The enemies of Israel have learned a lesson that has served the anti-Semites of the world throughout the generations. When faced with internal dissent or upheaval it is always prudent to point to and blame the Jews. There are always two good reasons to do that. First, the Jews are not well liked by a large part of the world. Second, Jews - in a copy of the classic "abused child syndrome" - take the blame on themselves.


The Palestinians are gripped in a bitter internal struggle that does not discern between the innocent and the guilty. Yet, both Hamas and Fatah understand that if no common ground for a ceasefire can be found, then they can always blame, attack and vilify the Jews. As a result, the warring factions compete to see who can lob more rockets at the civilian population of Sderot and the western Negev. Israel retaliates hesitantly, and yet, even that minor reaction is enough to set the wolves of the world to begin their howling accusations and their blistering attacks. In a brief survey of the recent headlines in the prestigious New York Times covering the Kassam rocket attacks on Israel, one can easily identify the trend. These are a few of the recent headlines:


"Israel Seizes 33 Palestinians in Crackdown in West Bank" (May 25, 2007)


"Israel Hits Hamas Posts in Gaza with Airstrikes" (May 26, 2007)


"Israelis Bomb Hamas Targets in Gaza, Killing 5, and Arrest a 2nd Cabinet Minister" (May27, 2007)


And finally, culminating with: "Hamas Fires Mortars After Palestinian is Killed" (June 4, 2007)


One almost gets the impression from this type of reporting that the Palestinians were peacefully farming their lands and running their businesses until the Israelis began their latest rampage. The stage is set for blaming the Jews again.

The stage is set for blaming the Jews again.



One can see the same mechanism building up on the Syrian front. The UN Security Council has decided to establish an international court to try the leadership of Syria, Basher Assad and his relatives, for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Syrian president, looking to divert the attention from himself, has begun the preparation for a limited war against Israel. Recently, the Syrians have been acquiring anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and cruise missiles from Russia.


The Hizbullah have been watching with great concern the airlift of American weaponry into Lebanon in order to aid the Lebanese government in their current struggle in northern Lebanon and in Ain Al-Hilwe, a sprawling camp packed with more than 47,000 refugees. The struggle against Islamist militants like the Fatah Al-Islam militia, a group inspired by Al-Qaeda, has concerned the Hizbullah with the fear that they will be the next victim of the American-equipped Lebanese army. As a result, here too, there are murmurings of a desire to attack Israel.


Israeli political leadership is still floundering and vacillating as to how to deal with the threats that loom ahead in Israel's immediate future. Our current prime minister is the same individual who declared in 2005 in an address to the Israel Policy Forum how tired he was.


Then-Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert explained, "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies."


Well, he certainly has created that "entirely different environment of relations with our enemies."


It is not a random fact that this government expelled the Jews of the Gaza settlements on exactly the same dates as when the spies sent by Moshe came back with an evil report. It is also not by chance that the Second Lebanon War began during those same days of weakness of spirit. It is the faint heart that led to the decision not to enter the Land of Israel that set these days on the Jewish calendar in infamy. It is no wonder that the same spirit led to the expulsion of Jews from their homes on these dates. It was that same weak heart that led to the unspirited leadership during the Second Lebanon War during these same days. It is these same days that we are approaching this summer.


And Calev stilled the people toward Moshe, and said: "We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." But the men that went up with him said: "We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we." ....and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." (Bamidbar/Numbers 13; 30- 33)


Therein lays the trap and the problem. As long as our leadership and a large segment of our people see themselves as grasshoppers, unable to contend with the "giants" that surround us, we are destined for greater failure. Hamas, Hizbullah and Bashar Assad are being enticed not by the allure of their power, but rather by the sickly smell of Israel's self-appraisal of weakness.


Yet, in this realization comes the solution as well. One of our great sages, the Gaon of Vilna, wrote that it is the "sin of the spies" that will plague the Jewish people throughout the generations until the last days:


Many will fall in this great sin of, "They despised the cherished Land." Also many guardians of the Torah will not know or understand that they are caught in the sin of the spies, that they have been drawn into the sin of the spies by many false ideas and empty claims, and they support their claims with the already proven fallacy that the commandment to settle the Land of Israel no longer applies in our day, an opinion which has already been refuted by the Torah giants of the world, both the early and later authorities. (Kol HaTor, Chapter 5)


It is in these last days that the "sin" will have to be rectified as the opportunity arises.

The sin of the spies will have to be rectified as the opportunity arises.

That opportunity is beginning to loom before us again. We need to establish once again the spirit of Calev and declare, "We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." It was in Hebron, the city of Calev, that I witnessed that spirit alive and well recently.


We were participating in the wedding of Rivka and Chanoch at the steps of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. It was a celebration infused with joy, determination and vision. We sang and danced with old and young people who would not let the threats that surround them deter them from their voyage. At one point, as we gathered for evening prayers, shots rang out in some hidden alleyway in the Casbah. No one flinched or stopped their silent meditation and the prayers continued until the band began to play again. As the dancing resumed, I thought how all things can be put into perspective in one momentary decision and experience. People of vision will not let momentary fears and diversionary noise interrupt their forward-looking appointment with destiny. So, the declaration of Calev needs to be repeated and memorized, "for we are well able to overcome."


This time, that declaration needs to come in the form of actions, not words. Assad needs to understand that his exploits may lead to his demise. Hizbullah needs to sense that an old-new spirit has returned to Israel's defense forces. Hamas needs to be returned to the holes and cellars they crawled out of. Powerful actions in the Gaza arena and in the north may not completely cripple our enemies, but they would reestablish the delicate balance of power that has been shifted by the grasshoppers. That simple truth would not only overturn the damage created by the action of little leaders in our generation, but it may be the action needed to overturn the actions of ten men who saw themselves as grasshoppers over 3,118 years ago.