COLUMN OF RABBI SHEA HECHT
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One can usually tell what someone thinks from their
speech and their actions - and sometimes from their silence. As far as
one can tell, the USA is against terrorism. What they say and their
behaviors lead us to think that given the chance the USA would
eradicate terror from the face of this earth. A bi-Partisan USA is fighting terrorism in Iraq.
They are fighting terror in Afghanistan. Americans are on an all-out
search for bin Laden. We now know, that even before 9/11, the USA
government has used sweeping powers to listen to phone
conversations, read e-mail and tail people who they feel might lead
to terrorist activity. Much as in the fight against communism so
many years ago, the USA has sent the world a message: We are against
terrorism. We will fight it. We will help all who need help to fight
it.
How then can the USA or anyone else for that
matter support a Palestinian state? Unlike the Jewish state which
would grant democracy to all its citizens, a Palestinian state would
be an autocracy built on violence. The Palestinians have used terror
to finagle what they want and they have gotten it. The USA has
recently brokered an agreement with Israel. Israel is to allow East
Jerusalem Arabs to vote in the Palestinian elections and the USA
will speak out against Hamas members appearing on the PA ballot.
Though the USA is pretending that the PA will heed their words, the
Hamas terror group will win a large percentage of the votes in this
election. A victory by Hamas, a radical terror group
dedicated to the destruction of the State of Israel will do nothing
to end the reign of terror that has gripped the world in recent
years. Much as with Hitler, who was voted in as Chancellor of
Germany, a Hamas victory will only reinforce Hamas’ legitimacy. Then
Hamas will be repackaged into a political party which won their
seats democratically. The Palestinians have no shame in saying they
want to eradicate Israel off the map, and if they could, wipe the
Jews off the face of the earth. Not only do they teach their school
children that there is no Israel, they have presented maps of the
Middle East to the UN - a public forum - without Israel. They don’t
even pretend to be peace loving. A Palestinian constitution - if
such a thing could exist - would not only permit and condone acts of
terror against Israel and the Western world, it would promote it as
it has encouraged suicide bombings and acts of terror in the past.
The Muslim world, to which the PA belongs,
praises the ways of terror and violence. To quote Al-Afif al-Akhdar,
a liberal critic of Arab society, “Why do expressions of tolerance,
moderation, rationalism, compromise and negotiation horrify us, but
when we hear fervent cries for vengeance, we all dance the war
dance? Why do other people love life, while we love death and
violence, slaughter and suicide, and call it heroism and martyrdom?”
The USA claims to be against terrorism, yet by encouraging the
Palestinians to establish a state, they are condoning the terrorism
- albeit quietly. It seems so strange to me that a country that is
fighting terrorism on so many fronts should be willing give it
legitimacy on another. It makes no more sense than giving the key to
the prisoners, the ammunition to the terrorist, or handing over the
asylum to the patients. Until the Palestinian Authority begins to
associate itself with peace and politics instead of death and
destruction they should not be given the legitimacy of a state. The
legitimacy of a state would give legitimacy to the terror on which
it was established. Though I sometimes browse through the financial section,
it’s not often that I get inspiration from financial articles, but this week I
did. I was intrigued when I read an article called, “The Man Who Said No
To Walmart.” Being that Walmart is the Mecca of stores and thousands of
executives venture to Bentonville, Arkansas, hoping to get their products onto
the shelves of the world's biggest retailer, I wondered what could cause a man
tell Walmart “no”. The news story, by Charles Fishman, reads as follows. Jim
Wier’s company sold lawn equipment known for its quality, reliability,
durability. But the lawn mowers Jim Wier sells are not cheap, any more than
other quality appliances come cheap. The value isn't in the price, it's in the
performance and the longevity. This got me thinking, “How often do we take
the time to recognize our value and the value of those around us? Do we ever
think about and acknowledge that we are each a G-d made quality product?” If
we would recognize and acknowledge this maybe we would have the strength of
character that let Jim Weir say no! Wier looked into a future of supplying his product to
Wal-Mart and saw a whirlpool of lower prices, collapsing profitability,
offshore manufacturing and the gradual but irresistible corrosion of the very
qualities for which his lawn equipment was known. Jim Wier looked into the
future and saw a death spiral and had the courage, the foresight, to take an
unblinking view of where his Wal-Mart business was heading -- not in year
three, or year four, but year 10. How many of us stop and take a fearless
look at future impact before we take a major step in our lives? Do we think
about our values in marriage before we select a spouse? Do we make sure there
are appropriate neighbors before moving our family to a different
neighborhood? Do we take peer pressure into account when choosing our social
circles? Do we look down the road often enough? Do we take an “unblinking view
of the future” when making our decisions? Wier was not dazzled by the
tens of millions of dollars' worth of lawn mowers Wal-Mart was already
selling; he was not deluded about his ability to beat Wal-Mart at its own
game, to somehow resist the price pressure. He was not imagining that he could
take the sales now and figure out the profits later. Jim Wier believed that
his company's health -- indeed, its very long-term survival -- required that
it not do business with Walmart. How many times do parents come to me to
help solve a problem with their children that didn’t have to be a problem?
They made a crucial decision about the family’s religious affiliation, their
child’s school or even vacation destination and the impact of that decision
didn’t hit them till many years later. At the time their judgement seemed
correct because that’s what ‘everyone was doing’ and they didn’t have the
courage to question the popular culture, but much later it became clear that
had they thought things through they would have done differently. Too late
they realized that doing things to impress others or spending more than they
could afford wasn’t very clever. And though tens of thousands of
executives make the pilgrimage to northwest Arkansas every year to woo
Wal-Mart, marshaling whatever arguments, data, samples, and pure persuasive
power they have in the hope of an order for their products, or an increase in
their current order, Jim wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers. The article struck me and Jim Wier’s actions stunned
me and got me thinking. “How often do we do a “Jim Wier”? How much anguish
could we be spared if we did? The article was in the financial section, and I’m sure
it wasn’t meant to be inspirational, but for me it was definitely food for
thought!!!
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State of Terror