Ever feel like going outside and screaming at the top of your lungs, “Just SHUT UP!”
I can’t do that because, with several small grandchildren, I would have them repeating it to everyone they know and so, in silence I suffer as I read the words of others, as I hear them express one of several absurd and inaccurate comments. Most prevalent, and most annoying is the one where people suggest that the US should not move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because of the threat of violence. Talk about giving in to terrorism! OMG.
Worse, suggesting that we live in fear of what the Arabs might do…is a formula for disaster. We lived that reality for 2,000 years. I was once told by a Jewish man, brilliant of mind, kind and generous, that when he walked the streets of the Poland of his youth, he and his friends would step into the gutter if a Christian “neighbor” was walking on the sidewalk. The alternative was to risk a beating. “I would be dead,” I told him without thinking. This is the mentality of the ghettos of Poland – and we left them long ago.
We will not live our lives here in Israel out of fear. We will not take smart over right. Jerusalem is ours by right and whether the decision to move the Embassy is smart or not, it should be done. Years ago, we were caught in a missile attack on the northern border. Thousands of Israelis vacationing in the north headed south in the hours after the sirens sounded. We stayed. One of our children begged us to go home and we told him that this IS our home. What would you do if they attacked our village, we asked him. We should fight, he told us and it was so easy with a child of 10 or so to explain that this too is our home, here close to the border with Lebanon. Here we fight.
We have always fought for the right to live in our land – it is likely we always will. What will destroy us is not the Arabs, but the ghetto mentality that comes like a tidal wave from Jews in America and the leftists here in Israel. Jerusalem is our home, our soul, our heart.
Do we need Donald Trump to “recognize” Jerusalem as our capital. Heck no. But if he does, the proper response is “thank you” and “yes, of course.” How dare you, who live on distant shores, offer to sacrifice Jerusalem for us. It is MY son on the front line defending this land, defending Jerusalem from the north, as my city defends it from the east. You have no right and more, you have much wrong. Here is the truth of Jerusalem…told eloquently and in an entertaining fashion by a man who knows, a man who has spent his life on the front lines defending Israel with words, with truth. Listen to Danny Ayalon as he tells you the truth of Jerusalem.
Lovely words and so candidly expressed. We in India have a constant tension because of our rogue nation Pakistan who harbors terrorist in its backyards and who wages war against us even if we extend a helping hand. We have shown that we wont tolerate the ongoing nuisance henceforth. I echo your sentiments completely Paula
Sooo True, Paula!