Dear John,
In many ways, Rosh Hashanah will be different this year. Many of us will be spending it alone, isolated from our beloved family members and friends. The pandemic knows no geographical, racial, ethnic or religious boundaries and is raging throughout the world. Israel is said to have one of the worst per capita COVID-19 rates in the world, and is now about to enter a period of total lock down. Wildfires have been rampaging across America’s West and have left at least 35 people dead, and thousands homeless. Hurricanes are deluging our South. Race riots have ripped our cities apart. Antisemitism is sweeping through the United States and especially on our college campuses, like the wildfires of the West.
But in Judaism we are often taught to always look at the glass as “half full.” And there is so much positivity that we have to celebrate today. We celebrate the amazing Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Bahrain. Although some might consider this a simple “distraction,” I remember vividly the famous three "no’s" that the Arab League had declared at the Khartoum Conference, shortly after the 1967 War: “No peace with Israel, No recognition of Israel, and No negotiations with Israel.”
We have come so far since then.
This is the dawning of a new age, where Israel will no longer be alone in her neighborhood. The entire region will profit from Israeli scientific expertise, from Israeli high tech, medicine, and cyber intelligence. And Israel will not be alone in facing the looming Iranian nuclear threat.
This peace will prove to a very different one from the one that Israel signed with Egypt in 1979 and the one that Israel signed with Jordan in 1994. Sitting next to me at that historic occasion on the White House Lawn on Tuesday, which I felt humbled and honored to be able to bear witness to, was a Bahraini woman who told me she would like my Israeli children and grandchildren to be friends with her Bahraini children and grandchildren.
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But the challenges still remain. Although the Gulf Sunni states are warming to Israel, both Turkey and Iran and the Palestinians have only sharpened their anti-Israeli stances.
The reckless JCPOA, the Iranian Nuclear Deal that the Obama administration negotiated, has elements within it that are about to sunset very soon, particularly the arms embargo, which is due to expire on October 18, 2020. This would leave the rest of the world free to trade weapons with the Islamic Republic, with total impunity. The American Resolution to extend the arms embargo was unfortunately rejected in the Security Council last month, and the United States is forced to employ “snap back sanctions.” And before the mysterious spate of fires in Iran this summer, the Islamic Republic was, at most, one to two months away from nuclear breakout.
The Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, has 150,000 missiles staring down at Israel from Southern Lebanon, and they are working to convert them into precision guided missiles. In the last two and a half months, Hezbollah has attempted to infiltrate the border twice and kidnap Israeli soldiers. Unfortunately, both the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, (UNIFIL), had simply turned a blind eye to this. Both have developed much too cozy a relationship with Hezbollah, which is, unfortunately, now the overwhelming force in Lebanon. Israel is very much on its own, as it has always been, in defense of its own people, particularly from the threat from the north.
Although Turkey was the first Muslim nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel and has had them since 1949, Erdogan has threatened to recall its ambassador from Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, Turkey under Erdogan’s leadership is emerging as a danger in the region, claiming Cypriot and Greek oil fields in the Mediterranean as its own, and interfering in Syria and Libya.
The Palestinians, both from the P.A. and from Hamas, are acting out, like two year-olds having temper tantrums, because they are no longer the center of attention. P. A. Secretary General Saeb Erekat had wanted an emergency session of the Arab League to condemn the Emiratis and Bahrainis, and they refused, and they would not even pass a resolution condemning them. That is revolutionary! However, they specifically timed rocket attacks from Gaza to reach Ashkelon and Ashdod for during the White House Ceremony celebrating the Abraham Accords, injuring 13 people.
And many left wing analysts in American and Europe are stuck in their failed paradigm of the past, and refuse to acknowledge that this peace agreement will prove to be very beneficial to the people of the region, and ultimately to the world.
That is why EMET’s voice is so important.
We have been exposing the lies and duplicity of the Palestinian Authority ever since the signing of the Oslo Accords 27 years ago. We keep American legislators educated about the rapidly moving parts in the Middle East every single working day. Since quarantine began in March, we have had approximately 140 meetings with members of Congress so that they will be up to date on this vital region of the world and Israel’s strategic importance to the United States.
And that is just regarding foreign policy.
We are still working very hard to try to implement the 2008 reforms that we have ushered through Congress regarding the one sided, highly politicized way Middle Eastern Studies are being taught in our nation’s school systems. This has been going on for decades now, and has paved the way to the growing anti-Semitism that we are now experiencing throughout the United States, particularly in our nation’s universities.
And we have had 33 webinars to date, with some of the very brightest and the very best intellects, analysts, and experts on these subjects to help educate the public. Because we believe that a well-educated public will create well-informed foreign policy.
If you have enjoyed our webinars, and believe in EMET's mission, we ask you to please invest in EMET this new year. For the sake of a strong America, one that is free of anti-Semitism, a strong Israel and Western Civilization as we know it.
Thank you very much.
And we wish all of our Jewish friends, a happy, peaceful, and especially a healthy New Year.
Sincerely,
Sarah N. Stern
Founder and President
EMET
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INVEST IN THE TRUTH. INVEST IN EMET.
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FOLLOW THE ENDOWMENT FOR MIDDLE EAST TRUTH
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