It's a War, Stupid

By Sam Kliger


Yes, this is a war, and it is as ugly as any war could be. Israel faces a terrible enemy, who must be killed now, or else… What could happen else, I leave it to the imagination of those who have creative minds. If Israel will not get rid of Hezbollah now, Hezbollah and all who support it, including the so-called “innocent civilians” (how “civil” and how “innocent” some of them are we can see when they dance and celebrate on every casualty on Israeli side, on every Jew killed), will imminently get rid of Israel, no doubt. Then the turn will come for other religious groups.

Symbolically, when the war in Southern Lebanon entered its culminating stage, the Jews all over the world commemorate Tisha b’Av, the 9th of the month of Av, when the ancient Israel faced its most formidable tragedy: Jerusalem and its shining Temple on the hill was destroyed (fist by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and then by the Romans in 70CE), Jews were killed, exiled and lost their independence for about 2000 years. We do not want this to happen again. And there is a price to pay for keeping Israel safe, prosperous, and on float.

There is a lot of talk today about cease fire, both on a diplomatic front and in the Jewish community here. Some American Jews are also calling for an immediate cease fire, while President Bush seems to stay firm in his support for Israel and its right to defend itself. First destroy Hezbollah and only then the conditions for a lasting cease fire might be reached.

When in 2004 Russian Jewish Americans voted for Bush in astounding proportion of 3 to 1, while their American Jewish brethren voted for John Kerry in the same rate, many American Jews were surprised.

Russian Jews were trying to rationalize their choice by indicating Bush’s tough stance against terrorism, his support for Israel, and even his tax-cut initiative. But the true unconscious motive of their vote two year ago has revealed itself just recently. Russian Jews felt by their guts that the moment will come when the very existence of Israel will be on stake. And I leave it again to your creative imagination to envision what would happen today if the President of the United States was John Kerry. So, turn on your imagination: Hezbollah attacks Israel, kills several soldiers, kidnaps two, Israel starts its retaliation operation, international community calls for an immediate cease fire, UN Security Council passes a resolution introduced by France and Russia condemning Israel and giving it 24 hours for a cease fire, US representative to the UN (not John Bolton!) does not veto the resolution; Israel complains but succumbs to the pressure, Hezbollah rockets continue to fall in Israel … No need to continue.

President Bush might be not as intellectual, sharp-minded or sophisticated as, let’s say, Noam Chomsky, or even John Kerry, for that matter. He might be stubborn and way too religious. On top of that, he is a former alcoholic, and made many fatal mistakes in Iraq. His approval rate is close to a freezing point (32F). His team is a bunch of cruel idiots, which improperly treats and tortures “human beings” (another bunch of “pure angels”) at Guantanamo.

But he possesses, in the minds of many Russian Jewish Americans, such qualities as commitment to friends, sense of history, and, most importantly, moral compass that allows him to distinguish between good and evil. In today’s era of moral relativism, where “peace” is “war”, an “enemy” is somebody with whom one should make peace, “true” is “false”, and “just” is “unjust”, an ability to recognize the real evil, which is a global Islamic terrorism and fascism, is a unique talent and a rare skill. And not only recognize the evil, but also to have a strong will to stand alone against the evil risking to lose allies and supporters. I vividly recall another President of the United Sates, Ronald Reagan, who did not hesitate in the early 1980s to call the Soviet Union “an evil empire.” Many in the West were unhappy with his remark, but not us, “refuseniks” living in USSR and striving to get out of that empire.

And I am proud that many Russian Jewish Americans have a unique gift (emanating probably from their own experience under cruel Soviet regime) to recognize the presence of such a moral compass in current US president. We can only pray and hope that we would be able to descry such a knack among the candidates for the next US president. I personally think that Rudy Giuliani might have it.

From a clear perspective of moral compass, let’s try to answer some questions. Who is responsible for igniting the war? Who committed an unprovoked attack across the Israeli-Lebanon border? Who bears the moral and historic responsibility for breading Hezbollah and stir it up against Israel? Who is responsible for the death of civilians in Qana? If you are an honest person, you know the answers. The moral difference here is that Israel never intends to target civilian population, while terrorists always do. Israelis never celebrate the death of their enemies, terrorists do. Israel protects its civilian population with all means; terrorists use the civilians as human shield. Israel’s enemy is one who bears arms against Israel and the Jews with a desire to kill; Islamic terrorists consider all Jews as archenemies, and Christians, Buddhists, Hinduisms, atheists, and agnostics as just enemies. Israel wants to live in peace with their Arab neighbors; terrorists want to kill as many Jews as possible.

Therefore, any moral relativism, any “balanced” approach is irrelevant to this war. Israel is waging a just war, a sacred war against the enemy, which has to be destroyed by all means. And those who ignited the war, who desire to kill the Jews and wipe out Israel from the map, should pay the price.

Those who call for an immediate cease fire, who repeat senseless words that this crisis does not have a military solution, are not just moral relativists, or hypocrites. They are simply blindfolded by their ideology which is a blend of multiple fashionable isms, like socialism, hedonism, pacifism, pragmatism, cynicism, agnosticism, multiculturalism, and many others.

There is a military solution to this crisis, and it is to defeat Hezbollah in the current campaign, and to prepare for new turmoil in a world where there is still evil. To wage a war against evil forces is not only unavoidable, but it is a virtue. Especially, given the fact that this war is not only for Israel and its safety, but it is to protect other countries, including Muslim, from these barbaric, militant Islamists. There are more wars like this one ahead of us, and we all, Jews and non-Jews alike, have to unite in the face of an inevitable.

And I can only hope that Americans will learn a good lesson from this war; that they will come to the next presidential elections in 2008 with prepared homework and will vote for a candidate that has a moral compass and the guts to stand against the evil.


Dr. Sam Kliger is a Soviet-born sociologist living in New York.