Australia / Israel Review

There are two broad dimensions to life – the theoretical and the concrete.

This column is in the theoretical camp – it’s words and ideas. If you’re hungry or thirsty, no matter how great my words are, it won’t help you. For that you’ll need something concrete, like food or water.

That’s why I don’t get too worked up about those who hate Jews and Israel: Israel wins with the concrete.

Year after year, the haters bang their heads against the wall telling the world that Israel is the worst. But it must drive them nuts to see that after millions and millions of angry words attacking Israel over so many decades, that little Jewish state they dislike so much has been thriving like never before.

Think of all the BDS activists on college campuses who are literally obsessed with Israel. Year after year, they schlep their apartheid walls and scream to the heavens that “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” And year after year, they don’t get an inch closer to their goal.

Think of the NGOs who’ve been releasing reports for decades singling out Israel for special condemnation, or those hypocrites at the United Nations who will condemn Israel more than they do Syria, Russia, China, North Korea and every other nation combined.

Yes, all those words and lies may hurt and distort Israel’s image, but then what?

None of those words will stop Morocco from accelerating its economic and diplomatic cooperation with Israel, or the Gulf states that are also part of the Abraham Accords from embracing the many benefits of being close with Israel.

More and more countries have caught on that in spite of the propaganda they hear about Israel, it’s in their interest to get along with the world’s only Jewish state. They can take advantage of Israel’s extraordinary array of innovations in fields like advanced medical care, agriculture, cybersecurity, AI, water technology, food security and much more.

Israel is far from perfect, but it succeeds by staying focused on the concrete, whether it’s to correct or defend itself. To the dismay of its critics, it has become one of the more creative and innovative societies dealing with some of the planet’s most urgent issues.

Antisemitism is indeed troubling; they don’t call it the world’s oldest hatred for nothing. But again, you have to feel a little sorry for the haters. How do you think they feel knowing that no matter how much anti-Jewish venom they spew, Jews continue to thrive and even laugh?

Take those famous “Jews will not replace us” haters from Charlottesville. Instead of writing a column or a Facebook post condemning the haters, as so many others did, proud Jew and comedian Elon Gold used them for one of his funniest bits:

We don’t want to replace you. We just want to put braces on you … we just want to manage your portfolio … we don’t want to replace you, we want to place you, in a 30-year fixed low interest mortgage … we want to fit you for glasses, heal you, teach you, inspire you, make you laugh, represent you in a divorce, and she replaces you.

Take the Jewish Journal’s story by Kylie Ora Lobell profiling Eli Beer, founder and leader of United Hatzalah of Israel. As he built one of the world’s premier emergency services, with ambulance crews that show up in lightning speed, do you think Beer was slowed down in any way by Israel bashers?

There are thousands of Israelis like Beer who wake up every morning hoping to make the world a better place. The haters can’t stop them.

Sixty-two years ago, a few months before he was elected President, John F. Kennedy saw a hopeful glimpse of the future when he spoke at a Zionist convention in New York City. 

“The Middle East needs water, not war. They need tractors, not tanks, and they need bread, not bombs,” Kennedy said. “The people of Israel have brought their blessings to people all over the world… Why should the countries of the Middle East, which need technical assistance, why should they be denied this opportunity to participate in a great source of future wealth for them and their people?”

By all means, let’s continue to fight antisemitism and work to improve Israel. But if it makes you feel any better, despite all the lies, the hate and the ugliness, the reality on the ground is that the Jews and Israel are still winning, and the haters are still losing.

And those aren’t just words.

David Suissa is Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. © Jewish Journal, reprinted by permission, all rights reserved.