America and Israel: A Personal View

By Mary Fallin
Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma
Candidate for Congress

Even after the events of September 11, 2001, most Americans view terrorism as somehow distant from their personal experience. Not so with those of us in Oklahoma. We recall with intense clarity where we were on the morning of April 19, 1995, when domestic terrorists detonated a truck bomb in front of our downtown federal building, killing 168 of our friends and neighbors.

 I was in my fourth month as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. My State Capitol office was less than two miles away from ground zero. For the next 21 days, I served at the site of the attack as rescue and recovery workers aided the wounded and brought out the dead. Some of them were my friends and neighbors, and I came to know the families of many others as Oklahomans bonded together through a time of loss and tragedy.

I understand terrorism. I understand the need for free people to protect themselves from those who would murder them. And that understanding was only intensified when I had a chance to visit Israel late in 2005. If there is a unique historical bond that unites Israel and America -- and I believe there is -- there is an even more intense one linking those of us in Oklahoma who went through the 1995 terror bombing with Israelis who have confronted so many similar acts in the past. That is why I am fully committed to Israel's right of self-defense and American foreign aid to Israel. American aid to Israel is essential, not just to enhance Israel's security, but our own as well. A free, strong and stable Israel is first of all a stirring example of how one nation in the Middle East can afford liberty to its citizens -- and a strong Israel is a bulwark against terrorism. Our two nations must aid each other in defeating terrorism, deterring war and working for peace and stability in the Middle East.

 My view of Israeli-American relations is a uniquely personal one. It is founded on three fundamental principles:

• Free governments are better than autocratic and totalitarian ones. Until America helped create the embryonic democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel was the only freely elected government in its region. As such, Israel asked only to be left alone and allowed to exist ... and it rightly defended itself against those who would bring destruction and death. By their nature, freely elected governments are far more concerned with protecting their own people and achieving economic and political progress than in invading or oppressing their neighbors. Those who suggest some sort of moral equivalence between Israel and the regimes that have repeatedly attacked her are simply misguided.
  
  
• There are evil individuals and regimes in this world, and it is right to resist them. For most of the past 50-plus years, regimes in the Middle East have sponsored, shielded and underwritten terrorism against Israel. On several occasions their armies have sought to invade her. Most recently, radical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened to remove Israel from the map, denied the Holocaust and made renewed moves to develop nuclear weapons. He is the one destabilizing the region, not Israel; America absolutely must confront this new threat. A nuclear-armed Iran, ruled by a bizarre Hitlerian madman, is not just a threat to the Middle East, but to civilized people everywhere, including America. We must never forget that Iran has funded the Hizbollah terror organization, a group responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any terrorist organization outside of al Quaeda. I firmly support President Bush's determination to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. I also support the goals of the Iran Freedom Support Act, which would do much to prevent the influx of hard currency to the Iranian government.
  
  
• Accommodation is wise, but not if it becomes appeasement. For several decades, Israel has made concession after concession in an effort to bring peace to the Middle East. From yielding territory to entering into non-aggression agreements, it has been Israel that has repeatedly opened the door to regional peace. Sadly, on most occasions those concessions have been snubbed by militant Arab leaders and terror groups like Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad  and the P.L.O. Israel is therefore right to take precautions like creating security fences as she continues to seek peace. I have seen that fence first hand. In fact, at the time of my visit there, it was clear to any fair-minded observer that the fence was working; homicide bombings and other acts of terror attributed to intruders had significantly decreased. In addition, Palestinian leaders must be made to understand that it is up to them to disarm and dismantle local terrorist groups. They must also respect Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, denounce terrorism as a tactic and honor past agreements aimed at bringing peace to the region. In addition, I support the goals of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which would withhold non-humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority until that organization abides by civilized rules and recognizes Israel's right to exist. As a great American president once said concerning agreements with those who are your enemies, trust but verify!

My 2005 trip to Israel confirmed those principles. I saw the constant state of security that surrounds daily life in Israel. I saw the barricades and alert forces. I saw Israelis who have lost loved ones to terrorism ... and the sadness in their faces was indistinguishable from what I saw in my home city in 1995. All of this reaffirmed my belief that Israel and America share a common bond and a common goal: to protect themselves from those who would destroy them. Peace in the Middle East is a worthy goal -- but not through appeasement or at the cost of security. Freedom matters, too, and must be defended.

America has stood with Israel for more than half a century, and we must continue to stand together in the years ahead. A free and secure Israel is vital, not just to America's interests in the region, but to people everywhere as a symbol of human liberty.

As a member of Congress, I will be guided by these principles. I would also be one of the few members of the House of Representatives who has experienced the full impact of terrorism in a most personal way.