Steve Rothman: “All is not lost. We should not lose hope. As heartbreaking as it is to see these terrible images on our television, and…”

“All is not lost. We should not lose hope. As heartbreaking as it is to see these terrible images on our television, and we wonder what is going to happen, some things take time. But we have to do them right. Sometimes our friends are put in very dangerous, difficult positions. We do not abandon our friends. To have a friend, as my dad used to say, you must be a friend. If we step away from our friend, Israel, after a friendship of an unparalleled kind for 50 years, what does that say about us? What does that say when we go looking to the world for our friends to help us? We cannot abandon Israel. Stand with Israel. Let Israel carry the day and rout out these terrorists. Let us get a just peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. If the Palestinians ever put together a leadership, because the other Arab nations force them, or they on their own demand it of their own leaders, if they put together a leadership that is committed to living in peace next to the Jewish state of Israel in their own state of Palestine, then but only then will the Palestinians have what they want, which is their own state. It is up to the Palestinians, and it is up to their Arab brothers and sisters to make them realize that they cannot continue to reject the offer of peace and statehood that Israel and the world has been making to them since 1947.”