Time to Burn TIME

Professor Taliah Einhorn of Ariel University School of Law published a very fair op-ed piece in YISRAEL HAYOM today. It was devoted to the recent issue of America’s TIME Magazine which, in its July 22nd edition, devotes its cover page and feature article about, as of today, our longest serving prime-minister surpassing our founder, David Ben-Gurion.

Her article has both its pros and cons. I haven’t yet determined which is more. She has no doubt, nor do we, that his immense strength as an international diplomat has opened the doors to Israel which for generations had been closed.

He is a respected dignitary in most countries of the world, including in the recent year welcome-mat receptions in several of the Gulf Emirate states even without official diplomatic recognition and relations.

At home he is admired by many but truly loved by few. In the many years of conflict with Hamas and the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu has acted rather cowardly refusing to engage in a war of total surrender and destruction of the Hamas terrorist regime.

Avigdor Liberman has shamed Netanyahu publicly many times for refusing to put a final end to the many long years of conflict and too many deaths on our side.
Einhorn praises Israel’s significant contributions to the security of many across the globe today. Netanyahu, has, at the same time, failed miserably in providing security for Israeli citizens who live in the shambles of south Tel-Aviv.

She relates that much of the criticism at home reflects bias and unchecked figures. Much of our Israeli press fears to criticize him too much for fear that his political influence could jeapurdize their careers.

The TIME article goes on to claim that Israel’s prosperity comes at the expense of the 3 million Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria.

The “fake news” is disseminated by groups and organizations that make the “big buckS” by exaggerating population numbers and the refugee statistics.

There is a heavily expressed claim world-wide that Netanyahu emphasizes the Iran issue to cover up the real truth of the Palestinian issue. Iran is a threat to us from a distance whereas the Palestinians are a threat from here at home.

In a twist of internal and external emotions, TIME goes on to defend Netanyahu’s “baby…” the nation-state law which he pushed for feverishly and saw it passed into law by the Knesset. It stipulates that the State of Israel is the “national home of the JEWISH people (neglecting some of the rights of 20% of our non-Jewish minority population) and TIME defends it for “not violating the basic rights of any of the citizens in the country”.

Tell that fairy-tale to the Druze whose native language, Arabic, has been demoted as one of the three official languages of Israel and now the language of 20% of our citizens has been reduced to a “special status”. Is that not a violation of basic rights of all citizens?

We have a flag with a Jewish symbol that non-Jewish citizens of Israel cannot salute. Their allegiance to the Jewish state prevents them from singing our national anthem because the words of Imbers’s “Hatikvah” apply only to Jews.

At its end, TIME quotes repeatedly the Netanyahu mantra that “only the strong survive”.

It may just be that our next official prime minister will be the one who has been prime-minister-in-hiding for all the years of Bibi’s leadership. Sara, the dominant figure in Bibi’s world, tells him who to appoint and who to discharge from political positions which offend her.

I guess Bibi must be strong having survived domination all these long years.

Adonai oz l’amo yiten. Adonai yevarech et amo b’shalom. May God give strength to His people. May God bless His people with peace.

As for TIME’s current issue, its pages are too uncomfortable to be used for anything.

Having said that, it is now time for me to burn my copy of Time. Any followers?