Here in the Haifa neighborhood of Bat Galim, where there are few tourists, Middle Eastern politics becomes more lucid.  In this great city where Jew and Muslim work together with Christians and a variety of other ethnic groups, perhaps the formula for peace in the Middle East can be found.  As I drove past the old city square in this rapidly growing metropolis, I noticed in the middle of the roundabout an enormous decorated Christmas tree. On one side of the tree was a large gold colored Star of David with Hanukkah candles arrayed along the top.  On the other side of the Christmas tree is an equally high post with a moon crescent and star representing Islam. 

Whether it was in the emergency room at the Rambam Hospital, where my wife Kim spent the evening, or the car repair dealership where I took my daughter’s car in to be repaired, Jew, Arab, and Christian work together seamlessly as colleagues.  Americans can learn a lot from the cooperation that goes on in this country every day.

It cannot be questioned for a moment by any honest observer that Israel is a sea of tranquility in one of the worst neighborhoods in the world.  What destabilizes the Middle East is money from fundamentalist Muslim Arab regimes that seek the destruction of Israel, the exclusion of Christians from the Middle East, and lies spread about Israel throughout the Western world. 

The excellent working relationships between majority and minority groups within Israel should be an example of how the Palestinian Authority should govern its people.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  Instead, the Arabs governed by the Palestinian Authority are jailed if they sell land to Jews.  Dissent is brutally quashed by the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip knows no democracy.  Rights for women and other minorities are not even conceived of seriously in any area governed either by the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.  What those enclaves of terrorism need is more Israel and less enabling by the West and by wealthy Arab oil regimes. 

Peace will come to the Middle East, just as it exists within Israel, once anti-Semitism is banished. Those in the West who enable anti-Semitism through their unrelenting attacks on Israel do civilized society no favor. Iran, when the Democrats controlled the White House received billions of dollars to destabilize the region.  That money was used by Iran to create totalitarian terrorist enclaves in Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, just to name a few. 

Hate Trump or love him, he is beginning to cut off the snake at its head.  Iran’s economy is in the tank, its revenues from oil are falling dramatically, and its people are rising up against the religious regime which rules the country.  For the first time since 1979, it appears that Iran may be faltering in its ability to control the Middle East.  No longer should that region of the world be safe for radical Islam. 

The real issue is what is going on with the Democrats in America?  Why do they seem so myopic?

As one who still appreciates many components of the Democratic philosophy, it is clear that the tail is wagging the dog.  Those in the Democratic Party who wish to exclude all other opinions, and tell false stories about Israel, are in the ascendancy.  Is it about blatant anti-Semitism?  Undoubtedly there is some component of that.  How about ignorance?  Without question much of the verbiage about Israel is simply untrue.

The Democrats have joined the “Free Palestine” movement.  Palestine is the name given to Israel by the Romans.  After a portion of the land of Israel was illegally occupied by the Jordanians from 1948 to 1967, the Arabs named that “West Bank” territory “Palestine.” However, that name did not come into being as an Arab enclave until 1697 when Israel, in a fight for survival, liberated the area from the Jordanians.  The Israelis were welcomed as heroes by the Arabs who had formerly been under the thumb of the Jordanian Monarchy.

What has happened since 1967 is that radical Islam financed by regimes like Iran, Syria, and their terrorist allies, have infested both the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip with the worst sort of malevolence.  Gaza has had one election after Israel turned it over to the Arabs, and that election placed into power Hamas which almost daily attacks Israel with missiles. The West Bank, which Jews correctly call Judea and Samaria, is governed by another despot named Muhammad Abbas.  His Palestinian Authority pays money to murders of Jews and others.  There will be no elections under Abbas either.  The Palestinian Authority governs and polices its own people. That portion of “Palestine” which is Muslim Arab, is indeed “freed.”   What those people mean who say “Free Palestine” is that the Jews should be driven once again from their ancient homeland in Israel. 

What the Palestinian Authority does not have is a full-scale military capable of threatening the existence of Israel as is currently occurring in Gaza.  To create yet another right-wing totalitarian dictatorship on the West Bank of the Jordan River armed to the teeth with missiles and rockets aimed at Israel is either insane or is promoted by those who would like to see the destruction of Israel. 

Would people like Bernie Sanders like to see Israel destroyed?  Sanders views the Middle East in much the way that the extremist Muslim world does; the Middle East should be a place without Jews or Christians. The Middle East, once home to 35% of Christianity, is down to less than 5%. Christians have been driven out, killed, and had their property appropriated in virtually every Middle Eastern country except for Israel, where Christianity is thriving and has increased. The Muslim Arabs themselves have no greater freedom anywhere in the world, and that includes the United States, than in the State of Israel where they occupy the parliament, the Knesset, in equal proportion to their percentage within the State of Israel.

What needs to happen in the Middle East is to “Free Israel.”  Israel should be entitled to include within recognized boundaries all of the area up to the Jordan River.  The League of Nations and other agreements actually gave what is present-day Jordan to the Jews as their national homeland since it was part of the historic Jewish nation. 

Arguments to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel are nothing more than a substitute for ancient anti-Semitism which placed the Jews in ghettos and prohibited them from commercial transactions with others.  This form of racism must be banished forever.