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B"sd
Open Letter to Edgar Bronfman
Gary Cooperberg
August 14, 2003
Dear Edgar,
I was forwarded an article from the JTA in which the following statements are attributed to you in the aftermath of recent acts of terror in Israel:
While "murder is murder and mayhem is mayhem, no matter where," Bronfman said, he felt a "more effective" Palestinian tactic would have been to launch attacks only against settlements, which do not enjoy international support, rather than inside pre-1967 Israel.
"If the Palestinian suicide bombers only went to the settlements and told the whole world they were wrong, then the whole world would have had a case against Israel and there would be a two-state solution by now," he said. "Instead, they sent them into Israel proper, which is ghastly."
On Wednesday, Bronfman apologized for the stir his remarks on the settlements had caused, but said they had been misinterpreted.
"I have spent my entire life fighting against murder everywhere and struggling for the lives of Jews and their freedom, and will continue to do so with my every breath," he said in a statement. "To assume anything else is disgusting."
Edgar, I have no doubt that your intentions were well meant, but, none the less, your statement was, indeed, disgusting. Wealthy people often labor under the illusion that they have all the answers. Your remarks were not only grossly insensitive to victims of Arab terror, they revealed your complete ignorance of the real reason why Arabs murder Jews in Israel. And, what is worse, you, who claim to represent Jews all over the world, have volunteered to become a tactical advisor to the PLO, encouraging them to murder Jews who live in Judea and Samaria, whether or not this was your conscious intention. Edgar, I am a Jew who lives in Kiryat Arba. That too is part of the world. I don't remember voting for you in any election. Yet the name of your organization implies that you represent me too! Had I been murdered by an Arab terrorist it would seem that you would find justification in such a murder since, according to you, the Arabs have a right to appeal to the world community to build a new country in this part of Israel.
What you and Ed Asner and other well-meaning Jews who live in ivory towers fail to understand is that there is a war going on in the Middle East. The war is not over "settlements". The war is over the concept of the existence of a Jewish State. We are still fighting the same war that was begun in 1948 when the Arabs chose not to accept the partition plan and sought to destroy Israel even before it was reborn. If you really believe that by giving Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and East Jerusalem to Arafat peace will follow, then perhaps you can explain why the Six Day War took place when all of these lands were already in Arab hands.
Edgar, I am sure that you care for your fellow Jews and only want to see a peaceful solution to the problems Israel faces. But for you to make a statement calling the murder of Jews in one part of Israel ghastly, while expressing understanding had Jews in other parts of Israel been murdered instead, was irresponsible and, yes, disgusting. As a self respecting Jew why can you not see that the Arab war against the Jews is against all Jews, you included? Why would any human being seek to help and understand enemies who seek his destruction? I suppose, to a lesser degree, many of my leaders here in Israel make the same mistake that you do. They seem to be willing to, in the words of former Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, "negotiate the terms of our self destruction" in the futile hope that peace will emerge from such foolishness.
It is very interesting to note that President Bush understands that with terror one cannot compromise. Indeed, terror must be eradicated and its leaders executed, as he has shown by his actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and in other countries far away from the shores of America. What baffles me is how the very same president can insist that Israel not only refrain from wiping out the nests of terror within our homeland, but that we should help the terrorists to build a new country on Jewish soil! Insanity is the nicest word I can use to describe this inconsistency of morality. How any Jew, much less a well respected leader of world Jewry, can lend support to a plan which requires Israel to surrender to those who intend to destroy her is impossible to understand.
Edgar, I sincerely appeal to you, as one Jew to another, to seriously consider the grave consequences of your recent statements, and to your support for the treacherous "Road Map". It may not be too late to undo the tremendous damage your well intentioned efforts have already caused.
With Blessings from Hebron,
Gary M. Cooperberg
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