When on Monday Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met
President Obama, the President refused his request that the
administration sell Israel advanced military technologies needed to
set back Iran’s nuclear build-up.
It could be that Netanyahu knew Obama would say no. And
it’s perhaps why when they met, he gave the President the megillah
(scroll) of the Book of Esther, which Jews read during Purim (which
ended yesterday). Megillah Esther recounts how the Jews of Persia
turned a king’s edict of their annihilation into victory, one that
set the stage for the Jewish return to the land of Israel. Esther,
a Jewish orphan, became Queen to King Ahasueraus. Her uncle
Mordechai, a leader of the Persian Jews, urged the Queen to tell
Ahasueraus the people he had unwittingly authorized his viceroy
Haman to eliminate happened to be Jews and that she was one too.
When she revealed the plot and its purpose, the King issued a new
edict allowing Jews to defend themselves.
Purim conveys three lessons. First, the survival of the
Jewish people is assured — not by the words or edicts of foreign
rulers — but when they have the ability to defend themselves. As
Netanyahu said, “As prime minister of Israel, I will
never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”
Second, Purim suggests that the Jewish people — and
religious liberty — will always be threatened by regimes that
regard self-governance and civil society as the enemy. Alluding to
the Passover Haggadah, Netanyahu stated: “In every generation there
are those who wish to destroy the Jewish people.”
For these reasons, Israel’s margin of security is smaller
than of all other nations. Despite the President’s rhetoric about
being Israel’s stalwart ally, his administration has made that
margin microscopic.
Obama crows about giving Israel more military aid than
ever. In fact, the money is part of a 10-year deal established by
President Bush in 2007. Instead, he has cut spending for Israel
missile defense systems over the past three years.
Obama has repeatedly blocked delivery of weapons and
equipment to Israel. In 2010 he halted delivery of
bunker-busters bombs capable of destroying underground facilities,
including Iranian nuclear weapons sites that were agreed to in
2008. Obama has also refused to approve the sale of AH-64D Apache
attack helicopters, refueling systems, advanced munitions and data
on a stealth variant of the F-15E. When Netanyahu asked Obama for
refueling planes and the latest and most lethal bunker busters, the
President reportedly offered them in exchange for a pledge that
Israel not to attack Iran. At least until after the
presidential election.
The Bush administration also denied Israel weaponry that
could be used as a strike against Iran in 2008. However, months
later, it went ahead with the sale. Not so this administration,
which has consistently cut and denied Israel a first strike
advantage.
Indeed, the third and most important lesson of Purim is
that ability to take pre-emptive military action is essential to
Jewish survival. As Netanyahu said: “The purpose of the Jewish
state is to secure the Jewish future. That is why Israel must
always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any
threat…”
Let’s hope the President reads Megillah Esther and learns
Purim’s lessons. His failure to support Israel and, worse, his
willingness to use its survival as a bargaining chip for his
re-election suggest Israel will have to repeat history to
survive.
