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

