93 Days to Go
Why I Don’t Think this is Alarmist

By Sherwin Pomerantz

It is now 93 days to the opening of the United Nations General Assembly’s 2011 session in New York and the General Assembly’s vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood.

In this daily countdown to September 14th some of my readers have expressed the opinion that my actions in doing this are alarmist in nature. Others have said that nothing will happen the next day in any event, so why the big concern? Of course, given that I am writing this every day, I beg to differ. Permit me to explain.

We here in Israel have a problem. We live in a hostile neighborhood with:

• Some countries seemingly bent on our destruction or elimination (e.g. Iran and Lebanon [under Hizbullah]);
• Other countries using the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a diversion from their own problems (e.g. Syria);
• A whole host of nations in the region in political transition with forces not so friendly to us poised to take power (e.g. Egypt, Yemen, Libya);
• A former ally (Turkey) whose Islamist leadership is moving away from the West and more to the East;
• And others whose long term intentions are also not so clear (e.g. Jordan, Saudi Arabia).

In addition we have next door neighbors (i.e. the Palestinian Arabs) who on the one hand talk about their interest in a two state solution for this area while simultaneously agreeing to a reconciliation pact with an entity that is avowedly out to destroy us (i.e.. Hamas) and who is still unilaterally pursuing a recognition vote in the UN which most democratic government leaders around the world believe will not lead to peace.

We all know that problems don’t disappear. If we don’t confront them, they may hide for awhile, but sooner or later they will re-appear. Eventually we will be forced to face them and take some action. Whether that action is in the form of solving the problem or accepting it is not important, but rather that we consciously come to a decision about what we are going to do. It is that decision that gives us the ability to again move forward in our lives with added strength and the possibility of happiness. And it is because I don’t see our government consciously coming to such decisions that I am writing this daily blog.

Nobody has any idea about what will happen after September 14th. That is a given. But we do not live in a sea of tranquility. Even the comfort zone we developed for ourselves over the last 18 years since Oslo no longer exists. To act that because the economy is doing well, unemployment is low, quality of life is high and Israel did not suffer unduly from the last economic crisis nothing bad can happen to us is simply a case of Israel believing the lies we tell ourselves. That is a recipe for disaster.

Most of you who get this read the papers so I needn’t list here all of the possibilities that could confront us over the next year. You know about the fear of having our borders overrun with protestors from neighboring countries, the concern that if rockets started raining down on us from every side we cannot protect ourselves from the damage, the difficulties we would face if another intifada broke out in the Palestinian Arab community to name a few. Therefore, as responsible citizens rightfully concerned about our future and that of our children and grandchildren who live here along with the negative effect on world Jewry should Israel falter, we must decide to confront the problem personally while we simultaneously hope that we can goad our government into doing the same.

If as a result of all of this, people see this concern as alarmist, I will accept that accusation. As many of you know I am a traditionally observant Jew and I project to the time, after 120 years, when I stand before my maker and am asked to make an accounting of my deeds. And in that vein I am told “I gave you a brain and a pen and when Israel was in trouble, did you use it?” I want that answer to be a resounding “yes.”

This is one of those times in history when, once again, our people stand threatened. In other times we did not act and we paid the price. We cannot be guilty of that again so, yes, I am ringing the alarms! Let us hope that sometime in the near future we will all look back on this and say it was unnecessary, but as we have no way of knowing that, we simply cannot take the risk of inaction. The price of inaction is simply too high.