The Oslo War is over. The Road Map War has begun. Commencing immediately, Jews, being superlative accountants, need to start tabulating and keeping a record of the public positions and statements the machers in our community are making about the ?Road Map.? That way, we can hold them to account when this new ?peace? thingamajig collapses around our heads, which is happening as I write. We have to keep track of everyone who was in the boat to make sure they?re tied to the oars when it sinks. I hasten to add, this little exercise won?t necessarily prevent a calamity, but it will provide hours of laughs in the aftermath.
So who?s counting? I am.
Let?s start with the biggest player of them all, Ariel Sharon. The Prime Minister, who has never been known as a particularly pious man, suddenly found religion - accompanied by a prophetic vision - on May 25th. ?It is time to divide the land,? he exclaimed in reverie reminiscent of Joshua and Caleb. Unconfirmed reports had him rolling around the floor of the cabinet room, his eyes spinning wildly in their sockets. Apparently, twelve of his cabinet ministers had the same vision, seven didn?t, and four more, including Bibi the Shtarker, just weren?t sure what they saw. How do you say, ?Hubris and megalomania? in Hebrew?
In case you weren?t keeping score on May 25th, here?s a recap of the landmark cabinet vote. Likud Ministers voting for the plan were Silvan Shalom, Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Meir Sheetrit, and Gideon Ezra. Abstaining were Ministers Binyamin Netanyahu, Tzachi Hanegbi, Limor Livnat, and Danny Naveh. Opposing the plan were Ministers Uzi Landau, Natan Sharansky, Yisrael Katz, Effie Eitam, Zevulun Orlev, Benny Elon, and Avigdor Lieberman. On a subsequent trip to New York, Minister Livnat was asked why she stayed in the government if she couldn?t support the Road Map. Her answer was classic Jewish humor: ?Mr. Sharon needs me to help him stand up to America.? No, Limor, we need you to stand up to Sharon.
Next up is George W. Bush, technically not in our community, but someone who has so endeared himself to Israelis that he easily qualifies as a de facto leader of the Jewish State. Bless his heart, Mr. Bush has taken Israel under one wing and an imaginary land he calls ?Palestine? under the other. As is common knowledge, the President is a religious man, although not Jewish, and, like Sharon, he has his share of visions too. ?Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership,? then ?the United States will support the creation of a Palestinian state,? he intoned on June 24, 2002. It was an historic first for a US President. Being a Texan of taste as well as action, Mr. Bush has since taken the bull by the horns. Leveraging his victory in Iraq, he recently declared that kefiyahs were out and Brooks Brothers was in at all meetings of Hizbullah, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, n?e PLO. How do you say, ?Bush steps in Big Doo Doo? in Arabic?
No ledger of this sort would be complete if we didn?t reserve a wide column for the opinions and prognostications of ?American Jewry.? The problem is, this group is so diverse, spanning the whole political spectrum, it is difficult to pin them down. Making matters worse, this time around they are acting like deer caught in the headlights, being uncharacteristically (for Jews) silent as lambs.
The American Jewish Left is holding its breath and keeping its mouth shut, stunned that the Israeli Right is doing the heavy lifting for them. On the other hand, the American Jewish Right is simply dumbfounded, unable to criticize a ?hard-line? Israeli government that?s outdoing Peace Now or an American administration it considers Israel?s best friend, ever. Among Jews, a situation like that can produce only one thing: consensus.
On May 29th, a news conference was held in New York City to announce a joint statement on the Road Map signed by 375 congregational rabbis representing all ?branches? of American Judaism, an unprecedented show of unity. The press release leading up to the statement said the rabbis were urging President Bush to be tough-minded with the Arabs and demand ?performance? so as ?not to derail the Road Map.? Someone should have read the directions first. Like any map, this one is a seamless document with a clearly marked, unambiguous destination: a PA/PLO state west of the Jordan River. Full stop. Period.
These 375 wise men should know you can?t be a little bit pregnant or a little bit kosher. They were giving their unwitting(?) approval to a two-state solution - an Arab-Muslim nation that the Road Map clearly states will be created, at the expense of Jews, on Jewish land. Land that at least some of the rabbis teach their congregants, G-d gave the Jews in perpetuity. How do you say, ?Ouch, I just shot myself in the foot? in Yiddish?
A few more quick footnotes from my balance sheet. As previously noted by this writer, Bret Stephens, editor of the Jerusalem Post, has gone on record saying Saddam?s downfall now gives Israel the ?strategic depth? to accommodate a ?Palestinian State.? Joseph Lieberman, the Orthodox Jew who would be president of the Unites States, and who had absolutely nothing to say about Israel for the last two and a half tragic years, had this to say on June 4th: ?I?m heartened by news that Prime Minister Abbas has called for an end to the armed intifada and renounced the terrorism... I?m also heartened by Prime Minister Sharon?s support for a Palestinian state.?
This is only a partial and very incomplete list. I?ve intentionally left out all the usual suspects and the obvious and useless idiots like Peres, Beilin, Barak, the ADL, Ha?aretz, the New York Times, etc. Instead, I?m concentrating on people who should (and do) know better, but have decided to turn tail and chase the herd off the cliff. You?re invited to create a unique list using your own criteria.
After Oslo, and now this, no third chances. In the weeks ahead, let?s all keep a close tally of where our people stand. After reality reasserts itself, then we?ll settle accounts.
--------------------------------------------------------
Dovid Ben Chaim writes from New York. He can be reached at dovibenchaim@myway.com.
So who?s counting? I am.
Let?s start with the biggest player of them all, Ariel Sharon. The Prime Minister, who has never been known as a particularly pious man, suddenly found religion - accompanied by a prophetic vision - on May 25th. ?It is time to divide the land,? he exclaimed in reverie reminiscent of Joshua and Caleb. Unconfirmed reports had him rolling around the floor of the cabinet room, his eyes spinning wildly in their sockets. Apparently, twelve of his cabinet ministers had the same vision, seven didn?t, and four more, including Bibi the Shtarker, just weren?t sure what they saw. How do you say, ?Hubris and megalomania? in Hebrew?
In case you weren?t keeping score on May 25th, here?s a recap of the landmark cabinet vote. Likud Ministers voting for the plan were Silvan Shalom, Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Meir Sheetrit, and Gideon Ezra. Abstaining were Ministers Binyamin Netanyahu, Tzachi Hanegbi, Limor Livnat, and Danny Naveh. Opposing the plan were Ministers Uzi Landau, Natan Sharansky, Yisrael Katz, Effie Eitam, Zevulun Orlev, Benny Elon, and Avigdor Lieberman. On a subsequent trip to New York, Minister Livnat was asked why she stayed in the government if she couldn?t support the Road Map. Her answer was classic Jewish humor: ?Mr. Sharon needs me to help him stand up to America.? No, Limor, we need you to stand up to Sharon.
Next up is George W. Bush, technically not in our community, but someone who has so endeared himself to Israelis that he easily qualifies as a de facto leader of the Jewish State. Bless his heart, Mr. Bush has taken Israel under one wing and an imaginary land he calls ?Palestine? under the other. As is common knowledge, the President is a religious man, although not Jewish, and, like Sharon, he has his share of visions too. ?Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership,? then ?the United States will support the creation of a Palestinian state,? he intoned on June 24, 2002. It was an historic first for a US President. Being a Texan of taste as well as action, Mr. Bush has since taken the bull by the horns. Leveraging his victory in Iraq, he recently declared that kefiyahs were out and Brooks Brothers was in at all meetings of Hizbullah, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, n?e PLO. How do you say, ?Bush steps in Big Doo Doo? in Arabic?
No ledger of this sort would be complete if we didn?t reserve a wide column for the opinions and prognostications of ?American Jewry.? The problem is, this group is so diverse, spanning the whole political spectrum, it is difficult to pin them down. Making matters worse, this time around they are acting like deer caught in the headlights, being uncharacteristically (for Jews) silent as lambs.
The American Jewish Left is holding its breath and keeping its mouth shut, stunned that the Israeli Right is doing the heavy lifting for them. On the other hand, the American Jewish Right is simply dumbfounded, unable to criticize a ?hard-line? Israeli government that?s outdoing Peace Now or an American administration it considers Israel?s best friend, ever. Among Jews, a situation like that can produce only one thing: consensus.
On May 29th, a news conference was held in New York City to announce a joint statement on the Road Map signed by 375 congregational rabbis representing all ?branches? of American Judaism, an unprecedented show of unity. The press release leading up to the statement said the rabbis were urging President Bush to be tough-minded with the Arabs and demand ?performance? so as ?not to derail the Road Map.? Someone should have read the directions first. Like any map, this one is a seamless document with a clearly marked, unambiguous destination: a PA/PLO state west of the Jordan River. Full stop. Period.
These 375 wise men should know you can?t be a little bit pregnant or a little bit kosher. They were giving their unwitting(?) approval to a two-state solution - an Arab-Muslim nation that the Road Map clearly states will be created, at the expense of Jews, on Jewish land. Land that at least some of the rabbis teach their congregants, G-d gave the Jews in perpetuity. How do you say, ?Ouch, I just shot myself in the foot? in Yiddish?
A few more quick footnotes from my balance sheet. As previously noted by this writer, Bret Stephens, editor of the Jerusalem Post, has gone on record saying Saddam?s downfall now gives Israel the ?strategic depth? to accommodate a ?Palestinian State.? Joseph Lieberman, the Orthodox Jew who would be president of the Unites States, and who had absolutely nothing to say about Israel for the last two and a half tragic years, had this to say on June 4th: ?I?m heartened by news that Prime Minister Abbas has called for an end to the armed intifada and renounced the terrorism... I?m also heartened by Prime Minister Sharon?s support for a Palestinian state.?
This is only a partial and very incomplete list. I?ve intentionally left out all the usual suspects and the obvious and useless idiots like Peres, Beilin, Barak, the ADL, Ha?aretz, the New York Times, etc. Instead, I?m concentrating on people who should (and do) know better, but have decided to turn tail and chase the herd off the cliff. You?re invited to create a unique list using your own criteria.
After Oslo, and now this, no third chances. In the weeks ahead, let?s all keep a close tally of where our people stand. After reality reasserts itself, then we?ll settle accounts.
--------------------------------------------------------
Dovid Ben Chaim writes from New York. He can be reached at dovibenchaim@myway.com.