"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
These are the words of Winston Churchill, from his first statement to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940, after assuming the prime ministership.
They are not, it goes without saying, the words of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today. Nor were they the words of previous Israeli prime ministers, including those of the Likud, and including the present Minister of Finance. He is the one person on the present political scene who, however weak the chances, seems likely, if given another chance at being prime minister, to realize that victory.
Israel's leaders do not believe that we can win in the war against totalitarian terror. All their actions and especially the actions of Israel in the past three years - when under the leadership of the person who is arguably the greatest Israeli fighting figure of all time, Ariel Sharon - show that we do not believe that 'victory' is possible.
Perhaps we did once. Perhaps Sharon in '48 and '56 and '67 and '73, and all through the years of his many battles, and his great courage and sacrifice for Israel, believed that we could win. But he does not believe now, for the ideals he is holding out for us, his words and deeds, suggest that all he is really aiming for is what Churchill said is impossible, 'survival' without 'victory'.
Consider his acceptance of the 'road map'. Even if this were made tactically with the very astute realization that the Palestinians would not crack down on terror, not allow even the first step of it to really take place, still, the very acceptance of it undermines Israel's position. Why? Because it says Israel agrees to the creation of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan, a state that in no time would be flooded with hundreds of thousands of additional Arabs pressing against and into the borders of Israel. They would soon be clamoring for unity with the already disenchanted one million plus Palestinians living within Israel, who are working in whatever ways they can to undermine the Jewish state. The 'road map', a military and demographic disaster for Israel, has been accepted by an Israeli prime minister. It is a terrible precedent, commitment and burden for all future prime ministers of Israel.
But the political defeatism is only one side of it. In the past three years, Yasser Arafat has orchestrated a terror campaign that has taken close to one thousand Israeli lives. Israel has fought back, has driven the Palestinians into enclaves, has in effect limited Arafat's freedom of movement and action. But it has not taken the decisive steps required for victory. It has not destroyed completely the corrupt Palestinian Authority, has not eliminated an entity committed wholly to Israel's destruction. In allowing Arafat and Sheik Yassin, the Palestinian Authority and its various terror arms to continue to operate, our government and Prime Minister Sharon have said that 'victory' is impossible, that there is no way to defeat the terror regime completely.
And so, while we have dawdled, that terror regime - excelling Israel by far in its propaganda skills - has done extensive damage to Israel and the idea of Israel in the eyes of Jews and non-Jews throughout the world. In these past three years, we have seen an increasing world-wide delegitimization effort against Israel, as part of an increased preparation for an Arab and Islamic military effort, which would eliminate the Jewish state.
There are, of course, many excuses for Prime Minister Sharon. There is the alleged American pressure. There is the fifth column within Israel, a good share of its intellectual and media elite who identify with the Palestinian Arab cause. There is, too, the number and size of Israel's enemies. After all, it is not simply the Palestinian Authority, but it is also the corrupt regimes throughout the Arab world. And most alarmingly and most threateningly today, it is the Islamic Republic of Iran with its non-stop rush toward nuclear weapons, and its fanatical threats to wipe out the Zionist entity, whatever the cost.
Perhaps little Israel cannot defeat all the enemies, all the totalitarians by itself , and so the strategy of the prime minister is to be at all costs coordinated with the one power in the world actually fighting totalitarianism on a variety of fronts - the United States. But here - and this point has been repeatedly made by Jerusalem Post journalist Caroline Glick - Israel's failure to act decisively, its constant apologetic stance, prevents the US Administration from treating Israel the way it should be treated, as first class ally in the Bush Administration's world-wide campaign against terror. Here, the argument is that were Sharon to act decisively against that part of the International Terror Alliance within our reach, then the Bush Administration would have nothing to do but acknowledge and celebrate the victory. This, as part of its overall campaign for a total victory against terrorism.
Israel is presently facing a group of enemies - the Palestinians in all their various terror units, the Hizbollah, Syria, the Iranians, and the list does not end here - that it continues to appease, and to seek tactical victories over. But the other side is not interested in a tactical victory. To survive, Israel may well need in the future a kind of determined policy and leadership that will not settle for 'survival now' at the price of augmenting the long-term danger to the Jewish state.
These are the words of Winston Churchill, from his first statement to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940, after assuming the prime ministership.
They are not, it goes without saying, the words of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today. Nor were they the words of previous Israeli prime ministers, including those of the Likud, and including the present Minister of Finance. He is the one person on the present political scene who, however weak the chances, seems likely, if given another chance at being prime minister, to realize that victory.
Israel's leaders do not believe that we can win in the war against totalitarian terror. All their actions and especially the actions of Israel in the past three years - when under the leadership of the person who is arguably the greatest Israeli fighting figure of all time, Ariel Sharon - show that we do not believe that 'victory' is possible.
Perhaps we did once. Perhaps Sharon in '48 and '56 and '67 and '73, and all through the years of his many battles, and his great courage and sacrifice for Israel, believed that we could win. But he does not believe now, for the ideals he is holding out for us, his words and deeds, suggest that all he is really aiming for is what Churchill said is impossible, 'survival' without 'victory'.
Consider his acceptance of the 'road map'. Even if this were made tactically with the very astute realization that the Palestinians would not crack down on terror, not allow even the first step of it to really take place, still, the very acceptance of it undermines Israel's position. Why? Because it says Israel agrees to the creation of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan, a state that in no time would be flooded with hundreds of thousands of additional Arabs pressing against and into the borders of Israel. They would soon be clamoring for unity with the already disenchanted one million plus Palestinians living within Israel, who are working in whatever ways they can to undermine the Jewish state. The 'road map', a military and demographic disaster for Israel, has been accepted by an Israeli prime minister. It is a terrible precedent, commitment and burden for all future prime ministers of Israel.
But the political defeatism is only one side of it. In the past three years, Yasser Arafat has orchestrated a terror campaign that has taken close to one thousand Israeli lives. Israel has fought back, has driven the Palestinians into enclaves, has in effect limited Arafat's freedom of movement and action. But it has not taken the decisive steps required for victory. It has not destroyed completely the corrupt Palestinian Authority, has not eliminated an entity committed wholly to Israel's destruction. In allowing Arafat and Sheik Yassin, the Palestinian Authority and its various terror arms to continue to operate, our government and Prime Minister Sharon have said that 'victory' is impossible, that there is no way to defeat the terror regime completely.
And so, while we have dawdled, that terror regime - excelling Israel by far in its propaganda skills - has done extensive damage to Israel and the idea of Israel in the eyes of Jews and non-Jews throughout the world. In these past three years, we have seen an increasing world-wide delegitimization effort against Israel, as part of an increased preparation for an Arab and Islamic military effort, which would eliminate the Jewish state.
There are, of course, many excuses for Prime Minister Sharon. There is the alleged American pressure. There is the fifth column within Israel, a good share of its intellectual and media elite who identify with the Palestinian Arab cause. There is, too, the number and size of Israel's enemies. After all, it is not simply the Palestinian Authority, but it is also the corrupt regimes throughout the Arab world. And most alarmingly and most threateningly today, it is the Islamic Republic of Iran with its non-stop rush toward nuclear weapons, and its fanatical threats to wipe out the Zionist entity, whatever the cost.
Perhaps little Israel cannot defeat all the enemies, all the totalitarians by itself , and so the strategy of the prime minister is to be at all costs coordinated with the one power in the world actually fighting totalitarianism on a variety of fronts - the United States. But here - and this point has been repeatedly made by Jerusalem Post journalist Caroline Glick - Israel's failure to act decisively, its constant apologetic stance, prevents the US Administration from treating Israel the way it should be treated, as first class ally in the Bush Administration's world-wide campaign against terror. Here, the argument is that were Sharon to act decisively against that part of the International Terror Alliance within our reach, then the Bush Administration would have nothing to do but acknowledge and celebrate the victory. This, as part of its overall campaign for a total victory against terrorism.
Israel is presently facing a group of enemies - the Palestinians in all their various terror units, the Hizbollah, Syria, the Iranians, and the list does not end here - that it continues to appease, and to seek tactical victories over. But the other side is not interested in a tactical victory. To survive, Israel may well need in the future a kind of determined policy and leadership that will not settle for 'survival now' at the price of augmenting the long-term danger to the Jewish state.