From former Governor Mike Huckabee to President of the United State, Barack Obama on his upcoming visit to Israel.
Well, first let
me say thanks for the wonderful frank reminder of Gush Katif. (a group of
Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip deliberately destroyed by Arik Sharon
while giving all of Gaza to the Arabs in a self-serving gesture of insanity for
which Sharon was visited with a devastating stroke and now remains maintained,
for some questionable reason, in a permanent vegetative state – jsk)
It has been a
delight getting to share a fellowship with you, to share a mutual passion with
you, for the protection of the security of Israel. And I was asked earlier, “Why
would a Goy, a Christian, be interested in Israel?” Sometimes I feel that my
passion for the goodness of Israel, maybe exceeds even my Jewish friends – and I
tell people, I say, “you have to understand – It is entirely possible to be
Jewish and not have a complete relationship to Christians – but it is
impossible to be Christian and not have a complete relationship with Judaism –
because it is in fact the foundation upon which every Christian believes and
every Christian understands – that Israel is G-d’s Chosen Land! And we
recognize that, and respect it and understand that the Nations Who Bless Israel
Will Be Blessed And Those Who Curse Israel Will Be Cursed!
My first trip to
Israel was exactly forty years ago this year, when in July 1973, just a couple
of months before the Yom Kippur war, I made my first trip to Israel when I was
just a teenager. I’ve been going back to Israel ever since 1973 for 40
years! You know Moses had the children in the wilderness for 40 years. There
has got to be some connection there.
When I visited
the Gush Katif Museum just a couple of years ago, it was a brutal reminder of
what happens when politicians make decisions that don’t involve their brains!
Because in a
way, when you ask people – no, when you demand that people abandon their homes,
when you do it because you somehow believe you can trust radical Islamic
fascists to keep their word and make nice if you make nice, then it shows a
level of naiveté that make Chamberlain look like Churchill.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
It is time we
recognize you don’t negotiate with people who do not believe you have a right to
exist–much less live next to you! I cannot understand why the Secretary of State
visited Egypt and handed over a check of $250,000,000 when we are closing the
White House to tours? That makes no sense at all! Why did he give F16’s and
Abram tanks to a country whose elected President is associated with a terrorist
organization who has openly and publicly called Jews bloodsuckers and the
descendants of apes and pigs?
Why would you
reward someone with that kind of behavior? And even in his Senate confirmation
hearing, Mr. John Kerry said they will be held accountable. I got to wondering,
“Is accountability being given F16’s, tanks and $250 million?”
Dear Mr.
Secretary please hold me accountable ‘cause I’d like $250,000,000. And if that‘s
what it takes, to make radical, ridiculous, offensive and inexcusable statements
like this, then we should all share in the spoils.
This is absurd!
And now word is
that when the President visits Israel, he will not ask the Israeli gov’t leaders
(because it would be seen as bad form to lecture them although, he’s been
willing to do it before) – but, he will ask the Israeli people to make
sacrifices for peace. If that is the case, I would like to escort him personally
to the Gush Katif Museum and say, “Mr. President, the Israelis have made many
sacrifices for peace, and show me one sacrifice that the Palestinians have made
for peace! I have yet to see it!” I would say, “Mr. President, I believe the
Israelis have given and given and given, and so far have received nothing in
return!”
And, every trip
I make to Israel, I always venture into the Old City. I go into some of the
shops where one can purchase a Palestinian map. This past month, in February, I
had two hundred people that I took with me, most of whom were Christians, most
of them had never been there before. I wanted them to understand what is unique
about this situation. And I get one of these maps and I said. “By the way – Open
the map up and show me where Israel is.” And they opened it up and they didn’t
see it. And I said, “Interesting isn’t it? And somehow, the people of Israel are
asked to make peace with a people who even in their published maps refuse to
acknowledge even so much as the existence of the Nation of
Israel?”
The Gush Katif
Museum is a stark reminder that sometimes things happen in our past that we need
to commemorate — not because they were pleasant, but because they are sobering
reminders of the mistakes that have been made in the past.
And so, I say
tonight that I wish that the President — I wish he would be accompanied by as
many of the Israeli officials as is possible – would attend the Gush Katif
Museum while he’s there and watch those films, and talk to the people like Rivka
(Rivka Goldschmidt) who is here tonight, who personally experienced it. I wish
that, that could happen. So, that the next time he suggests that the Israelis
stop building bedrooms for their children, in the Land that is theirs, that
instead, he would spend his time not asking the Israelis to stop building
bedrooms, but that he would demand that the Iranians stop building bombs
pointing at Israel and the rest of the free world!
We would never
tolerate in our own cities what the people of Sderot have been asked to
tolerate. And I have been to Sderot, and I have seen the thousands of Katyusha
rockets stacked up behind the Police Station. I stood there with Dov Hikind and
Joe Frager and Paul Brody and others who are in this room tonight, and I can
tell you that it is an absolute sobering experience to understand that people
have fear every day that a Katyusha rocket would land on their children’s
bedroom, land in the park where they play, in the schools they attend, in the
synagogues where they worship. And we would not tolerate
that!
And I’ll ask
Americans, “How many Katyusha rockets fired from Toronto into Buffalo, NY, do
you think it would take before Americans would demand that we do something and
absolutely stop it? Five thousand? Four Thousand? Three Thousand? One hundred?
NO! One Katyusha rocket.” We would demand it STOP! And the Israeli’s have been
asked to let it go after thousands of them? I say NO! One is enough. Thousands
are too many, and it’s time for the Israeli’s to quit apologizing to the world
and to say “We have a right for the secure and safe homeland – Not just for us,
but for those grandchildren and great grandchildren of our descendants and who
come after us – a place that is a safe place, a haven.”
And, that’s why
I believe with all my heart, that when the President goes to Israel, it is
important that the American people give him the message – rather than him give
Israelis a message! And the message is Mr. President, Americans stand with
Israel because they are a mirror image of our freedom and our democracy in this
country. And, we suggest
that before you make any demands of the Israeli’s to give anything, you set down
and look the Palestinians in the face and ask them ‘What have they given up?’
And tell them, as I would love to do, if I was making that trip as the Chief
Executive.
Rather than say
to the Israeli’s, “Stop Building in Judea and Samaria,” I would suggest that YOU
BUILD AS RAPIDLY AS YOU CAN, AND AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, AND AS MANY HOUSES AS YOU
CAN! And tell the
Palestinians that if they don’t like that, the way they can fix it is to sit at
the peace table and sign an agreement that they recognize Israel’s right to
exist, within the borders that G-d gave them and to exist with safety and
security!
That my friend
will probably never happen!
So I say, “POUR
THE CONCRETE, BUILD THE HOUSES AND LET ISRAEL BE STRONG!”
That is the
message we need to give to the world!
Mike Huckabee (b:August 24, 1955) was a Republican presidential candidate in 2008, and former 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He's also a southern Baptist minister and has his own TV program.
Resource: http://israel-commentary.org/?p=6102
Excerpted from a Keynote Address at Gush Katif Museum Dinner
Razag Ballroom, Brooklyn NY
March 9, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee
forwarded from Victor Sharpe
