Where is American Jewry?

By Dr. Joseph Frager

Operation Protective Edge was a Defensive War to prevent catastrophe to the State of Israel. Brave,and heroic young Israeli soldiers gave it their all. Unfortunately, 67 of our brethren perished plus the killing of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach making the total 70.

A more thorough destruction of Hamas could have been achieved if American Jews would have raised their voices. As it stands now Hamas has been allowed to live another day. It should never have been given the chance after Operation Cast Lead in 2008. That war was ended abruptly by President Obama in one of his first foreign policy actions soon after he was elected.The dye was cast back then but gets very little play in the Media. It shadowed things to come.

It is, to borrow from the colloquial, deja vu all over again. Hamas is going to try to restock all its missiles and then some, build new tunnels, and come up with even more novel ways of terrorizing Israel and the world. Mubarak who was a friend of Israel and the West did not prevent them in 2008 and General Sisi will not prevent them in 2014. American Jews have a responsibility to help, in any way they can, our brethren on the front lines.

Yes, the President is the rate limiting step no matter how much American Jewry does to raise an outcry. Ten years ago it would have been a given to see the ADL, American Jewish Committee (this is not intended to single out any organization in particular) and many other "establishment" organizations take out ads in all of the major Newspapers decrying the irresponsibility of the Media's reporting of the War as well as imploring the President to allow Israel to do the job unimpeded and undeterred against a common enemy(designated unequivocally as a Terrorist Organization by the State Department). The President and his Secretary of State were far from consistent in their handling of the war. At times they were downright obtrusive and borderline Anti-Israel.

Yes, the President signed into law the Iron Dome Funding but he would have had a mutiny on his hands from his fellow Democrats if he did not. It certainly did not make up for all of the angry rhetoric aimed at Israel-America's only true Ally in the Middle East. American Jews should have been greatly insulted by many of his remarks. There should have been outrage. Instead there was silence. Going forward, Israel needs to hear from  American Jewry more than ever. It is not enough to sit back and say Israel can handle it. Too many lives are at stake. We have the luxury of influencing policy from afar. Midterm elections are coming. Jews can show the President their dismay at the voting booth. The Media can be held with its feet to the fire too. Their coverage was atrocious.All we saw were the effects of tragic scenes of collateral damage.

Never was Hamas blamed for creating the collateral damage in the first place.Not one Hamas terrorist was shown firing rockets from Schools, Hospitals, UN installations and Mosques. The enemy was never shown for what it was. Only Israel was blamed and demonized. American Jewry has a responsibility to make sure the Media is fair and unbiased. Blogs, Letters to the Editor, Emails to Media Outlets and Publishers,and overall outrage at the distortion, lies, and irresponsibility all helps. Wake up Jews of America, it is time to act.