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Authentic Jewish Leadership For Israel |
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Worth Reading Can Israel Win this
War? -- A Special Update After last week's update in which Moshe Feiglin wrote that the war currently being fought in Israel is "a pointless war of deception that endangers soldiers and civilians for no reason and with no goal," we received a number of letters asking for clarification. The following is a more in depth explanation of Manhigut Yehudit's position: Dear Editor, It amazes me that Moshe is advocating not supporting this war. The whole country is behind the war, and Manhigut Yehudit, which always promotes Jewish identity and pride doesn't support it? Does he want Israel not to retaliate after the killing and kidnapping of our soldiers? What is he driving at? DK Dear DK, Thanks for writing. Moshe's comments in last week's update were very brief, and we definitely should explain what brought him to his conclusion. Israel has been at war quite a few times. The soldiers fight valiantly, and the public displays courage, fighting spirit and determination to "once and for all let them have it." But what happens as the fighting continues, and Israel is obviously on the brink of victory? The UN, the Europeans, the US, the Arab world and/or our own homegrown Leftists snatch the military victory right out from under our feet. Cease fire, negotiations, terrorist release, retreat... We've all experienced this scenario time and again. Our brave soldiers fall, citizens suffer and in the end, there is no tangible, long lasting gain from the fighting. What goes wrong? First and foremost, we have a problem with our goal. Israel does not seek to triumph. All we want is to return to our borders and attain some peace and quiet. For how long? At what price? As the price rises, we concomitantly agree to a shorter respite. During the interval, our enemies re-arm and ready themselves for the next round. And then they start the fighting all over again, with Israel in a more compromised starting point, as in our current situation. Right now, we are tragically paying the price of six years of "quiet" on our northern front -- "quiet" that we attained by literally running away from Lebanon. Israel under its current leadership cannot win this war. Hizbollah, which in Arabic means "the army of Allah" is not fighting a strategic war. They are not sending troops over our borders in an effort to conquer more land. They are fighting a holy war, declaring that the entire Holy Land was promised to them by their deity. But Israel cannot comprehend the language of holy war. The Hizbollah has a strong sense of justice, but we have none. All that our political and military leaders repeat is that we have no intention of conquering territory in Lebanon, and that we simply want to return in peace to the international border. The international border may have meaning in a strategic war, but not in a holy one. And until Israel regains its sense of justice -- that this entire Land is G-d's gift to the Jewish People and that we will fight to preserve its Jewish integrity and sanctity -- we're going to lose because we don’t know where we're going. When Moshe wrote that the current war endangers soldiers and civilians with no goal, he is pointing at a disturbing truth. As a leader, that is his job -- to create awareness of the truth -- even if people are not yet willing to apply the conclusions of that truth on a practical level. Our soldiers will fight their strategic battle and will batter the enemy, but he will continue to elude us. The most basic tool in a holy war is a sense of justice, and that is exactly what we are lacking. How should an authentically Jewish government handle the situation? After all, Israel's air force is pounding Lebanon and Prime Minister Olmert seems to be determined to drive the Hizbollah away from Israel's borders. What could Manhigut Yehudit do better? Israel needs to fight its own holy war. Our enemies must know that if they attack us, they will lose their land. Israel should not be sending troops into battle just to pull them out after the world intervenes. Israel should be sending troops to conquer those parts of the Promised Land currently being held by the aggressor, and to prepare those areas for Jewish settlement. If that were government policy, carried out with self-assurance and trust in G-d, our enemies would think many times before daring to attack. This, by the way, is the way that any normal country would react to attacks on its sovereign territory. Another point to ponder...Former Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan said a few days ago that we must restore Israel's battered deterrence so that we can get on with our real national goal -- the convergence plan. Until Israel has leaders with authentic Jewish goals, Israel’s soldiers and citizens will continue to be in danger -- from the terrorists -- and from the Israeli politicians who suffocate our own sense of justice. With
love of Israel, To comment on this article and others, visit
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