Theoretically, 5771 could be remembered as a boring year. Terror was trivial. Political conflict was pushed to the margins. The social justice protests invigorated young Israelis, who suddenly pushed off their usual accept without question or hesitation attitude. Instead, they became motivated to do something about the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs who shirk greater society, as well as the tycoons, who do what they wish with their great wealth while the Antitrust Authority is comatose. Israel trusted in its own strength and welcomed the reports that our national economy was more developed than other Western countries. Only in the final third of the year was a bit of vague, ambiguous distress born, though it was not clear enough to define. It didn't come from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' aggression at the U.Na., where he submitted his statehood bid. Instead, it was connected to the hostility of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the very same arena. I have said more than once that if Israel provided the toothless version of the apology requested by Turkey, it would have cooled Turkish fury a bit. I supported the apology, not in the hope that it would compel Erdogan to renew the alliance between Jerusalem and Ankara, but rather because it would slow the distancing between them But criticism of diplomatic process is not a substitute for serious eye-level observation. Erdogan spoke to and about Israel as only a classic anti-Semite would. Most of the rhetoric of this type was heard only before the Holocaust. He threatens us using the language of a neighborhood thug, and the West is left dumbstruck, hypnotized and speechless. It is time to make up our minds about this man, with his compulsive, aggressive, childish and dangerous personality. He is fabricating a story, from deep in his heart, about hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were killed. He is calling for sanctions against the Jewish state and continues to leave the possibility for violent confrontation on the table. He obviously intends to scare and intimidate Israelis. In some sectors of Israeli society, he has been successful, and this is not good. I wish that it was possible to erase this chapter in our relations with Turkey. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose bark carries overtones of genocide, is less shocking because we expect this from him; there is no disappointment there. But until three years ago, Erdogan was considered an ally, a fair mediator and an international figure. We trusted him. Suddenly his anti-Semitic demon pops out of the bottle and the truth is exposed. But when we have lemons we can always make lemonade. The Jewish people have known the days of Balak, son of Tzipor, and Balaam, son of Beor, known black magicians who threatened our existence in biblical times, and Haman the evil, who tried to erase the Jews in Persia in the days of Esther and Ahasuerus. And now we know Erdogan. In every generation they rise against us to annihilate us, (Berachot Tractate, Talmud; Passover Haggada) and yet, they have not succeeded. Out of the darkness comes a flickering light of salvation, on the following conditions: that the Jews hold fast to their tradition and their God; that they stay unified; that they preserve the core of their national spirit and the image of man, expressed through the supremacy of the rule of law; that they maintain the willingness to use military power; that they stay determined to act honestly and directly with foreigners. Israel hopes that its adversaries hold it to a certain standard. If it succeeds in living up to this standard, it will be bathed in a brilliant light in 5772. It will be more humanistic in a distinctly Jewish way. If this can happen, and Israel prevents internal hostility from dividing its ranks, it will be a good new year, not just in the traditional blessing but in everyday reality.
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