Let me start by saying that I believe Ariel Sharon is a criminal and a traitor to Israel. I will never forgive him in my heart for what he subjected the people of Israel to, and the humiliating scenes played out over and over again in the media are too much to bear. It was impossible to walk out in the street with a kippah on my head without looking over my shoulder. Anything he may have gained will be short-lived, at best, and he will go down in history as a liar, a political opportunist and a sellout. This essay is in no way a defense of his actions, nor is it an attempt at the amelioration of his guilt. I will try to give some meaning to the greatest personal, humanitarian and political catastrophe in the history of the State of Israel. It is an attempt to console people, like myself, who are hard-pressed to find solace in the face of this national calamity.
Whether Sharon was outright blackmailed by the Left, which is my inclination, or whether Washington pressured him is at this point irrelevant. He chose what was for him the easy path of expelling families from their homes rather than the right path of eliminating terror in Gaza. He outright deceived his political base. He squandered his political victory for trinkets, and the price of his shortsighted folly will be the escalation of terrorism worldwide. As Arab terror gains a stronger foothold in the world, nations will point to him and say, "Why did you let this happen to us?" Washington has, for some unknown reason, applied the double standard usually reserved for Israel to itself, on the ridiculous notion that this pack of rabid animals can be given a country to run.
Sharon has set several dangerous precedents that his successors are going to have to work miracles in order to surmount. The first is that of expulsion. In 1492, the sovereign king and queen ordered the expulsion of Spanish Jewry. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Arab despots expelled their Jewish populations. But now, Jews have expelled their own. They stormed their own synagogues and homes, and dragged out mothers and fathers, legal citizens and productive members of society, and told them that they no longer have a right to the land they had purchased, the homes and lives they had built, and the industries they had developed. There is no manifest destiny, no eminent domain, not even a clear picture of what will happen to these refugees next month.
The second precedent is "occupation". By expelling Jews and withdrawing from Gaza, Sharon has declared that Israel is, in fact, an occupational force in its own country. After all, why would there be a withdrawal if the land belonged to Israel in the first place? While anyone who can read is capable of opening up a history book to learn about the true nature of the history of Gaza 1948-1967, it is now the perception that we didn't belong there in the first place.
Hopefully, these precedents will work in Israel's favor, as well, for when the Arabs who are to be expelled from their homes and lands in the name of peace claim injustice, and the Amnesty Internationals and Rachel Corries come to blockade Arab villages, the question of "Where were you when we were expelling our own?" will demand to be answered.
As Sharon closed the gates to Gaza behind him, I was reminded of the parallels to the story of Noah. Sharon the military tactician has strategically retreated to a position where he can ensure the continued growth and survival of the State of Israel, in much the same was that Noah was shut into the ark to escape annihilation. The baying and taunting of the Arabs will change to screams of protest and horror when they realize they've been shut out of the growing economic opportunities within the State of Israel. They've had it too good for too long, enjoying relative economic prosperity while biting the hand that feeds them, and now they will get what they wish for. Let them turn to their own corrupt leaders for jobs and food. After they are finished killing themselves off, they will beg Israel to open the borders and give them the jobs they once had. And what will they find? For every one Arab in Gaza, there are ten people from Thailand, Indonesia, Romania and a multitude of other countries that are desperate to come to Israel on work visas and do the jobs formerly held by Arab workers.
It is difficult to find any good whatsoever in this tragedy. But there are some things that I have come to realize, after weeks of watching, praying, fasting and hoping. Yes, our national pride has taken a severe beating. Our souls will forever be tormented by the images of religious men, women and children being dragged away by men and women acting out the edicts of a criminal government. (I hesitate to call these people soldiers because there is a connotation of honor that comes with the appellation "soldier", which these people are not fit to bear. If you want to see a Jewish soldier, look to the ones who refused to carry out these heinous orders.) But what we saw weren't the submissive Jews who were led to their slaughter in the Holocaust. We saw proud, fierce warriors of the Children of Israel rage against injustice, struggle to keep their homes and their lives intact, and who showed the world that the docile, humble Jew no longer exists. The refugees of Gaza should wear their expulsion as a badge of honor. Never forgive and never forget.
To the death cultists who are ecstatic with the prospect of finally wiping Israel off the face of the Earth, consider yourself warned. If Israel is willing to do this to their own people in the name of peace, imagine what it would be willing to do to its enemies. Make no mistake about it, this expulsion wasn't done by people who are fearful and a country in retreat. The children you see facing down and fighting against the army of your enemy will be soldiers in that very same army within five years. They won't forget what they went through, and I could almost pity you for what you will face in the coming years. This trial by fire of these 'children' has made ready a new breed of Jewish soldier.
And if, somehow, the preposterous notion of giving the terrorist animals a state of their own should come to fruition, God forbid, then what they now call a 'popular uprising' of 'suppressed people' would be a casus belli against another sovereign country. And by then, the enfeebled United Nations will be irrelevant, in much the same way that Yasser Arafat was, may his memory be erased.
I can't imagine what could be worse than what happened in Gush Katif in August. However, I believe the nation of Israel is stronger now. It is hard to imagine, but we have given the world a glimpse of what the future Zionist looks like: strong, proud, determined, fighting for justice, unwilling to capitulate and unwilling to be led to the slaughter.
Whether Sharon was outright blackmailed by the Left, which is my inclination, or whether Washington pressured him is at this point irrelevant. He chose what was for him the easy path of expelling families from their homes rather than the right path of eliminating terror in Gaza. He outright deceived his political base. He squandered his political victory for trinkets, and the price of his shortsighted folly will be the escalation of terrorism worldwide. As Arab terror gains a stronger foothold in the world, nations will point to him and say, "Why did you let this happen to us?" Washington has, for some unknown reason, applied the double standard usually reserved for Israel to itself, on the ridiculous notion that this pack of rabid animals can be given a country to run.
Sharon has set several dangerous precedents that his successors are going to have to work miracles in order to surmount. The first is that of expulsion. In 1492, the sovereign king and queen ordered the expulsion of Spanish Jewry. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Arab despots expelled their Jewish populations. But now, Jews have expelled their own. They stormed their own synagogues and homes, and dragged out mothers and fathers, legal citizens and productive members of society, and told them that they no longer have a right to the land they had purchased, the homes and lives they had built, and the industries they had developed. There is no manifest destiny, no eminent domain, not even a clear picture of what will happen to these refugees next month.
The second precedent is "occupation". By expelling Jews and withdrawing from Gaza, Sharon has declared that Israel is, in fact, an occupational force in its own country. After all, why would there be a withdrawal if the land belonged to Israel in the first place? While anyone who can read is capable of opening up a history book to learn about the true nature of the history of Gaza 1948-1967, it is now the perception that we didn't belong there in the first place.
Hopefully, these precedents will work in Israel's favor, as well, for when the Arabs who are to be expelled from their homes and lands in the name of peace claim injustice, and the Amnesty Internationals and Rachel Corries come to blockade Arab villages, the question of "Where were you when we were expelling our own?" will demand to be answered.
As Sharon closed the gates to Gaza behind him, I was reminded of the parallels to the story of Noah. Sharon the military tactician has strategically retreated to a position where he can ensure the continued growth and survival of the State of Israel, in much the same was that Noah was shut into the ark to escape annihilation. The baying and taunting of the Arabs will change to screams of protest and horror when they realize they've been shut out of the growing economic opportunities within the State of Israel. They've had it too good for too long, enjoying relative economic prosperity while biting the hand that feeds them, and now they will get what they wish for. Let them turn to their own corrupt leaders for jobs and food. After they are finished killing themselves off, they will beg Israel to open the borders and give them the jobs they once had. And what will they find? For every one Arab in Gaza, there are ten people from Thailand, Indonesia, Romania and a multitude of other countries that are desperate to come to Israel on work visas and do the jobs formerly held by Arab workers.
It is difficult to find any good whatsoever in this tragedy. But there are some things that I have come to realize, after weeks of watching, praying, fasting and hoping. Yes, our national pride has taken a severe beating. Our souls will forever be tormented by the images of religious men, women and children being dragged away by men and women acting out the edicts of a criminal government. (I hesitate to call these people soldiers because there is a connotation of honor that comes with the appellation "soldier", which these people are not fit to bear. If you want to see a Jewish soldier, look to the ones who refused to carry out these heinous orders.) But what we saw weren't the submissive Jews who were led to their slaughter in the Holocaust. We saw proud, fierce warriors of the Children of Israel rage against injustice, struggle to keep their homes and their lives intact, and who showed the world that the docile, humble Jew no longer exists. The refugees of Gaza should wear their expulsion as a badge of honor. Never forgive and never forget.
To the death cultists who are ecstatic with the prospect of finally wiping Israel off the face of the Earth, consider yourself warned. If Israel is willing to do this to their own people in the name of peace, imagine what it would be willing to do to its enemies. Make no mistake about it, this expulsion wasn't done by people who are fearful and a country in retreat. The children you see facing down and fighting against the army of your enemy will be soldiers in that very same army within five years. They won't forget what they went through, and I could almost pity you for what you will face in the coming years. This trial by fire of these 'children' has made ready a new breed of Jewish soldier.
And if, somehow, the preposterous notion of giving the terrorist animals a state of their own should come to fruition, God forbid, then what they now call a 'popular uprising' of 'suppressed people' would be a casus belli against another sovereign country. And by then, the enfeebled United Nations will be irrelevant, in much the same way that Yasser Arafat was, may his memory be erased.
I can't imagine what could be worse than what happened in Gush Katif in August. However, I believe the nation of Israel is stronger now. It is hard to imagine, but we have given the world a glimpse of what the future Zionist looks like: strong, proud, determined, fighting for justice, unwilling to capitulate and unwilling to be led to the slaughter.