I hadn’t intended to take a week off, but a combination of Thanksgiving guests, a presentation on the life of Christ at my church, and my search for new employment conspired to knock me off my rhythm. I hope that your Thanksgiving observance was a wonderful and meaningful occasion. Ours certainly was!
Henry Kissinger died late yesterday at 100. I’m no expert on his life and public service, but he has been lauded as a giant of diplomacy during a key era in the history of the United States.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.
Decisions he made during his tenure still stir up the cancellation mobs that can’t seem to leave history in the past.
Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.
For eight restless years — first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time in the middle holding both titles — Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues. He conducted the first “shuttle diplomacy” in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.
He initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means — a “decent interval,” he called it — to get the United States out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.
And he pursued a policy of detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that the tensions of the Cold War and its nuclear threat did not have to last forever.
Kissinger, a Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, was a staunch supporter of Israel.
I am Jewish, so it doesn’t take anything for me to respect the Jewish people. I lost 11 members of my immediate family in the Holocaust and untold numbers of people with whom I went to school, maybe 50%. So for me, it is as a matter of course that I take the survival of the Jewish people and of the Israeli state as a personal objective.
This, of course, led to pro-Palestinian crowds celebrating his death.
I have no problem with people holding different opinions, no matter how wrong I think they are. But cheering a man’s death in public and with no shame is an ugly development in America and is mostly a feature of the Left.
“You’re not supposed to say anything bad about the dead. Henry Kissinger is dead. Good,” Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali posted on X. He followed it up by posting a Rolling Stones article confirming the report of Kissinger’s death. “More! Mooooore!!!!” he wrote.
Ali acknowledges that “you’re not supposed to say anything bad about the dead,” but goes on to verbally stomp on Kissinger, just like the much-circulated video of Palestinians stomping on a dead Israeli.
We all instinctively know that desecrating the dead or gloating over the death of our enemies is wrong primarily because death is our end too.
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.
Proverbs 24:17-18 is a warning against celebrating your enemy’s misfortune. Instead, we should follow the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 5:44: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Henry Kissinger deserves better than that as an American statesman, even if we don’t agree with some of his policy decisions.
As former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it,
“From the day he came to the United States as a teenager fleeing Nazi Germany, Dr. Kissinger dedicated his life to serving this great country and keeping America safe,” Mr. Pompeo said.
“He left an indelible mark on America’s history and the world. I will always be grateful for his gracious advice and help during my own time as Secretary,” he continued. “Always supportive and always informed, his wisdom made me better and more prepared after every one of our conversations.”
Thank you for your service, Mr. Kissinger. RIP.