10 | FEBRUARY 17 • 2022
opinion
Time Is on Israel’s Side
P
ositive momentum in
Israel’s regional stand-
ing is underway, as can
be seen by the visits of senior
Israeli officials — among them
its previous and
present prime
minister, and
the foreign
and defense
ministers — to
Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab
Emirates, Egypt,
Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco,
and the visit of a military
delegation to Sudan, as well
as a military flight over Saudi
airspace.
Following the signing of the
Abraham Accords, legitimi-
zation of ties between Israel
and Arab states have moved
from being barely justifiable,
and only in exchange for the
return of lands captured in
1967, to the opposite pole of
close defense ties and use of
Israel’s strength, credibility
and capability as an important
component of Arab national
security. The ties and normal-
ization that were offered in
the “
Arab peace initiative” as a
reward for the territorial and
political dictates of the Arabs
and the Palestinians are now
seen as an Israeli contribution
to the defense and welfare of
the Arabs.
Deep-rooted, multigenera-
tional national conflicts, with
a highly emotional cultural
component, are examined
through the prism of a key
historical component regard-
ing the perceptions of the
sides on the question of which
has time on his side: of which
party holds the upper hand
in the accumulative historical
trend in the balance of power;
which gets stronger over time;
and which loses important
components of its bargaining
power.
The crux is the motivation
to continue the struggle. The
side that sees its optimal expec-
tations reinforced draws, as a
result, the resilience required
for a resolute stand. The side
that experiences constant fail-
ure loses its ability to persuade
the public to bear the cost of
ongoing mobilization.
The radical forces that have
operated over the past 100
years to mobilize the Arab
public “from the [Atlantic]
ocean to the [Arab] Gulf” to
fight Israel, managed for many
long years, despite Israel’s
impressive achievements, to
maintain expectations for
an Arab victory by drawing
on the historical dimension.
They relied primarily on the
enormous gap in resources
between the sides and took
comfort in the deep-rooted
perception of the Arabs as a
people who, from time imme-
morial, were “destined for
greatness.”
From their point of view,
even if the Jews had managed
to establish a state in 1948, to
defend it in 1967, to maintain
its conquest of “Palestine”
and Jerusalem, and to build a
modern and developed state,
its resources were still pitiful
when compared to those of
the hundreds of millions of
Arabs surrounding it, while
Dan
Schueftan
jns.org
PURELY COMMENTARY
preeminent century old orga-
nization fighting antisemitism,
citing as their excuse “divisive
concepts” in the diversity
training.
There are so many aspects
of this story that are deeply
disturbing, but most disgust-
ing is the apparent reaction
from the school — revealing
a systemic issue that threatens
the local Jewish community
and the entire community as
well. When the sole Jewish
student in the school report-
ed the incident, he was not
met with understanding. The
teacher was not disciplined.
ADL or any other organi-
zation that might be able to
help address the issue never
received a call. Instead, the
student was reportedly told,
“If this blows up there will
be more disciplinary action,
because you are making
Mountain Brook look bad.”
Wait, disciplinary action
against the sole Jewish stu-
dent because he spoke up
about an antisemitic incident
in a public school system?
Yes, you read that correctly.
According to the student’s
parents, Assistant Principal
Jeremy Crigger insisted their
son apologize to the teacher,
Joe Webb, who apparently is
also a coach. Furthermore,
the student was forced to
move desks — closer to
the teacher — and was not
allowed to use his phone
anymore when other students
still could. It is important to
note, at this point, that the
salute was caught on tape
using a smartphone cam-
era by another student and
that the Jewish student was
reportedly disciplined after
refusing to identify who
recorded the incident.
Rather than recogniz-
ing the trauma this poses
to the Jewish student, the
Birmingham Jewish com-
munity, and society writ
large, the school went into
cleanup mode. It wasn’t the
Nazi salute, seems to be the
company line; it was the
Bellamy salute. Let’s be clear
about what the Bellamy salute
is — it is a severely outdated
flag salute that ceased being
used around 1940 because
it precisely mimics the Nazi
salute up until the end when
palms get rotated upward. We
no longer teach the Bellamy
salute precisely because of the
Nazi salute and instead place
our hands over our hearts
to honor our nation and our
flag. It is a relic of the past
and has no place being taught
in our school systems.
Rather than doing dam-
age control, what the school
should be doing is taking
meaningful action. An out-
side investigation should
begin immediately, and
appropriate action should
be taken to hold anyone
responsible accountable. The
student should not be dis-
ciplined, but instead lauded
as a profile in courage. And
serious efforts must begin to
make amends.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO
and National Director of the Anti-
Defamation League.
NAZI SALUTE? continued from page 4