УA Jewish State Without God?
Why Critics of the СPeace ProcessТ Have Been IneffectiveФ
УA Jewish State Without God?
Why Critics of the СPeace ProcessТ Have Been IneffectiveФ
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ommenting on the Torah portion, the Life of Sara (in his monumental ouvre, Frameworks), Matis Weinberg writes:а УWith the Cave of Machpela, Avraham discovered Е the intensity of his love of Sara, the depth of his roots in the earth, and his own need to remain rooted ЕФаа
In a marginal note, Rabbi Weinberg quotes Simone Weil:а УTo be rooted is perhaps the most important and the least recognized need of the human soul.Фаа Unfortunately, IsraelТs two most powerful office-holders, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Supreme Court President Aaron Barak, are oblivious of this simple but profound truth, being themselves severed from the roots of the Jewish People.а That such men should be at the helm of the supposed-to-be Jewish state is a mockery of Judaism and the Jewish heritage.а Indeed, these Уpost-ZionistsФ are making Israel rootless, landless, and godless.
But let us not obscure the failings of Zionists, be they secular or religious.а Again Rabbi Weinberg:а УThe first acquisition of Eretz Yisrael was an act of love, an act which set the stamp of Avraham and Sara on the Land for all its future.а It was an act of love sealed in the city of Hebron, which translates literally as Сbonding.ТФ
How pallid the love displayed by our secular and religious Zionists in the Knesset.а How they yielded, tamely and uncaringly, to the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993, the so-called Oslo agreement with terrorists sponsored by the government of the United States.
If anything is lacking among IsraelТs political and judicial elites, it is love, a caring love for the one and only Jewish homeland.а Thus it is that the late Yitzhak Rabin scornfully said of the Golan Heights, УThis is tank land, not holy land.Фа Thus it is that under RabinТs authority as both Prime Minister and Defense Minister, the words УEretz Yisrael,Ф as well as the words УJudaismФ and УZionism,Фа were stricken from the Soldiers Code of Ethics.а Thus it is that Ehud Barak, who was IsraelТs Chief of Staff at the time, raised no objection to this mindless deJudaizing of IsraelТs Defense Forces.а Thus it is that loveless generals-turned-politicians are making Israel a Уstate of its citizens,Ф rather than the State of the Jews!а
Consistent therewith, so little does Justice Aaron Barak love the Jewish heritage that he has been instructing Israeli judges, contrary to the Foundations of Law Act of 1980, that Jewish law and principles should not be given a preferred status vis-a-vis American, English, and Continental law.а He writes:а УIt should never be said that a particular [legal] system has the primary claim to interpretive inspiration.Фа (Imagine a US Supreme Court justice teaching his fellow-countrymen, УIt should never be said that the American legal system has the primary claim to interpretive inspirationФ!)
As elaborated in my book Jewish Statesmanship: Lest Israel Fall,* the Barak court, by forsaking the Jewish legal and moral heritage, has been assaulting the emotions and expectations of the older population, while rendering young people rootless and aimless, placing all at the mercy of personal whim, chance, and accident.а Lacking a sense of national identity and purpose, is it any wonder that Israel is forsaking its heartland and retreating to the 1949 УAuschwitzФ lines?
ааааааааааа The loss of IsraelТs heartland, however, needs to be understood not only in secular termsЧthe tendency of most right-wing critics of the Oslovian Уpeace process.Фа The Jews of Israel are suffering the humiliating and deadly consequences of godless government,а of political and judicial leaders who scorn the TorahЧandа with the compliance of the religious parties!
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It needs to be understood that the reported corruption of President Ezer Weizman and of Prime Minister Ehud Barak[x1] is very much a manifestation of an utterly corrupt system of government, one whose political and judicial institutions are further removed from Jewish principles of governance than the political and judicial institutions of any of the seventy-five countries now classified as democracies!а In Israel alone, the entire country constitutes a single district where citizens have to vote for fixed party lists rather than for individual candidates directly accountable to them in constituency or multidistrict elections.а The consequence is rampant corruption.а Moreover, IsraelТs Supreme Court is the only court in the world whose membership is determined primarily by the judges themselves rather than by popularly elected bodies.а The consequence is self-perpetuating oligarchy.а How can love of Eretz Yisrael flourish in this polluted atmosphere, where irresponsibility and open contempt for the heritage of the Jewish People are entrenched in the highest offices of the State?
It will be of no avail to replace the present regime with conventional Zionists.а As Rabbi Weinberg concludes:а УThe bond to Eretz Yisrael cannot be based on petty nationalism. It is a bond Е that penetrates deeper than any tribal rights to land or ethnic demands for political entities, [it is] a uniquely personal bond.а As geopolitical forces focus on the nature of our attachment to the Land of Israel and demand of us soil-searching reconsideration, we need to remember that it became ours first and last through the love of a womanЧthe very Life of Sara, indeed.Ф
But let us also remember that Avraham is also called a УloverФ of God (Isaiah 41:8).а His Covenant with God is the source of the Jewish claim to Eretz Yisrael.
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II.а
Anyone for God?
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nlike Jewish leaders, Arab leaders frequently invoke the name of God in their ceaseless quest to gain control of the Land of Israel.а Even if they have murder in their hearts, their appeal to God sanctifies His name and thereby furthers the Arab cause vis-a-vis Israel whose leaders are unabashed secularists, not to say practical atheists.
ааааааааааа These words may disturb some readers, but they go to the heart of the Arab-Jewish conflict.а They also underlie the failure of secular as well as religious critics of the Уpeace processФ to have any discernible effect on IsraelТs government-sponsored death march.
ааааааааааа No one can deny that the Arabs have made enormous gains since Anwar SadatТs historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977.а Recall his speech in the Knesset, a speech broadcast to countless millions of people around the world.а In the first ten sentences of that speech Sadat intoned the name of God ten times!
ааааааааааа The question of causality aside, the fact remains that Egypt recovered the Sinai with its Alma oil fields and sophisticated air basesЧa $17 billion infrastructure developed by Jews.а All this Egypt obtained in exchange for what Sadat scornfully called Уa piece of paper.Ф
ааааааааааа And when Yasser Arafat triumphantly marched into Gaza and spoke of the ultimate aims of the УPalestinians,Ф he, too, invoked he name of God on behalf of the Arab cause.а Behold the result:а Is it not obvious that his cohorts are also gaining control of Judea and Samaria?
ааааааааааа Turn, now, to the late King Hussein of Jordan.а Again and again Hussein intoned the name of God while calling for Уpeace and justice,Ф whether he was speaking from Amman or from Washington.а And lo and behold, in October 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israel for which he was rewarded by the godless government of Yitzhak Rabin with 330 square kilometers of Jewish land!а The same godless government endowed Jordan with custodial rights on the Temple Mount, the holiest site of the Holy Land, the site where GodТs presence was most manifest.аа Yet the religious parties supported that treaty, that Hilul Hashem!
ааааааааааа Arabs, inspired by УAllahФ and confident in the justice of their cause, advance; Jews longing for peace and silent about God retreat.а Let us first try to understand the Arab advance and the Jewish retreat in psychological terms.
ааааааааааа Because Jews clamor only for peace, they make no demands on Arabs.а Indeed, Israeli governments are ever making gratuitous concessions.а This can only arouse Arab contempt and encourage them to make more demands, however outrageous.а But the Arabs are predisposed to make demands if only because they demand Уpeace and justice.Ф
ааааааааааа Now justice involves a relation between persons and things.а In the present context, the persons are Arabs and Jews, while the things consist of land.а Arab leaders vow they will not be satisfied until they possess all the Land of Israel; the Jews are satisfied with a mere strip of this land.а The asymmetry is striking.
ааааааааааа The ArabТs maximalist attitude, parading in terms of justice, precludes justice.а So does the Jewish attitude, which is silent about justice.а The Jews are also silent about Divine Justice, according to which the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People.а The Jews want only peace, for which they are willing to give Arabs land.а But peace, unlike land, is not a tangible thing.а Justice in these terms is not possible.а Only Divine Justice is possible, but this exalted idea does not animate IsraelТs godless leaders.
ааааааааааа Nevertheless, godless Jews have been desperately seeking a common ground with their Arab enemies.а The Jews would like to believe that Arabs, like themselves, fear violent death, hence war.а But Arab suicide-bombers tell a different story:а they believe in paradise.а Godless Jews do not.а Another asymmetry.а As for religious Jews, they cling to life under the concept of Уpekuach nefesh.Фа So how can Jews, by yielding land, purchase peace from Arabs who love war and even death in the name of УAllahФ?
ааааааааааа God
has given the Jews УgoodФ enemies!а For
this enemy serves but one world-historical purpose, which is to render obvious
the ineptitude and failure of the godless State of Israel and the necessity of
reconstructing it on new grounds.а
IsraelТs enemy, being implacable, will compel Jews to become
Jews, to turn to God and not to America, for their salvation!а This leads to our next topic.
III.а
Anyone for a Godly Israel?
I raise this question because there are various Zionist organizations here and abroad for a safe as well as for a strong Israel.а These organizations have performed an important service.а They have exposed the duplicitous and deadly nature of the Oslovian peace process.а They have shown with compelling evidence that the Israel-PLO agreements have armed IsraelТs enemies, have brought not peace but a war of attrition which has demoralized the Jewish people and truncated their one and only homeland.
ааааааааааа I sometimes wonder, however, whether most Jews, be they Zionists or not, have an adequate understanding of what can make Israel safe and strong.а Indeed, at the risk of alienating friends, I wonder whether emphasis on a УsafeФ or УstrongФ Israel is not counterproductive, in that such emphasis may obscure the one thing needed to make Israel safe and strong.а The mere fact that Zionist organizations have failed to have any discernible impact on the land-for-peace policy of Israeli governments from Begin to Barak suggests, especially in view of their compelling revelations regarding the fraudulent and fatal nature of that policy, that they need to think more deeply about what Israel is all about.
ааааааааааа To be for a safe or a strong Israel is certainly meritorious, so long as it does not obscure the dire need of Jews to be, above all, for a Godly Israel, for only a Godly Israel can be truly safe and truly strong.а Thus we read in the prophet Zechariah:а УNot by armed might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of HostsФ (4:5).а Let us try to understand this verse by means of IsraelТs most sacred symbol, the Menorah.
ааааааааааа The light of the Menorah symbolizes knowledge, precisely spiritual enlightenment.а The source of spiritual enlightenment is of course God.а This enlightenment is manifested in the words of the Torah.а As King David has written:а УThe Word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathФ (Psalms 119:105).а Or as his son King Solomon has written:а УFor the Commandment is a lamp and the Teaching a lightФ (Proverbs 6:23).
ааааааааааа Israel will be safe and strong only if its prime ministers are men of Torah.а Only if they imbue every heart and home with the light of the Torah will Israel enjoy peace.а УFor instruction shall go forth from Me, and I will create a quiet abode for My [people], so that it may shine upon the nationsФ (Isaiah 51:4).а УO House of Jacob, come let us walk in the light of GodФ (Isaiah 2:5).а When Israel suffers murder and misery, it is because Уthey rebel against the light, do not recognize the ways of God and never seek serenity [or peace] in His pathsФ (Job 24:13).
ааааааааааа As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch points out, Scripture uses the words УlampФ and УlightФ as metaphors for the source of growth and life, of undisturbed progress and happiness.а Hence the spirit of God mentioned in Zechariah denotes not only the means for attaining perception, but also the motivation for action.аа
ааааааааааа Now, it should be noted that the Menorah resembles a tree with a central shaft generating three branches from one side and three branches from the other side.а The central shaft symbolizes the spirit of God.а From Isaiah (11:2) we learn that whereas the three branches of one side of the Menorah symbolize wisdom, counsel, and knowledge, the three branches from the other side symbolize understanding, strength, and fear of God.а Imbued with the spirit of God, Israel will unite theory and practice, perception and accomplishment.а
ааааааааааа Unless they stem from the spirit of God, what is called Уwisdom,Ф Уcounsel,Ф Уknowledge,Ф Уunderstanding,Ф and УstrengthФ will be futile.аа УI am the Lord Е that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishФ (Isaiah 44:24-25).а As for the fear (really awe) of God, this, says King David, is Уthe beginning of wisdomФ (Psalms 111:10).аа If IsraelТs leaders feared God, they would not have made a covenant of death and lies with PLO terrorists. (See Isaiah 28:15.)а
But merely to critically analyze the suicidal stupidity and mendacity of IsraelТs political elites will have no impact on their behavior, since such knowledge is not linked to the spirit of God.а This is why Isaiah says that God Уconfirms the words of His servant, and fulfills the counsel of His messengersФ (44:26). Which means that it is not enough for critics to expose the lies and lethal nature of the Oslovian peace process.а Their words must be motivated by the desire to sanctify the Name of God.а GodТs Name must be in their hearts and on their lips.аа
УThus said the Lord, your Redeemer and the One Who formed you [Israel] in the womb:а I am the Lord, Who has made everything; Who spread out the heavens by Myself, and formed the earth of My own accord; that frustrates the signs of imposters, and makes rulers mad ЕФ (Isaiah 44:24-25).а Are not IsraelТs rulers УmadФ?
Hence I say, all honor to those who are for a safe and strong Israel.а But now I ask:а Anyone for a Godly Israel?а And if not, perhaps this is why Israel is shrinking.
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IV.а Why
Israel is Shrinking
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ew
people really understand why Israel, undefeated in war, is withdrawing to her
precarious 1949 armistice lines.а Before
discussing this bizarre phenomenon, let us briefly review the stages of
Israel's truncation.
The
first step in Israel's withdrawal to the 1949 borders was taken in 1979 by the
Likud-led government of Menachem Begin, a vaunted nationalist who signed away
the Sinai to Egypt, a military dictatorship whose tourist maps of the Middle
East still omit the word УIsrael.Ф
The
second step was taken in 1993 by the Labor-led government of Yitzhak Rabin, a
reputedly principled politician.а
Nevertheless, contrary to his pledge to the nation, Rabin not only
agreed to withdraw from the Golan Heights, but signed away Gaza and Jericho to
the PLO, a criminal organization whose stationery logo depicts Israel asа УPalestine.Ф
The
third step in this shrinkage of Israel was taken by former Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, ostensibly a right-winger, who proceeded to withdraw from
80 percent of Hebron in 1997 and from other areas of Judea and Samaria the
following year.
Enter Prime Minister Ehud Barak, now preparing to abandon 18,000 Jewish residents on the Golan Heights, contrary to the position he held in 1995, when he was Chief of Staff.а In fact,а Barak is willing to withdraw unilaterally from the Golan, to surrender this land to Syrian dictator Hafez Assad, who celebrates the Yom Kippur War by having militia men twist the heads off puppies and drink their blood!а And to make this territorial retreat palatable to Israelis, Barak now praises Assad as a Уgreat manФЧthe man who said:а УI want to see a funeral on Israel television every dayФ!
Why
this insane and humiliating retreat, unprecedented in the annals of
history?а Why has Israel, with a never
defeated army and superior airforce, agreed to surrender part of its ancient
homeland?а This land was not only
conquered by Israel in 1967 in a war of self-defense, but the American Joint
Chiefs of Staff acknowledged that the Golan Heights, as well as the Judean and
Samarian hills, and even parts of the Sinai, were essential for Israel's
securityЧa strategic assessment affirmed to this day by now retired American
generals.
Why,
then, have various Israeli governments regarded this land, which so many Jews
yearned for, fought for, and died for, as expendable?а What is it that compels Israeli governments to yield this Jewish
patrimony to Arab despots who have used this land only to wage war against the
Jewish people?
As
indicated above, the conventional answer is American pressure on the one hand,
and IsraelТs loss of will or its yearning for peace on the other.а Anwar Sadat had a more penetrating view of
the matter.а Shortly after his Jerusalem
visit of November 1977, he declared: УFear is the second layer of skin of every
Israeli or Jew.Фа This suggests that
Israel is withdrawing to her 1949 borders because Jews are dominated by the
fear of violent death.а If so, Israel's
yearning for peace would merely be facade for cravennessЧas would her yielding
to American pressure.а We may go even
deeper.а
Almost
any normal person fears violent death.а
But for Jews to surrender part of their homeland to avoid violent death
suggests that they regard violent death as the greatest evil (the secular
foundation of HobbesТ 17th century but still current political
philosophy).а Obviously those who deem
violent death as the greatest evil will seek peace at any price.
And
yet, only arrant fools would expect to obtain genuine and abiding peace from
inherently bellicose Arab-Islamic regimes by surrendering territory.а Arabs can't live in peace with each other,
much less with Jews.а Indeed, the vast
majority of Israel's own Arab citizens have openly rejected Israel's right to
exist as a sovereign state!а This being
the case, to say that fear of violent death is that which underlies Israel's
withdrawal to its indefensible 1949 borders is insufficient.а To abject fear one may add stupidity or
madness.
What
is operating in Israel, however, is not mere stupidity but extraterrestrial
stupidity, not mere madness but metaphysically induced madnessЧas the
verses of Isaiah cited above illustrate.а
Which means that the ultimate reason why Israel is withdrawing to her 1949
borders is that this so-called Jewish state has relied on everything but God
for its salvation:а territorial depth,
military power, the United States, democratic sympathies abroad, Arab
recognition, and now Shimon PeresТ smug fantasy that Islam can be pacified by
the promise of economic prosperity in the Middle East.а How different from Arabs, who never fail to
invoke the name of Allah in their unrelenting quest for the Land of Israel.а And they are obtaining control of this land,
piece by piece.
This
piece-by-piece process is reducing the State of Israel to nothingness.а And so it must be, for this State, as may be
seen in the first sentence of its Declaration of Independence, is based on the
denial of the Sinai, hence of the God of Israel.а That first sentence proclaims, УThe Land of Israel was the
birthplace of the Jewish People.Фа This
denial of Sinai manifests the 19th century doctrine of Уterritorial
nationalism,Ф despite the fact that the Jews were a nation before they had a
land.а The only justification Jews have
for living on this land is that they live as a nation dedicated to God.а It is in this light that we are to
understand the fundamental reason why Israel is losing Eretz Yisrael.
Not
a single political or religious party presently in the Knesset has come to
grips with the one thing needful, to bring God back into the domain of
statecraft.а This could have been done
by translating the miracle of the Six-Day War of 1967 into public policy, i.e.,
by incorporating Judea, Samaria, and Gaza into the State of IsraelЧthis, when
the US was bogged down in Vietnam, and when only Israel could have prevented
Soviet penetration of the Persian Gulf.
The
God of Israel has simply been ignored, and this is precisely why Jews are so
fearful and so bewildered.а Nothing else
can rationally and adequately explain Israel's inane and insane retreat
to her 1949 УAuschwitzФ lines.
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t will hardly do to explain this retreat in terms of IsraelТs ardent desire for peace.а This desire has resulted not in peace but in IsraelТs demoralization and emasculation.а Indeed, the desire for peace, uttered ad nauseum by Israeli politicians, has emboldened IsraelТs Arab-Islamic enemies and made them contemptuous of peace-seeking Jews.
ааааааааааа Here one might ask:а Did EnglandТs or FranceТs desire for peace transform Germans or their leaders into doves?а Germany, remember, was the home of humanism and rationalism, of philosophy and science. Are Moslems more humanistic than the nation that produced Kant, Schiller, Heine, Planck, and Einstein?
ааааааааа But let me address IsraelТs political and intellectual elites, those who believe that the policy of Уland for peaceФ will pacify IsraelТs Arab-Islamic neighbors.
УWhy should you expect peace from Moslems who despise Israel as an outpost of Western civilization that threatens the religio-political power structure of the Islamic world?Фа
УWhy should you expect peace from Palestinian Arabs whose children are taught to hate Jews and exalt suicide bombers?Ф
ааааааааа УWhy should you expect peace from Arabs despots, be it Yasir Arafat or Hafez Assad, who tyrannize and terrorize their own people?а Stated more generally:а Why should you expect peace from Arab regimes based on the primacy of force and fraud, as some 20 Arab dictatorships amply demonstrate?Ф
аааааааааа Now let me address Israeli politicians and intellectuals who, though skeptical about the land-for-peace policy, have the word УpeaceФ ever on their lips.а Suppose you declared:а УI do not desire peace with Arab despots who luxuriate in splendor while their people are steeped in abject poverty.Ф
Suppose you added:а УI do not desire peace with Arab states whose rulers deprive their people of liberty and use them as cannon fodder to make war Ц yes, and who thereby violate the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Фа Are you manly enough to proclaim such a attitude?а Then let me suggest some other declarations one might make in a world whose democratic leaders are not silent about evil.
УI do not want peace with tyrannies, that is, with regimes ruled by evil men.а I do not want to dignify their regimes and thereby abet the designs of the wicked.Ф
УI do not seek peace with liars and murderers like Yasir Arafat and Hafez Assad lest I confuse, disarm, and foster cynicism among my countrymen.а I prefer to arouse in such villains fear rather than allow them to lull us with professions of peace.Ф
Do you think such statements will make Arab dictators more bellicose?а Has ceaseless professions of peace, nay, has IsraelТs 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, made that dictatorship less militant?а Then why is Egypt, a regime threatened by no one, engaged in an unprecedented military build-up?а Why does EgyptТs state-controlled media continue to spew anti-Israel and anti-Jewish venom?
I ask all those addicted to peace:а УWhat makes you think that people in general are peace-lovers like yourselves?а Why is violence the staple of Western entertainment?а Why do Blacks murder Blacks almost every day in the capital of the USA?Ф
Closer to Israel:а УWhy did Moslem and Christian Arabs slaughter each other in LebanonЧperhaps as many as 100,000 in the 1970s?а Leaving aside the killers and killing fields in Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Chechnya, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, why should Palestinian Arabs, who supported Saddam HusseinТs rape of Kuwait, another Moslem country, live in abiding peace with Israel?а To repeat:а ifа Moslems canТt live in peace with each other, why should you expect them to live in abiding peace with Jews?Ф
All this is pathetically obvious, and it should be even more obvious to Israelis!а Hence one can only wonder why IsraelТs political and intellectual elites canТt see that Israel is no closer to genuine peace now than it was fifty-two years ago.а Indeed, perceptive critics of IsraelТs land-for-peace policy are utterly dumbfounded by their inability to convince these elites that this policy is utterly suicidal.а While most critics explain that policy in terms of American pressure, others emphasize the character faults of Israeli prime ministers, the demise of Zionist idealism, or the prevalence of an Israeli death wish.а Let me offer another explanation of IsraelТs folly, but also of the ineffectiveness of its critics.а
ааааааааааа Exodus
15:3 states that УGod is the Master of war,Ф but therefore also of peace.а Since war and peace are in the hands of God,
meaning the God of Israel, whether Israel will have peace or war depends on how
this country relates itself to God.а So
long as IsraelТs government is estranged from God, hence from the way of life
portrayed in the Torah, the people of Israel will not have peace.а But this is why Israel is beset by the
best of enemies:а Arabs who will not and
cannot be pacified by the policy of Уland for peaceФ!
The God of
Israel has given His people an enemy that unwittingly compels them to face the
ultimate reason why peace Eludesа the
supposed-to-be Jewish state!
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mil Fackenheim writes (in What is Judaism?):а УThe whole purpose of the [Nazi] program was to reduce Israel to excrement.а That program included the God of Israel.Ф
This, I dare say, is the ultimate purpose of Yasser ArafatТs PLO, the successors of the Nazis and the spearhead of the Arab-Islamic worldТs hostile designs toward Israel.а Like his patron Egypt, the PLO-led Palestinian Authority is engaged in a military buildup. Like EgyptТs state-controlled media, ArafatТsа Palestinian media spew forth the most obscene vilification of Jews and of Israel.а This being so, must we not say shame! shame! a thousand times shame! to Israeli prime ministers who hobnob with that murderous villain?а Their shame smells to high heaven, for in the name of УpeaceФ they have desecrated the Name of God.
The prophet Isaiah tells the Jews: УStupify yourselves, and be stupidФ (29:9)а And he proclaims GodТs warning:а УWoe to them that take counsel Е but not in Me ... that go to Egypt [today America] for help, that rely on horses and trust in chariots Е but look not to the Holy One of IsraelФ (30:1).а Today these exhortations are not to be directed solely against IsraelТs left-wing secular elites, the most zealous advocates of the American Middle East Уpeace process.Фа Are not the religious and right-wing critics of that peace process the most Уknowledgeable,Ф hence even more foolish for not taking counsel in the God of Israel?
Why havenТt the critics cried Уshame! shame! a thousand times shame!Ф against the desecration of GodТs Name perpetrated by the stupified collaborators of that ignominious peace process?а Why?аа Because they care not for the God of Israel and the honor of His Name.а Which is why God does not care for the pseudo-democratic State of IsraelЧthis shrinking, secular, disgraceful State, which has no right to be called by the sacred name of Israel.
All but fools know that the American Middle East Уpeace processФ is a deadly fraud.а It is known by most Israelis, any mindless polls to the contrary notwithstanding.а Then why does Israel continue to retreat to its defenseless 1949 armistice lines?а We have seen that most critics blame УAmerican pressure.Фа Others deplore Уthe cowardice of Israeli leadersФ or Уthe demise of Zionism,Ф while still others speculate about УJewish self-hatred or self-immolation.Фа And all fault IsraelТs left-wing media.
But as I have also shown, more fundamental is the fact that the Jews of Israel simply do not care enough for GodЧdo not yearn to restore His presence amongst them, as in days of old.а Even so with religious Jews.а Have not the religious parties invariably supported the shameless Middle East Уpeace process,Ф i.e., the diminution of Israel initiated by the Likud at Camp David?а All their pious talk about Уpikuach nefeshФЧwhen anyone with a stitch of intellectual integrity can see this is a stupid and cowardly lie.
After surveying the futility of two decades of criticism of this shameless American-sponsored peace process, an impartial observer might say to the Jews of Israel:а УHundreds of thousands of you demonstrated against withdrawal from the Golan Heights.а Suppose you had demonstrated against the desecration of GodТs Name committed by one Israeli government after another?а Never mind that a large percentage of the demonstrators were not religious:а all would have been denounced as Сreligious fanatics.Та But werenТt religious and non-religious residents of Judea and Samaria denounced as Сfanatics,Т for opposing this Сpeace process,Т as they did, however, primarily on grounds of security?Фаа This touches the heart of matter.
The critics never tire warning us about Уsecurity.Фа УSecurityФ has been the god of the critics, pitted against the god of the Уpeace process.Фа Behold two Уignorant armies that clash by night,Ф heedless of the one and only God, the God of Israel.а If we but cared enough for Him, He would care for us and provide for our security.
But we are afraid to utter His Name.а Unlike Moslems, we are afraid to restore GodТs place in the domainа of statecraft.а We are afraid of being called Уreligious fanatics,Ф just as religious and nationalist Jews in the Knesset are afraid of being called Уracists,Ф were they to act in concert to expel Arab MKs who violate the law prohibiting any party that negates the Jewish character of the State.а Do such Jews really care about the God of Israel?
Urgently needed is self-criticism.а Critics of the Уpeace processФ must see themselves as not having cared for God, enough to say:а УWe must not, we dare not, forsake our Creator, the God of Israel.а We must not, we dare not, betray His Covenant with our Patriarchs and with our People at Mount Sinai.а He has given us the Torah, has thereby made us a Nation without equal in history.а He has given us our prophets, our sages, our philosophers, our poets, our wisdom, our dignity, our purpose as the teachers of mankind.а We must not, we dare not, forsake Him.а Then let us speak proudly in His Name, lest we succumb to JeremiahТs prophecy:а УThey are shameless, knowing not how to be humiliatedФ (8:12).
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[x1]E Ministerа