Say what you want about Donald Trump, but he has accomplished major inroads when it comes to gaining peace in various parts of the world. Although Trump claims to have stopped eight wars, I am only aware of one: the Hamas-Israeli war in Gaza. Perhaps he is also including Syria and Iran and its war with Israel. Perhaps he also stopped some wars in the Congo. Nonetheless, the Gazan war is major.
Think about the Abraham Accords, which brought a whole region to peace and open relations with Israel – all orchestrated by Donald Trump.
Yet the Nobel Peace Prize committee decided to snub Trump twice. Of course, Trump being Trump, he openly complained about it to the Norwegians. He said that since they are not interested in real peace, he won’t be either, as he continues his plan to take over Greenland.
Yet Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing. He did not stop the Syrian civil war, in which he warned Assad not to cross a red line and use gas on his own people. Of course, Assad crossed that line, and nothing was done. ISIS flourished under Obama’s leadership, and Iran was granted a lift of sanctions, giving the Iranians the chance to regroup and spread terror throughout the world. Of course, he orchestrated the Iran Nuclear Deal, which allowed Tehran to become extremely close to creating a nuclear bomb. Obama himself did not know why he won the prize.
It becomes evidently clear that the Nobel Prize committee operates in a prejudiced field of politics. Trump is a white Republican who is very outspoken in his commitments, so he is out. Obama was an African American Democrat, so he checked the boxes. He also did not stir up any pots.
Remember how Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the disastrous Oslo peace accords?
It is very sad to witness that the most distinguished award in the world is governed not by reality, but by politics.
But politics has crept into the scientific world as well. Just ask a modern-day scientist to define a woman – they cannot or will not.
Last week, Senator Josh Hawley (R, MO) interviewed an accomplished doctor named Dr. Nisha Verma, OB/GYN, asking if men can become pregnant. No matter how hard he pressed her for a simple answer to a simple question, she refused to answer. She dodged in every way possible. Hawley was truly dumbfounded that a person of science who deals with feminine issues as her profession would not let science pave the way for the answer.
We have often been told to abide by the dictum, “Follow the science.” Except it seems that science now has become conflated with politics. It’s a scary thought that science is pliable and subject to the whims of political correctness.
Who knows what the truth is about global warming? The scientific community will not allow scientists to even consider that there is no global warming. And no scientist can even critically analyze the Theory of Evolution – you’re out of every science academy if you do. A therapist may not consider treating a child who, at a young age, is thinking of changing genders.
So, politics is acceptable when it comes to politics. But when it creeps into science, or decisions to award Nobel Peace Prizes, that is something that should concern us all.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
