2006-07-24-israel_and

CARLSBAD, Calif.—Israel's current war, and the world's reaction to it is instructive, not only for Jews but for the whole world. Check out world history. Whenever and wherever
the Jews were granted asylum and peace that country prospered. On the other hand, whenever the Jews were discriminated against those countries and civilizations descended. There are countless examples of this claim. It is all there in the history books.

Yet sometimes people can be slow learners. Wealth breeds complacency and poverty breeds tunnel vision and the exclusive focus upon survival. Wealth and poverty can also create conditions in which the party in question seeks out convenient scapegoats, enter the Jews. The wealthy need scapegoats to avoid unwanted attention upon their wealth by those who seek to take
it away (read Iranians and Saudis). The poor need scapegoats to blame for their seemingly endless struggles (read Palestinian Arabs).

It is also a truism that stressful times bring out the best and worst in people. The current war in Iraq is a good example, as are the events of September 11th, 2001. We saw horrific images in living color of an unprovoked and massive terrorist attack being perpetrated upon us, and we saw the magnificent response of countless heroes.

Current events in Israel, and the world's response to them, defy rationality. We however, have the natural instinct (and some would say obligation) to try and learn from this situation.

Let us begin with a brief timeline of pertinent events.

In 1991, during the Gulf War Iraq sent numerous Scud Missiles into Israel, even though Israel had nothing to do with the conflict. Although prepared to respond appropriately Israel was constrained from retaliating by the US and its coalition. Why? Because an Israeli
response to an unprovoked attack by a Muslim country could endanger Muslim participation in the war against Sadam Hussein's Iraq. Israel's non-response was a tremendously demoralizing blow for the proud Jewish State. The non-response showed Israelis (and Muslims)
that Jews only have the right to defend themselves when the world says so and if the world finds it convenient.

In 1993 Israel signed the "Oslo Accords" with Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization. Arafat is considered by many to be the father of modern terrorism. Arafat made his career and name (not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars) by attacking Jews and Israel. At the time of the Oslo signing Arafat never expressed regret for any of the atrocities for which he is personally responsible.

Even after signing the Accords he immediately renewed his calls for Jihad against Israel. Of course he made these calls for Muslim terror against Israel in Arabic while in English he spoke of, "The Peace of the Brave." Never was Arafat taken to task for his continual breaking of the Oslo Accords. He broke them in countless ways, not least of which was the ongoing indoctrination of unmitigated hatred against Israel.

He also never enforced the required ban against anti-Israel terrorists, which was the rationale for
creating an army for him. Sadly, to this day Arab Palestinian children are being groomed to become homicide bombers (and the world and even Israeli Government are silent).

The Oslo Accords created the fantasy of peace for the war-weary Israeli population. People around the world hailed the Accords as "peace in our day." Indeed, it seems that some modicum of peace was achieved, for most forms of terrorism stopped, and the Israeli economy boomed. But, just as was predicted by those of us who were against the Oslo Accords, as soon as
Israel stopped giving more and more concessions to the Arab Palestinians, the terror war recommenced. This time however the terrorists were much more dangerous as Israel herself had armed them! The terrorists had used their time wisely in creating an infrastructure
that was prepared and itching to have at the Israelis. Again, the world was silent. Sure there were a few platitudes uttered against the destruction of innocent human life, but the strong condemnations were saved for the necessary Israeli reprisals. Again the perpetrators were held to be the victims and the Jewish blood flowed.

The Oslo Accords officially sanctioned the PLO and gave up the moral high ground to murderers and cutthroats. When Israel stated that there should be an additional Palestinian Arab country (in addition to Jordan), they implicitly admitted that controlling the disputed Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria (know as the West Bank), was morally wrong. After all, it is wrong for one group to control another, particularly when the controlling party is a minority. While the Oslo
Accords certainly seemed to help Israel in the short run, they in fact caused huge damage in the long run. The Palestinian Arab terrorists were able to say their fighting forced Israel to negotiate with them and to make concessions. So in fact Israel rewarded terrorism - even if only in perception. Rewarding terrorism does not appease the terrorists. It merely whets their
appetites and brings more terrorism.

In the year 2000 Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon after maintaining a buffer zone in that
country for nearly 18 years. While it is true that many Israeli soldiers died to maintain that buffer
zone, at least rockets were not falling with regularity on Israeli cities, and at least it
prevented Hezbollah terrorists from preparing for large scale attacks against Israeli territory. As an aside, if one has to fight a destructive war for survival is it not better to fight that war on the
enemy's land? In addition, is it not better to choose the time of the war instead of leaving the timing up to the enemy?

At any rate, since 2000 the Hezbollah terrorists have used their time wisely to prepare for the day that they would attack, and the day that they would be ready for the necessary Israeli response. They would have the overt assistance of Iran and Syria, implacable enemies of Israel and the West, and the covert assistance of many other belligerent states, not to mention the help of countries whose sole foreign policy is one of expedience (like France,
Germany, Russia, China, and many others). Instead of having an arsenal of a few dozen outdated rockets Hezbollah has been able to procure an impressive arsenal of thousands of rockets, many of them quite advanced. They may even have some "dirty bombs" according to the latest military intelligence. These weapons of mass destruction could, G-d forbid, wreak
havoc (if not destroy) on a country so small as Israel. And since Hezbollah is not a sovereign state, but rather a terror army of Iran and Syria, the usual strategy of deterrence via mutually assured destruction does not exist. Besides, when dealing with homicide bombers they don't care if they die, as long as they take some Israelis or Jews out with them.

Of course withdrawal from Lebanon won Israel some short-lived diplomatic success, and the UN passed a resolution that called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and moved away from Israel's border. Not surprisingly however, that particular UN resolution was never enforced nor mentioned by the world, and only on rare occasions by the Israelis. On the other hand
withdrawal from Lebanon did grant Hezbollah great honor and high regard in the Muslim world. They claimed that it was their fighting that drove the Israelis to cut and run, and in this regard they are partially correct. So in fact, Israel's withdrawal rewarded Hezbollah's terror campaign. Rewarding terrorism does not appease the terrorists. It merely whets their appetites and brings more terrorism.

In the summer of 2005 Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip, granting control, if it can be called that, to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Arabs used their time wisely in preparing to attack the Jewish State and using formerly Jewish land as a launching pad for the push to take Tel Aviv. Israelis took another hearty but unhealthy bite of their fantasy pie telling themselves this move showed true strength, and that it would somehow enhance their security. It would also save a lot of money, for the army would not have to manage a hostile population of
Palestinian Arabs. The Egyptian Army would be entrusted with keeping the southern border of the strip closed to "possible" smugglers of more technologically advanced weaponry and more Arab terrorists.

Sadly, but not surprisingly the Palestinian Arab attacks on Southern Israel commenced immediately, as daily rocket attacks from the Gaza strip destroyed life in the Israeli town of Sderot. The world was silent and the Israeli Government did nothing but occasionally "rattle the saber" at these deadly provocations. The Palestinian terrorists claimed that they had chased away the Israelis and told their people that the Jewish State had no stomach for armed struggle, and thusly was doomed to failure, if the Palestinian Arabs and the Muslim world would just be
patient and maintain the pressure. The Muslims had won another convincing victory in the psychological war against the Jewish State and the Western world. The Israeli withdrawal granted a huge political victory to those Palestinian Arabs who argued for terrorism, and
as a direct result Hamas, the party of official terrorism (as opposed to Fatah, which sponsors terror covertly and in Arabic only) overwhelmingly won the Palestinian Arab elections. The Palestinian Arabs were not held accountable by the world for freely electing to have a terrorist state. While the world did hold off on paying bribes to the Palestinian Arab
Government they quickly started searching for other ways to keep the terrorists funded (like so-called "Humanitarian" aid). At the end of the day the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza rewarded Palestinian Arab terror once again granting them a huge victory. Rewarding terrorism does not appease the terrorists. It merelywhets their appetites and brings more terrorism.

Rabbi Eilfort is director of Chabad at La Costa, an agent on AskMoses.com, and host of the weekly radio program LeChaim to Life with Rabbi E. Rabbi Eilfort welcomes readers comments via e-mail to Chabad@La-Costa.org.