Israel’s standing amongst the world’s nations

By Walter E. Block

Is Israel’s standing amongst the world’s nations its most important asset? Yes, at least according to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. Moreover, Israel’s standing amongst the world’s nations has plummeted. He has been visiting many countries, and reports that this sad state of affairs has occurred not only in Arab lands but in many other places as well. For example, he approvingly quotes Shekhar Gupta, an editor of the Indian newspaper ThePrint as follows: “Netanyahu’s war is damaging Israel’s greatest asset: the widely held belief in … the justness of its mission.”

Say what?! Wow! Who knew? Ignoramus that I am, I thought there were many more far higher ranking assets the Israelis brought to the table: the contributions of its citizens to the arts and sciences, to medical break throughs as shown by the number of Nobel prizes awarded. Perhaps most important, its forbearance. Everyone knows that if Israel were to have unleashed its full might, this war with Hamas would have been over not in six months, not in six weeks, not in six days (there is precedence for that), not even in six hours. I am torn between saying six minutes and six seconds. As a moderate, I’ll stick with the former, but only tentatively, under correction.

Well, I for one know exactly how to change these “widely held beliefs” to 180 degrees from where they now are, according to this New York Times columnist: Israel must surrender to Hamas.

That would please, Friedman tells us, “… many Arab leaders who privately want to see Hamas destroyed, who … are being pressured from the streets to the elites to publicly distance themselves from an Israel that is unwilling to consider any political horizon for Palestinian independence on any border.” It would certainly satisfy all of those students at prestigious and other universities who have engaged in campus protests in favor of Palestine. It would gratify Bernie Sanders, and the squad composed of US congressmen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley.

Oh, no, do not think of surrender in terms of Hamas immediately marching into Tel Aviv and taking over the Knesset, although many of the fore-mentioned would go into paroxysms of delight were that to occur. Nor should you expect Israel to apologize for starting a war of aggression against Hamas on October 8, 2023. That, too, would vastly increase the all-important “Israel’s standing amongst the world’s nations.” Rather, all Israel need do is make a peace pact with Hamas, remove all its soldiers, forthwith, from Gaza, recognize Hamas as the new government of Palestine to be located there, and release all its Arab prisoners now residing in Israeli jails. In return, Hamas would condescend to return the hostages it took or more likely, their dead bodies. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. Israel would also have to pay vast reparations to this new state of Israel for all of that bombing in Gaza for which it is oh so horribly guilty.

Of course, this would amount to eventual suicide, just not right away. If Hamas could in this way get away with the atrocities it perpetrated on October 7, 2023, what would there be to stop the Hezbollah, the Houthies, and other Iranian proxies from emulating this “justified” incursion. Slow but sure, that is the ticket, if Israel wants to once again attain its previous good standing amongst the world’s people, one of its most precious possessions.

One need not be a particularly incisive reader to realize I am only arguing arguendo. I am trying to discern, to unpack, to clarify, what is really behind Friedman’s maniacal claim to the effect that a good world opinion is Israel’s prime and most important possession.

I tell you what: this surrender of Israel will not happen. It will never take place. Not in a million years, not in a million-millions years, not ever. Never again will Jews be pushed around the way they have been in the past, Friedman to the contrary notwithstanding.

Israel is the insurance policy for world Jewry. Yes, things are now pretty good for the People of the Book in places like the U.S., Canada Australia, and several other countries. Yes, there is a bit of anti-semitism here and there. Nothing too serious. A few swastikas painted on synagogues. A few Jewish students roughed up on prestigious campuses. Maybe even a murder or two of someone wearing a kippa or a Jewish star. Nothing too serious. Nothing to get excited about. But the situation for Jews in Germany was also not too bad in 1890, even 1910. And we all know how that turned out.

That is what insurance policies are all about. You insure your house against fire damage, floods, volcanoes, guests having accidents on the premises, even though such things rarely occur. “Thank God for Israel” should be on the lips of every diaspora Jew. This is our bolt hole. This is our place of refuge. This is our insurance policy. We pray that the German experience will not repeated in countries which now tolerate Jews, but we would like to be secure in case we are once again disappointed. What’s that expression? Oh, yes: “Praise the Lord but pass the ammunition.”

If the advice of Friedman and his ilk is followed, yes, Israel will once again attain its “Greatest Asset: Acceptance.” It can do so by eventually disbanding. Where will the once again wanderers go? Some will stay where they are, and be ruled over by Muslim fanatics who will now “accept” them. Others will immigrate to countries where “acceptance” will be rolled out, like a red carpet, at least temporarily.

No, a thousand times no, there are things more important than Friedmanian “acceptance.” There is justice for one thing. If there is to be justice in the world, Israel will smite its enemies. They will learn once and for all not to touch hot stoves; they will be burnt. Let Friedman peddle his “acceptance” elsewhere. Oy vey.