
With the Democrat National Convention (DNC) ended and the American presidential race officially begun, we have much to contemplate. First, the easy part: Trump gets our vote. The second easy part: the Democrats do not. Now for the more complex and intriguing stuff.
First, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Psalms 121:4. If He wants a house built, it will be built. If not, not. Ps. 127:1. One night, the unstoppable world conqueror Sancherev (Sennacherib) camps outside the walls of Jerusalem with 185,000 barbarians primed to slaughter the Jews the next day. King Hezekiah is terrified. The next morning, all 185,000 never wake up, having died overnight, smitten by G-d. II Kings 19:35. A few days later, Sancherev is assassinated by his sons at the temple where he worships his god. 19:37. The G-d of Israel guarded Israel.
And He has continued guarding Israel every day since the rise of the Third Commonwealth. We do not need an Isaiah or Jeremiah to tell us that any problems we encounter with Arab Muslims are the result of our own doing. We do not need a Divine Prophet to tell us that, when 100,000 leftist Jews assemble (most of them treasonously) every Saturday night at Kaplan to tear down the Israeli government while scores of Israeli reservists and retired generals sign letters swearing not to fight to defend Israel, Hamas will invade and neighboring Arabs will finalize plans to invade.
It is useful to look at the situation today objectively and in this light.
First, the Iranian mass attack a few weeks ago demonstrated an interesting fact. Although it was criminal for Ehud Barak and his successors to transition IDF doctrine to rely on America to produce and supply all Israel’s weapons, even replacement bullets and shells, it is instructive that (by G-d’s grace) America, England, and France will not let Israel fall now. Certainly, none of them is to be trusted. All may change tomorrow. But right now, although they will not allow Israel to win, they also will not allow the Arabs to win — completely.
That is the message they are conveying: “We want to force you out of Gaza, allow Hamas to rebuild, reconstitute, re-invade, and re-slaughter. We want to force you to give Fatah — and soon after Hamas — a country in Judea and Samaria that also will work to slaughter and eradicate you. But we won’t let you go under. We will do what Nixon did: We will bury you with pressure to remain under-armed and not to strike first when you need to, but we will come to the rescue at the last minute, for our own reasons, when that moment arrives. ”
Listen carefully to Harris: “We always will defend Israel.” Obviously, this is profoundly unacceptable, but know it. For their own reasons, they will be there to defend if the need arises.
Second, although Europe is completely useless for Israel, except as noted above, know that the American Democrats, bad as they are, are absolutely no worse today than they ever have been. We often speak of how the Democrats used to be our best friends but have become our enemies. Both parts are a myth.
During the 30 years when we called the Democrats Israel’s best friend, they were exactly the same as now. They always called for a “Two State Solution” and condemned “Jewish settlements in occupied Arab territory.” They never recognized United Jerusalem or moved the embassy there. Leftist Jewish media (JTA, Israeli “news” outlets) told us how well Democrats got along with Golda, Rabin, Abba Eban, and Peres. But when you read between the lines and look back dispassionately, the Democrats never did or stood for one thing better than they do now under Biden.
Biden is holding up weapons? Well, the great Harry Truman embargoed weapons as Israel desperately struggled to be born. Johnson unequivocally opposed the 1967 preemptive strike. The next Democrat was Jimmy Carter. Bill Clinton welcomed Arafat to the White House more than he did any other foreign “leader” and brutally pressed Israel back to the 1967 boundaries — with Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s full blessing and agreement. If G-d had not miraculously hardened Arafat’s heart, as He did to Pharaoh, inducing Arafat to turn down the Barak-Clinton sell-out and start the Intifadas, Clinton-Barak would have resulted in a calamity worse than Oslo and Gaza. Next Democrat was Obama...
The only reasons for the myth of a deep and warm Democrat love for Israel in the past are: (i) that leftist party correctly saw pre-1977 Israel as a socialist Marxist experiment with kibbutz collectives and Labor Party socialists in charge; (ii) Jewish leftists accordingly sought elected office as Democrats; and (iii) the Republicans were worse: Eisenhower in 1956, Nixon playing both sides, Ford and Kissinger formally doing a “reassessment” of the relationship with Israel.
The first Bush and his Secretary of State, James Baker, were truly anti-Semitic. Moreover, Republicans were “low key” anti-Semites as the Great Immigration of 1881-1914 unfolded. They kept Jews out of hotels, motels, universities, faculties, country clubs, hospital medical practices, law firms, and corporate board rooms. So Jews sensibly gravitated to Democrats. But, objectively, Democrats never were better on Israel than Biden has been. All were equally bad. That’s fact.
(By the way, Reagan was the best since 1948, but he was no Rav Kook either. He refused to move the embassy, condemned Prime Minister Menachem Begin for bombing the Iraqi nuclear reactor, condemned Israel for Sabra-Shatilla and sent U.S. Marines to Lebanon (until they all got blown up by Arab Muslims) to teach the militaristic Israelis and Begin how to keep the peace without harming innocent peace-loving Arab civilians. His proposed peace plan infuriated Begin.)
If the Democrats always were as bad on Israel as they are now, and the Republicans worse, what changed? We owe a debt of gratitude to some Arab named Osama Bin Laden who transformed the Republican party, the party of patriotism, strong defense, and secure borders. Overnight, Rush Limbaugh became a full Zionist after years of criticizing Israel. One by one, up to the younger Bush, Republicans came to see that, without Israel in the middle of the Mideast morass, a universe of Arab Muslims are ready — and quite able — to take down America, beginning with the World Trade Center.
So the second Pres. Bush stopped criticizing Israel when she attacked Arab Muslim terrorists in Jenin. Influential Republicans came to reconsider whether there is such a thing as “Palestinians” (nope) and whether a “Two State Solution” makes sense (nope). Bin Laden changed the GOP in one day. Christian evangelists became a force. Virtually all the leading post-Twin Towers Republicans oppose an Arab country west of the Jordan: Newt, Cruz, Marco, Hawley, Huckabee, Mike Johnson. Trump is almost there.
But know that, if Harris G-d forbid gets elected, Israel will be dealing with exactly the same Democrat party it always has for 76 years. And the presence of some Jew haters there like the “Squad” members (minus two whom AIPAC just picked off) and Senators Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, and Elizabeth Warren is the same it always has been. For years, the leading Democrat in the Senate had been an outright hooded Klansman, Robert Byrd of West Virginia. So our world is not collapsing. No matter what happens, we are fine.
The only reasons the Arabs do not have their own country in Judea and Samaria is that G-d kept cutting down Israeli prime ministers who tried to say yes. Ehud Barak ran into an intifada he could not control. Ehud Olmert ran into a Hezbollah war he could not fight. Ariel Sharon got smitten with a near-death stroke, did not stop trying to give up Judea and Samaria upon recovery, and soon was smitten with a final stroke. The only thing Israel needed and needs to do is to “Just Say No.” Recently, the Knesset has done just that, voting overwhelmingly — finally — that there will never be an Arab country west of the Jordan. So there won’t. End of story.
Trump would offer some instant relief. But his “Deal of the Century” would have entailed Israel abandoning some land in Judea and Samaria. Trump is the best out there. But we err greatly if we think he replaces the protection and primacy of Almig-ty G-d. Trump can expand the Abrahama Accords. He can and will do much good. But he is unpredictable. When we put our faith in others — Truman, DeGaulle, Churchill — we are foolish.
G-d’s miracles are key, happening in broad daylight, and we don’t even realize them. Take Harris’s truly foolish decision to choose Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate instead of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.
So many prayers were answered when Harris made her first truly independent decision — all her own, no script to fall back on — since becoming the Democrat presidential nominee. It has been a season of miracles: President Trump miraculously turning his head to look at an Illegal Immigration chart, the shooter with a simple unobstructed rooftop view missing his target, Biden doddering himself into debate immortality live before millions, the very scheduling of that unprecedentedly early debate for the purpose of politically wiping out Trump but instead eviscerating Joe, all the Biden lawfare cases aimed at ruining Trump’s campaign down the homestretch instead falling apart at lightning speed, and overseas Israel knocking off the Hamas #4 and then the Hezbollah Number 2 and then the Hamas #1 in like a week.
There is no way we can know what will unfold Election Day. But perhaps the greatest miracle will be the political bullet we dodged as Harris selected Walz over Shapiro. And even if she wins, thank G-d we will not have a Court Jew pressing Israel.
She has demonstrated to Jews moving to the right the anti-Semitic calculations ever present in the Democrat party. Secondly, she unwittingly demonstrated the price for Jews to gain acceptance at the party’s highest levels: Abandon your core Judaic values. There is no room on the national stage for Jews who refuse to compromise their Judaic core.
A quarter century ago, Joe Lieberman had been the leading voice in the United States Senate to move America’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But when he was selected to run as Al Gore’s 2000 teammate, he suddenly backtracked, forcefully opposing moving the embassy “at this time.” (Until President Trump, “at this time” was code for “any time.”) Lieberman (Orthodox-ish) started telling radio interviewers that he would be fine if his daughter married a non-Jew. That was the price. Lieberman of blessed memory had to sell out, at least until Gore lost. Afterward, he was back to calling for moving the embassy.
This is why America’s two “most Jewish” Democrats now have turned on Israel. Three decades ago, liberal Democrat Jews comprised fully half the New York City Congressional delegation. Now only two. Jerrold Nadler is the only member of Congress who attended yeshiva Jewish parochial school. He once was an outspoken Israel supporter but now stands as the most vicious critic of Netanyahu and a sharp critic of Israel. His latest maniacal quote: “[Netanyahu is] the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago.” (He attended school that day.)
That is the price: turn against Israel, and be sure to call Israel’s elected leader the worst in 2,000 years.
And Schumer. As a Brooklyn Congressman, in a majority-Jewish district, he could and did support Israel to the hilt. But to withstand pressure as Senate Majority Leader of the United States, he calls on the citizens of a foreign country — specifically, a robustly democratic country with regular free elections and peaceful transitions of government, and also one of America’s most reliable strategic allies for all 76 years of its existence — to overthrow their duly elected head of government.
It therefore is an opportunity for open-minded Jewish Democrats to get a good close look at their grandparents’ Democrat party. Believe it or not, polling now shows that more New York Jews will be voting for Trump than for Harris in November. So Harris’s impolitic rejection of Shapiro brings clarity. And pitiful Shapiro, who so presciently wrote 30 years ago that the Oslo Accords would fail and that the Arabs of Judea and Samaria never would make peace, changed his pinpoint-correct insight and has started calling for “Two States.” He is trading in a piece of Olam Haba (Paradise) and still got rejected as too Zionist for Harris. Genocide Shapiro,
Her decision to choose Walz over Shapiro is a miracle. Pennsylvania, a critical electoral-vote state, is polling very tightly. If Harris had acted sensibly, Shapiro probably could have guaranteed her Pennsylvania. By G-d’s miracle, He guided her instead to pick an extreme-left governor from a state that Democrats carry anyway.
The November election will be tight. No matter what happens, the Guardian of Israel will not slumber nor sleep. Israel will kill those attackers who must be killed, and Arabs never will have sovereignty west of the Jordan.
Adapted by the writer for Arutz Sheva from a version of this article that first appeared here in The American Spectator.
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