Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Fruits of Despair

Yesterday, my son showed me the following poem by Natan Alterman (whose semi-prophetic capacity never ceases to terrify), that is cited by the immediate past IDF Chief of Staff, Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon in an article in Azure that should be required reading for ANYONE and EVERYONE who cares about Israel's future.:

Then Satan said:
This besieged one–
How shall I defeat him?
He has courage and skill to act
He has weapons and wisdom on his side.
And he said: I will not take away his strength
Neither bridle nor bit will I put on him
Nor will I make him fainthearted
Nor will I weaken his hand as in days of old.
Only this shall I do:
I shall dull his mind,
And he will forget that his cause is just.
Thus said Satan,
And the heavens paled with fear
As they watched him rise
To carry out his plan.


Alterman foresaw the Dana Olmerts, the Steven Roses, the Zahava Gal'ons, the Gidon Levy's, the Nehemiah Strasslers and all the rest of the oh-so sophisticated 'We only wanna have fun and be so veddy veddy cosmopolitan and superior,' ilk.

Everyone has rights. Everyone has a place under the sun, or the right to hope and work for it. Everyone has the right to preserve his or her ancestral heritage. Except...Jews.

It's a most insidious disease, this aggressive cancer known as 'Jewish self-hatred.' One can be infected with it through the air(waves) and through touch(ing some newspapers and books). It eats away at one's will to live. It blinds one to the unfortunate reality that Jewish survival is often a zero sum game. In other words, we either fight for our survival or we don't survive. We can bemoan that reality, as we all do. We can scream at the top of our lungs that it's not fair, which we all do. At the end of the day, however, we must either recognize the unique, heroic character of Jewish existence, or cease to be.

The cancer is spreading. While the self-haters are declaring that the army should be dismantled, along with the State, residents of Sederot are giving in to their despair. The army has let it be known that nothing will be done further to stop the bombardment of Israel, until someone is killed.

Hence, the citizens of Sederot are asking for compensation, so they can be free of the bombs from which the government refuses to protect them. As the Jews flee, is there any doubt as to how the Palestinians will vote on their upcoming referendum?

[Afterthought: The most striking thing about the terrible tragedy in Gaza is that it was very likely caused by Palestinian, not Israeli, shelling. Shades of Muhammad a-Dura, may he live and be well. Pallywood Lives!]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are suffering from a major disrder manifested by 'psychotic denial.'

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeffrey,

Amos Harel (Haaretz) does not appear to believe that the shells which landed on the Gaza beach were fired by Palestinians. He does quote Israeli officials who mentioned that as a possibility - which he must do, of course, as a responsible journalist. But then he writes:

"Conversely, the odds that a Qassam rocket caused such extensive damage appear extremely slim. It is difficult to see why Palestinians would attempt to launch an explosive device from the Gaza coast, an area visited by hundreds of civilians."

Jeffrey R. Woolf said...

OK. The problem is that the Pallywood experts tell me that the film was 'cooked.' So, in a world of virtual reality, it's a tough tragic call, no matter what.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you have insider off-the-record info from the Pallywood experts (hi Richard!), but according to what I read there and at theaugeanstables, the jury is still out on the origins of the Gaza explosion.

Anonymous said...

Just read the news about Hamas planting the mine at the Gaza beach.
Retraction.