It is outrageous enough that negotiations are taking place between the United States and Iran that directly affect the lives and well being of millions of Israelis but without the participation of Israel and with the expectation that we will simply acquiesce to any decisions that are made. This is eerily reminiscent of the treatment of Czechoslovakia in 1938, where its territory was dismembered at Munich and soon thereafter its sovereignty was entirely lost.
This analogy casts Iran in the role of the Nazis, which they would accept as a compliment. And it also casts Vice President JD Vance (if he were a rival, Trump would invariably nickname him “Shady J. D.") in the role of Neville Chamberlain, with a full beard instead of a bushy mustache.
In truth, it is Lebanon whose land is being segmented and whose sovereignty is being forfeited to foreigners, not Israel’s. But it is our lives that are at stake as well as the viability of our communities in the north, and all to appease a genocidal foe that has been able to humiliate the United States even from a position of abject weakness.
Worse, though, is Vance’s ill-disguised contempt for Israel and for Jews as indicated by a torrent of statements he made, some prepared, some improvised. As strange as it must sound to normal-thinking people, since Vance got involved the only nation he has singled out for criticism in the entire region has been Israel, which is the only nation in the region that has been threatened with extermination by Iran (Vance’s new pals, at least the “moderates" he has uncovered, as so many gullible Americans have as well in the last half-century when it suits them). He has not internalized this: if the deal “makes Iran weaker," as Vance claims, why are they celebrating - and then mocking and threatening the United States? They don’t sound defeated, especially now that the US has effectively ceded control over the Straits of Hormuz to Iran.
What Vance has said is certainly offensive but nevertheless deserves answers. For example, this classic: "Over the last three months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars." And 100% of those weapons were improved, refined, tested, and deployed by the IDF, with the results shared with the US, at the price of Jewish blood and treasure, saving the US billions of dollars in research and development.
The good news is that Israel used them successfully, thank G-d, as opposed to the US military, which mostly did not. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reported what was previously concealed - that Iran essentially destroyed the major US naval base in Bahrain during the war. The American failure to dislodge Iran from the Straits or defend its Gulf allies undoubtedly played an enormous role in the US cut and run from this conflict. Trump can tout the US military with typical braggadocio as the “most powerful in the world," but, sad to say, it underperformed and did not achieve US objectives in the war. The boast means nothing; the facts on the ground, in the air, and in the Straits prove otherwise.
Israel is grateful for American assistance, money that for many reasons is well spent for purposes of American security, but we would be better off without this dependence. And the suggestion being floated that the US should relocate its destroyed Bahrain base (or other bases) to Israel is insane and should be ruled out by Israel. The presence of American forces in Israel impairs our security. It would constrain our freedom of operation. Imagine having to consult with American officials every time our fighter jets departed; imagine US troops being killed, G-d forbid, in a future conflict or in a terrorist attack. We have always taken pride in defending ourselves without US soldiers to assist us, and we should adhere to that (and swiftly shutter the Kiryat Gat base).
What else did Vance say? In response to pointed criticism of the MoU by Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, Vance suggested that “Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time." And then he got testy. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world… Anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation in that country."
Well, first, it is not true. There are plenty of heads of state sympathetic to Israel, even discounting our steadfast friends Micronesia, Palau and now Somaliland. Israel has warm ties with India (the most populous country on earth) and Azerbaijan, and most recently, relations with Bolivia and Colombia are strengthening. The Czech Republic is friendly as is Poland most of the time. Israel is Vietnam’s second largest supplier of weapons. And there are others who respect and sympathize with Israel but circumstances (fear of Muslim terror) force them to be less vocal about it.
Second, what Vance ignores or dismisses is precisely “the reality of the situation" in Israel. We are not surrounded by Canada, Mexico, and two oceans. We are surrounded by enemies - some of whom have “peace treaties" with us that preserve a non-belligerency without a real peace. And encircled by others who openly proclaim their genocidal ambitions - “to wipe us off the map, to drive us into the sea, to reverse this insult to Islam, to excise this cancerous tumor," to use their words.
It is a region of dictators and autocrats, some of whom seized power by force and others who ascended to power by heredity. That doesn’t even begin to address the designs of our enemies within our borders. Perhaps Vance needs to wake up. The United States might have the luxury of ignoring its enemies; Israel and the Jewish people do not. His only suggestion in dealing with those who wish to exterminate us is appeasement and heeding his every dictate.
Furthermore, Vance declared, “What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have." To which Ben Gvir responded, and good for him, “This is the proposal ... To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century."
If Vance thinks that genocidal foes will be deterred by words and agreements (forget, signing ceremonies, as the Iranians still refuse to appear in public with the Americans), then his isolationism is as misguided as it is hazardous for Israel and the United States. He has a peculiar morality that would grant immunity to terrorists who hide among civilians, even when those civilians are supportive and share the goals of the terrorists.
But one question lingers: Why isn’t the world sympathetic to us, in Vance’s language? This is a perplexing question that has deep roots and makes many people uncomfortable, including many Jews. Why are we so hated? Why are we the only nation on the globe that is the target of such disdain, and for whom nations actively plan its demise? The only one!
Why would nations as diverse as Spain, Burkina Faso, Brunei, South Africa, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Australia have such animus towards Israel?
For sure, it must perplex even kind-hearted people across the world: why are Jews so hated? Why were we the victims of repeated pogroms, expulsions, and the Holocaust? Why, having returned to our ancient homeland in accordance with biblical prophecy, does Israel remain the only nation on earth whose very existence is found threatening and unacceptable?
Such questions cannot be fully answered in a brief essay and perhaps never fully understood. The answers go to the mystery and majesty of the Jewish experience that bewilders many Jews and certainly affronts many of our foes. Many unthinking Jews just assume that we must be doing something wrong because, if not, we would be loved! After all, we bring so much good to the world - kindness, morality, inventions, development, culture, etc. We are the first to respond when natural disasters strike anywhere in the world and still remain unpopular even among beneficiaries of our kindnesses.
Herzl thought that Jew hatred would end if we had our own state. Many in the world, including misguided Jews, today believe that Jew hatred would end if we didn’t have a state.
Others feel that if we are hated, it is because we don’t make a sufficient effort to be loved, or haven’t conceded or surrendered enough in Israel, or haven’t established a Palestinian Arab state, or didn’t build settlements, or … whatever. None of this is true.
The roots of Jew hatred go back to our forefathers and their covenant with G-d, to the Torah that we received at Sinai, to our maddening and inexplicable survival for thousands of years despite being the objects of unending enmity. Our forefathers dealt with genocidal enemies, as did their descendants, throughout history and down to our day. Our foes despise us because of our religion, and theirs, or because they have no religion (like the Communists) and resent our fidelity to ours. They hate us as rootless cosmopolitans or as colonialist masters over a tiny parcel of land.
They have long chanted “go back to Israel" until we did, and now they chant “from the river to the sea" we have no claims or right to be here. Their hatred is based on overt jealousy and ill-considered fear, on opposition to the notion of a “chosen people," on resentment towards those who are deemed “the favorites," on barely disguised religious antagonism. It has nothing to do with where we live and how we act but entirely with who we are as a nation.
Shady J.D. Vance opposed the war, so much so that he was the only leading national security official not to be present in Mar-a-Lago when the most recent hostilities were launched. But his particular snarkiness - the only nation on the globe he taunts, since his verbal attacks on Ukraine were ignored by Zelenskyy - seems to be based on his newfound faith about which he is peddling a new book, as if he is personally trying to resuscitate the ancient Catholic disparagement of Jews.
He would do well to consider not only the fates of Bilaam and Balak but moreover, the historical reality that goes back to ancient times, to G-d’s promise to Avraham: “And I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and all the families of the land will be blessed through you" (Breisheet 12:3).
May all those who support Israel share in the divine blessings.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Esq. serves as the Senior Research Associate for the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy (JCAP.ngo), the Israel Region Vice-President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, and the author of “Road to Redemption."