Lavinsky: Standing By Israel

Excerpted from remarks by Rabbi Arthur Lavinsky
Rally for Israel – June 6, 2010, Phoenix, Arizona

My dear friends, friends of Israel, loyal citizens of the United States, lovers of justice – Thank you for being here.

You are here, as am I, because you rightfully take offense when extreme violence is perpetrated under a false banner of peace.  You and I take offense when a sovereign nation is vilified for doing what any sane sovereign nation MUST do to protect its citizens.  You and I take offense when good and evil are confused for one another.

Israel faces almost universal condemnation.  There is a small bit of truth that critics of Israel have voiced – that is that there are many Palestinians who suffer in the Gaza Strip.  That is a terrible shame.  But the blame does not rest with Israel.  After all, it is not the Israelis (who GAVE the Gaza to the Palestinians) who voted in a band of murderers like Hamas to rule them.  It is Hamas which states that its very reason for being is to destroy the Jewish State.  Why is there a need for a blockade against Gaza? There are at least 4000 reasons, each represented by a rocket that has been fired from Gaza towards population centers in Israel.  Sadly, it is true that the Palestinians in Gaza need pipes to carry water and to remove sewage. But when pipes have been brought to Gaza, they’ve been turned into rockets and bombs.  Indeed, they need cement to build schools, hospitals, and homes, but when they had cement, they built bunkers next to hospitals and schools and homes so that they can fire their rockets and then retreat to safety.

Let us be clear. The so called “peace activists” are in fact provocateurs. The so called human rights activists are, for the most part, enemies of Israel, the United States and democracy. If they were so worried about human suffering, they would be petitioning Hamas to release Gilad Shalit who was unlawfully kidnapped almost four years ago.

I have some questions. If the purpose of this flotilla was to bring much needed aid into the Gaza Strip, was there any reason for them NOT to dock at the Israeli port of Ashdod for a lawful inspection? If the intentions of the passengers aboard this flotilla were truly peaceful, would they have attacked the Israeli soldiers with chains and knives and pipes? If their intentions were pure, would they have shouted repeatedly “Death to the Jews”?  If the inhabitants of Gaza were in such dire need of humanitarian supplies, would Hamas have turned away the tons of aid carried aboard this flotilla after having passed through Israeli security?

Several weeks ago, following polls that indicated that President Obama was losing Jewish support only 1 ½ years after almost 80% of Jews voted for him,  some 15 rabbis representing all major Jewish religious streams were invited to the White House to meet with “All the President’s Jewish Men” – Emanual, Axelrod and others.

What was the White House’s message to these spiritual leaders?  That the Obama administration has been a consistent friend of Israel and that the bonds between our two nations are unbreakable.  Their only fault was that they didn’t get the right message out to American Jews.  Their failure was not one of substance, but one of a failure to communicate effectively.

This is the time for us to communicate effectively; to call the White House, or to e-mail President Obama and let him now that the time has come to act unapologetically and unequivocally in Israel’s defense in the face of international condemnation.  Now is the time to declare that Israel was not only justified in guarding her borders; it was imperative for her to do so.  A strong message from Pennsylvania Avenue must be sent to counter the lies against Israel, and the voices of appeasement.

Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, teaches us “Lo Hamidrash Ha’ikar, Elah Ha’maaseh”; it is not what we say that counts, it is what we do.  President Obama needs to know that. Now is the time to speak up.  Now is the time to strengthen our historic alliance with Israel.  Now is the time to oppose evil and support righteousness.  Now is the time to stand by Israel.

The world is condemning Israel. I once heard it said, “It is better that Israel be condemned in the United Nations rather than be “fondly remembered.” How true that is.  We must support Israel’s right to defend herself as any nation would do.

The other day, a group of young people put together a video for Youtube which accurately depicts the motives and the mindset of those who call themselves peace activists yet whose hearts are filled with hate, and whose hands are soaked in innocent blood.  It’s called We Con the World, and I want to close by singing just a few stanzas of this song to you:

There comes a time
When we need to make a show
For the world, the Web and CNN
There’s no people dying,
so the best that we can do
Is create the greatest bluff of all
We must go on pretending day by day
That in Gaza, there’s crisis, hunger and plague
Coz the billion bucks in aid won’t buy their basic needs
Like some cheese and missiles for the kids
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
With guns and our own knives

The truth will never find its way to your TV. Thank you for being here. Thank you for loving truth, and peace, and Israel.  Am Yisrael Chai!

Rabbi Arthur Lavinsky is the spiritual leader of Beth El Congregation in Phoenix, Arizona. He is on sabbatical until the beginning of August.