Let us first clarify the popular misconception about the relationship between the United States and Israel as an “alliance." If we consider the Unites States’ traditional and modern alliances, it becomes clear that “alliance” as applied to the relation between the United States and Israel is a complete misnomer.
It is a fact that the Jewish people’s presence on the stage in the United States began to be felt during their fleeing from the Nazis and seeking asylum in the United States in record numbers.
It was the right choice they made and no hostile and prejudicial opinion should be held against them. They began to flourish to the extent that they are now present at every level all across the United States government, and lo and behold, they have managed to get the United States deeply entangled in their relations with the Middle Eastern countries, especially in their conflict with Palestinians.
The intelligence/information Israel provides the West is purely for its own self-interest and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to impress the West by making it look as if Israel were the firewall against “the destruction of the Western civilization” only to attract more sympathy and support from the West.
Israel has also sent up trial balloons to make allegiance to the United States the same as allegiance to Israel. It also weighs in when the U.S. president wants to choose a Cabinet member and it uses the member’s support for Israel as a litmus test of the member’s qualification for the Cabinet post.
As is abundantly clear by now, the United States has a caretaking role in the relations between the two sides and the following suggestion for the permanent security of Israel may come across as a pipe dream and counterintuitive, but with some imagination and the willingness to take the first step, it will move closer to the reality of a safe harbor.
Before our journey to this safe harbor to explore it, let us touch upon some facts. A person’s Jewishness does not have to be connected with Israel. There are many generations of Jewish people who were born outside Israel and they are not by any means considered less than Jewish by those who were born in Israel.
It is also true that the United States opened its doors and gave refuge to a record number of Jewish people who were fleeing from Europe during World War II. They are now heavily dependent on the United States for building a country for a safe and secure home.
Even though the United States has not failed to give its ironclad support to Israel, it must be remembered that times change and affect the zeitgeist of an era. It only takes a short period of unsympathetic, unsupportive and hostile atmosphere to shake the foundation of the longed-for safe and secure home and no degree of political lobbying of the decision makers and advertising campaigns to change the zeitgeist will be good enough. Just imagine trying to build a country, whose very foundation depends on good wishes and military support from another country.
Let us now visit this unique place in the world and find out what is in store for the Jewish people around the world. It is not “Somewhere over the rainbow way up high...,” but right here on this planet. The place is called The Yukon Territory, one of the three Canadian territories in northern Canada. Of course, this plan must first pass the acid test of plebiscites in Canada and Israel before it becomes a reality.
This right-triangular territory shares a border of 1,210 kilometers (752 miles) with the U. S. State of Alaska on the west and northwest of the territory and because of its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, it has a milder climate than the other two territories to its east, i.e., the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
The Yukon area is 482,443 km2, which is approximately 23 times the size of Israel. Give or take, the population of the Jewish people around the world is approximately 16 million and the Yukon can accommodate many more people without even coming close to getting crowded. Its population is 40,232 people, of whom more than half (28,201 people) live in the territorial capital, Whitehorse, in southern Yukon and very close to the border with the Province of British Columbia.
If we draw a territorial borderline a few miles to the north of Whitehorse, we will have two territories. The lower one will remain as the Yukon territory and the upper one will be called New Israel (or any other preferred name) with its own territorial capital yet to be named.
The Jewish people will become Canadian citizens with New Israel as their home territory. Just the very news about settling in New Israel will be far louder and stronger than any clarion call to the Jewish people around the world to come home to New Israel and they will.
The number of advantages of this plan for Jewish people, the Middle East, the United States and the rest of humanity is beyond the scope of this Op-Ed, but we can name a few:
First, the Jewish residents of New Israel will not need any embassies around the world and the present Canadian embassies will be their embassies as much as other Canadian citizens. There will never again be any need to spend a staggering amount of resources to maintain a strong military force because that will be Ottawa’s responsibility. Having the territory of New Israel will also change the dynamics of life in Canada for the better for all Canadians.
Moving from the Middle East to Canada is not any different from moving one’s residence from a neighborhood to a new neighborhood. You take your belongings with you to the new neighborhood and the Jewishness in you will remain the same. With the present advanced technology, the structures that have profound religious and cultural significance can be dismantled and taken to New Israel and re-constructed there.
Considering the long history of hostilities between Israel and Palestinians and their deep distrust of each other, the prospects of a lasting peace between the two are an elusive and distant mirage for now.
Assuming that the two-state solution became successful, it may still not guarantee a lasting peace. Even if it did, Israel is restricted to a small area in the Middle East that cannot accommodate approximately 16 million Jewish people without getting overcrowded, which affects the quality of life; whereas, the vast and beautiful Yukon territory has no such limitations and it has space for all the Jewish people and their descendants for centuries to come.
The movement out of the Middle East will provide peace there and will put an end to the internecine war and the sad and depressing news about killings will no longer poison the international milieu.
Last but not least, the relocation to New Israel in the Yukon Territory will relieve the United States
of the heavy burden of spending billions of dollars to support and protect Israel at the expense of social programs in the United States, which are in dire need of funding.
I would like to urge the Israeli government to arm itself with the old saying: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step” and approach Canada to explore the possibility of this plan.
Jeffrey J. Cunningham is self-employed and lives in Vancouver, Canada