Hard-Hearted Olmert’s Compulsion: Just Can’t Give Up on “Convergence”…

Olmert Says War Will Advance Realignment, Refusals Result

Excerpts;

Speaking with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Prime Minister Olmert said, “I’ll surprise you. I genuinely believe that the outcome of the present [conflict] and the emergence of a new order that will provide more stability and will defeat the forces of terror will help create the necessary environment that will allow me… to create a new momentum between us and the Palestinians.”

“We want to separate from the Palestinians,” he added. “I’m ready to do it. I’m ready to cope with these demands. It’s not easy, it’s very difficult, but we are elected to our positions to do things and not to sit idle.”

“As a result of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s declaration that victory in the Lebanese war would advance his withdrawal plan, ten reserve soldiers have announced their refusal to fight. “

For further background and context, click Victory in North = Momentum for Realignment?, Parsha Va’etchanan — Consolation After Expulsion, During War?? and Poll: 58 Percent Against Expulsion Plan.

Commentary;

To quote from the Parsha HaShevua posted earlier and linked above;

Those who call on religious soldiers not to serve in this war; a war of Jewish survival, a war where many hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives, homes, property and dignity as Jews are at stake seems to reach the same level of divisiveness and moral wrong as Ehud Olmert’s compulsive dream of displacing 50,000 – 100,000 Jews in Yehuda and Shomron. This seems surely NOT what our Gush Katif brethren would want — V’ahavta L’rei’cha Komocha. They only wanted to see that religious soldiers, and other soldiers of moral principle would NOT be part of expelling, unfortunately, a number did take part.

Is it possible to envision our current situation, the two-front, or three-front war we now face and Ehud Olmert’s ranting about winning the war creating “new momentum towards “convergence” (or whatever he calls it today), as a divine test from Shemayim?

Let’s WIN the war first, and not fall into the trap of divisiveness in calling for enlisted soldiers not to serve where we could be viewed in Shemayim as divisive, as disunifying and thus be blamed by most Israelis for losing the war. After all, this war in the North and in Gaza IS a war of Jewish survival, NOT a campaign to expel Jews and to seize their property and belongings. MB