From the other side of the bench

A call to remove the “garbage”

By David Seidemann

Issue of Sept. 26, 2008

I was driving to work this morning behind a garbage truck and trying to avoid the stench. Bumper to bumper in my lane, and the lane to the left to me, there was no where to go. I had no choice but to ignore it. Then, a piece of garbage flew out of the garbage truck and landed smack against my windshield. I had no choice. I could not see. I had to pull over and immediately address the situation. Certain garbage cannot be ignored.

It’s time to shut the lights, lock the door and throw away the key. It’s time to take down the special parking space signs, drive them all to the airport and bid them farewell. They are useless, powerless and outright dangerous. No I’m not talking about soccer moms or the Yankees. I refer to that colossal waste of time and money that you and I are subsidizing, none other than the United Nations. Yes, I am well aware of the argument that the U.N. brings a lot of money into our city’s coffers. It seems to me that the price tag for the 9/11 clean up in many ways is a lot more. The price of silence now will be immeasurable.

Since 1996, I can recall one attack by an Israeli citizen on a group of Arabs. During the same time frame we can count hundreds if not thousands of terrorist attacks on Israelis in Israel and Jewish interests world wide. And after that one attack by the Israeli, I don’t recall any parades or celebrations by the Israeli populace. But I do seem to recall accolades dispensed ad nauseum by the Arabs after each and every bombing, two such bombings that claimed the life of two of my relatives in Israel.

I am well aware that there is one Jewish state and it is a democracy. There are 19 or so Arab states, none of which are functioning democracies. Over 25 percent of all U.N. Commission on Human Rights Violations resolutions have condemned Israel. I am unaware of any commission on Human Rights Violation resolutions condemning any Arab country. From 1948 through 1991, there were 175 U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding the Middle East. Ninety-seven of those resolutions were against Israel and four were against an Arab state.

Looking not at Security Council resolutions but General Assembly resolutions, you’ll find over 300 condemning Israel and nary a one condemning any Arab country. Coincidence? I think not.

I also know that more Jews (approximately a million) fled Arab countries than Arabs fled Israel (approximately 600,000) after the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948 and then again in 1967. I know that Jews inhabited and settled Israel or “Palestine” long before the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians ever did.

Fast forwarding in history I know that Hitler had six million Jews killed because his personal feelings and philosophy transcended human decency. I know that Ahmadinejad spews the same hateful rhetoric, and I for one believe everything he says regarding his intentions. When the United Nations extends an invitation and provides a platform for garbage, we must remove the garbage.

When a rally is scheduled to protest the garbage and a prominent politician is invited –– a politician whom the Jewish community has blindly supported for years and years, and she cancels because “someone with a prettier dress might show up,” that’s garbage.

When organizers of the rally are then pressured to rescind the invitation to other politicians who were willing to lend their name and voice to quell baseless hatred against Jews and Israel, that’s garbage. I am not surprised by Ahmadinejad. I am not surprised by the U.N. I am not surprised by Mrs. Clinton’s actions. They have performed in the precise fashion that I thought they would have. They have demonstrated once again that they are here to serve themselves.

I don’t blame the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. They were pressured with either real or perceived threats. I blame the left-leaning liberal Jews who can’t see the forest from the trees. I blame those that support a “has been” at all costs, because maybe that “has been” will once again become a “here and now” and show them favor. What fools. I choose to speak out for those that will speak for me.

After my last column regarding Sarah Palin, I received a phone call from a reader who left three messages excoriating me for writing positive remarks about a candidate who is anti-Jewish because “she hunts defenseless animals which is against the Torah.”

Let me tell you something, Mr. Reader. Ahmadinejad wants to hunt defenseless Jews. So you, Hillary, and all those who still don’t get it should take a trip to Germany and visit all of the concentration camps, one after the other. Absorb all the stench of the earth that covers six million of our brothers and sisters. Have the garbage hit you directly in the face like the garbage that hit my windshield this morning. Then look at the survivors in the eyes and say “I did not show up at the rally on Monday.”

The difference is that I removed the garbage so my vision was no longer blocked. I hope you will do the same. I hope you will finally remove the platform from those that spew garbage and those that refuse to stand up and speak out against that garbage because of personal agendas.

In the final analysis neither the U.N., Ahmadinejad, anti-Semites or even Hillary lose. We lose. We the Jewish people lose. We have shown Ahmadinejad that once again we are too divided to mount a defense against the genocide of our people. We have shown the world that we will stand with a politician who won’t stand with us. We have shown politicians that will stand with us that we are too partisan to act in the best interests of our people.

To a large degree the world was silent when six million Jews were exterminated. No one spoke up. No one came to our defense.  What a pity that in 2008 we are silencing ourselves. I for one will not go silently. I am one man who will “take out the garbage.”

David Seidemann is a partner with the law firm of Seidemann & Mermelstein.  He can be reached at (718) 692-1013 and at ds@lawofficesm. com.