From the Editor

Senator Jim Inhofe: A Friend Indeed

As Israel struggles for its life, victim of its own miserable leadership and a short-sighted U.S. administration intent on building a mythical Arab coalition, the words of the Republican Senator from Oklahoma emphasizing Israel's right to the entire Land of Israel are refreshing. Speaking in the Senate on March 4, Senator Inhofe said what Israel's own Prime Minister lacks the courage to say: "Israel is entitled to the land it has and it should not be part of the peace process."

Inhofe outlines seven reasons why Israel has the right to the land: 1) the archaeological evidence shows the historic presence of its people there for 3,000 years; 2) Israel's historic right was exercised even after the two dispersions, in 70 and 135 A.D., with Jews maintaining a continuous presence in Palestine (which became increasingly desolate and empty under Arab and then Turkish rule) until the British Mandate established Palestine as a homeland for the Jewish people; 3) Israel has made the country flourish agriculturally and technologically; 4) a much persecuted people, Jews have the right to a homeland on humanitarian grounds -- their small country would fit into Oklahoma seven times over; 5) Israel is a strategic democratic ally of the United States; 6) Israel is a roadblock to terrorism, a country that has overcome the aggression against her in four wars despite being vastly outnumbered by her enemies; 7) God gave Israel the right to the Land so that what is involved is not a political battle but a contest "over whether or not the word of God is true."

Inhofe told his fellow Senators: "Terrorism is not going to go away. If Israel were driven into the sea tomorrow, if every Jew in the Middle East were killed, terrorism would not end. You know that in your heart." And he concluded: "The Israelis have come to see that 'no matter what we do, these people do not want to deal with us...They want to destroy us.' That is why even today the stationery of the PLO still has upon it the map of the entire state of Israel, not just the tiny little part they call the West Bank. They want it all. We have to get out of this mindset that somehow you can buy peace in the Middle East by giving little plots of land. It has not worked before when it has been offered."

A Victory in Nazareth

The Israeli government has halted the construction of a huge mosque adjacent to a major Christian religious site in Nazareth. Despite earlier protests about the building of the mosque by the Vatican, the Israeli government, fearful of Arab radicals, had refused to stop it. Late last year AFSI organized a coalition of Jews, Catholics, and evangelical Protestants, the International Coalition for Nazareth. It was an unusual coalition of Catholics, Jews and evangelical Protestants, ranging from William Donohue, leader of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberties, to Ed McAteer, president of the Religious Roundtable, to AFSI's Herbert Zweibon. On the eve of Sharon's visit to Washington in December 2001, a full page ad was placed in the Washington Times in the form of an "Open Letter" to Israel's Prime Minister urging him to end the Muslim "siege of the Basilica." Faced with the determined opposition of an international alliance of Jewish and Christian friends of Israel, the Israeli government finally acted as it should have done much earlier.

Shame on Sharon

In an abject about-face, Ariel Sharon abandoned what he had repeatedly said was his bedrock demand for seven days without terror before renewing negotiations with Arafat. Seven days was a pitiful demand, given that Arafat turns on and off the terror spigot at will. But at least Sharon had stood on the principle that to negotiate under fire was to reward terrorism. That Sharon should have reversed course is a staggering testimony to his weakness and lack of resolve. It shows the State Department and the Europeans that if sufficient pressure is applied, Sharon will give in on any and every issue. It makes the once great Israeli general into Arafat's laughingstock and destroys the last shreds of Israeli deterrence.

Most important of all, it destroys what is left of Israeli morale. A new book on Alexander Hamilton (reviewed in The Weekly Standard of March 11) describes Hamilton's understanding that national morale was as vital to the success of a nation as military morale to the success of an army. To quote the review: "If citizens have

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Outpost               - 2 -               April 2002