The most intellectually weak manner of defending Israel against anyone who disagrees with their position is to charge them with echoing their “archenemies“.
It is also precisely the kind of scurrilous methodology used by the most ardent of anti-Semites. Old law school maxim: If the facts are on your side, bang the facts. If the law is on your side, bang the law. if neither are on your side: bang the table.
Swirsky’s table-banging does nothing to advance a powerful defense of Israel — or address the foolishness of a diplomatically tactic used by the serially hapless Trump Administration.
It is apparent that the points of my letter need restatement , as Swirsky failed to understand them.
Move the Embassy to Jerusalem — which is the capital of Israel — as part of a valid, operative and reinvigorated U.S. peace process.
There are concessions that the Netanyahu coalition government can and should make about Jerusalem settlements.
The extremist position voiced by Swirsky is that an inch of concession is a yard of dereliction of security for Israel’s valid rights in Jerusalem; that all acts of Jewish settlement are equally, fully legally just; that all acts of Israeli settlement are divorced from the efficacies of the peace process, and that anyone who questions settlement policy is an archenemy of Israel.
The 19th century German-American statesman Carl Schurz once said,” America, Right or Wrong: When right, to be kept right. When wrong, to be put right.”
The same can be said about those who love Israel. America acts as both an effective broker of lasting peace in the region by forging workable compromises, security guarantees, and lasting systems of defense, trust, enforcement and oversight.
To get to this position, strategic value lies in forcing comprises for the achievement of the greater good.
As for the Bible: I direct Ms. Swirsky’s attention to Psalm 122: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure
“May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”
“Security” and “peace” are arrived at through swords as well as olive-branches.
Jon F. Weinstein
Port Washington
