The Auschwitz Border

by Sara Lehmann

10/1/2024, 12:33:42 PM

The UN General Assembly is back in New York City. As sure as that means gridlock, it also means more resolutions against the only democracy in the Middle East – the State of Israel.

True to character, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Palestinian-drafted resolution in its first week demanding Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months. The resolution stipulates that the IDF completely withdraw from Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and Gaza. It also calls for a boycott of all Jewish-made products in those territories and bans arms sales to the IDF that might be used there.

Essentially, this translates into no Jews being allowed to live in the pre-1967 “Green Line”. Or what Foreign Minister Abba Eban called the “Auschwitz border”.

The resolution received 124 votes in favor, while 43 countries abstained. The U.S. and only 12 other nations besides Israel voted against a resolution that would put Tel Aviv within 9 miles of a terror state.

The UN’s long-standing bias against Israel is so incontrovertible as to be redundant. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who returned to Turtle Bay this summer after serving as ambassador there from 2015-2020, summed it up at a press conference I attended the day of the resolution. “At the UN, every day is Israel day,” he succinctly said.

Antisemitism at the diplomatic headquarters on 1st Avenue is hardly new. What is new is the welcoming milieu of that headquarters itself. The anti-Israel animus within the halls of the UN is beginning to be matched by the anti-Israel animus without.

Antisemitic incidents have exploded in New York since October 7th. An August report by NY State comptroller Tom DiNapoli found that antisemitic incidents made up 44% of all hate crimes in the state last year, and 88% of those motivated by religious bias.

It has gotten so bad that World Betar Movement, the 100-year-old international organization once led by Ambassador Danon himself, issued a travel advisory two weeks ago warning Jews not to visit NYC. “Due to rising violence and support for terrorism in NYC, Jewish visitors and tourists are urged not to come to NYC. It is not safe. Authorities will not protect Jews.”

Israeli friends and relatives worry about me living in New York. And friends and relatives here talk of making aliyah and moving to Israel. It is has become a ubiquitous trend of conversation. Indeed, the Jewish Agency’s data points to a rise in aliyah from North America and Western Europe this past year, despite Israel’s raging war.

That the first choice of a safe haven for Jews is the country most endangered by Jew haters might seem highly ironic. But to many American Jews, especially visible ones, including children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, it is less a peculiar paradox than a foregone conclusion. At least in Israel, Jews won’t get beaten up in universities for being Jewish.

For some Jews, escaping to Israel is no longer a question of if but when. That “when” hangs largely in the balance until November 5th. In what seems a tacit nod to the UN’s September 18th resolution, Kamala Harris insists on Israel accepting the two-state solution. This, despite both Israelis and Palestinians overwhelmingly rejecting it and the Knesset, with the exception of Arab MPs, voting unanimously against it.

Had she stayed to hear Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in July, Harris might have understood why former Prime Minister Menachem Begin described a retreat to the pre-1967 borders as “national suicide for Israel”.

Diaspora Jews look to Israel’s leaders too, hoping Netanyahu doesn’t cave to pressure from the Biden Harris administration. As the shift in focus in the war has moved to the north, Netanyahu seems to have scuttled U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein’s push for pointless diplomatic solutions with Hezbollah terrorists.

Secretary of State Blinken’s futile shuttle diplomacy has likewise finally sputtered, with a U.S. official admitting that “No deal is imminent…I’m not sure it ever gets done.” This admission reflects Netanyahu’s deflecting detractors within his own government and rowdy left-wing protestors on the streets demanding the release of the hostages at any cost. Everyone wants the hostages released, but a recent JPPI poll showed that 79% of Israelis agree that “Israel needs to control the Philadelphi Corridor in order to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt to terror organizations in the Gaza Strip”.

As antisemitism increases worldwide, Israel’s responsibility to be a sanctuary for Jews should extend to those living outside its borders. Netanyahu needs to have Israel’s back in order to have our back too. In 2023 alone, the ADL reported a 140% annual increase in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. and a shocking 477% increase in antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses.

In the Trump-Harris presidential debate, former President Trump was dire in his prediction of Israel’s future if Harris should win. “If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now,” he said. We all hope such hyperbole is just that. But if there is any reality in such a calculation, what guarantee do American Jews have that security for them is not threatened in the U.S. too?

Hold firm, Netanyahu. Don’t give in to pressure. Don’t ruin it for the rest of us.