As is usually the case when attending such events, we all left last week's "First Convention of Eretz Yisrael Shelanu" (the Land of Israel is Ours) feeling pretty optimistic.
Here we were in the middle of Tel Aviv, at the ZOA house, giving accolades to MK Michael Ben Ari, while reaffirming our commitment to the ideal that the land of Israel belongs to us. Speaker after speaker reiterated this same message in a most powerful and inspiring way – Eretz Yisrael Shelanu – the land is ours!
So why was I feeling so depressed on the way home?
Maybe because after all the euphoria wore off, I realized that the national camp has made no progress over the last 25 years.
Is that all we could come up with? Is that the sole message of the nationalist camp, of the "extremists", many of whom are counted as among the students of Rabbi Kahane, H"yd? The land of Israeli is ours? That's it?
I thought that issue was already settled. Thought it was time to move ahead, to progress a bit.
When do we move forward and start talking about the fact that there are Arabs here in Israel who think that the land of Israel is theirs? Isn't it about time we related to them, and starting offering solutions?
When do we take it to the next level? After all, if the land of Israeli is really ours, then it's not theirs. And if it's not theirs, then what are they doing here endangering us? And what do we do about this hostile population which grows steadily in its confidence and numbers?
Not only haven't we progressed, but we are going backwards. The late Rabbi Kahane was addressing the Arab issue in the 70's and 80's, and later Gereral and MK Rechavam Zeevi , H"yd placed the Arab problem on top of his agenda (at least before election time).
And now, decades later, all we can come up with is "Erez Yisrael Shelanu"? Does this slogan offer an alternative to the left, who at least relate to the Arab problem, by proposing separation between Arabs and Jews via the uprooting of Jewish communities and expelling Jews. Does it prevent future uprising against Jews by the Arabs within Israel? Of course not. The slogan "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu" essentially ignores the Arab presence, preferring to speak in generalities so as to gain a consensus.
This inability to even mention anything "Arab" is the greatest victory of the Israeli media and judiciary. They have effectively conditioned us that the highest value in our society is "democracy", "equality", "tolerance", etc, and any other value, such as preservation of Jewish life, is "racist".
As a result, the nationalist camp is emasculated, offering no real solution, and thus no real hope to the burgeoning Arab issue. This is certainly scary, since the Arab threat is so much more acute than it was in the days of Rabbi Kahane, yet, instead of emphasizing the problem and placing it at the top of our agenda (after all, our physical survival depends on it), we remain silent, in fear of breaking the sacred taboo.
Perhaps this can partly explain the puzzling, across the board hysterical condemnation of the "price-tag" (tag machir) vandalism, minor actions directed against Arab targets, not proven to be perpetrated by Jews, but aimed at the source of anti-Jewish incitement, Islamic mosques.
The youth who allegedly engage in such attacks, without judging the acts themselves, are taking things to the next level. They know that if "the land of Israel belongs to us", this obligates one to fight those who are consider us trespassers on our own land. They feel that if a family in Itamar is slaughtered, building more "settlements" is not the appropriate answer anymore, but that emptying the Arab villages that spawn these murderers might be.
Certainly, to ignore the Arab danger will not make the problem go away. On the contrary it will grow worse. And if we don't even talk about it, how will we ever get around to doing anything about it?