American veto will not last forever
Op-ed: If US-Israel relations continue to deteriorate, we may one day face an American president who will make decisions contradicting Israeli right-wing leaders' opinions.
Even today, 75 years after he last closed his eyes, he is praised for his warnings against what eventually happened to the Jewish people in World War II. The rightists commend him for his precognition and like to quote a sentence that he said, or didn’t say: "If you don't destroy the Diaspora, the Diaspora will destroy you."
They complain – rightfully, it seems – that the Jews in the Diaspora did not listen to Jabotinsky's warnings. They dismissed them. Moreover, the leftists silenced Jabotinsky and the members of his camp.
On this background, it's hard to understand the rightists in Israel who, despite their sad past experience, are not listening to the warnings of leaders, even in the right, and are in many cases attacking people with different views. They are also trying to silence people. God's right hand does strike powerfully, but even he is fed up sometimes.
For example, the Palestinian Authority's decision to bring a resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state, a withdrawal to the 1967 borders and other dire straits.
Here and there, one can hear tones of contempt and ridicule in the rightists' reactions: Who are they? And what are they? They will dictate a Palestinian state to us, a withdrawal to the 1967 borders? That will never happen.
And the UN? And the Security Council? Who are they to tell us what to do? A state? A withdrawal? After 47 years of controlling the territories we're supposed to walk away from there? There have already been hundreds of anti-Israel resolutions and there will be one more. So what?
That's exactly the point. One day, without any warning, it comes. There have obviously been resolutions here and there in the League of Nations, which preceded the UN, and in the UN itself about the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. And one day, on November 29 1947, a resolution came out of there and led to creation of the State of Israel. The people living in Zion started dancing. The Arabs around us cried.
Although history does not usually repeat itself, recognizing a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders is the heart's desire of many countries in the world, not just the Arab states. The US will veto such a resolution, but if the relations between Washington and Jerusalem continue to deteriorate, we may one day face an American president who makes decisions which contradict the opinions of Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett and Orit Strock.
You're saying it can't happen? Come on. Should I remind you how many times in the past generations you said something couldn't happen, and it did happen?
Then, only then, the Americans will remind us that immediately after the Six-Day War, in 1967, they did not recognize the "occupation of the territories" and have never recognized Jerusalem as the State of Israel's "eternal" capital.
We will say to them: So why did you keep quiet? Why did you speak in whispers and condemnations? And they will show us all the comments and warnings and harsh statements which we ignored over the years.
We will say that "we didn't think you were serious" and "we thought it was just double talk" and other excuses. The Americans will explain to us that they were always serious and that we laughed at them too.
And by the way, they will say, you Israelis are not alone in this problem. Look at the great Putin in Russia. We imposed sanctions on the great Russia and soon they will have nothing left to eat. Would you like some more examples? Have we mentioned Iran?
