Over three millennia ago, when Jews were fleeing Egyptian bondage en route to their Land of Promise (recorded, by the way, in the famous Amarna letters, an archaeological treasure trove of correspondence between Pharaoh and other rulers in the Middle East, and in which he complained about the "Habiru"-- Hebrews), Datan helped lead the revolt of Korach, proclaiming to frightened, wandering Israelites the virtues of a fertile Egypt from which Moses had led them. And the same way some Jews mistakenly found the trappings of ancient Egypt alluring back then, others have recently behaved likewise. Another tragic blunder.
The lessons of Datan were not learned. The Egypt of today is no more a friend than Pharaoh was.
On October 7, 2004, dozens of Jews (and others as well) were blown apart returning to an Egyptian Sinai where their wandering ancestors built temporary booths -- sukkot -- during a time of offering gratitude to G-d for the fall harvest. (Americans of all faiths celebrate this holiday, Thanksgiving, to this very day. While native American influence was also a factor, the Pilgrims were quite familiar with the Hebrew Bible and modeled their customs on it.)
The Jews returned to an Egypt that aids, or at least does nothing to stop, the flow of weapons and explosives coming into Gaza through tunnels on its side of the border. They returned to an Egypt whose official media, academia, religious institutions and the like are constantly engaged in promoting raw anti-Semitism as well as anti-Zionism -- in clear violation of the terms of the supposed peace treaty with Israel hammered out in the wake of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem several years later. It is also an Egypt that dwarfs Israel in size and is supplied with the most modern weaponry by America and others, and whose battle plans have only Israel in the crosshairs.
While it is understandable that modern day Israelites would like some semblance of peace and normalcy with at least some of their Arab and Arabized neighbors, with very few and individual exceptions most of the latter still reject the very right of the reborn Jewish State to exist. And they promote this belief among their masses.
While Jews returning to Sinai to commemorate Sukkot might seem romantic (or even downright religious), the lesson of Datan's backward gaze towards Egypt is still reflected today, no less than that of Lot's wife even centuries earlier in the Jews' four thousand year history.
Egypt's ice cold "peace" with Israel -- regardless of how much money it takes in from touring Israelis, whom it demonizes, despises, periodically massacres and such -- must also be seen in the broader context.
The late modern Pharaoh, Sadat, came to understand that the cost to Egypt of fulfilling the pan-Arab dream of doing unto Israel's Jews what Arabs had done to Egypt's native Copts, Nubians, Berbers and many others, as well, both in Egypt and elsewhere -- forcibly Arabizing them while creating their own two dozen "Arab" states -- would be so great that, at most, Egypt would wind up with a Pyrrhic victory. So Sadat pursued peace.
But Sadat was assassinated for this. And the successor Pharaoh, Hosni Mubarak, never had the commitment for peace that Sadat had, and the generation of Sadat is fast aging and dying out. What remains is a bulging generation of younger Egyptians with no memory of Arab defeats in previous wars, a generation nurtured on billions of dollars of American aid and armaments, and hatred of Jews and their State.
Knowing full well that the hotel in Taba was one frequented by Jews, would it otherwise be too much to suggest that extra security should have been provided by the country making lots of money off of these special tourists, or to suggest that contingencies should have been in place in case an "incident" should occur? It turned out that Israel had to send its own emergency and fire crews -- many of whom were initially prevented from crossing the border -- to deal with the disaster when it occurred. What does this say to anyone beyond a moron's intelligence?
Israel must face up to this reality and stop trying to beg for its acceptance.
Egypt is simply biding its time and waiting for the proper moment to arise. One-sided gestures by Jews are disgraceful and pathetic.
I wish things were otherwise, but they are not. Egypt remains a huge and powerful enemy bribed by American aid to temporarily remain on the sidelines; meanwhile, it is building itself up with the same armaments that a much smaller Israel is also largely relying upon.
It's time for Israel to wise up on the Egyptian front. All tourism should stop. All Jews should avoid Egypt like the Biblical plagues, and Egypt must be called on all its severe violations of the so-called peace treaty it signed with the Jewish State. The latter, after all, gave up lots of concretes (oil fields it developed, top of the line air bases, land, etc.) in return for promises largely not kept. If need be, diplomats should be recalled home.
The same demonization of the Jews found in the land of the Arafat/Hamas, good cop/bad cop team (as well as elsewhere in the "Arab" world) is flourishing in the land of Pharaoh Mubarak, as well. And Israel must deal with it not as a state with a frightened ghetto Jew mentality, but as the resurrected nation of a proud people, longing for peace, but understanding, unfortunately, that its much larger neighbor ultimately has other plans in mind for it. Israel must understand that Egypt is actively engaged in making preparations in line with those plans.
While there are risks involved here as well, continuously relying primarily upon economic bribery to avoid the inevitable is certainly not the answer. Egypt has continuously reaped the economic benefits of its "peace" with the Jews, while continuing to minimize any true prospects of a lasting peace between the two nations' peoples.
Self-preservation demands that the same way Egypt's generals are planning for the destruction of Israel, Israel's own commanders better be devising one hell of a surprise for the battle that will eventually come. And this time, Egypt will once again have free access to Gaza to use as its spearhead into Israel proper (as it has done since the days of the ancient Pharaohs), courtesy of the planned Israeli withdrawal.
While I truly hope that I'm mistaken, there is far too little that Egypt has done to cultivate any other image than this unfortunate scenario.
The lessons of Datan were not learned. The Egypt of today is no more a friend than Pharaoh was.
On October 7, 2004, dozens of Jews (and others as well) were blown apart returning to an Egyptian Sinai where their wandering ancestors built temporary booths -- sukkot -- during a time of offering gratitude to G-d for the fall harvest. (Americans of all faiths celebrate this holiday, Thanksgiving, to this very day. While native American influence was also a factor, the Pilgrims were quite familiar with the Hebrew Bible and modeled their customs on it.)
The Jews returned to an Egypt that aids, or at least does nothing to stop, the flow of weapons and explosives coming into Gaza through tunnels on its side of the border. They returned to an Egypt whose official media, academia, religious institutions and the like are constantly engaged in promoting raw anti-Semitism as well as anti-Zionism -- in clear violation of the terms of the supposed peace treaty with Israel hammered out in the wake of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem several years later. It is also an Egypt that dwarfs Israel in size and is supplied with the most modern weaponry by America and others, and whose battle plans have only Israel in the crosshairs.
While it is understandable that modern day Israelites would like some semblance of peace and normalcy with at least some of their Arab and Arabized neighbors, with very few and individual exceptions most of the latter still reject the very right of the reborn Jewish State to exist. And they promote this belief among their masses.
While Jews returning to Sinai to commemorate Sukkot might seem romantic (or even downright religious), the lesson of Datan's backward gaze towards Egypt is still reflected today, no less than that of Lot's wife even centuries earlier in the Jews' four thousand year history.
Egypt's ice cold "peace" with Israel -- regardless of how much money it takes in from touring Israelis, whom it demonizes, despises, periodically massacres and such -- must also be seen in the broader context.
The late modern Pharaoh, Sadat, came to understand that the cost to Egypt of fulfilling the pan-Arab dream of doing unto Israel's Jews what Arabs had done to Egypt's native Copts, Nubians, Berbers and many others, as well, both in Egypt and elsewhere -- forcibly Arabizing them while creating their own two dozen "Arab" states -- would be so great that, at most, Egypt would wind up with a Pyrrhic victory. So Sadat pursued peace.
But Sadat was assassinated for this. And the successor Pharaoh, Hosni Mubarak, never had the commitment for peace that Sadat had, and the generation of Sadat is fast aging and dying out. What remains is a bulging generation of younger Egyptians with no memory of Arab defeats in previous wars, a generation nurtured on billions of dollars of American aid and armaments, and hatred of Jews and their State.
Knowing full well that the hotel in Taba was one frequented by Jews, would it otherwise be too much to suggest that extra security should have been provided by the country making lots of money off of these special tourists, or to suggest that contingencies should have been in place in case an "incident" should occur? It turned out that Israel had to send its own emergency and fire crews -- many of whom were initially prevented from crossing the border -- to deal with the disaster when it occurred. What does this say to anyone beyond a moron's intelligence?
Israel must face up to this reality and stop trying to beg for its acceptance.
Egypt is simply biding its time and waiting for the proper moment to arise. One-sided gestures by Jews are disgraceful and pathetic.
I wish things were otherwise, but they are not. Egypt remains a huge and powerful enemy bribed by American aid to temporarily remain on the sidelines; meanwhile, it is building itself up with the same armaments that a much smaller Israel is also largely relying upon.
It's time for Israel to wise up on the Egyptian front. All tourism should stop. All Jews should avoid Egypt like the Biblical plagues, and Egypt must be called on all its severe violations of the so-called peace treaty it signed with the Jewish State. The latter, after all, gave up lots of concretes (oil fields it developed, top of the line air bases, land, etc.) in return for promises largely not kept. If need be, diplomats should be recalled home.
The same demonization of the Jews found in the land of the Arafat/Hamas, good cop/bad cop team (as well as elsewhere in the "Arab" world) is flourishing in the land of Pharaoh Mubarak, as well. And Israel must deal with it not as a state with a frightened ghetto Jew mentality, but as the resurrected nation of a proud people, longing for peace, but understanding, unfortunately, that its much larger neighbor ultimately has other plans in mind for it. Israel must understand that Egypt is actively engaged in making preparations in line with those plans.
While there are risks involved here as well, continuously relying primarily upon economic bribery to avoid the inevitable is certainly not the answer. Egypt has continuously reaped the economic benefits of its "peace" with the Jews, while continuing to minimize any true prospects of a lasting peace between the two nations' peoples.
Self-preservation demands that the same way Egypt's generals are planning for the destruction of Israel, Israel's own commanders better be devising one hell of a surprise for the battle that will eventually come. And this time, Egypt will once again have free access to Gaza to use as its spearhead into Israel proper (as it has done since the days of the ancient Pharaohs), courtesy of the planned Israeli withdrawal.
While I truly hope that I'm mistaken, there is far too little that Egypt has done to cultivate any other image than this unfortunate scenario.