We won a prize! David Harris, American Jewish Committee (AJC) executive director, named the United States a Moral Clarity Award winner. Not only did we win, but we are the top, the first of the winners he named in an editorial Aug. 7 in the Jerusalem Post. USA! USA!
It’s notable the company we are in. Harris also honored Canada, Australia, England, and Denmark. Denmark, of course, was the nation and king that resisted the Holocaust so nobly during World War II. So did we other four nations.
It’s worth thinking about what we share with our national cousins. Each of them shares a genuine rule of law, civilian control of the military, a commitment to fairness, and a robust democracy. And all of them are friends to Israel, a little island of those same values, surrounded by something else.
Western civilization has some precious ideas. But they are not unique to it: We all know China developed massive literature about good governance and how to be a moral and unselfish citizen.
But these five countries offer a special flavor to the stew that is global civilization. It’s appropriate they are supporting Israel right now, while some are being confused by Hamas and its friends.
Harris wrote,
“In an earlier piece I offered ten candidates for the Moral Fog Award. These were countries, institutions, and leaders who couldn’t or wouldn’t make a clear moral distinction between Israel, a democratic nation seeking nothing more than quiet on its border with Hamas-ruled Gaza, and Hamas, a terrorist regime determined to fulfill its charter calling for Israel’s destruction.”
He names Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who “mind-bogglingly, condemned Israel for not sharing its Iron Dome system with Gaza’s ‘governing authority,’ i.e., Hamas.”
Hamas is absolutely bad guys. It is a danger to the people of Palestine as much as it is a danger to Israel. It would not make sense for Israel to give up its technology to Hamas.
His other new Moral Fog winners were Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Peru, which recalled their diplomats from Israel, “a step taken by no one else.”
So here is what he said about America, his first choice for Moral Clarity:
“The United States, which remains Israel’s closest friend and most indispensable ally.
Never for a moment did the U.S. question Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas-instigated violence. When it came to the 47-member UN Human Rights Council, the U.S. stood totally alone in opposing a pernicious resolution that ignored Hamas’s culpability and called for a new Goldstone-like investigative commission targeted at Israel. And the life-saving Iron Dome system was made possible with the invaluable support of the Obama administration.”
Harris also praised an individual—our own former Mayor Michael Bloomberg—for flying into Israel during the FAA’s brief ban on air travel there. On CNN Bloomberg said: “The fact that one rocket falls … a mile away doesn’t mean you should shut down air traffic into a country and paralyze the country. … That’s how terrorists win. You can’t do that.”
He gave Egypt well-deserved credit for several valuable actions to defuse the conflict. Harris wrote, “Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukri, said at one point: ‘Had Hamas accepted the Egyptian proposal, it could have saved the lives of at least 40 Palestinians.’”
He quoted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said, “Canada is unequivocally behind Israel. We support its right to defend itself, by itself, against these terror attacks, and urge Hamas to immediately cease their indiscriminate attacks on innocent Israeli civilians. Canada reiterates its call for the Palestinian government to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Gaza, including the Iranian proxy, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
Our Congress, which as everyone knows seems unable to agree on anything or to solve any national issues, such as immigration reform, the budget, infrastructure, tax reform, campaign finance, entitlement reform, (boring), adopted unanimous resolutions in both bodies voicing “support for Israel in the face of Hamas rockets, missiles, and infiltration tunnels,” wrote Harris.
It also passed a bill authorizing more funding for the Iron Dome system, which President Obama has already signed into law.
That is some unequivocal fast action to support Israel. I’m glad America could do that. We need to remember who the Israelis really are. And we need to be clear on what Hamas really is. And we need to be clear on who we really are.
