Humble Opinions

Shalom. Let’s just right into the meat and potatoes: Netanyahu is the man!!

On September 24^th, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered (what I found to be) an earth shaking speech at the United Nations, in front of the leaders of all the nations of the world. For those who haven’t seen it, I’m obligated to link you to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YJfUlF-xtU

And here is a video of a few statements Netanyahu made immediately after his speech, to an Israeli camera crew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLCpJTchK8Q

Speaking in perfectly fluent, and elegant English, Prime Minister Netanyahu laid the facts out as they truly are, and was not at all embarrassed or shy about lashing out at members of the UN, or its human rights council. I called the speech “earth shaking” partly because I found myself shaken to the core during certain moments of the speech.

Think about it - what an unbelievably historic moment of world and Jewish history. The individual who is generally accepted as being (in some way) a representative of the Jewish people stood before the entire world and asked “Have you no shame???” and here’s the best part - he lived to tell the story! Placing this into historical perspective is literally mind-blowing for me.

How many times in the history of mankind has a representative of the Jewish nation been afforded the opportunity to address the entire world? And given the freedom to say whatever they’d like? In the late 1200s, well after the Christians had reconquered Spain from the Muslims (all whilst Jews were living there, making it awesome), the Church would demand that a well-known Rabbi stand in front of a large audience, and debate Judaism against Christianity. This happened time and time again, in order so that the Church could publicly disprove Judaism. The only problem was that the Rabbis were not allowed to in any way slander the Church (obviously), lest they be put to death for committing blasphemy. In short, the Rabbis lost every time.

However, in the year 1263, a well-known Jewish convert named Pablo Christiani informed King James of Aragon the 1^st that he could not only publicly disprove Judaism, but that he could use Jewish sources to do so (namely the Talmud). After hearing this exciting news, the King organized a grand debate, and had one of the greatest Rabbis of the time, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (a.k.a. the Ramban) summoned to participate in this debate. Before the debate began, the Ramban requested of the king the right to free speech, and shockingly, he was granted it. The debate lasted for 4 days (July 20 - 24).

Needless to say, Pablo was less than a match for the Ramban (think Mike Tyson vs a 3 yr old). Each night, the Ramban went home and recorded the arguments and transcription of the debate, and compiled it into a book called The Disputation at Barcelona. Although the Ramban was deemed the winner, he was also immediately exiled from Spain, never allowed to return.

So why do I mention this story? It took place 746 years ago, and since that time, there have been few situations like it…. until Benjamin Netanyahu (the man, if I didn’t already say) stepped up to the podium at the UN five days ago.

The general points of his speech were:

• The holocaust was very real, and anyone who affords a holocaust denier the right to spew their anti-semitic opinions should simply be ashamed of themselves.
• Israel did not WANT to perform the recent military campaign in the Gaza Strip, but rather was forced to, and took every measure possible to limit civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict. The UN had the power to prevent this, but did nothing - and now is accusing Israel of war crimes it very clearly did not commit.
• Israel wants to progress the world and mankind. If the nations of the world work together, we can “cure the incurable,” “lengthen our lives” and offer “all nations magnificent bounty of hope” ….. “and yes, we will clean up the planet.”
• Israel and Israelis are tired of war. They are tired of sending their sons, daughters, grandchildren, friends, and loved ones off to the IDF in order to keep their country safe (Israel has a mandatory military draft). They are tired of losing their loved ones, sick of endless war and attacks being plotted against them, and sick of paying 50% income tax to support their military.
• Israel wants peace. “We made peace with Egypt, led by Anwar Sadaat. We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein. And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and my people will make peace.”
• And one of his main and final points: The world must make a decision. The time has once again come where the Jews could be placed in existential danger. Will mankind continue its unfortunate pattern of ignoring the situation the same way the Allied Forces knowingly did not bomb the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz - or will they finally step up, and allow the Jewish nation to once and for all live in peace and tranquility, and be given the opportunity to fulfill their destiny of being a light onto nations?

Tags: netanyahu

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