The Politics Of Protocol

I just had the privilege of being invited to a media event at the recent National Religious Broadcaster’s conference held in Nashville, and while the term “life changing” gets bandied about way too much these days, indeed it was. The specific event to which I am referring was sponsored by an outfit based in Franklin, TN known as Proclaiming Justice To The Nations, a group of Christians who do all they can to get the true news out about what is going on in Israel. Their purpose is alerting Christians and everyone who will listen as to the fantastically difficult situation being faced by Israel and Israelis on a daily basis.

Talk show host Dennis Prager was the keynote speaker, and his lecture on The Age Of Feelings was one of the most revelatory commentaries as to
how we got to our current state of decline in Western society that I have ever heard, and will have to be addressed in another Publisher’s Point. His comments were timeless and philosophical, and the body of this piece will be far more pragmatic.

I had the chance to chat with Joseph Farah, an Arab-American Christian who spent years covering the Middle East, himself a man who went to Israel with a liberal journalistic bias and came away a changed, conservative fellow, largely due to the compassion he continually observed on the part of Israelis in their dealings with Arabs in Israel. He currently publishes World Net Daily, and online news e-zine. CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell was another with whom I got to fellowship, as well as others who range from being Orthodox Messianic Jews who work for the Israeli government, an American Jewess who emigrated to Israel, an Israeli surgeon who currently resides and lectures in Florida, and Laurie Cardoza Moore, who heads up PJTN and produces compelling documentaries on Israel as well as the Holocaust.

So, am I just name dropping, or do I have a point here? I have a point that is going to be illustrated by discussing protocol as it pertains to a Presidential visit. Not many would disagree that the Israelis, specifically Benjamin Neyanyahu, have been treated poorly by this administration on a number of occasions. And while I don’t know a great deal about protocol, I did learn some things while I was in Iraq, Jordan, and at the conference in Nashville. It can be summed up thusly: when you are a guest in another country, you do all that you can to accommodate your host, and when you have guests, you do all that you can to accommodate your guests.

Itineraries are only changed when someone is bleeding or the house is on fire, so to speak. And our President, who should know better, decided it was not worth his time to get an in-depth tour of the Iron Dome, the Israeli defense system that has saved countless lives, as our ally continues to get attacked by its “neighbors.” So, Benjamin Netanyahu, who for the sake of protocol has continually
bent over backwards to the point that he could double as a contortionist, brought a part of the Iron Dome to the President to be toured upon Mr.
Obama’s arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. Please remember that Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East, and has a vibrant democracy that is preserved largely by its extraordinary defense system. And, let it also be remembered that Israel uprooted some of its defense system because someone felt they needed to go visit the very people who want to destroy Israel, our ally.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner