It’s been a crazy few days. Rosh Hashanah is coming, and I have been going back and forth to Yaffo, appearing on i24 News four times in the past three days. This afternoon I was asked to appear again. I sent in my latest Newsweek story before I left for the studio.
After my appearance, I stopped in Shuk HaCarmel to buy a few things. At the same time, I was listening, and partially watching Trump’s speech at the United Nations. While his statements on North Korea were troubling (has he never heard of Teddy Roosevelt’s famous quote “talk softly and carry a big stick”??), and his talk about Iran is reckless, since the U.S. does not have a plan B (although I was on the air the other night with an Iran expert who believes that U.S. sanctions alone could collapse the regime- I do not buy that) what was worse, was the end of the speech and his calls to blatant Nationalism. His calls to Nationalism has brought out the worst humanity has to offer. He envisions a world opposite to the world that I had hoped my children and grandchildren would inherit from us. It, of course, got worse, when Prime Minister Netanyahu stated:”In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech”. So now I can be embarrassed to be an American, and to be an Israeli at the same time.
On Sunday I participated on a panel in which one of the topics discussed was the crisis between American Jews, and Israel. While others focused on the Kotel agreement, I said the issue is deeper and relates to values. A prime example of this, is the Israeli government’s enthusiasm for Trump, at a time where most American Jews feel very differently. Today’s speech and Netanyahu’s response underscores that.
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