What kind of a country have we become? Where is the protection of our most holy days and traditions? When did all of these turn into a political show? When did Jewish lives turn into a commodity less important than the photo-ops cynically used by the prime minister, the defense minister (I have great difficulty in calling Sha'ul Mofaz "defense" anything) and the rest of the government.
All of us who are Israeli and have served in combat units are familiar with the emergency call-up when our country is in danger. All of us who have served and fought in combat units are trained to keep phones connected, just in case we are needed. But then there is what is known as a Tzav Shemoneh - emergency alert - in case of a military operation that must be set in motion immediately.
Recently, before the New Year, our sons were called up on Shabbat to fulfill the prime minister's political ambitions. What a disgrace to force hundreds of soldiers to break the Shabbat for Ariel Sharon's personal agenda.
The multi-missile attacks that occurred at that time were horrific and indeed dangerous. However, the amount of weapons that were brought in to Gaza by terrorists immediately after we were uprooted from Katif is not a secret. The slogan of "disengagement" was only part of the packet of lies and misinformation. Unfortunately, the danger that this defeatist government, with the collaboration of the judicial system and military, have brought upon us by encouraging terrorism through capitulation is a very real threat.
Even when we had a military presence in Gaza, when we saw the terrorists in action firing missiles at our homes, neighborhoods and schools, it was the defeatist policy of this government that whetted the appetite of the terrorists to continue to shoot. The "green light" to eliminate the terrorists was not given.
I have served in the military, the members of my entire family have served and are serving. We have always been willing to volunteer to serve our country, to endanger our lives in order to protect our Torah, our land and our people. Yet, this recent mobilization, along with the defeatist policy tying the hands of our army, is yet another enormous break in the faith that we have had in the government of Israel, the army and the rabbis.
We would understand if indeed there had been a major danger and the operation had to take place immediately; this would not be the first time that soldiers were called up on a Shabbat or holiday. But in the recent case of the "retaliation" for a rocket barrage, the call up was nothing more than a show of muscle serving the political agenda of those criminals: Ariel Sharon, Sha'ul Mofaz and Dan Chalutz.
It was not because of yet another "work accident' or another elimination of one of the murderous terrorists of the Hamas that the repeated missile fire hit our cities. It was certainly not the first time that we have been hit by dozens of missiles. Recently, only a few months ago as a matter of fact, over 60 missiles hit Katif and the Negev in a few short hours. But then, clearly because it was the Jewish residents of Katif that were attacked, there was no need to even pretend to respond.
In the midst of this horrific war, we keep burying our children. On the eve of Succot, we suffered yet another unbearable loss of one of the precious flowers from our community, Matat, H.y.d., along with her cousin Kineret, H.y.d., and a young boy, Oz, H.y.d., who were cut down by the same terrorists for the same reason - empty threats to an enemy that should not be there in the first place.
Disengagement, indeed. From what did this government disengage? This dangerous, weak and corrupt government disengaged from the most important part of our tradition and religion. They callously mobilized our sons, forcing us to violate Shabbat, for them to be used in yet another media promotion.
I do not claim that it is easy to defeat the terrorists, but they will never be defeated until the government of Israel decides to do so. To really get in there and mop up the infrastructure of terror that is murdering our children - those who are in uniform and those who are trying to get a ride home safely without being shot down in cold blood. But they are being shot down, under the eyes of an army that is not allowed to defend and protect them.
This is the first time that I say that I don't want my sons there. I don't want them fighting there, not after we were banished, ethnically cleansed, from Katif. Not after our lives were broken, our synagogues desecrated and our Land given to the murderers who we knew would only be strengthened by the insane act of ethnic cleansing - and for no good reason.
What is the answer that the government gives after this wanton destruction and desecration? More walls, more fences - and more terror directed against us.
After cynically using the soldiers as robots of destruction and having these soldiers - who joined the Israel Defense Forces to protect Jewish lives - turn Jew against Jew, why should our sons go back to Gaza now? Is this disengagement? What of the ludicrously empty promises that it is for the security of Israel that we, the residents of Katif, must be removed and our communities be destroyed? Where now is the army's "determination and sensitivity" proclaimed in the public relations propaganda of Sharon?
The "determination and sensitivity" is found in the same empty promises of a solution for each resident (dead and alive) that today find people with no homes, no employment, and the knowledge that, at best, we can hope to be relocated only one or two more times before we can perhaps begin to rebuild and regain our lives.
It is unacceptable that we allow ourselves to be forced to break our holy Shabbat in order to create photo-ops for Sharon. It is unacceptable that the Israel Defense Forces be used to cynically show muscle to terrorists who know that our army will not re-enter Gaza, and who know also the terrible price we will pay if, indeed, our sons will go in.
We are left in a situation where even the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces is silenced while the holy Shabbat is desecrated for no justified reason. It is pikuach nefesh to mobilize those soldiers who are actively involved in protecting Jewish lives, not for hundreds of Jewish soldiers who were mobilized for a show of force. Why is IDF Chief Rabbi Weiss silent? This same rabbi who removed our dead from their graves as a part of the "disengagement" is silent while an Israeli government "disengages" from our most sacred traditions.
We will not be silent, we will not forgive, nor will we forget this additional blow against us, the Jewish people. We must prevent further violations of our Torah, and protect our soldiers and our land from the weakness and betrayal of the governments of Israel. We have faith that HaShem will guide us back to leadership that will protect all that is holy to the Jewish people. We pray that we will find leadership that will fulfill the responsibilities we have as a nation, keep the Shabbat holy and return our army to be the army of David, which proclaims to the world, as did David when he ran toward the giant Goliath, "The world should know that there is a G-d in Israel." Amen.
All of us who are Israeli and have served in combat units are familiar with the emergency call-up when our country is in danger. All of us who have served and fought in combat units are trained to keep phones connected, just in case we are needed. But then there is what is known as a Tzav Shemoneh - emergency alert - in case of a military operation that must be set in motion immediately.
Recently, before the New Year, our sons were called up on Shabbat to fulfill the prime minister's political ambitions. What a disgrace to force hundreds of soldiers to break the Shabbat for Ariel Sharon's personal agenda.
The multi-missile attacks that occurred at that time were horrific and indeed dangerous. However, the amount of weapons that were brought in to Gaza by terrorists immediately after we were uprooted from Katif is not a secret. The slogan of "disengagement" was only part of the packet of lies and misinformation. Unfortunately, the danger that this defeatist government, with the collaboration of the judicial system and military, have brought upon us by encouraging terrorism through capitulation is a very real threat.
Even when we had a military presence in Gaza, when we saw the terrorists in action firing missiles at our homes, neighborhoods and schools, it was the defeatist policy of this government that whetted the appetite of the terrorists to continue to shoot. The "green light" to eliminate the terrorists was not given.
I have served in the military, the members of my entire family have served and are serving. We have always been willing to volunteer to serve our country, to endanger our lives in order to protect our Torah, our land and our people. Yet, this recent mobilization, along with the defeatist policy tying the hands of our army, is yet another enormous break in the faith that we have had in the government of Israel, the army and the rabbis.
We would understand if indeed there had been a major danger and the operation had to take place immediately; this would not be the first time that soldiers were called up on a Shabbat or holiday. But in the recent case of the "retaliation" for a rocket barrage, the call up was nothing more than a show of muscle serving the political agenda of those criminals: Ariel Sharon, Sha'ul Mofaz and Dan Chalutz.
It was not because of yet another "work accident' or another elimination of one of the murderous terrorists of the Hamas that the repeated missile fire hit our cities. It was certainly not the first time that we have been hit by dozens of missiles. Recently, only a few months ago as a matter of fact, over 60 missiles hit Katif and the Negev in a few short hours. But then, clearly because it was the Jewish residents of Katif that were attacked, there was no need to even pretend to respond.
In the midst of this horrific war, we keep burying our children. On the eve of Succot, we suffered yet another unbearable loss of one of the precious flowers from our community, Matat, H.y.d., along with her cousin Kineret, H.y.d., and a young boy, Oz, H.y.d., who were cut down by the same terrorists for the same reason - empty threats to an enemy that should not be there in the first place.
Disengagement, indeed. From what did this government disengage? This dangerous, weak and corrupt government disengaged from the most important part of our tradition and religion. They callously mobilized our sons, forcing us to violate Shabbat, for them to be used in yet another media promotion.
I do not claim that it is easy to defeat the terrorists, but they will never be defeated until the government of Israel decides to do so. To really get in there and mop up the infrastructure of terror that is murdering our children - those who are in uniform and those who are trying to get a ride home safely without being shot down in cold blood. But they are being shot down, under the eyes of an army that is not allowed to defend and protect them.
This is the first time that I say that I don't want my sons there. I don't want them fighting there, not after we were banished, ethnically cleansed, from Katif. Not after our lives were broken, our synagogues desecrated and our Land given to the murderers who we knew would only be strengthened by the insane act of ethnic cleansing - and for no good reason.
What is the answer that the government gives after this wanton destruction and desecration? More walls, more fences - and more terror directed against us.
After cynically using the soldiers as robots of destruction and having these soldiers - who joined the Israel Defense Forces to protect Jewish lives - turn Jew against Jew, why should our sons go back to Gaza now? Is this disengagement? What of the ludicrously empty promises that it is for the security of Israel that we, the residents of Katif, must be removed and our communities be destroyed? Where now is the army's "determination and sensitivity" proclaimed in the public relations propaganda of Sharon?
The "determination and sensitivity" is found in the same empty promises of a solution for each resident (dead and alive) that today find people with no homes, no employment, and the knowledge that, at best, we can hope to be relocated only one or two more times before we can perhaps begin to rebuild and regain our lives.
It is unacceptable that we allow ourselves to be forced to break our holy Shabbat in order to create photo-ops for Sharon. It is unacceptable that the Israel Defense Forces be used to cynically show muscle to terrorists who know that our army will not re-enter Gaza, and who know also the terrible price we will pay if, indeed, our sons will go in.
We are left in a situation where even the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces is silenced while the holy Shabbat is desecrated for no justified reason. It is pikuach nefesh to mobilize those soldiers who are actively involved in protecting Jewish lives, not for hundreds of Jewish soldiers who were mobilized for a show of force. Why is IDF Chief Rabbi Weiss silent? This same rabbi who removed our dead from their graves as a part of the "disengagement" is silent while an Israeli government "disengages" from our most sacred traditions.
We will not be silent, we will not forgive, nor will we forget this additional blow against us, the Jewish people. We must prevent further violations of our Torah, and protect our soldiers and our land from the weakness and betrayal of the governments of Israel. We have faith that HaShem will guide us back to leadership that will protect all that is holy to the Jewish people. We pray that we will find leadership that will fulfill the responsibilities we have as a nation, keep the Shabbat holy and return our army to be the army of David, which proclaims to the world, as did David when he ran toward the giant Goliath, "The world should know that there is a G-d in Israel." Amen.