The Jews did not start this, Mr. Tillerson
The Jews did not start this, Mr. Tillerson

President Trump needs to have a talk with Rex Tillerson. Tillerson’s State Department has issued a report that blames Israel for…EVERYTHING.

Nobody saw that coming. Well I sure didn’t. Love Trump. Tillerson, not so much, even from the start. 

The report okays Arab violence as a means to redress “frustrations” and “disappointments”…such as “lack of hope in achieving Palestinian statehood.” The Jews, according to this, are obliged to hand over the country to the Arabs. Wait. There’s more. The report faults the Jews, yes, Israel, for “incitement.” (Stop laughing.)

Actually there’s much more. But in sum, the main gripe is that the Jews aren’t doing enough to make the Arabs happy. It’s our job to make them happy.

It’s our ONLY job, if you listen to some people. 

If they are not happy, according to State’s reasoning, the Palestinian Arabs are within their rights to go stark raving mad. They have permission to riot. They have a green light to murder three members of the Salomon family, as happened the other day in Neve Tzuf Halamish, when a Palestinian Arab heeded Mahmoud Abbas’s call to go on a murderous rampage, and he did. 

We can never do enough for the Palestinian Arabs. No matter what we do, we cannot seem to make them…well…happy.

Never mind that even when they live among themselves…say Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Jordan, Egypt…all Arabs…no Jews except the few…but happy? No, still they’re miserable…family feuds, tribal grudges, civil wars, thousands killed…millions homeless…brother against brother…

So they can’t seem to co-exist even within the family -- but it’s up to the Jews to fix the problem…foremost in Israel.

The World Council of Churches feels the same way as the State Dept… likewise the UN…and the EU…and the NY Times…and the entire media apparatus…here, there, everywhere. They say the Temple Mount flare-up is also our fault. They say everything is our fault. 

There are days when the entire world cares about nothing besides the Palestinian Arabs. (Full Disclosure, that’s a quote from my novel “The Bathsheba Deadline.”)

Are they being fed, diapered and burped properly? Are they getting enough vitamins and sunshine, these poor darlings so needy?
Are they being fed, diapered and burped properly?

Are they getting enough vitamins and sunshine, these poor darlings so needy?

There is always something more the Jews can do to make them happy. Poor dears only receive millions and billions from Europe, America, and yes, Israel.

Are the Jews happy? Silly question. Nobody talks about that and nobody cares. We are on our own.

I realized that most strikingly when the news media reported on the disturbances in Israel as “clashes between both sides.” 

Clashes? A 19-year-old Palestinian Arab storms into a home where a Jewish family is celebrating the Sabbath and the birth of a grandson. 

The Salomons answer the door expecting a friend. Instead it’s the killer. He begins slashing and knifes to death Elad, 36, Chaya, 46, and Yosef, 70, the father.

That’s a clash? That’s a “clash between both sides?” 

A clash is when it’s a fair fight between two equally armed and ready opponents. 

Seems to me that over the years, over the centuries, up to this minute, Israel has never asked for anything more except a fair chance, a fair fight.

Why is that asking too much?

New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal” and the ground-breaking inside-journalism thriller “The Bathsheba Deadline.” His latest is “News Anchor Sweetheart.” He is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com