Guilty

Sorry.

Missiles were raining down on Israel this week, as thousands of Israeli citizens were rushing to the shelters, targets clearly marked on their backs by the Islamic Jihad, a notorious Palestinian terrorist organization, whose hands are drenched with the blood of innocents. This is the reality Israelis have been facing for the past 18 years, a reality which escalated gravely and gradually since Israel’s miserable withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. An entire generation of israeli children lives with inexcusable anxieties, and the world continues to simply sit idly by. No outrage. No indignation. Mostly lip service at best.

While this was happening, Israel’s Consul General in NY, Ambassador Dani Dayan spoke at Harvard University, where ignorance (Ivy League style) was on display as several students staged a walk-out. Oh, how brave of them.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled against Israel on labeling goods, while totally ignoring – of course – hundreds of other ongoing territorial disputes in the world. Same old same old, as so many of us, flabbergasted, are looking with disbelief and tremendous anger at this indifference to Israeli ongoing suffering.

But then it hit me. It’s not them. It’s us. We should be the ones apologizing.

It’s all our fault.

We apologize to the Islamic Republic of Iran for making them spend so much money on arming terrorists around the world. Just imagine, if we weren’t here they could actually put this money to good use and support their very own people. They would come up with new inventions to make the world a better place, replace hate with love. The sky is the limit.

We are so sorry Hamas and Islamic Jihad have to do the same in Gaza. Could you imagine what kind of heaven Gaza would be, if only those terrorist organizations didn’t have to spend millions and millions of aid dollars on rocket launchers, missiles and mortars against Israel?! Before our eyes we can see those roads paved, hospitals built, economy blooming.

We apologize to those students on college campuses who believe a Jewish state should not exist. We understand how hurtful it must be for you to live in a world where Jews have a state of their own to call home. How distracting that must be from your schoolwork. All those die-ins, walk-outs, boycotts and other obligations which would simply disappear if only we did.

We beg forgiveness from those in Borough Park and elsewhere, who are offended by Jewish garments, insulted at the sight of our Yarmulkes, abhorred to see our Talit, looking at us as sheer anathema. We know, its us. If only you didn’t have to look at that, stand next to “it”, you could have redirected your energy and enthusiasm. Instead of punching a 70 year old Jew in the middle of the road, you could have gone to volunteer at old peoples’ homes. Giving back to the community. Be all that you could be, if only we did not stand in your way.

We ask the world to forgive us for having to deal with us all the time. If only the esteemed and highly effective UN Security Council had more time, if the venerable UN Human Rights Council more available, they would be able to deal with some earnestness with the hopes of Hong Kong for freedom, the plight of Africa’s poorest, Venezuela’s death squads, the suffering of innocent Christians in the Middle East, and so much more. If only that small sliver of land were to vanish. If only the People of the Book were never written.

And can you imagine Europe without us? An entire continents could have been saved from the horrors of WWII. Flowers would bloom, and forests planted, instead of mass graves and bomb-made crates. Who knows? Maybe if the Germans didn’t have to spend so much on getting rid of us, the whole war could have taken a turn. You could have lived in a perfect world today.

Not to mention Christicide.