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Guest Column

Editorial

Isolation Be Gone

As Jews, we must watch out
for each other — shouldn't we?

W

ith the 2012 presidential campaign well
under way and the field of candidates
becoming a bit clearer in the new con-
gressional and legislative districts, it is now your
opportunity to get to know the candidates. In fact,
with new districts, now is the perfect time to reach
out and introduce yourself to them.

Just Ask!

In campaigns, candidates want to raise money to
advertise and get out the vote as much as they want
to meet with voters and establish a connection with
them. Elections are therefore your chance to talk to
candidates directly about your concerns and solu-
tions. So engage them in a discussion. In fact, invite
them into your home, plant, store or office
to see firsthand what you do. Our elected
officials are approachable and they
should take the time to meet with you
one-on-one. All you have to do is ask.

How Do You Vote?

With no single issue galvanizing our com-
munity other than Israel, it is difficult to
rely on the Jewish community as a voting
block. In fact, our community is getting
more and more divided as Democrats and
Republicans, which actually strengthens
our importance as voters. Just look at the recent
special election in Brooklyn as an example, where
a Republican beat a Democrat for the first time in
decades — on the issue of Israel alone.
Yet there are still some voters who know nothing
about the candidates on the election ballot, but if a
name sounds Jewish or they look presidential, they
will vote for them. In an election as important as
the one next year will be, it is important to know
the issues that are important to you and what the
candidates tell you about these issues. So take the
time now to react to what you read in the newspaper
and see if there is something there that will turn you
into an advocate for that issue or cause and give you
something to talk to candidates about.

Finding The Way Forward

With the High Holidays now upon us, now, more
than ever, is the perfect time to reflect on the past
year and look forward to the next. In synagogues
across this country, we will hear about tikkun olam
(repair of the world), tzedakah (charity) and Klal
Yisrael (Nation of Israel).
As we reflect on the past year, we really need to
take a deeper look at our Jewish community and its
role in serving the larger community throughout
history. Our service to the public is not by choice;
it is an obligation — a Jewish obligation rich with
tradition. All Jews are responsible for one another.
On Yom Kippur, for example, we do not ask God for
personal forgiveness; we ask God to forgive every-
one. Whether we know them or not, whether we like

46

October 6 2011

EDITORIAL BOARD:
Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar

them or don't, whether
we agree with them or
not, we have an obliga-
tion to look out for
each other, to support
our neighbors and
to be involved in our
larger community.
Yet lately, we have
become comfortable
in our own community and with our own lives. We, as
the Jewish community, do not venture far beyond our
home. We rarely stand shoulder-to-shoulder with others
for the common good anymore; and it is rarer still that
we have an open door to our elected representatives.
Today, it is vital that we keep that tra-
dition of community engagement and
political involvement as pillars of our
Jewish community. Today, it is even more
important that we get engaged, become
more vocal, become visible and demand
accountability for the principles and
values we, as a Jewish community, stand
for. It is time that we re-establish relation-
ships with the candidates running for
office — and those who are elected, to be
a trusted resource to them, as they should
be to us.

Know What You Believe In

Before you become involved, however, you have to
know who you are, what you believe in and where
you stand. Do you agree more with the Republicans,
Democrats or the Tea Party advocates; or are you
truly an Independent?
Once we know who we are and what we stand for,
we, as a community and individually, need to take
the time to meet the candidates and our newly elect-
ed officials, invite them into our homes and share
with them our suggestions for creating a stronger
future, not just for the Jewish community, but the
larger community as well.
The Jewish people have an obligation to make this
world a better place. We can start right here in our
Jewish community and in Southeastern Michigan.
So again: Contact the candidates and meet with
them, attend their events such as town hall meet-
ings or fundraisers. Share with them your interests,
issues, concerns and solutions.
Most importantly, take the time to figure out who
they are, what they have accomplished and where
they want to take us as our representatives. I hope
you will stand with me, get to know the candidates
and your elected leaders and become a voice for the
issues you believe in.

Daniel Cherrin of Huntington Woods, a father of three

students at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, is an

attorney, mediator, public relations executive and lobbyist

with Fraser Trebilcock in Detroit and Lansing.

Abbas Speech Reflects
Palestinian Missteps

H

ypocrisy is at the core of Mahmoud Abbas' stra-
tegic planning in pursuit of a Palestinian state in
some way sanctioned by the United Nations, itself
a hypocritical global network that hides
nothing about its dislike for Israel.
Consider this unsurprising Jerusalem-
based Israel Resource Review report: As
the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) seeks Palestinian statehood within
the 1949-1967 armistice lines, the offi-
cial Palestinian Ministry of Tourism
map released last month shows the
Mahmoud
Palestinian "state" including Israel while
Abbas
the official map of Jerusalem deletes the
Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
In Sept. 23 remarks before the U.N. General Assembly after
submitting the PLO application for statehood recognition,
Abbas, the PLO chairman and Palestinian Authority president,
stumbled into his twisted worldview of Israeli statehood.
He said the intended state of Palestine "is intricately
linked with the United Nations via the resolutions adopted
by its various organs and agencies and via the essen-
tial and lauded role of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which
embodies the international responsibility towards the
plight of Palestinian refugees, who are the victims of the Al
Nakba ("Catastrophe"), which occurred in 1948."
Thus, he gives credibility to anti-Zionist UNRWA and
reiterates the canard that the State of Israel prompted 63
catastrophic years for the Arabs who left Palestine, mostly
at their leaders' urging, following President Truman's rec-
ognition of the Jewish state.
Despite Abbas' revisionist take on history, Israel continues,
against steep odds, to try to restart peace talks with the
Palestinians. Concerns aside, Israel on Sunday accepted the
Mideast Quartet's plan to start negotiations within a month
without preconditions, as sought by President Obama and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The P.A., meanwhile, insists it won't return to talks until
Israel freezes settlement building – a precondition with no
basis given such construction is within Jewish neighbor-
hoods on land that Israel won fairly in wars waged against it
by Arab foes. Addressing the U.N., Abbas branded continued
construction part of "the policy of colonial military occupa-
tion of the land of the Palestinian people" and a manifesta-
tion of "the brutality of aggression and racial discrimination
against our people." He declared such activity "a breach of
international humanitarian law and U.N. resolutions" and
"the primary cause of the failure of the peace process, the
collapse of dozens of opportunities and the burial of the
great hopes that arose from the signing of the Declaration of
Principles in 1993 between the PLO and Israel [Oslo Accords]
to achieve a just peace that would begin a new era for our
region."
In claiming Israel unjustly limits Palestinian construction
in eastern Jerusalem, Abbas wrongly implies Israel should
not have any say over what goes on in the united city.
Herein lies the essential obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian
peace: Palestinian leaders must shed tired rhetoric, base-
less claims and Jewish hatred as well as embrace a real
desire for Palestinian statehood within mutually settled
parameters. 1 1

