I don't envy Benjamin Netanyahu, and the other members of the government. He is not only being pilloried by Barack Obama, but by the entire Israeli media elite. They all want concessions. They want Israel to give up the store, even before the direct negotiations start. They are desperate to see Jerusalem divided, a withdrawal to the 1949 ceasefire lines and an abandonment of the Golan.
I actually understand Obama. He is a Post-American, multi-culturalist who looks for validation to the Third World only. He really believes that Jews only deserve (if they deserve) a country because of the Holocaust. He really supports the Palestinian agenda, that the Arabs were unjustly forced to pay for the crimes of Christendom (as he believes that all Third World Countries must be avenged on the Europeans), and naively believes that if they receive a state there will be world peace. That's why he has no patience for Jewish claims to Jerusalem, or to our presence in the Biblical hinterland of the Land of Israel. He is deep in denial about the underlying, religio-cultural animus that drives the Muslim World (though he should know better).
Far more problematic are the Israelis who are egging him on. Last week, the papers reported that opposition leaders predicted a blowup over Jerusalem, two weeks before VP Biden arrived. I'm not a conspiracy buff, but I know that the Israeli Left (from Haaretz on down) would do anything to bring down Netanyahu and to maintain its hegemony over Israel. As a well informed friend observed today, Israel is growing ever more Jewish in culture and identity. You see it everywhere. It's the most blessed development in years and it is more important security wise than any weapon.
The Israeli Elite (media, academia, judiciary, business) is terrified of this development, and loathes anything to do with Judaism or Jewish identity (as my encounter with Yuli Tamir bore out). Thus, they advance the idea of a "state of all of its Citizens,' advocate divesting the State of its Jewish symbols and cannot wait to be rid of Jerusalem (and a fortiori access to Israel's Biblical heartland. Don't believe me? read Amos Oz.)
Like the Virginia Planters who opposed Andrew Jackson, the alienated progeny of many of those who founded the state) have tried to keep Israel as their private fiefdom through manipulating the Judiciary and the media. There is every reason to suspect that they are willing accomplices (at least, post factum) in facilitating this gross violation of Israeli sovereignty by the United States.
I firmly believe that the Jews of Israel, almost across the board, reject Obama's demands. We've seen too many die after making gestures to appease our enemies. We are a Jewish country, and this Land is our ancestral homeland; since Time Immemorial. As a result, there must be red lines. There is room for concessions. There is room for negotiation. There is room for compromise.
Jerusalem, however, is a Red Line. Here, we need to stand fast and show some backbone. Indeed, that's what Ben Gurion did.
I agree with most of what you wrote, but I think your comment that "there is room for compromise" is off the mark. It is all or nothing. The front line are the "outposts" in Judea/Samaria. If they go, then Jerusalem will go. Sharon manipulated the YESHA secular and some of its Rabbinic leadership by saying "we are giving up Gush Katif in order to save Judea/Samaria", yet when he set up the Kadima party shortly afterwards he announced he "changed his mind" and was going to unilaterally give up most of the rest of Judea/Samaria. This, of course, was in order to "save Jerusalem". We recently saw how Netanyahu announced a sweeping freeze in construction in Judea/Samaria (which, of course, is a prelude to giving it up) but Jerusalem was explicitly excluded..in other words, Bibi was giving up Judea/Samaria in order to "save" Jerusalem. Well, that has blown up in his face. He received NO CREDIT for his concessions and "hard-liners" Benny Begin and Boogey Ya'alon, who supported the freeze, were proven once again not to be any brighter than the Leftists. So now Jerusalem is on the block. We all see that they are repeatedly using salami tactics in order to destroy everything, so we MUST stop at the first step....NO COMPROMISE ON THE JUDEA/SAMARIA SETTLEMENTS!
ReplyDeleteRabbi Dr Woolf, I know you are always criticizing the followers of Rav Kook as being "messianist" and looking at the settlement project in unrealistic, "mystical" terms, but it is interesting how a "cold, hard, pragmatic" look at the ongoing political situation and the war against us conducted by the Arabs, EU, US and Jewish/Israeli Left are forcing us, against our will, to dig in our heels on our presence ANYWHERE in Eretz Israel. The way it looks, it is ALL OR NOTHING.
Remember, when you say you are willing to compromise, you must remember the Arabs are not. They will never agree to make peace with Israel on any terms. They are pushing for a unilateral withdrwawal and creation of a Palestinian state with all their grievances and the Palestinian "Right of Return" still on the table while we will have given up all our assets. This is the true nature of the conflict.