Gary Cooperberg, October 18, 2004

Clearly it is more than disturbing to hear our Prime Minister using his strength, determination and reputation as a bulldozer against his own country. He has a perfect faith in his own political maneuvering, but no faith at all in his party, his country, his people or his G-d. He, as many leaders before him, has assumed that his election grants him exclusive rights to do as he will with our country. He was elected, overwhelmingly, under the premise that he would not dismantle any Jewish settlements. It is nothing less than a slap in the face to all those who voted for him when he declared his intention to remove all Jews from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon is neither a traitor nor a fool. He really believes that he is doing what is best for his country. He believes that Israel is at the mercy of the USA and the European Union (neither of which really has any mercy). It is his futile hope that by partially self-destructing on our own initiative we can hold on to most of what is left. He is wrong. By beginning to self-destruct we are merely whetting the appetites of both our enemies and our alleged allies. The pressure he feels now not only will not be assuaged by these actions, rather they will increase owing to the incredible precedents set by an alleged right wing Prime Minister.

Our destiny lies before us, whether we like it or not. The nations of the world are destined to gather against us. Trying to negotiate our existence with those who seek our destruction will only serve to convince our enemies that we can be destroyed. As much as we yearn for peace, trying to escape the inevitable war to come will never succeed. If war is in our destiny then we have but one choice. . . to fight to win. Any other choice will bring us pain and suffering even greater than that which we fear.

I have no doubt that Mr. Sharon is under tremendous pressure from both friend and foe. I have no doubt that he really believes that he has no choice but to sacrifice part of our homeland to save the rest. But I also have no doubt that he is absolutely wrong and is placing our country in grave danger by the path he has determined to take.

Nazi soldiers who committed crimes against humanity claimed that they were just following orders, as soldiers must do. Yet the world determined that there are times when immoral orders must be disobeyed. It is no crime, nor is it a breach of democracy or duty to country for a soldier to out rightly disobey an immoral order.

If George Bush arbitrarily decided to make peace with Mexico by "disengaging" from California and New Mexico, and offered to pay American citizens living in these states compensation for their homes as they are deported to other states, I have little doubt that most of those citizens would rise up and fight for their homes. And most other citizens would support them. Even if Mexico threatened a nuclear attack, morality would dictate that we never back down to such a threat.

I don't know what threats were made against the Jewish State, nor by whom they were made. But I do know that backing down to threats will never make them go away. In addition, and even more important, the rebirth of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel is the beginning of fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. For us to take the clear miracles which we have witnessed and reject them by fearing Man more than we fear G-d, it is we who invite Divine Wrath upon ourselves. No power on Earth can destroy Israel. But our rejection of clear miracles will bring needless tragedy upon ourselves.

Let us remember recent Jewish history. Most of our leaders were opposed to declaring a Jewish State, not believing that we had the strength or ability to stand on our own. And, in 1967, after the most astounding miracles which saw us defeat overwhelming enemies and regain much of our ancient holy land in a mere six days, every Jewish government sought to buy peace by trying to undo those miracles. Sharon's is but the most recent of consistent attempts to give away miracles for peace during the past thirty-seven years.

Yet, despite all of these efforts by so many different governments of Israel, not only have we not undone the miracles, we have built upon them. Good Jews have built their homes and their future in lands which have been under threat by our own government. These areas have grown and developed into beautiful towns and cities. The ruined places are destined to be rebuilt and they are being rebuilt. If only we would recognize the miracles we witness every day in this country it would never occur to us to attempt to undo them. Miracles cannot be undone. But the very idea that we would try to undo them will bring punishment upon those who would try.

Gary Cooperberg is a resident of the Jewish community in Hebron, Israel.

Copyright © 2004 Gary Cooperberg