Jacques Chirac, the president of France, is informed by his advisors that the rising anti-Semitism plaguing his country ? especially in the areas along the beautiful Mediterranean Sea coast -- is rampant and cannot be stopped quickly or for the long-term. The best solution to save all the Jews of France is to require that they leave the South of France for other parts of the country.
Chirac agrees that that this is what is best for the French Jewish community, especially since the police and French military just do not have the resources to protect them all. In the name of peace for his country, Chirac concludes, Jews simply cannot live in southern France any longer.
Making the decision easier, Chirac asserts, is that since Jews have no historical ties to this area, relocation should not be a hardship. The 10,000 Jews who live in the south of France will have to all be gone from that area by August 15. They will all receive a generous price for their homes and businesses from the government and can start their lives again somewhere else. And, since it's for their own good, if they do not leave that area on their own, well, the army will have to forcibly remove them.
Immediately upon learning of this decision by the French government, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League fires off a letter to Chirac and a simultaneous press release to all the media condemning this decision, calling it anti-Semitic and racist and declaring that it is the army's responsibility to protect all French citizens wherever they live.
The head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations learns of this plan and is also deeply disturbed. His organization takes out full-page ads in major newspapers to deplore it as racist.
The American ambassador to the United Nations calls a special session of the Security Council to declare that this move by the French is nothing short of ethnic cleansing, and to issue a demand that it not be allowed to go forward.
For days, the network news and 24-hour news stations run stories about this plan and how terrible and unfair and racist the French plan is, about the upheaval it will cause the victims, while editorial writers wring their hands and gallons of ink are spilt arguing against this maneuver for every conceivable reason.
Average Jews, moved by the coverage and the warnings and condemnations are fixated on this and it dominates discussions from synagogues to dining-room tables. They send checks to help the French Jews resist.
The major Jewish organizations throughout the world organize massive rallies in capitals, and non-Jewish groups pledge their participation and support. Informational campaigns and on-line petitions directed at the French government are mobilized.
Stop the presses!
Of course, to the best of my knowledge, while Arab-Muslim-fueled anti-Semitism is surely on the rise throughout France ? and the rest of Europe ? there is no such plan to evacuate Jews from the South of France on any drawing board in Paris.
But in Israel, the above plan is reality. Final preparations are being made for the forced removal of nearly 10,000 Jews from two areas controlled by Israel: the Gaza Strip seacoast and northern Samaria (also known as "the West Bank"). Israel's "allies" in Washington and London work feverishly to make sure nothing will delay or prevent it.
Throughout most of the world, and especially among the international Jewish community, there has been a sickening silence, even as this plan, developed by the Israeli government and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is less than 50 days from implementation.
In fact, rather than condemning this coming atrocity and trying to derail it, most Jewish organizations support it, very few Jews are even aware of it and fewer know all of its sinister details. President George Bush, his secretary of state and other world leaders applaud it, and are trying to facilitate it.
Labeled "disengagement", in actuality, the effort Sharon forced through with a cunning combination of old-fashioned political muscle and grease, and aided and abetted by his longtime foes in the media, is anything but "disengagement".
Crafted as a "unilateral" move born of frustration at the Arab-Palestinians and to hopefully stave off the unimaginable pressure from America and Europe, "disengagement" should have been killed off soon after conception. Israel is not fully amputating the Gaza Strip, nor its obligation to feed and water the Arab-Palestinians who reside there, as the name of the plan might allude. No, Israel will still have to supply this rectangular region with all utilities and services, and still have to allow sworn enemies who live there to travel within Israel's borders for work.
Nor will this bring peace to the long-suffering Israelis any time soon. For years, the Arab-Palestinians have been using the Gaza Strip as a pad to launch rockets manufactured there at cities and towns within "Green Line" Israel; Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and their ilk to relocate their headquarters there from Damascus; and thanks to Egypt, major weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, automatic rifles and munitions, have been flowing freely into the area; an area that will soon be that much closer to major Israeli population centers and infrastructure apparatus, including power plants.
Meanwhile, a poll taken of Palestinian-Arabs this month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research based in Ramallah revealed that 72 percent view the "disengagement" as "a victory for the Palestinian armed struggle against Israel."
Terrorism and murder pay.
"Disengagement" is just a fancy word for expulsion; plain and simple. If you are Jewish, come August 15 you will not be allowed to live in the 21 Jewish towns and villages in the Gaza Strip, nor work in its factories or tend its farms and greenhouses ? all, by the way, created by Jews from an area that was previously a vast emptiness. The same holds true for four towns in Samaria. The synagogues there will be dismantled. The remains of those buried there, disturbed.
For the Jews in those to regions, there will be no justice. For the Jews who live near those areas, there will be no peace. No justice, no peace.
Just because it is the Israeli government who is uprooting Jews and not the French should not make it more acceptable. Just because it is the decision of the oft-cited "democratically elected government of Israel" does not make it right or guarantee the proper forethought. Just because military hero-cum-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon conceived this plan does not put it beyond protest. Remember, Ariel Sharon was elected based on a platform that was the polar opposite of "disengagement".
Those who cry out in protest against this plan in Israel are silenced or ostracized. Those who engage in civil disobedience have been arrested and threatened, and those who don orange shirts or hats in solidarity with those scheduled for expulsion have had their rights seriously abridged.
Quite simply, Jews should have a right to live wherever they want in the world ? as we would demand for any other group ? without the fear of violence and with the full protection of that nation's police or military. This is especially true for an area that has ancient ties to, and modern day significance for, our people, such as the Gaza Strip and Samaria.
Citizens of any country should have the right to protest or object, and American Jews, especially, have the right to criticize and demand that the US release the pressure on Israel that is leading her to the brink of disaster.
So, start writing your letters. Start talking to others about this. Take to the streets in protest. Demand that Israel's leaders do not give away our birthright, and that America's leaders stop facilitating this. Act, before it's too late.
Chirac agrees that that this is what is best for the French Jewish community, especially since the police and French military just do not have the resources to protect them all. In the name of peace for his country, Chirac concludes, Jews simply cannot live in southern France any longer.
Making the decision easier, Chirac asserts, is that since Jews have no historical ties to this area, relocation should not be a hardship. The 10,000 Jews who live in the south of France will have to all be gone from that area by August 15. They will all receive a generous price for their homes and businesses from the government and can start their lives again somewhere else. And, since it's for their own good, if they do not leave that area on their own, well, the army will have to forcibly remove them.
Immediately upon learning of this decision by the French government, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League fires off a letter to Chirac and a simultaneous press release to all the media condemning this decision, calling it anti-Semitic and racist and declaring that it is the army's responsibility to protect all French citizens wherever they live.
The head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations learns of this plan and is also deeply disturbed. His organization takes out full-page ads in major newspapers to deplore it as racist.
The American ambassador to the United Nations calls a special session of the Security Council to declare that this move by the French is nothing short of ethnic cleansing, and to issue a demand that it not be allowed to go forward.
For days, the network news and 24-hour news stations run stories about this plan and how terrible and unfair and racist the French plan is, about the upheaval it will cause the victims, while editorial writers wring their hands and gallons of ink are spilt arguing against this maneuver for every conceivable reason.
Average Jews, moved by the coverage and the warnings and condemnations are fixated on this and it dominates discussions from synagogues to dining-room tables. They send checks to help the French Jews resist.
The major Jewish organizations throughout the world organize massive rallies in capitals, and non-Jewish groups pledge their participation and support. Informational campaigns and on-line petitions directed at the French government are mobilized.
Stop the presses!
Of course, to the best of my knowledge, while Arab-Muslim-fueled anti-Semitism is surely on the rise throughout France ? and the rest of Europe ? there is no such plan to evacuate Jews from the South of France on any drawing board in Paris.
But in Israel, the above plan is reality. Final preparations are being made for the forced removal of nearly 10,000 Jews from two areas controlled by Israel: the Gaza Strip seacoast and northern Samaria (also known as "the West Bank"). Israel's "allies" in Washington and London work feverishly to make sure nothing will delay or prevent it.
Throughout most of the world, and especially among the international Jewish community, there has been a sickening silence, even as this plan, developed by the Israeli government and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is less than 50 days from implementation.
In fact, rather than condemning this coming atrocity and trying to derail it, most Jewish organizations support it, very few Jews are even aware of it and fewer know all of its sinister details. President George Bush, his secretary of state and other world leaders applaud it, and are trying to facilitate it.
Labeled "disengagement", in actuality, the effort Sharon forced through with a cunning combination of old-fashioned political muscle and grease, and aided and abetted by his longtime foes in the media, is anything but "disengagement".
Crafted as a "unilateral" move born of frustration at the Arab-Palestinians and to hopefully stave off the unimaginable pressure from America and Europe, "disengagement" should have been killed off soon after conception. Israel is not fully amputating the Gaza Strip, nor its obligation to feed and water the Arab-Palestinians who reside there, as the name of the plan might allude. No, Israel will still have to supply this rectangular region with all utilities and services, and still have to allow sworn enemies who live there to travel within Israel's borders for work.
Nor will this bring peace to the long-suffering Israelis any time soon. For years, the Arab-Palestinians have been using the Gaza Strip as a pad to launch rockets manufactured there at cities and towns within "Green Line" Israel; Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and their ilk to relocate their headquarters there from Damascus; and thanks to Egypt, major weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, automatic rifles and munitions, have been flowing freely into the area; an area that will soon be that much closer to major Israeli population centers and infrastructure apparatus, including power plants.
Meanwhile, a poll taken of Palestinian-Arabs this month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research based in Ramallah revealed that 72 percent view the "disengagement" as "a victory for the Palestinian armed struggle against Israel."
Terrorism and murder pay.
"Disengagement" is just a fancy word for expulsion; plain and simple. If you are Jewish, come August 15 you will not be allowed to live in the 21 Jewish towns and villages in the Gaza Strip, nor work in its factories or tend its farms and greenhouses ? all, by the way, created by Jews from an area that was previously a vast emptiness. The same holds true for four towns in Samaria. The synagogues there will be dismantled. The remains of those buried there, disturbed.
For the Jews in those to regions, there will be no justice. For the Jews who live near those areas, there will be no peace. No justice, no peace.
Just because it is the Israeli government who is uprooting Jews and not the French should not make it more acceptable. Just because it is the decision of the oft-cited "democratically elected government of Israel" does not make it right or guarantee the proper forethought. Just because military hero-cum-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon conceived this plan does not put it beyond protest. Remember, Ariel Sharon was elected based on a platform that was the polar opposite of "disengagement".
Those who cry out in protest against this plan in Israel are silenced or ostracized. Those who engage in civil disobedience have been arrested and threatened, and those who don orange shirts or hats in solidarity with those scheduled for expulsion have had their rights seriously abridged.
Quite simply, Jews should have a right to live wherever they want in the world ? as we would demand for any other group ? without the fear of violence and with the full protection of that nation's police or military. This is especially true for an area that has ancient ties to, and modern day significance for, our people, such as the Gaza Strip and Samaria.
Citizens of any country should have the right to protest or object, and American Jews, especially, have the right to criticize and demand that the US release the pressure on Israel that is leading her to the brink of disaster.
So, start writing your letters. Start talking to others about this. Take to the streets in protest. Demand that Israel's leaders do not give away our birthright, and that America's leaders stop facilitating this. Act, before it's too late.