ALLY

As we listen to the news and watch the debates preparing for the upcoming Presidential election

one of the important issues to Jewish people in New Hampshire and around the country is how will the new President relate to the Israeli leaders.  What is their position on the situation in the Middle East?  Are they in favor of a two state solution or not?  Also, what do the Israeli leaders think about what is happening in America and will they be happy with the next President of the United States?  “History has this humbling habit of diminishing the events we see as monumental and of reducing our roles in them to footnotes….” writes Michael Oren in his book, Ally, “ our responsibility is to strive for the objectives we see as faithful for our time.”  

Ally, written by Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States represents so incredibly the relationship between the United States and Israel in modern times.  He gives history leading up to our relationship today and he gives perspective on how the relationship between our two countries affects and is impacted by the rest of the world.  Oren says he convinced, “that the US, Israel relationship is essential to both countries interests.  It assures a modicum of Mid East stability and sends a message of American dependability to the world.”

The main message of this book is that Israel has an insuppressible desire for peace.

Yet, there are many reasons throughout history that continue today that keep that dream

so far from reality.  Oren gives examples and reports his efforts to try and negotiate between

Israel’s leaders and the American leaders.  He is constantly trying to make sure the true message is being portrayed in the US media.  He spends his time attending meetings and social functions to make sure that a positive view of Israel and its relationship with United States is maintained.  

In 1973 Life Magazine featured an article about the Jewish state for its 25th anniversary.

Back then the Jewish state was far more militaristic.  It was less democratic and tolerant and yet it was praised as a paragon of righteousness and creativity.  Something has changed over the intervening years.   Today, Jews are associated with the worst traits in today’s world namely, militarism, racism and colonialism  Ratings are the reason for the bad press about Israel, is the viewpoint of Oren and others.

“Israel sells, Arabs massacring Arabs, say in Syria is a footnote, while a  Palestinian child shot by an Israeli soldier is a scoop. The racist undertones are clear but the reality irrefutable, and nobody understands it better than the terrorists, Hamas and Hezbollah. If they fire at Israeli civilians Israel will retaliate and unintentionally kill the Lebanese and Palestinian civilians behind whom the terrorists hide.  The pictures will be gruesome and if not sufficiently so the terrorists will manufacture them exhuming bodies from morgues and graveyards.”

This is a book that I can really relate to.  Michael Oren is about my age and grew up as I did in New Jersey at a time when the United States was feeling very connected to Israel.  Jews in America were feeling secure in their Judaism and not afraid to say out loud that the Holocaust had been horrific and “Never Again” was a chant that was shouted as we marched in New York City with Jewish youth groups for the Israel Independence Day parade.  It was a time when Nazi hunters were bringing Nazi leaders to trial and Israel was winning miraculous battles including the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War.  Michael Oren early in life decides his dream is to be an Ambassador to Israel.  

Oren feels that it is finally time for us all to face the reality of life in Israel, “It’s time that American Jews see Israel not as a Hollywood or Hebrew school fantasy but what it was and still is: a real country made of bona fide humans, faults and all, albeit humans caught in inhuman circumstances. It’s time they stop judging Israelis by the standards of the American Jewish experience and start trying to understand the Israeli experience. Tired after two wars in which the vast majority didn’t fight? Try dealing with eight or so, one every few years, together with thousands of rockets raining on you cities, countless bombs blowing up buses and malls and intersections, and an absolutely relentless total threat.”

After finishing his term as Ambassador and being elected to the Knesset, “he commits to uphold the laws of the State”.  Michael Oren reflects back on his journey: “Beginning with the day I descended from the bus to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, how could I have seen squinting through the dust, that someday I would be elected to the first sovereign Jewish  parliament in 2000 years.  Who could have imagined the tortuous route ahead and the divides American and Israeli yet to be crossed.”

Ally, is a book of wonderful quotes and an incredible amount of information about the political world that shapes the outcome of Israel’s future.  Oren who achieves his lifelong dream,

serving as the emissary was a rewarding experience.   He leaves the position with a positive attitude and hope for the future.  In high school Oren played Don Quixote in the Man of La Mancha, who dreamed the “Impossible Dream”.  He grew up to fulfill his own impossible dream.