Jews purchased land in Jerusalem. On that land they built homes with their own money and they want to move into those homes, pursuant to all the laws and regulations of the state of Israel.
The enemies of Israel, domestic and foreign, and even those considered her friends, are making efforts to prevent the homeowners from moving into their residences.
Arabs who collaborate with our enemies, who praise the murders in our streets and homes, from among whom more and more terrorist cells and explosives factories are discovered, are threatening us should we dare to settle into our homes. If we do so, they threaten, there will be riots. And if there won?t be spontaneous riots, they will make sure to incite them - as they did when a leader of Israel went up to the Temple Mount.
The left-wing community in Israel - which is constantly shrinking, as most Jews can already distinguish between friend and enemy - is small and raucous. Once upon a time, it was still possible to distinguish between a Zionist Left and an anti-Zionist Left; however, now that the circle has shrunk and the radical fringes have moved closer to the center, members of the historical Labor party have ceased fighting for the rule of law and for the settlement of the Land of Israel, as their forefathers had done, and have begun fighting on behalf of the Arabs of the Land of Israel. They are cutting off water and electricity to Jewish communities that were established so that Arabs will not seize the lands on which they are built (because those communities are ?illegal?), and now they have crossed the last red line with their anti-Zionist objections to Jews living in the Ma?ale Hazeitim neighborhood in Jerusalem. Since it is impossible to challenge the Jewish neighborhood on legal grounds, they challenge it through what the law calls ?extortion and threats? - recruiting for this purpose enemies and ?friends? from overseas. And if Jews from among us are behaving this way, by what right do we rail against a foreign state that considers itself a friend of Israel?
In the ?20s and ?30s of the last century, there was a struggle in Israel between two Zionist philosophies. The Zionist Left called for purchasing lands, building communities, and thus, with each plot of land and each goat, we will take possession of the Land of Israel. The Revisionist Right ridiculed that philosophy, and the clink of spare change in the Jewish National Fund contribution boxes, saying that only by the force of arms will we be able to take possession of the Land. One of our greatest poets, Uri Zvi Greenberg, wrote of the dispute in his poem ?One Truth and Not Two?: ?Your Rabbis taught: A land is bought with money / You buy the land and work it with a hoe. / And I say: A land is not bought with money / And with a hoe you also dig and bury the dead. / And I say: A land is conquered with blood. / And only when conquered with blood is hallowed to the people / With the holiness of the blood.?
Now, we have already purchased the Land for its full price and we have already sanctified the Land with our blood - throughout the Land our blood is spilt and continues to flow in the streets. And it would appear that we should be saying, one way or another, we have inherited the Land. Whether we made it to Jerusalem due to the soldiers of the IDF, who spilled their blood in its liberation and defense, or whether we paid in money and registered the real estate, the city - and the Land - is ours.
However, in the struggle between those two truths, along the seam between Zionist realization through settlement and Zionist realization by force, a lie forced its way in. The lie is that the Land of Israel does not belong to the people of Israel, because the Arabs have a right to the Land, or to some part of it. The lie is that Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel is ?occupation.?
There is a foreign occupier in the Land of Israel: the Arabs. And they found loyal partners among us, who have internalized the lie of the Arabs. When those partners constantly repeat their ?occupation? mantra, then it becomes easy for friends - and certainly for enemies - of Israel around the world to base themselves on their words and say, ?the Jews themselves say so.?
Jews, yes. It is not possible, nor is it permissible, to deny them that. But they are not Zionists. Whosoever denies the exclusive right of the people of Israel to the Land of Israel, and our responsibility to settle every part of it, can not be called a Zionist. And whoever fails, at this time, to fight with all his might against anyone who attempts to deny Jews the right to live in any part of Jerusalem, by what right does that person sing the national anthem, which commands us ?to be a free people? in ?the Land of Zion, Jerusalem?? Anyone who calls for surrendering to the enemies of Israel, or who tries to recruit foreign states for a war against the inalienable right of Jews to settle in Jerusalem, can not be called a Zionist.
In the struggle between the two ideologies of Zionist realization, there was never any third truth. The Land of Israel and the existence of the State of Israel is in danger not because of the clash of those two rivers of Zionist truth, but because of a swamp of lies. From that swamp, those who were never Zionists or who lost their loyalty to Zionism arise and shout, ?The land belongs to the Arabs, too! It is forbidden for Jews to settle on the hills of the Mount of Olives!?
Every step upwards is difficult, every such effort is a test. The test of loyalty to the national anthem, as it is written, the test of loyalty to Zionism, is in Ma?ale Hazeitim, in Jerusalem.
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Professor Eldad, a 25 year veteran of the IDF medical corps (Brig.-Gen.) and a department head at Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital, is a representative of the National Union faction in the Knesset.
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Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
The enemies of Israel, domestic and foreign, and even those considered her friends, are making efforts to prevent the homeowners from moving into their residences.
Arabs who collaborate with our enemies, who praise the murders in our streets and homes, from among whom more and more terrorist cells and explosives factories are discovered, are threatening us should we dare to settle into our homes. If we do so, they threaten, there will be riots. And if there won?t be spontaneous riots, they will make sure to incite them - as they did when a leader of Israel went up to the Temple Mount.
The left-wing community in Israel - which is constantly shrinking, as most Jews can already distinguish between friend and enemy - is small and raucous. Once upon a time, it was still possible to distinguish between a Zionist Left and an anti-Zionist Left; however, now that the circle has shrunk and the radical fringes have moved closer to the center, members of the historical Labor party have ceased fighting for the rule of law and for the settlement of the Land of Israel, as their forefathers had done, and have begun fighting on behalf of the Arabs of the Land of Israel. They are cutting off water and electricity to Jewish communities that were established so that Arabs will not seize the lands on which they are built (because those communities are ?illegal?), and now they have crossed the last red line with their anti-Zionist objections to Jews living in the Ma?ale Hazeitim neighborhood in Jerusalem. Since it is impossible to challenge the Jewish neighborhood on legal grounds, they challenge it through what the law calls ?extortion and threats? - recruiting for this purpose enemies and ?friends? from overseas. And if Jews from among us are behaving this way, by what right do we rail against a foreign state that considers itself a friend of Israel?
In the ?20s and ?30s of the last century, there was a struggle in Israel between two Zionist philosophies. The Zionist Left called for purchasing lands, building communities, and thus, with each plot of land and each goat, we will take possession of the Land of Israel. The Revisionist Right ridiculed that philosophy, and the clink of spare change in the Jewish National Fund contribution boxes, saying that only by the force of arms will we be able to take possession of the Land. One of our greatest poets, Uri Zvi Greenberg, wrote of the dispute in his poem ?One Truth and Not Two?: ?Your Rabbis taught: A land is bought with money / You buy the land and work it with a hoe. / And I say: A land is not bought with money / And with a hoe you also dig and bury the dead. / And I say: A land is conquered with blood. / And only when conquered with blood is hallowed to the people / With the holiness of the blood.?
Now, we have already purchased the Land for its full price and we have already sanctified the Land with our blood - throughout the Land our blood is spilt and continues to flow in the streets. And it would appear that we should be saying, one way or another, we have inherited the Land. Whether we made it to Jerusalem due to the soldiers of the IDF, who spilled their blood in its liberation and defense, or whether we paid in money and registered the real estate, the city - and the Land - is ours.
However, in the struggle between those two truths, along the seam between Zionist realization through settlement and Zionist realization by force, a lie forced its way in. The lie is that the Land of Israel does not belong to the people of Israel, because the Arabs have a right to the Land, or to some part of it. The lie is that Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel is ?occupation.?
There is a foreign occupier in the Land of Israel: the Arabs. And they found loyal partners among us, who have internalized the lie of the Arabs. When those partners constantly repeat their ?occupation? mantra, then it becomes easy for friends - and certainly for enemies - of Israel around the world to base themselves on their words and say, ?the Jews themselves say so.?
Jews, yes. It is not possible, nor is it permissible, to deny them that. But they are not Zionists. Whosoever denies the exclusive right of the people of Israel to the Land of Israel, and our responsibility to settle every part of it, can not be called a Zionist. And whoever fails, at this time, to fight with all his might against anyone who attempts to deny Jews the right to live in any part of Jerusalem, by what right does that person sing the national anthem, which commands us ?to be a free people? in ?the Land of Zion, Jerusalem?? Anyone who calls for surrendering to the enemies of Israel, or who tries to recruit foreign states for a war against the inalienable right of Jews to settle in Jerusalem, can not be called a Zionist.
In the struggle between the two ideologies of Zionist realization, there was never any third truth. The Land of Israel and the existence of the State of Israel is in danger not because of the clash of those two rivers of Zionist truth, but because of a swamp of lies. From that swamp, those who were never Zionists or who lost their loyalty to Zionism arise and shout, ?The land belongs to the Arabs, too! It is forbidden for Jews to settle on the hills of the Mount of Olives!?
Every step upwards is difficult, every such effort is a test. The test of loyalty to the national anthem, as it is written, the test of loyalty to Zionism, is in Ma?ale Hazeitim, in Jerusalem.
--------------------------------------------------------
Professor Eldad, a 25 year veteran of the IDF medical corps (Brig.-Gen.) and a department head at Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital, is a representative of the National Union faction in the Knesset.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.