By Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort
A huge
catastrophe is in the offing and nary a whisper can be heard. This column
is not meant to be melodramatic. It is meant to open your eyes to reality. A
massive storm has opened above our heads, but many do not yet know it, for their
heads are buried deep beneath the proverbial sands. Radical Islam (some would
call it Mainstream Islam) has declared war upon all of us. Indeed, both a
figurative and literal “jihad” has been unleashed upon free people
everywhere; primarily in
Israel
, the
United States
, and Western Civilization.
A particularly ominous step towards the destruction of Western Values is
scheduled to occur this coming summer; when
Israel
may, G-d forbid, unilaterally withdraw troops from
G
aza
.
“But
wait!” your mind protests. You have been told repeatedly that The Gaza
withdrawal, also known as, “The Disengagement Plan,” is an important step
towards peace. The mantra goes something like this; “Give them land and they
will let us live!” “Give them land and they will stop murdering our
children!” “Give them land, and they will learn to love us, accept us, or at
least tolerate us!”
My friends, you have been sold a bill of goods. The reasons and methods how you
have been so profoundly misled are far too complex and lengthy for this space..
In fact, it behooves each and every one of you to educate yourselves in these
matters; for your very existence may well depend upon it. Two outstanding books
that will serve to enlighten you are Preachers of Hate; Islam and the War on
America by Kenneth R. Timmerman, and Eurabia:
The Euro-Arab Axis by Bat
Ye’or. Neither is what I would describe as pleasant reading. After all, it
is never pleasant to learn that a massive, well-funded group of murderous
fanatics wants to annihilate you and your children. We would all prefer to just
live and let live and enjoy our comfortable lives (which is the natural desire
of all free peoples). But my friends make no mistake about it; we are at war (at
least they are at war with us). This point has nothing to do with mere feelings.
These statements are factual, as unpleasant as that may be.
There will undoubtedly be some who say since I do not live in
Israel
, and since I am not in the Israeli Army, I have no right to voice my opinion on
an internal Israeli security issue. I disagree with this theory.
First of all, giving up
Gaza
will in fact make all free people everywhere less safe — that includes my
family in our comfortable suburban neighborhood. Whenever totalitarianism wins
out over legitimacy, whenever lies win out over justice, whenever expediency
wins out over doing what is right, we all lose. All of humanity loses — even
those who perpetuate the lies will ultimately lose as they will inevitably
self-destruct from the very forces they fomented against their erstwhile
enemies.
Secondly, since I am a Jew I have ownership and a vested interest in the
Land
of
Israel
and in the safety and well-being of Jews worldwide. An attack against a Jew
(because he is a Jew) in
Gaza
, or
Paris
for that matter, is an attack against me. Just as an Irish American would
legitimately have strong feelings and opinions if he should see
Ireland
or Irishmen (because they are Irish) being destroyed, an American Jew has the
same feelings towards
Israel
and Jews worldwide. These feelings become compounded when it is understood how
many of us have family and friends living in the
Holy Land
.
Giving away
Gaza
is wrong on so many levels and for so many reasons it is hard to know where to
begin. It is against Jewish law to do anything that has even a chance of
jeopardizing Jewish safety (one may not gamble with Jewish security under any
circumstances). It is against Jewish law to outsource the protection of Jewish
lives to non-Jews, when Jews are in a position to do it themselves.
Giving away
Gaza
moves the enemy faction many miles closer to major Israeli population centers.
The tunnels that are now being used to transport illegal weaponry from
Egypt
into
Gaza
will soon be duplicated with tunnels from
Gaza
into
Israel
proper. When an enemy is engaged in a shooting war with you, or you know that
he is planning on shooting at you, the farther you keep him away from your major
population centers, the better. This is common sense (although the Islamic
terrorists utilize quite the opposite strategy by trying to bring the shooting
into the major population centers so that they may use their civilian populace
as human shields). The enemy tells us quite clearly he plans on shooting at us.
For those who don’t believe him, I have news for you, he is already shooting!
As Mahmud Abbas speaks peace out of one side of his
mouth, his compatriots/allies/lieutenants blow up our children at the same time.
He will not arrest those who actively participate in the terror operations;
“for that would undermine peace,” he tells us. Am I going crazy here or does
something not make sense? What kind of peace is this anyway? If this is peace, I
prefer war, where at least I can shoot back at my mortal enemy and at least try
to protect my family.
Abbas has a PhD. His thesis, written to earn that distinctive title, denies the
Holocaust. Hitler stole Jewish lives, Abbas has even
stolen their deaths. Abbas is Arafat in a business suit. He has been part and
parcel of the Palestinian terror factory since day one. He is the definition of
a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is heralded in the Western Press as some sort
of savior because he says that terrorist acts are bad. Yet, he refuses to act
against those who perpetrate those acts and in fact openly admits he plans on
including them in his government. How can he fight terror when he has the
terrorists with him? The answer is he can’t. The bigger problem is that he
doesn’t want to. What he wants is the precise same thing Arafat wanted – he
wants the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel, G-d forbid. Those are the
sad facts.
Gaza
will quickly become an enclave of terrorism; a safe-haven for the worst sludge
of humanity; a protected terrorist mini-state, if you will. The Arabs living
there will never be blamed for any act of terror they will engage in (and they
will engage in plenty); instead the world will continue to blame the victim; the
Jews. Why don’t we Jews yet grasp the fact that when we give in to the
Jihadists we become an object of disdain in the world and are viewed as weak by
those who seek to slaughter us and bathe in our blood? I know, I know, if we
don’t “compromise” we will be called arrogant Zionists, Imperialist
stooges, but what the heck? They call us that anyway! Let’s face it; most of
the world hates
Israel
and hates Jews, or at least pretend to so that they can cozy up to despotic
Islamic regimes (who happen to have massive populations primed for all sorts of
worldwide mayhem and simultaneously control a large part of the world’s oil
reserves).
I agree, it is frustrating to realize that no matter
what we do, they will continue to hate us. It is frustrating to realize that it
is not in our hands to change the situation and bring true peace. Until they
decide it is in their self interests to have peace; true peace is unattainable,
save by a miracle. We can however create a cold peace by use of intimidation.
Letting the terrorists and those who sponsor them definitively know that should
they start up with us they will pay an extraordinarily high price, they may be
convinced to stop.
During the lulls we must then go after them in their spider holes and weed them
out; completely destroying their ability to make war, just as the
US
is currently doing in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
. What if the Saudis were made to pay for their support of terror by funding the
families of homicide bombers? Perhaps ships carrying Saudi oil should be
appropriated by
Israel
to help pay for some of the huge costs incurred by the Saudi recklessness and
evil? Perhaps some of the worst sponsors of hate and terror within the Saudi
“Royal” Family should be brought to justice in Israeli Courts by whatever
means necessary. Hit them where it hurts and maybe they will see the light.
Ignore them and we can be assured that more of the same will occur. Let them
know that they will reap what they sow. Let them know that they will be held to
account in this world and be speedily sent into the next world.
Since we are at war we must act accordingly. We must not give in on anything.
They are fighting to destroy every last one of us, left wing liberal and right
wing conservative; they don’t discriminate. Not one inch of land! We should
offer peace for peace and that is it. Land for peace has never, in all of human
history, ever worked for the party that was made to give up the land. Our
habitation of Gaza, as well as Judea and Samaria is perfectly legitimate.
Furthermore it is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Those brave Jewish souls
who make their homes in
Gaza
,
Judea
, and
Samaria
, are our front line soldiers holding tyranny and terror at bay. If you pull
them back, you pull the terror closer to us all. They are the heroes!
Until the world realizes that it is their interests to have a strong, free
Israel
,
Israel
will have to go it alone and not base its decisions – particularly in matters
of security – upon the world’s opinion. The Europeans long ago sold their
right to have input on these matters as they threw their lot in with the
oil-producing Arab dictatorships in the 60’s and 70’s. The EU and its
predecessors have done its utmost to undermine
Israel
’s legitimacy for decades, and there is nothing
Israel
can do to reverse this, short of utter self-destruction, G-d forbid. The
European hypocrisy goes to prove the fallacy of the “Socialist Dream” of
complete equality of humankind. All one has to do is honestly analyze the
breathtaking double-standard used against
Israel
, and one clearly understands that everyone is not the same.
Israel
’s only friend in its lonely war against Islamic terror is of course the
United States
. Many are upset at President Bush for calling for a
Palestinian
State
. I, however, do not blame the best friend
Israel
has had in the White House for a long time. How can we expect President Bush to
be more Zionistic than the Israeli Government?
The enemies have been brilliant in their war on Western Civilization. They have
made us feel guilty for their own abhorrent mistreatment of their own citizens
and their endless failures. It is our fault – for living so well and buying
their oil – which cause their youth to have seething hatreds for us and all
that we stand for. Like the Europeans led by the French, many willingly offer to
sacrifice
Israel
and her security on the altar of appeasement. In case your history is fuzzy you
should understand that they hated us in this manner before the modern State of
Israel came into existence. No doubt, it was exacerbated when Jews started to
assert themselves and finally started to disrobe ourselves of the cumbersome
ghetto mentality of the last two millennia.
Anyone who does not submit to their Islam is an enemy of Islam. I am not making
this stuff up. Ask a Moslem, if he is honest, he will tell you that himself. He
will tell you that he believes as a matter of religious doctrine that we are the
spawn of monkeys and pigs. He will tell you that he awaits
the day when trees and rocks will tell him that there is a Jew hiding behind
them so that he can kill the Jew. It’s all right there in the Qu’ran.
A religion of peace is it?
The Gaza Disengagement Plan is an extension of the now infamous Oslo Accords.
The basic idea of Oslo was that Israel would recognize the “rights” of
Palestinian Arabs and that those rights were represented in the PLO, and in turn
the PLO would stop using violence against Israel and would recognize Israel’s
right to exist as a Jewish State. Did
Israel
negotiate in good faith? You bet it did!
Israel
gave control of the major non-Jewish population zones (in
Gaza
,
Judea
, and
Samaria
) over to Palestinian Authority control.
Israel
revised its textbooks teaching its youth that Palestinian Arabs have valid
claims on
Israel
(what a huge disservice to our own youth!), and
Israel
of course legitimized the Arch-terrorist, Yasser
Arafat.
Did the Palestinians negotiate in good faith? There were several spasms of
violence from the signing of the Accords until September 2000. These violent
instances occurred whenever the Palestinian Authority demanded more than what
Israel
was willing to give (in other words its existence). When
Israel
made one last final offer to the Arch-terrorist Arafat, and he refused (because
that offer did not include the complete annihilation of the Jewish State),
Arafat with his cronies (including Abbas) started the violence that has gone on
since then.
The cost in human suffering brought on by the Palestinian terror machine has
been gigantic, horrific, and unconscionable. The reason that during this Intifada
they were able to cause such chaos is because this time they had their own army
and their own security forces that protected and were actually part and parcel
of the extensive terror structure. Thanks to their continued hate-filled
indoctrination of their youth, they will have thousands and thousands more
soldiers of death and destruction in future generations. The world ignored and
continues to ignore this death cult. Even the Israeli political leadership
ignored it (as it was incongruous with their fantasy of peace). The Israeli
public by and large was not made aware of the countless breaches of the Accords
carried out by the Palestinian terror machine.
Did
Oslo
strengthen
Israel
’s position in world opinion? Far from it! Today
Israel
is by and large a pariah state. Did
Oslo
enhance
Israel
’s security? Far from it! There have been many more victims of Palestinian
violence since
Oslo
was signed then in all of
Israel
’s history before it. So what did
Oslo
accomplish? It gave legitimacy to the illegitimate. It made “statesmen” out
of a terrorist club of unprecedented proportions. It has destabilized the entire
region and weakened the position of the
United States
in the
Middle East
. As a direct result of Oslo, Jews are being targeted with great regularity all
over
Europe
(and not coincidentally, particularly in
France
).
Four and a half years of bloodshed, endless tragedy, untold pain, and inhuman
cruelty has obviously not taught the current Israeli government the price for
legitimizing the illegitimate and empowering the truly evil. I know, I know, Arik
Sharon is a brilliant general and a great hero for
Israel
! But as G-d is my witness, he is making the biggest mistake of his life right
before our very eyes. The worst part of it is that others – innocents mainly
– will have to pay the price of this cataclysmic mistake. This Gaza
Disengagement Plan will not only cause a huge amount of Jewish suffering, G-d
forbid, it will also cause untold pain and anguish for the local Arabs who will
be caught in the middle of the inevitable fighting.
We Jews have reacted to being attacked for far too long. It is time we went on
the offensive. It is high time to strike fear into the hearts of our heartless
enemies. Let us use our creativity to undermine the Islamo-Fascist
plan to destroy
Israel
, the
United States
, and Western Civilization. Let us create a campaign to educate the ignorant
masses of the evil of their leadership. Let us empower them with true freedom so
that they may be released of the shackles of their religion of slavery and
coercion. Let us teach them the seven commandments that apply to all humanity
equally (1. To believe in G-d. 2. Not to curse G-d.
3. Not to murder. 4. Not to steal. 5. Not to participate in immoral sexuality.
6. Not to be cruel to animals. 7. To establish courts
of justice.). Let us hold the Muslim world to a standard of decency and stop
turning the other cheek when our children’s lives are on the line!
It is time to stop wringing our hands in desperation and it is time to stop
allowing ourselves to be victimized by those who place no value on human life.
Let us finally realize in our hearts that we are justified! And let us fight
vigorously for our inalienable rights! Do not fear their darkness. Do not even
curse their darkness! It is high time to bring light into the world without
apology or hesitation!
Rabbi
Eilfort is director of Chabad at La Costa, located in Carlsbad, California.
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