10 Days to Go – Upping the Ante

By Sherwin Pomerantz

In just 10 days the 66th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly will receive a request from the Palestinian Arab leadership to approve their desire for statehood, even though there is a ground swell of opinion worldwide that this is not a smart move on their part. Reports now indicate that the US has issued a formal request to Chairman Abbas that he not go ahead with this initiative. The US has also reiterated its position that if the vote comes to the Security Council, which it will prior to going to the General Assembly, the US will use its veto to block the Council’s approval.

News coming out of Israel this week quotes Chairman Abbas as saying that once the UN approves the request for statehood, the Palestinian leadership is prepared to sit down with Israel and return to negotiations. One wonders why they need to wait until then when the opportunity to sit down with Israel has been out there for not months, but years? Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu this week has even done what I have been urging for months, openly stating that he is ready to sit down with Abbas anywhere: Jerusalem, Ramallah, or even Brussels, to negotiate peace without prior conditions. But, of course, Abbas wants all kinds of preconditions in place so that Israel can tip its full hand before the negotiations begin. Welcome to the Middle East!

Simultaneously Turkey continues its sabre rattling with PM Erdogan saying that when he decides to go to Gaza he will be accompanied by Turkish military vessels for protection. But clearly this will not be for protection, but simply to dare Israel to engage those vessels in order to prevent the breaking of the blockade of Gaza which would then lead to an even further deterioration of relations or even regional war. To top it off Turkish President Gül calls Israel an “ungrateful burden” to the world and to the region.

The only people that don’t seem to be perturbed by any of this negativism is Standard & Poor’s, which just raised its rating of Israel’s financial condition from A to A+ saying that this reflects “the responsible economic policy of the Government of Israel.” This is the same S&P that recently downgraded the US’ credit rating but that seems to have no problem with Israel in spite of all the sabre rattling going on. What a world eh?

As for the need to demonstrate at the UN in the coming weeks, kudos go to Rabbi Avi Weiss of New York who is organizing what he calls “massive civil disobedience” opposite the UN on September 20th. Rabbi Weiss, who has consistently been at the forefront of demonstrations in places where the organized Jewish community has generally cautioned a soft approach, is to be commended for taking the leadership in this area and organizing this protest of what will surely be a major period of Israel-bashing at the UN. He is an example for all of us as to what one person can do when properly motivated.

All of this, of course, supports the old adage that there are people who look at a glass and see it half full while others look at the same glass and see it as half empty. As I have often said you cannot live in Israel and be a pessimist, as only optimism enables people to prevail here.

Tomorrow, in synagogues worldwide the portion of Ki Tetze will be read from the Torah. In addition to setting out a series of laws to be observed when living in the land of Israel, the portion also includes the reference to Amalek and the fact that he was representative of those who arise in every generation to do terrible things to the Jewish people. It will be a sobering reminder, as it is supposed to be, of both the continuing threat to our survival that we face on a regular basis and, more importantly, that all of those who have sought to destroy us are long gone from this earth. May that positive outcome continue for all time to come.