I Give Up on Israel, by Joseph Farah
Excerpts;
I am through defending Israel – at least the regime currently in power in Jerusalem, this useless coalition seemingly hell-bent on committing national suicide.
Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a man I once considered, like his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, a reasonable, rational, level-headed defender of his country, is set to visit Washington with his hand out.
He is asking for an initial commitment of up to $10 billion in direct U.S. aid to implement his plan for national retreat, appeasement of the global jihad and a new sellout of more than 200,000 Israeli civilians who have made their homes in historically Jewish lands in Judea and Samaria at the behest and recommendation of earlier Israeli governments.
Olmert is coming here to seek administration and congressional support for a new round of “disengagement” – this time from 90-95 percent of what we often call “the West Bank” and even including large sections of the city of Jerusalem, once regarded as the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
Compromise with evil is evil. And that’s what Israel is doing. As for me and my house, I will not be a part of it. I will continue to serve the Lord and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
One thing is for certain. That peace will not come under the leadership of men like Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon. If the Israeli people want to disengage, it should be from so-called “leaders” like this – “leaders” in the image, likeness and tradition of Neville Chamberlain.
Continue reading I Give Up on Israel
Our World: Ehud Olmert’s Mythological Settlements, by Caroline Glick
Excerpts;
Last week, as he presented his new government to the Knesset, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proclaimed that the scattered Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria present a threat to the country and so they must be destroyed.
If what Olmert says is true, then no patriotic Israeli or friend of the Jewish state can countenance the continued existence of these communities. Doing so would be tantamount to providing aid and comfort to Israel’s enemies.
A central question for those who care about Israel and believe that its national security is crucial in the global war against Islamofascism thus becomes: Is Olmert correct when he states that scattered Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are a threat to Israel’s existence?
Olmert and his political associates provide two justifications for this assertion. First, they claim that protecting these communities is a drag on the resources of the IDF. They argue that the military would be able to significantly cut back on its operations and troop levels in the areas if it didn’t have to protect them.
Second, they claim that the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria create friction with the Palestinians, and that this alleged friction is the root of Palestinian and Arab resentment of Israel that motivates them to wage war against the Jewish state.
According to this reasoning, if these communities were destroyed the Palestinians would lose interest in fighting Israel and so, more than terrorism, these communities are the reason that peace has eluded the region.
Yet when one examines these twin justifications, it becomes apparent that Olmert’s claims are incorrect. Far from being a drag on IDF resources, the isolated Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are a tactical and strategic asset for the IDF. Today, of all the thousands of IDF forces stationed in Judea and Samaria, only some 300 troops are dedicated to protecting the Israeli communities in the areas.
Continue reading Our World: Ehud Olmert’s Mythological Settlements
Commentary;
Caroline Glick, as always, is right on the mark in the defense of the Land of Israel, and Israel’s inherent moral right to Yehuda and Shomron by virtue of having won a war for survival thrust upon her by the Arab nations and by virtue of the land’s value as a strategic military asset.
However, in this article, while Ms. Glick chose to write of Olmert’s two justifications as to why the “scattered Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are a threat to Israel’s existence,” she focuses her article totally on the strategic question and ignores the question of whether “the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria create friction with the Palestinians, and that this alleged friction is the root of Palestinian and Arab resentment of Israel that motivates them to wage war against the Jewish state.”
This second question, in the opinion of this author, gets to the true, core issue behind “convergence”/”consolidation.” That is perpetration of the “Big Lie”, the vilification and dehumanization of those who one hates, in this case Olmert’s unspoken attacks upon the religious by the regime’s lackies as typified IDF Manpower head, kippot-wearing General Elazar Stern’s general demeanor toward religious soldiers and as exemplified by Stern’s recent tirade of Hananel Dayan who refused to shake COS, General Halutz’s hand on Yom Hatsma’ot as covered and commented upon on this blog, the account of which is found here;
“After the incident, they told him that he had to be in Tel Aviv at 6 AM the next morning. He met there with Stern, who looks at him and says, ‘So you’re happy now, eh? Everyone is so proud of you, and now you’re their hero, eh?’ etc., etc. How was my son supposed to react? He’s standing there, a young sergeant facing a top general – an impossible situation. So he remained silent. Then Stern asks him, ‘What did your grandfather die of?’ Chananel said, ‘Cancer.’ So Stern says, ‘Oh, so you’re making cynical political use of cancer, eh?’ Chananel said, ‘My grandfather had cancer for seven years, but he continued to have a zest for life – until the expulsion, when he lost the will to live. He died of heartache. ‘Later, Stern said the worst thing of all: ‘It’s all because of your sick rabbis and the sick education they gave you.’”
This second point which Glick chose not to address here is even a more crucial issue than defense and security. It’s about the inseparable link between Jews and their land, the Land of Israel, as expressed in the first 3 words of the very first Parsha in our Torah, of Chumash, a Sefer which assuredly Olmert, Halutz, Mofaz, Peretz and the kippot-donning Stern have not cracked in earnest in years, if ever.
When Rashi says on “Breish’t Borah Keilokim …”, “In the beginning G’d created …,” he was NOT referring to baseball’s “big inning”.
He comments; “This is because ‘He (Hashem) declared the power of His works to His people in order to give to them the inheritance of the nations.’ Thus should the nations of the world say to israel, ‘You are robbers, for you have taken by force the lands of the Seven Nations,’ they [Israel] will say to them: ‘All the earth belongs to G’d. He created it and gave it to whomever he saw fit. It was His will to give it to them and it was His will to take it from them and give it to us.’ ” (As rendered in The Metsudah Chumash/Rashi, Sefer Breish’t, Perek 1, posuk 1)
Glick’s inclusion of the second question concerning Olmert’s bogus assertion that “scattered Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria present a threat to the country and so they must be destroyed” gets to the very root of the evil which is this current regime and justifies its hopefully, eventual removal from National leadership. MB
The report below is Must Reading regarding Olmert’s Attempted Retreat;