On April 26, speaking in Jerusalem at the International Bible Quiz, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said:
"This year's theme for the Quiz was the verse from the Book of Psalms, 'Forever will Your kindness be built.' This verse may be viewed as a wish; however, I suggest we call it a binding decree: not by itself will our world be based on a foundation of kindness, and it will not by itself turn into a world in which there is attentiveness and consideration for the poor and the weak, for the stranger and the invalid, for the elderly and the widow. We are the ones who must add this principle of kindness to our world, into the society in which we live."
Beautiful words, one should applaud them. Kindness and unity among the Jews are two major components that Israel desperately needs. Actually, Sharon mentioned his concern about the lack of unity among the Jews more than three years ago in an interview with Avi Shavit on April 12, 2001, when he said:
"Years ago, I would watch when a group of Palestinian workers would sit down to eat in a circle and each of them would take out what he brought from home and place it in the center of the circle, and then, with restraint, one would take from here and another from there, and they all sat together. While as for our people, each of them would sit by himself and eat his food alone."
Based on Sharon's understanding of the core problem that plagues the Jewish people, one could have expected that he would take it into consideration while searching for a cure. Certainly, if the drug used in the course of treatment is harmful for the patient, then it should not be used.
Alas, as many political leaders before him, Sharon literally pays just lip service to his many pronouncements and makes political decisions without properly evaluating what harm they will bring to the society in the long run. Six weeks after his Bible Quiz speech, on June 6, apparently forgetting about his "binding decree" and planned attempts "to turn Israel into the world of kindness," Sharon shoved his decision to expel all Jews from their Gaza communities down the throats of his ministers.
Ignoring his own appeal to "attentiveness and consideration for the poor and weak, for the invalid, elderly and widow" happily living in communities, the majority of which were established 20-30 years ago on land from which not a single Arab was expelled, Sharon not only gave the signal for destroying the flourishing life of Jewish communities, but mercilessly opened the slowly healing wound of disunity in the country.
For more than three difficult years, Israeli Jews withstood the brutal terrorist war conducted against them by the Palestinian Arabs. The Jews of Gush Katif and Hadera, Tel Aviv and Haifa, Karnei Shomron and Netanya were one people attacked by one enemy. Not anymore. Sharon's decision to expel Jews from Gaza and four settlements in northern Samaria, and we are not arguing here whether it has political merits or not, has drastically increased the already existing divide within the Jewish state, making the "settlers" pariahs of society and guaranteeing that a substantial fraction of Israelis will forever harbor toward them not kindness, but enmity and resentment.
As a result, the number of vitriolic articles in the Israeli press pouring loathing upon the "settlers" has increased exponentially. Especially troubling is the fact that today, not only the regular settler-haters spew venom upon their fellow Jews, but that usually more respectful authors have joined their chorus as well.
One should not be surprised reading Gideon Levy's diatribe in Ha'aretz, in which he writes: "To those who are calling for empathy toward these settlers, we must say they do not deserve empathy since they never showed consideration for the feelings of others. There is not and never has been in the history of the state such a destructive and immoral enterprise as the settlement enterprise." And, of course, one should not be astonished when Uri Avnery echoes Levy by saying about the settlement policy that "for over a quarter of a century Israeli society has allowed a cancer to grow unchecked."
However, one should be shocked when similar writing is penned by Avi Shavit, who wrote in the same newspaper, "For a long time, there was justification for showing understanding toward the settlers. There was justification for talking with them, carrying on a dialogue with them. Not any more. ?It is either Israelis or settlers."
Sharon said in his Bible Quiz speech: "We must act according to the decree of the Prophet Isaiah, which combines human compassion with mutual responsibility, for 'when you see a naked person, clothe him; and do not hide yourself from your kin.'" Contrary to his own words Sharon hid himself from his own kin.
Not long ago himself praising the settlers of Gaza he made a 180-degree turn. He did not conduct any sensible dialogue in the Israeli society in order to determine how the country should live beyond the decision to uproot the Jews from their homes. He did not allow people to think of what would happen to the Jewish state if it rejects the basic tenet on which it was build - the settlement enterprise. He simply made a decision and, like a bulldozer, went ahead with it.
Of course, it is not out of compassion that Sharon decided to establish a special unit of some 2,000 soldiers to carry out the mission of removing the Jews from their homes. Israeli newspapers shared with their readers the information that this "special unit will carry out the forceful evacuation of settlers. The unit's soldiers will be specially trained for the operation. It will function as a wing of the police force, and will train only for the mission of evacuation."
[Part 1 of 2]
"This year's theme for the Quiz was the verse from the Book of Psalms, 'Forever will Your kindness be built.' This verse may be viewed as a wish; however, I suggest we call it a binding decree: not by itself will our world be based on a foundation of kindness, and it will not by itself turn into a world in which there is attentiveness and consideration for the poor and the weak, for the stranger and the invalid, for the elderly and the widow. We are the ones who must add this principle of kindness to our world, into the society in which we live."
Beautiful words, one should applaud them. Kindness and unity among the Jews are two major components that Israel desperately needs. Actually, Sharon mentioned his concern about the lack of unity among the Jews more than three years ago in an interview with Avi Shavit on April 12, 2001, when he said:
"Years ago, I would watch when a group of Palestinian workers would sit down to eat in a circle and each of them would take out what he brought from home and place it in the center of the circle, and then, with restraint, one would take from here and another from there, and they all sat together. While as for our people, each of them would sit by himself and eat his food alone."
Based on Sharon's understanding of the core problem that plagues the Jewish people, one could have expected that he would take it into consideration while searching for a cure. Certainly, if the drug used in the course of treatment is harmful for the patient, then it should not be used.
Alas, as many political leaders before him, Sharon literally pays just lip service to his many pronouncements and makes political decisions without properly evaluating what harm they will bring to the society in the long run. Six weeks after his Bible Quiz speech, on June 6, apparently forgetting about his "binding decree" and planned attempts "to turn Israel into the world of kindness," Sharon shoved his decision to expel all Jews from their Gaza communities down the throats of his ministers.
Ignoring his own appeal to "attentiveness and consideration for the poor and weak, for the invalid, elderly and widow" happily living in communities, the majority of which were established 20-30 years ago on land from which not a single Arab was expelled, Sharon not only gave the signal for destroying the flourishing life of Jewish communities, but mercilessly opened the slowly healing wound of disunity in the country.
For more than three difficult years, Israeli Jews withstood the brutal terrorist war conducted against them by the Palestinian Arabs. The Jews of Gush Katif and Hadera, Tel Aviv and Haifa, Karnei Shomron and Netanya were one people attacked by one enemy. Not anymore. Sharon's decision to expel Jews from Gaza and four settlements in northern Samaria, and we are not arguing here whether it has political merits or not, has drastically increased the already existing divide within the Jewish state, making the "settlers" pariahs of society and guaranteeing that a substantial fraction of Israelis will forever harbor toward them not kindness, but enmity and resentment.
As a result, the number of vitriolic articles in the Israeli press pouring loathing upon the "settlers" has increased exponentially. Especially troubling is the fact that today, not only the regular settler-haters spew venom upon their fellow Jews, but that usually more respectful authors have joined their chorus as well.
One should not be surprised reading Gideon Levy's diatribe in Ha'aretz, in which he writes: "To those who are calling for empathy toward these settlers, we must say they do not deserve empathy since they never showed consideration for the feelings of others. There is not and never has been in the history of the state such a destructive and immoral enterprise as the settlement enterprise." And, of course, one should not be astonished when Uri Avnery echoes Levy by saying about the settlement policy that "for over a quarter of a century Israeli society has allowed a cancer to grow unchecked."
However, one should be shocked when similar writing is penned by Avi Shavit, who wrote in the same newspaper, "For a long time, there was justification for showing understanding toward the settlers. There was justification for talking with them, carrying on a dialogue with them. Not any more. ?It is either Israelis or settlers."
Sharon said in his Bible Quiz speech: "We must act according to the decree of the Prophet Isaiah, which combines human compassion with mutual responsibility, for 'when you see a naked person, clothe him; and do not hide yourself from your kin.'" Contrary to his own words Sharon hid himself from his own kin.
Not long ago himself praising the settlers of Gaza he made a 180-degree turn. He did not conduct any sensible dialogue in the Israeli society in order to determine how the country should live beyond the decision to uproot the Jews from their homes. He did not allow people to think of what would happen to the Jewish state if it rejects the basic tenet on which it was build - the settlement enterprise. He simply made a decision and, like a bulldozer, went ahead with it.
Of course, it is not out of compassion that Sharon decided to establish a special unit of some 2,000 soldiers to carry out the mission of removing the Jews from their homes. Israeli newspapers shared with their readers the information that this "special unit will carry out the forceful evacuation of settlers. The unit's soldiers will be specially trained for the operation. It will function as a wing of the police force, and will train only for the mission of evacuation."
[Part 1 of 2]