I've got a few minutes right now to put a few thoughts on "paper".
First of all I need to address the bombing in Netanya this morning. Big shocker. Funny enough I didn't know about it till late morning since when I checked the internet news it didn't make the major headlines. Why? Only five people were murdered and it happened in Israel, so it doesn't count as "terrorist attack".
Interestingly enough, Sharon's spokesperson commented that "The Palestinian Authority continues to refuse the most elementary steps to prevent terrorism. They refuse to incarcerate terrorists. They refuse to dismantle the terror organizations and put them out of business once and for all. And we've seen these results today in Netanya." Ooooh big words, I'm sure that the PA really cares and will now see the error of their ways. Maybe Israel will withdraw from more territory if the Arabs bomb a few more cities.
What is the big surprise? We know that Hamas is part of the upcoming elections in Gaza. We know that the Palestinian Authority itself is part of the terrorist operations against Israel. We know that once we handed over Gaza to the Arabs it was to become a headquarters for Al-Queda and other undesirable groups. They have already moved in and made themselves at home.
The unilateral withdrawl, otherwise known as turning tail and running, has emboldened all Arabs, not just those in Israel and Arab occupied lands. It started when we signed a paper and walked out Sinai, turned tail and ran out of Lebanon, and continued in that honorable way this past summer when we deserted those Jews living in Gaza and nothern Samaria (Shomron), whose lives have been effectively destroyed.
Political Zionism is dead. "To be a free people in our land...Eretz Zion, Yerushalayim" is the last line in Hatikva. Are we free? Is there any land that we claim as our own that we aren't willing to trade (supposedly for peace)? Jerusalem is on the chopping block... any questions?
Political Zionism was to bring us a place of our own, a place that we were free to be Jews, free to be just like everyone else. We have accomplished part of this goal. We are just like everyone else. Flexible morals (rather, what morals? I was at that gay pride parade last summer in Jerusalem), intermarriage (yes, even in Israel), and the loss of Jewish identity.
Political Zionism is defined by some as the oppression of the Arabs. Why would anyone today want to buy into that? Why should they. If we understood history, we would know that this is not the reality of the situation. But Jews don't know their history. Jews don't even know what they stand for, or what makes them special. We've lost our vision, political or otherwise. Our job as a people as always been to bring G-dliness into the world. But what is G-dliness without knowing what it is to be Jewish?
It is a sad day when we mourn for those who are murdered for no reason. It is an even sadder day when we mourn the loss of idealism and identity.
