I thought to myself, "L-rd, what has it come to?" when I found myself attending an all-day conference entitled "How to defend Israel (on campus, in the media, to the White House, at your office)". It was being sponsored by Stand With Us, AIPAC and CAMERA.



I doubted the conference until later that evening, when I had dinner with a Jewish man from California who told me, "They ought to give Israel back to the Palestinians, to whom it belongs."



Questioning him further, he replied that 'they' were the Jews who didn't belong there in the first place. Controlling my anger, I smiled and asked this idiot to where he thought they should move?



He responded, "Anywhere. They have money. Countries will take them in."



It was then that the need for such conferences hit me. It took all of my control, despite my red hair, not to hit him.



That folks, is the reason why we ? and in this case, the 'we' stands for Jews and Christians who are alarmed about what is over the horizon ? should be aware and attend such conferences.



When the Second World War was being fought, my southern relatives had excuses for inaction that we don't now. My daddy, a man from Atlanta, Georgia, was in the Navy and stationed in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. From what I gathered, the people at home knew there was a war and all-out efforts were made to support our boys in the service. However, they really weren't aware of what was happening to our brethren in Europe, who were systemically being slaughtered to the tune of millions, who were being herded into the ovens of the death camps.



The Atlanta Jewish community had lulled themselves into believing that President Roosevelt was a great man. I don't believe they knew that his immigration policy towards Jews resulted in them being trapped in Europe, where Hitler would find them. It was only later that they realized the allies did not bomb even one concentration camp, or even one railroad leading to a concentration camp.



Today, we just don't have any excuse. Thanks to television and the Internet, the news is broadcast around the world. Unless you have been living in caves, as those in many of the countries that oppose us have been, you know what s going on. (Even there, they use computers to keep in touch.)



Even that haven of Arab propaganda, the Los Angeles Times, which had spent all week beating up profusely on Israel over the Sheikh Yassin killing, surprised me. They ran a token story on anti-Semitism entitled "New Anti-Semitism Stirs Old Anxieties". I found it a little ironic, as it was a contributing story at the same time their resident Nazi, Tracy Wilkinson, who never met an anti-Semite she couldn't write a story defending, had been moved to Italy to do her damage from there.



I didn't t need the folks at Stand With Us, AIPAC, CAMERA or any of the others who were at that conference that day to tell me that when it comes to the European Union, anti-Semitism is at pre-1930 levels. It's obvious when Europe makes a major issue of putting Israel on trial for war crimes when it takes steps to protect its citizens. And for the past year or so, Europeans aren't just after Israel, they're after the USA too.



They know you don't negotiate with people whose only reason for living is killing. Yet, terrorism is terrorism, everywhere in the world. Except of course, when it happens in Israel. Then, it s reported as "incidents".



We try and sound-bite terrorism, but, somehow, Israel's public relations, or lack thereof, don't quite convey what we need to hear. That being that the Jewish State is fighting a real, honest-to-goodness war. Also, the side that speaks most effectively for peace will win American support. Yasser Arafat has been saying the big lie of Palestinian statehood for so long that there is an entire generation who grew up never knowing that there are no Palestinians. They are Arabs.



I think, however, that we in the United States are finally beginning to realize that Israel's problem is now a global one. Too much of our taxes are going to people who wish us ill. (Although we haven't quite begun to realize that our aid to the downtrodden Palestinians is in reality fomenting a culture of hatred, is going to fund streets, squares, soccer teams named after suicide bombers, and towards payoffs to the families of terrorists.) Bombings of our own soldiers and embassies are getting to be all too common. And all those charities such as CAIR (that even Sen. Kerry's wife makes donations to) are funding terrorism.



I recently received an e-mail from Professor Francisco Gil-White, who teaches in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania. He was fired because of his pro-Israel and pro-Serbian views. Initially, I found it hard to believe that Professor Gil-White was actually being fired until I made a call to the dean and also tried to speak with Prof. Robert DeRubeis, the psychology department chairman. None of my calls to the university were returned. It's ironic that good gentiles such as Professor Gil-White are now on the receiving end of persecution because of their defense of Israel.



The situation has gotten so bad that it's almost impossible for any speaker who is Jewish or is from Israel to speak on any campus. The Arab coalition and their clueless, Jew-hating supporters are strong and the universities have been greatly weakened by the politically correct dribble that is being taught to the students there.



Even journalists are not immune. One of my colleagues, writer Steven Plaut, is facing thousands of dollars in legal fees because of a lawsuit initiated by Neve Gordon. Gordon is saying that Plaut damaged his good name. Yet, as Mr. Plaut states, how can someone who says Israel is a fascist, apartheid, terrorist state, and someone whose anti-Israel comments are regularly featured on the websites of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers, even have a good name that can be damaged?



The case was filed in Nazareth court because Mr. Neve Gordon wanted the case to be heard by an Arab judge, because he thought he would be more sympathetic to Gordon's going into Ramallah illegally in the middle of Operation Defensive Wall to serve as human shield and show his solidarity for Arafat and the PLO.



Now, Mr. Plaut is facing thousands of dollars in legal expenses to fight off this frivolous suit.



What is happening in Israel when anti-Semitism is at an all time high and freedom of speech is being slowly removed from Israel - by Jews, no less. I am still astounded that the Arutz Sheva radio show isn't allowed to broadcast because they, too, have been deemed politically incorrect. Yet, the official PLO media continue to broadcast incitement against Israel, when Israel controls the airways.



Time is on Israel's side because terrorism is not a Jewish problem. Its cancer has a tendency to spread. It doesn't discriminate among its victims. The monsters who target buses, schools, discos and restaurants, etc., don't give a diddly-squat whether they kill babies, old people or even the neighborhood dog. Our papers over the past couple of years have been filled with Arab terrorism. Our economy has been going down the tubes in large part because of Arab/Muslim terrorism and the cost of protecting ourselves against it.



Anti-Semitism is an immediate threat, but the Christians are in the sights now and reality is beginning to set in that our enemy is a common one. Now, we in the United States are witnessing the grisly scenes of barbaric Arabs dancing and waving, and chanting anti-American slogans while mutilating and burning the remains of U.S. civilians, before dragging them down the street into the cheering mobs. The American mentality will eventually understand just how vicious, evil and formidable the enemy is.



Our army has already had a press conference stating, "We will have a deliberate, precise, overwhelming response."



Funny, when Israel responds to terrorism with that attitude, the United Nations usually have emergency sessions protesting the harsh response. How this plays out is going to be interesting.



Israel has long known that the culture of the enemy is not one with which it is possible to reason. They understand force. I hope the time is coming soon in Israel when they will also understand transfer. That is the only option.