Opinion
OT-1ER VIEWS
Answering Israel's Critics
A
s I approach the fifth anni-
versary of writing a weekly
feature for the Detroit Jewish
News called "Answering Israel's Critics:'
it struck me how, each and every week,
I almost never have difficulty coming
across some individual or organizational
statement that is unfairly critical of
Israel.
It seems that, most weeks, declared
enemies of Israel like Hamas, Hezbollah,
Iran and Syria use their access to the
news media to criticize Israel. And in
this country, well-established Israel bash-
ers like Jimmy Carter, Stephen Walt and
Alison Weir rarely miss an opportunity to
have their views quoted.
But should I be surprised to find
the Egyptians — at peace with Israel
since 1978 — claiming an Israeli con-
spiracy exists to rob them
of Nile River water? Or that
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez — who has no
national or strategic interest
in Israel — compares the
Jewish state to Nazis?
We even find the United
Nations, which, let's not
forget, voted to create Israel
in 1947, now hosting the
blatantly anti-Israel "Human
Rights Council" and promot-
ing its biased Goldstone
Report on Israel's actions in Gaza. That
body is often joined by the Human
Rights Watch organization, which recent-
ly criticized Israel 87 times in a certain
time period while only criticizing the
Palestinian Authority eight times and the
terrorist Hezbollah four times in
that same time period! (Human
Rights Watch's Jewish founder,
Robert L. Bernstein, distanced
himself from the organization
this year, openly questioning the
organization's anti-Israel focus.)
Former Detroiter Hannah
Rosenthal, the newly appointed
U.S. Department of State special
envoy to monitor and combat
anti-Semitism, says, "Some of
the criticism Israel sees, and its
isolation in the United Nations,
clearly comes from a place of anti-
Semitism."
And Dr. Charles Asher Small, the
founder of the Yale University Institute
for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-
Semitism, said recently that when it
comes to anti-Semitism, "Israel is the
new Jew." Dr. Small says anti-Semitism is
now pervasively abundant in the world
under the guise of anti-Zionism and is
mainly framed as the de-legitimization
of Israel and/or the dehumanization of
Israelis.
I work toward the day when it won't
be so easy to find unjust criticism of
Israel and I can then happily retire
the Answering Israel's Critics feature.
Unfortunately, I don't see that day coming
any time soon.
Allan Gale is associate director of the
Bloomfield Township-based Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit. For
more answers to unfair criticisms of Israel,
please visit this JCRC Web page:
detroitjcrc.oreisrael/extra2.php?page=10208.
The Best Chanukah Gift
H
ave you ever spent hours look-
ing for just the right gift for
your child or grandchild?
You finally decide on a shirt or toy or
electronic gadget and then, after you've
given it, you turn to witness the look in
your child's eyes. This is what his or her
imaginary thought balloon says to you:
"What is this chazurai?"
Joel Waldfogel, Wharton School
economist and author of Scroogenomics:
Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the
Holidays, says that, according to his sur-
veys, gifts are worth about 20 percent
less to the recipient than what they actu-
ally cost, amounting in the U.S. to "$13
billion a year" in what he calls "dead-
weight loss" (Money, December 2009,
page 22). He suggests cash, gift cards or
gifts to charity instead.
If you think about it, giving a Mazel
Tov Israel Bond is better than all three.
Its value is worth 114 percent of your
investment, it is a life-giving donation to
the State of Israel and yet, when it comes
due, the cash can be used for enjoyment
or college or even giving gifts.
Just think: Instead of that gnaw-
ing, lousy, awful feeling that you have
wasted your money on something your
child, niece or nephew cares less about,
you will have invested in them for their
futures and for the future of the Jewish
36
December 10 9 2009
people.
millions of people who want
I know many people are
this tiny country destroyed.
strapped with little money
You probably can't answer
and that the Detroit area is in
this: What will your future
an economic downturn that
be if Israel is blemished with
we have never seen before.
more rockets and bombs?
Obviously, so many charities
What will be your children's
and synagogues are hurting
chances of survival if Israel is
and also need your money.
devastated or defeated in war?
But think about this. You
There is still so much apa-
can actually give a "double
Arnie
thy that exists in the Jewish
mitzvah" if you buy an Israel
Goldman
community today, especially
Bond and give it to your
Community
in my generation and in my
favorite charity or organiza-
View
children's generation. Who
tion. You can donate it to your
cares about Israel today except
synagogue and get a tax write-off. You
those who experience the Birthright tour
can give it to JARC, Hillel, Federation,
or those lucky enough to travel on teen
Hadassah, Michigan State University,
missions or with their families or syna-
the University of Michigan, ORT, the
gogues?
Holocaust Memorial Museum or many
So many young people take their
others that accept Israel Bonds in pay-
freedoms for granted and don't feel the
ment of a pledge. Yes, they need the
slightest pride that there is a country
money today, but don't you think they'll
founded by a small group of young
also need it in three years or five years?
Jewish people like them and made into
We have to think about today, but
one of the most extraordinary capitalis-
maybe more importantly, we must save
tic democracies in the world.
for tomorrow, for ourselves, our families
In the book, Start Up Nation, Saul
and for Israel.
Singer asks how a "community of penni-
Who knows what the future will be in
less refugees" transformed this "embat-
the Detroit area and what the future will
tled sliver of a country — home to just
bring to our children looking for jobs?
one one-thousandth of the world's popu-
And no one can predict what the future
lation" into the thriving entrepreneurial
will look like for Israel, surrounded by
economy that Israel is today. The same
men and women who risked their lives
for Israel as young soldiers helped solve
extraordinary problems while improving
the world's cutting-edge technologies, all
while surrounded by sworn enemies.
Much of the success of Israel could
not have happened without the incred-
ible spiritual and financial support from
American Jews. And much of the support
over the last 60 years has come from the
gift of Israel bonds.
Israel bonds have never defaulted.
They are safe, pay much higher returns
than American money market funds and
help Israel with critical infrastructure
projects such as developing the Galilee
and reclaiming the Negev. A safe, secure
investment helps the State of Israel build
a safe and secure nation that any Jew can
feel good about.
For information about purchasing an
Israel Bond for Chanukah gifts, or giv-
ing to your favorite charity/organization
with Israel Bonds, call Paula Lebowitz at
(888) 352-6556 or contact her at
paula.lebowitz@israelbonds.com .
I can't think of anything better than
celebrating Chanukah while saving
money for the future and helping to
strengthen Israel, all at the same time. It
doesn't get any better than that. E
Arnie Goldman is a Farmington Hills resident.