For Love of Israel
"Go back to the oven," the woman in her hijab in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., yelled to the Jewish Americans demonstrating their support for Israel. "You need a big oven, that's what you need."
This is why I love Israel and always have. It is because Israel will never surrender to their hatred.
Israel is tiny. If you live in Massachusetts, as I did when I traveled there two decades ago, imagine Rhode Island being in the hands of those who are committed to destruction, sending rockets over your common border. If you live in Los Angeles, as I do now, imagine San Diego being not only a different state, but a committed enemy whose official government has long been listed as a terrorist organization.
How do you live like that? How do you raise your children knowing that, when they graduate from high school, they will go to war against those who do not place the same value on human life as you do, fighting people who send their children to be suicide bombers?
Amid the violence in Gaza, Israel stopped shooting for three hours yesterday to allow the people to get food and supplies, to allow trucks with medical supplies to deliver them in safety. Imagine Hamas doing the same thing to help Israeli civilians. I cannot. Not for a minute.
I do not always like everything Israel does. I do not always like everything my own country does. But I love Israel for the determination and courage of its people in standing up to the terrorists who would destroy it. And I detest those who traffic in anti-Semitism and then seek to excuse their hatred of me by saying no, it isn't Jews they hate. Just Israel. Liars.
The world is busy condemning Israel. The media are busy doubting its future. Time magazine goes on for pages about why Israel can't win. Maybe it can't, but it also can't lose.
Dick Morris says this is the doves' war, the last chance for the left-leaning government of Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak to beat back the prospect of defeat by the more hard-line Binyamin Netanyahu. Politics is relative. From what I know, there are no doves in Israel. How can you be a dove when the rockets are landing 17 miles outside of Tel Aviv? You can fight or you can fight more. If Hamas can get away with murder, why should Iran fear at all?
No one likes seeing civilians suffer and die. No one likes seeing hospitals overrun, supplies running out, doctors near exhaustion. But terrorists who use schools and hospitals as launching pads for attacks should not complain when the bombs hit the targets they have created. No one likes to see children die, but so-called leaders who use their children as pawns and train them to kill should not expect sympathy when the lives they risk so carelessly are then lost.
If I knew the answer, I would tell you. I don't. But I know what isn't the answer. It is not the answer to sit back and let the rockets rain down. It is not the answer to let terrorists attack you and not fight back.
We will not go back to the ovens. Israel was the answer to the ovens, and if Israel is your enemy, so am I.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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29 Comments | Post Comment
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Susan, It is amazing how you write about Israel and their heroic battle against the Hamas but condemn this country for doing the same against the terrorist. I read an article approx. 3 mo again that stated if Obama was elected that Israel will take care of business prior to Pres. Bush leaving office for fear of Obama's weakness. WOW and God Bless them they are. Look at how your party is behaving now and how can you sit back and let Pelosi and Reid help destroy this country. I pray the voters take back the power and vote them out or impeach them before it is to late. They are foaming at the mouth with power and greed as we the average citizen watch. I tell people WE HAVE THE POWER AND HAVE TO BECOME VOCAL AND CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Wake up America!!!!
Comment: #1
Posted by: Kathaleen McCausland
Fri Jan 9, 2009 4:29 AM
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Dear Ms Estrich,
Thank you soooo much for standing up for Israel..it's refreshing to read your article when so much reporting about the mideast makes them out to be the "bad guy".
"Ancient hatred" is what the Bible calls Israel's enemies obsession..Psalm 83 seems to quote Ahmadinejad and condemn his types for wanting to wipe them out as a nation that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
Thankfully G-d has other plans.
Golda Meir got it right when she said that the wars would end when Israel's enemies love their own children more than they hate Israel."Sandy Browning GA
Comment: #2
Posted by: Sandy Browning
Fri Jan 9, 2009 2:14 PM
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I am a conservative Christian and I shall fight until death in order that there be no 2nd Holocaust. Obviously this is not a right left thing but a right or wrong thing.
Comment: #3
Posted by: barbara
Fri Jan 9, 2009 5:04 PM
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All I can say is, Amen and thank you! I don't always agree with everything you write but, I'm always forced to think and ponder my own views after reading your column. Thank you, thank you!
Comment: #4
Posted by: sarah
Fri Jan 9, 2009 6:15 PM
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the statement I do not always like everything Israel does implies that very thing. You might want to temper statements like that. The truth of the matter is that the horror that is going in Gaza right now will not in any way benefit Israel, it will only prolong their misery. Both sides share blame here, and a policy that gives one side a blank check will hopefully be tempered by one which recognizes responsibilities for solutions and accountability need to be shared, not the old if you're not with us, you're with (them) the terrorists simplistic crap. But if not, we can always look forward to another round of violence in ten years and the requisite western columns of journalistic support that accompany it.
Comment: #5
Posted by: jack smithson
Fri Jan 9, 2009 7:20 PM
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I loved reading this. You have a gift for being very direct and telling it like it is. I agree with every word of this. Thank you!
Comment: #6
Posted by: Nancy Raabe
Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:02 AM
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What utter nonsense. "Little Israel" has the fifth most powerful military in the world courtesy of substantial financial support from the US taxpayer. It has the most modern weapons of war and is reported to have over 200 nuclear weapons. It threatens and invades its neighbors. It kills Palestinian civilians at will, steals their land, bulldozes their homes. It is in violation of countless UN resolutions. It uses the same methods of collective punishment popularized by the Nazis. It is a racist, hateful, warmongering, apartheid State. It spies on the US and bribes our politicians. And why won't anyone ask what 5 mossad agents were doing celebrating in Manhattan on 911 and why did they have boxcutters in their van? Why were they sent free and allowed to return to Israel? But Susan how the hell does a death ratio of 800-13 prove that Israel is the victim. I used to believe in a two State solution but now I believe that there won't be peace until the Zionists are relocated to somewhere were they can do no more harm. I like Alaska. The peace loving Jews can stay behind and live in peace with their Muslim and Christian neighbors just as they did for hundreds of years before the Irgun terrorists showed up. Shalom!
Comment: #7
Posted by: Andrew Riley
Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:48 AM
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As has been aptly demonstrated by the post by Andrew Riley, Hamas and all the other MiddleEastern terrorists are fully aware that they cannot defeat Israel through force of arms. The Islamasists are fighting for ideology and Israel is fighting for it's very existence. What Hamas and others do know is, that if they can provoke Israel into these kinds of conflicts often enough, then they (terrorists) will get to glean the international fields of poorly educted people who will be drawn to the sides of the terrorists out of simple ideological bent. I will presume that people like Mr. Riley are American citizens, but they do demonstrate the trend towards collective American guilt for the freedoms and standard of living this nation has enjoyed. They also have become blind and deaf in the process and wouldn't recognize truth were it plasterd to their noses.
Like so many on the left, and that would be the Anti-American sewer you also swim in Susan, any democracy established on freedom and peace is simply a target to be destroyed. In truth, the Left's most obvious nightmare is that peaceful, law-abiding citizens will actually become convinced that the approach the Left advocates is in reality the right one, take up arms and eliminate them as the enemy of America they are. That is what Israel is doing currently , and rightfully so. They took the rockets only so long, and the taunting within world political forums and finally had enough and unleashed the dogs of war. The left in America, as well as Al Quaida, Hamas and Hizbollah in the Middle East, better be careful as some will only tolerate a condition for so long and then they will take up arms and fight for their very survival, openly and without mercy. And when one is fighting against a ideological enemy sworn to your extinction, there simply are no "innocents", women and children included.
Comment: #8
Posted by: RH
Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:11 PM
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I agree with your column about Israel although I strongly disagree with your extremely liberal political views (which I consider to be VERY BAD for the USA) as you express in column after column. Israel is a country that is right in its reaction to the Hamas actions. It is hoped that Israel can wipe out those terrorists once and for all, although it is a shame that innocent families are being destroyed because of their idiots in charge,
Comment: #9
Posted by: Jerry Baldwin
Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:53 PM
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Ma'am;... I used to pity the Jews, and I have a child to prove it, all grown up intelligent and an attorney, knocking down easily five time what I made in my best year working; and yet now, I fear them... And I fear for them, and I fear what they have done to us, and do to us daily, dragging us into a conflict that should never have been, bringing nearer the day when it will all go nuclear, considering what a world we will have then... Maybe you don't know enough to be afraid... Look around at all the positions they hold in government and finance... Look at how every death of ever Arab child is dismissed as a tragedy by Israel... Is that what your death would be??? Is that all that murders of innocents are: A tragedy??? I have few qualification for those I consider human... For one thing, a human being must recognize that they are human and care for humanity... If you see yourself as something other than human, better, chosen, entitled; then do not be surprised if I feel entitled to think you are not... If the State of Israel is not some terrible criminal enterprise, some mistake, some danger to all of humanity then they should find some way to buy peace from their neighbors at the going rate, with justice instead of cheaply, with their own blood...Thanks..Sweeney
Comment: #10
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:09 PM
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Re: The oven comment.
On the bright side.... We finally get an acknowledgement from a Palestinian that the Holocaust actually did occur.
Comment: #11
Posted by: Al B
Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:16 PM
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Susan, Palestine was there BEFORE Israel ever was! The Palestinians have had to live with Israel's OPPRESSION
every hour of their lives for a long, long time. Have you forgotten that for the past 6 months the Palestinians have had to live (and die) with minimal food, electricity, medications, jobs, etc. ? Israel have kept the Palestinians in inhuman conditions for many years. The US keeps Israel ARMED to their teeth. The US gives Israel 4 BILLION + dollars every year!!! What do the Palestinians have? Only DESPERATION and DESPAIR!!! If their youth had schools to go to, they wouldn't have the time or the will to be throwing ROCKS at Israelites!
Are you people, defenders of Israel, BLINDSIDED by religion? How tragic.
RFG
Comment: #12
Posted by: rosa
Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:03 AM
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Knowing that you are Jewish, you are therefore prohibited of being able to disagree with anything other than what all of the other Jews are thinking and saying, Susan. So let Israel continue fighting everybody in their neighborhood, whom they seem to have never been able to get along with, as well as anyone else that do not allow them to have their way. But don't keep whining and crying to America to fight and die for them. For all Americans, including this black preacher and writer, do not consider them to be a friend, because of their hatred of Jesus and Christianity as a whole. And none of my family members, children, associates, and followers across the nation, are going to fight ANYMORE in these never-ending wars of the Middle East. Now Israel wants the USA to support them sticking their noses into the business of Iran. What kind of fair-minded people would think that they should have all kinds of weapons, but certain others cannot? To hell with Israel. This is pure selfish nonsense, which is being practiced by both the United States and Israel, and it's unfair. God has not ordained Israel or the United States to be in charge of everybody else in the world. We should all be focusing on peace, but in a way that everyone is on the same level and playing field.
Comment: #13
Posted by: Rev. George Brooks
Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:33 AM
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I usually agree with you, Susan. But I think you have blinders on when it comes to this issue.
Is Hamas evil? Of course!
But so is strangulating the Palestinian people with an economic blockade.
And so is building illegal settlements in the West Bank.
And so is meeting limited (though evil!) force with massive force and collective punishment.
Being critical of Israeli policies is in NO WAY anti-semitic. And to suggest it is, as many are, is libelous!
Here's a quote from Roger Cohen (Jan 8) in the NY Times that makes far more sense to me:
"I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace that might terminate the dominion of the dead in favor of opportunity for the living...
Israel has the right to hit back at Hamas when attacked — but not to blow Gaza to pieces."
Comment: #14
Posted by: cadbury
Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:10 PM
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HOW ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS iSRAEL CAN BE A LIBERAL IS BEYOND ME. THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL ARE ALL ON THE LEFT AND YET JEWISH AMERICANS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT DEM0OCRATS. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EXPLANATION?
Comment: #15
Posted by: Ed C
Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:36 PM
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RH unloads the usual claptrap about Islamists. Nevermind that when Palestinians were led by secularists they suffered the same brutal treatment. Nevermind that Israel nurtured Hamas and the CIA created Al Qaeda (the database). Killing hundreds of Palestinian children is a crime against God and those of you who condone it as if their lives don't matter are as guilty perpetrators. You may not pay for it in this life but when the Palestinian Christian sits in judgment of you on that day he will remember what you did to the innocents. Shame on you.
Comment: #16
Posted by: Andrew Riley
Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:38 PM
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I am a second semester 3L and I only wish I could have experienced having you as a professor. I read your column as often as possible and invariably appreciate your point of view.
Comment: #17
Posted by: Terry Hanson
Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:08 AM
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I am a second semester 3L and I only wish I could have experienced having you as a professor. I read your column as often as possible and invariably appreciate your point of view.
Comment: #18
Posted by: Terry Hanson
Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:09 AM
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I just have to comment, being an unrepentant classical liberal and swiller of bourbon to boot, that I have new found respect for Susan and will support her always.
Comment: #19
Posted by: John
Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:04 AM
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Re: barbara
Right on , Barbara. Susan, I never agree with you except this one time re: Israel. It just boggles my mind how the Media, which .I believe, has many, many jewish people running the networks can be so biased in their coverage. They seem to be doing to Israel what they have been doing to Bush since 9/11. Which makes me wonder why you, Susan, can't feel the same way about Pres. Bush trying to protect the U.S.A. that you do about Isreal.
Comment: #20
Posted by: harold prichard
Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:20 PM
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Simply put "Bravo!"
Comment: #21
Posted by: jim herring
Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:28 PM
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Dear Susan: The Jews are God's chosen people. I am a Christian and have the utmost respect for this conflict and pray for Israel to prevail. If God is on their side, how can they fail? I know this sounds racist, but believe me it is not. I have a lot of Jewish friends. On two different jobs in my working life I worked for Jewish owners and have only good things to say. There are bad apples with Jews, as well as Christians, but in my view, most are great people. Sincerely, June Lewis
Comment: #22
Posted by: June Lewis
Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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This article is refreshing clarity and resolve, coming from someone with whom I usually disagree fiercely. But this time, I can find absolutely nothing to criticize. Estrich is absolutely dead-on. I've known for some time now that if Hamas put down their weapons, there would be no violence left in Israel. If the Israelis put down THEIR weapons, there would be no JEWS left in Israel. Time and again Israel has offered this Palestinian authority or that one some kind of land-for-peace deal in order for the latter to have some kind of state as was originally conceived by the UN Partition of Palestine of 1947. Time and again, the Palestinians have shown they aren't interested...and I find it impossible to believe that groups like Hamas would be able to operate among the general population of areas like Gaza without broad popular support. The Palestinians need to realize once and for all that Israel isn't going anywhere, that over sixty years of rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and full-on invasions by Arab governments have failed to dislodge it. It's time for them to elect leaders that are genuinely interested in peace with the Jewish state, and put down the guns and bombs once and for all.
Comment: #23
Posted by: Matt
Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:24 PM
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Sweeney and Andrew Riley need to put a sock in it. I don't think anyone here is interested in listening to a bunch of anti-Semitic garbage that suggests Israel is guilty war crimes...even as it fights against elements (Hamas) whose very charter calls for Israel's destruction. Least of all the columnist. You aren't going to win any friends by siding with a bunch of bloodthirsty terrorists, and against the only true democracy in the Middle East. (At least, the only one until the US overthrew the regimes running Afghanistan and Iraq.)
Comment: #24
Posted by: Matt
Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:30 PM
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Isreal needs all of our support. In a crisis like this the real views and real feelings come out in their protests. It's a window to see who they really are.
<a href=http://sgpenchala.blogspot.com/2007/08/narconon-vista-bay-drug-rehab.html>Narconon Vistabay </a>
Comment: #25
Posted by: Gary Lamont
Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:51 PM
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Re: Andrew Riley
Let me guess, Mr. Riley. You have nothing against Jews, you just don't like Israel.
I am tired of hearing this hypocritical claptrap from people who don't have the gravitas to admit that they are anti-semitic. Why is it that when Israel has a conflict with its neighbors, Jews and Jewish sites around the world are attacked by Muslims and their fellow travelers? I thought only evil Israel engages in collective punishment.
As for your idiotic assertion about Mosad agents, let me remind you that it was the Palestinians who were seen dancing in the streets after 9/11 and that much of the Muslim world still does not believe that 19 Saudis were behind the 9/11 attack.
Shame on you!
Comment: #26
Posted by: Bruce
Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:07 AM
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After pondering your Jan 8 column For the Love of Israel for over a week as it lay on my desk with line after line of highlighted distortions of history, current events and the dehumanizing comments on a whole people I continue to be deplored. I am deplored by the fact that someone of this narrow, self righteous, xenophobic mentality can get published in mainstream media let alone teach law or political science.
The fact that you are portrayed as representing liberal, let alone progressive voices shows the narrowness of allowable views in American media, a fact well documented by people like Noam Chomsky and Juan Cole, people who are real and objective observers.
You might have noted Israel's support of Hamas at one time in order to dilute moderate leadership because their behavior would not justify Israel's continued policy against any rational Palestinian solution. As Ariel Sharon said it is moderates we should fear not extremists. Ms. Estrich you are part of the problem, not the solution.
Comment: #27
Posted by: John Kelley
Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:08 PM
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As a Republican, an evangelical Christian and a member of "the Religious Right," I am very surprised to actually agree with Susan on an issue. However, what does concern me is the plight of the Palestinian Christians. They are stuck in the middle and are hated by the Muslim Arabs and punished by the Jews. I just hate to see the suffering of the children (both Jewish and Arab). It seems like the best solution would be for the Arab and/or Muslim nations to relocate and absorb the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Arab nations have NO intention of taking the Palestinians into THEIR countries! Susan, over the years, I have rarely agreed with you but have always admired your integrity & fair-mindedness. My prayers are with the Jewish people but also with the Palestinian Christians and the children. Anyone who believes the Bible knows that G-d gave the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be their land, FOREVER!
Comment: #28
Posted by: Beth Miller
Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:18 AM
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As a Republican, an evangelical Christian and a member of "the Religious Right," I am very surprised to actually agree with Susan on an issue. However, what does concern me is the plight of the Palestinian Christians. They are stuck in the middle and are hated by the Muslim Arabs and punished by the Jews. I just hate to see the suffering of the children (both Jewish and Arab). It seems like the best solution would be for the Arab and/or Muslim nations to relocate and absorb the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Arab nations have NO intention of taking the Palestinians into THEIR countries! Susan, over the years, I have rarely agreed with you but have always admired your integrity & fair-mindedness. My prayers are with the Jewish people but also with the Palestinian Christians and the children. Anyone who believes the Bible knows that G-d gave the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be their land, FOREVER!
Comment: #29
Posted by: Beth Miller
Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:18 AM
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