Weekly Update 14 Sivan, 5767 (May 31) Issue: 6734

Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper.

8 Sivan, 5767
May 25, 2007

When Israel lost its sense of justice and adopted the justice of its Arab enemies instead, it painted itself into a corner. It lost its legitimacy to react to acts of war or terror in any way other than mere colonialistic policing necessary to "keep the peace." According to the Amnesty report released this week, even the missiles that exploded last summer in Haifa did not lend legitimacy to the IDF's sterile reaction.

Paradoxically, it is specifically the Disengagement from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron that transformed Israel into a colonialist state, whose actions are measured by the yardstick of "occupation." As long as Jewish settlements flourished in the Gaza Strip, Israel could claim ownership over the very part of the Land of Israel that the Arabs used as a bridgehead to stake their own ownership claims. But when Israel expelled itself from the bridgehead, the enemy forces immediately traversed it, and brought the battlefield to Sderot, Haifa and Ashkelon. Israel's right to exist in the remaining parts of the Land of Israel was lost; its claim to Jewish ownership of Sderot is not essentially different from its claim over the destroyed Gush Katif. The homeowner who surrenders a few rooms of his house to the bully does not establish his ownership on the rest of the home. Just the opposite. If the bully perseveres, he will have a much stronger claim. The police groups of the world -- Amnesty and the like -- will justifiably stand by his side.

Today, after the Expulsion, we are nothing more than foreign occupiers in the remaining parts of our Land. The more that we "disengage," the more we will be transformed into foreign -- illegitimate -- colonialists in the small amount of territory that will remain in our hands.

"The Jews are simply white colonialists who came from Europe and disinherited the Palestinian children from their land. The Germans should pay the price of the horrors that they inflicted on the Jews -- not the Palestinians. Let the Germans find a place for the Jews somewhere between Germany and Austria -- not in our neighborhood," explains Achmadinijad. And what do the Jews answer as they shake hands with the leader of the Palestinian Liberation (from Jews) Organization? "You are right. But as long as we are already here, take a few rooms and just let us stay in Sderot."

That is how Israel painted itself into a corner. For now, the residents of Sderot are paying the price. But they will not be alone for long. Ultimately, the government's fear of the public will override its fear of Winograd, and it will be forced to enter Gaza. Clearly, the Hizbollah will join in the fray. The IDF, though, can no longer fight to win. Twenty years of anti-riot equipment, concrete reinforcements, armored jeeps, understanding the enemy and sensitive but determined war against its brothers have turned the IDF into the world's largest police force. It is a large, expensive and effective police force. But it is not an army.

To our sorrow, the IDF buried its soul in the sands of Gush Katif, leaving Israel's citizens defenseless. Ultimately, we will have no choice but to rebuild the IDF -- without the commanders of the Expulsion and without women in the tank turrets. But as long as the enlightened defeatist consciousness continues to rule in Israel, there is no chance to effectively change the army. After all, the IDF is the people's army. That is why the next round of fighting will drag us into a defeat worse than in the previous round.

The person who most inherently exemplifies this enlightened defeatist consciousness is none other than the man running for the chairmanship of the Labor party -- former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. There is no other person who is more responsible for Israel's defeat in Lebanon last summer. The man who ordered the IDF to flee Southern Lebanon and ushered Hadera into Katyusha range is much more dangerous to Israel's security than Amir Peretz.

Any healthy society would relate to Barak according to the historic model that France set after it was defeated 67 years ago. But Israeli society accepts Barak's candidacy and his goal to be Israel's next Defense Minister without raising an eyebrow. The enlightened defeatist consciousness has conquered our entire society. Israel has no Charles de Gaulle with a consciousness of victory. We are all Petain. All we are looking for is a Defense Minister who will best flee the country that does not belong to us.

To extricate us from our solution-less corner, we need much more than another futile victory of the Right. Like de Gaulle after World War II, we, too, must establish the Second Republic of the State of Israel. The revolution in consciousness needed to accomplish this will not come from another routine exchange of our Right sock for our Left sock. We must redefine our founding ethos, our national goals, the values that will guide us and the constitution that will protect them.