How much is that (Jewish) doggy in the window?

I have met many Jews…Each is unique. Their political views range from liberal to conservative, and their religious views range from secular to orthodox. Some are public figures while others are very private individuals. They come from and they live in many parts of the world.”

I read this and thought that I was in a zoo or a pet store. Oh look, honey, look at them all. They’re sooo cute, “diverse and complex, and often fascinating.” And they don’t bite! Ahh, aren’t they sweet?

I understand why these people allowed their stories to be posted. I do. I know many of them. But it doesn’t take away from my hurt that my people feel that they need to be put on display so the rest of the world knows that we are just like …them! No need to be afraid of us. We come in all shapes, sizes and colours.

I look forward to the day when we get to meet a herd of Christians or a gaggle of Muslims in the same way. But we won’t. Because no other people are put in a position where they must justify their presence. Does anyone ask the Saudis to justify their existence as a nation or a people? How about the Lebanese? And who exactly are the Iranians, today? Any relation to the Persians?

Why do we constantly feel the need to justify our existence as a people and a Jewish state?

Because we have not accepted the fact that we are a people and we are back on our land-our homeland.

So read and learn from Salomon Benzimra, the brilliant scholar from Canadians for Israel’s Legal Rights (CILR).

“There has always been a Jewish people and, as long as any other human group claims any specificity of peoplehood, there is surely no reason to create an exception for the Jews. The French ‘newspaper of reference’ Le Monde writes ‘people’ under quotes when referring to the Jews. Le Monde and other negationists are grossly misinformed. This is the definition of “people” from the Webster International Dictionary, Third Edition: “A body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship — though not necessarily by consanguinity or by racial or political ties — and that typically have common language, institutions and beliefs.”

“[The Jews] are a unique People together which, to this day, can be differentiated from the others and whose immense contribution to civilization no unbiased observer would deny.”

“A People can only become a Nation when they have a Land of their own. When they freely choose self-determination, they create a State.”

“Many current states have no specific connection with a given nation: they are “multicultural”, such as Canada, Australia and many others populated by waves of diverse immigration. Iceland, on the other hand, is probably the typical nation-state. The United States became a new nation by fusing a multitude of peoples into a common ‘melting-pot’. As for the Jews, when in July 1922 the League of Nations recognized the ‘historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine’ and the ‘grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country,’ the Jewish nation reappeared after 1,852 years of dispersal.”

Yet we refuse to stand up and demand that the world acknowledge Israel. That it is a state that legally runs from the river to the sea. The idea of a two-state solution has been tried already, illegally I might add, by the British in 1921 when three quarters of our homeland was given to the Arabs to appease them.

How did that work out?

And now we are being told that peace will only come when we give away half of the tiny piece of land that we have left. No. No more appeasement. No more acquiescing to terror by giving the terrorists what they demand. That’s like giving your lunch money to the bully in the schoolyard in the hope that he will leave you alone tomorrow.

“[T]he State of Israel should not be apologetic, it should stand tall, and be rightly proud of its outstanding achievements under uncommon hardship.”

So Am Yisrael, let us rise up and demand our legal rights to the land of Israel from the river to the sea with a united Jerusalem as our capital. We have papers! The Levy Report which the Israeli government will not release. Rise up and demand that the Israeli government release those papers that prove that we are not the occupiers.

In the meantime, let’s listen to Israeli cabinet minister Naftali Bennett, a vocal opponent of the “two-state solution” he says:

We’re surrounded by the craziest people in the world. I’m not suggesting forming a Palestinian state in the midst of Israel. I think that would be a profound mistake…There are so many Arab states around the world. They’re doing just so well, aren’t they? So it’s time to found another one…right?”

Yes, right…that’s just what we need in the world.