                                                                 A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                          July 7, 1997
                     Jew Challenges Zionism
                       Cooperberg Defends

J.L. Einsdorf wrote:
     First, tell me why my child, who was born and raised in the United States, and has a
beautiful room of her own overlooking Sandy Hook Bay, should have any right at all, not to
mention more of a right to live on the West Bank of the Jordan and Jerusalem than people whose
families have lived there for generations?  It's absurd.
Cooperberg: 
     Left on the merit of what you have stated, with absolutely no other factual information,
you are absolutely correct.  What you neglect to accept or understand is the fact that your
daughter, "who was born and raised in the United States, and has a beautiful room of her own
overlooking Sandy Hook Bay," has an inheritance.  She has Jewish roots which do, indeed, reach
all the way back to Jerusalem and all of the Land of Israel.  She has a direct connection to the
Promise which the G-d of Creation made to her ancestor, Abraham.  
     Her people were exiled from Israel by the Romans and made to wander the four corners
of the world.  They were hated and vilified and unwanted wherever they went. Many of her
ancestors, much like you, grew tired of the persecutions and thought to give up on Zion. 
Perhaps things would be better if we just forgot about our Jewish past and made a new life in the
countries in which we found ourselves.  
     Some of our people succeeded to cut their ties with their Jewish past, and they are forever
lost to us.  But the forbears of your lovely daughter were not among them.  They never gave up
on the dream of Zion.  They prayed, three times every day, that their eyes would behold our
return to Jerusalem.  They recited grace after breaking bread and thanked G-d for the Land of
Israel, and for their sustenance.  They endured every kind of persecution known to Man so that
your daughter would have an inheritance.
     The "people who have lived there for generations" are frauds. The Land of Israel has
been a barren wasteland for nearly two thousand years. There was never another people who as
much as claimed sovereignty here since we were exiled.  It was only after our return that others
claimed
prior rights to our homeland.

     Second, Israel is totally a creature of the United States (the  revisionist history and lies of
Abba Eban's Autobiography  notwithstanding).  All the strength and genius of a great NON-
SECTARIAN  nation has gone into the creation and maintenance of a religious  state.
      And, while we're supporting Israel in violation of all the laws and  norms of international
relations, we're supporting military  dictatorships in the Arab world to prevent Moslem religious
states  from  coming into existence.  This bias is undermining the U.S.,  which is not in Israel's
interest.

     The United States did not create Israel.  The fact is that the State was declared in
advance of recognition by that country.  Pragmatically it was created in reaction to the horrors
of the holocaust.  But, Biblically,  it was created in fulfillment of G-d's Promise to our Father,
Abraham.  
     In truth, as much as I would like to see Israel as a religious state, that is not what she is. 
Nor is the United States maintaining her as such.  The fact is that Israel is considered to be a
necessary ally in an area of the world where most allies are totally undependable and
unpredictable.  It is out of recognized mutual interest that the United States maintains its interest
in the Jewish State.  I challenge you to tell me what violation of international relations the
United States is engaged in with this country.

     There is an old adage in New York politics which says the tail is wagging the dog.  That's
the relationship between Israel and the US.

     That is sheer nonsense.  What great power is it that Israel possesses that can wag such a
great dog?  Perhaps Israel is dictating policy to the United States!!!! 

     Third, there's a double standard in international behavior.  One for  the Israelis and another
for everyone else.  When Israel is in violation of UN resolutions for 20 years (the invasion of
Lebanon), no one says a  thing.  But when Iraq invades Kuwait (which has more of a legitimate
claim to Kuwait than even Israel does to itself) a US led coalition sends 750,000 troops to Saudi
Arabia and expels Iraq in six months.

     You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.  Do you sincerely feel that we have
some tremendous power which forces our will upon nations greater than ourselves?  If so, why
are we inviting our enemies to take positions within our homeland and allowing women and
children to pelt us with rocks and bombs?  Why don't we use our incredible power to send all of
the Arabs to the United States?
     Lebanon was used by Syria as a base to launch attacks upon civilian cities in Israel.  We
invaded southern Lebanon to protect our homeland. When it becomes safe for our people, it is
the desire of our government to leave that country.  We are not about to permit our enemies to
bomb
our civilian populations.  
     How is it that Sadam Hussein has a "right" to Kuwait, while Israel has no right to our
own homeland?  And it was your President Bush who decided to make an issue out of it, not us.

     Israel is in violation of the laws on nuclear non- proliferation, no one  cars.  Israel uses
American arms in violation of the conditions of  their  sale (bombing the Osirik reactor in 1981),
everyone winks and laughs.

     Perhaps you would have laughed even harder had the reactor not been bombed and
Sadam would have had nuclear weapons to play with.  Clearly you are a complete fool to
condemn the most humane act of courage in our generation.  Israel has not violated any normal
standard of behavior in regards to our nuclear armaments.  It is in our interests to have such
weapons and we are not about to subject our ability to defend our nation to the whims of fools.

     The Zionist insistence on Jerusalem was one of the major causes of  the Holocaust.   The
Jewish Agency's refusal to accept Britain's offer of  land in Africa for a homeland in the  30's
because it didn't contain Jerusalem was one of the great self-inflicted disasters of the jewish  race. 
Even Jabotinsky in the  40's wondered whether he had made the  right decision.  Wouldn't it have
been better for the unwanted Jews of  Europe to have had a place, anyplace, where they would
have been welcomed.  So, partial Jewish responsibility for the Holocaust is an historical fact,
caused by pigheadedness.

     Ah! We're back to the pig again!  How can I argue with such a splendid analysis?  It was
our desire for Jerusalem that caused the Holocaust. I wonder why that never occurred to me
before.  The fact is that most German Jews preferred Germany (much as you prefer the USA) to
Jerusalem. 
        Surely we should have been welcomed with open arms in Uganda. Perhaps Idi Amin would
have baked us a cake?  Jews are not welcome anywhere.  But that is irrelevant.  Israel is our
homeland.  It is our only homeland.  No other nation will ever possess it.  Perhaps you are
prepared to give away your daughter's inheritance to strangers, but I doubt that your parents
would have, and I am certain that your grandparents would never have thought such a thing.

     And those who refuse to study history are condemned to repeat it.  

     I agree whole heartedly.  Listen to yourself and realize what happened to the Jews in
Eastern Europe who refused to believe that they would be annihilated.  You are doing the same
thing!!

     Israeli insistence on retaining all of Jerusalem is going to lead to war in short order.  Syria
is going to take back the Golan Heights, which Iraq simultaneously moves back into Kuwait and
the rest of the Arabs  turn off the oil spigot.  Even if you win the war militarily (which you  will
with American help) 5 or 10 thousand dead Israeli soldiers will certainly underscore that security
is not what the current policy is  getting you.

     So now you are a prophet.  And you call me a racist fool.  My friend if Syria could take
the Golan Heights from us, she would not wait for an excuse to do it.  All of the Arab nations
want to see us destroyed. . .even if we give them all of Jerusalem.  It will not make our job any
easier by helping our enemies.  The historical fact is, Mr. American Patriot, that your country
never intervened to help Israel.  On the contrary, every time we were about to vanquish our
enemies in war, the United States imposed a cease fire and saved our enemies from destruction.

     You're not looking at the facts.  South Africa's president is Nelson Mandela.  Zaire has
just had a revolution.  Hong Kong belongs to China.  The Israelis better make peace as fast as
possible on any terms.

     Peace on any terms?  How about mass suicide?  That is the only term that will work. 
Sorry, I guess I am still a racist fool.

     Using the Torah as a land use planning document in the nuclear age is absurd.  And the
thing that underscores the absurdity of the Israeli position more than anything is that you've got an
American educated Prime Minister (there are the fruits of that non-sectarian greatness, again) and
you live in Hebron, and I live in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey; and we can communicate and
argue with each other almost as if we lived next door to each other for virtually no cost.
     The internet more than anything underlines the absurdity of the concept of borders in the
modern world.  And all the religions are equally inapplicable as a guide to day to day conduct.
      OK? 

     Okay.  But how do you reconcile the facts that, for two thousand years the Jewish People
were in exile from their homeland. . . and they still exist.  They have come home to a barren
wasteland which was untillable for all this time, and now they have seen the desert bloom.  We
are still an eternal minority, yet we are coming home from all four corners of the world,
members of every culture and society known to man, yet blending those cultures into our
common Jewish heritage. . . all of which was predicted thousands of years ago in that ancient
Torah for which you hold so little regard?
     Our very existence as a people defies any kind of logic, as does our continued existence
as a state in our ancient homeland.  You may not believe in G-d, but looking at the facts, what is
your logical explanation?
     As for the modern miracles of internet, perhaps that is also a tool to aid the Jew to see
the handwriting on the wall and come home before it is too late.   

 