Live Long And Prosper: Spock And Netanyahu

As we mourn the passing of Leonard Nimoy, who played the beloved pointy eared Mr. Spock on Star Trek, stories pointing to his Jewish involvement and to the Jewishness of Star Trek are proliferating all over the press and social media.

Indeed, the finger splitting hand motion which accompanied the famous, “Live long and prosper” comes from the Jewish priestly blessing. The Vulcans do indeed bare an uncanny similarity to the Jews in their attention to logic and study, in their ceremonies, and in many other ways. But the similarities to the real world do not end there. In fact, a very important similarity that we must pay attention to is the one between the Klingons and the Arab-Islamic World.

We should be encouraged by the fact that the United Federation of Planets, an organization which may represent the United State or the United Nations, does indeed eventually sign a peace agreement with the Klingon Empire. We should also be cognizant of the fact that in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, this takes place after the empire is weakened by the accidental explosion of the moon Praxis, the key energy source of the Klingon Empire.

Like the Klingons, there is indeed a part of the Arab-Islamic heart that yearns for peace, but it is also a warrior culture. Until we start thinking of it and honoring it as such, our attempts at peace are doomed to failure.

Prime Minister Netanyahu understands this and he therefore knows that appeasement of Iran will bring war whereas a strong hand will bring peace. Iran will only really honor a peace agreement with someone it values as a worthy opponent.

Among other things, Leonard Nimoy was also a proud Jew and a Zionist. In fact, he played Morris Meyerson, the husband of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, in the movie A Woman Called Golda. To pay homage to his memory, we must remember that Star Trek is not just a television show. It’s creators meant it as a social commentary on very real issues. Just as it brought us a multi-cultural crew and the first cross-cultural kiss on television, so too may it contain the secret to the survival and prosperity of Israel, to the future of US-Israeli relations, and even to world peace in our time. Netanyahu is about to address Congress to convince them to honor Iran as a warrior culture and not humiliate the United States by signing a treaty of appeasement, thereby showing the United States to be a weak and unworthy opponent. I offer Netanyahu the blessing, “Live long and prosper.”