Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Message to President Obama on his upcoming Visit to Israel
http://israel-commentary.org/?p=6102
Excerpted from a Keynote Address at Gush Katif Museum Dinner
Razag Ballroom, Brooklyn NY
March 9, 2013
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!
Thank you and G-d Bless You!
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