Jewish World Review Feb. 4, 2003 / 2 Adar I, 5763
JERUSALEM DIARIST
Grief tightens U.S.-Israeli bond
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Not even after a terrorist attack do Israelis allow themselves to grieve so openly as
they have for Ilan Ramon, the Israeli air force colonel lost on the space shuttle Columbia on Saturday.
On Sunday, cafes were empty, and friends called each other to weep. Perhaps it's because, for a brief
moment, Ramon released this country from its despair of ever finding peace and transported Israelis into a
world of endless possibility. When the Columbia crashed, our dare against fate seemed to end, too.
DESTINIES ENTWINED
Though Israel is barely the size of New Jersey, the two nations share common values and origins.
Both were founded by immigrants inspired by biblical humanism. Both are societies whose diversity is a
microcosm of humanity. Israel is one of the few countries where America is still regarded without cynicism
as the world's great defender of freedom. And Americans appreciate Israel as a laboratory for testing the
durability of democracy under duress.
Israelis love America. On Israeli Independence Day, some motorists in the Jewish State fly the Israeli and American flags. And
although a U.S. attack could make us the first target of Saddam's revenge, most Israelis back the war.
For Israelis, U.S. support represents far more than foreign aid. It is proof that Jews aren't fated to once
again become a pariah people. Israelis were especially grateful that Ramon was included in the shuttle
crew at a time when the Jewish state has been widely demonized for defending itself against terrorism.
Perhaps the ultimate moment in U.S.-Israeli relations occurred on July 4, 1976. Just as America began
celebrating its 200th anniversary, Israeli commandos flew hundreds of miles across hostile territory and
rescued a hundred Jews hijacked by Palestinian terrorists at Uganda's Entebbe airport. The rescue
became an instant legend and was celebrated by Americans as a fulfillment of the spirit of 1776.
NO 'ZIONIST CONSPIRACY'
Ramon, the son of Holocaust survivors, brought to the Columbia a drawing of planet Earth made by a
child who died in Auschwitz. That symbolic gesture was particularly apt, given the central role the
Holocaust has played in stirring American sympathy for Israel. It is no coincidence that the first country
outside of Israel to dedicate an official Holocaust museum was the United States. Ramon's presence on
the Columbia, in turn, has imparted the gift of courage to America as it prepares to depose Saddam in
defiance of much of the international community. Ramon, after all, knew that there are times when
unilateral action cannot be evaded. Israel's destruction of the Iraqi reactor was vehemently condemned by
most of the world as an act of piracy. Yet if not for Ramon and his friends, the tens of thousands of
American soldiers now gathering in the Persian Gulf would be in grave danger of an Iraqi nuclear attack.
Before takeoff, Israelis were thrilled to see the Columbia crew pose against a backdrop of American and
Israeli flags. Now they are comforted by seeing the two countries' flags flying together at half-staff.
Beyond national pride, the joint voyage into space represented for Israelis an almost mystical entwining of
both our destinies. "It's a sign from G-d about our common fate," a secular friend said to me. Several
Israeli newspaper columnists noted that Ramon, one of the Israeli pilots who destroyed Iraq's nuclear
reactor in 1981, was included on an American space shuttle just as Washington prepares for war against
Saddam Hussein.
Some malevolent observers, particularly in the Arab world, attribute America's support for Israel to a
"Zionist conspiracy." The pro-Israel lobby is one of Washington's most powerful, but it would never have
been successful had Americans not recognized in Israel a reflection of themselves.
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JWR contributor Yossi Klein Halevi is the Israel correspondent for the New Republic and a senior writer for the Jerusalem Report. He is the author of "Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist (Little, Brown) and, most recently, of "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for G-d with Christians and Muslims in the Holy
Land."
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