There has been a worrisome development for those of us who are against Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan. Member of Knesset Zvi Hendel made a shocking statement: he feels that Prime Minister Sharon is perfectly capable of giving an order to open fire on Jews who resist the security forces that come to evacuate them from their homes.
MK Hendel let fly this bombshell on December 9th. He explained:
"Sharon has carried out this entire process in a dictatorial manner... and he won't have a problem giving such orders. I also heard there was an article in Ha'aretz saying that if 10-20 Jews will be killed [during the disengagement], it will be a worthwhile price to pay and I'm not convinced that they didn't hear this in one way or another from the prime minister himself.
"It is typical of his character; this whole process was done for his personal and family benefit, in order to make sure that the police investigation against him would not lead to an indictment after all, who would want to touch him when he's in the middle of such dramatic and important diplomatic moves? From the moment he made the decision to go in this direction, everything became kosher to him. No one can stop him; if the settlers dare to bother him if thousands of them and their friends won't want to get on the trucks, or won't want to load their dead onto the trucks, then he'll be capable of giving this order. I think that everyone who knows him knows that he is capable of giving such an order...."
Hendel explained why he went public with this observation on the day that the Likud voted whether to have a coalition with Labor: "My purpose was that the Likud members should think once again before they place their ballot. They know Sharon, so let them think carefully to themselves, when they are alone with themselves: isn't it likely that this is probable? Let them realize what's on the table here - not just a political game within the Likud, but rather, one of the most dictatorial, ruthless processes in the history of the State. They should know that G-d has given them the opportunity to make the decision. I'm truly not worried; if they don't make the right decision, 'salvation will come from other quarters' - but they have the option of stopping this now. ...Many MKs, from both Left and Right, agreed with me that Sharon is definitely capable of this."
How is it possible that the Likud Knesset members caved in to Sharon? The majority of the Likud Knesset members voted to allow Sharon to shore up his tottering government by allowing the Labor party to join the coalition, even though Sharon has promised Shimon Peres, the main architect of the disastrous Oslo Accords, that he will become vice premiere, with virtually unlimited powers.
I want to give a short summary of the sorry history of the Likud party's betrayal of their platform, when they approved Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan.
Ariel Sharon did fulfill campaign promises - those of his Labor opponent Amram Mitzna, who had promised, if elected, that he would evacuate every last Jew from Gaza. Because of this very platform, Amram Mitzna was roundly defeated. Thus, Sharon literally stole our votes. He won by a landslide as head of the Likud party, opposing Labor party candidate Mitzna. The Likud party platform clearly states: "No to a Palestinian state; and no abandonment of any Jewish community."
Sharon's Disengagement Plan is a betrayal of both his Likud party and of the electorate at large. After this betrayal, the membership of the Likud party voted against Sharon's Disengagement Plan in a referendum, with an approximately 20% majority. Likewise, the Likud Central Committee voted the same way, with a similar majority.
Unfazed, Sharon continued to ignore the Likud membership, the Likud Central Committee and almost half of the Likud Knesset members.
So how was Dictator Sharon able to convince the majority of the Likud faction to go against the Likud platform, and to vote for a plan that the Likud membership had voted against in a referendum, with a hefty 20% majority?
An article in the Jerusalem Post of December 10, 2004, entitled "Santa Arik is Coming to Town", gives us an interesting explanation.
"In Israel's version of Santa Claus, Santa Sharon... has made it clear that promotion will only be given to politicians who are nice and not naughty.
"'Whoever works more and brings his supporters in the Central Committee will be promoted and rewarded accordingly,' sources close to Sharon said ahead of Thursday's decisive Likud vote on widening the coalition. Likud MK's took the message to heart. Suddenly, Likud MKs Gila Gamliel and Yehiel Hazan, who want to be deputy ministers, have left the so-called Likud rebels and announced their support for the formation of a National Unity Government. One of the major newspapers even ran a lead headline suggesting that Ministers who do not support unity could lose their jobs.
"A Sharon associate said, 'Whoever votes against us will find a lump of coal in their stocking and no present.'"
What is the cause of this sad and undemocratic situation?
Sharon's machinations are made possible by Israel's electoral system, wherein the prime minister and the party are all powerful. The party selects the candidate for prime minister. The party also selects the candidates for the Knesset and determines their placement on the list. The prime minister, as Sharon has done, is able to give himself dictatorial powers, with virtually no checks and balances. (The US Senate, for instance, has to approve by a 2/3 majority any treaty with a foreign entity.) The prime minister is able to reward his supporters with ministerial and deputy-ministerial jobs, and is able to fire them at will when they dare to disagree with him.
What we desperately need in Israel is a system like the American one, where the Congressman is directly responsible to the people in his district, and therefore has to listen to the voice of his constituents. This is in dire contrast to the Israeli system, where party functionaries hold the reins.
We have a dangerous situation, wherein jails are now being built to accommodate the Gush Katif and Samaria settlers who are to be uprooted and evacuated. Thus, the Knesset is able to pass laws, which Natan Sharansky calls worse than Bolshevik, to punish the "settlers" who oppose, even verbally, being dragged out of their homes. The punishment is three years for a gathering of three people (even if one of them is a child) who express opposition, and five years for anyone who is caught with a weapon, even if the "weapon" is a salad knife. And according to Knesset Member Zvi Hendel, someone who opposes Sharon's plan may even be fired upon.
This pretends to be democracy? Cry, my beloved country.
Another worrisome development. Are some good friends in the US media abandoning Israel?
I am quoting from an article by columnist Caroline B. Glick in the December 10th Jerusalem Post:
"Pro-Israel writers and policy makers in the United States like Charles Krauthammer, William Safire and Abraham Sofaer have publicly lauded Sharon for his 'strategic wisdom' and have castigated as extremists those who insist that the planned withdrawal will be devastating to Israel's national security.
"Sofaer allows that 'the Palestinians are far from ready to negotiate.' The advantage of Sharon's plan, therefore, is that it gets Israel out of an untenable 'position' in Gaza. Sofaer compares the withdrawal from Gaza to Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon, 'Today the Lebanese-Israeli border is more secure than during occupation.'
"This is a sort of sophistry that friends of Israel like Sofaer would almost certainly never have entertained before Sharon adopted the Plan. The fact of the matter is that today Hizbullah forces in South Lebanon constitute a strategic threat to Israel. Just this week the army reported that Hizbullah is developing unconventional weapons.
"Last week the IDF deployed a battery of patriot missiles to Haifa to prevent Hizbullah drones which can be armed with chemical and biological weapons, from infiltrating Israel - again.
"Hizbullah's transformation from a tactical challenge to a strategic threat has advanced unfettered over the past four years because the IDF left Lebanon and stopped fighting Hizbullah. The fact that since the withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanon no soldiers have been killed in Lebanon is a tautology, not proof that the move was wise. Aside from that, the IDF also reported this week that the majority of Palestinian terror cells in Judea and Samaria that executed successful terror attacks in 2004, has been affiliated with Hizbullah.
"And so we disengaged from them in Lebanon only to fight them in Israel."
National Security Advisor General (res.) Giora Eiland said the following: "Hizbullah represents the Iranian trend. The threat is generally underrated in Israel. Hizbullah is a threat all along the border, and they are involved in Palestinian terrorism - even more so than other Palestinian organizations. Their very many rockets along the border are not only a terror threat but a military threat."
Have the American pro-Israel writers and policy makers like Charles Krauthammer, William Safire and Abraham Sofaer fallen for the Sharon government's skillful spin? Is uprooting 8,000 Jews from their homes "strategic wisdom"? Is abandoning the Gush Katif area to Arab terrorists and bringing the Kassam rockets now raining on the Jewish communities in Gaza to S'derot and Ashkelon "strategic wisdom"? Is it "strategic wisdom" to so divide the Jewish People, that even a civil war is no longer unthinkable?
Please, dear friends in the United States, don't buy Ariel Sharon's skillful spin. We know that you are a powerful voice in shaping public opinion in the United States. It is your responsibility to investigate the true situation in Israel, rather than to laud Sharon's "strategic wisdom".
Finally, I am going to quote the final paragraph of Caroline Glick's column: "It is hard to dispute the strategic wisdom of a man with Sharon's military credentials. But can we not at least entertain the notion that Sharon, at 76, embroiled in criminal investigations, may be past his prime? ...But we owe it to ourselves to coldly analyze the strategic options with which we are faced, rather than simply saying that, since Sharon has said his piece, all that is left for us to do is quietly follow along."
MK Hendel let fly this bombshell on December 9th. He explained:
"Sharon has carried out this entire process in a dictatorial manner... and he won't have a problem giving such orders. I also heard there was an article in Ha'aretz saying that if 10-20 Jews will be killed [during the disengagement], it will be a worthwhile price to pay and I'm not convinced that they didn't hear this in one way or another from the prime minister himself.
"It is typical of his character; this whole process was done for his personal and family benefit, in order to make sure that the police investigation against him would not lead to an indictment after all, who would want to touch him when he's in the middle of such dramatic and important diplomatic moves? From the moment he made the decision to go in this direction, everything became kosher to him. No one can stop him; if the settlers dare to bother him if thousands of them and their friends won't want to get on the trucks, or won't want to load their dead onto the trucks, then he'll be capable of giving this order. I think that everyone who knows him knows that he is capable of giving such an order...."
Hendel explained why he went public with this observation on the day that the Likud voted whether to have a coalition with Labor: "My purpose was that the Likud members should think once again before they place their ballot. They know Sharon, so let them think carefully to themselves, when they are alone with themselves: isn't it likely that this is probable? Let them realize what's on the table here - not just a political game within the Likud, but rather, one of the most dictatorial, ruthless processes in the history of the State. They should know that G-d has given them the opportunity to make the decision. I'm truly not worried; if they don't make the right decision, 'salvation will come from other quarters' - but they have the option of stopping this now. ...Many MKs, from both Left and Right, agreed with me that Sharon is definitely capable of this."
How is it possible that the Likud Knesset members caved in to Sharon? The majority of the Likud Knesset members voted to allow Sharon to shore up his tottering government by allowing the Labor party to join the coalition, even though Sharon has promised Shimon Peres, the main architect of the disastrous Oslo Accords, that he will become vice premiere, with virtually unlimited powers.
I want to give a short summary of the sorry history of the Likud party's betrayal of their platform, when they approved Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan.
Ariel Sharon did fulfill campaign promises - those of his Labor opponent Amram Mitzna, who had promised, if elected, that he would evacuate every last Jew from Gaza. Because of this very platform, Amram Mitzna was roundly defeated. Thus, Sharon literally stole our votes. He won by a landslide as head of the Likud party, opposing Labor party candidate Mitzna. The Likud party platform clearly states: "No to a Palestinian state; and no abandonment of any Jewish community."
Sharon's Disengagement Plan is a betrayal of both his Likud party and of the electorate at large. After this betrayal, the membership of the Likud party voted against Sharon's Disengagement Plan in a referendum, with an approximately 20% majority. Likewise, the Likud Central Committee voted the same way, with a similar majority.
Unfazed, Sharon continued to ignore the Likud membership, the Likud Central Committee and almost half of the Likud Knesset members.
So how was Dictator Sharon able to convince the majority of the Likud faction to go against the Likud platform, and to vote for a plan that the Likud membership had voted against in a referendum, with a hefty 20% majority?
An article in the Jerusalem Post of December 10, 2004, entitled "Santa Arik is Coming to Town", gives us an interesting explanation.
"In Israel's version of Santa Claus, Santa Sharon... has made it clear that promotion will only be given to politicians who are nice and not naughty.
"'Whoever works more and brings his supporters in the Central Committee will be promoted and rewarded accordingly,' sources close to Sharon said ahead of Thursday's decisive Likud vote on widening the coalition. Likud MK's took the message to heart. Suddenly, Likud MKs Gila Gamliel and Yehiel Hazan, who want to be deputy ministers, have left the so-called Likud rebels and announced their support for the formation of a National Unity Government. One of the major newspapers even ran a lead headline suggesting that Ministers who do not support unity could lose their jobs.
"A Sharon associate said, 'Whoever votes against us will find a lump of coal in their stocking and no present.'"
What is the cause of this sad and undemocratic situation?
Sharon's machinations are made possible by Israel's electoral system, wherein the prime minister and the party are all powerful. The party selects the candidate for prime minister. The party also selects the candidates for the Knesset and determines their placement on the list. The prime minister, as Sharon has done, is able to give himself dictatorial powers, with virtually no checks and balances. (The US Senate, for instance, has to approve by a 2/3 majority any treaty with a foreign entity.) The prime minister is able to reward his supporters with ministerial and deputy-ministerial jobs, and is able to fire them at will when they dare to disagree with him.
What we desperately need in Israel is a system like the American one, where the Congressman is directly responsible to the people in his district, and therefore has to listen to the voice of his constituents. This is in dire contrast to the Israeli system, where party functionaries hold the reins.
We have a dangerous situation, wherein jails are now being built to accommodate the Gush Katif and Samaria settlers who are to be uprooted and evacuated. Thus, the Knesset is able to pass laws, which Natan Sharansky calls worse than Bolshevik, to punish the "settlers" who oppose, even verbally, being dragged out of their homes. The punishment is three years for a gathering of three people (even if one of them is a child) who express opposition, and five years for anyone who is caught with a weapon, even if the "weapon" is a salad knife. And according to Knesset Member Zvi Hendel, someone who opposes Sharon's plan may even be fired upon.
This pretends to be democracy? Cry, my beloved country.
Another worrisome development. Are some good friends in the US media abandoning Israel?
I am quoting from an article by columnist Caroline B. Glick in the December 10th Jerusalem Post:
"Pro-Israel writers and policy makers in the United States like Charles Krauthammer, William Safire and Abraham Sofaer have publicly lauded Sharon for his 'strategic wisdom' and have castigated as extremists those who insist that the planned withdrawal will be devastating to Israel's national security.
"Sofaer allows that 'the Palestinians are far from ready to negotiate.' The advantage of Sharon's plan, therefore, is that it gets Israel out of an untenable 'position' in Gaza. Sofaer compares the withdrawal from Gaza to Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon, 'Today the Lebanese-Israeli border is more secure than during occupation.'
"This is a sort of sophistry that friends of Israel like Sofaer would almost certainly never have entertained before Sharon adopted the Plan. The fact of the matter is that today Hizbullah forces in South Lebanon constitute a strategic threat to Israel. Just this week the army reported that Hizbullah is developing unconventional weapons.
"Last week the IDF deployed a battery of patriot missiles to Haifa to prevent Hizbullah drones which can be armed with chemical and biological weapons, from infiltrating Israel - again.
"Hizbullah's transformation from a tactical challenge to a strategic threat has advanced unfettered over the past four years because the IDF left Lebanon and stopped fighting Hizbullah. The fact that since the withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanon no soldiers have been killed in Lebanon is a tautology, not proof that the move was wise. Aside from that, the IDF also reported this week that the majority of Palestinian terror cells in Judea and Samaria that executed successful terror attacks in 2004, has been affiliated with Hizbullah.
"And so we disengaged from them in Lebanon only to fight them in Israel."
National Security Advisor General (res.) Giora Eiland said the following: "Hizbullah represents the Iranian trend. The threat is generally underrated in Israel. Hizbullah is a threat all along the border, and they are involved in Palestinian terrorism - even more so than other Palestinian organizations. Their very many rockets along the border are not only a terror threat but a military threat."
Have the American pro-Israel writers and policy makers like Charles Krauthammer, William Safire and Abraham Sofaer fallen for the Sharon government's skillful spin? Is uprooting 8,000 Jews from their homes "strategic wisdom"? Is abandoning the Gush Katif area to Arab terrorists and bringing the Kassam rockets now raining on the Jewish communities in Gaza to S'derot and Ashkelon "strategic wisdom"? Is it "strategic wisdom" to so divide the Jewish People, that even a civil war is no longer unthinkable?
Please, dear friends in the United States, don't buy Ariel Sharon's skillful spin. We know that you are a powerful voice in shaping public opinion in the United States. It is your responsibility to investigate the true situation in Israel, rather than to laud Sharon's "strategic wisdom".
Finally, I am going to quote the final paragraph of Caroline Glick's column: "It is hard to dispute the strategic wisdom of a man with Sharon's military credentials. But can we not at least entertain the notion that Sharon, at 76, embroiled in criminal investigations, may be past his prime? ...But we owe it to ourselves to coldly analyze the strategic options with which we are faced, rather than simply saying that, since Sharon has said his piece, all that is left for us to do is quietly follow along."