December 16th, 2011
Newt Gingrich Has Given Israel and Pro-Israel Advocates An Opportunity That They Cannot Afford to Waste
Newt Gingrich’s startling truth revelations that Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are an invented people who historically never had their own state, but were all part of the large Arab community within the Ottoman Empire, whose Arab Jew hating culture breeds and glorifies terrorism against Israel, that they have no real wish for peace as they intransigently reject Israel’s existence and harbor and continue to act on dreams for Israel’s ultimate destruction, which dreams are as intractable as their Jew hatred, has gone viral in the media and the internet.
Gingrich soon after uttering those words, added that in spite of these truths, a 2 state peace solution between Israel and Palestinians was still the practical option to pursue. How that is a practical option given the truths Gingrich spoke to, is an open question.
Still, his call for a 2 state peace solution, has gone unheeded as world opinion including that from the Muslim world and Western powers including the Obama administration has not yet gotten over their immediate outraged rejectionist reaction to Gingrich’s words first stated. That Gingrich has put these truths into the market place of ideas, no doubt has caused the Obama administration apoplexy, given that it already has not been doing well in currying favor with the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslim world and which it already is fearful of and vulnerable to, especially as regards the leveraging power of Arab oil and OPEC nations’ wealth.
Gingrich probably did himself no favor in his bid to be the Republican nominee, by speaking these truths when he did.
One of the concerns with Gingrich, expressed by both the left and the right is that he has in past been unpredictable, a loose cannon and given to ill advised comments out of left field that go against conventional wisdom, political grain and even the conventional conservative political grain.
Gingrich’s brief statements on the Palestinians being an invented people has been seen by even a number of credible pundits on the right as inflammatory and exemplifying those past concerns with Gingrich. A number of such conservative pundits, like Charles Krauthammer said of Gingrich’s initial statement, that he was historically correct, but… They have hinted, but have not elaborated in detail on the but. Other pundits have rejected Gingrich’s truths, saying Palestinians are no more an invented people than the Saudis, Syrians and Jordanians. That explanation ignores both history and circumstance attendant on the creation of these aforesaid Arab nations as contrasted with the creation of the Palestinian identity. Those considerable fundamental differences are glossed over. That glossing over, completely flaws that analogy and thus makes it disingenuous.
Mitt Romney’s camp reacted by saying Gingrich’s comments were evidence that he was a loose cannon and had trouble staying on message. Romney’s people however, did not elaborate as to exactly what message Romney and the Republican candidate field were conveying as regards the Palestinians and in particular in relation to the truths Gingrich revealed.
Israel has understandably been prudent over the controversy, choosing to remain silent, waiting to see whether Gingrich secures the Republican nomination for President and even failing that, how the truths Gingrich stated, play out in the marketplace of ideas and world opinion.
Though the foregoing was the general consensus reaction to Gingrich’s views, some pro-Israel advocates, Jew and non-Jew have been pleasantly surprised, if not pleasantly shocked that Gingrich would candidly speak with such historical accuracy and candor.
Other self described pro-Israel advocates on the left of the political spectrum, will doubtless join in castigating Gingrich either by denying the truths Gingrich revealed whether they agree or not, because in their world, Gingrich’s words are inimical to American policy, the world view that is pushing for peace between Israel and Palestinians, by pushing mostly or exclusively Israel and antithetical to the essence of their own ideological peace thinking, interests and agendas.
Gingrich’s truths, are however only part of a larger truth. Gingrich’s part of revealed truth is that part which lies have buried far too long and which needed to break through to the light of day.
Before 1967, those Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza saw themselves as Arabs of southern Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It was after 1967, with anti-Israel-anti-Western Russians, mentoring Arafat in the art of propaganda, that Arafat invented a whole new identity for the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Regardless of who these Arabs are and how they came to call themselves Palestinians, does not change the fact that until 1967 they were content to live in their homes as Arabs under the authority of their brethren Arab leaders in Jordan and Egypt. After 1967, they still had their homes, but now Israel was the authority.
Joni Mitchell’s 1970 song Yellow Taxi has a line in it that fairly describes the sudden change in attitude by the Arab nations and the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, that came with Israel’s 1967 victory: “you don’t know what you’ve got till it is gone”
With her victory in 1967, Israel perhaps had a choice to force Jordan/Syria/Egypt to absorb all the Arabs in the region and claim sovereignty and exclusive domain over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. For a number of reasons, not the least of which would have been the pressure of world opinion, fear of jeopardizing America’s support and Jewish-Israeli values, they chose not to do so.
Rushing to give the Muslim Waqf trust authority over the Temple Mount was a unilateral peace gesture Israel should have anticipated would not win them any favor and certainly not peace with the Arab world. Indeed, when Egypt’s Gamal Abdul Nasser led the Arab league to proclaim the 3 emphatic NO’s at their Khartoum conference just several months after their defeat in 1967, Israel might then have responded by booting the Waqf off the Temple Mount and asserting full sovereignty and control.
To be sure, such a move would have enraged the Arabs even more, given their infinite capacity for rage, but so what? The Arabs had just been soundly defeated and were not in any position to start another war. Israel however, chose not to take that step. Had Israel done so, she would have spared herself a great deal of grief over the Temple Mount that she has experienced ever since.
Regardless what the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza called themselves after 1967, they were there and Israel had to deal with that reality, one way or another.
That is the other part of the larger truth that Israel faced back in 1967. It is still a part of that larger truth that remains to be dealt with. It is this part of the larger truth, Gingrich only later dealt with by saying that the 2 state peace solution must somehow come to fruition.
Arafat’s ploy to give the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza a new identity, which cast them as the weak, poor and downtrodden underdog victims of Israel who only wanted their rights, freedom and liberties recognized and restored by having their own state, worked beyond expectations. The world, including America for reasons, all well known, bought into Arafat’s propaganda ploy and have since incrementally forced Israel to go along with it.
And why has peace not come to fruition between Israel and Palestinians? If you accept the Palestinian/Arab/Muslim world’s view and that of the Obama led Western powers, it’s all Israel’s fault be it the settlement issue which Obama foolishly and falsely claimed was the root impediment to peace or whatever other reasons are invented that are just about all strangers to the truth. Perish the thought that the Obama Western led powers would ever blame Palestinians. The consequences of such suggestion would doubtless up Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rage against the West that could potentially be quite harmful to Western interests.
What then is the truth?
Yes, to be fair, Israel has at times taken positions that made peace negotiations difficult, if not possible. That is the smallest part of the truth. The greater truth by far, is that it is the Palestinians, Arabs and the Muslim world that have practically always stood in the way of a real, stable and enduring peace materializing.
That greater truth as to what has kept peace from happening, is intractable Palestinian/Arab Jew-Israel hatred, echoed throughout most of the Muslim world. That hatred fuels Palestinian/Arab rejection of Israel’s right to exist. It also fuels Palestinian/Arab intractable genocidal dreams for Israel’s demise that they see being ultimately realized through their propaganda strategies to get world powers onside, which together with their terrorism option will eventually force enough concessions from Israel to make her weak and ripe for the slaughter.
That is the dream that Palestinians/Arabs still salivate over.
It’s not hard to figure that one out, when you consider the longstanding annual ritualized litany of politicized anti-Israel – anti-Semitic resolutions put forward by the Organization of Islamic Conference before the U.N., translations of Iran’s Ahmadinejad's speeches and taking Palestinian, Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders at their Arab spoken word, which is revealed to and translated for us by organizations such as Palestinian Media Watch.
Notwithstanding the generally adverse reaction to Gingrich’s views about Palestinians being an invented people, Gingrich’s historically accurate views are very important to those pro-Israel advocates, who have long advocated the truths that Gingrich spoke to, but which truths were largely dismissed by a world and even some Jews who simply refused to accept such truths that are so antithetical to their own ideological political views, interests and agendas.
Whatever Gingrich’s detractors say of him however, they do accord him respect for his knowledge, especially knowledge of history.
Gingrich’s views are thus an opportunity for pro-Israel advocates, who have long been speaking these truths, to use Gingrich’s notoriety and credibility as an historian to more effectively advocate these truths to undermine much of the Palestinian narrative as being largely based on classically mendacious propaganda techniques.
That per se, will not of course, turn America and the world against the Palestinians. The West has real reason to fear suffering painful consequences and prejudice to their own interests, if they were to take a position so bold as to be truth based that would mostly cast the Palestinians and Arabs in a bad light when it came to the cause of peace between Israel and Palestinians.
Effectively exploiting the opportunity Gingrich has provided however, may result in Israel being seen in at least somewhat of a more favorable light when it comes to the political discourse in America and the world as regards peace efforts between Israel and Palestinians.
Further, by harping away on the fact that Palestinians are no different than their Arab brethren regardless of what they call themselves and that they share the same anti-Semitism and genocidal dreams for Israel’s ultimate demise that characterizes the views and dreams of most of the Middle East’s Arabs, could have some effect of degrading the Palestinian underdog image and creating an image of Israel with her population of 5.75 million Jews, as being the underdog in her ongoing existential battle against not just Arab Palestinians, but the entire Arab world that number 350 million.
In politics, perception is as important, if not more so than truth.
Pro-Israel advocates must therefore seize the opportunity afforded them by Gingrich’s shockingly candid and historically accurate views. That opportunity likely will not go so far as to convert the world to accept the truths Gingrich has stated, because for reasons already alluded to, that would entail the world reversing their decades long status quo course on the issues and the world simply cannot and will not do so.
The opportunity afforded by Gingrich is there however, to effect some change in world and in particular, American perceptions and thus effect some change to Israel’s advantage in the political discourse regarding the Israel vs. Palestinian/Arab ongoing war.
If such change in perception can be accomplished, even subtly, it could cast at least some doubt on Palestinian narratives, claims and motives. Concurrently it would yield Israel an advantage it otherwise would not have, to more forcefully and persuasively advocate and negotiate for a real, stable and enduring peace with the Palestinians, based on true objective history, current circumstances and law that gives credence to Israel’s own narrative, historical and legal rights and all important security needs that must be addressed and satisfied in order to assure Israel existence is and will be no longer questioned or in any jeopardy.
Changing the perceptions of the world and in particular the perceptions of the main players, even in a small way, in the effort to achieve a real peace between Israel and the Palestinians/Arabs is the task of pro-Israel advocacy.
To that end, pro-Israel advocates must not let the opportunity Newt Gingrich has given them, slip away.
Bill Narvey
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