It seems to be a peculiarly Jewish trait that we continually fail to recognize our enemies for what they are - people who want nothing less than to destroy us. Most of us would prefer to believe otherwise, even when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In the weeks preceding Pesach this year, I attended a lesson with a spiritual advisor to obtain instruction on how to conduct a meaningful Seder. In the course of the lesson, my learned friend informed me that only 20 per cent of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt made it out of bondage. The rest chose to remain behind and try to live with their cruel oppressors and, as a consequence, they perished. The Holocaust offers the same tragic lesson. Jewish leaders attempted to negotiate with an enemy sworn to their destruction and the result was, as we know all too well, catastrophic.
Unfortunately, a sizeable portion of Jews in the world appear not to have learned the lessons of history and, as a result, are condemned to repeat it. It?s currently in vogue to call misguided Jewish idealists by a variety of names - leftist Jews, self-hating Jews, and even progressive Jews. I prefer to call them ostriches. Jews who suffer from the ?ostrich syndrome? bury their heads in sand and ignore the realities of the world. Many of them continue to believe that they will gain acceptance among gentiles if they assimilate. Some like to believe that they have grown beyond the parochial limitations of their Jewish roots. They assert that first and foremost they are a socialist or liberal or greenie or humanist. In many instances, their secular ideologies place them in direct conflict with the interests of the Jewish people and, in the long run, their own interests. These ostriches prefer to ignore the lesson Hitler taught to ?German first? Jews.
Everywhere I look nowadays, I see Jews with their heads buried up to their necks in sand. ?The US has just won the war in Iraq; the Middle East has changed. Everything is different now. With Bush leading the way with his roadmap and a new Palestinian leader in place, there is now a real chance for peace. Israel and Palestine will live side by side. Land for peace,? the ostriches exclaim. Amid the euphoria of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Jerusalem Post reports that Israel is prepared to hand over control of northern Gaza to the Palestinians in return for a ?vow to crack down on terrorism?. Incredibly, we read this just a few short years after the bitter and tragic lessons of Oslo. Hundreds of innocent lives snuffed out, thousands more permanently maimed over the past two years, yet Jewish ostriches proudly advocate a tried and tested formula for self-destruction.
It is frightening enough that left-leaning, socialist Jews have turned against their own people. What is really terrifying, however, is that the ostrich syndrome appears to be contagious. We are not just hearing talk about Abu Mazen being a partner for peace from Peace Now activists; we?re getting it from the mainstream of Israeli politics - Ariel Sharon, no less. The US and its virulently anti-Israel roadmap partners are pushing Israel to hand over large chunks of its blood-stained land for a bag of empty promises from lying murderers. Sharon responds by saying that Israel will have to make painful concessions and give up land to its terrorist tormentors. Syria, led by a congenital anti-Semite committed to Israel?s destruction, makes a token gesture of shutting down a few terrorist offices to turn down the heat from the US. Sharon responds by saying he is now ready to negotiate with Israel?s sworn enemy to the north. It?s as if the Israeli Government has taken a crash course in Appeasement 101.
Another disturbing aspect of the whole ?roadmap for peace? business is that all of a sudden the main sticking point for Sharon is the ?right of return? for Palestinians to Israel. There is no talk of the rights of Jews to settle in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. There is no proclamation that Jerusalem is the eternal, undivided capital of Israel. There is no non-negotiable demand of an immediate cessation of terrorism and total disarmament of terrorist groups. There is no demand for the permanent expulsion and exile of the grand terrorist Arafat. Israel?s current leadership has effectively turned back the clock to the last days of Oslo, when the ostriches of that time offered Arafat half of Israel on a platter. For its trouble, Israel is likely to get a repeat dose of the same medicine it received after that fiasco.
What Israel needs right now is a real leader who will take it in a completely new direction. What it doesn?t need is another ostrich.
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Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Unfortunately, a sizeable portion of Jews in the world appear not to have learned the lessons of history and, as a result, are condemned to repeat it. It?s currently in vogue to call misguided Jewish idealists by a variety of names - leftist Jews, self-hating Jews, and even progressive Jews. I prefer to call them ostriches. Jews who suffer from the ?ostrich syndrome? bury their heads in sand and ignore the realities of the world. Many of them continue to believe that they will gain acceptance among gentiles if they assimilate. Some like to believe that they have grown beyond the parochial limitations of their Jewish roots. They assert that first and foremost they are a socialist or liberal or greenie or humanist. In many instances, their secular ideologies place them in direct conflict with the interests of the Jewish people and, in the long run, their own interests. These ostriches prefer to ignore the lesson Hitler taught to ?German first? Jews.
Everywhere I look nowadays, I see Jews with their heads buried up to their necks in sand. ?The US has just won the war in Iraq; the Middle East has changed. Everything is different now. With Bush leading the way with his roadmap and a new Palestinian leader in place, there is now a real chance for peace. Israel and Palestine will live side by side. Land for peace,? the ostriches exclaim. Amid the euphoria of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Jerusalem Post reports that Israel is prepared to hand over control of northern Gaza to the Palestinians in return for a ?vow to crack down on terrorism?. Incredibly, we read this just a few short years after the bitter and tragic lessons of Oslo. Hundreds of innocent lives snuffed out, thousands more permanently maimed over the past two years, yet Jewish ostriches proudly advocate a tried and tested formula for self-destruction.
It is frightening enough that left-leaning, socialist Jews have turned against their own people. What is really terrifying, however, is that the ostrich syndrome appears to be contagious. We are not just hearing talk about Abu Mazen being a partner for peace from Peace Now activists; we?re getting it from the mainstream of Israeli politics - Ariel Sharon, no less. The US and its virulently anti-Israel roadmap partners are pushing Israel to hand over large chunks of its blood-stained land for a bag of empty promises from lying murderers. Sharon responds by saying that Israel will have to make painful concessions and give up land to its terrorist tormentors. Syria, led by a congenital anti-Semite committed to Israel?s destruction, makes a token gesture of shutting down a few terrorist offices to turn down the heat from the US. Sharon responds by saying he is now ready to negotiate with Israel?s sworn enemy to the north. It?s as if the Israeli Government has taken a crash course in Appeasement 101.
Another disturbing aspect of the whole ?roadmap for peace? business is that all of a sudden the main sticking point for Sharon is the ?right of return? for Palestinians to Israel. There is no talk of the rights of Jews to settle in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. There is no proclamation that Jerusalem is the eternal, undivided capital of Israel. There is no non-negotiable demand of an immediate cessation of terrorism and total disarmament of terrorist groups. There is no demand for the permanent expulsion and exile of the grand terrorist Arafat. Israel?s current leadership has effectively turned back the clock to the last days of Oslo, when the ostriches of that time offered Arafat half of Israel on a platter. For its trouble, Israel is likely to get a repeat dose of the same medicine it received after that fiasco.
What Israel needs right now is a real leader who will take it in a completely new direction. What it doesn?t need is another ostrich.
--------------------------------------------------------
Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.