These are days of anguish and confusion. Our beloved America has been attacked by the same terrorists who terrorize Israel on a daily basis. Our prayers are with all those families who lost loved ones. We are filled with pride for the way our country has responded. And we have new heroes in the brave fire fighters, policeman, and medical personnel who risked their lives to save others.
Our prayers are also for our beloved State of Israel that seems to have been left out of the new Bush coalition and that is being forced to make peace with the very people who hate us. How is it that Israel, who has taken the brunt of suicide bombers for so long, is asked now to forgive them? America that has been attacked only a few times on its native soil can declare war. Israel, that has lost so many innocent victims, must be forced to declare peace.
When we hear reports distinguishing Palestinian terrorism from Bin Laden terrorists on grounds that Palestinians are freedom fighters, it is our duty to dispel this mistaken impression. If a Palestinian guns down an innocent teenager getting off a bus in Jerusalem, that's TERRORISM in the same way that that those who crashed the World Trade Center towers and sent anthrax in the mail are terrorizing our population. If a suicide bomber goes into a pizza parlor or stands by an Israeli nightclub and blows up innocent people, that's TERRORISM.
Israel needs us to speak up on its behalf. It also needs us to write our elected officials and let them know that we support Israel and that the Unites States government should not abandon Israel. Tell your elected officials they must learn from Israel how to fight terrorism. Remind them that it was Israel who went to rescue hijacked passengers at Entebbe in 1976. It was Israel that destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. Israel knows how to fight terrorism, as evidenced by how Israel is now being courted to teach American security personnel how to make our airports and airplanes more secure.
Israel is a friend to America. It is not fair that America turn its back on Israel.
So, let us all be public relations messengers for the State of Israel. And like the Maccabees of old, whom we soon celebrate during Hanuakah, let us stand up for our beloved State of Israel.