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Editorial

Our Choices - Snyder For
Governor, Peters For Senate

W

hen Rick Snyder emerged
clad economic case for the construction
from obscurity in the summer of a new span between Canada and the
of 2010 to win the Republican
U.S. and having a contingency plan to
primary and go on to trounce Democrat
bypass the Legislature, where members of
Virg Bernero in the general election,
his party tried to kill it. The new bridge,
Michigan voters expected they were get-
to be funded largely by Canada and toll
ting a politically awkward, independent-
receipts, will be a critical upgrade to
minded and financially savvy governor
Southeast Michigan's infrastructure, creat-
whose "relentless positive action" would
ing thousands of construction jobs while
fix the state's economy while
strengthening our region
side-stepping contentious social
as the trade hub between
issues.
Canada and the U.S.
Heading into that election,
Snyder at his best
Michigan's crippled economy,
was bucking the anti-
along with its infrastructure,
Obamacare sentiments
public schools and largest city
at every level of his party
were further thrashed by a
and hammering out the
global economic meltdown and
Michigan Healthcare
near-collapse of the domestic
Exchange and Healthy
automobile industry. Michigan
Michigan, which cur-
was mired with unemploy-
rently serve almost
ment and job creation rates that
700,000 previously unin-
were among America's worst.
sured and underinsured
Rick Sny der
Meanwhile, the state continued
Michiganders.
to spend revenue it didn't have,
Snyder at his best was
and partisan budget bickering
embracing the existing
led to disruptions of vital state
business and cultural
services.
relationships between
There was a reason why
Michigan and Israel, and
the 2010 U.S. Census showed
significantly expanding
Michigan to be the only state
them to the point where
in the union to lose population
they are now among
since the 2000 U.S. Census —
the strongest between
opportunity seemed to be any-
any state in America
where else but here, and many
and Israel. Additionally,
residents voted with their feet.
he had the courage to
But for Michiganders who
accept an invitation in
voted for Snyder with their bal-
August to address the
Gary Pet ers
lots in 2010, he has mostly deliv-
tainted Islamic Society
ered on what they expected and
of North America's
is deserving of re-election as governor.
annual convention in Detroit and used the
With Republican majorities in the
opportunity — to the substantial disap-
Senate and House, Snyder repealed the
pointment of its hosts — to champion
regressive and despised Michigan Single
Israel's right to exist and express his hopes
Business Tax and replaced it with an
for peaceful co-existence between Muslims
imperfect, but more equitable distribution
and Jews.
of the tax load. He also restored discipline
There were times that Snyder was not at
to the budgeting process, finally balancing
his best. One was ditching his vaunted love
the state's books and reducing debt.
of process to quickly sign his party's con-
However, Snyder was often at his best
troversial "right-to-work" bill after it was
when he didn't see eye-to-eye with his own rammed through in 2012's "lame duck"
party.
legislative session. Regardless of Snyder's
Snyder at his best was methodically
views on right to work, the "optics" were
advancing the complicated and politically
clear: This was payback to unions who
perilous process that now has Detroit
failed weeks earlier in their attempt to
poised to emerge from Chapter 9 bank-
amend the state Constitution.
Another is remaining on the sidelines
ruptcy and significantly improve the
quality of life for its residents. Among the
while watching a coalition of Michigan's
long-term dividends are the newly created
most respected business leaders, chambers
regional water and transit authorities ...
of commerce, universities and civil rights
models of city-suburb cooperation in one
organizations advocate for an amendment
of America's most segregated metropolitan
to the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
(ELCRA). The amendment, which would
areas.
Snyder at his best was making an iron-
Our Choices on page 29

28

October 23 • 2014

Jra

Israel Must Guard Against
Syrian War Spillover

A

I Qaida's Syrian branch has dug
in on the battlefront, hoping
to capture Damascus from the
Assad regime for control of Syria. Al Nusra
Front longs to seize the Syrian capital and
seek a loftier target: Jerusalem, the Israeli
capital.
Both Al Nusra Front and Islamic State,
the other major Sunni jihadi player in
Syria, already have gathered on Israel's
northern border in the wake of Syrian
President Bashar Assad recalling his forces to besieged Damascus. Both
Islamist groups also face assorted Syrian rebels.
Despite no fighting, all's not quiet in the Golan Heights, just inside north-
ern Israel. The Jewish state is busy strategizing for when Syrian terrorists
take aim southward toward Jerusalem. The Israeli strategy, including a new,
dedicated military division in the Golan, is sound. Israelis must ensure this
plan doesn't become politically compromised.
Matters will only worsen as rival Sunni jihadists flex their might in pur-
suit of becoming the first to create a Syrian-rooted caliphate steeped in
extremist ideology. Achieving such a state won't be easy. Shiite militias as
well as Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, back Assad,
the guy who chemically gassed those among him who bucked his leadership
before the U.S. intervened.

The Jewish state is
busy strategizing
for when Syrian
terrorists take aim
on Jerusalem.

Changing Course

Until the rise of legitimate threats to Assad in recent years, Syria was fairly
predictable. While Assad never let up his anti-Zionist harangue and always
railed against Israel's claims to the Golan, which Israel captured in the 1967
Six-Day War, the Syrian-Israel border was relatively quiet.
Today, there's no telling when Islamic State, which yearns for a trans-
national Islamist caliphate across large tracts of Iraq and Syria in particu-
lar, and Al Nusra Front, whose own radical caliphate imagines more elastic
boundaries, cross into the Golan.
"As they raid Syrian military bases and purchase additional weapons on
the black market," Steve Emerson's Washington-based Investigative Project
on Terrorism (IPT) reported Oct.13, "both of these jihadi organizations are
gaining all manner of weapons, from small arms to shoulder-held missile
launchers to armored vehicles and mortar cannons. It seems likely that
both groups will be able to produce their own weapons, such as rockets, in
the near future as well."
So even as the focus of these groups stays trained on Damascus, the
threat they pose to Israel hardens. Proactively, Israel has stepped up intel-
ligence on Syria. Further, Israel is training ground troops to respond to any
terrorist attacks emanating from Syria.
Meanwhile, a new high-tech fence Israel placed along the Syrian border
continues to measure suspicious activity. Israel also has treated at least
1,300 Syrians hurt in their country's civil war.

Air Advantage

Notably, Israel's strength remains its air superiority – not only its air
defense systems, like Iron Dome and David's Sling, but also its Tamuz sur-
face-to-surface missiles, which offer precision strikes inside Syria. Amid all
its economic, social and global challenges, Israel must keep raising the bar
of its air power, something possible thanks in large part to U.S. support.
"An additional danger," according to IPT, "lies in the likelihood that Syria
will act as a jihad production center, sending radicalized terrorists out all
over the region."
That's a daunting thought.
Israel, militarily strong but not impenetrable, must be primed for a multi-
front war waged variously or concurrently by Al Qaida fighters attacking
from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the south as well as by Al Qaida, Islamic
State, Hezbollah, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
Hamas and other Islamist aggressors lurking along Israel's other borders. ❑