One Utah

A personal view by Elisha Haas
July 27 2006 - When one tries to understand the news coming from Israel in recent weeks one cannot avoid many questions. Why is Israel attacked now while so many territorial concessions where made recently and many more are promised? When so many peace plans are implemented? Why is the IDF unable to stop the barrage of missiles that keep half the country paralyzed for more than two weeks? Why do the Hezbollah men fight so bravely and vigorously? Why did Israel let them make all preparations at zero distance undisturbed? Is that a war or a short term episode of exchange of fire? Why do the persons that form the current government fail to understand that we are at war? Why do they not let the IDF fight in reasonable strength?

Israel is now at major war again. But this time the war is different. Not only because we are attacked by an organization that have no territorial claim from us, but mainly because we are attacked by a determined enemy, with a clear and sharply defined goals of the war, with deep conviction that these goals are achievable and with strong, ideological, religious leadership. Yet it seems that our leadership is not determined and does not have clear goals. The main body of the Jewish people of Israel are as strong as ever. But our prime minister is a person who declared very recently that “we are tired of fighting, tired of wining a war and tired of defeating our enemies”. Therefore, the IDF has to obey instructions from people who do not want to win, who try to escape the war, who are trying to manage a short term conflict, leading short sighted tactics without long term strategy. Thus they ignore the fact that the enemy practically declared a war whose end goal, which seems to the other side closer than ever, is the annihilation of the Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel, turning all of us into second class citizens, and thus open the road of the world of Islam to Europe.

Why are we is such situation?

Israel is caught in the middle between the old European hostility (the Christian anti-Semitism) and the growing Islamic anti-Semitism. This is not new. Both sorts of anti-Semitism are deeply rooted in the theological structures of both religions. Theologically there is no place for a sovereign Jewish state in the holy land at any time ever since the “irreversible” dispersion of the Jews.

This powerful theological resource is translated into active war via indoctrination efforts of their state-run schools, mosques and media organs. That is not new. The difference is that in the past 14 years the dream of “wiping Israel off the map” seems to the Moslem world closer to reality and they are immersed in an anti-Jewish, jihadist, genocidal conviction. We should thank the president of Iran for making things clear and public, we should take his words seriously when he declares his goal to eradicate Israel. We should also again and again read the covenants of various Palestinian factions where we shall find the same simply stated goals of the war. The question is what made them think that by now it is becoming closer to be achieved?

The difference is inside the Jewish state and it is reflected in the public media, the discourse and actions of its recent governments and even the politically appointed leadership of the IDF, which lost the unbeatable push of wining. These changes stem from the current ideology of a fraction of Jewish Israeli society, which lost the original Zionist destination.

History is an irreversible process. In that sense, the Churche’s theological claim that the dispersion of the Jews is permanent and irreversible fits the normal flow of events. The renewed gathering of Jews and formation of a sovereign Jewish state in the holy land is not normal. The new state was defined only on the religious sources of the newcomers which did not share any other characteristic and the first item in the planned constitution of the newly created state is the low of return, which is totally discriminatory low, far from being normal. That reflects the basic fact that the state of Israel was created in an abnormal process of a “reverse of history” and unlike “normal” states its only common basis is not territorial but religious.

For many Israelis who abandoned their religious origin there is strong dissonance between the aspiration for normalization and very structure and definition of their new, still taking shape, homeland. For them, it is even difficult to understand that the hatred to Israel is simply religious and they think that we can appease that hatred by concessions, giving up real estate and signing “peace” treaties. They refuse to understand that nothing can stop religiously based rejection of the Jewish state except force. Strong deterrence is the only asset that can create peace under this situation. But, alas, during the past 20 years, under the leadership of the second generation of Israelis, that deterrence is gradually and steadily wasted and now we are facing a concerted attempt by the global Islamic forces to make another major step towards the long-term goal of wiping Israel out. But, when

After few days of the current war our current PM delivered a programmatic message to the nation, his definition of the goals of war made me think that he does not understand the gravity of the situation. He did not define clear goals for the war and declared that all we want is “to live normally”. But this is not a national goal for a war; the Jews did not come to this crazy corner of the world just to have normal life. All over the free world every Jew can have normal life, much more than in this stormy corner of the globe. Our national goals can only be to establish the “abnormal” Jewish society that can practice its tradition of values of justice and Tzdaka. Thus, we are at war with an enemy that has very clear religious goals while the persons who at the place where the goals of war are given to the IDF lack the ability (and the will) to define them. This is a dangerous asymmetry.

How did this situation develop?

In 1993, 1999 and 2005 (six years intervals!) governments of Israel took major unilateral steps that convinced Arab leader that Israel is approaching a complete internal collapse, loss of will to exist and a major step of surrender. In 1992 and in 2004 Israel’s armed forces practically defeated two terror wars waged by the PLO but the politicians surrendered and wasted the results of the efforts and casualties of the dedicated servicemen. In 1999 the 1993 imported terror forces were weakened and even the IDF improved its tactics in the war against the Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. Therefore in each of these time points the defeated or not wining Arab leaders could not avoid the very logical conclusion that while the IDF is a strong army, the people of Israel lost the will to exist as an independent state and therefore there is no need for any compromise and by continuous armed pressure Israel will collapse internally and the long range goal of annihilation of Israel is at hand and in our generation.

Therefore when Arafat, the master terrorist was hosted as an honorary statesman at the white house (September 1993) he was thinking about the stupid Jews and Americans who assisted him in advancing his war to positions he hardly imagined. He appeared at that “peace making ceremony” in uniform when he signed the Oslo paper, with his gun on his belt (!) it was not a symbol of the past, but a declaration of war under preparation. Clinton, Peres and Rabin closed eyes. They did not want to see facts that spoil the artificial utopia that they created like professional PR experts. Even when two months latter Arafat announced that this is the beginning of a holy war, they closed their ears, in order to continue the self destruction in a world of virtual reality. Arafat worked systematically. He produced continuous terror attacks at levels that can be tolerated by the surrendering politicians in Jerusalem and built the forces using the arms and money that the government of Israel supplied. He noticed that the endless calls by the “right winger” not to go with all these steps were ignored. The sign that the time is ripe for launching the war was given by a new PM full of hubris and lack of responsibility.

The 1999 unilateral retreat from Lebanon that transferred to the hands of Hezbollah 15 fortified outposts and huge amount of military equipment combined with the “generous” Camp David offers of full withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, convinced Arafat that the time is ripe and he refused Barak’s generous offers and started shooting.

The 2005 self destruction of 25 settlements in Gaza and Samaria, the internal fighting, the burning of 25 synagogues (viewed as a huge religious victory by the Arabs) and unilateral withdrawal of the IDF which turned Gaza into the world terror centre (Al Quida, Hezbollah, Iran, Hammas, the Moslem Brothers all converged there, all are part of one movement) was the signal that the time for the next phase of the war against the Jewish sovereignty arrived. Olmert’s and Sharon’s politically motivated move convinced the now reinforced and united Islamic militias that Israel lost its spirit, and that it is already an easy prey. They even did not think that they should wait for the larger self destruction planned by the current PM for Judea and Samaria, they went for the war within less than a year. Thus while in Jerusalem the government was planning internal struggles it again neglected the external dangers that these struggles enflamed.

Every step of withdrawal created a base for launch of another phase of the long-term war. In the Oslo process Rabin and Peres created a PLO army of 40000 armed men who used the arms supplied by Jerusalem and money (paid to Arafat personally) to wage a war of terror.

When Barak gave the Hezbollah all the IDF’s installations in Lebanon and allowed them to approach the border fence and build bunkers and fortified outposts, he created the traps in which our boys are fighting now.

When Sharon and Olmert opened the gates of Gaza they created a huge terror base that is shelling southern Israel day and night and the IDF is still not allowed to destroy those bases.

Thus, the current war, which is led by Hizbulla in both fronts and is energized by Iran, is a direct result of Israel’s internal loss of destination and struggles. Why did so many politicians close their eyes and take such 100% risk? I shall analyze that in another letter but for now I can say that it is the failure of the illusion that Zionism without Jewishness can be viable. Many secular Israelis, detached from their tradition and history lost the sense of being at a homeland, they feel like colonialists in a foreign land and therefore question the long term future, our right for the land and try to buy recognition by concessions. Their leadership operate like Bankrupt Corporation, which sells real estate for short-term survival. The poet Nathan Alterman wrote many years ago that the only way that the devil can help our enemy is by causing us to lose our belief in the justice of our cause and our right for our homeland.

What happens now?

The liberal cabinet in Jerusalem does not want to be at major war that would undermine the concept of unilateral withdrawals and hiding behind a fence on the 1949 lines. The government refuses to admit that its entire political vision for our homeland is based on lies. They continue to declare that within 2 years 100000 Jews will be deported from their homes in Judea and Samaria, while you do not need more than honest common sense to recognize that this policy led to the current war. As Caroline Glick wrote in the Jerusalem Post today, the government knows that nothing will prove to the public the emptiness of its political rhetoric better than a serious ground invasion of southern Lebanon. And so, rather than shed its hallucinatory agenda, it clings to it with all the fervor of a Communist true believer in Stalin’s gulag. The security cabinet’s decision Thursday afternoon to reject the IDF’s request to intensify the ground campaign and to call up more reserve units is nothing less than a gift to Hezbolla - a gift the IDF will be hard pressed to take back no matter who its commanders are.

But, the enemy did not wait. All of northern Israel is paralyzed. People are locked in the shelters and the economy is slowed down. We absorb constant flow of around 100 missiles a day in the north and 20 in the south. The IDF did not manage to stop that barrage in the past 15 days! The small number of casualties is just because people are disciplined and stay in shelters. The IDF entered Lebanon where the brave young boys, are now recapturing the strong holds that Barak gave up six years ago. But the enemy is well prepared. We are facing a modern well trained and most important highly encouraged and motivated army which is waging a large scale war. The politicians in Jerusalem, who care about our PR, do not let the IDF operate as it planned. They vetoed tactical steps in order to reduce the scale of the war to a level of a “local short term operation”.

The cabinet’s stubborn refusal to let the army deploy the tactically needed number of forces in few parallel lines of attack and other demands presented by the IDF in order to enable the IDF achieve victory is irresponsible and inexcusable. Their PR considerations are the direct cause of the loss of lives of young men in the field. When the town of Bint Jbail was attacked by infantry battalion 51 while it contained more than one battalion of Hezbolla army, it was only the personal devotion, heroism and courage of the men who fought there for us, not for their personal life, that it ended in a victory. There is no doubt that only the spirit of the men, their set of values and share of national destination that make them endanger their life in such situations. But the blood of the dead brave men is on the head of those who did not allow enough forces into the area and did not allow massive shelling of the sites where infantry is deployed, for reasons I mentioned above.

That enhances the moral and attacks of the enemy. The cabinet restricts the use of fire again for PR considerations and our boys suffer casualties. Thus the cabinet in Jerusalem still continues the same Utopian policy even though the enemy forced them to fight.

What bothers me personally is:

A. We have brought ourselves into this very dangerous and difficult war. We built the enemy and encouraged them. For 14 years a major part of the Israeli society, mainly the national religious groups, were warning, protesting, begging the governments not to do all those moves. We gave full prediction of the current developments but our protest was ignored in the best case, and repressed by force in most cases.

B. The current PM did not define clear goals for the war and I doubt that he knows them, that does not let the IDF fight properly. I am convinced that he does not want to win at all price, he wants to manage the conflict to an “acceptable low level of terror”. For a long time the governments showed that they do not wish to fight in order to win, but just to gain acceptable terror level.

C. The EU campaign for cease-fire is a rescue for the Hezbollah. It has nothing to do with peace. Israel should ignore that and continue the war and win. It is possible.

D. Many of the combat officers, those on whom we now depend, are coming from the same part of the society that opposed all the steps that I described above and their protest and struggles were brutally repressed. Another fraction of the Israeli society which contributes very little to the most difficult efforts of combat are those who lead the unilateral concessions and the struggle against the religious Zionists. That is the deepest scission in Israeli society that was intentionally intensified by the Sharon-Olmert government. Yet, yesterday we were burying three wonderful men, brave young officers who volunteered to do the long term combat service. They fell in the battle of Bint Jbail on Wednesday but their homes in Judea and Samaria are assigned for destruction in the next unilateral withdrawal by the current PM, who refuses to put such plans aside in order to stop internal hostility at time of war while he calls for national unity….. Last year I attended a briefing with the IDF chief of staff who gave us exact statistics of the groups that carry the main load of the fighting for the defence of Israel, it showed totally unbalanced contributions from the two fractions of the society. One group in Israel carry most of the load, but at the same time is attacked from inside. This is an absurd.

E. The past governments caused moral and physical damage to IDF’s ability to fight this war. The governments appointed Army generals who are yesmen for the deportation and they are not suitable for the real war. They have the same mindset of local case. The army was kept busy fighting Jewish settlements and not preparing while Hezbolla was digging its fortifications close to the border.

F. If we do not continue this war to a decisive end, in which Hezbollah and its supporters in the Islamic world will be convinced that it is impossible to achieve their goals for at least one generation time, we shall lose the little deterrence that we still have, we shall be under much larger threats from the whole Arab world not to speak of the Iranian bomb and missiles.

It should be clear; the people of Israel are much stronger than the groups that have control of the cabinet in Jerusalem. The extreme devotion and courage by the young men in the battle field, the majority of them with strong roots in their Jewish tradition and identity, their willingness to go into the fire despite the hatred created by the government against the home communities of many of them, the patience of the citizens and mutual help everywhere, show that the majority of the Jews of Israel are not perplexed and unlike the groups that have the influence in the political system, they are willing to do every thing needed to win the war. We shall win this war, provided that we shall be allowed to fight.

It is clear that we were not attacked because we occupy Lebanese or Gaza territory. We are attacked because the Moslems do not accept Jewish sovereignty inside the domain of Islam (Dar el Islam) we are still part of the free world (“Dar el Harb” the world to be fought). But, this is not the war of the Jews only, the long term goal of the Islamic army, currently focussed in Gaza and Lebanon is Europe and the US. For them we are only the appetizer and therefore it is another absurdity that the EU is supporting the Hezbollah while we are fighting for their survival.

This entry was posted Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Hezbollah, Israel, War. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.