Annexation anxieties
I was outraged by the words of the French Ambassador to the UN (“France warns of changes to Israel ties over settlement annexation,” April 24). He threatened that if Israel declares the sovereignty contained in the Trump peace proposal, this “would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel.”
This is the very same threat that France and England made in 1938, when they threatened to sever all ties with Czechoslovakia unless it agrees to cancel its sovereignty over the Sudetenland and to transfer this area to Hitler’s Germany. This threat was made to appease Hitler, with the nations declaring “peace in our time.” Abandoned by its “friends,” Czechoslovakia had no choice but to submit, thus creating the conditions that soon led to the Second World War.
European nations are now repeating the 1938 threats, “advocating sanctions on Israel” unless the West Bank is transferred to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. However, unlike Czechoslovakia, Israel is a strong nation, with a powerful army, a thriving economy, and important support from the United States. Therefore, we have no need to be browbeaten by European nations, who apparently have not learned the lesson of what happens when one tries to appease tyrants.
PROF. NATHAN AVIEZER Petah Tikva
Regarding “Annexation will happen shortly, vows PM” (April 27), The Israeli government will not be “annexing the West Bank,” it will be formally delineating our country’s borders in the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria.
Under international law, Israel includes all of Judea, Samaria. The UN’s 1948 partition resolution is not law. The UN General Assembly makes recommendations, not laws. Only the Security Council creates law. Even so, Israel was prepared to share its land with the Arabs, but the Arab League refused, waged a genocidal war and lost all moral claims. Still, Israel sued for peace.
The Arabs, Europeans and international fora have yet to realize there has been a paradigm shift. The days when they could push Jews around with impunity is over. Israel is ranked among the 10 most important countries in the world. It is a technological giant. Its military is formidable. It can take care of itself.
Israel will implement the American peace plan with or without Arab participation. The Arabs can help modify the outlines of their state and get $50 billion for development, or they can refuse and stay on welfare.
LEN BENNETT Ottawa, On.
I suppose Israelis are once more in a euphoric trance reading prime minister Netanyahu’s statement “President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (actually 30%) and in the Jordan Valley. In a couple of months from now, I’m confident that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism”
In fact, what we would be celebrating is yet another surrender to our enemies, even greater than all of Netanyahu’s previous surrenders. It was God, not Donald Trump, who gave us the Land to build and settle for the Jewish People in perpetuity.