Fulfilling the promise

The Shabbat Torah portions which we read prior to Rosh Hashanah contain the farewell messages of Moshe to the Israelites as they stand ready to take possession of and settle the Promised Land.

I cannot think of anything more appropriate and relevant as we face an uncertain year ahead.

We were never promised a hassle-free experience. It has always been a challenge to safeguard and defend Jewish sovereignty. Quite often, we failed to live up to the high standards demanded. Exile, banishment and dispersion became part of our history. As predicted in the Torah, the Jewish People became the eternal scapegoats for all those empires and rulers whose ambition was to eradicate all traces of Jewish sovereignty.

In fulfilment of prophetic predictions, we are privileged to be living at a time when Jews are returning to reclaim their ancient rights.

At the same time, our old adversaries have resurfaced to deny us our inalienable claim. Their malign intentions are regurgitated lies and slanders, which for the last two thousand years were standard fare in Diaspora dispersion.

Ever since the Hamas pogrom on 7 October 2023, the evil genies have been let loose, and the true faces of many hypocrites have been revealed.

It is now commonplace for the legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty to be denigrated and delegitimised. Settlement and settlers have become dirty words. Ancient libels are being recycled. Politicians near and far mouth ignorant and nonsensical rhetoric.

The annual circus known as the UN General Assembly is launching its latest salvo of uncontrolled vitriol, and this year promises to be a vintage one.

Looking at the voting statistics, you will get an inkling of how low the majority of nations at this discredited body have already sunk. When alleged democracies join together with the worst human rights abusers, tyrannical regimes and sponsors of terror, you can be sure that condemning Israel is at the top of the agenda.

The United Nations and its associated bodies have been subverted and are now merely tools of those countries for which democracy and historical truths are fictitious objectives. What could have been a force for peace and justice has now evolved into an instrument of hate against the world’s sole Jewish nation.

This current session will endorse a fictitious “Palestine” and will prove that terror and incitement are rewarded by the international community. “From the river to the sea” is the national anthem of all those who hallucinate about a two-state solution.

The General Assembly voted for a “Palestine” without Hamas. How exactly is this going to be achieved? Do those voting for this (including Australia & NZ) actually believe that Hamas will voluntarily fade away? It is this sort of fantasy that demonstrates the irrelevance of the UN as currently constituted.

Bash the Jews may be the flavour of the month, but times have changed.

Those of us who have returned to our ancestral homeland and settled the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria have no intention of going into exile again. Our Capital is being rebuilt and rejuvenated.

The areas legally designated for Jewish settlement by the San Remo Agreement are developing and welcoming new families.

We are building, settling and developing our country.

Naturally, the sight of Jews defending themselves and exerting sovereignty roils our adversaries and they redouble their efforts towards frustrating our plans.

The international reactions to recent events in Qatar are the best examples of how Orwellian double-speak has replaced honest reality.

Hamas has been designated a terror organisation by Australia, Canada, Paraguay, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, the European Union and Israel.

Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders since 2012. In addition, it has provided this terror group with millions of dollars in funding as well as acting as a safe haven for its leadership. All this was known by the international community which conveniently turned a blind eye. The USA has a major military base in Qatar, and relations between the two are close and cozy.

Just after the terror attack of 9/11 in the USA, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1373.

It states as follows: All member states are required to deny safe haven to terrorists and those financing, planning or facilitating terror. All member states are called to prevent their territories from being used to plan or commit terrorist acts against other countries.

The message and intent are crystal clear.

Yet, for the last thirteen years, Qatar has been doing exactly what this UN resolution prohibits. To make matters worse, the USA and the rest of the democracies have given a nod and a wink to this blatant behaviour.

Following the Hamas-orchestrated pogrom on 7 October 2023, Israel vowed to hunt down and eliminate those responsible for planning and executing the worst massacre of Jews since the Shoah. Shamefully, the UN and its willing helpers mustered every means to frustrate, prevent and condemn Israel in its campaign. Worthless declarations followed and hostages still remain in Gaza.

For two years since that pogrom occurred, Hamas leaders have found sanctuary and safety in Qatar, comforted in the belief that nobody and nothing would reach them. They were confident because they knew that the corrupt UN and its majority of non democratic members would never do anything to enforce Resolution 1373 and compel Qatar to expel them. They also knew that the UN Secretary General could be relied upon to pillory Israel and give them a pass.

The spinelessness of the few remaining democracies also meant that none of them would challenge Qatar, which is why the likes of Australia and New Zealand remained conspicuously silent and mute.

America, with its large military base and recipient of Qatari largesse, could be relied upon to keep quiet.

It is important to remember all these facts because they throw into stark contrast the convulsive international eruptions following Israel’s decision to target the Hamas leadership in Qatar.

The reactions were predictable but at the same time they highlight as never before the hyper hypocrisy which is now a standard feature of how most of the rest of the world treats Israel.

The UN Secretary General led the international chorus by condemning Israel’s chutzpah in “violating Qatari sovereignty.”  We have all become used to the likes of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran shedding crocodile tears over supposed violations of international law.

It is the sycophantic and knee-jerk appeasers who claim to be democratic and guardians of moral norms who never fail to jump on the bandwagon. Thus, the likes of Australia and New Zealand bleated the well-worn rubbish and aligned themselves with the worst abusers of human rights.

Islamic countries, with Turkey as chief cheerleader, roiled in righteous indignation and hinted at serious consequences.

President Trump expressed his displeasure because, in his words, “Qatar is a loyal ally” and is involved in “peace negotiations with Hamas.” This piece of fiction was also swallowed by all the other choristers.

Not one of them referred to Qatar hosting and funding a designated terror group which is dedicated to Israel’s demise. Instead, they all preferred to believe the shameful lies propagated by Qatari spin experts and enthusiastically spread by a venal media.

Condemning Israel for allegedly violating Qatar’s sovereignty is a perfect farcical attempt to paint Israel as a pariah state and threat to world peace.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, the rest of the world has a particularly short and selective memory.

Does anyone remember when the USA violated Pakistani sovereignty and bombed the hideouts of Osama Bin Laden? This event, in the wake of 9/11, was filmed in real time with Barack Obama and his military chiefs joyfully celebrating the successful outcome.

Almost without exception, the international community applauded this “daring and courageous assassination.” There were no emergency meetings of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General did not rise up in righteous wrath, and the media gave ecstatic coverage. In short, it was universally seen as a just response to the perpetrators of the Twin Towers carnage.

Contrast that with the current universal convulsions in response to Israel’s identical message to the perpetrators of 7 October.

Can the message be any clearer?

Double standards and an underlying enmity prevail when it comes to Jews defending themselves.

As we pray again for peace and a year of tranquility we should remember these words attributed to Albert Einstein:  “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

Shana Tova.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.