This miraculous opportunity from G-d is too good for Israel’s weak-kneed leaders to embrace as an incredible door that has opened. Let’s waste it.
Just the other day, the Knesset voted 71-13 that Judea and Samaria beyond the 1967 “Green Line” is as much a part of Israel as are the pre-1967 boundaries. 71-13.
Who voted against it?
The Arab parties. OK, that is fair. It’s not like Naftali Bennett, Matan Kahana, Avigdor Liberman, Gadi Eisenkot, and Benny Gantz would sit with them in an Israeli government coalition. Right? Unthinkable! And the Labor-Meretz gang — whatever they call themselves — are against it. Surprising? Nope. But neither the Arabs nor the Labor-Meretz “Democrats” matter anymore. They are hangers-on, vestiges of a past that was built on the separate dreams of Karl Marx and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
After half a century of dominance, the Israeli Left’s role now is two-fold: keep Kaplan Square busy on Motz’ei Shabbat and offer just a small handful of Knesset seats from the left fringe to enable Gantz, Bennett, and Lapid to eke out over 60 seats in a coalition.
More interesting is that, when push came to shove, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz showed their colors. They had a doctor’s note that the flu, and they could not come to school the day of the vote. They chickened out, politically unable to vote against sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and scared to vote for it. At least the Liberman team took a stand on the issue, and the UTJ had enough united Torah Judaism to make an exception to their boycotting coalition votes on this occasion so that they, too, could be counted proudly for Yehudah and Shomron.
That is good stuff. Many of us remember the day when the haredim would not shake the boat during a half centry of Labor Party governments, nor would the old Mafdal (National Religious Party, precursor to Matan Kahana) in an era when Orthodox Jewish “leaders” in Israel and America were overcome by overwhelming inferiority complexes. Back in those days, they voted with the left because, beyond lacking boldness, they lacked the simple self-confidence to know that Jews who live by Torah owe no apologies to the hetrodox who believe in nothing tangible, except maybe a god that does not exist — a god who does not appear in the Torah, the Quran, the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, or any other book of religion.
Now the Orthodox vote as Torah Jews, alongside those more bold, and secular nationalists who also stand for the Land of Israel. 71-13. 71-13. Remember those numbers: 71-13.
Which, of course, leads to the two letters that comprise one of the most important words in 3,300 years Jewish history:
Nu?
What now? You just voted 71-13 that Israeli sovereignty manifests itself over all of Judea and Samaria west of the Jordan River. So when will you do what you did with the eastern portion of United Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — namely, declare sovereignty, exercise sovereignty, and impose sovereignty over Yehuah and Shomron? If not now, when?
We all know the refrain. It is as common as “Nu.” It goes like this: “Now is not a good time. We need the right opportunity, the right moment.” This was what the pre-state Labor leaders told Jabostinksy for decades upon decades when he demanded they declare an independent country: “Now is not a good time. We need the right opportunity, the right moment.” Again and again throughout Jewish history, it has been that refrain that has held up Jewish destiny from being realized: Not yet. Not now. Soon.
So we went to sleep, dreaming of 71-13. Counting 71 sheep with wool and 13 without. 71 well fed cows and 13 emaciated. Then 71 servings of hummus, techinah, and pita, and 13 without pita. For dessert, 71 babkas with chocolate and 13 without. And then we woke up, hungry because no one had served any of the food.
We just needed the right opportunity, the right moment. So the very next day, it was as though G-d Almig-ty had gotten bored Himself with hearing the refrain and decided: “OK, stop it already. Here’s your excuse to act. Right now.” And, just as He once put words of blessing into the mouth of the Jew-hating Bil’am the Prophet, He put words into the mouth of the Jew-hating Emanual Macron, leader of the Jew-hating French who have sent so many of today’s Israeli nationals to the Jewish homeland on aliyah. He inspired Macron to declare that France will act to declare Judea and Samaria, Yehudah and Shomron, an Arab country to be led soon by Hamas. G-d opened the door — wide open.
There is no better moment, no better excuse, no better opportunity than right now for Israel’s government to take tangible steps, manifesting that the deed now is done, that Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is done. Just do it.
For those who fret and cannot quite bring themselves to do it all at once, that actually is OK. It is not a sin to be logical, just as long as you do not allow logic to interfere with Jewish destiny and G-d’s commands. Because, honestly, if you strictly follow logic, then you do not declare a country of Israel in the first place. You do not knock out Iranian nukes and 150,000 Hezbollah pinpoint-targeted missiles in 2025, and seven or four or three Arab countries in a war of 1948 or 1967. So it is OK to use logic, but within reason.
And here is the logical way to implement sovereignty for those too chicken to do it all at once:
All you need is to implement sovereignty in three simple, obvious locations: (i) the Jordan Valley, (ii) Gush Etzion in Judea, and (iii) Ariel in Samaria. Prime Minister Netanyahu in the past ran his Likud campaign on a promise to annex the Jordan Valley. He did so, knowing that the Jordan Valley is critical to Israel’s defense, something that unites a great many even on the sane non-suicidal Israeli Left. As for Gush Etzion, even many in the Israeli Labor Party support holding Gush Etzion in any final deal with the Arabs. It is an easy political act with a great deal of emotional resonance because of the story of The 35 and the very history of the founding of Israel. Gush Etzion is, in American terms, The Alamo. And Ariel is a city of more than 20,000 with its own university.
Macron opened the door the very day after the 71-13 vote. From all appearances, his declaration did not even reflect he knew of the Knesset vote. His main concern right now, from what the media report, is that the lunatic podcaster Candace Owens has created a stir among conspiracy “influencers” on the internet that Macron’s wife, the one who slapped him in the face on the airplane, actually is a male disguised (somewhat) as a female. Is she a man or a woman? The Two-Mate Solution. He is suing Owens for defamation.
So that is Macron. He has opened the door wide open to implement annexation. The Knesset just voted 71-13. The Jordan Valley, Gush Etzion, and Ariel obviously are not going to be ceded by Israel anyway. That day has passed.
Only a government of Israel would waste such a G-d given opportunity to act right now.
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