Thank you, America. As an Israeli, I want you to know that I
appreciate it.
I don’t mean for foreign aid packages or joint projects. I don’t
mean for military supplies. I don’t mean for timely vetoes in the
United Nations Security Council. I don’t mean for walking out of
the Durban Conference on Racism, when it ceased to be “on Racism”
and became “for Racism against the Jews.” I don’t even mean for
taking an Israeli astronaut into outer space on a NASA flight. In
fact, I don’t mean anything that involves U.S. government
institutions.
I don’t mean for private American ventures, either, like
McDonald’s or Microsoft. I don’t mean for exporting, slowly, your
fantastic customer service-oriented business culture. I don’t mean
for the many private investments in Israeli firms and technologies.
I don’t mean for the idea of do-it-yourself stores or shopping
malls. I don’t even mean for exporting some of the world’s best
classic rock ‘n’ roll music. I certainly don’t mean for outdated
reruns of “18 Wheels of Justice” or “All My Children.”
I don’t mean for hundreds of Jewish and Christian pilgrims
willing to visit Israel at the best of times and the worst of
times. I don’t mean for the many cultural events with the
ubiquitous participation of American entertainers. I don’t mean for
the American basketball players on our National League teams. I
don’t even mean for the famous Israelis who were born or bred in
America, like former Prime Minister Golda Meir, former Defense
Minister Moshe Arens, basketball star Tal Brody, singer Achinoam
Nini (Noa) or Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.
I don’t even mean for the huge pro-Israel rallies in cities
across America, most notably in Washington, D.C. Nor do I mean the
overall support for Israel among Americans and their Congressional
representatives.
I am thankful to America for its patriotism.
Every Israeli reporter stationed in America since that terrible
September 11th has commented on Israeli television or radio about
the incredible patriotism of the American people. American flags
everywhere. Flag pins on every lapel. Patriotic themes appeared in
every media outlet. Every store, every religious institution, every
school had patriotic signs up. Every caller and every host on radio
talk shows felt the need to verbally wave the flag, too.
Ceremonies, ecumenical and otherwise, were created out of whole
cloth, just to express patriotism and unity of purpose. It was
awesome to behold. Domestic anti-American sentiment was given its
fair hearing relative to its size — i.e., virtually none.
This made a deep impression here, you should know. We have the
distinction of being one of the world’s most self-critical nations,
more so even than Americans, but seeing the outpouring of American
patriotism did something to us, I think. At first, it was just a
vague sense of change. Average Israelis commented to one another
wistfully, “If only we had the patriotism of Americans.” And then,
we had it. Sure, the soldiers refusing to serve in the IDF
initially got the inordinate amount of press that might be expected
from the Leftist media, but, when push came to shove, the story of
the more than 100% response to army reserve duty call-ups (meaning
that Israelis who were not called for duty went to volunteer
anyway) captured the domestic media’s attention. Today’s Israeli
media talking heads are more likely to ask challenging questions of
foreign reporters and politicians who come here with prejudices
against the IDF or against the unity government’s policies.
This year, starting after Passover through Independence Day and
until today, it seems to me that there are a lot more Israeli flags
out there. Seven out of ten cars sport at least one Israeli flag.
Most houses, also, are flying the Jewish Star and Stripes. And have
you noticed the little Israeli flag lapel pin worn by our Prime
Minister nowadays? I am convinced that it is due to the inspiration
of American politicians in the wake of September 11th.
So, in short, thank you America for being yourselves: patriotic,
confident, proud and determined. We needed that.
