“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.