With the likelihood growing that Israel will extend its civil law to some areas of the West Bank, writes Ed Husain, a conventional wisdom is emerging in the UK that “somehow the British government must act to stop this ‘violation of international law.’” A number of Jews, many otherwise sympathetic to Israel, has joined this chorus. To Husain, London should focus on something else entirely:
Netanyahu’s strong and fearless stance against Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood is now respected in the Arab world. He has made Israel a strategic ally of Sunni Arabs who wish to see a peaceful world. . . . If you’re in Bahrain, go to the oldest synagogue in the Arabian Gulf. Put on the TV in your hotel room, and you’ll see the vastly popular Saudi channel MBC booming into every home in the region the popular TV series Umm Haroun, lamenting the loss of Jewish neighbors and friends from the region. In the show, an Arab businessman has investments in Israel, another objects, and the former shrugs his shoulders and says, literally “so what?” He continues, “The Palestinians curse us daily while we fund them and their government. What has Israel ever done against us in the Gulf?”
Young Arabs in Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, want to visit Israel.
I could go on, but what of Palestinians? And the West Bank? The Palestinian leadership, sadly, belongs to a bygone world, out of touch with their youth and full of contempt for new leaders in the Middle East. Gaza is an Iranian outpost controlled by the fascism of Hamas, killing dissenters, punishing homosexuals, and preparing terrorists against Israel.
The pressure from Britain, and British Jews, should be on [the Palestinian Authority president] Mahmoud Abbas. . . . Boris Johnson and [his secretary of state] Dominic Raab should support the vision of a new Middle East, and British Jews must not let disagreements with Netanyahu blind them to the bigger picture of a more secure, stable and serene Israel.
Read more on Jewish Chronicle: https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/british-jews-should-stop-attacking-netanyahu-1.499605