Frontlines

This past week, Richard Mills, the acting United States ambassador to the United Nations, announced that the Biden administration will resume the $200 million aid to the PA and Mahmoud Abbas, and the $350 million annual funding to the UNRWA, both of which had been halted by the Trump administration. Mr. Mills also said that the Biden administration would “take steps to reopen diplomatic missions that were closed by the last US administration.”

As Israel enters its fourth election cycle in little over a year, I felt it was important to go down memory lane to see how we got to where we are.

My next series of articles have been inspired by Benjamin Sipzner, who made aliyah from my neck of the woods in Queens to Judea and Samaria, and who now advocates for the Jewish state. Benjamin asked me the important questions central to this op-ed, as well as my next two. Is American Jewry asleep at the wheel? Where are American Jews on issues critical to the Jewish state?

If 2020 was supposed to be a year of high visual acuity and clarity, it failed miserably – 20/20 vision it was not. In a year when a dreadful pandemic should have brought the world closer and more united, it made it more polarized and more overheated.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is defined as “a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock.” After nearly a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is fair to say that many Americans suffer from PTSD. I am not trying to make excuses for aberrant behavior, but I am trying to get a handle on what is happening in America and around the globe. The United States had witnessed more than its share of abnormal behavior in 2020. The year 2021 has not been any better so far. Cool heads are far and few between. Humility and respect are in short supply.

I have been with the Young Israel Movement since 1969, when man landed on the moon. It has been a fruitful and productive journey. It is a great privilege and honor to serve as First Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel.