The burning issue that is the talk of Israel, when it comes to dealing with terror is the hatred of collective punishment.
The “Jewish conscience” (filled with Western morality that is in fierce opposition to the Torah and traditional Jewish values) states, thou shall not collectively punish a people, city or town for the sins of individuals. The “Jewish conscience” goes further, and states (in complete opposition to Jewish law) that if a terrorist has been neutralized, it is murder to kill him at that time. The neutralized foe, is no longer a terrorist, but a suspected criminal with equal human rights to any citizen. He or she must be rushed to the hospital immediately and all attempts to save their life must be attempted. They have not been convicted of any crime, they just happened to have screamed Alluhu Akbar, been wearing a suicide belt or carrying a knife and the eye witnesses, elite police and or army units had witnessed that knife plunged into a soldier, but by law, the suspected assailant is innocent until proven guilty, human rights must be awarded to all, and all punishments meted out by the justice system only, that is fully capable of making decisions and carrying out justice according to the laws of the state.
Sounds very ethical, sounds very Jewish as well. If I were not aware of my own heritage, and not have studied Jewish law via the sources, in the original, I would also ascribe the above as moral, justified, dignified and the most righteous path, a path all of humanity should embark upon, and that Israel, is a world leader in humanity in the face of a difficult foe. Israel is thus a light unto the nations, for its policy of compassion, justice and refusal to mete out collective punishment and protect the rights of all peoples and all nations that pass through its gates.
One problem, its the Middle East. The “assailant” was a terrorist, an Islamist waging jihad. Islamic terrorism is so corrosive to the fabric of Israeli society, that millions have left Israel and surely terrorism can be attributed as one of the major reasons for such a mass exit. Israel loses billions of shekels a year in tourism, and defense spending, as it has so much to offer and is so attractive, but when people die in the streets, the streets empty out. Every attack, is a victory for terror, and every attack that is publicized, is an even greater victory.
Each day we hear another attack, we become used to it. Our senses dull, we are used to being hunted and killed, this time not in the land of the nations, where we were always unwelcomed guests, but in our own land. The land of our fathers. Each act perpetrated against a Jew, according to our tradition is a disgrace of G-d’s name in this world. It keeps people from entering the halls of yeshiva and keeps them dancing in the disco high on drugs. The connection between acceptance of Torah and mitzvot as a nation, has a lot to do with terror. Terror is the yoke of the nations, and until it is properly dealt with, and daily disgrace of G-d occurs, and jews keep dying, we cannot achieve unity as a nation.
With the aforementioned “ethics” and severe resistance to the concept of “collective punsihment”, a cycle of violence that ends up with dead Jews and dead Arabs continues. Of course this is the most ethical solution to continue the status quo, because in their eyes, you can let Jews die because our humanity is at stake, and you can let Arabs die too, this is their choice and we can’t impose on them peace. It is unjust to claim sovereignty on “Arab land” (The same Arab land their houses rest upon) in Yehuda and Shomron and the real solution is just give them back what was “stolen from them in 1967”. The answer is not collective punishment, because even if a few Jews die, one every week, we cannot uproot our “morality” and Jewish ethics. This is a never ending cycle (until common sense will prevail as described below) that has Israeli leaders left and right in the Knesset saying as follows: “We cannot stop the intifada, or I see no end to the conflict”.
All it takes is studying the right Torah sources to see right through this. One who is familiar with real Jewish ethics, the kind that is written down for all generations for the last 3500 years and passed down orally from the time the Torah was given, to know what is happening behind the scenes.
The real reason the intellectual elite espouse the contrary opinion to collective punishment when it comes to the factories of Yehuda and Shomron is lack of faith. Israel is a vassal state, at least in its own mind, and it is not allowed to disturb the United States and the nations for fear of being attacked. Imagine for example a small child who is constantly being beat up in the schoolyard, carrying 100 nuclear bombs in his backpack. He is afraid of wiping out his one enemy, lest the rest of them join up. His fear is well known and exploited by all his enemies, and he truly truly is alone in the schoolyard of nations, with no real true and trustworthy friend. When push comes to shove, and I say this being a US citizen and knowledgeable of history, the USA is one of Israel’s greatest enemies. When the fights break out in the schoolyard, the USA blows the whistle and prevents small little Israel from beating down the bullies. As soon as the slightest blood flows from the bullies mouths, although already drenched in his own blood, small little Israel that has shown quite a number of bullies some clear lessons, is always told to stop when the bully is finally about to be taught a lesson he wont forget. Thus, Israel is always a mockery to the nations, and the USA is the prime restrainer of a quite small but quite powerful Israel, that has enough power to take down the bullies, but is in constant fear of what will the USA say.
This translates to intellectuals, that harvest the concept of imposed restraint, and turn it into morality, and have the gall to label it Jewish or Zionist ethics. It is not Zionist ethics, certainly not the ethics of neither Ben Gurion nor the ethics of Avraham Yair Stern of the Lechi and Menachem Begin of the Irgun, the founders of the state. Ben Gurion kept Arab cities on lockdown and night curfew, he ordered Yitzchak Rabin to ethically cleanse Arab villages during the war of Independence, every Arab out. Menachem Begin and his Irgun were hand in hand with the Sternists, ready to conquer the entire land of Israel and ethnically cleanse it of all Arabs and rebuild the Beit HaMikdash.
So what happened where did Zionism fail? How did Zionism become bankrupt, and create a nation where millions of its citizens turned from idealists ready to give their blood life and soul to rebuild its nation, to those clamoring for exit Visas so they can leave the Zionist dream?
If one wants to point to jobs and taxation, one could. Its surely a factor, the cost of living, the third world style. If that is true, what made the Jews come and found the state to begin with, has that not been getting better and better over time? What made the millions of Israelis leave Israel permanently? What keeps the millions of Jews in exile, perfectly happy right where they are (lest blood run in their streets). The answer is non stop terror. One hundred years of Arab terror. How can one deny it? It is denying history itself? One can try to excuse it, but not deny it.
The excusers, like Lieberman, Shabaq and the elite, claim its the standard of living and mental health of the terrorists that we must be concerned with. Build them soccer fields and they will become busy playing soccer instead of murdering Jews. I have heard famous people in Israel claim, “We have a responsibility to the Arabs of Israel”. The newest wave of intellectual dishonesty, is that its the mentally unhealthy of the Arabs, that we see time and again who commit terror. Now we should make sure there is mandatory mental health exams in order to fight terror? Would that not be a logical step to follow up upon? As ludicrous as these people are, they have power in Israel. They are so far from truth.
My end point is look at the rally today in Ramallah, that calls for military action to annihilate, with a swift Nazi style Eintzatzgruppen effort the Jews in Israel, and create an Islamic caliphate in Israel. Turning Israel into Falestine, via the mass murder of the Jews here. They directly called for a military campaign to take over Israel. Yes, it is hard to believe that Jews are hated, somehow in the mind of a Jew, that naturally loves all of humanity, because they are good they cannot truly fathom hate, of any proportions. They think as they love so does thine neighbor. This neighbor does not love you, my dear Jew, no matter where you are. No matter what you try to tell yourself. these people are ready to kill you. You can deny it, tell me I cry wolf, and the truth will hit you, or your son, your wife or husband or daughter and bury them. We do not know who it will be, but G-d will bring close to him his holy ones. We do not know exactly when it will be, but denial is the root of our struggle. Dear Jew, do not deny in your heart of hearts those people in RamAllah gathered today, in a Nazi style parade to eliminate you, your family and all of your aspirations from the earth. They build death factories in Yehuda and Shomron, weapons production is in swing in over 100 factories, the army has shut down many but there are many locations unknown to the them.
There is no collective punishment would Israel decide to take military action in RamAllah, every one man woman and child participating in that parade to wipe out Israel is an enemy combatant, or will grow into one in few short years and take the life of a Jew. Common sense would dictate they must be removed from our land, that we and they cannot coexist. Letting them be, or giving them a state, G-d forbid will just create another Lebanon and Aza, this time next to every major city and town, with sniper and mortar access to everywhere and anywhere in Israel. We have not even reached towards collective punishment, every attendee of that parade is proudly and openly displaying their desire to destroy us, where can I ask is collective punishment. I would call it, coming to one senses. Its just a parade? Tell that to all the dead that were buried this year, go to their grave and say we did not save you, because in the end, its just a parade. Then go to the living who are direct relatives of those killed, and say my Jewish conscience tells me, that we cannot take action against RamAllah, they are innocent and there are only a few each time that cause the trouble. We have people who could say such a thing. Its time to rewrite the Jewish conscience, and apply the tradition we have as a nation, that has guided us. It is our land, not theirs, it is our country, not theirs, they are murderers, we are defenders, we have a right to live in peace, and THEY MUST GO!
