If not now then when? … writes Gil Solomon
Even now, with a President in the White House who has Israel’s back, I see no change now or in the foreseeable future in relation to Israel’s posture or actions on any front.
Gil Solomon
Nothing seems to ever change from one decade to another. The views expressed here could probably be re-written word for word five years from now with only the date of publication changing.
Recent rocket attacks from Gaza confirm that Israel is still a terrorist’s dream come true.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you know you can still continue firing rockets by the hundreds, understanding full well you will eventually receive an ineffectual response that will end both prematurely and inconclusively. Nowhere in the Israeli vocabulary does one even hear a hint of the term “unconditional surrender” of the enemy. The bottom line is that by this weak posture over the decades, the clear message that has been sent to Israel’s enemies is that Israel, for the foreseeable future will remain reactive and never proactive in the defence of its citizens. You still face an Israeli enemy which, even during a war, will no doubt still supply you with electricity from the Israeli grid and will no doubt still give advance notice by flyers and phone calls to apartment residents that this or that building is being targeted, thereby giving so called “innocent” civilians and yourselves enough time to escape with your life.
It should also be remembered that even after the previous Gaza conflict in 2014, Israel allowed, without preconditions, the resumption millions of tons of cement to be imported back into Gaza from Ramallah based cement factories. Did someone back then think that this time the material would not go into tunnel construction?
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will certainly know that you can still make the most outrageous and heinous statements, such as “Jews are the offspring of pigs and apes”, knowing full well that the Israelis will still offer to sit down with you in talks with no preconditions! Not even will they ever demand that the indoctrination of children in hate must stop.
The Israel of today is a country where illegal Arab construction has gone on in Jerusalem, the Negev and elsewhere for years. It seems that Israel still fears what the EU and UN think.
The fact that Negev Bedouin once roamed the Middle East tending their flocks does not prove ownership and for Israel to have succumbed to pressure to, in many cases, allow these people to register vacant land in the Land Registry as privately held is appalling. It is outrageous that an organisation called Regavim has to take the Israeli Government to court to enforce its own laws in order to keep Jewish lands in Jewish hands. It is long overdue for Israel to get up off its knees and act like a sovereign power.
Netanyahu over all these years has still made no real attempt to debunk the fictitious so called “Palestinian narrative” and thanks to this inaction, the world in general now believes the propaganda set forth by the Palestinian Authority (PA) well before the disastrous Oslo accords, documents which were nothing less than an abandonment of sovereignty. It seems that Israel is out manoeuvred at every step. If there were a Palestinian country, who were its leaders, what currency did they use, was it a state run by Sharia law or another form of law? The fact is that these questions cannot be answered because a country called Palestine never existed. As a matter of fact, in biblical times, all of what is now Israel and the west bank (Judea and Samaria) was Jewish. When the Romans conquered the territory they named the entire area “Philistina” in order to rub salt into the wounds of the defeated Jews by calling the place in honour of their ancient and mortal enemies the Philistines. By doing so, the Romans acknowledged that the owners of the territory were Jews. Down the centuries the name Philistina was anglicized to Palestine.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, if one were referred to as a Palestinian, it was automatically implied that he or she was Jewish.Decades later Arabs cleverly commandeered the term “Palestinian” and people worldwide have bought their message that these same Arabs have never forgiven the division of their “country” by the UN. The facts are that Palestine was a land mass finally administered by the British from 1914 until the 1947 Partition Plan when only a part was allocated back to its centuries old rightful owners, the Jewish people.
Netanyahu knows all of this but will he ever say it publicly? I doubt it.
By simply continuing discussions with the PA he gives ongoing credibility to the false narrative. It is time to realise that discussions have long past their use by date and Israel should take unilateral action on a whole range of issues.
This will require leadership.
Whether Netanyahu is up to this, I’ll let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
But, if not now, then when?
The insane magnanimous gesture by General Moshe Dayan after the 1967 military victory allowing the Muslim WAQF to maintain administrative control over the Temple Mount has been detrimentally compounded over the years. Dayan, in one fell swoop seriously compromised the military victory of 1967 and now Netanyahu, some five decades later has continued the abandonment of the Jewish heritage of this site by strictly maintaining the flawed “status quo” agreement with Jordan, whereby Israeli police do the work of the WAQF in making this site, the holiest piece of real estate in all of Jewish history “Judenfrei”.
It is time for a reversal and for the Status Quo agreement to be shredded.
Again, this will require leadership.
Again, whether Netanyahu is up to this, I’ll let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
But, if not now, then when?
So much for the inspiring words by General Motta Gur in 1967 who proclaimed “the Temple Mount is in our hands”.
So much for this site where both Jewish Temples once stood (the 1stbuilt in 960 BCE and the 2nd built in 520 BCE) now dominated by the Dome of the Rock Mosque. This is a site where since 1967 foreign dignitaries could have been escorted to and not to Yad Vashem, a memorial to Jewish graveyards.
So much for Netanyahu’s often claimed boast that Jerusalem remains the undivided capital of Israel. How can this be, when at the Temple Mount Jews TO THIS DAY are still forbidden to enter and move their lips in prayer.
Recently, Arab Israeli citizens demonstrated in Rabin Square with slogans such as: “With spirit and blood we’ll redeem you Palestine”. Israel’s folly decades ago of handing out citizenship as if it were confetti thrown on a passing parade to people who despise you has certainly come home to roost. There comes a time when a problem has to be confronted head on especially when it involves a 5thColumn threat to a nation’s very existence.
For how long will Israel be concerned with what the UN, EU or other countries think of its actions in protecting its sovereignty or its citizens? Long gone are those high sounding words: “Israel will never negotiate with terrorists”. On the contrary, Israel now virtually begs Hamas for a ceasefire!
I had hoped that with the election of Donald Trump as US President, the paralysis of Israeli leadership would have ended. Unfortunately my hopes were misplaced.
Author Gil Solomon is a retired finance manager who takes an intense interest in current affairs impacting on the Jewish community.
Absolutely everything you say is true, Gil, and you say it succinctly as well as with passion.
It’s true that Netanyahu knows the complete falsity of the ‘Palestinian’ position that the world so unthinkingly believes in, yet does not expose it. There have been reasons for that (all pertaining to international ‘diplomacy’ with certain aims in mind), although as it’s turned out, he might as well have been up front about it from the start, for Israel has gained nothing but more and more flak from the evolving situation. The very moment Netanyahu leaves Israel for a foreign land he knows he’ll be under verbal attack because of the bias and ignorance of the West, and I think in the main he copes with that well. I’ve noticed in the last two years he’s been careful not to mention a two-state solution and it’s time he went a step further and explained why it’s never been on the agenda in reality, only in the minds of left-wing idealogues. He did also make that speech to the American Congress, against a sitting President’s agenda – that showed some courage. It’s easy to criticise from a distance. And, as black and white as it seems, it’s never as simple as that.
Now, though, the time has come for hard truth, and will he deliver it? Probably not. And who else have we got who would do so, and do so well? That’s the question. You also have the problem of many Israelis who seek ‘peace’ and undermine the country. As well as liberal Jews in the diaspora. And the different problems the very religious impose, or try to. It’s a mixed bag.
The Arabs have been clever with their propaganda campaign, right from the late 1960s, and Israel took a a long time – far too long – to start countering it. Trouble is, now the world doesn’t want to listen. It’s for that reason we must do what we know is right for good survival.
Gil,
When are you making Aliyah? We need you here.
B’Shana Hazot B’Yerushalayim,
Sophia
Keep up the good work Gil!