That is the conclusion of a one-day symposium put on by the Citizens Commission on National Security (CCNS), a new non-profit national security watchdog organization consisting of former high-ranking military officers, CIA officers, congressmen and others who have come together to help strengthen America’s national security.
The CCNS’s first major event, “The U.S.-Israeli Alliance and Its National Security Implications,” was held on February 26 at a TV studio in Washington, D.C. The entire event aired live on JBS, the Jewish Broadcasting Service, which reaches 50 million homes in the U.S., through Direct-TV, Verizon, and other providers.
The symposium was admittedly stacked with people generally considered to be very pro-Israel. But their backgrounds and areas of expertise were diverse, as were the topics of discussion. The event featured Alan Dershowitz and an all-star line-up of experts from the worlds of military, law, politics, intelligence, Congress, diplomacy and think tanks.
The symposium consisted of four segments: three panel discussions and an interview with Dershowitz by the CEO and founder of JBS, Rabbi Mark Golub. Topics of the panels included “The Historic Alliance,” “A New Peace Plan Emerges,” and “The Growing Threat to Israel and the Region.”
The conference was timely as a new peace plan from the Trump administration is reportedly ready to be released shortly after Israel’s national election, which is set for April 9; the issue of anti-Semitism has re-emerged with several new members of Congress; there is a growing BDS movement on college campuses; and an increasingly provocative Iran continues to surround and threaten Israel through its proxies and its national leadership.
Case in point, Iranian-backed Hamas began launching rockets from Gaza towards Tel Aviv this week, for the first time in five years. Israel responded with what will surely be called by critics a disproportionate response, followed by more rockets coming out of Gaza into southern Israel. Timely indeed.
Last week there was a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that was initiated by Democrats embarrassed and under pressure because of an increasing body of anti-Semitic utterances from Ilhan Omar, a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota. Initially the resolution was going to condemn anti-Semitism, and Rep. Omar individually. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced a barrage of criticism for wanting to make the resolution focused only on that, and eventually they produced a resolution that condemned all forms of hatred, and didn’t name Rep. Omar at all. Sadly, most Republicans supported the watered-down version, obviously afraid to be accused by the media of not being willing to condemn all forms of hatred. One congressman who was willing to criticize this charade was Louie Gohmert of Texas, who called out Congress for what was going down:
The panelists in the final panel, “Threats to Israel and the Region,” all expressed optimism for the future of Israel and the alliance, despite the very serious challenges they face.
The views expressed in CCNS member articles are not necessarily the views or positions of the entire CCNS. They are the views of the authors, who are members of the CCNS.
