Freedom Line Blog

As the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 2019 Policy Conference continues in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh carpet salesman Lou Weiss offers a cogent summary in The Wall Street Journal echoing CFIF’s recent commentary on why Americans care about, and should continue to care about, Israel:

AIPAC is driven by the Smiths, the Joneses and the Sanchezes, Americans who intuitively grasp the importance of support for the Jewish state.  Some admire Israel as a plucky democracy standing up for deeply American values of liberty and pluralism.  For others it’s Israel’s progressive treatment of women and gays.  Some see Israel on the front lines of the war on terror and want to help it fight back.  Others admire Israel because the Hebrew Bible states that those who bless Abraham and his great nation will themselves be blessed.  Is it purely a coincidence that America, the most successful country in history, treats its Jews better than any other nation ever has?”

At a moment when the free world is shrinking from its heritage of limited government at home and quiet strength abroad, thank God for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an address to AIPAC in Washington, Netanyahu gave one of the most honest reflections on the promise and peril of the Middle East ever to come from a sitting Prime Minister. The best passage:

Our soldiers and your soldiers fight against fanatic enemies that loathe our common values. In the eyes of these fanatics, we are you and you are us.

To them, the only difference is that you are big and we are small. You are the Great Satan and we are the Little Satan.

This fanaticism’s hatred of Western civilization predates Israel’s establishment by over one thousand years. Militant Islam does not hate the West because of Israel. It hates Israel because of the West – because it sees Israel as an outpost of freedom and democracy that prevents them from overrunning the Middle East. That is why when Israel stands against its enemies, it stands against America’s enemies.

This speech is one of the most important of 2010. Read it here.