The Nation’s Colors Are Running

Dear Mr. President:

I feel compelled to write to the man who represents American principle.

After the WTC tragedy, your voice was a source of strength and invigoration. You declared war on terrorism and the nations that harbor them. We all raised the flag and said, "these colors don’t run."

But now the colors are running, Mr. President - shamefully so!

Your administration is running with appalling hypocrisy.

I am astonished by the sudden legitimacy your administration is granting nations that "harbor terrorism."

I am astonished at your double standard regarding the appropriate response to terror.

While American planes bomb and strafe and kill - yes kill - the enemy in Afghanistan, you rebuke, condemn and criticize Israel’s acts of self-defense.

How many Israelis, Mr. President, must be killed before you say "enough"? Is American blood any redder than Israeli blood?

How many wanton acts of terror must occur before the U.S. demands that Arafat put a stop to it? How many discussions should be conducted with blood-hungry terrorists? Why didn’t the U.S. have at least one discussion with Bin-Laden?!

The only commands ever emanating from Washington to Israel are: Restraint! Restraint! Restraint!

How ludicrous it is to hear you congratulate the murderer Arafat for fighting terror! Who are you kidding?

Is this where America’s principles end up? In the Sewer of Placating Terrorists? Is it the oil that’s behind this?

Don’t you realize that some of our so-called friends, such as Saudi Arabia for example, are spitting in our face? How can you embrace a man - Arafat - who has the blood of hundreds of innocent Americans dripping from his fingernails?

When Israel kills terrorists in acts of self-defense - the very thing our American troops are doing in Afghanistan - the US demands that they stop. Where is America’s demand (as opposed to ‘humble request’) that Arafat and company stop killing innocent civilian and stop waging a war of terrorism against Israel?

When America was still a wilderness, the Jewish people were a civilized and educated people. We survived thousands of years of anti-Semitism and we’ll survive this latest injustice, as well.

Dictionary Definition Of ‘Double Standard’

Dear Mr. Secretary,

Under normal circumstances, I would send a letter of this nature to the President of the United States. However, after nine months in office, it is clear that the Department of State is the proper address.

I am a proud American citizen residing in the Land of Israel. But there are no words that can adequately express my shock, dismay, and bewilderment at the Administration’s persistent condemnation of the Government of Israel’s anti-terrorism policy, especially in light of last week’s assassination of the Minister of Tourism, the late Mr. Rehavam Zeevi.

As you know, the Land of Israel is the chosen place of residence for tens of thousands of American citizens. I would hope, at the very least, that the United States would praise military action to counter terrorism, especially when the lives of Americans abroad are at risk.

Never in my life have I ever encountered a more blatant case of sheer hypocrisy than the constant denouncements from the State Department. For this nation’s foreign policy to deny Israel the right of self-defense to the fullest at the same time it is blasting the Taliban to smithereens is worthy of entry in Webster’s Dictionary as the clearest example of what "double standard" means. If the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs would dare issue a similar condemnation of American air strikes in Afghanistan (which unquestionably have resulted in civilian casualties), what would your response be? Would you be a good boy and stop the bombings or would you simply say, "Mind your own business!" When the American Air Force fire-bombed Dresden in 1944, did anyone start screaming "Stop the War!" or was this simply the standard form of response upon an enemy in time of war? In the final analysis, there is a state of war between Israel and the PLO, a.k.a., PA, and it’s high time that someone just came out and said it.

Why does the United States treat Arafat differently than it does bin Laden or Saddam Hussein? Because he is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate? Arafat is a terrorist and must be treated as such in accordance with American and international law.

To go one step further, previous Government of Israel policies of restraint (at the behest of Mr. Peres) are also a large part of the problem. It is inconceivable to me that the United States and the world community at-large have yet to grasp fully the reality that the current "peace process" as represented by the Oslo Accords was a lie from its inception. Arafat is not, never was, and never will be interested in peace with Israel. America must come to realize this irrefutable fact. Once it does, it will be far easier to understand the necessity of actions such as the recent military operations against Arab terrorists throughout Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

The purpose of this letter is not to blame you for all this. The problem at the State Department goes much deeper and is far more long-standing. For at least half a century, State Department policy, regardless of who the Secretary of State is, has been automatically against Israeli military responses to terrorism, state-sponsored or otherwise, and for territorial compromise to Arabs who will settle for nothing less than the whole enchilada. As a result, with rare exception, every Secretary of State from John Foster Dulles to Madeline Albright has followed this line.

Mr. Secretary, please break this pattern for the sake of true world peace. I urge the State Department to reconsider its policy on this matter and to express greater understanding and support for Israel’s fight against terrorism, including the PLO, which should soon, G-d willing, perish from the earth. A written response is requested.