The Jewish People Are Always Alone
The Jewish People Are Always Alone

As CEO of a Public Relations Firm, I say to my fellow Jews that perhaps it is time to make the entire world happy. Perhaps the time has come to surrender to Public Opinion.

It seems that Israel’s occupation of Judea and Samaria is simply too much for the world to handle and has gone on for long enough.

Israel is in such a great spot right now, why not get the Jewish Nation to an even better one. How wonderful that Turkey can be Israel’s friend again and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s apology to the Turks was accepted. They will even accept Israeli taxpayers' money for the families of the Mavis Marmara attackers and - most important of all - maybe Israelis will once again vacation in Turkey.

Barack Obama has been shown, through his wise words, to be Israel’s new-found friend. See his charismatic presentation to the Israeli media. Obama lectured Netanyahu - “Given the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine.” Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reminded everyone that American Secretary of State John Kerry is “energized” to broker progress toward a two-state solution.

The families in Sderot who have rockets falling on their homes should remember – Israel isn’t alone.

The words of Tzipi Livni that ”negotiating with the Palestinians is the only way to protect Zionism” should be remembered. Jews in Israel should forget the Zionism of the Torah or of the first pioneers, because Obama himself has promised that Israel isn’t alone.

Of course, when Israel was attacked in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, during the Lebanon Wars and the Intifadas, it was hard to tell. Perhaps, then, the time has come to remember that Israel must always seek world approval.

The Jewish people, who survived the Holocaust and the Crusades, the Holocaust and the Cossacks, surely should know by now that Israel isn’t alone. After all, there are only 560,000 Jews in the “occupied territories”. Why not go somewhere else? As Obama says, Israel isn’t alone.

And maybe now the time has come to please the world even more, and say: There are 6 million Jews in Israel and 300 million Arabs in 22 States in the Middle East – if the Jews gave up the Jewish State, wouldn’t there be peace?

But, then again, the last time I checked, the Haggadah, which Jews worldwide read at their Seders, speaks of Jewish freedom and the celebration of liberation over 3,300 years ago. My family and so many other Jewish families worldwide had our personal history decimated by the Holocaust, only 2 generations ago – in part because no nation would accept our people. Today, the Jewish nation needs no one’s permission to survive.

One of my favorite sections of the Haggadah reads: “And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt—not by the hands of an angel, and not by the hands of a seraph, and not by the hands of a messenger, but the Holy One, blessed be he, himself, in His own glory and in His own Self."

And the lesson for many of us is that Jewish destiny can today be determined by the Jewish people. The world doesn’t love the Jews – and the issue isn’t over the Jews in the so-called “West Bank”, it’s about the entire State of Israel. There was no “occupied” West Bank in 1929 during the pogroms in Hevron or in 1947 when the Arabs fought to destroy the Jewish state. Israel has a right to the so-called "settlements" and needs no one’s permission to survive and live.

Naftali Bennett said it just right: “a nation does not occupy its own land.” The State of Israel – all of it – belongs to the Jewish people.

And too many years of Jewish history should teach us we are always alone. Always.


Ronn Torossian is a entrepreneur and philanthropist.