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| Rabin, Clinton, and Arafat on the White House lawn |
I was not a big fan of Itzhak Rabin. Well, I actually had mixed feelings about him. Part of me looked at him as a hero. More about that later. If I had to sum up what I didn’t like about him, it would be from a story (...perhaps an urban legend?) I heard about him when he was Israel’s ambassador
to the United States in the late 60s and early 70s.
He was a guest of honor at some sort of non
Kosher state dinner where he was personally given a Kosher meal. When he was
informed it was Kosher he asked a waiter to bring him a glass of milk (it was a
meat dinner) – ‘God forbid’ the Israeli ambassador to the US he should be
accused of keeping Kosher.
Rabin was from the old guard of Israeli pioneers. True
socialists who eschewed religion. The last thing he wanted was for Israel to be
perceived in any religious context. This
was the ‘new’ Israel of strong and mighty Jews who had little to do with the bible other than
its historical context.
God was rarely if ever mentioned in those days by the political
leadership. That all changed when Menachem Begin took office. While not
observant himself, he understood and respected Halacha and never did anything to
violate it in his official capacity. For example when he attended Anwar Sadat’s
funeral in Egypt which was held on Shabbos, he purposely walked – refusing to
ride in a car so as not to be seen as violating Shabbos. Since then God has re-entered the lexicon of most
Israeli politicians. It is no longer suitable to ignore Him.
As a religious Jew, I was as proud of Begin as I was embarrassed
by Rabin. Nevertheless, there is another
side to Rabin that was indeed heroic. As Chief of Staff of the Israeli
Defense Forces in 1967, he led Israel to a lightening victory of the Arab
countries that attacked it. It was during that war that Israel recaptured East Jerusalem,
the Kotel, the West Bank, and Gaza. At the time he became a hero to all Jews,
including me. Eventually he became Prime Minister of Israel. Twice. In his
second term he did something else - which at the time also seemed heroic. He and Yassir Arafat signed the Oslo Accords which
basically set up a framework for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. That
framework would come to be called ‘the 2 state solution’.
Who can forget that notorious handshake between Rabin and
Arafat? A handshake almost forced upon
Rabin by then President Clinton. I recall cringing when I saw that. But I also
recall agreeing with Rabin for doing it. I felt at the time that if a real
peace would come out of this, it was worth the price of going back to the 67
borders – with the minor adjustments suggested which included free and
unfettered access to the Kotel.
The predictable response by many right wing religious Zionists
was anger. Anger at the thought that a sitting Prime Minister would dare give
up any land captured from our enemies during the six day war. Let alone the
thought of giving up any part of Jerusalem. How dare he?!
It was that kind of thinking – and anger - that led Yigal
Amir, a young Religious Zionist, a former Hesder student at Yeshivat Keren B’Yavne
and the Bar Ilan Kollel to take out a gun and assassinate Rabin for his crime
of ‘treason’ during a public demonstration in support of Oslo. That
was 20 years ago on November 4, 1995. Which was observed Yesterday in Israel,
where Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke.
Amir was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison
and has no regret for what he did. He actually believes he saved the country. And
is willing to pay the price.
Whatever one’s feeling about the Oslo Accords, there was
near universal condemnation of what Amir did. I say near, because there are
some right wing fanatics that consider him a hero to this day.
To say that he was not a hero but a murderer is an understatement.
What he did was not only murdering another human being but a fellow Jew. And as an observant Jew it was a
massive Chilul HaShem. You don’t have to like what Rabin did to see that. Rabin was killed for following his conscience.
Which was to make peace with Israel’s enemies. As a warrior par excellence –
he understood the true hell that war really is. He wanted to end it for his people for all time. He
thought Oslo was going to do that. So as much as it disgusted him to shake
Arafat’s hand, he did it anyway.
Personally, I think history has proven him wrong – as the return
of Gaza has demonstrated. Thank God Israel did not go through with Oslo. My former support for Oslo has turned into opposition to giving up an inch of land until
the Palestinians first show in concrete ways that they will stop killing us! That is about
as likely to happen as is Mahmoud Abbas converting to Orthodox Judaism. They continue to attack Jews at the slightest
pretext. In my view, unless things change
drastically, Israel has no choice to maintain the status quo.
Unfortunately there are some people that think the status
quo is a prescription for national suicide. Obviously the left thinks that we
can still talk peace and take the chance on giving up ‘land
for peace’ even now! Ironically the
extreme right wing agrees with them that the status quo is a prescription for
national suicide. But they are promoting a different option. One that if it
were to take place it would in my view bring a quick end to the Jewish State!
The Kahane Movement is actively pursuing lifting the legal ban
on Rabbi Meir Kahane’s followers running for the Kenesset. They are considered racist. What do Kahanists believe? They believe
that coexistence with Arabs is impossible. Their solution is to ship all Arabs
out of the country. Either they go willingly or by force. Only those willing to
submit peacefully to Israeli rule will be allowed to stay - but without voting
rights.
They sense that most Israelis believe that now too in light
of all the current violence. They are appealing to fear. Fear brought about by the frequency and randomness
of the attacks by all manner of Arabs – men, women, and children - coming out of
the woodwork with knives to indiscriminately kill innocent Jews. Add to this the ‘logic’ of European rejection
of the millions of Arab refugees coming to their shores, and they ask, ‘Why should
Israel tolerate them in their midst’?
They think the time is now ripe to get popular support for their
goal to expel the Arabs from all parts of biblical Israel. It would not surprise
me if they have gotten a few converts to their cause just about now.
This must never be allowed to happen. Rabbi Kahane’s
philosophy inspires extreme violence in his followers. As was the case with Dr.
Baruch Goldstein who one fine Purim day murdered a group of Arabs while they
were praying at Ma’aras HaMachpela. He was
killed in the midst of doing that and is considered a martyr -an icon worshiped
by Rabbi Kahane supporters.
Is this the kind of Israel we want? A country run by the
Baruch Goldsteins of the world? Not me. If this is the kind of Israel it
becomes, count me out. Because if that comes even close to happening, Israel
will God forbid be destroyed both morally and eventually physically – justifying
every canard hurled at them by Palestinians and their supporters all over the
world.
