The Book Stacks

Author Peter Nennhaus joins us today to talk about his book and much more…
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This surprising question is being raised in my recently released book entitled Quo Vadis, Israel? Written with clinical honesty and directness, it takes a hard look at Israel’s future and comes up with an unwelcome prognosis. After a review of the Jews’ bitter history especially in Eastern Europe, and the liberating idea of Zionism, it turns to the untidy and worrisome effects the creation of the Israeli homeland in 1948 has brought about.

It enumerates its seven wars, the intifadas and the endless list of massacres, bombings, and other belligerence and concludes that in the sixty-year history of the State of Israel there has probably been only a single year that was truly peaceful. To this day, this persistent tragedy has not yielded to well over fifty peacemaking endeavors that have been made by the United Nations and numerous influential governments.

The book makes an appraisal of the underlying emotional, religious, and cultural causes of the conflict. It outlines a number of conceivable scenarios, none of which offer a reasonable chance of securing peace and normalcy. It reaches the conclusion that the dispute is basically irreconcilable and will be so in the future. As a result, I end up viewing Israel much like a patient whose illness is chronic and incurable.

That is not all. The so-called demographic time bomb is a well-known concern. The higher birthrate of the Israeli Arabs inevitably will reach a stage where they will outnumber the Israeli Jews. Not only would then Israel lose its Jewish imprint and character, but more ominously, it would expose the Jewish minority to the vengeance of Arab extremists. Whenever that happens, whether in three or four generations, it would likely spell out the demise of Zionism. In that case, the patient’s disease would be not only incurable but fatal to boot.

Had it not been for special circumstances, I would agree with those who think it inappropriate to paint the devil on the wall in this manner. It seems to violate our commitment and loyalty toward Israel and our determination to ensure its survival and security. Even though I might have had concerns of this sort for many years, nobody could have prodded me to tactlessly trumpet them out loud, if I had not been propelled to this dark prognosis by an optimistic and bold new vision.

By pure happenstance, I learned about a land, which not only would be a greatly superior homeland for the Jews than the present Israel, but which might actually be available for purchase. It is a territory presently called the Kaliningrad Oblast, located at the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. It used to be part of the old province of East Prussia, which the Soviet Union annexed upon Germany’s defeat in WW II. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the independence of all of the “satellite countries�, it has become an exclave separated from the nearest Russian border by some 500 kilometers.

As described in the book, it is economically non-viable and destitute and has succumbed to a welter of infestations that include rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, drug trade, AIDS, corruption, and an unhealthy society ruled by incompetence, criminality, and the permeating tentacles of the Russian Mafia. Of particular interest is the hopeless outlook for the future as both Moscow and the EU have abandoned all further attempts to provide assistance, thus leaving the territory in a state of limbo. In fact, rumors have been voiced in Brussels that before long Russia would be willing to palm off the Kaliningrad Territory to the West for a tidy sum.

That state of affairs gives rise to the thought that here is a land that might be available as an alternate location for the State of Israel. Were it to happen, it would offer an unimaginable wealth of benefits and blessings, chiefly for the Israelis, but also for all other involved parties. The Israelis would be miraculously extricated from a tormenting and fatal disease. Never again would neighbors accuse them of having stolen their land.

That new land would be larger, more fertile, climatically more temperate, and economically more advantageous than their present land in the Middle East. Becoming part of the EU, they would hardly be in need of armed forces. The Palestinians would be out of their minds with joy and begin to live like a normal nation. The Europeans would be delighted to have replaced “the Devil’s kitchen� with a vibrant and sound new occupant. The destitute Russian population in that land would become rich after accepting generous financial retribution for returning to Russia.

The Russian Federation would receive billions of Euros for decades for selling the land. Enthusiastic international approval would be guaranteed and the hostility ravaging the Middle East would fade as would much of Islamic terrorism. Suicide bombers would be a matter of the past. The world would take a deep breath of relief.

Certainly, there will be doubts, misgivings, protests, warnings and other objections, but whether or not the concept is eventually approved, give it your good attention first before discarding it. It is perhaps only a dream, but, for a while, enjoy the refreshing new vista it offers just the same and should you by any chance be concerned about recurrent anti-Semitism, this is a must-read book.