OPINION
THE MOMENT...MAKE THE FEELING LAST FOREVER
A Matter Of Precedents
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BERL FALBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
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L
et us begin by acknowledg-
ing that Israel, a country that
has been in a state of war for
half a century, at times vio-
lates the civil liberties of Arabs. Let us
admit that Israel's policies and actions,
at times, deserve criticism and perhaps
even condemnation.
Israel has failings like any other
country and has to accommodate vari-
ous political views within its body
politic.
That said, the conflict nevertheless
raises some important questions: Has
the public discourse of the Middle
East Arab-Israeli conflict been fair and
even-handed? Why does the finger
always seem to be pointed at Israel as
being responsible for peace in the
Middle East? Why is Israel always
accused of being "intransigent"?
The responses to those questions
are perhaps best answered by raising a
series of other questions:
• Which entity — Israel or the
Palestinian Liberation Authority —
has a constitution that calls for the
destruction of the other side, the
recent agreement to rescind that call
nothwithstanding?
• Who promotes state-supported
terrorism, the Arab states or Israel?
• Who eulogizes terrorists, the Arab
states or Israel?
• When political fringe elements
rain destruction and death on inno-
cent people, who conducts internal
soul-searching investigations and con-
demns these tragedies, Israel or the
Arab states?
• Which countries have public poli-
cies supporting the murder of civil-
ians, including women and children,
as acceptable in the conflict, the Arab
states or Israel?
• Who has suppOrted peace since
1948, Israel or the Arab states?
• Who has abided the "three No's":
no peace, no negotiations, no compro-
mises?
• Who has been the target of five
wars and hundreds, if not thousands,
or terrorist attacks over 50 years?
• Which public officials have con-
tinued to call for the destruction of
the other side, despite Oslo?
• Who has had to patrol the streets
24 hours a day for 50 years, guarding
against terrorist attacks?
• Who has been free of worry about
Bed Falbaum is a Farmington Hills-
based public relations specialist and a
freelance writer.
terrorist attacks on their soil, the Arab
countries or Israel?
• Which is the only democracy in
the Middle East?
• Who has more freedom: Arabs in
Israel or Arabs in Arab countries?
• Are there more elected Arab offi-
cials in Israel than elected Jewish offi-
cials in Arab countries?
• Who has a free press, Israel or the
Arab states?
• Who closes down media institu-
tions when the respective government
is criticized, the PLO or Israel?
• Who governs by intimidation,
threatening and urging torture to
silence critics, Israel or the PLO and
other Arab states?
• Whose government is rife with
corruption, the PLO or Israel?
• Who teaches children, through
official government-supported pro-
grams, to hate the other side, Arab
countries or Israel?
.
• Which government-controlled
newspapers are filed with vile hatred
for the other side, those in Israel or
those in Arab countries?
• Who is the subject to the death
penalty for legally selling land to the
other side, Israelis or Arabs?
• In the Gulf War, when American
lives were at stake, who supported
Saddam Hussein, the PLO or Israel?
• Who has been the subject of eco-
nomic boycotts from the other side,
Israel or the Arab countries?
All these questions (and others) lead
to one final question: Why have the
answers to these questions not been
part of the public dialogue by officials
directly or indirectly involved in the
conflict? ❑
VIEWS
WHAT
A JEw-DoEs from page 30
freedom. It wasn't a conditional, for-
a-limited-time-only, deal. With all our
pride in Israel's accomplishments, we
know the job isn't done, nor can we
take for granted the existence of a
still-young Jewish state.
We will keep our promise because
we must. It's what a Jew does.
As we mark 100 years of the orga-
nized Jewish community of Detroit,
we share our pride in the perpetua-
tion of those values that define our
community. And we remind ourselves
once again, Kawl Yisrael aravim zeh
ba'zeh — All Jews are responsible, one
for the other. ❑