In a process that has already begun, but that will reach a crescendo in one week, 10,000 of our co-religionists will be forcibly removed from their homes ? not to build a highway; not because their homes were built on a hazardous-waste site; and not for some other reason that would benefit a greater good.
They are being told by their government that they must move for one reason only: they are Jewish (and therefore, the Arabs don't want them there).
Muslims are not being told to move. Christians are not being told to move. Druze are not being told to move.
The only reason the people who have called N'vei Dekalim or Netzarim or 19 other communities in the Gaza Strip, or Sa-Nur and three other communities in Samaria home for more than three decades can no longer stay there is because of their religion.
Well, you may think, the Israeli government is making 10,000 Jews move in the name of peace or even compromise. But the facts indicate that nothing could be further from the truth. In what surely may be a first, some of Israel's top military strategists agree with many of Arabdom's most vicious anti-Jewish extremists: the withdrawal/expulsion/disengagement will only bring more terrorism, more bloodshed and more death to more Jews, as the Arabs press for even more territorial capitulation by Israel.
Therefore, what is scheduled to happen in a week will be an experiment, or a test-case, if you will. Israel's enemies and their supporters and facilitators have gotten an area ethnically cleansed of 10,000 Jews and nobody seems to care, least of all the Jews. How many more areas where Jews have a right to live ? according to international law, history and God ? can be rid of what was once described as "the Jewish problem"?
This expulsion/withdrawal/disengagement is an action that is unprecedented in the lives of most Jews who are alive today, and one that those who survived the Holocaust or were alive during that period thought they would never witness again. The fact that it is being done by a Jewish government does not excuse it, nor should that make it more palatable. On the contrary, it makes it more disgraceful.
Well, you may think, Israel is a democracy and this is what it has decided. But the facts contradict such a notion. The Sharon administration was overwhelmingly elected on the basis that it would not expel Jews from their homes, nor reward terrorists with territory. And when it changed its mind, Ariel Sharon fired those cabinet members he could not bend to his will and strong-armed Knesset members who would otherwise have voted against such a maneuver.
Polls indicate that, at most, a slim majority of Israelis support the plan, but it is likely such numbers are inflated by the opinions of Israeli Arabs. Other polls indicate that the plan does not have the backing of most Israelis.
Nevertheless, "disengagement" moves forward, full-speed ahead.
So, it looks as though the Arabs are going to win this round with a victory handed to them by their Israeli foes, delivered on a platter hand-selected by the Bush administration, the Europeans and a variety of other smaller players, who are going out of their way ? quite literally in some cases ? to make sure nothing delays or derails it.
10,000 Jews will be forced to leave their homes, farms, schools and businesses, and their synagogues and cemeteries will be obliterated as though they were never there, with the outcry and opposition of a relatively few people. Now what?
And what is the next sacrifice that Israel will be forced to make? Might it be all of Judea and Samaria, with the hundreds of thousands of Jews who have made lives there for multiple generations told to "get out" and start over someplace else ? again, just because they are Jewish?
What about eastern Jerusalem and the Kotel? Will we draw the line there, or will we let our holiest city, the center of Judaism, be re-divided and its precious sites be placed beyond our reach again? Where does it end? At what point will Israel's enemies and the anti-Semites be satisfied? Is there even such a limit?
Put aside all the arguments that demonstrate that disengagement is unwise, unjust and uncalled for. Aren't you the least bit upset that, despite the fact that you vowed "Never Again", it is happening again? Isn't it time to speak up? To at least put the facts out there and let people know what is going on, without the spin?
If not now, when?
They are being told by their government that they must move for one reason only: they are Jewish (and therefore, the Arabs don't want them there).
Muslims are not being told to move. Christians are not being told to move. Druze are not being told to move.
The only reason the people who have called N'vei Dekalim or Netzarim or 19 other communities in the Gaza Strip, or Sa-Nur and three other communities in Samaria home for more than three decades can no longer stay there is because of their religion.
Well, you may think, the Israeli government is making 10,000 Jews move in the name of peace or even compromise. But the facts indicate that nothing could be further from the truth. In what surely may be a first, some of Israel's top military strategists agree with many of Arabdom's most vicious anti-Jewish extremists: the withdrawal/expulsion/disengagement will only bring more terrorism, more bloodshed and more death to more Jews, as the Arabs press for even more territorial capitulation by Israel.
Therefore, what is scheduled to happen in a week will be an experiment, or a test-case, if you will. Israel's enemies and their supporters and facilitators have gotten an area ethnically cleansed of 10,000 Jews and nobody seems to care, least of all the Jews. How many more areas where Jews have a right to live ? according to international law, history and God ? can be rid of what was once described as "the Jewish problem"?
This expulsion/withdrawal/disengagement is an action that is unprecedented in the lives of most Jews who are alive today, and one that those who survived the Holocaust or were alive during that period thought they would never witness again. The fact that it is being done by a Jewish government does not excuse it, nor should that make it more palatable. On the contrary, it makes it more disgraceful.
Well, you may think, Israel is a democracy and this is what it has decided. But the facts contradict such a notion. The Sharon administration was overwhelmingly elected on the basis that it would not expel Jews from their homes, nor reward terrorists with territory. And when it changed its mind, Ariel Sharon fired those cabinet members he could not bend to his will and strong-armed Knesset members who would otherwise have voted against such a maneuver.
Polls indicate that, at most, a slim majority of Israelis support the plan, but it is likely such numbers are inflated by the opinions of Israeli Arabs. Other polls indicate that the plan does not have the backing of most Israelis.
Nevertheless, "disengagement" moves forward, full-speed ahead.
So, it looks as though the Arabs are going to win this round with a victory handed to them by their Israeli foes, delivered on a platter hand-selected by the Bush administration, the Europeans and a variety of other smaller players, who are going out of their way ? quite literally in some cases ? to make sure nothing delays or derails it.
10,000 Jews will be forced to leave their homes, farms, schools and businesses, and their synagogues and cemeteries will be obliterated as though they were never there, with the outcry and opposition of a relatively few people. Now what?
And what is the next sacrifice that Israel will be forced to make? Might it be all of Judea and Samaria, with the hundreds of thousands of Jews who have made lives there for multiple generations told to "get out" and start over someplace else ? again, just because they are Jewish?
What about eastern Jerusalem and the Kotel? Will we draw the line there, or will we let our holiest city, the center of Judaism, be re-divided and its precious sites be placed beyond our reach again? Where does it end? At what point will Israel's enemies and the anti-Semites be satisfied? Is there even such a limit?
Put aside all the arguments that demonstrate that disengagement is unwise, unjust and uncalled for. Aren't you the least bit upset that, despite the fact that you vowed "Never Again", it is happening again? Isn't it time to speak up? To at least put the facts out there and let people know what is going on, without the spin?
If not now, when?