Jack Engelhard recently wrote a column terming "ridiculous" the attitude of many Jews toward Christians who support Israel and even those who see themselves as Zionists. The message from this piece that came through to me was that, in this time of great peril for Israel, it was madness to spurn sources of support, whether from Jews or non-Jews.


I am a non-Jew and I support Israel.


With increasing disquiet, I am reading the hostility Jack's article has generated. Much of this hostility is couched in allegedly historical argument, reciting the all-too-true and shameful indictment of past persecutions of Jewry by professed Christians, culminating in the Holocaust.


History is a great thing, if you use it right.


The critics of Jack's column, however, are using it wrong. The lesson of the Holocaust is not that it was committed by Christians. The lesson, one of the many lessons, is that the

Jihadist devils are coming after both of us. You just happen to be closer.

Jewish people did not fight back, did not marshal available anti-Nazi sentiment in German society (and there was some, including within the army) while they still had the resources to do so. And all of a sudden, it was too late.


"Hitler will fade away", "he will be controlled", "this is just a passing phase in Weimar politics" - so said the Jews; so said their potential Christian allies.


History also teaches that when you are fighting a powerful enemy, you band together with others opposed to that enemy. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."


When Hitler invaded Soviet Russia, Winston Churchill publicly urged support for the Communist state. A life-long anti-Communist, he was subjected to scathing criticism. His response: "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would say a good word for the Devil."


That's the way you defeat your powerful enemies.


As I see it, there are two crippling doctrines out there eating away (quite literally) at the Jewish State: the first is the one that tells the Jews they really can make friends with their Islamic butchers. This is the Jimmy Carter crowd, the ones preparing to hand half of the holy city of Jerusalem back into Eternal Darkness. We all know and recognize this crowd. They choke the halls of power in America just as they do in Israel.


But the second is equally dangerous and suicidal. This is the one that preaches to otherwise alert and ready-to-fight Jews that they have no friends but themselves. That you stand alone against these jihadists with their billions of petrodollars, their infinite number of sanctuaries, their open access to the weapons black market, and their widespread support throughout America and the rest of the world.


Brothers and sisters of Zion - while there is still time, though not much, I beg you to understand: the Islamic jihadist devils are coming after both of us. You just happen to be closer, but with those billions of petrodollars at their disposal, New York ain't so far away.


They already proved that, didn't they?