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The Price Of Vigilance

W

hen Islamist murderers killed some 3,000
Americans three years ago, America was
awakened to the awful reality of modern
terrorism. Perhaps we had thought that terror was
always elsewhere — if no longer in Northern Ireland,
than maybe in Russia or Kashmir or, yet again, in
Israel.
After all, the attack on the World Trade Center in
New York City in 1993 must have been an aberration,
and Timothy McVeigh's blowing up a federal office
building in Oklahoma City in 1995 was the work of a
demented American, not some foreigner.
With 9-11, however, the pattern was clear: Al
Qaida's terrorist reach spanned from the 1993 bomb-
ing of the World Trade Center and attacks
on American troops in Mogadishu, Somalia,
to the 1998 bombings of the American
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to the
2000 assault on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole
near Yemen. These people hate us, indiscriminately,
and are prepared to do absolutely anything that will
take American lives.
What they hope to accomplish, beyond the killing
itself, isn't clear. But the fact that they are not going to
go away is sickeningly evident.
We had thought that after we got out of Vietnam 30
years earlier, we were the universal good guys, the ones
the rest of the world wanted to emulate. How foolish
could we be?
In the intervening three years, we have had to learn
to think like Israelis. How safe is that nightclub?
Should my parents take that flight? Can I put my child
on that bus?
We are paying a price for our vigilance. We have
acceded to government invasion of our privacy, to eth-
nic profiling, to suspension of legal rights, even to pre-

ON TIE JewISI-1
HoLIPALN WE
AND OFTEN
- TALK

T

he Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently ran
articles that examined the question of
whether Israel's ties to diaspora Jews were
weakening.
It posted some of the responses it received on its
Web site. They varied from indignant denial to
those who agreed and insisted that Israel's policies
were to blame for the rise of anti-Semitism in the
world.
I do know there seems to be a clear disconnect
between the political world view of Israelis and
American Jews.
A poll conducted by Tel Aviv University indicated
that by a margin of 2.5 to 1, Israelis prefer President
George W. Bush to Sen. John Kerry in the upcom-
ing election.
But those numbers are more than reversed when
the political preferences of American Jews are tal-
lied. Some of the most vehement denunciations of
Bush have, in fact, come • from this segment of the
electorate. Three weeks ago, this newspaper ran a

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor@thejevvisluiews.com

rB - - m-1eSE CRET

TRUTH of JEWISH
emptive war in our battle to stay safe. In this
pursuit of survival, we have made ourselves
CoKrnwUrr i-e Is
less of the Americans we thought we were,
much as we did by interning Japanese
GOOD OLD DWS.
Americans during World War II and heeding
Sen. Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare of
the 1950s. Our challenge is figuring out just
how far we can go between our liberties and
our self-preservation.
The curious fact is that we cannot be sure
that we are really safer as a result of our tighter
security and vigilance since 9-11. Osama bin
Laden is still at large, and the number of
Muslims violently angry with the United
States has grown since the invasion
OUR REALLY
HAPPY
of Iraq. Al Qaida's terrorists might
GOOD M-6
still find ways to get a nuclear
ARC- S11 L L
device into a container ship and
blow up Los Angeles. They might still find
chemical or biological agents to release into
water supplies or on subways.
People who do not care if they die in attack-
ing us, who actually believe they are morally
superior for murdering innocents, are almost
impossible to stop. If you don't believe that,
think about Chechen terrorists who blew up
two planes in Russia and took hundreds of
children hostage at a school. Or think about
the Hamas bus bombers in Beersheva, happy
to die and to take 16 Israelis with them.
We have too much work to do, in this country and
War is not the right term for how we must deal with
abroad. As we fight the terrorists, we must work twice
this evil madness, because warfare implies an equal
as hard to remain who we are. Like the Jewish nation,
enemy, one who observes some central human decen-
America
must continue to hold up its light to the
cies.
world, to be a beacon that shines above the 3-year-old
To go to war is to put everything else aside. But we
ashes of Ground Zero. ❑
cannot let terror and the fear of terror preoccupy us.

M-ET

■

EDIT ORIAL

Absentee Ballots

Dry Bones

Neu1/4i
AR!

expansion of Communism? It was what
John F. Kennedy referred to in his inaugural
address as "a long twilight struggle" because
there were no easy answers or quick fixes.
"Community Perspective" column in its
I believe Israelis understand this better
"Other Views" pages arguing why Kerry is
than
we do. They live with it daily. It is now
the far better choice for Israel.
almost
hard-wired into the Israeli mentality.
The question of which candidate would be
No matter how long it takes, Islamist terror-
in Israel's best interest is certainly not the
ism must be opposed and answered at every
only factor in determining which way I will
GEORGE
turn.
vote in November; although it will play a part. CANTOR
That isn't the answer Americans want to
I am more concerned over which candidate
Reality
hear.
We are the most optimistic of all peo-
will be in America's best interest.
Check
ple and still want to believe that reason can
But I am intrigued by these opposing views.
turn away wrath.
What are Israelis seeing that American Jews do
Israelis may think so too, but when reason fails
not?
they know that missiles, gun ships and walls must
Maybe part of the answer lies in the response
help
get the job done. Because they are realists
Bush gave last week to NBC's Matt Lauer's question
above
all. They've got to be.
on the war against terror. Bush answered that he
This seems to embarrass some American Jews who
didn't think it could be won but, and I'm paraphras-
call for gentler tactics from the safety of a few thou-
ing here, conditions in the Middle East could be
sand miles away. That certainly seems to be the view
changed to make it a less likely option.
of that group of self-righteous twits who picket an
He was roundly criticized and the following day
Ann
Arbor shul every Shabbat, demanding an end
he backtracked and said the war would be won. But
to
Israeli
self-preservation.
I saw nothing wrong with his original statement.
Israelis won't be voting here in November. But I'll
Isn't that simply a contemporary version of con-
be thinking about what they see from where they sit
tainment, the policy first set out by Harry Truman
when I step into the voting booth. ❑
and used for 40 years in the Cold War to limit the

TN

9/10

2004