What's Really Going on in Israel?
By Keith Wasserstrom
Hollywood City Commissioner
With the begrudging permission of my wonderful and understanding wife of ten
years, I recently traveled to Israel for a friend's wedding. The last time
I was there was on our honeymoon. Things have really changed.
In planning my trip, I sought to strike a balance between time devoted to
developing business for my corporate legal practice, representing Hollywood
and its citizens, growing spiritually, and deepening my understanding of the
causes and manifestations of the current intafada. The business component
of the trip went surprisingly well. I met a number of lawyers in Israel
that are interested in referring clients to my firm, Hogan & Hartson L.L.P.*
As a public official, and with encouragement from Congressman Peter Deutch,
I decided to jump start Hollywood's "Sister City" relationship with the city
of Herzliya. I met with Mayor Yael German and Deputy Mayor Haim Peled, and
presented them with some gifts from the City of Hollywood and the Sister
Cities Proclamation, signed by both cities over 15 years ago. My new
friends at the prestigious Israeli law firm, Efrati Galili & Co., also
arranged for a meeting with the Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, Michael Roee.
Everyone I met with was presented brochures describing the City of
Hollywood's streamlined permitting and development review process, as well
as economic development packages in an effort to encourage investment in
Hollywood. I believe our modern and efficient systems were well received.
I too learned something from those meetings. Many people know about the
Israeli Knesset, where coalitions are formed in order to govern the country.
What very few people know is that each municipality is governed in the same
manner. There are about 20 council members in Herzliya, in addition to the
Mayor and two Deputy Mayors. There are dozens of political parties in
Israel and the parties getting the most members elected can participate in
governing the city with the Mayor who is elected at large. Consequently,
deals are struck with enough political parties to control the council. Each
of the political parties making up the ruling coalition is able to extract
from the municipality the things that are most critical to that party.
Development in Israel is much slower and projects can die on the vine if a
new party comes into power.
Sitting down with these elected officials in Tel Aviv, the business center
of Israel, and Herzliya, the Silicon Valley of the Middle-East, I felt like
I could have been sitting anywhere in the world. There was nothing uniquely
Jewish or uniquely Israeli about the communities or the civic leaders.
There was business to do, and people were doing it. There were also no signs
of terrorism, other than the imposing presence of security officials at the
entrance to every building. Indeed, as I stood on the spot where Prime
Minister Rabin was killed, I felt safe. Entering hotels and restaurants and
stores, I saw a people hurt by an ailing economy that was devastated by
severe reductions in tourist dollars. Each storeowner was grateful for my
visit. I was treated like royalty for buying the most meager item.
Unfortunately, the crowds and lines that I recalled from my last visit were
nowhere to be seen.
I had an opportunity to speak with Christian Arabs. The Christian Arabs
immediately differentiate themselves from the Moslem Arabs. They understand
that they possess a level of political, religious and economic freedom of
the highest order that is unparalleled in the Middle East.
Israelis are waiting for the Intifada to end. But they are realistic. They
know that since 1993, when the PLO took over control of educating the
Palestinian people, the children have been indoctrinated with a hate of the
Jewish people. Palestinian children have been taught to murder Israelis.
Those ten years of brainwashing will not go away easily. Schoolchildren
hang around locker rooms and the cafeterias asking their friends whether
they are going to "do it," whether they are going to become suicide bombers.
If they even hint at the possibility, their family will be visited by high
ranking officials from the PLO with offers of honor, money and fame,
convincing the teenagers to sacrifice their lives for the cause, to murder
one more Jew. Peace will not come so quickly.
The one thing that became abundantly clear to me was how the world places no
value on a Jewish life. Terrorists storm into a house and murder a Jewish
mother and her baby; blow up a bus full of Jewish children on their way to
school and the world is silent. Israel prevents further bloodshed by
killing a terrorist leader who shields himself behind his wives and children
and Israel is condemned, "Israel has lost all moral high ground," they say.
Right before the Shabbat, a terrorist killed a family of four outside
Jerusalem. During the funeral, Arab rioters pelted the mourners with rocks.
The Israelis responded with gunshots, and a Palestinian teenager was killed.
The headlines from around the world read "Palestinian girl killed by Angry
Israelis." The death of the family was left as a sideline to the articles.
Every news account ends with the body-bag tally, 1500 dead Palestinians, 593
dead Israelis; as if innocent schoolchildren purposefully targeted could be
compared with the terrorists that were killed to prevent further murders.
The world is quick to condemn Israel for considering deporting terrorists,
but the world is silent when millions of Jews are forced to flee their
native lands at the hands of Arab despots, losing their homes, their
livelihoods and, often, their lives. Jews lived in Iran and Iraq for
thousands of years, until they were forced to flee to Israel in the early
20th century. You quickly realize that those that are against Israel are
against Jews; they are anti-Semites who now believe it is safe to crawl out
from under the rock because attacking Israel is in vogue. Israel has to
battle the Palestinians and it has to battle world opinion. The silver
lining in all of this is that Israel will prevail. In every generation, our
enemies try to destroy us . . . to no avail.
Keith Wasserstrom is a founding partner of
Wasserstrom, Weinreb, & Wealcatch in Hollywood. He can be reached at 954.921.6363
or keith@corporatecounsel.com.
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