I live in the Golan with my wife and children. We left a nice Jewish community in Hollywood, Florida. We left behind the shopping malls, the gym, the traffic, a hi-tech job, a huge two-story house with a pool, two luxury cars, the maid, the driver and the gardener. Now, we live in a small village and in a small home. I open my window in the morning and I see sheep, I hear the cows, the horses and the roosters. It gets cold and muddy in the winter, but the air and the water are fresher and cooler than Florida will ever be. My kids ride their bikes to school, and even our dog seems to feel right at home.
Jews lived in the Golan, in the West Bank and, yes, in Gaza since their return from Egyptian slavery 3,500 years ago. Most were expelled 2,000 years ago by the Romans, but small enclaves always held on to the land, hoping their brethren would one day return from that lonely exile. Well, some of us did return, and soon will the rest of the slumbering Jews who are wrapped up in choices that prevent them from taking part in this most amazing ingathering.
These past 2,000 years have been hard. We witnessed the birth of Christianity and six hundred years later, the birth of Islam. With the exception of Hinduism, planet earth turned either monotheist or atheist, but much less idolatrous than it was when the Romans were burning our Temple down. A vast list of atrocities were committed against the Jewish people, and four all-out wars were launched against our young reborn country.
Now, terrorism is a daily occurrence. Just this month, two teenagers were killed by an Arab terrorist gang in a drive-by shooting. That Jewish children can be shot and killed in the middle of the road because they are Jews is something that even in Nazi Germany would have been frowned upon. In whose eyes are Arabs justified in shooting unarmed teenagers in the middle of the street? Is this what an armed struggle is all about? Who can, as a Jew, support their cause and methods?
When will every Jew understand that it is not about land, oppression or occupation? Hitler did not hate the Jews because he was an Aryan and a racist. He allied Germany with Italians and Japanese; how Aryan are they? The Nazis and the Arabs both use excuses to justify their actions, but they also share the same base reason for their hatred of the Jews: they hate us simply because we are Jewish. Liberal Jews, both in America and in Israel, align themselves with these terrorists and buy into their "reasons and excuses".
Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and their little ministers won't prevent teenagers from being killed; yet, they can sleep at night because they know that they have many of you fooled. They will throw Jews out of their homes, free more Arab terrorists from jail, get a nice US dollar paycheck, a smile from Bush and a brand new Volvo, courtesy of the Knesset and the Israeli tax payer.
The time has come to bring a durable peace to this land. So, I propose, as did some before me, to give a helping hand to the Arabs who occupy our land and to graciously accept the world's financial help. Instead of creating a pseudo-military force and financing hate-education and terror cells, we extend to all Arabs our invitation to leave and live in peace. There are twenty-two Arab countries, with land thousands of times larger than the entire tiny Israeli state, most of it empty and barren like Israel was before the Jews returned. They can settle, live peacefully and prosper anywhere they choose.
I know there are forces out there that are using these peasant Arabs as pawns in their sick political games. I know there are powerful people who want to see the situation deteriorate. But I would like to sit on my porch and read a newspaper where all the news is as nice as the view. I want the air that I breathe to be clean of conspiracies and men of evil. It is time for people of good to do what is right. It is time for the world to step back and let us pick our fruits in peace.
Maybe then, my brothers and sisters, those who sleep wondering if they should come, can feel better about taking the steps we already did. So, I hope to see you here soon. Oh, when you come, visit our home in the Golan. We'll have a cup of coffee and watch the sunset, and maybe even the dawn of a new era, I pray.
Jews lived in the Golan, in the West Bank and, yes, in Gaza since their return from Egyptian slavery 3,500 years ago. Most were expelled 2,000 years ago by the Romans, but small enclaves always held on to the land, hoping their brethren would one day return from that lonely exile. Well, some of us did return, and soon will the rest of the slumbering Jews who are wrapped up in choices that prevent them from taking part in this most amazing ingathering.
These past 2,000 years have been hard. We witnessed the birth of Christianity and six hundred years later, the birth of Islam. With the exception of Hinduism, planet earth turned either monotheist or atheist, but much less idolatrous than it was when the Romans were burning our Temple down. A vast list of atrocities were committed against the Jewish people, and four all-out wars were launched against our young reborn country.
Now, terrorism is a daily occurrence. Just this month, two teenagers were killed by an Arab terrorist gang in a drive-by shooting. That Jewish children can be shot and killed in the middle of the road because they are Jews is something that even in Nazi Germany would have been frowned upon. In whose eyes are Arabs justified in shooting unarmed teenagers in the middle of the street? Is this what an armed struggle is all about? Who can, as a Jew, support their cause and methods?
When will every Jew understand that it is not about land, oppression or occupation? Hitler did not hate the Jews because he was an Aryan and a racist. He allied Germany with Italians and Japanese; how Aryan are they? The Nazis and the Arabs both use excuses to justify their actions, but they also share the same base reason for their hatred of the Jews: they hate us simply because we are Jewish. Liberal Jews, both in America and in Israel, align themselves with these terrorists and buy into their "reasons and excuses".
Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and their little ministers won't prevent teenagers from being killed; yet, they can sleep at night because they know that they have many of you fooled. They will throw Jews out of their homes, free more Arab terrorists from jail, get a nice US dollar paycheck, a smile from Bush and a brand new Volvo, courtesy of the Knesset and the Israeli tax payer.
The time has come to bring a durable peace to this land. So, I propose, as did some before me, to give a helping hand to the Arabs who occupy our land and to graciously accept the world's financial help. Instead of creating a pseudo-military force and financing hate-education and terror cells, we extend to all Arabs our invitation to leave and live in peace. There are twenty-two Arab countries, with land thousands of times larger than the entire tiny Israeli state, most of it empty and barren like Israel was before the Jews returned. They can settle, live peacefully and prosper anywhere they choose.
I know there are forces out there that are using these peasant Arabs as pawns in their sick political games. I know there are powerful people who want to see the situation deteriorate. But I would like to sit on my porch and read a newspaper where all the news is as nice as the view. I want the air that I breathe to be clean of conspiracies and men of evil. It is time for people of good to do what is right. It is time for the world to step back and let us pick our fruits in peace.
Maybe then, my brothers and sisters, those who sleep wondering if they should come, can feel better about taking the steps we already did. So, I hope to see you here soon. Oh, when you come, visit our home in the Golan. We'll have a cup of coffee and watch the sunset, and maybe even the dawn of a new era, I pray.