It was a remarkable display of basic inhumanity on every level. An Israeli El Al passenger plane en route to Israel from Warsaw needed to make an emergency landing due to a sick passenger on board. The closest airport available to land under these conditions was in Istanbul, Turkey. This airport had been a regular stop for many Jewish passengers looking for a usually cheaper and more elegant way to fly to Israel. The airport itself is said to be a sprawling, beautiful mecca of (non-kosher) fine dining and shopping. Many people that I know, including friends and family, would fly with Turkish Air despite its stopover in Istanbul, due to its cheaper rates and stunning airport.
Over the years, Turkey had cordial, if not warm, relations with Israel. Turkey was certainly a major trading partner. There were some great Jewish communities in Turkey that produced some renowned Torah giants.
Then came Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been serving as president of Turkey for about a decade. A devout Muslim, he has remained steadfast in his opposition to Israel and its military goals. All this even though, when Turkey was in dire need for help during recent earthquakes, Israel was right there with emergency aid.
The El Al flight was initially granted permission to land at the airport with its sick passenger aboard. What followed was unthinkable. The Turks would not let the plane take off or even refuel. Eventually it had to fly out of its way to Greece to have enough fuel to make the trip to Israel. Essentially, Turkey held the El Al flight hostage, despite the rudimentary needs of caring for a sick passenger.
Outside of the Israeli media (and a blurb from the New York Post), did you see any story in the news about this? Not a word on Fox News or The Wall Street Journal, and certainly not on any of the liberal media, naturally. Imagine had Israel done this. The world would have been aflame, and the White House would have had a fit (if it were not past 10 p.m.). The UN would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel.
So why was the news silenced? The easy answer is that it was against the Jews, so who cares. But in my opinion, it is also for another reason. The world has very low expectations of Muslims. As I stated once before, this is Islamophobia at its core. Only the Muslims and their supporters don’t realize it. The world does not expect regular civil behavior from the Muslim world, so it gets a pass – especially since it serves the purpose of harming the Jewish State and its People.
The same was proven true with the current president of the United States. Time and time again, we witnessed the president’s gaffes and stumbles. Then a report came from the WSJ and from someone who interviewed him about his misplaced top-secret files. The WSJ article and interviewer claimed that, nebach, he’s an aging man so cut him some slack. He’s not of mind to be brought up on legal charges. We saw him having to be redirected as he wandered off the gathering area at the G7 conference. We have certainly seen him make some of the most ill-advised policy decisions as president. Yet the media struggled hard to portray him as a sharp-witted leader.
Thus, the bar was set pretty low for him at last week’s debate. The president had to show up and prove that he was alive, and that would be scored a win. Well, he had a hard time convincing anyone he was truly alive and cognizant, causing a meltdown in Democratic circles. Many are calling for his resignation as candidate for president.
This is what happens when you live in your own bubble and begin to believe your own fairytales. When Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that he had plans to withdraw from Gush Katif/Gaza for the sake of a future peace, the Israeli press announced that they would need to protect him “like an esrog.” The esrog bore rotten fruit, as has become painfully obvious.
Our president has been protected like an egg under a mother hen for the last three years with all the signs that something was just not right. Now that the chicken has hatched, all are in shock to see what has emerged.
Republicans and Democrats made every effort to lower the bar of expectations for Mr. Biden for the oncoming debate. As we have seen with passes given to the Muslims, sometimes lowering the bar can yield results that spring to disaster.
It will be very interesting to see what develops in France. The right-wing party of Marine Le Pen has garnered the most votes in the recent election. Though traditionally not a friend of the Jews (who is?), it is quite obvious the European world is finally reacting to the Islamic takeover of that world: a world that spent decades coddling these lovable immigrants.
So go ahead, world. Live in your world of make-believe. Believe that the Palestinians want peace. Believe that the Two-State Solution is still an option. Believe that by making nice to Iran, they will be obliged to behave. Believe that the current war with Gaza is about occupation or Apartheid.
Keep lowering the bar of reality and you will find yourselves pinned under a steel beam with no escape.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
