Just Passing Through
Just Passing Through

From the beginning of the Israeli media swoon over the glorious "Arab spring" in Egypt, I explained that what we are really witnessing is the disintegration of the modern Arab nation-states that were forced on the Arab tribes after World War I. These nation-states were actually an arbitrary division of the Arab nation into pseudo-states that, besides building huge armies relative to their size – did nothing else to justify their status as states.

The vast and strategic Middle East is now in a process of "restart." The question is, who will be the dominant factor in this vast expanse? A vacuum is impossible – certainly in the Middle East. Will we see a return to the old days of colonialism? The West's troubled economy and culture mean that the imperialism of the past is not an option.

A preview of how things are going to be is seen in Turkey.

It is a mistake to attribute Erdogan's behavior towards Israel to uncontrollable emotions; it is erroneous to think that he has gone temporarily insane and that soon he will return to the solid ground of reality. Erdogan's actions are the product of cold, strategic calculation. Not only are they very logical, but we can almost say that Israel has left him almost no choice but to follow the course that he has taken.

And so, Erdogan sits in his presidential suite with a huge state and the second largest army in NATO, armed with the finest of modern weapons and weapons instructors from the US and -  thanks to our shortsightedness - from Israel, as well. He sits and he thinks.

"Hmmm. They didn't want to accept me into the European Union; I am big and strong, but the Europeans won't look at me twice. On the other hand, the Middle East is looking for a leader. There are only three states in the Middle East that can fit the bill: Iran, Turkey and Israel. After years of mutual tourism and military cooperation with the Israelis, I know that what is important to them is the good life. They do not see themselves as a regional power. Even though they are the strongest state in the Middle-East, they have removed themselves from the game.

"That leaves Iran. Ahmadinijad is certainly interested in becoming the regional sultan. He is already doing everything that he can to achieve that status. If I do not hurry up and make my moves before he does, he will find the right moment to make his appearance with his atomic weapons, will sweep the entire Islamic world after him – and I will find myself part of his Pax Irana.

"On the other hand, I still have a great advantage over that cursed Shiite: The doors of the world are open to me. I am a legitimate player and I can beat on Israel with no fear. My belligerence against Israel is really a zero sum game for me. I control the height of the flames. This is the way to pull Egypt and its huge army (and its American weapons, thanks to Uncle Sam and Menachem Begin) into my influence. Together, our military might will convince Iran that it is better to join us than to fight us.

"Even Stalin understood this principle and went ahead with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. If he signed, Ahmadinijad will also sign. Syria, Lebanon and Jordan will then fall into my net like ripe fruit. The oil emirates will acquiesce and in just a short time, I will be the new sultan of the Middle East: the Salah –a –Din who humiliates and drives out the Zionist Crusaders. Oh yes, and of course controls the gas and oil futures. The entire Western world will fall at my feet. We'll see them not accept me into NATO, then.

The Egyptians burn their embassy – and the Israelis thank them for leaving the security guards alive.
What about Israel? Well, what I like about Israel is that you can never lose with them. In all their wars, they never really won. In other words, they never really went the entire distance and toppled the regime of the country that attacked them:

Ahmadinijad announces that he is going to destroy them and prepares to do just that, provoking them from their border fence with Lebanon – and they don't even lift a finger.

The Egyptians burn their embassy – and the Israelis thank them for leaving the security guards alive.

I humiliate their tourists to Turkey – and their prime minister promises that our relations will improve.

I can safely gather the entire Arab world around me – on Israel's back – completely secure that I will always control the level of belligerence and that Israel will never exact a price from me. Other than running to cry to Obama, of course. They do not see themselves as a regional power. All that I have to do is to smile at them sometime – and they will thank me.

Really, the Israelis leave me with no choice. Either I will rule the Middle East or the Iranians will (also at Israel's expense) and I do not want to be ruled by the Iranians."

Those are Erdogan's thoughts. And now for some of mine:

Why can't Israel see itself as a regional power? Why can't it take advantage of its military and technological edge and encourage countries like Turkey to join it?

The answer is in our consciousness. Israelis feel like visitors in their own home. A guest does not complain about the neighbors. He lets the owner of the house deal with the problem. A direct line leads from the fact that in Israel, it is perfectly acceptable to drive a Jew out of his house while it is unthinkable to do the same to an Arab and from there to Israel's foreign policy, which encourages the world to relate to Israel in exactly the same way. Our "just passing through" mentality has begun to fulfill itself by the forces that surround us.

The time that we have left to once again connect to our roots in this Land – is running out.

The Speech I Would Have Made at the UN

Honorable Representatives of the Nations,

I chose to come here today to tell you the truth. Since the miraculous war in which the G-d of Israel led us to redeem Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and Israeli territory until the Jordan River, a strange costume ball has been taking place in this building.

The Jews come to the ball masked as Israelis, the Arabs come masked as Palestinians and everyone talks about a land that does not exist and never did: Palestine.

Today, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the day on which the Jewish Nation declares the Kingship of the Creator over themselves and the entire world, I have chosen to come here to remove the masks.

Beneath the Israeli mask is the Jewish Nation that went out of Egypt, received the Torah at Sinai and heralded the message of liberty to all humanity. The Israelis are those same Jews who traversed the Pharoahs, the Babylonians, the Chaldeans and the Greeks, the Romans and the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Mamelukes, the British and the Germans. All of those nations swept onto the stage of history and waged war against the Eternal Nation chosen by the Creator to bring His message to the world.

All of them faded away, while the Jewish Nation is not only still here, but has wondrously returned from all its exiles and hardships and has gathered in its Holy Land, just as the prophets had foretold. From its Land, the Jewish Nation will establish an exemplary, moral society and will fulfill its historic destiny.

Please forgive me for ruining the costume ball, but the time has come to remove the "Palestinian" mask: There is not and there never was a 'Palestinian nation.' Can anybody here point to Palestinian history? A Palestinian archeological site? The name of a Palestinian scholar from the 19th century?

For nineteen years, Judea and Samaria were void of Jewish settlements, occupied by the Jordanian state established by the British to steal the East Bank of the Jordan from the Land of Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization was established in 1964 – before Israel liberated Judea and Samaria. Back then, they had no national claim on the territory on the other side of the Green Line because those territories were in the hands of the Arab nation.

Please allow me to quote the most precise definition for the essence of the conflict. It is a definition once pronounced from this very platform by former British Foreign Minister, Mr. Ernest Bevin, in April 1946, when the question of the Land of Israel was deliberated in the United Nations:

"For the Jews, the main point is the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state. For the Arabs, the main point is to oppose Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine, until the very end."

Bevin is not suspect of over-enthusiasm for the Jewish cause. On the contrary. The British themselves gave the name 'Palestine' to the Land of Israel in an attempt to erase its true identity. At that stage, the British government did all that it could to ensure the victory of the Arabs, who had declared that they intended to finish up Hitler's work. Nevertheless, if we look at the conflict from the perspective of its 60 years, it is impossible to understand it without Bevin's precise analysis.

There is not and there will not be a Palestinian state. There are Jews who are returning to our Land and there are Arabs, whose entire purpose is to prevent a Jewish foothold in any part of the Land of Israel.

But this cannot continue, ladies and gentlemen. This false costume ball, for which the United Nations provides center stage – will not go on. We will no longer take part in it. Practically speaking, we will not oppose the Palestinian proposal, because we will simply not be here.

If the Arabs who live in the Land to which the G-d of our Forefathers lovingly returned us desire peace, they are welcome to choose between the following options: Either they can fully recognize Jewish sovereignty over the Land and declare their loyalty to the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish nation. Or they can realize their national aspirations in any one of the 22 Arab nations that surround them.

Any other decision is a declaration of war. We trust in He Who returned us to our Land and defeated our enemies in all the wars that they started since the State of Israel was established.

I turn from here to all the civilized nations, to the good majority of humanity represented by a minority in this house: Remember G-d's blessing to Abraham: "And I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you."

The way that you relate to G-d's chosen nation will determine if you will merit His blessing or His curse.