Saul Singer
Cold Spring Press, 294 pp., $14.95
Reviewed by Morris J. Amitay
If Israel’s security is important to you, but you are understandably overwhelmed by the barrage of news and punditry about the Middle East, I recommend Saul Singer’s Confronting Jihad – Israel’s Struggle and the World After 9/11. This collection of columns written by the Jerusalem Post’s American-born Singer could as easily have been entitled “Confronting Reality” for Singer bores to the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This collection of columns since 1997, when Singer first began penning unsigned editorials, and then later in his “Interesting Times” columns, offer the reader insightful analyses of the multiple challenges Israel faces today.
The book is divided into five sections and contains a useful chronology of important events from 1988 on. However, it is his largest chapter, “America Attacked” where Singer excels, displaying an understanding of American policies that only someone possessing his Washington “insider” credentials, earned during a decade of service on Capitol Hill, could have.
This “hands-on” Washington experience, combined with the past decade of working and raising his family in Israel raises Singer head and shoulders over other journalists writing about U.S. policies and political personalities as they affect Israel. When contrasted with the sometimes ludicrous analyses of Administration policies by such veteran Ha’Aretz columnists as Akiva Eldar and Yoel Marcus, Singer positively shines. Israelis often assume that understanding Americans is dependent on proficiency in English. But there are real cultural and political gaps in how the two democracies conduct their affairs. Begin’s English, for example, was far superior to Rabin’s. But having served in Washington as Ambassador for five years, Rabin had a much keener appreciation of what made Washington tick. At a time when correctly divining anticipated U.S. attitudes toward Israeli actions and policies is so crucial, Israel’s leadership - which struggles to correctly gauge sentiment in Washington - would be well-advised to pay close attention to Singer’s insights.
A continuing thread running through Singer’s columns is the moral clarity by which he views the terror masters of our day, leading him to conclude that the United States and Israel face the same enemies, the same war, and the same threats. It is not surprising then, that Singer calls for the U.S. to stand with Israel in its own struggle against terrorism.
Singer makes the case that “defeat is a powerful cure for Jihad.” In doing so, he provides the underpinning of our own nation’s war against terrorists and President Bush’s determination to stay the course in Iraq.
But it is not only the mullahs and jihadists whom Singer skewers with his pen, he calls to task America’s moderate “friends” – the Saudis and Egyptians whose “model for fighting terrorism is to crush internal opponents while allowing the same militant Islamists to vent their hated of the U.S. and Israel.” He is equally blunt in his criticism of the UN. “It acts,” he says “more as a protector of international criminality then as an enforcer of the world order envisioned by its Charter.”
Singer shows little patience for those Israelis who still refuse to acknowledge the sad truth that the Palestinians “do not want a state alongside Israel - but want a state instead of Israel.” By citing examples Palestinian incitement, denials of Jewish connection to Jerusalem, and the targeting of civilians, Singer debunks the “cycle of violence” description so embedded in European and our own State Department’s views. At the same time he demolishes the arguments of Israel’s left-wing which somehow still clings to the false premises of Oslo.
Whether it is exposing blatant lies by Palestinian spokesmen (e.g. their descriptions of the battle in Jenin), or examining the phenomenon of suicide bombers in sociological terms, Singer combines quotability with multi-disciplinary erudition. In his defense of “the fence” Singer shows he is able to turn a phrase with the best. While conceding that the fence is “a dangerous concession to the idea that terrorism must be lived with rather than wiped out”, Singer concludes that “Israel is not building the fence, the Palestinians are.” Sad, but true.
Perhaps the most significant contribution of Confronting Jihad is the rationale offered for Prime Minister Sharon’s seemingly contradictory policies regarding the road map. For Singer, it all boils down to is that Sharon is willing to give the Palestinians a partial state in exchange for a partial peace. Sharon’s real objective, according to Singer, is to get to the middle phase of the roadmap – and remain there – until the Arab world is ready for real peace. Singer acknowledges that in order for Sharon’s strategy to succeed it will require Israeli resolve and for the U.S. not to permit the creation of yet another terrorist state in the Middle East. As it remains to be seen how this will all play out, we are fortunate that Singer will be able to provide us with his insights in the days ahead.
Morris J. Amitay, a Washington attorney, is vice chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and a former executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.