How Many More Jews Must Die?
I had the pleasure of meeting Miriam Fuld this week. Later, I found out that the anniversary of her husband Ari’s death was only a few days before she so graciously hosted us at her home. We were priv...
A few months ago, I wrote an article about the newly appointed US ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides.Nides has a past record of working with Israel, as he was the deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration. In the article, I asked the question of whether he would do the right thing in regards to Israel. Recently, the ambassador made some statements that were very concerning and proved that he is not a true supporter of Israel. He used some very undiplomatic language and rudely downgraded the residents of Judea and Samaria.
On his first trip to Israel, Ambassador Nides refused to visit the settlements of Judea and Samaria, saying he “absolutely will not.” He then retracted and said he might visit the “West Bank” to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.
On Tuesday night, Thomas Nides appeared live on a webinar hosted by Americans for Peace Now, a left-wing organization that fiercely opposes Israeli sovereignty. He started out by saying, “I am focused on strengthening a democratic, Jewish state – however, to do that, we must have a two-state solution.” First of all, having worked in foreign affairs in the past, Nides knows more than others that a two-state solution will never work for either Israel or the Palestinians. He knows that the Palestinian Authority will never accept a two-state solution; they want the whole land of Israel and nothing less. He also knows that a two-state solution would be absolutely suicidal for the nation of Israel. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 in an effort to make peace and appease the American administration; in return, Hamas has rained down thousands of rockets on Israel’s towns and cities.
After vowing his support of a two-state solution, Thomas Nides went on to say, “We can’t have the Israelis doing settlement growth in east Jerusalem or the West Bank. I’m a bit of a nag on this, including the idea of settlement growth – which infuriates me, when they do things – just infuriates the situation, both in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.” Why does settlement growth infuriate Thomas Nides so much? Does he really think construction in Judea and Samaria is impeding peace?
He went on to say, “We can’t do stupid things that impede us for a two-state solution. We can’t have the Israelis doing settlement growth in east Jerusalem or the West Bank.” Not only is the ambassador “infuriated” with the settlements of Judea and Samaria, but he also says that the Israelis are “stupid” for trying to build up the land.
Nides said that he doesn’t want to “create anger and disrespect for anyone if I can avoid it,” and has said multiple times that he doesn’t want to agitate or aggravate anyone. However, with the recent statements that he made, I believe that we as true supporters of Israel should be very angry with what the US ambassador said.
He arrogantly said, “If we talk about anything but a two-state solution, it is not good for the Palestinians, it’s certainly not good for Israel, it’s not good for the Jews; it’s not good for anyone.”
According to Nides, giving money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) doesn’t hurt Israel’s security. I would disagree however, because UNRWA is corrupt to its very core and the Palestinian refugee problem has only increased under them, causing more threats to Israel.
Our main takeaway from today is that we as Israel lovers need to rise up in support of the whole land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria. The current US administration needs to stop pressuring Israel into a two-state solution and needs to stop hindering settlement growth in the Heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria.
