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Israel: Lone Light in a Dark Region

Jun 17, 2019 9:00 am By Andrew Harrod

Israel is the “only beacon of light amidst a bunch of primitive, savage, barbaric, illiberal regimes” in a “dark continent,” stated DePaul University Professor Jason Hill on June 12 in a ballroom at Washington, DC’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. “I use these words very carefully and I make no apologies,” he emphasized at the Endowment for Middle East Truth’s (EMET) annual Rays of Light in the Darkness gala dinner, an event that highlighted Israel’s singular importance as America’s Middle East ally.

As in years past, EMET brought together key players in advocacy for Israel and wider Western interests in its turbulent neighborhood amidst an audience of about 250. EMET Advisory Board member Frank Gaffney, the founder of the Center for Security Policy (CSP), came with CSP staff members Clare Lopez and Deborah Weiss. Other notable think tank personnel included former Turkish parliamentarian and Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies Senior Fellow Aykan Erdemir and Jewish Policy Center Senior Director Shoshana Bryen. President Donald Trump’s Special Assistant Paul Teller and Department of Education civil rights lawyer Kenneth Marcus also attended.

In the evening’s opening address, Senator Lindsey Graham starkly described the “shared values and common enemies” that bonded Israel and the United States. He perceptively asked, “Name one enemy of Israel that would not kill everybody in this room.” He elaborated:

Here is the truth. Israel is our friend. No country anywhere in the world provides the United States with more actionable intelligence on threats against our homeland than our friends in Israel. No military develops better technology to share with the United States than our friends in Israel. It is the only democracy in the Middle East.

Graham praised recent Trump Administration pro-Israel initiatives like American recognition of Israel’s capital of Jerusalem. “If you have got a problem with Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, take it up with God, not me,” he stated. Beginning with a presidential tweet, Trump had also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. “We did the Golan by tweet. That was pretty cool,” Graham noted with pleasure.

Graham observed that “it would be insane for Israel to give the Golan Heights back.” Noting his recent trip to this area bordering a Syria that a sectarian bloodbath has shattered, he stated that “when you look out over the Golan and you are looking into Syria you are looking into hell.” Considering Syria’s warring parties such as the Bashar Assad dictatorship, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah, Graham asked, “Who would you give it back to? When Russia is your best choice, you have no good choices.”

Looking to future improvements in the American-Israeli strategic relationship, Graham advocated a defense pact like those America has with many countries around the world such as NATO members. “An existential threat against the state of Israel is an existential threat against the United States. We cannot abandon our best ally in the region, one of our best allies in the world,” he stated. “It is important to send a signal in the 21st century. If you are intending to destroy Israel you have to go through us, and it will not turn out well for you.” He noted the inherent strength of such an alliance, for the Israelis “have never asked us for one soldier to defend Israel, they have just asked us for prayers and weapons and we give them both.”

EMET president and founder Sarah Stern subsequently stressed during her remarks the urgency of Israeli security concerns. “Syria has become a Hobbesian state of war of man against man and the dividing line between this chaotic region and a free Western democracy is the Golan Heights,” she stated. She noted that EMET is promoting legislation to codify Trump’s executive decision recognizing Israeli Golan sovereignty.

Stern referenced Iranian involvement in Syria as merely one example of growing Iranian threats in the region. Meanwhile “much of the world is asleep at the wheel of history.” Because of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the “people of Israel are just as endangered today as they have been at any time in their history.”

Stern similarly noted that Israel’s neighboring Palestinian Authority (PA) “has done everything they can to basically inebriate the hearts and minds of their people to despise the Israeli and the Jew.” The PA’s “pay for slay” financial support for terrorist attacks upon Israelis demonstrated an “egregious value system.” Stuart and Robbi Force, the parents of Taylor Force, whom an Palestinian jihadist killed during a visit to Tel Aviv, exemplified Stern’s statement during a presentation on the Taylor Force Act that sanctions the PA for such payments.

Stern condemned the “revisionist histories” of Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, part of rising antisemitism and spreading lies against Israel worldwide. Stern mocked Tlaib’s laughable claim that Arabs had provided Jews safe haven in the Palestine Mandate following Nazi genocide. “Yes, Rashida, it would have been nice if the mufti of Jerusalem had welcomed our relatives, but that is just not true.”

Congressmen Lee Zeldin and Ted Deutch, respectively a Republican and a Democrat, discussed in their remarks what Deutch called a “rise in antisemitism on the right and on the left.” He observed that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel “is innately and unquestionably anti-Semitic.” As some audience members privately noted, he will face growing anti-Semitic challenges among his fellow Democrats, as his disappointment with the pathetic Democratic response to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s antisemitism indicated.

In the evening’s concluding address, Hill recounted his own personal experience with the antisemitism and radical Israel-hatred of groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). SJP and its allies in the BDS movement like the fringe group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) “make Robespierre look like a kindergarten teacher” and create a “reign of terror across university campuses.” He noted his call to ban SJP given its ties to Hamas terrorists.

Hill, an outspoken opponent of Islamic sharia law and supporter of Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria, highlighted his commitment to defending the “exceptionalism of Jewish civilization.” “Jewish civilization was by far the most superior civilization that I have studied,” he noted, and attributed antisemitism largely to precisely “envy for Jewish success” and “hatred of the good.” For example, Jews are the “unsung heroes of the civil rights movement,” who provided essential financial support.

Like the evening’s other speakers, Hill in his case for Israel, “America’s alter ego in the Middle East,” combined considerations of principle with practical strategic interests. “Jewish civilization is an international treasure trove that has got to be protected, because Jewish civilization and Western civilization are inextricably linked.” As the dinner demonstrated, EMET will play an important role in this protection in the years to come.

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Comments

  1. Stanton Lore says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 9:16 am

    Excellent reminder of why we stand with Israel.

  2. CRUSADER says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 9:27 am

    Christians are so tightly tied to Judeo origins, it is crucial to support the nation of Israel.

    Friends of Zion Museum is worth looking into….

    http://www.FOZMuseum.com

    • eduardo odraude says

      Jun 17, 2019 at 9:52 am

      JC was a Jew. All his disciples were Jews. The Old Testament is half of the Christian bible. Western civilization is primarily due to the creations of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome.

      Even atheists who consider the Old and New Testaments largely tissues of fantasy can recognize that the primary paradigm those books carry leads toward open, evolving, liberal democratic societies. In other words, to Western civ.

      Also, Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average IQ of any population on the planet. One standard deviation upward among Ashkenazi Jews is like two standard deviations upward among average populations. That means the Ashkenazi Jews produce an uncommon number of geniuses. Without the Jews and Israel, world civilization would lose a lot in medicine, science, mathematics, and literature.

      • Andrew E. Harrod says

        Jun 17, 2019 at 6:47 pm

        The Old Testament, Jewish scriptures, are more than half the Bible.

        • J D S says

          Jun 18, 2019 at 4:26 pm

          Yes Andrew but there is a lot of “begats and the like” in the old testament whereas the new Testament I’s pure scriptures which does repeat some of the old testament.

      • I AM THE INFIDEL YOUR IMAM WARNED YOU ABOUT says

        Jun 18, 2019 at 7:52 am

        eduardo odraude: You’ve described a lot about Ashkenazi Jews …. I’m not sure just how much you know about the Jewish people. Ashkenazi Jews are European Jews. They are the Jewish ethnic identity most readily recognized by North Americans — the culture of matzah balls, black-hatted Hasidim and Yiddish. This ethnicity originated in medieval Germany. Although strictly speaking, “Ashkenazim” refers to Jews of Germany, the term has come to refer more broadly to Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. Jews first reached the interior of Europe by following trade routes along waterways during the eighth and ninth centuries. Outside of their origins in ancient Israel, the history of Ashkenazim is shrouded in mystery, and many theories have arisen speculating on their emergence as a distinct community of Jews. The best supported theory is the one that details a Jewish migration from Israel through what is now Italy and other parts of southern Europe.

        Then we have Sephardi Jews (also called Sephardim), who descended from Jews who settled in the Iberian Peninsula, and Mizrahi Jews, who descend from Jews who remained in the Middle East.

        The reason why I bring up this distinction is because, my grandmother was a Sephardic Jew and my grandfather was a Mizrahi Jew.

        You say “Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average IQ of any population on the planet. …………………………….”. You are emphasizing on European Jews only.

        I say “JEWS HAVE THE HIGHEST AVERAGE IQ OF ANY POPULATION ON THE PLANET”
        And Jesus Christ was a Mizrahi Jew.

        • R Russell says

          Jun 18, 2019 at 12:43 pm

          “I AM THE INFIDEL YOUR IMAM WARNED YOU ABOUT says ”

          Ashkenaz was a great grandson of Noah. Ashkenaz, I believe is the Hebrew word for Germany.
          http://www.6000years.org/frame.php?page=noahs_grandsons
          After Babel when the people could no longer understand each other, they set out with those who spoke the way they spoke to different parts of the world. This is known from the names of the places they went to and giving them their modern names.
          Ashkenaz ended up in Germany.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKKIzz9oLO4
          Even the ancient Chinese characters spell out the account of creation. No other way they could know than they took it with them.
          I am puzzled at you calling Jesus a Mizrahi Jew. Were not ALL of the Jews who lived in Judea up till 135AD Mizrahi Jews? Jesus had been death and resurrected for a hundred years before that date.
          I

  3. Shirley Ann says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 11:19 am

    SHARED VALUES & A COMMON ENEMY, has made Israel & America into a Force Against The Evil of Islam. Now, if only our U.S. Congress would Understand & Join the Fight, but NO, they appear to have accepted the Enemy as their Ally. We have Brazen Muslims & Cowardly Americans in Congress, who should “COME CLEAN” with the American People, because We, Americans & Our President Trump Stand With Israel!

  4. Angemon says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    ““ use these words very carefully and I make no apologies”

    Damn right.

  5. Ed Mulrenan says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 3:12 pm

    Isreal is a zionist NOT a jewish state. Less than 10 % of israelis attend synagogue. Ever . High rate of abortions and homosexuals ,tel aviv pride sodomite wk.. .there.. Isreal is a land grabbing power.. Policies no different than British plantaitons in Ireland… .Isreal stole military.nuclear secrets tech. and weapon gr. Uranium from.us in.Reagan yrs. Isreal is. Only.mideast St. nation.with.actual nuke arsenal. .Friend of isreal never the Usa . Trump is foolish towards them to say.the least..

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Jun 18, 2019 at 10:49 am

      “Israel is a land grabbing power”…. ROFLMAO. You can barely find it on the map. Even if – which would be eminently sensible – they annexed Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives, and the Mountains of Israel (Judea and Samaria) and expelled every last irredentist imperialist Arab Muslim from within those areas *and* from within Israel, you would barely be able to see Israel on the map of the Middle East. The dar al Islam – the Empire of Islam – is the *real* land-grabber on the planet; and it is in the process of seizing dominance over huge areas of territory not only in Africa but in Europe by the use of hijra, by infiltration and subversion.

      All the Jews want is: Israel. So tiny. Within a clearly defined boundary. They don’t want to rule Egypt or Mesopotamia. Just: Israel, little Israel. Whereas Islam wants… THE WHOLE WORLD. From the North Pole to the Antarctic. Every last little island. NOWHERE is exempt from being a target of islam’s all-devouring greed, its megalomaniacal lust for total world domination.

      Guess what? I am glad Israel has nukes and that most of its rabid Muslim enemies, who shriek and slaver and howl “Itbach al Yahood” and wave their stabbing-knives – and, if they get the chance, slit the throats of Jewish babies in the cradle, and then *celebrate* such horrible barbarity of murder – do NOT.
      And you are also lying about the Jews in Israel being no different from ‘British plantations in Ireland.’ That is nonsense. The British in Ireland could not dig down into the ground and find English inscriptions on long-buried pottery. But the Jews in Israel can dig down into the ground in Israel and find… *ancient* – 2000 year old, 3000 year old – inscriptions in HEBREW.

      It is the ARABS in Israel who are the imperialist invaders. It is ISLAM that is imperialist to its bootstraps.

      Jews – the house of Israel – are indigenous to eretz Yisroel. The genetics and the deep history say that, in spades. Jews belong to Jerusalem as Irishmen belong to Tara or Welshmen to Cardiff.. and, indeed, Jews were in Jerusalem, in Israel, *before* ever Anglo-Saxons came to ***England**.

      • Mark Swan says

        Jun 18, 2019 at 2:08 pm

        dumbledoresarmy,

        Thank you for replying to this postulating comment above—I like what you wrote.

      • gravenimage says

        Jun 19, 2019 at 11:56 pm

        *Fine post*, DDA.

  6. Scott Olson says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 4:15 pm

    In all my life, I have never understood anti-semitism and the persecution of the Jews all over the world. I have the highest respect for these people who finally got the opportunity to go back to their homeland starting in 1947. And, as it was it was close because the barbarians were protesting them just as they are now, and the British still felt obligated to give up half of the Trans-Jordan area because the Arabs were sqealing like victimized pigs. I have the highest respect for the Jews who worked to drain swamps, fight off the barbarians in many wars, and carve out a civilized nation in the midst of the desert. Learning the truth about Israel has taken many years; the on-going Palestinian propaganda about the Israelis “stealing” their land disgusts me; it disgusts me that their propaganda is a deliberate dis-information campaign to change world opinion, and it has! There has been open anti-semitism in America’s history like Henry Ford for example, but until now, we have never had enemies of America right in our government trying to undermine Israel like we have now. Talib says she is “Palestinian” and pushes the BDS movement against Israel and Omar is another Anti-American trying to promote barbarian takeover. Well, I totally agree with Andrew Harrod in that Israel is an island of freedom sittin in the middle of a sea of sociopathic hate. We have to support Israel!

  7. James Lincoln says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    Regarding Israel as a beacon of hope, I would recommend the following video to all Jihad Watch readers:

    Homelands by Katie Hopkins…

    Katy Hopkins documentary is about the state of western Europe due to globalist policies that have been enacted for decades. The future for Europeans that increasingly don’t recognize their own “homeland”.

    Of special note is the recent flight of Jews from France to Israel.

    The link is below:

    • CRUSADER says

      Jun 17, 2019 at 6:12 pm

      Katie Hopkins is excellent.

      She slays with humor, and the blunt force of truthful facts.

      • IanB says

        Jun 18, 2019 at 5:47 am

        Katie Hopkins is a brilliant commentator, a British national treasure. She is hated by Leftists for precisely the reason CRUSADER states: “She slays with humor, and the blunt force of truthful facts.” She cuts them down like weeds before the scythe.

  8. gravenimage says

    Jun 17, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    Israel: Lone Light in a Dark Region
    ………………

    This is so true.

    Here’s another good article:

    “What Would a Palestinian State Actually Look Like?”

    https://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2019/06/what-would-a-palestinian-state-actually-look-like/

    • IanB says

      Jun 18, 2019 at 5:50 am

      Thank you for that link to this insightful article gravenimage.

    • James Lincoln says

      Jun 18, 2019 at 9:35 am

      gravenimage,

      Much thanks for the link, recommended for all Jihad Watch readers.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Jun 18, 2019 at 10:37 am

      We know what a “Palestinian’ Arab Muslim state would look like. It would look like Gaza, only probably worse.

    • gravenimage says

      Jun 19, 2019 at 11:59 pm

      Thank you, Ian, James, and DDA–very good article from Elan Journo.

      And yes–the horror of Gaza is the obvious model.

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