In one of the key battles of WWII, in November of 1942, British forces defeated the advancing German forces that were moving east across North Africa, heading into Egypt. General Montgomery stopped Rommel’s advance in Al Alamein, 60 miles east of Alexandria. Egypt’s Jewish population, my family included, breathed a horrified sigh of relief. We had come within 60 miles of suffering the same fate as European Jewry.
Three years later, the war ended and the Brits began their withdrawal. They had amassed a huge amount of weaponry and equipment to prosecute the desert war and it was time to stand down and go home. My father Albert entered into a two-man business partnership to purchase a fleet of military trucks from the departing British army and converted them into a commercial transport fleet. The post-war economy was thriving and business was good.
Two years later, in 1948, the State of Israel was created and the first Arab-Israeli war broke out. All Jews in Egypt immediately became the enemy, guilty of being Jewish and therefore traitors. My father’s Muslim partner, smelling the opportunity to take over his Jewish partner’s half of the business, reported to law enforcement authorities that my father was an Israeli spy. Fortunately for Albert, someone privy to the coming arrest tipped him off, urging him to immediately leave the country. My father had less than 24 hours to pack a bag and escape to France, leaving my mother and me behind. Staying and pleading his innocence was not an option. Egypt had no Lady Justice wearing a blindfold and holding a balance. Being Jewish was evidence enough of guilt.
Like Colonel Vindman, who testified to the House Committee on Intelligence three months ago, providence and good fortune guided my destiny to immigrate to the U.S. at a young age. Unlike in Colonel Vindman’s native Soviet Union and in my native Egypt, in America, adherence to the rule of law is essential to the establishment and sustenance of liberty and justice. Here, Lady Justice does indeed wear a blindfold and holds a balance in one hand and a sword in the other. During the hearing, Colonel Vindman was asked why he had the confidence to tell his father not to worry about possible consequences stemming from his testimony:
— “Congressman, because this is America,” he replied without hesitation, “…and here, right matters.”
Last week, here in the United States of America, Lady justice cheated and peeked under her blindfold as the Senate acquitted an impeached President Trump in a sham trial without even calling a single witness, although one had first-hand knowledge of the accusation and declared his intentions to testify. It was a day of shame in America.
48 hours after the acquittal, Colonel Vindman was fired from the National Security Council by President Trump. For good measure, Trump also fired Colonel Vindman’s twin brother who had absolutely nothing to do with any of the hearings or the charges, or anything else remotely related to any of it. As former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly put it:
— “[Colonel Vindman] did exactly what we [in the military] teach them to do from cradle to grave… We teach them, ‘Don’t follow an illegal order. And if you’re ever given one, you’ll raise it to whoever gives it to you that this is an illegal order, and then tell your boss.'”
— He added: “…When subpoenaed by Congress in the House impeachment hearings, Vindman complied and told the truth”
With Vindman’s firing, Trump was beginning his retaliation against those who did not lie or obstruct justice to protect him. Shortly after, Trump removed Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who had also testified, with many more firings to come soon, promised Trump. He also declared that the Pentagon should begin an investigation of Col. Vindman.
Then came the flip side of the equation: Trump began the process of rewarding those who did indeed lie, cover up, and obstruct: Two days ago, Lady Justice brazenly ripped the blindfold clear off and threw away the balance, doing away with any facade of impartiality: William Barr, the President’s politically appointed Attorney General, intervened in the process of sentencing Trump’s political ally Roger Stone who had been convicted by a jury on multiple counts of obstructing congress, perjury under oath and trying to block the testimony of a witness. The prosecutors had followed normal Federal Sentencing Guidelines in recommending to the judge a prison sentence of 7 to 9 years. Barr intervened to reduce the recommendation, a move that is unheard of and infuriating to Justice Department career professionals. In protest, and to their enormous credit, all four prosecutors on the case resigned in disbelief.
So now, in the United States of America, we prosecute our political adversaries and reward and protect our political allies.
In 1973, during the turbulent years of the Viet Nam conflict, Paul Simon released his song American Tune expressing a bleak and sad outlook on the state of nation:
…you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home
…But it’s all right, it’s all right
We’ve lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
we’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong…
…And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed…
At the time, I remember thinking how excessively discouraged and disheartened this song was. After all, I had seen how the rest of the planet lives and I was still bullish on America’s future. I thought we are still blessed. We’re young, learning, maturing, taking our hits in the process, making our mistakes, but we are blessed.
Today, I think I may have been too naïve. Today, I am sad and bleak like the song.
And I am afraid. I am afraid for our ladies, Justice and Liberty.
