A Letter to President Obama

Mr. President,

It is with great concern that I write this letter to you today. I am trying to understand the logic behind your treatment of Israel; one of this country’s most steadfast and non-wavering allies. I am trying to understand how the President of this great country can treat, on more than one occasion, the elected leader of one of our strongest allies as if he were a family member of whom you are ashamed, while leaders of enemy nations are treated with deference. I am trying to understand how an ally that has compromised so much in the pursuit of peace and has received so little in return, can be pressured to compromise even more, by its’ supposed friend and ally. I am trying to understand how, as President of this great country for over 15 months, you STILL have not visited one of our most staunch allies, even as you have traveled to many other countries in the region and other parts of the world. I am trying to understand how you found time to travel to Israel during your campaign to court the Jewish vote, but, once elected, you have chosen only to chastise one of our country’s strongest allies, the country that is on the forefront of the war against radical Islam, the country that is surviving and flourishing in an unfriendly and dangerous neighborhood, against all odds.

Perhaps you do not fully understand the significance of the State of Israel in this world. Perhaps you need someone to explain the relevance and importance of this tiny country to the free world and to Jews all over the world. Perhaps you do not understand that the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust would not have happened had there been a strong and independent Jewish state at the time that would not have hesitated to accept any and all Jews fleeing from the carnage of Nazi Germany. Perhaps you have not taken note of Israel’s significant and outstanding contributions to science, medicine, military engineering and many other areas, even as it struggles to survive in a treacherous region. Perhaps you have not noted the indisputable historical and religious ties that Jews have to the land of Israel. Perhaps you also have not noticed the freedom with which people of all religions can visit sites of religious significance to them; a situation that did not exist when these areas were under Arab control; a situation that does not exist in other countries that are under Arab and/or Muslim control. Perhaps you have not observed the number of Arab members of the Knesset, despite the fact that some of them consort openly with Israel’s enemies and speak traitorously against the state of Israel.

My father is a Holocaust survivor, and I am a first generation American who was taught from infancy about the greatness of this country and the freedoms and opportunities that it offered an immigrant who came here with nothing, not even any family members except for a cousin and some distant relatives who already lived here. He came with only the will to build a life for himself here and to live a life like others who had not experienced the horrors that he had. He had just turned 17 when he was liberated from Buchenwald and spent the following two years learning a trade and living in Europe, while waiting for his immigration paperwork to be completed.

Coincidentally, my 17 year old son is currently participating in the March of the Living; a program that gathers teenagers, adults and Holocaust survivors from all over the world to visit cities and towns that were previously major centers of Polish and European Jewry, and different concentration camps where millions of Jews and others were murdered in cold blood and with extreme premeditation. This program culminates in the actual March of the Living, where participants re-create a death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a forced march from where there was no return. My son visited Treblinka, where the inhabitants of my father’s hometown, including his parents and five younger siblings, were brought and killed. At Treblinka, my son read the names of his great grandparents, great aunts and great uncles that he would never know. My son is the first member of his family to step foot in Poland since my father left in 1945. He is participating in this program because there was NO Israel at that time to prevent the atrocities that occurred in Poland and in other parts of Europe. He is participating in this program because there was NO strong state of Israel to rescue Jews who were being persecuted, tortured and murdered. He is participating in this program because he realized that it is crucial to never forget the depths of evil that can exist when good people ignore the obvious signs of malevolence and when good people think that the appeasement of evil regimes is the only solution.

Since modern Israel was re-established in 1948, it has come to the rescue of persecuted people, Jews and non-Jews alike. The Israeli government mounted rescue operations when the lives of Ethiopian Jews were threatened, and similarly, opened its doors to Jews from the Soviet Union when they were finally permitted to emigrate from that country. Recently, Israel was one of the first countries to respond to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti; establishing a working field hospital in record time, after its’ citizens traveled halfway around the world.

In short, the state of modern Israel, although far from perfect, has made scientific, humanitarian, medical and economic contributions that far exceed its’ small size. The world is truly a much better place because of the existence of this tiny country that has accomplished so much in the mere 62 years since it was re-established. Most importantly, however, it is an island of security for the Jews of the world, who finally have a country that will fight for them and stand up for them, no matter what. The destruction of Israel (as difficult as it is for me to even write these words) would be tragic for the world, but especially for Jews. Merely compelling Israel to put itself in a vulnerable position in an exceedingly unfriendly neighborhood or compelling it to compromise its’ security is hazardous for all people and countries that fight Islamic terrorism, for all people who wish to live in peace and freedom. Forcing Israel to be the “canary in the mine” will only foreshadow the tragedy that all in the West will face. I daresay, Mr. President, that the thought of Israel’s existence being threatened engenders the same feelings and fears in me that a repeal of the Civil Rights amendment would raise in you, with one major exception. The destruction of the State of Israel would once again be accompanied by the death of millions of Jews; my relatives and my people. Mr. President, it does not need to be like this.

Stand by Israel as you vowed you would in your presidential campaign. Do not allow your words or actions to endanger Israel’s existence or to further isolate Israel from the world community. Do not permit your words or actions to encourage the intransigence of the Palestinian and other Arab leadership. Continue the special relationship that Israel and the United States have had until now and do not permit any light to intrude between the interests of the United States and those of the State of Israel.

I thank you for your time.

Respectfully yours,
Betty F. Brutman

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877181,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877163,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGUxzISr9Us