"Israel is indeed the home of every Jew, and that is important, a guarantee of sorts. It is equally important, however, that not every Jew choose this home. That is another kind of guarantee, of Europe’s liberal order, of the liberal idea itself. So it was shattering when millions of Jews, every one of them in fact, as if entranced, upped and left their homes in Milan and Berlin and Zurich.
The leader himself was overcome: Where was he to house them? Many of the liberal Jews of Europe, long strangers in strange lands, knowing statelessness in their bones, mindful of Hillel’s summation of the Torah — 'What is hateful to yourself, do not to your fellow man' — refused to be part of the spreading settlements in the West Bank, Israeli rule over another people.
The prime minister awoke, shaken. It had been such a vivid nightmare. Too vivid! To himself he murmured, 'Careful what you wish for.'"
"Spreading settlements in the West Bank"? Cohen fails to mention that built-up settlements amount to less than two percent of the West Bank.
"Israeli rule over another people"? Cohen forgets to say that Palestinian President Abbas is responsible for refusing to allow democratic elections in the West Bank. Cohen is also unwilling to tell us about Palestinian honor killings against women and Palestinian persecution of homosexuals.
Netanyahu should be careful about what he wishes for? Israel did a marvelous job of providing homes for more than a million Russian and Ethiopian Jews over the past decades, and there is no shortage of land within Israel to house Europe's surviving Jewry.
Jews must remain in Europe to guarantee its "liberal order"? Cohen should lead by example and return to London!
Thank you, Jeff, for being you. Your parents did something right.
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