Horror. Revulsion. Profound sadness.
Several Bay Area Jews sounded a unified note in regard to their feelings about the upsurge in Middle East violence that began last Wednesday with the bombing of a Passover seder that killed at least 26 in Netanya and has barely let up since. The violence is the heaviest Israel has seen in 18 months of continued conflict with the Palestinians.
For the most part, those interviewed gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the green light to do whatever it takes to prevent future suicide bombers from reaching Israeli civilians.
“An unqualified yes,” was how Ernest H. Weiner, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Jewish Committee, responded when asked whether he supported Sharon’s forays into Palestinian Authority territory.
Sharon “has made it very clear that he intends to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and I fully support whatever tactics the Israel Defense Force must take to do that,” he said.
Weiner said it was clear the terrorist attacks were taking place with Yasser Arafat’s approval, and it was up to the Palestinian leader to make the next move.
“He needs to arrest the terrorists, collect the weapons and say ‘stop it’ in Arabic, none of which he has done,” said Weiner.
Amy Rothschild Friedkin, who May 1 will become the national president of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, said that ever since the Pesach bombing, “it makes me think even more that Israel is on the front lines of the global war on terrorism.”
Calling Sharon’s tactics a military response, Friedkin said dismantling the terrorist infrastructure was the highest priority for Israel.
“I think it’s the only thing that a sovereign country can do when its security is threatened,” added Friedkin. “They are at war.”
Yitzhak Santis, director of Middle East affairs of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, agreed, saying that Israel was fighting for its very survival.
“The Passover massacre was just over the top, a total outrage,” he said. “It’s time for the Jewish community to really come together in strong support for the people and state of Israel, even if we have disagreements about various policies. Its existence is being challenged again. How dare we sit on our hands?”
Arafat’s actions, or lack thereof, have given Israeli leaders no choice, Santis believes.
“This situation of terrorist massacres of Jews cannot continue indefinitely,” he said.
Asking himself whether Arafat could be considered a genuine partner for peace, Santis’ answer was a definitive no. “His credibility is zero,” he said.
When asked what needed to happen next, Santis gave a list.
“The Palestinian leadership should unequivocally make a 100 percent effort to stop the terrorist massacres of innocent Israelis. A cease-fire should be declared by both sides, followed by an interim period of confidence-building measures by both sides to stop the violence and hopefully come back to a peace process.”
But will this happen? Santis didn’t believe so. “What I think is going to happen is that Arafat is going to wiggle out of this as he always does” by saying one thing to the Western media and another to the Arab media.
“He is talking out of both sides of his mouth and cannot be trusted.”
Marcia Freedman, a former member of Knesset who spends half the year in Berkeley, half in Israel, disagreed that Israel was fighting for its existence or engaged in a war on terror.
Rather, said the longtime leftist, Sharon made it clear in interviews before he was elected that “this is a very long ago planned operation to crush Palestinian resistance in any way possible.”
Furthermore, Freedman said, the Israeli leader hopes to “bring down Arafat and end his leadership. The point is to consolidate Israel’s hold on the occupied territories into the indefinite future and to maintain the settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
Pointing to Sharon’s plummeting approval ratings, Freedman said, “He was elected on a platform of peace and security and he’s brought neither. Since he took office, whatever the current government and military policy is, the outcome has been to increase terrorism, which is at an all-time high. I don’t understand the logic of a war on terrorism that increases terrorism.”
Freedman’s solution was to have international intervention but not by the United States alone, which she said was biased toward Israel. The United Nations and European Union must be involved as well.
Gil Lainer, the vice consul of Israel in San Francisco, described his visit home three weeks ago, comparing Arafat’s confinement to his compound to Israelis too frightened to leave their homes.
“Every time you go shopping becomes a strategic decision. You don’t know what will happen to you on the way there or while there. This is the reality we live in.”
Lainer said American Jewish support was crucial in this time of crisis.
“All differences should be set aside for now,” he said. “Expression of support for Israel and the Israeli people is something that Israelis view as a very important thing, knowing that we’re not isolated and we’re not alone in this.”
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation has been gearing up in a major effort of support. In addition to an emergency fund-raising campaign for Israel that will be launched next week, a major rally is being planned as well as a letter-writing campaign to elected officials.
Sam Salkin, chief executive officer of the JCF, said he was hearing a high level of concern from those involved with the federation. “I think this is the most serious situation Israel has faced since 1947 in its right to exist as a Jewish state and as the Jewish homeland,” he said.