In Africa, Lion King Bibi begins to outroar the Palestinians
Offering high-tech and security know-how in return for diplomatic support, Netanyahu was welcomed like a superpower chiefDo houses matter more than Jews?
A life-size stuffed lion greets visitors to the National Palace in Addis Ababa, lying on a red carpet adorned with Stars of David. Always aware of a good frame, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not pass up on the opportunity to have his photograph taken with the lion on the sidelines of his meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Thursday morning.
A few hours later, the country’s president, Mulatu Teshome, took his Israeli guest down to the palace garden, where they gazed at real lions. Netanyahu is the first statesman to have been allowed to get so close to the animals; even US President Barack Obama wasn’t granted this honor during his recent visit.
Posing for the cameras with President Teshome, as two lions strolled in the background, Netanyahu said the occasion gives new meaning to the verse “They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions” (2 Samuel, 1:21).
In Africa, Netanyahu could be forgiven for feeling like Lion King Bibi. During his four-day tour this week to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia — which required unprecedented security arrangements, including special forces and armored personal carriers brought from Israel on Hercules planes — he was treated like the chief of a global superpower.
There was no outrage over the fact that the PA paid for the mourning tent of the family whose son murdered the Israeli girl in her bedroom, nor over the visit by a Palestinian Authority official closely associated with President Mahmoud Abbas to the mourning tent to pay his respects to the family of the murderer.
Nor did the U.S. show any outrage at the fact that the funeral procession for father of 10 Rabbi Michael Mark was hit by rocks thrown by Arabs who were apparently not satisfied that the victim was already dead.
Nor was there any outrage at the attempted rekindling of medieval European blood libels by Abbas in the European Parliament, when he claimed that Israelis were poisoning Arab wells. When AP reporter Matt Lee tried to get Kirby, the same State Department spokesman who threw a temper tantrum over Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, to condemn Abbas' statements, Kirby could not make himself utter the words. Pressed by Lee, he made himself say, "We have long said what we want is for both sides to ratchet down not just the violence but the rhetoric, which can inflame some of the violence. And we just don't find that sort of rhetoric helpful."
What a pitiful statement. Especially given that all the inflammatory rhetoric and the ensuing terrorism is coming from the PA, not from Israel. It has always been this way and the State Department is perfectly aware of this. There is no moral equivalence and no "cycle of violence." It is all very one-sided, but by consciously making statements such as this, the State Department legitimizes the false narrative of the conflict and ensures that it continues at full speed. Essentially, it tells the PA to just continue its dirty business, because no matter what it does, there will be no consequences politically or, even more importantly, financially. Just like the EU, the U.S. treats the PA as an unruly toddler who can do no wrong and must be indulged in all its whims. That, too, is a racism of low expectations, coming from the country that has recently elevated political correctness into something of a second U.S. Constitution.
We know that for the U.S. administration, in particular the State Department, the building of houses matters. The question that remains is this: Does the administration also believe that Jewish lives matter?
Judea and Samaria - it's all in a name
What is in a name? What difference does it make if we refer to this land as the 'West Bank' or Judea and Samaria? The answer is everything. We lose our souls, more, we surrender our identity. We sacrifice our past, diminish the incredible connection we have with this land.
And worse, we allowed quasi-Israeli media outlets to damage our standing in the world by catering to their ghetto mentality. When someone who lives in this area writes that it is the ultra-right who use this terminology, we all lose.
I live in the land of Israel, my home, my heart. My home graces the mountains of Judea.
And when this great grandfather dies, it will be Yisrael written on his tombstone, not Harpo. His neighbors can recognize his name or call them whatever he wants, but his family must know. This is what he was born, this is how he should live.
Two of my children and all of my grandchildren have been born in this land. We will name it as it was, as it is. The larger question is not why we want to be known by our ancient and reborn name, but why others seek to take it away and more, why we let them.
Judea. Samaria. Yehudah and Shomron. Home. Ours. Forever. Our heritage, our rights, our history and our future really IS in the name.
We are Israel.