The tropical African country of Uganda had been proposed as a possible safe haven for battered Jews, and possibly as a future Jewish state, during the first half of the 20th century. The leftist Zionists were adamant that the state of Israel should be established within the borders of the ancient ancestral home of the Jews. Today, the same leftist Zionists do not seem to care whether the state of Israel is on Israeli soil or in the Mediterranean Sea. What's gone wrong? (Perhaps, those who are sick of the holy real estate should establish a Jewish colony in Uganda, and leave those who are willing to stake their inheritance against the Arabs do what they need to do unfettered.)
Several months ago, I wrote an article supporting US President George Bush. Of course, this was long after he had proposed his Road Map plan. I did believe then, although I'm not so sure now, that Bush himself is a friend of Israel. But in his zeal to leave behind a legacy in his second term, he may placate Arabs just so the world will think he is a man of peace after all. Unfortunately, he is receiving his cues from the leadership in Israel, which says "Jewishness is bad and anyone who supports such Jewishness is an extremist." For this reason, Dr. Condoleezza Rice has been empowered to pursue the Road Map with chutzpa; whereas, she could have left it to die while focusing on North Korea, Iran or some other hotspot in the world. Where Colin Powell was willing to let the Road Map simply fester, I am afraid Dr. Rice will be rabid with it.
It seems the purpose now is a post-Iraq appeasement of the Europeans and Arabs, in the spirit of cooperation, diplomacy, democracy and peace. Ironically, the recent demonstrations in Lebanon, elections in Iraq and the quest for democracy in Egypt have emboldened George Bush into thinking he can actually pull off the democratization of the Middle East. What a legacy to leave behind.
As for the demands on Israel, let us not forget that all of Israel is the "West Bank". Anyone who thinks that we can relinquish Judea, Samaria and Gaza without, in principle, ultimately giving up the entire "West Bank" is naive. It seems our leadership believes we were just so lucky the world community felt sorry for us and reluctantly gave us a piece of real estate in the Middle East, which we must now share. Whenever any foreign dignitaries visit Israel, the first thing our leadership shows them is the Holocaust Memorial. That reminds the world to continue to feel sorry for us, so they will let us keep some of the land they so generously gave to us. The Shoah, as tragic a chapter as it is in our history, is not what defines Israel nor the Jew.
If so, then what stops the Arabs, the UK, Russia, France and others to decide unilaterally what real estate to usurp from the state of Israel? The Arabs want all of the "West Bank" (Israel) and our leadership agrees to give them Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha). On what basis is Yesha dispensable? Why not Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa - or the entire land? On what basis do we get to keep any of it? The logic we use to give up Yesha is the same logic the Arabs use to claim all of Israel. Our leadership is arbitrarily giving up real estate unilaterally for nothing in return, not even the pretense of peace, and convincing our biggest friend, the USA, to accept such an idea. This sets a precedent whereby Arabs can do the opposite with backing from their friends.
This is the dumbing down of the Jew. We have excelled in everything that's worth anything, but for some reason, when it comes to the land of Israel, we have become the dumbest bunch. We have allowed George Bush to lead us, but our challenged brothers on the Left feed him the wrong information and give him misguided cues, so he makes decisions that are not in our best interests, even when he appears to mean well.
It is logically impossible to justify the creation of a Palestinian state without abrogating the existence of the state of Israel. Our brilliant but challenged brothers on the Left do not appreciate this. The PLO, Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the rest of them believe in only one thing - the demise of the state of Israel. Any concessions we make are but a prelude and a platform for conquering the rest of the "West Bank".
In the past, the Arabs rejected the generous offer of the UN Partition Plan of 1947, which offered them more of Eretz Yisrael than they will ever see. They rejected Ehud Barak's outrageous offer of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Today, the Road Map offers less than either of these two generous offers. At the same time, Israel has already made unilateral concessions for absolutely nothing in return, yet President Bush would like to see more concessions. Bush has not learned that even if the Arabs were given Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, they will reject the offer. Even if they were offered all of Eretz Yisrael, it would not be enough unless every Jew were dead. Unfortunately, our leaders believe that if they pander to the world community, somehow the Arabs will accept the deal.
Once George Bush understands that parties in this neighborhood do not keep their word, he will realize that he can make all the demands he wants, but the Arabs do not have it in themselves to quit spilling Jewish blood. As such, they control the Road Map, not Washington. The only way Bush can control the Road Map is by lifting the requirement for a cease-fire on the part of the Palestinians. Ironically, it is our own Generalissimo Ariel Sharon who is willing to lift the cease-fire requirement and proceed with the Disengagement Plan despite continued attacks by Arabs.
In a word, if we give up Yesha, we mean we are willing to give up all of Israel and it will be understood that way by the rest of the Arab world, thus fueling their "struggle". Our challenged brothers on the Left may not appreciate this, but perhaps they would have felt better had the state of Israel been established in Uganda, as once proposed. The Jewish nation is notorious for having more opinions than people and we are all entitled to own opinions. But when it comes to the survival of the nation, our opinions, no matter how diverse, should be to find the best way to survive within our Torah mandate to the land.
It does not have to end this way, but Zechariah the prophet once said (14:1-3):
"Behold! A day of the Lord is coming, and your plunder shall be shared within you. And I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war; and the city shall be captured, and the houses shall be plundered, and the women shall be ravished, and half the city shall go forth into exile-and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And the Lord shall go forth and wage war with those nations, like the day he waged war on the day of the battle."
It appears we are nearing the days of which the prophet speaks. This is not a fixed reality, although it appears some among us do not mind such an eventuality. With the help of George Bush, such a scenario will most likely occur, unfortunately. For this reason, I agree to eat a little kosher crow over my support for Bush.
Several months ago, I wrote an article supporting US President George Bush. Of course, this was long after he had proposed his Road Map plan. I did believe then, although I'm not so sure now, that Bush himself is a friend of Israel. But in his zeal to leave behind a legacy in his second term, he may placate Arabs just so the world will think he is a man of peace after all. Unfortunately, he is receiving his cues from the leadership in Israel, which says "Jewishness is bad and anyone who supports such Jewishness is an extremist." For this reason, Dr. Condoleezza Rice has been empowered to pursue the Road Map with chutzpa; whereas, she could have left it to die while focusing on North Korea, Iran or some other hotspot in the world. Where Colin Powell was willing to let the Road Map simply fester, I am afraid Dr. Rice will be rabid with it.
It seems the purpose now is a post-Iraq appeasement of the Europeans and Arabs, in the spirit of cooperation, diplomacy, democracy and peace. Ironically, the recent demonstrations in Lebanon, elections in Iraq and the quest for democracy in Egypt have emboldened George Bush into thinking he can actually pull off the democratization of the Middle East. What a legacy to leave behind.
As for the demands on Israel, let us not forget that all of Israel is the "West Bank". Anyone who thinks that we can relinquish Judea, Samaria and Gaza without, in principle, ultimately giving up the entire "West Bank" is naive. It seems our leadership believes we were just so lucky the world community felt sorry for us and reluctantly gave us a piece of real estate in the Middle East, which we must now share. Whenever any foreign dignitaries visit Israel, the first thing our leadership shows them is the Holocaust Memorial. That reminds the world to continue to feel sorry for us, so they will let us keep some of the land they so generously gave to us. The Shoah, as tragic a chapter as it is in our history, is not what defines Israel nor the Jew.
If so, then what stops the Arabs, the UK, Russia, France and others to decide unilaterally what real estate to usurp from the state of Israel? The Arabs want all of the "West Bank" (Israel) and our leadership agrees to give them Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha). On what basis is Yesha dispensable? Why not Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa - or the entire land? On what basis do we get to keep any of it? The logic we use to give up Yesha is the same logic the Arabs use to claim all of Israel. Our leadership is arbitrarily giving up real estate unilaterally for nothing in return, not even the pretense of peace, and convincing our biggest friend, the USA, to accept such an idea. This sets a precedent whereby Arabs can do the opposite with backing from their friends.
This is the dumbing down of the Jew. We have excelled in everything that's worth anything, but for some reason, when it comes to the land of Israel, we have become the dumbest bunch. We have allowed George Bush to lead us, but our challenged brothers on the Left feed him the wrong information and give him misguided cues, so he makes decisions that are not in our best interests, even when he appears to mean well.
It is logically impossible to justify the creation of a Palestinian state without abrogating the existence of the state of Israel. Our brilliant but challenged brothers on the Left do not appreciate this. The PLO, Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the rest of them believe in only one thing - the demise of the state of Israel. Any concessions we make are but a prelude and a platform for conquering the rest of the "West Bank".
In the past, the Arabs rejected the generous offer of the UN Partition Plan of 1947, which offered them more of Eretz Yisrael than they will ever see. They rejected Ehud Barak's outrageous offer of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Today, the Road Map offers less than either of these two generous offers. At the same time, Israel has already made unilateral concessions for absolutely nothing in return, yet President Bush would like to see more concessions. Bush has not learned that even if the Arabs were given Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, they will reject the offer. Even if they were offered all of Eretz Yisrael, it would not be enough unless every Jew were dead. Unfortunately, our leaders believe that if they pander to the world community, somehow the Arabs will accept the deal.
Once George Bush understands that parties in this neighborhood do not keep their word, he will realize that he can make all the demands he wants, but the Arabs do not have it in themselves to quit spilling Jewish blood. As such, they control the Road Map, not Washington. The only way Bush can control the Road Map is by lifting the requirement for a cease-fire on the part of the Palestinians. Ironically, it is our own Generalissimo Ariel Sharon who is willing to lift the cease-fire requirement and proceed with the Disengagement Plan despite continued attacks by Arabs.
In a word, if we give up Yesha, we mean we are willing to give up all of Israel and it will be understood that way by the rest of the Arab world, thus fueling their "struggle". Our challenged brothers on the Left may not appreciate this, but perhaps they would have felt better had the state of Israel been established in Uganda, as once proposed. The Jewish nation is notorious for having more opinions than people and we are all entitled to own opinions. But when it comes to the survival of the nation, our opinions, no matter how diverse, should be to find the best way to survive within our Torah mandate to the land.
It does not have to end this way, but Zechariah the prophet once said (14:1-3):
"Behold! A day of the Lord is coming, and your plunder shall be shared within you. And I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war; and the city shall be captured, and the houses shall be plundered, and the women shall be ravished, and half the city shall go forth into exile-and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And the Lord shall go forth and wage war with those nations, like the day he waged war on the day of the battle."
It appears we are nearing the days of which the prophet speaks. This is not a fixed reality, although it appears some among us do not mind such an eventuality. With the help of George Bush, such a scenario will most likely occur, unfortunately. For this reason, I agree to eat a little kosher crow over my support for Bush.