The U.S. flexes its muscles in the heart of Jerusalem.
Sometimes one reads about an 82-year-old man having his bar mitzvah, something that occurs to 99 percent of Jewish lads at age 13. They’ll explain that there was a war going on or that he and his family were fleeing for their lives and there was no time for such an event. My dad’s bar mitzvah was only a few months delayed. The family was literally fleeing Nazi Germany and only when they were safe in Sydney, Australia did he have his day. I have the prayer book given to him in 1939 on the occasion of his bar mitzvah. As it is an Australian version of the traditional Jewish prayers, it includes a prayer for the king (George VI at the time) and the detailed members of his family. I could not imagine an American “siddur” today mentioning Melania, Don, Jr., Ivanka, etc.
On Tuesday, the United States had its official 4th of July bash in Jerusalem. The event was pushed off by the Iran war and rescheduled for the 9th of September. We were very fortunate to receive invitations to the event, so we went. There were protests of about 10 people each on either side of the venue, the new Museum of Tolerance. Their claim was that the U.S. should secure the release of the remaining long-suffering hostages. The truth is that they want Bibi Netanyahu gone, and they use the issue du jour to make noise and say silly rhyming slogans. Recently, a woman was asked if the hostages should be released in exchange for whatever Hamas demands. She said yes. “Okay, if they demand that Bibi remain prime minister for the next five years, would you agree to their terms?” “No.” And that gave away the whole game.
Entry was quick: a QR code and a swift metal detection and we were in. The party said a great deal about the United States under Donald Trump. First and foremost, I do not believe that there would have been such an event under Joe Biden. We couldn’t do it on the 4th, so let’s just drop it. Not Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee. We entered to find the venue filled with people from all over the world. Marines showed up with their dress blues in suit bags as they ran off to get ready. I saw the uniforms from at least 30 different countries present. There were politicians, members of the press, business titans, the unofficial people who actually make Israel run, and lots of Israelis. I saw several New York policemen in their dress clothes. Virtually everyone had some pin on his lapel, from the yellow ribbon for the hostages to Israeli/American flags to certain logos that I could not figure out in the three seconds I had to see them before it became too embarrassing to stare. I saw one rabbi who, like us, took his picture with a large Donald Trump cut out.
There was an endless amount of food, divided in different wagons. The event was strictly kosher, thus guaranteeing that the local crowd could eat comfortably. When my son went to get coffee, the woman running that venue said that they only had non-dairy options for milk. As the event included meat dishes, no dairy products were present. The Ben & Jerry ice cream (the local affiliate is owned by a Jew persecuted by the leftist main office) had non-dairy flavors I have never seen in a store. They had Jack Daniels cocktails, wine, and endless numbers of American flags that one could take home. There was music all evening, with Lee Greenwood as the special guest. We left before Bibi arrived, but we knew he would be there. I knew that he would come because it is his way of showing respect and appreciation to the United States, Donald Trump and Amb. Huckabee. My son knew that he would arrive there due to the amount of security present outside of the venue. Israel has different levels of protective details. On the scale of 1 – 10, this was definitely an 11. And sure enough, Bibi arrived later in the evening to express his admiration and appreciation of the United States.
When I was at the party, I was reminded of my recent visit to the USS Iowa out at Long Beach. Standing on that behemoth and looking at five-star Feet Admiral Halsey’s simple chair, I felt the immense power that is the United States. It’s understated, but it’s real. The U.S. is a rich, powerful country that is unlike any other in the world. We once had occasion to be in a Tel Aviv courtroom. It looked like a high school gymnasium with bleachers. When the woman writing the court protocols left after lunch, the judge himself kept score and often asked witnesses to slow down so that he could catch up. Our visit there was shortly after being in a federal courtroom in the southern district of New York, with its beautiful wooden furniture and wall-to-wall carpets. In New York, one felt the weight of legal judgment. In Tel Aviv, one expected cheerleaders to come out and scream, “Give me a T!”
The embassy bash showed the quiet strength, power, and wealth of the greatest country on the planet. There was no need for bombastic speeches or corny jingoism. The merrymakers could see the endless selection of food, the good music, and the roster of participants and know that this was the party for the season—it ain’t going to get any better than this. When one goes shopping at Walmart or visits dozens of stores in a single mall, he does not think about the economic power of the U.S. behind such places, but it is there whether he thinks about it or not. Israel, like Europe, is generally a very expensive country. One of our boys bought a pair of Adidas shoes that he had wanted for a while at a discount mall in Las Vegas. The final price at checkout was $35. The same pair in Jerusalem was around $230. Part of it is scale, part of it is taxation and part of it is profit-seeking. Amazon and AliExpress have endless waves of packages arriving here for people who want better prices for their goods. Returning something to Amazon requires a DHL pickup, which is no big deal. In the U.S., I go to Whole Foods, and before I get back to my car, I receive a message that the money for the dropped-off item has been returned to my credit card. We take such luxuries for granted. In reality, they are the fruit of decades of making the U.S. an economic powerhouse.
Something that Iran and Hamas never figured out is that Donald J. Trump is a man of his word. When he offered them off-ramps for their problems with Israel, he meant every word he said. Had Iran gotten rid of its atomic weapons program, he would have helped them return to the world business stage. Had Hamas returned the living hostages, he would have arranged a future in which they would somehow still exist somewhere. But they both blew him off, and the results were the same: the day after the ultimatum, Israel came in to destroy them. Nobody expected the attack in Doha, but the U.S. definitely knew and they passed the information to the Qataris who now need to explain why Hamas did not get the memo in time. Let them hate each other.
Happy belated birthday, USA. And many more happy returns.