WHEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.........

     Can't sleep. Can't read - eyes too tired. Too much going thru my head. So when in the middle of the night one sits alone wondering what to do, what should one do? What could one do? One can ruminate. One can brood. One can be wishful, wistful. One can be hopeful, though reality seems to interfere with those thoughts!
     So what are those thoughts. Well, Friday was a downer what with the abstention of the US on the Security Council resolution re settlements in Israel. I wonder why we here in this country do not return all the settlements we made on Indian land, on French land, on Spanish land, on Mexican land and of course on British land. You see, we went in there and homesteaded and trapped and set up trading posts followed by more people followed by troops and forts followed by annexation followed by statehood and many times we fought wars, stated or not, and many times we cheated, admitted or not, but onwards we forged with a magnificent title to this movement - Manifest Destiny - which seemed to justify it all.
     Move forward to a tiny state reinstated in a modern formation in 1948 - the State of Israel. Now this was not a new state for there have been many states prior to this, the Kingdom of Israelites, of Judea and there had never ceased to be  a Jewish presence there throughout the millennium nor had there ever been a ceasing of prayers to return there, to Tzion, Zion. Even in the midst of horrors perpetrated upon Jews in Exile, in Galut, in the midst of concentration camps of the Holocaust, there was mention of the Return. On a secret synagogue's wall in Terezin, it was painted, with pride and longing.
     So in 1948 a nation was established, partly out of historical movement and partly out of guilt of the nations of the world who had stood by and done nothing, nothing, to halt the slaughter of the Jews, their burning, their drowning, their torture, their mass graves, their brutal fates. Excuses were used as to why they did not bomb the tracks, or pleas of "not knowing" were made even as we know that the papers had it in their columns and people had risked their lives to gather proof as they used stealth to enter and leave the camps, taking their lives in their hands.
     And so where did they go after the war was over? Well, back to their "homes" where they were unwelcome and killed again. So to where? The countries of the world still held quotas on them so in the DP camps they stayed, the same places where they had been slaughtered. And they went to British Palestine where the Balfour Declaration had long ago stated the fact that there was to be  a Jewish state in that territory - and where the British conveniently suffered a long spell of amnesia. And there they came, taken in by a country and people who fought every day to defend themselves and who accepted the tiny portion of land allotted to them under the UN mandate - but even that was too much for the Arabs of the area, the Arabs of seven countries which invaded this little state trying to stay alive even as it welcomed in thousands upon thousands of refugees who had nowhere else to go. And on top of that were the thousands upon thousands of refugees from these Arab lands, the Jews of those lands who had lived there for hundreds and thousands of years - for they had to flee from persecution and murder and left all behind other than their lives and the clothes on their backs.
     And there were no settlements, only settling the land which they had using indefensible borders established as the Arab invaders were defeated, pushed back. Yet still there was no peace and the attacks, the suicide attacks, the killing of women and children, invasions of homes and schools and busses, the very fabric of life - all went on for decades and yet Israel prospered and took in more refugees, even Vietnamese when no one wanted them, even Jews of different ethnicities and colors for all were Jews and if no one wanted them then they had a home in Israel.
     And all this time of no peace Israel became a modern state, an innovative state, inventing much that benefitted the world. And yet, all the Moslem states, all the Arab states and all the cowardly nations of the world who needed their oil and who thus indulged their ancient anti Semitism under cover of a new respectable title - all these people needed to see the state gone and the slogan of the Arabs was "from the river to the sea" - and into the sea with all the Jews and yet all the trouble was blamed on the state of Israel. When the Straits of Tiran were blockaded by the Egyptians what did the UN do? Why simple! It left and abandoned their jobs, their stated mandate and Israel was all alone. As usual.
     When Israel won this fight they immediately offered to make peace, to sign treaties and to return land captured during the fighting, during the attacks. Takers anyone? Nope! Not a one. Only more threats and more lies, so Israel waited, as it had done for years already. And eventually people began to think and wonder why not go back to where we had come from, where our parents had died. So they returned to Hebron, a holy city where our forefathers and mothers were buried and where there had been a slaughter of Jews in 1929. And why not return to Etzion where the Jews who had lived there were also attacked and slaughtered and now the sons and grandsons wanted to return to where there had been Jews already. And not to forget the Old City where there had also been Jews, where there had also been a slaughter and a rescue of besieged Jews living there. You see, Jews also had old keys to homes.
     So suddenly there came a new chant - no settlements for they prevent peace. Really? What was the excuse then for the decades of attacks and wars when there were no settlements, only a nation trying to live in their homeland the same as all the nations of the world. Why was it wrong for there to be one tiny little Jewish state, a state which faced continuous hatred and opposition from all the nations of the world, nations which had never ever lost their anti Semitic feelings, only tamped them down for a while. Why? And no answer, one that made sense. None that appeared to face facts and realities. None that worked and all denied facts and truths. When the vote to establish Israel was taken there was also to be a state for the Arabs - actually two - one of Jordan which had never existed before and which consisted of mostly so called Palestinians, most of whom had come from Greater Syria and had not been there for the generations they said, and then another state but guess what? The Arabs refused this - and now they cry out for a state! And still they cry out in their papers and media for the land of the river to the sea and into the sea with the Jews.
    And the world - oh it rides its horse again and Obama has left a terrific legacy, did he not. He made the final turn of his back on the State of Israel, the only democracy in the region, an ally of us for lo these many years, an ally which shared intelligence and arms it captured and had ties of families and friends, But he did not care and so he has left a legacy which in turn will cancel out any other thing he might have left as a legacy and which has forced me to acknowledge here that Trump was correct in this case and I only hope that he does not do a turn around on a dime as he has done many times before and that he stands by Israel.
'     And I wonder where all the nations of the  world will be should Israel not be first on the ground at disasters, not have the first hospitals up to help, not send in agricultural experts and water experts and all sorts of experts and advisers to help the nations of Africa and Asia. Where will they be then? Personally - I could care less for I am tired of this behavior. When the Arabs will learn that war is not the way. When they will learn to value their children and not send them off to die and then ululate in victory as they die taking others with them. When there is a sincere desire for peace - then there will be peace and in the meantime, despite the lies of the world, Arab citizens are in the army, in the universities, in the shopping malls, in the cities, in their own villages and they live nicely as well. Their economy flourishes though the PLA and Hamas do their best to ruin it all with their corruption and their inadequacies. Go to Israel and walk the streets, their cities, their countryside and see the truth for yourself.
     The eternal truth? Am Yisrael Chai!! The nation of Israel, its people, lives on. Nothing will stop that. Not lies, Not BDS. Not hatred. Not war. Not threats. Not excuses. When there were no settlements then what was the impediment to peace? The presence of a Jewish state which they still refuse to acknowledge. We sing of peace and they sing of war and death.
      Such are the sad thoughts when one cannot sleep and is awake in the middle of the night. Once again, ironically during the festival of Chanukah which celebrates a victory for freedom, we are besieged once more. May we all work that much harder to bring about a just peace in this world and really believe and act upon what we preach about peace in the world.