I Blame You, Ron Lauder!

Shmuel Sackett
International Director, Manhigut Yehudit

April 15, 2010

Most of the Jewish world is applauding the bold and brave move by World Jewish Congress president, Ronald S. Lauder, who printed an open letter to US President Obama in today’s Wall St Journal and Washington Post. In this letter, Ron Lauder asked the president to end the public feud with Israel, to focus more attention on the Iranian nuclear threat and to commit to Israel’s security. While the letter sounds nice and defensive of Israel, it is actually nothing more than a hypocritical bunch of nonsense written by one of the main people responsible for the dangerous situation Israel finds herself in!



Allow me to explain – using the same style as Mr Lauder – only this time writing a hypothetical open letter from US President Obama to WJC President Lauder.





15 April 2010



Dear President Ronald S. Lauder,



I read your open letter today in the Washington Post and have the following reply.



By the time I was born, you already had a degree in International Business from the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of PA.



In 1984 you were appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO policy at the Pentagon.



In 1986 President Ronald Reagan appointed you as US Ambassador to Austria.



In 1989 you ran for mayor of NYC.



In 1998 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed you as his personal representative in peace negotiations with Syria. During your tenure at this position, you authored the work, “Treaty of Peace between Israel and Syria” which advocated Israeli surrender of significant amounts of land in exchange for peace.



I write all of this to show that – clearly – you are a man of the world. You are a trusted advisor to both Presidents of the United States and Prime Ministers of Israel. Many top leaders in both the USA and Israel consider you their personal friend.



Today, among your many other jobs and responsibilities, you are the president of the World Jewish Congress whose slogan is, “Representing Jewish communities throughout the world”.



Clearly, you are a leader in the Jewish world, and have been for many years.



When I became interested in politics, I realized that I had to learn from experts in the field. Those experts would help me shape my foreign policy, especially regarding the most volatile region in the world; the Middle East. While you may not know it, I chose you as one of my leading role models. You had the experience, the knowledge and the respect of exactly the kind of people I needed on my side. I therefore studied your policies very closely.



You, Ron Lauder, supported – and continue to support - the Oslo Peace Process which brought about the death of approximately 1,400 Israelis. In addition, over 250,000 Israelis have been seriously harmed either physically or emotionally because of this process. That number is growing as Jews in Sderot, Ashkelon, Beersheba and Ashdod live in constant fear of attack.



You, Ron Lauder, supported the destruction of Jewish homes, synagogues and businesses in the Gush Katif Gaza section of Israel. 10,000 Jews were forcibly dragged from their beach-front property, houses of study and kindergartens in a process that you said was necessary in order to achieve peace.



You, Ron Lauder, advocate forced removal of Jews from their homes, businesses and yeshivas in the beautiful Golan Heights as a method of achieving peace with Syria. You further support the digging up of Jewish graves in these areas as a gesture of goodwill to advance the peace process.



You, Ron Lauder, speak openly and publicly about the need to create a Palestinian State within the tiny country of Israel. In your open letter to me you actually used that expression, “tiny State of Israel” yet you support dividing that tiny state in half!



You, Ron Lauder, write about the need to focus on Iran and their threat to the region yet you ignore the far bigger combined threat to Israel by the PLO, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Egypt! These enemies border Israel and in some cases are inside Israel yet you ignore their threat as if they don’t exist. These enemies have tens of thousands of missiles that can reach every coffee shop in the country and can cause 10 times the damage of nuclear weapons. Your response to these threats is for Israel to try some more of the failed “Land for peace” recipe. And you accuse ME of appeasement?



President Lauder, I could go on for many pages but allow me to simply say that you were the one who convinced me, a simple African-American, that the land of Israel simply does not belong to the Jewish People. After all, if it was truly your inheritance – and given to you by God Himself – why would you so easily be willing to part with it?



As a matter of fact, NOT ONCE in your open letter to me did you write the word GOD. You wrote about “freedom” and “democracy” and “security” and “peace”. Never once did you mention that God gave this land to your father Abraham who passed it down an unbroken chain of 3,300 years directly to Ronald S. Lauder. Never once did you mention the Torah, the Bible, the Jewish tradition or state four very simple but awesome words: “This Is My Land!”



Until you – and every other Jewish leader in the world – can say those words, you have no business writing to me. Go and study your heritage. Go and study the one religion – YOURS - that taught the world about God and spirituality and then become a true and authentic Jewish leader. Until then, leave the Middle East to me… with what I learned from you!



Sincerely,



Barack Obama

President

United States of America




Rob Muchnick, US Director
The Manhigut Yehudit website is www.jewishisrael.org