Thank you, Yossi Beilin!

The people of Israel owe a debt of gratitude to Meretz party Chairman Yossi Beilin.

With a single remark, the dovish Beilin provided a telling reminder of just how far the Israeli left has strayed from the basic principles of justice and morality.

After Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned head of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist group, won a decisive victory in the Palestinian Authority’s electoral primaries over the weekend, Beilin wasted little time in calling for the terror-master’s quick release from prison.

“Barghouti heads one of the Palestinian camps that do want peace and so this is the moment to end his sentence and allow him to lead the Palestinian nation,” Beilin said.

Right there, encapsulated in that one remark, is everything that is wrong with the Left and its approach.

After all, Barghouti is currently serving 5 life terms for his involvement in terror attacks and the murder of Israelis.

But as far as Yossi Beilin is concerned, why should that get in the way of Barghouti’s promising political career?

So instead of standing on principle and insisting that all those who murder Jews be brought to justice and made to pay a price for their actions, people such as Beilin would prefer to look the other way, appeasing terrorists, accommodating them, and ultimately capitulating in the face of their ongoing dedication to violence.

That is neither moral nor ethical. And if that is the basis upon which Beilin wishes to make peace, then it is shaky, indeed.

Palestinians vs. America

It is an issue that has been hushed up, ignored and overlooked as much as possible.

Over 50 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the signing of the Oslo Accords, but you would hardly know it from the manner in which the Clinton and Bush Administrations have related to the issue.

Indeed, for over a decade, Washington together with the mainstream media have done their utmost not to tell this ongoing story, undoubtedly because of the damage it would generate to the Palestinian cause.

It is time to end this conspiracy of silence.

This past Monday, the influential Washington Times devoted an editorial to the subject, citing a recent column of mine in the Jerusalem Post. The Times’ editorial appears below. I would urge you to copy it and then forward it on to your elected representatives, along with a simple request: what are you doing to bring Palestinian killers of Americans to justice?

It is time for the Palestinians to be brought to account for their actions. Justice demands no less.

The Washington Times, October 24, 2005

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AMERICAN BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
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Late last week, as the U.S. media ran story after story describing the relatively upbeat tone of Thursday's meeting between President Bush and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an Op-Ed ran in the Jerusalem Post which provides a sobering postscript to the White House talks.

The article, written by columnist Michael Freund, broached a disturbing topic that has been largely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States: the reality that since the Oslo peace process began 12 years ago, more than 50 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in suicide bombings, shootings and other attacks. But none of the killers, according to Mr. Freund, have been brought to justice.

Three of these Americans -- John Branchizio, 37, of Texas, John Linde Jr., 30, of Missouri; and Mark Parsons, 31, of New Jersey -- died in an Oct. 15, 2003 bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy travelling in Gaza. The perpetrators used a remote-controlled explosive device which they activated once the Americans were in range. The vehicles, all of which had diplomatic license plates, were traveling on a road that had been closed to Israeli traffic. In other words, this was no case of mistaken identity; the killers knew that they were targeting Americans and they killed them. Moreover, in the weeks leading up to that attack, the Palestinian media intensified anti-American incitement, which included calls for the destruction of the United States and denunciations of this country as Palestinians' "No. 1 enemy."

The organization believed responsible for the Oct. 15, 2003 attack calls itself the Popular Resistance Committees -- in reality, it is a mix of terrorists affiliated with Hamas, the Syrian-backed and Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Mr. Abbas's own Fatah organization. After intense pressure from Washington, PA security forces arrested several PRC members but eventually released them. Asked about the slayings last week, PRC spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Al denied that his group had been involved in targeting Americans. But Mr. Abdel-Al (speaking five weeks after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and civilians had been completed) took "credit" for firing rockets from Gaza into Israel in an interview on the John Batchelor Show. Mr. Abdel-Al said his goal was to kill Mr. Sharon and that the PRC had already smuggled rocket technology into the West Bank in order to target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Eight days ago, Israelis once again witnessed the results of Mr. Abbas's refusal to cooperate with Israel in preventing the West Bank and Gaza from becoming havens of anarchoterrorism, as three Israelis were gunned down while waiting for rides. The Palestinian media referred to the three as "settlers," presumably justifying their deaths. With as many as 50-60,000 men in uniform, Mr. Abbas has more than ample firepower to move against the gangsters who have brought so much suffering to the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. But he lacks the political will. His continued political paralysis augurs poorly for the future.

The Eternity of Israel

I recently returned from a moving and emotional visit to Krakow, Poland, a city rich in Jewish history as well as tragedy.

Jews have lived in Krakow for over seven centuries, but the Germans nearly succeeded sixty years ago in wiping out any Jewish presence in the area.

Now, after Nazi persecution and Communist oppression, a miraculous rebirth of Judaism is slowly, tentatively taking place there.

As I note in the article below, it is just one more reminder that the Jewish people are eternal and indestructible.

The Jerusalem Post, November 16, 2005

A Tearful Rebirth in Krakow

By Michael Freund

This past Shabbat in Krakow, Poland, Benjamin Klein had every reason to let the tears flow freely.

The scene was the city's famed Rema synagogue, where the great 16th century scholar Rabbi Moses Isserles once presided. The small sanctuary was filled to capacity, as the melodies of Friday evening hymns and supplications filled the room.

Hundreds of religious Israeli high-school girls packed the women's section, overflowing into the hall while dutifully reciting the service. The men's section represented a microcosm of world Jewry, ranging from aging Polish Holocaust survivors to a Bnei Brak rabbi to members of a high-powered AIPAC mission from the United States.

It had been 66 years since Klein had last prayed here when, as a Jewish youth growing up in Poland, he was forced to flee in the face of the Nazi onslaught.

At the time, he no doubt thought he might never see his birthplace again, let alone experience a traditional Shabbat service in the synagogue of his childhood.

Indeed, on the eve of the Holocaust, Krakow was home to some 68,000 Jews, who constituted 25% of the city's population. Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, where the Rema synagogue is located, was a bustling center of Jewish religious, cultural and intellectual life.

But the Germans and their allies murdered 90% of Krakow's Jews, striking a nearly fatal blow to the city's centuries-old Jewish presence.

Now, decades later, Klein had come back to visit, having survived war, persecution and calamity. And what he found was simply overwhelming, even for a man with considerable resources of inner strength and fortitude.

In the heart of this blood-soaked land, where Jews had been so ruthlessly hunted down and killed by their former neighbors and friends, the melody of Lecha Dodi ("Let us go and greet the Sabbath bride") was once again being recited in all its power and glory.

And, just three weeks ago, Krakow welcomed Rabbi Avraham Flaks, who was sent by Shavei Israel, the organization that I head, to serve as the city's first official Chief Rabbi since World War Two.

As he took in the scene around him, Klein's eyes began welling up. "Now, I know," he whispered to me, his voice breaking with emotion, "now, I know. We really are an eternal people."

Under the devoted leadership of Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Jewish community president Tadeusz Jakubowicz, Krakow Jewry is slowly working to rebuild, renovating synagogues and cemeteries, reclaiming Jewish communal property and trying to reach out to the unaffiliated.

Only 157 people are officially registered as members of the community, but it is widely believed that over 1,000 additional Jews live in Krakow, many of whom have only recently discovered their Jewish roots. After the horrors of the Holocaust, which were followed by decades of communist oppression, many Jews sought to hide their ethnic and religious identity, even from their own offspring.

Now, however, many of these "hidden Jews" have begun to emerge, seeking to reclaim their heritage.

ON FRIDAY evening, I met several of these heroic returnees, three young women who have chosen to defy societal pressure along with deep-seated anti-Semitism in order to embrace Judaism and return to the faith of their forefathers.

It was nearing the end of the Sabbath meal when I went over to their table to introduce myself. Noticing that they were in the middle of saying the Grace After Meals, I sat down quietly and patiently waited for them to finish.

With deep concentration, they carefully recited each sentence, taking well over 10 minutes to complete the relatively short prayer, thanking the Creator for the food and nourishment that He provides. While doing so, they slowly rocked back and forth in their seats, as though their souls were dancing in tandem with the words.

"There were all kinds of hints in my family that we were Jewish, but everyone was afraid to talk about it," said one, whom we'll call Anna. "I have no proof, I have no papers. I always felt a pull to things Jewish, but I never understood why," she said. Until, that is, when she uncovered her family's most carefully-guarded secret.

"Immediately after the war, my great-grandfather changed his family name from a Jewish name to a Polish one. As soon as I discovered that," said Anna, "I knew I had to come back to my roots."

Asked where she sees herself in 10 years‚ time, Anna blushes before letting out a nervous chuckle. "Married, with children," she says, quickly adding, "Jewish children, of course. I want my kids to grow up as proud, halachic Jews."

After getting up from the table, I notice a young bearded man wearing a yarmulke, speaking in Polish with one of the waiters. Later, when I asked Rabbi Schudrich about him, he proceeded to tell me the young man's remarkable story.

As a youth, the boy had a girlfriend. Both were fervently anti-Semitic skinheads, who later married each other. Shortly thereafter, the wife discovered that she had paternal Jewish roots. Her interest in Judaism deepened, and she began making special meals to mark the Sabbath each week. Though shocked, the young man went along because he loved his wife.

But his parents were nonetheless upset, and insisted that he put an end to his wife's burgeoning interest in Judaism. When he confronted them about the intensity of their opposition, his parents broke down and revealed to him that they both, in fact, were Jews, and that for decades, they had sought to hide their identity for fear of the consequences.

Now, several years later, that young couple, who began their married life as anti-Jewish skinheads, are now living as Torah-observant Jews.

ON SHABBAT, as the Torah was being taken from the Ark during the morning service in the synagogue, the voices of the Israeli high-school students rose up in a crescendo, their crisp and clear Israeli-accented Hebrew echoing throughout the small sanctuary, and doubtless beyond to the heavens above.

"To You, O L-rd, is the greatness, the power and the glory..." all those present sang in unison.

I turned to see Benjamin Klein's reaction and to gauge whether he found the moment as moving as I.

When I did, I noticed that the tears in this holy place were once again flowing freely. Only this time, they were my own.

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The writer is Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that reaches out and assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.