Starting the New Year on the Left Foot
Illustration: President Reuven Rivlin at 19th Memorial of Yitzhak Rabin (Image credit: Mark Neyman/Government Press Office of Israel)
As we begin the new Jewish year of 5778, one wonders what surprises await us - or whether we are capable of being surprised anymore. In just the two weeks before and after Rosh Hashana, we were witness to events which would have been the equivalent of a political/social earthquake a generation ago.
Israeli artists proudly displayed a play, "Foxtrot," which (once again) shoved the IDF into the world arena with a badge of shame for all to ridicule and hate. Mission accomplished - once again.
When Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev announced that Israel will not fund such displays of disgrace and self-loathing, the usual pack of "freedom of speech" wolves raised their howl. No surprises here.
Three Israelis were murdered in the town of Har Adar which lies just inside the liberated areas of 1967, a mile from Jerusalem. It is a beautiful, affluent town, home to Avrum Burg, a prominent Israeli politician who progressed from the head of the Jewish Agency and speaker of the Knesset to the Communist party. There, he could most effectively help the Arabs and protect them from the vicious immoral Jews.
He feels at home in Har Adar.
The residents hire lots of Arabs from the "occupied territories" and treat them like family (as long as they don't move next door).
It was a terrible shock then when one of their "family," who was employed by them for many years and shared coffee and chatted with them on a daily basis, decided to murder as many of his friends as he could. He only managed to kill three. He was not able to reach the kindergarten nearby. Well, partial success is something too…
Indeed, even this partial success will win his family glory and cash for life, compliments of our "peace partners" in the Palestinian Authority - that we created. His daughter accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of forcing her father to do it...
Is this becoming a little too complicated?
This week the PA terror authority was accepted by the Interpol as a member of the anti-crime organization. These are the guys who are supposed to track down terrorists.
Did I say it gets complicated?
Yesterday, there was a large gathering at Gush Etzion celebrating 50 years since Israel liberated our Biblical heartland in the miraculous Six Day War, in which the Arabs swore to throw Israel into the sea (there were no "occupied" territories then to complain about). The supreme court judges were invited to this major event, as they always are invited to official government ceremonies.
They refused to attend. It was too "political," they claimed.
In defending their decision, thinkers on the Left compared the ceremony to another theoretical one that might be controversial: Suppose the Left (or a Left-wing government) organized a celebration of the anniversary of "Oslo" (which brought arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat here, armed him, gave away huge areas of the homeland to him, and saw thousands of murdered Jews in its wake).
In the language of "Newspeak," this is what is defined as a perfect comparison.
They were not the only ones who were conspicuous in their absence. There were no representatives from the "Haredi" parties of the government coalition.
For them too, Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) is a hot-button issue. Not simple.
They voted for Oslo and the Gush Katif expulsion, and not being a Torah scholar, I can not comment on exactly which mitzvah they were thus fulfilling...
Shalom Pollack, veteran licensed tour guide, is the director of Shalom Pollack Tours: Personalized Tours in Israel.
