OTHER, VIEWS
job' Or 'Genesis'?
Jerusalem
A
few weeks into our annual,
summer-long stay at our
home in Jerusalem, my
wife, Andy, and I became
honorary citizens of this extraordi-
nary city — the first North American
Jews to be so honored.
It was a tremendously humbling
moment in a summer of emotional
ups and downs. We have many close
friends here, many philanthropic and
business interests, and we immerse
ourselves in an intensity of Jewish
spirit that we find nowhere else in
the world. Nevertheless, as deeply as
we are connected to this land and
this people, we have no family living
in the danger areas, we have no chil-
Charles R. Bronfman, former chair-
man of the Seagram Company LTD,
served as first chairman of the United
Jewish Communities. He is chairman of
the Andrea and Charles Bronfman
Philanthropies. He can be reached via e-
mail at kzipern@nyc.rncom
dren or grandchildren serving in the
army — so we are here and yet we
are witnessing the "situation" through
a window.
It's a window onto many Israels.
First: the one where we live, where
we feel as safe as in any other place
in the world, where we dine along
with dozens of others in a first-class
restaurant. One may think that peo-
ple aren't going to public places. The
truth is far from that! The other
night, the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the baton of Zubin
Mehta, performed a great "Concert
in Jeans" to a packed house of more
than 3,000!
Then there is the Israel where the
relentless suicide murders leave a pall
over everyone. The way the news is
delivered reveals some of the tactics
this society has adopted to cope., First
comes the factual information, deliv-
ered as dispassionately as possible.
Later in the day, some of the details:
who was killed, details about the
bomber, structural damages. The next
morning, both in the press
the country; a gay pride
and on TV and radio, the
parade in Tel Aviv is attended
names and ages of the dead,
by some 40,000; the Moment
where they will be buried that
Cafe in Jerusalem, victimized
day and at what times.
by a suicide attack last fall,
The day after the Megiddo
reopens and is filled with
murders (17 men and women,
patrons and the very same
all army kids returning to
bartender serving drinks; a .
CHARLES R friend, perhaps an artist, con-
their base), I was attending a
BRONFMAN tinues to produce beautiful
Koor Board meeting, an
Special
Israeli industrial holding com-
work.
Commentary
pany I have chaired for several
There was a poll taken by
years. I quietly asked whether
one of the major newspapers
I should ask for a moment of
about how people are feeling
silence to pray for those who had
these days. The results: half the
been killed. I was advised that Israelis
nation is feeling good and the other
don't do that any more. I surmised
half is depressed. My assistant at our
that's because it's so important for
Foundation put it this way: "In the
everyone who can, to get on with
crudest statistical calculation, 3 mil-
things, and do their mourning by
lion people have smiles on their
themselves.
faces, and 3 million others don't
How intensely lonely that must be
understand why."
if, say, in a single flash of horror, you
The fact that half the population
have lost your husband, your mother
remains optimistic even under the
and one of your children ... and yet,
constant siege of terror speaks volumes
all around you, life goes on: the
about the Israeli spirit. The mutually
annual book fair is held throughout
inflicted, negative physical, economic
Rumsfeld To The Rescue
Philadelphia
n every administration, there
ought to be at least one person
who makes sense and isn't
afraid to call things by their
right names. In the era of George
Bush the younger, that person . is
clearly Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld.
Initially dismissed as a relic from
the Gerald Ford administration
(Rumsfeld served his first term as
head of the Pentagon at age 43)_and
just another country-club Republican
retread, in the last 19 months
Defense secretary has shown himself
to be the most sensible talking head
in Washington. Rumsfeld has also
shown himself to be more than a
political match for the man who was
thought to be the real focus of for-
eign-policy power when Bush took
office last year — Secretary of State
Colin Powell.
Rumsfeld cemented his claim to the
title of the most honest man in
Washington last week when he
stunned the foreign-policy establish-
ment by telling a forum of Pentagon
I
Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of
the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. He
can be reached by e-mail at:
jtobin@jewishexponent.corn
8/23
2002
42
employees that any peace deal with
Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian
Authority leadership wouldn't work
because they are "involved in terrorist
activities."
Further deflating the administra-
tion's already theoretical offer of a
Palestinian state, Rumsfeld cast doubt
on the idea that it was a given that all
of the West Bank must be handed
over to these criminals.
"My feeling about the so-called
occupied territories," Rumsfeld said,
are that there was a war, Israel urged
neighboring countries not to get
involved in it once it started, they all
jumped in, and they lost a lot of real
estate to Israel because Israel prevailed
in that conflict."
Rumsfeld's statements sent shock
waves throughout European capitals,
Arab sheikdoms and the editorial
offices of most major newspapers. But
despite the brouhaha that resulted,
Rumsfeld didn't take any of it back.
Wow, a Cabinet secretary who
knows history! Rumsfeld actually said
"so-called occupied territories." Can
it be that, contrary to the initial fears
of most American friends of Israel,
this Bush administration not only
knows history but also actually
understands it?
When asked whether the
"
Palestinians would ever get a
the State Department, was
state, which the president said
something of an end run
would happen if they
around the president's poli-
reformed their government
cies. And therein hangs the
and got rid of the terrorists -
tale of the ongoing battle
running it (starting with head
between Rumsfeld and Powell.
honcho Arafat), Rumsfeld
Each is always determined
conceded "there will be some
to be in the driver's seat of
sort of an entity that will be
JONATHAN American diplomacy.
established," but he said "it
TOBIN
On the key question of
will take some Palestinian
American policy in the
Special
expatriates coming back into
Commentary Middle East, Powell has clear-
the region" to make it happen.
ly been at odds with
The identity of those mythical
Rumsfeld. Powell's statements
reasonable Palestinians was left to his
make it clear that he would have been
listeners' imagination.
comfortable in the Clinton adminis-
tration when pressure on Israel to
make drastic, even dangerous conces-
A History Lesson
sions to the Palestinians was the order
Rumsfeld's little lecture on the facts
of the day.
of the 1967 war and the nature of
Rumsfeld understands that former
Israel's Palestinian "peace partners"
President Bill Clinton's initiatives
was more than just impromptu can-
were a disaster, and may have
dor. It came just days before Powell
emboldened Arafat to think that a
was about 'to convene a meeting with
terror offensive would bring Israel to
some high-ranking aides of the
its knees while the United States con-
Palestinian terrorist-in-chief in
tinued pressuring it to give in on ter-
Washington, the highest level meeting ritory, including Jerusalem.
between American and Palestinian
Powell's advantage in this fight is
leaders since Bush drew a line in the
that he, alone of all officials in the
sand about Palestinian terror and cor-
administration, cannot be fired. His
ruption on June 24.
stature as a hero of the Persian Gulf
The Powell meeting, like many
War and the American dream incar-
other recent initiatives on the part of
nate makes him untouchable.