"This process didn’t start today," Cohen told Arutz-7 today. "I sat in the Knesset the other day during the vote on the Evacuation/Compensation bill, and I tried to do a cheshbon nefesh, an accounting of where we - where I - went wrong."
Cohen, mother of Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, joined Menachem Begin's Etzel organization in 1942, and later joined the Lechi organization, for which she was an underground radio announcer. She was captured by the British in 1946 , and later escaped from prison. She was elected to the Knesset five times – twice on the Likud list in the 1970's, and three times in the 1980's on behalf of the Techiya party that she helped found in opposition to the Camp David agreements with Eygpt.
Today's Cabinet vote, in fact, was not the first time in Israeli history that the government voted to uproot Jews from their homes. The first time involved Yamit and a dozen nearby communities in northwestern Sinai, as part of the peace treaty with Egypt that was signed in 1979. Both Cohen and her son Tzachi were intensely involved in efforts to oppose the handover of the land to Egypt.
"We always speak about our failure to 'settle in the people's hearts,'" she said today, "but the issue is not the settlements or the settlers, but rather the Land of Israel [Eretz Yisrael]. There's not enough deep-seated love for the land... We should have had unceasing education to love Eretz Yisrael – that's the big mistake of our educational systems. Rabbi [Moshe] Levinger [of Hevron] always said that if we don't start with love for the Land, we'll ultimately have difficult times, and he was right. We always take love of the Land for granted, but it's not true, it's no longer true. Secondly, of late we've talked too much about democracy; whether the decision was made democratically or not, and the like. I am also guilty of this; I am against a referendum, but I've been dragged lately into thinking that it might be a good idea...
Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane: "You surprise me by saying that we must do an accounting. What about the left? After all, they're the ones making the decisions."
Cohen: "That's what I'm saying, that we're always talking about what they did wrong, instead of what we did wrong. They always talk about democracy, but they act undemocratically, going straight to their goal of getting rid of the settlements and settlers. And then we try and stop them – but we're never good at doing that; our strength is always when we did things positively. When was Gush Emunim [the ideological settlement organization of Judea, Samaria and Gaza] at the height of its success? When we built more and more communities, and when we went to more and more hilltops – that's when we succeeded; we're good at 'doing,' and 'stopping' things..."
Q. "What do you think of what MK Uri Ariel said, that the Cabinet decision legitimizes the expulsion of Jews in other countries around the world, and that it cuts the branch of Zionism and pioneering on which the government sits?
Cohen [exasperated]: "So what? We've said it millions of times and I'm sick of it already. So what? First of all, the expulsion of Jews happens around the world even without this, and secondly, what it's cutting off primarily is us... In the end, I'm a person of faith, and I await a Purim-like miracle turning everything upside-down... We must continue the struggle; we will of course not lift a hand against anyone, but I also say that we will not lift a foot, to leave on our own. G-d will do His part, and we have to do our part."
Cohen, mother of Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, joined Menachem Begin's Etzel organization in 1942, and later joined the Lechi organization, for which she was an underground radio announcer. She was captured by the British in 1946 , and later escaped from prison. She was elected to the Knesset five times – twice on the Likud list in the 1970's, and three times in the 1980's on behalf of the Techiya party that she helped found in opposition to the Camp David agreements with Eygpt.
Today's Cabinet vote, in fact, was not the first time in Israeli history that the government voted to uproot Jews from their homes. The first time involved Yamit and a dozen nearby communities in northwestern Sinai, as part of the peace treaty with Egypt that was signed in 1979. Both Cohen and her son Tzachi were intensely involved in efforts to oppose the handover of the land to Egypt.
"We always speak about our failure to 'settle in the people's hearts,'" she said today, "but the issue is not the settlements or the settlers, but rather the Land of Israel [Eretz Yisrael]. There's not enough deep-seated love for the land... We should have had unceasing education to love Eretz Yisrael – that's the big mistake of our educational systems. Rabbi [Moshe] Levinger [of Hevron] always said that if we don't start with love for the Land, we'll ultimately have difficult times, and he was right. We always take love of the Land for granted, but it's not true, it's no longer true. Secondly, of late we've talked too much about democracy; whether the decision was made democratically or not, and the like. I am also guilty of this; I am against a referendum, but I've been dragged lately into thinking that it might be a good idea...
Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane: "You surprise me by saying that we must do an accounting. What about the left? After all, they're the ones making the decisions."
Cohen: "That's what I'm saying, that we're always talking about what they did wrong, instead of what we did wrong. They always talk about democracy, but they act undemocratically, going straight to their goal of getting rid of the settlements and settlers. And then we try and stop them – but we're never good at doing that; our strength is always when we did things positively. When was Gush Emunim [the ideological settlement organization of Judea, Samaria and Gaza] at the height of its success? When we built more and more communities, and when we went to more and more hilltops – that's when we succeeded; we're good at 'doing,' and 'stopping' things..."
Q. "What do you think of what MK Uri Ariel said, that the Cabinet decision legitimizes the expulsion of Jews in other countries around the world, and that it cuts the branch of Zionism and pioneering on which the government sits?
Cohen [exasperated]: "So what? We've said it millions of times and I'm sick of it already. So what? First of all, the expulsion of Jews happens around the world even without this, and secondly, what it's cutting off primarily is us... In the end, I'm a person of faith, and I await a Purim-like miracle turning everything upside-down... We must continue the struggle; we will of course not lift a hand against anyone, but I also say that we will not lift a foot, to leave on our own. G-d will do His part, and we have to do our part."