Opinion

I just got back from visiting Israel with Governor Mike Huckabee and about 30 Americans, most of whom had never been to Israel even once. Without exception, they all felt it was a life-changing experience. The group was diverse. We had a CEO from Utah whose grandmother escaped pogroms in Odesa, a former South Carolina Congresswoman who found her family listed at Yad Vashem as having been murdered by the Nazis, and we had the largest grower of watermelons in the United States who marveled at the agricultural accomplishments of Israel. All on the trip were true patriots. None of them winced at traveling to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron or visiting Ateret Cohanim in the Old Jewish Quarter (the so-called Muslim Quarter). This is the new and at the same time old reality of Israel.

As the 30^th anniversary of the Oslo Accords approaches, more and more will be written. It was Israel’s overarching attempt to make peace. It backfired. Instead of peace, Israel has gotten unbridled terrorism. Unlike the Abraham Accords, which have been more of what a peace agreement with the Arabs should look like, the Oslo Accords have only brought grief to Israel. The very same Leftists who are attacking Prime Minister Netanyahu today were the ones who constructed the Oslo Accords and gave guns to terrorists.

At 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was exploded in the New Mexican desert. The world has never been the same since. A movie devoted to the father of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, is currently a hit at the box office, marking 80 years since that fateful day. Oppenheimer apparently said, when watching the explosion, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Oppenheimer had his regrets, but World War II was finally brought to an end because of his efforts.

As Israel celebrates its 75^th year in the modern era, it is always important to review aspects of the past to learn lessons for the future. With all the hullabaloo about “Nakba,” which Rashida Tlaib likes to pull out of her hat frequently, the Arab world started wars with Israel eight years after the so called “Nakba” (of 1948) in 1956, 19 years later in 1967, and 25 years later in 1973. Israel never wanted to go to war ever. The Jewish People despise war. It is against our character and genetics. As Golda Meir said, “…It will be harder for us to forgive them [the Arabs] for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

After five elections since 2018, Prime Minister Netanyahu was able to cobble together a coalition of 64 members in December of 2022. Seventy percent of the Israeli population voted. In the United States, only 62.8% of Americans voted in 2020. The year 2020 saw the largest turnout ever for a Presidential election at 158 million.

July 4, 1776, was a pivotal and extraordinary day, bringing freedom and liberty into a dictatorial and oppressive world. The American Revolution against tyranny brought the ability for all to practice their respective religions. Judaism was allowed to flourish. There were 2000 to 3000 Jews at the time of the Revolutionary War. They were concentrated in New York City; Philadelphia; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina. There were only 2 million people in the colonies at the time; only 45% actually participated in the war effort against the British. Actual independence was not achieved until September 3, 1783, in the “Treaty of Paris.” This September 3, we will celebrate 240 years of actual Independence from the British.