There is NO country named “Palestine”

Many years ago, back in the States, there was a syndicated columnist named Sydney J. Harris, who wrote a column entitled “Strictly Personal.” Once in a while, his column was “preempted” by one he wrote called: “Things I Learned on my Way to Looking up Other Things.” Essentially, as he was researching for his column or for other purposes, he often came across short, interesting items that, when strung together, made for fascinating reading.

A couple of days ago, I was searching for an image on Google Images. I honestly have no recollection as to what I was originally searching for, but my screen provided a couple of images that I stared at for a moment and needed time to let sink in.

What I was looking at was an Olympic team member with the word “Palestine” emblazoned on her jersey. I thought to myself, “But, there is no Palestine.” What country exactly is she playing for? So, abandoning my original search (what was it, again??) I looked deeper into the subject as to how it can be that a country that does not exist was playing in the Olympics.

On the Olympics official page, there exists what they call the team’s Identity Card. Basically, this identifies the team’s location, contact information, president of their Olympic committee and other  important information. Imagine my surprise that this country, that does not exist, has a president of its Olympic committee. So, I kept digging and looking–don’t you need to be a “real” country  to be in the Olympics? And, then I found my answer: Due to the fact that they are a UN-recognized “observer state” they are entitled to send representatives to the Olympics. Yes, due to the forward thinking of the UN, the International Olympic Committee had permitted a country– that does not exist–to play in their games.

And I began to think about the term: “OBSERVER State.” It would seem to me that that term answers a lot of questions! Indeed those with aspirations for statehood alongside Israel are VERY adept at being observers.

They observe as Israel let murderers out of jails whilst they give us nothing.

They observe as weapons arse shipped from Iran with the express intent of murdering Jews

They observe as the President of the United States says, hey, it’s ok if they don’t recognize Israel as the “Jewish” state claiming that a future “Palestine” will be Judenrein.

They observe as soldiers stop daily attempts of attempted murder  by throwing rocks, molotov cocktails, smuggled knives and other contraband.

And they observe as Israel is told to make “difficult decisions” to secure peace, while those aspiring for this new state feel they need not make any “difficult” decisions.

Yes, indeed, this non-existent state of Palestine is very good at observing.

What steps will  “they” take to advance peace today? When will the words of incitement end and words of peace begin? We in Israel are, thank G-d, six millions strong. When will they realize that, (to quote Yehuda Avner, author of The Prime Ministers) that THIS time, you are NOT going to mess with six million Jews.

Let’s watch and observe…