A response to Jeffrey Goldberg's August 13th article on Blooomberg View: Israel Faces Deepening Isolation.

A campaign of relentless pressure against Israel, which had been building up for some time, is now reaching culmination. It revolves around a simple threat: If Israel does not willingly give in at the negotiating table to the concessions that threaten her existence, Israel will be doomed to face repercussions that threaten her existence away from the table.

The purpose of the pressure is obvious: to coerce Israel’s citizens and their duly elected government into abandoning all better judgment and self-interest in favor of accepting unacceptable harm and risk.

Israel’s enemies are preparing to do their worst, and we must quickly prepare to give our best.

The entire “peace process” is based upon the incorrect notion that territory and the lack of a 23rd Arab state to be called “Palestine” are the core motivation of the Arab war against Israel. Though all facts and common sense point to the religious and cultural hostility of the Arab nation toward the Jewish state, the idea of exchanging land for peace has nevertheless become the alchemy of our age.

Ignoring the increase of attacks and security threats that resulted from Israel’s previous withdrawals, and the regularly expressed desire of the Arab world to see Israel destroyed, the radical ideologues who promote the “Two State Solution” remain desperate enough to accept even the most obviously fatal risks.

Today, Israel’s true opponents are not the Arabs who launch missiles and seek to carry out terrorist attacks. They could never defeat her, although she could soon enough eliminate them if she were to muster the self-respect and moral clarity to do so.  Today, Israel’s real opponents are those who use threats and pressure to deny the Jewish state the freedom to decide and act upon its own best interests, and would instead force her to deliver suicidal concessions in pursuit of an illusory peace agreement.

What motivates the delegitimization of Israel is anti-Semitism, plain and simple, not the absence of a 23rd Arab state called “Palestine.”
It has been widely reported that Secretary of State Kerry is pressuring Israel by threatening that a “delegitimization campaign on steroids” will ensue if a peace agreement is not achieved.  Columnist Jeffrey Goldberg has written as much in an article on Bloomberg View titled "Israel Faces Deepening Isolation, Kerry Warns", August 13, 2012.

His threat simply isn’t true. What motivates the delegitimization of Israel is anti-Semitism, plain and simple, not the absence of a 23rd Arab state called “Palestine.”

Regarding the delegitimization of Israel, the lines have already been drawn. Those who care to attack her do so to the best of their ability and will continue their efforts regardless of any “peace agreement” in the same way that anti-Semitism persists in places where not a single Jew remains.  It has always been Israel’s mistake to try making friends out of its enemies by appeasing them with concessions, rather than looking to defeat them by pursuing peace through strength.

The operative issue now is whether the United States will continue to exert its influence to counter those who delegitimize Israel. Kerry’s warning about Israel finding itself “Isolated” relates strictly to the threat that the Obama administration may abandon Israel in the face of the economic harm that her delegitimizers wish to do her.

That economic challenge would not be as severe as implied. The hi-tech sectors that truly drive Israel’s economy enjoy an incredible level of demand from business-minded countries. The desire of tourists to experience Israel will never end. Though manufactured goods may be targeted and affected in the short term, Israel could overcome the loss by turning to her friends, particularly the tens of millions of Evangelical Christians, and asking them to make “buy Israeli” the new “buy American.”

In the end, it doesn’t matter if Israel is illegitimate in the eyes of her opponents. All that matters is that she is legitimate and worthy in her own eyes and those who stand with her. The fate of Israel is solely in the hands of the Jewish people and Hashem.

So as Israel’s enemies prepare to do their worst, let each of us prepare to give our best.