By Donnel Jones

In a real way, it is not the United States, but Israel that will now lead the war against Islamism. Iraq seems a hopeless mess, brought about by the incompetent Bush administration—one that I voted for. I do not wish to engage in an argument with those few who disagree with this assessment. My concern is the Jewish state and what it represents now to the world, even if that world largely hates it and, sometimes not so secretly, hopes it meets its “final solution.”

The Israelis, whatever your religious orientation, if any, are now “chosen” to be at the forefront of the war against totalitarian Islamism. After September 11th, it was the Americans who were called to lead the fight, because America was never attacked on its soil within living memory. The number of casualties, the awful spectacle of death, and the sheer atomization of 10 million square feet of office space reduced to Hiroshima-style rubble within two hours, made America the moral leader in a war declared long ago by a shadow enemy. But the moral capital of America’s role in this war has been spent. America desperately needs real leadership, but is at a loss how to find it.

Now approaching the fifth anniversary of that terrible day, America can watch a movie about the destruction of the Twin Towers as if it were some event that happened long ago, to be digested whole without one becoming dyspeptic. America’s fighting spirit is currently lagging, having been led into a battle in Iraq that could have been, I still believe, a crucial success in the Middle East.

I say this without giving any ground to the loony members of the Left or far Right (think Mel Gibson and his anti-Jewish tirade that “liberal” Hollywood abets and enables), but as someone who wants to win this war with strong and intelligent leadership.

Bush is not that leader. I thought he was. I was persuaded by his unequivocal response to the September catastrophe, when not a few in the nation thought it was a horrible criminal act worthy only of yellow police tape, and his quick yet careful resolve to topple the Taliban and uproot Al Quaeda in Afghanistan in retaliation for what can only be understood as an act of war.

Then, there was Iraq, a battle I also supported and still do because what else can one do, no matter how badly it has turned out, since withdrawal would be far, far worse than Saigon ’75? Iraq is in the grip of a civil war that may compel America, if it does anything constructive, to push for the creation of three nations: Kurdish, Shiite, and Sunni. One can argue about the battle of Iraq, its ultimate rationale, the moral necessity of ridding the world of Saddam Hussein, but it is hard to deny that Iraq is spiraling out of control, that the mess there has enabled Iran to infiltrate Iraq and, most ominously, emboldened it to unleash war against Israel through Hezbollah.

That leaves us with Israel—a tiny nation on the shelf of the Mediterranean and surrounded by enemies bent on picking up where Hitler left off. Can anyone find a nation more courageous in the face of overwhelming odds? For all the anti-American hatred throughout the world, not at all helped by Bush and Co., America has a stalwart empire that can defend its interests, especially if its existence is threatened. Americans are growing weary of our efforts in Iraq but they will not tolerate another attack on American soil.

Yet Israel, for all the benefits it enjoys from being a first-world democracy, its crackerjack military, state-of-the-art technology, boisterous pioneer citizenry, and entrepreneurial know-how, is a far cry from being the hegemonic force that is America. Israel has tremendous power but is so small a Katyusha missile can sink its teeth into the city of Haifa, a truly multi-cultural city of Jew and Arab living together in peace and harmony that puts American universities, which sacrifice solid learning for an obsession with “diversity,” to shame.

Israel is in grave danger. Far greater than what America has faced since 9/11. It is easy for Americans to forget the nature of the enemy and what we face in fighting it. We have been lulled into a false sense of security.

Not Israel.

Israel has always known, and cannot forget, the terrible price the Jewish people have paid over the centuries to bring them back to their historic and religious, yet also secular, home. The Israelis know what is at stake: their very existence. The war that began before September 11th, the date America entered it, has placed Israel squarely in the middle of the battlefield. It is Israel, not America, that is now the standard bearer of the fight against the enemy.

In a way, one could see this coming, but who would want to face it? Perhaps America would come to the rescue and turn the Arab/Muslim Middle East into a democracy. That is now a painful illusion. The only democracy in that region of the world is the only example, now, of how we wage and how we win this war. Because Israel has not forgotten that it must fight or die, however reluctantly it must fight. The giant has stumbled in Iraq. A tiny nation of stoic souls, encompassing every strain of humanity, is now the leader.

Improbable as it may seem, Israel, at once so alone in the world yet courageous in its fight for all people to be free—for the Jews have a genius for extrapolating from their fate the welfare of humanity—is now the only authentic hope to take into one’s heart against those who would destroy all that we—Jew and Gentile—cherish. May America in the headier days ahead learn from Israel’s example.

Forever live the Jewish people. Forever live Israel.

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