[Peace-discuss] John Kerry

[Morton K.Brussel]

FYI. A sickening statement--, reproduced from CounterPunch, derived 
from a student publication at Brown U. The date is not given.

MKB

"The  Cause of Israel is the Cause of America"

By SEN. JOHN KERRY

Editors' Note: We  offer this unfettered pledge of fealty to Israel by 
John Kerry  as yet more evidence that there's scarcely a dime's worth 
of difference between the major political candidates of both parties  
on the life-and-death issues of our time. AC/JSC

My first trip to Israel made real for me all I'd believed about Israel.

I was allowed to fly an air force jet  from the Ovda Airbase. It was 
then that Israeli insecurity about  narrow borders became very real to 
me. In a matter of minutes,  I came close to violating the airspace of 
Egypt, Jordan, and  Syria. From that moment on, I felt as Israelis do: 
The promise  of peace must be secure before the Promised Land is secure 
on  a thin margin of land.

Back on the ground on that first trip,  I toured the country from 
Kibbutz Mizgav Am to Masada to the  Golan. I stood in the very shelter 
in a kibbutz in the north  where children were attacked and I looked at 
launching sites  and impact zones for Katousha rockets. I was 
enthralled by Tel  Aviv, moved by Jerusalem and inspired by by standing 
above Capernaum, looking out over the Sea of Galilee, where I read 
aloud the Sermon  on The Mount. I met people of stunning commitment, 
who honestly  and vigorously debated the issues as I watched and 
listened intently.  I went as a friend by conviction; I returned a 
friend at the  deepest personal level.

As the only true democracy in the Middle  East, Israel has both the 
burden and the glory of a vigorous  public square. We as Americans must 
be the truest and best kind  of ally--forthright enough to say what we 
think--and steadfast enough to stay the course in hard passages as well 
as easy days.

Herzl's famous words--"If you will  it, it is no dream"--signify the 
promise and the greatest power of Israel--and the hope that a fair and 
secure peace can  be achieved. We must be committed to support Israel 
in the exacting, essential search for that dream.

I will never forget a moment on top of  Masada, when I stood on that 
great plateau where the oath of  new soldiers used to be sworn against 
the desert backdrop and  the test of history. I had spent several hours 
with Yadin Roman debating whether or not Josephus Flavius was correct 
in his account  of the siege--whether these really were the last Jews 
fighting  for survival--whether they had escaped since no remains were  
ever found. After our journey through history--which we resolved  with 
a vote in favor of history as recorded--we stood as a group  at the end 
of the cliff and altogether we shouted across the  chasm--across the 
desert--Am Yisrael Chai. And across the silence  we listened as voices 
came back--faintly we heard the echo of  the souls of those who 
perished--Am Yisrael Chai. The State of  Israel lives. The people of 
Israel live.

In this difficult time we must again  reaffirm we are enlisted for the 
duration--and reaffirm our belief  that the cause of Israel must be the 
cause of America--and the  cause of people of conscience everywhere.

John Kerry  is a Massachusetts Senator and a Democratic Candidate for 
the  Presidency of the United States. Article is originally appeared  
in the Brown Students for Israel publication "Perspectives:  An Israel 
Review"
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