the Arabs in Iraq. Al-Qaida attacked America because of our presence in the holy land of Saudi Arabia, not because of Israel.

Is it fair game to criticize Israel? Of course. But Israel's critics demand her destruction and use a double standard. The latest example: the Turks. Will the Turks ever take responsibility for the Armenian genocide? Will the Turks ever end their persecution of the Kurds and let them have their own state? Will they ever end their support for the illegal puppet regime that they have imposed on Cyprus?

No one is calling for the destruction of Turkey. Only Israel gets this kind of treatment. Those who really want peace in the Middle East can follow the trail blazed by Anwar Sadat. Before Sadat, there were four fruitless wars in 25 years designed to destroy Israel. Since Sadat signed the peace treaty with Israel, not a war in nearly 40 years.

If you want open borders, if you want an end to blockades, if you want an end to violence, then accept Israel's right to exist and back up your words with deeds.

Mitchell Levin of Cedar Rapids is a contributing editor for Segula, a history magazine, and Janglo. He edits two blogs: http://thisdayinjewish

history.blogspot.com/ and http://down

homedavartorah.blogspot.com/ Comments: melech3@mchsi.com