FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE











How can anyone in the world, politically astute, who looks at the map and the demographics and says it’s within the power of the Jewish people to bring peace?

 There is a chorus around the world which accompanies our peace process which states: “Go on with this peace process. It is good for you. It is the only way. You are morally obliged to continue”. We hear it from everywhere in the whole of enlightened Europe. “The number of Jews killed in terrorist attacks is small, and you are accustomed to death. You have been hounded for generations, and lost six million only three generations ago. With one and a half million children among  those millions, what matters it in the grand scheme of things if another teenager is murdered.”

A nation worn and grief-stricken from the devastation of the Holocaust believed that its victory in war, the final arbiter of international politics, would ensure its ultimate acceptance in the region.

Yet the Arabs refuse to play by the rules. Losing each successive war, they have insisted on maintaining their siege of the Jewish state. Israel’s behavior since the onset of the peace process has been a course of concessions by the stronger party to weaker enemies, who remain committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. The theory behind it is that accommodation by Israel will assuage Arab intransigence and buy the Jews acceptance in the region. On the contrary, Jewish experience has proven that a policy of surrender does not bring you honour in your enemies’ eyes but only whets their appetite.

The Jews, generally a liberal and pacific people – not to mention an exhausted one - can no longer take the strain. No other people in the 20th century has been so subject to the politics of deligitimation and aggression.

If you look at the moral history of the 20th century, to stand up for the Jews has meant standing up to the most aggressive political forces. When the Jews stand up for themselves here in Israel they’re not just protecting the Jews, they are at one and the same time standing up to the most debilitating, aggressive forces of our century. And if they lose this struggle, in a sense they involve the world in a tremendous loss.

As the US ambassador to the United Nations, said only last week: “Peace only has a fighting chance when all sides will be dealing with realities, not fantasies, and when we deal with realities then reasonable negotiated compromises can prevail over absolutist demands.”

Passover and Easter are the harbingers of spring - the season of renewal, and hope for the future. May we all enjoy  a pleasant and peaceful holiday, together with our loved ones.




Comments

  1. Leonie Weiss30 March 2018 at 06:12

    Beautifully written article, succint and REAL. If you look at the map of the Arab world, it resembles a dog, with tiny us, the "dead dog" valiantly clinging on to the back of its neck. We are still hanging in there, but can we bite hard enough to show this animal that we have as much right to inhabit this earth as it does?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GRANDMA'S ARMY AT WAR

  Six-and-a-haIf years ago I began to write a blog “Grandma’s Army”, as I had seven grandchildren serving in the army at the same time.   Little did I dream that today, that number would jump to seven + ten, Apart from two in the regular army, all the rest are in the Reserves. Both of my sons, who are over 60 years-old, are in army uniform again. They have volunteered to drive army trucks for transport purposes all over the country, after taking a special driving course. Since I began this blog, Azriel and his wife have returned to live in their home on the moshav. They had been evacuated since the beginning of the war, since their home is in the “Gaza envelope”. Azriel has four children and one son-in-law in the army since the beginning. His officer daughter, Adi was called up to the War room of the Gaza Brigade on the second day of the war: “When the first Givati ground forces of the regular army entered Gaza, I knew that my fiancé, Hillel, was amongst them serving a...
Read more

A DIABOLICAL STRATEGY

It’s a verified fact that Hamas has been planning the ongoing war with Israel for decades. Hamas knew that they could not beat Israel militarily.  They also knew that  Israel would retaliate very strongly after the massacre on October 7 th - and the kidnapping and abuse of 252 men, women, children and babies. Hamas spent almost twenty years preparing the Gaza Strip as a killing ground for Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. The  massive network of tunnels spanned more kilometers than the London Underground and  New York metro combined!  By integrating their military operations throughout civilian infrastructure - these tunnels served as missile launchers and storehouses of lethal weapons underneath kindergartens, schools, hospitals, even mosques, etc. The IDF had no choice but to fight the terrorists from, or close to, residential and commercial areas. In all those years, Hamas deliberately prepared nothing to protect it’s own civilians. On the co...
Read more

GRANDMA'S ARMY AT WAR - I

  My oldest daughter, Simcha, has four sons in the Reserves, plus her son-in-law: Her oldest son, Nir, is a Major in the Givati commandos. He was on his way to volunteer at 11:00 a.m. on October 7 th , before his call-up papers arrived. His present service is connected to Intelligence activities and is not for   the public ear. Omer, from the Givati Battalion, also went straight to his army base on the 7 th of October, before his call-up papers arrived two days later. Givati forces are in charge of combatting terrorism in the Gaza Strip area His first assignment was as Deputy Commander of the Forward Command Squad. Because of chronic back problems, he was transferred to the Battalion’s War Room where he is part of a small team. He monitors orders between the Battalions and Brigades, deals with problems of the ground forces in his command, and records the day’s military activities. Assaf wrote: “At 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7 th , my wife Deni left for her work as a nur...
Read more