Community Magazine May 2019

44 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE In a swipe at the other side of the political aisle, Pence seared the Democrats. “It’s astonishing to think that the party of Harry Truman, which did so much to help create the State of Israel, has been co-opted by people who promote rank, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and work to undermine the broad American consensus of support for Israel.” Without mentioning her name, he referred to Omar as “a freshman Democrat in Congress” who “trafficked in repeated anti-Semitic tropes, alleged congressional support for Israel reflected an ‘allegiance to a foreign country’… and she accused Americans who support Israel of being bought off by campaign contributions.” As parting shot, he said “the party that has been the home of so many American Jews for so long today struggled to muster the votes to unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism in a resolution.” Nikki Haley’s Appearance Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s first comments at the conference attacked the U.N.’s hypocrisy. She noted the recent rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and said, “You know, what's interesting is at the U.N., I can guarantee you this morning it is radio silent.” Haley continued, “They are not saying anything about Hamas, they're not saying anything about the lives lost, they're not saying anything. But if it was any one of those countries, they'd be calling an emergency Security Council meeting.” Still, she expressed hope that the U.N. will have a change of heart soon, given that “the majority of the general membership of the U.N. voted for a resolution that acknowledged Hamas, and acknowledged the terror that they were spreading, and acknowledged how bad they were.” In private counsel with “a couple of Arab countries” during her tenure, Haley said that they understood Hezbollah and Hamas were terror organizations, but they still had to vote against Israel “for our constituents.” “It was like everybody was bullying this kid in the corner, and it was abusive, and it was wrong, and it was just unwarranted,” Haley said. Secretary of StateMike PompeoWeighs In Mike Pompeo said he became the first American Secretary of State to visit the Western Wall, and “the first high ranking American official to do that with an Israeli prime minister.” Pompeo spoke of the “cancer metastasizing” of anti-Semitism on a global scale, spread in the media, on campuses, and “supported by certain members of Congress.” Anti-Semitism includes anti-Zionism and BDS, he said. “Criticizing Israel's policies is an acceptable thing to do in a democracy. It's what we do. But criticizing the very right to exist of Israelis is not acceptable. Anti-Zionism denies the very legitimacy of the Israeli state, and of the Jewish people.” Anti-Semitism is growing, Pompeo believes, because youths are ignorant about the Holocaust, professors are slanted against Israel, journalists can’t be bothered to present all of the facts, and politicians think it wins votes. Meanwhile, the Trump-era sanctions against Iran have had a domino effect on its funding client, Hezbollah, as its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “recently begged for contributions” from those they “subjugated and terrorized.” “Nasrallah passing the tin cup is good news,” Pompeo said. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer Applauds Democrats’ Support of Israel Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer called for a “united front, Democrats and Republicans together,” adding that he was proud that “the overwhelming majority of Democrats” are not only pro-Israel, but also supported the Taylor Force Act, which removed US tax funding from the Palestinian Authority as a consequence for bankrolling acts of terror. “Not only is it demonstratively false to say Democrats are anti- Israel, it also hurts the Israel-U.S. relationship,” he chided. Schumer also railed against the BDS movement, adding that “its founders, and too many of its supporters, do not believe the Jewish people have a right to any state in their homeland, whatever its size and boundaries.” U.S. Ambassador David Friedman on Trump and Iran David Friedman, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, claimed that Trump is “Israel's greatest ally ever to reside in the White House, and to think otherwise, please, take a deep breath, and think about it some more.” Friedman cited America’s current sanctioning of Iran as one example, and he criticized how the previous administration paid the Islamic Republic $100 billion in the hopes that Iran would “self-correct.” “What did Iran with all its newly-found treasure?” Friedman asked. “Did it build up its civilian institutions? Did it improve the quality of life of its citizens?” Instead, he said, it “doubled down on terrorist activity in Yemen, in Iraq, and in Lebanon. It increased its stock of ballistic missiles, and it invested in military bases in Syria on Israel's northern border.” Friedman credited an Israeli intelligence mission that captured tons of Iranianmilitary documents as providing the lynchpin evidence that revealed “Iran lied to everyone about its nuclear intentions.” Netanyahu’s Address Delivered Remotely Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an address via satellite. He initially planned to take the podium in person, but returned to Israel in order to deal with the recent rocket attacks from Gaza. “The Golan Heights is indispensable for our defense,” Netanyahu said of the area in the north of Israel, which Israel captured from Syria in the Six Day War in 1967. “ We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause, her values are our values, and her fight is our fight… because we believe in right over wrong, ingoodover evil, in libertyover tyranny.” - Vice President Mike Pence