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Shalom, Cornell. Howdy, Israel

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“To me,” the American-born author Henry James once wrote, “those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

What two words, you ask? “Summer afternoon,” of course.

Yes, Dear Reader, it’s true — in just about the amount of time it took Dorothy to tap her ruby slippers together, the sun will be out, classes will be over and finals will be a distant memory, leaving all of us free to enjoy many a, well, manifestation of the two most beautiful words in the English language.Sun Podcast: A podcast is available for this column. Click here to listen to or to download it.

But there’s a kicker: thanks to the folks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, your devoted descanter will be spending a chunk of summer break letting the bon temps rouler a little closer to the Mediterranean than usual.

That’s right — I’m going to Israel.

Later this month, yours truly — along with about 40 cohorts from colleges across the country — is set to explore the Holy Land in an adventure that, according to the (electronic) brochure, “will include visits to some of Israel’s most important historical and holy places, as well as top-level briefings and site visits.”

(Cue the Bond theme.)

It is a trip that its sponsoring organization has styled the “AIPAC Campus Allies Mission,” so called because it is specifically geared towards those students who are outside the Jewish community but have just as great a stake in ensuring Israel’s continued success as a nation.

Broadly speaking, that includes any and all American collegians grateful to have such a steadfast ally in the Middle East, as well as those who admire the country for its devotion to democracy in an all-too-often undemocratic part of the world.

Recently, however, AIPAC — true to form as America’s largest and most diverse pro-Israel lobby — has decided to focus its outreach efforts on a few groups in particular, namely students from historically black and Christian schools, students involved in national and campus politics, and, to be sure, students of any background who are loud and proud about being pro-Israel at institutions like our very own city on the hill.

As a Democrat, Evangelical Christian, and active member of the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee (which, despite its name, is affiliated with its countrywide counterpart only in spirit), it is no wonder, then, that AIPAC is interested in me; a far more important question — and one that I have heard more than once — is why I am interested in Israel.

So. First things first.

“I think there’s no greater fallacy out there than the one that claims Christians support Israel simply to speed the Second Coming,” David Brog, the executive director of Christians United for Israel (a group that its founder, Pastor John Hagee, calls the “Christian version of AIPAC”), recently told National Public Radio.

No greater fallacy indeed.

Last year, seeking to address this, as well as other common concerns, Brog authored Standing with Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State, a book whose title speaks to its content.

In his introduction, the Princeton alum and Capitol Hill veteran employs an interesting metaphor to describe why many American Jews have historically been — and, in some cases, remain — uneasy about working alongside Christian Zionists, even for Israel’s benefit: “They are reluctant,” he says, “to grasp the devil’s hand.”

“In an alternative reality built on traumatic communal memories,” Brog then explains, “millions of Jews continue to crouch, fingers on their triggers, surrounded by bloodthirsty Christians who view them as a replaced, deicide people. Yet the world has changed dramatically in recent decades, and the enemy they fear has long since become a friend.”

But what, then, does Brog — who is himself a practicing Jew — say to those of his faith who worry that CUFI and the greater pro-Israel Christian community may together simply be nothing more than an unfortunate extension of the Left Behind series? In short, the same thing he said to Salon’s Jason Boyett last August: “The real motive behind Christianity’s support for Israel is the promises of Genesis, not the prophecies of Revelation.”

This Southern Baptist would most certainly concur — and I think that, were he alive, another more famous Southern Baptist would, too.

“I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now,” this particular individual proclaimed back in 1952. “I believe it has a glorious future before it — not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.”

Those, of course, are the words of not just any Southern Baptist, but the first one to set up shop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the late, great Harry S. Truman.

It was only 11 minutes after Israel declared itself a nation at midnight on May 14, 1948, that President Truman recognized the Jewish state, and, thus, made the United States the first country to do so.

Today, support for Israel has become nothing short of a national tradition, and one that crosses both religious and political lines.

It is a tradition that, as Truman’s rhetoric suggests, goes to the root of what it means to be an American, and it is a tradition in which yours truly could not be prouder to play a part.

Now.

Go enjoy your summer afternoons. I’ll be here when you get back.

Mark Coombs is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at mpc39@cornell.edu. If You Can Keep It appears Thursdays.

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