An Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Guest Column by Shalvah Yannai)
Shalvah Yannai
Please forgive my straightforward manner as I was just born last Friday night and have not yet had the time to learn the intricacies of diplomacy. There are those in my country who seem to think that we need your permission to defend ourselves from deadly enemies and even to naturally grow and develop. With all due respect to the needs and interests of the United States, the sovereign state of Israel cannot negotiate her most basic obligations and needs to please yours. If a foreign nation threatens to annihilate us, how can you even begin to think to tell us that we should trust you to talk them out of it? It is our survival and our need to defend ourselves which must take precedent to your diplomatic preferences.And when our enemies tell you that we have no right to build homes in our own homeland, you are way off bounds to suggest to us that we must stop doing so. This is our only homeland and we will build our homes in every part of it. How dare you suggest to tell anyone, anywhere that they should stop “natural growth”? Such arrogance is unparalleled in human history! I was just born in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. I was shocked to learn that your country refuses to recognize Jerusalem as our capital. I wonder, Madam Secretary, is there any other country in the entire world whose capital you refuse to recognize?
You are treating a fraudulent entity as if it were a legitimate nation. And you are treating a supposed friend and ally, whose legitimacy outweighs that of all the nations of the world, as if we are not a legitimate nation. Yes, I realize how dependent the USA is upon the oil rich Arab nations. I genuinely sympathize with you. If you choose to make the mistake of trying to appease those who seek your destruction we cannot stop you. But we will never permit you to abuse our good relations by even listening to your attempts to infringe upon our sovereignty, not to mention your impossible demands to deny our obligations to our Creator.
In a few days my parents will be bringing me home. I daresay that I personally am a product of the “natural growth” which you so oppose. I may still be very small, but I will be making the population of Kiryat Arba, Hebron, just a little bit bigger. If this upsets your friends in the PLO and violates your outrageous demands, I must tell you that this “brand new right-wing extremist religious Jewish settler” couldn’t care less.
With Love of Israel,
Shalvah Yannai
(Granddaughter of Gary M. Cooperberg)