Remember Zion?
Gary Cooperberg
October 21, 2002
When Jews began to return to the Land of Israel, even before we had a sovereign state, it was understood by all Jews, right to left, religious to agnostic, that Jewish return was an eternal Jewish right and we were fulfilling the destiny of the Jewish People by coming home and rebuilding our ancient homeland. We bought and paid for worthless swampland and began the painstaking process of redeeming our homeland. There was no PLO in those days. There was something called "Palestine", but that was only a geographical label. . . certainly not a country. And, what is more, the term "Palestinian" referred for the most part to Jews living in the Holy Land.
Today our own people seem to be rewriting history, forgetting the dream of Zion and replacing it with the dream of making peace with those who would destroy Zion. It is hard to imagine that children and grandchildren of those who fought impossible wars to create a Jewish state in the Land of Israel are seeking to abandon the hopes, dreams and accomplishments of their grandparents. The founders of modern Israel were simple Jews who grasped at the hope of regaining Jewish independence in our homeland in spite of the fact that such a hope was illogical and seemingly impossible. They fought and died rather than give up. And they won. The Jewish State is a strong and viable country today only because of the faith and dedication of such Jews.
Can anyone suspect that a Theodore Herzl or a David Ben Gurion would look kindly upon even an Ariel Sharon who would dare to suggest that we agree to the building of a new Arab state on Jewish soil? While many of the founders of modern Israel were not religious Jews, all were strong Zionists. Today we have a generation of Jews who are not only lost to Judaism, but who have rejected Zionism as well. While our fathers nurtured the dream of Zion, even when they were forced to live in Exile, and it was this dream which gave them the inner strength to carry on even when times were desperate and seemingly hopeless, those of their children who have tried to build a Jewish State devoid of both Judaism and Zionism no longer have that inner strength.
It is normal for children who were raised with a proper foundation of both Jewish values and a true understanding of the history of our return to Zion, to continue to build that which our parents began. And there are many good examples of such Jews in our generation. But those of our children who have not had the good fortune to benefit from these eternal roots, not only lose hope in our future, but fear our imminent demise at the hands of our enemies. Convinced that time is not on our side, and that our enemies grow daily in quantity and quality, they do two things out of desperation. First they pretend to themselves that it is possible to win over our enemies by offering them our throats. And, secondly, in order to convince themselves that they are right, they have a need to try to force this futile axiom down the throats of their brothers.
No honest person can really believe that, even were we to build a fence around Tel Aviv and abandon all the rest of Israel, peace would abound. Even Shimon Peres, the "paragon of peace," told the Jordanians (you know, the Arabs with whom we have such wonderful relations) face to face, that if it weren't for the fear that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, no one would make peace with Israel! Even Peres, to some degree, understands that it is only from strength that we can even hope to have "friendly" relations with our neighbors. The minute it seems that we have lost our strength, we invite the next war. So even from the perspective of an honest "peacenik", giving the impression that we are weak only encourages the next war.
To speak of creating a PLO state on Jewish soil is not expressing our strength and self-confidence. On the contrary, it is a statement of fear and surrender to our enemies. This will not only embolden the PLO, but it will also encourage all of our Arab neighbors to consider taking another chance at destroying Israel.
When Menachem Begin had the courage to order the destruction of the Iraqi nuclear reactor, the world condemned us for violating international law. In hindsight those condemnations were clearly inappropriate. Had Israel feared that condemnation and been prudent, refraining from having taken such rash action, who knows what horrors might have been perpetrated upon the world? It is certainly dangerous and frightening to take stands which others see as wrong. Yet if we allow our methods of self defense to be dictated by interests other than our own we are inviting disaster.
Today we are sitting on another powder keg in Iraq. When one is dealing with a dictator who clearly is prepared to use unconventional weapons at his whim, one dare not wait for him to attack. Even the great United States is hedging on its responsibility by trying to get others to back its efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein. Far better to just do the job and then face the criticism than to get total agreement after it is too late to implement it. If the Jewish state has reason to believe that Iraq is about to attack, it would be irresponsible for her not to pre-empt that attack. What country in the world would announce that it will only respond after it is attacked and then only if there are casualties? Is that kind of a statement designed to discourage an attack?
Can anyone in our government think that the stupid display at the Gilad Farm on Saturday served the interests of the Jewish State? It is wrong to dismantle any Jewish settlement. For the army to be sent in to such a place on the Shabbat was a blatant act of incitement designed to foment political confrontation. The Labor Party is in shambles. It has no chance of winning the next election. Defense Minister Ben Eliezer is losing in the polls for leadership of his party. This idiotic move was clearly designed to create strong emotions to give a political edge both to Ben Eliezer, and to his party. Even if it had accomplished that goal, it did so at the price of harming the unity of the Jewish People. And, by so doing, it further eroded the self-confidence of many Jews in the justice of the very concept of Zionism. It was a despicable orchestrated display which only caused harm to the Jewish State and the Jewish people.
Indeed, there are times when we have a right to be afraid. Fear is a normal emotion. But if we allow our fear to freeze us into inaction, then we are guilty of failing to avoid senseless tragedy. In spite of our justified fears we must be willing to do what is right. The Jewish State is neither an act of good fortune, nor an accident. It is clearly the fulfillment of G-d's Will as outlined in the Bible. All of the challenges we face today are merely tests of our faith in G-d. When we try to please our enemies by denying our obligations as Jews, we are failing the test. When we stand up against all odds, upholding our obligations as Jews, the G-d of Israel stands with us and no power on Earth can harm us. Until we learn that lesson we must bear the guilt for the needless tragedy that we bring upon ourselves.
Project Shofar is dedicated to spreading these truths wherever it is possible to do so. It is sounding the alarm, to Jew and Gentile alike, to open our eyes to the G-dly process that is presently underway, and work to support it. We dare not stand idly on the sidelines.
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