…By Jonas E. Alexis
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Sarah Palin
Dear Sarah Palin,
First of all, you have served as the 9th Governor of Alaska from 2006 until 2009. Thank you. Your service certainly means much to us all.
Just to clear out some confusion that may juggle into your mind, I hereby state forthrightly and categorically that I am proud to be an American. I am currently living abroad, but my heart is America. Now let us go on to the important issues.
You recently delivered a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in which you said that Republicans need to branch out in order to “rebuild the country.” Republicans, you further declared, should not “re-brand a party” and the “talk about re-branding the GOP instead of restoring the trust of the American people” is not working. You suggested that something drastic has to happen.
You moved on to say, “Now, we can’t just ignore, though, that we just lost a big election. Came in second. Out of two. Second position on the dog sled team—it’s where the view never changes and the view ain’t pretty…As conservatives, we must leave no American behind. And we must share our message of freedom and liberty to all citizens, even those who may disagree on some issues because there is solid common ground in fighting against government overreach and for independence. And those who disagree with us on some issues, they’re not our enemies, they’re our sisters and brothers. They’re our neighbors and friends.”[1]
That was a great statement, and I am confident that you will still consider me as your brother after reading this letter.
You finally declared, “It’s time we all stop preaching to the choir and let’s grow.”[2] There is no doubt that you want the Party to grow. But the Party cannot grow if it continues to perpetuate lies and fabrications. Back in 2008 you and the neoconservative mob perpetuated the hoax that Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map. We know that the “wiped off the map” phraseology is a fabrication, as it did not exist in the original translation.[3]
What the president actually said is that the Zionist regime ruling Jerusalem is not good for the Middle East and much of the world. As Jonathan Steele of the Guardian put it, “The Iranian president was quoting an ancient statement by Iran’s first Islamist leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini, that ‘this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time,’ just as the Shah’s regime in Iran had vanished. He was not making a military threat. He was calling for an end to the occupation of Jerusalem at some point in the future. The ‘page of time’ phrase suggests he did not expect it to happen soon.”[4]
Mrs. Palin, this is widely known among academics who have worked on the translations.[5] Shiraz Dossa of St. Francis Xavier University for example declared that the military threat has not been Iran’s position. Dossa concluded, “There is a huge chasm between the correct and the incorrect translations. The notion that Iran can ‘wipe out’ U.S.-backed, nuclear-armed Israel is ludicrous.”[6]
Juan Cole of the University of Michigan came to the same conclusion.[7] Even Ethan Bronner of the New York Times conceded the point that there were some errors and contentions in the translation.[8]
One of Iran’s foreign minister responded to all the hoopla this way: “How is it possible to remove a country from the map? He is talking about the regime. We do not recognize this regime legally.”[9]
In other words, just like Russia now has a different color without Bolshevism, Israel will have a different color without the Zionist regime terrorizing the Middle East and sabotaging the Palestinians.
If this is news to you, Mrs. Palin, please check your public library and look for some of the works that have been published by Jewish historians on this subject. Check out Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel; Avi Shlaim’s The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World; Benny Morris’ Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 and 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War.
Certainly there are dozens of other scholarly works written on this subject, and many Jewish historians try to be fair on this topic. The GOP is spitting on their laborious and academic work which took them years to accumulate if members of the GOP continue to marshal the lie that the Palestinians are “an invented people.”
Reagan called the Soviet Union “an evil empire,” but Reagan was not against the Soviet people in general. He was against, well, the evil empire. It is the same thing with Iran. If that seems to be nonsense, keep in mind that Jews in Iran are respected and have the freedom to worship as they see fit.
Let me grant you the premise for a moment that Ahmadinejad did actually use the “wiped Israel of the map” phraseology. What would be your solution? Should we go ahead and bomb Iran? If yes, then should we go ahead and bomb Israel because Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of the Shas Party declared that we “must send missiles to [the Palestinians] and annihilate them”?[10] Should we sanction Israel because Rabbi Manis Friedman declared that, with respect to the Palestinians, we should “destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle)”?
And if you think the rabbis were just bluffing, what makes you think that Iran was not doing the same thing? Do you have any rigorous, academic, and scholarly evidence that Iran has been routinely supporting terrorist organizations? Why would Iran declare that they too wanted to fight terrorism after 9/11?[11] Did you know that Israel supported terrorist organizations such as the MEK? Should we go ahead and bomb Israel because they killed Iranian scientists? Did you know that North Korea tested their (failed) missiles and Iran doesn’t have even one missile?
So which country should we invade first? The country that has zero nuclear weapons or the country that has been telling the West openly that they are trying to build nuclear warheads? And by what rationalization should we bomb Iran now and not North Korea? Why hasn’t the neoconservative gangsters been chanting “bomb North Korea”—only “sanctions”?
And if having nuclear weapons were the real issue, should we bomb China, England, Russia, France, and other nations which actually have nuclear weapons as well? Do you really think that Iranian officials are that blind and that they cannot recognize a double standard? Please help us unpack this mystery.
Frankly, Mrs. Palin, as I rational person I am confused about these issues. If you are not, then put your thinking cap on. Do not let the neoconservative machine do the thinking for you.
Moreover, if you still maintain that Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map and that he hates Jews, how has Jews been treated in Iran? Do you know that Ahmadinejad never attacks Jews in Iran? Can you unpack this obvious contradiction for us? For example, Ciamak Mor-sathegh, head of the Jewish hospital in Tehran, declared that “anti-Semitism is not an eastern phenomenon, it’s not an Islamic or Iranian phenomenon—anti-Semitism is a European phenomenon.”[12] Synagogues, a major Jewish library, and Jewish hospitals in Iran “haven’t been touched.”[13]
Moreover, many Jews have voiced their opinions and even opposed some of Ahmadinejad’s comments without repercussion. Both Maurice Mohtamed (Jewish member of the Iranian Majlis or parliament) and Haround Yashayaei (chairman of Iran’s Jewish Council) dissented, even sending letters to Ahmadinejad in protest. Some Jews left Iran for Israel, “thinking that Israel was an economic paradise,” but later returned to Iran because “Israel has not lived up to their expectations.”[14] Mrs. Palin, you certainly owe the American people an explanation if you continue to perpetuate lies.
When asked what he would do if one of his children happens to marry a Jew, Ahmadinejad responded, “I would have to see who that Jewish man or woman would be. I see love amongst people as completely acceptable. There are many Jews living in Iran with whom we are very close. There are … some Muslims that marry into Jewish families or marry Christians. I – we have no such problems.”[15]
Mrs. Palin, please understand that Ahamadinejad is not against the United States or Israel. He is against the Zionist regime which has become the dominant worldview in both America and Israel. And it is this Zionist worldview, as many have argued, that is the real enemy of decent Jews everywhere.[16] Israeli leaders implicitly or indirectly agree with this assertion.
Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli opposition leader, unequivocally declares that “The world is not sick of Israel, the world is sick of Netanyahu.” Why? Mofaz sees that Netanyahu only cares about his plan. If anyone gets in his way, he will grind him to dust. Mofaz continued, “Prime minister, please tell me who our biggest enemy is. The US or Iran?”[17]
Mrs. Palin, please understand that there are rational people in Iran as well. Reason is not limited to the West only. For example, you stated back in 2010 that Obama needed to speed up the process of declaring war on Iran.[18] And what was the justification for that? That Iran is building nuclear weapons? That Ahmadinejad supported terrorism? That Ahamadinejad wanted to wipe Israel off the map?
Ahmadinejad of course put this scenario to the entire world, which is rational and defensible: “Let’s even imagine that we have an atomic weapon, a nuclear weapon. What would we do with it? What intelligent person would fight 5,000 American bombs with one bomb?”[19] Mrs. Palin, you know too well that our forces have surrounded the Middle East, and Iran is not a threat to Israel or America. Please do not scare the American people like Bush did when he was in the process of invading Iraq.
How should the Republican party “rebuild the country”? Here is my advice.
Tell the American the truth! America would be in much better shape if an appointed representative like yourself would come out and say,
“My fellow Americans, we are sorry about all the lies and fabrications which have driven the American economy into disaster. We are sorry for the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. We also are sorry for the thousands upon thousands of Muslim families and precious American soldiers who have lost their lives for a complete lie. Forgive us. We want to strengthen the GOP and we are tired of playing double standards, particularly with our foreign policy.
“We also want to stop the killing of innocent lives anywhere—be they in the Middle East or America. The GOP does not support abortion in America, but we have supported perpetual wars in the Middle East and the killing of innocent people. Recently one of our folks, Dick Cheney, has praised the Obama administration for his drones policy. In other words, little babies are more precious than people in the Middle East. I don’t think people in the Middle East would like that policy.
“More recently, we have learned that almost six in ten Americans now believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth the price. Only a few Americans (two in ten) actually say that the war helped.[20] My fellow Americans, we have betrayed you all and we certainly have been seduced by the Zionist ideology, and we want to think things over this time.
“We also want to think about our unconditional support for Israel. The Founding Fathers would have been upset had they known that we are supporting a foreign entity with at least three billion dollars every year. The Founding Fathers have almost unanimously declared that they wanted to make ‘Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none.’ That certainly is not compatible with what our Party (the GOP) has been doing. And if a person such as Ron Paul tries to go back to that tradition, we call him ‘a vicious anti-Semite.’
“My fellow Americans, we want to go back to first principles. We want to be fair and honest with our foreign policy, our dealings with the Muslim world, Israel or any other nation. Will you forgive us? Will you trust us once again?”
I am sure that the vast majority of Americans will listen to you, Mrs. Palin.
You made this statement in your speech, “My advice to college kids is: You gotta be thinking Sam Adams not drinking Sam Adams.” Why didn’t you tell those college kids what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, among others, said about any foreign entity? Why are you cherry-picking? You certainly would not be the first person to do so.
Mrs. Palin, I have a dear friend of mine who highly esteems the Founding Fathers but he has all kinds of rationalizations for supporting perpetual wars. When I pointed out to him what the Founding Fathers actually said about making alliance with other nations, he declared, “We are living in a different era. The world is not safe anymore.” (Do we need to get rid of the Constitution also because we are living in a different era?)
Mrs. Palin, the American people are still looking for a serious politician who will make things right, a politician who will not betray the American ideals and values and tradition. They will support your plan to rebuild the GOP if you are serious about restoring the trust of the American people. Will you help put a stop on rapacious usury that has been killing our precious students? Will you stop propagating perpetual wars that have driven the economy into chaos? Will you honor the American antecedents by saying no to torture?[21]
Mrs. Palin, you said that Obama has lied about transparency—and he has. But you are not helping either by lying to the American people about Iran and perpetual wars. These issues will certainly determine whether you are serious about rebuilding the GOP.
Mrs. Palin, you are a professing Christian and you ought to think seriously about the statement that America needs to bomb Iran without any justification. How is that compatible with Christ’s teachings, the moral law, and with what the West actually stands for?
You remember the Sermon on the Mount? “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy…Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:7, 9). Christ indeed disagreed with the Pharisees, but he never incited violence or even remotely suggested that He hated them. Even on the cross, He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Will you try to proclaim peace instead of perpetual wars?
Mrs. Palin, do not let the neoconservative regime turn you into something that you are not. Dr. Hajo Meyer, who survived Auschwitz, declared that “Zionism is today’s Nazism.”[22] Can you tell him why that it is not?
As previously said, I hope you still consider me as your brother. Thank you so much for reading this letter, my sister!
Yours Truly,
Jonas E. Alexis
[1] Quoted in Chris Moody, “Sarah Palin Tells Conservative to Branch Out: ‘Stop Preaching to the Choir,’” http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/sarah-palin-tells-conservatives-branch-stop-preaching-choir-181615159–politics.html.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Mark Weisbrot and Robert Naiman, “Arash Norouzi Explains the ‘Wiped of the Map’ Controversy—What Iran’s President Never Said,” Huffington Post, January 7, 2007.
[4] Jonathan Steele, If Iran Is Ready to Talk, the U.S. Must Do So Unconditionally,” Guardian, June 2, 2006.
[5] See for example “Canadian Prof’s Presence at Iran Forum ‘Abhorrent’: University,” CBS News, December 13, 2006.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ethan Bronner, “Just How Far Did They Go, Those Words Against Israel?,” NY Times, June 11, 2006.
[8] Ibid.
[10] See my article “Abu Ghraib and the Jewish Century,” https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2013/02/26/abu-ghraib-and-the-jewish-century/.
[11] See for example Trita Parsi, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007).
[12] Quoted in ibid, 8-9.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid., 10.
[15] Mark Hughes, “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: ‘I Would Have No Problem with Children Marrying a Jew,’” The Telegraph, September 24, 2012.
[16] See for example Alan Hart, Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, Vol. I (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2009).
[17] Lahav Harkov, “Mofas to PM: Are You Trying to Oust Obama or Ahmadinejad?,” Jerusalem Post, September 12, 2012.
[19] Quoted in Glenn Greenwald, “The True Reason U.S. Fears Iranian Nukes: They Can Deter U.S. Attack,” Guardian, October 2, 2012.
[20] Gary Langer, “A Decade on, Most are Critical of the U.S.-Led War in Iraq,” http://news.yahoo.com/decade-most-critical-u-led-war-iraq-110806826–abc-news-politics.html.
[21] See my article “The Founding Fathers vs. the Zionist Regime.”
[22] Quoted in Alan Hart, “An Open Letter to Secretary of State Kerry,” VT, March 2, 2013.
Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the new book Zionism vs. the West: How Talmudic Ideology is Undermining Western Culture. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.
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