Home

Since the earliest historic records "man" has not seen any extended time of peace. Economic struggles and warfare have always been a problem. For Jews, this has been the case since early biblical times. Time and time again, Jews have seen the ugly side of hate. There are more examples of the Jews as victims of attempted extermination than any other peoples. In every generation, empires and nation sought the extermination of the Jews.

In the first millennia, around 70 CE, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and hundred of thousands of Jews were executed by the powerful Roman army. In the second millennia CE it was the Roman Emperor Hadrian that sought to redo the same act.

For 1,000 years, Jews were loyal to the Spanish throne but, in the later part of the 15th century, everything collapsed. The Spanish Inquisition took at least 15,000 lives and the displaced hundred of thousands of Jews and other peoples. The Inquisition did not end until Napoleon conquered Spain in 1808. It was then under orders from Napoleon that the records of the Inquisition were made public.

To the best of my knowledge, the government of Spain has never paid a penny in reparations to the descendents of the 300-plus years of insanity. (To note, present day Spanish courts have tried to bring Israeli leaders to trail for war crimes. I guess if the shoe fits, wear it!) For that matter, with the exception of post WWII Germany, Jews have never been paid back for property taken from them by any government or religious institutions.

Lecturing to Jews about Jewish history is silly, yet the world of today would find it convenient to once again use the Jews, i.e. Israel, as their "whipping boy". If one reads the international press on a daily basis, one would be clearly be led to believe that the key to world peace would come about with Israel ceasing to exist.

Israel is in a precarious position. She is being told to make concession after concession without reciprocity. It was fine as long as Israel was being attacked by indiscriminate mortar fire, yet for her to fight back was unacceptable. This has been the case time and time again. Most of the nations on this planet wouldn't shed a tear if Israel was destroyed and all its Jewish citizens were literally driven into the sea!

For the Jewish state, there are no longer any protectors. It seems that even the U.S. is no longer a tried and true friend as one Israeli military secret after another is being published in the American media.

Israel can't afford even one military loss to embolden her sworn enemies. Yet, even with all the fears it faces, its people produce product after product to better the environment and save the planet.

Israel is also among the most successful nations in developing medicine to cure the ills of the world. Seventy percent of Israel's water supply is recycled. That's more than twice the recycling percentage of any other nation on the planet. Solar power research and development done in Israel will, for the first time, make solar energy competitive with fossil fuels. Apparently, she will also be reducing the use of coal and replacing it with natural gas and solar. Israel is by far the "greenest" nation on the planet. She didn't get green by government mandate and little if any help came from the government!

The genius is in the people, not the politicians. Israel offers all its neighbors a brighter future in exchange for peace. The genius of the people can make the dessert bloom and create clean, inexpensive, and plentiful energy.

The vast sums of money spent on war can be better-spent building homes, transportation systems, and honest educational facilities. When people live in peace and have a good life they don't want war. I've always believed that evil leaders use hate to ferment wars because of their inability to improve the lives of their own people.

Peace can only be obtained from strength, not weakness. I do believe with peace there will be some sort of land transfer. The "peace" has to be real and all the citizens of the region must live in reasonable security. The double standard applied to Israel is unjustified. I would hope President Obama would look to Churchill as a leader not Chamberlain. Israel and the Jewish people can't afford peace at any price.

The rewards for peace always outweigh the cost of war. I believe it was Prussian military historian Carl von Clausewitz who said: "... war is politics by a different name."

Carl Resnick is a resident of Raritan and a local businessman.