In a vote in the US Senate, a motion to end arms sales to Israel was rejected. It is not that the Senate saw fit to vote on such an issue that is my problem here (although that is a problem). My problem is with him who brought the motion to the Senate. 

Senator Bernie Sanders (I – VT) has criticized Israel in general, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu specifically, since this latest outbreak of Israel’s war for independence. The war, he says, is illegal, Israel is engaged in genocide against the civilians in Gaza, and now in Lebanon, and Netanyahu is a war criminal. He couches his credibility to call Israel out in the fact that he, too, is Jewish, he has family who were murdered in the Holocaust, and that in his youth,  he spent time working on a kibbutz. Well, Senator, I meet all those criteria as well, so allow me to engage on this subject.

Your position gives no account to the security position in which Israel finds itself. It is the security position we have been in since we declared independence. Like the Arab states before them,  Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon are crystal-clear transparent in their goal – the destruction of Israel, and the murder of its citizens. You ignore the tactic of hiding behind and within their respective civilian populations that these organizations use . You do not acknowledge the warnings sent to those civilians ahead of an attack (which  also alerts the enemy, thereby endangering our own forces). In fact – and I have made this argument before –  it is you who are a war criminal: by not calling out the use of civilians as a shield, you are aiding and abetting that crime. 

But this is deeper than just disagreeing with Israel’s government policies. This is actively participating in the ability of Israel’s enemies to murder Jews. To argue that the US should no longer assist Israel with weapons – defensive or otherwise – means that killing Jews is OK. And, if I may put this in a personal context, you are actively working to endanger me and my children. 

Sadly, Sanders is not alone. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D – MI), voted with Sanders, arguing that  “being pro-Israel today is not about simply supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu.” I can only speculate as  Slotkin’s understanding of what Netanyahu’s agenda is, but she is no less complicit in her position than is Sanders. 

A few days ago, someone forwarded me an article rejecting the categorization of Jews who choose to not make aliyah (to move to Israel) as traitors. That they belong here is, of course, a given. A betrayal to their people that they are not coming? Of course not. I do not even understand how such a debate could be a topic for discussion. If you are looking for Jews deliberately doing harm to their own, one need look no further than members of the austere body that is the United States Senate. 

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)