Scary Times - but hold on to your hope

Last week the Israeli public was awakened to horrifying statements from prominent society members. The maddening thing about it was that they were all reported by the press in passing without any discussion, revulsion or any reactions of any kind!!!!

The first statement was made by Yair Lapid, the son of Tommy Lapid (leader of the Shinui party). He said that he is not afraid of a civil war in Israel because the settlers are not "our" brothers. --- Another nail in the coffin deligitimizing the settlers.

The second statement was made by Ehud Olmert, Sharon's right hand man in the government. He said that the army has to break the settlers bones. ---One step further in painting us to be the enemy.

The third statement was made by Ephraim Sneh, a prominent MK from the Labor party, who said that a little blood spilt in a civil war is better than more blood spilt later.

The fourth statement was made by Ami Ayalon, a past head of Shabak, Israeli intelligence, and now a contender for the Labor party leadership. He said that it is about time for Israel to have another Altalena. (The story of the Altalena is when David Ben-Gurion ordered Hagana soldiers to fire upon Menachem Begin's Irgun soldiers who were on a boat bringing in weapons to Israel). Ami Ayalon was refering to it being about time for Jews to once again shoot at fellow Jews.

These are extremely scary comments made by prominent people and reported in the press - none of them cause any uproar in Israel, none whatsoever!!! Don't you think that something is a little wrong with that?

For those who understand the real nature of the conflict in Israel it makes perfect sense because the real conflict in Israel today is not between Arabs and Jews, but between Jews and Jews -Those Jews who want to be Israelis without any connection to their Jewish heritage and those Jews who want to be Jews who live in a state connected to its Jewish heritage.

This is the reason our enlightened brothers are psychologically preparing Israels to acept the phenomenon of shooting at fellow Jews, even though these same enlightened Israelis are the ones who vehemently disagree with excesive violence used against our true enemies who kill us everyday.

Expelling Jews from YESHA is part of this fight against the Jews who want an Israel connected to its Jewish heritage.

The truth is that expelling Jews from their homes, anywhere in Israel, will not solve our problem with the Arabs around us. Furthermore, Israel will never be able to solve its conflict with the Arabs until it first solves theburning cultural conflict of Jew versus Israeli.

We are about to go through some scary times - where Jews are actually endorsing the need to shoot at fellow Jews.

Beezrat Hashem we will overcome this, and make sure Sharon and the most evil government the State of Israel has ever had goes down in Jewish history as a sad footnote.

Avi

The article below in today's Haaretz is worth your time to read.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/525461.html
Genuine alarm
By Nadav Shragai
Civil war is no longer a theoretical possibility. The subject is not a matter of hollow threats or baseless horror scenarios. True, there have been an abundance of these, up until a few weeks ago, whose sole purpose was to deter the prime minister from uprooting the settlements of Gush Katif. But now it is a genuine alarm. Some of the nightmare scenarios are now based on reality, even if it may be masking tactics of intimidation and deterrence.
Thousands of Israelis are signing petitions in which they proclaim their refusal to abet the disengagement. Thousands more are declining to sign, but make it clear that they will not cooperate when the day of disengagement comes. They represent not only the religious public, which defers to rabbinic halakhic authority, but also many others - religious and secular Jews - who wish to remain loyal to the dictates of their conscience. Immediate danger is posed by a handful of Yitzhar-type zealots, who are liable to strike at evacuating forces. Former head of the Central Command Yitzhak Eitan speaks of the possible use of live ammunition.But the real rupture that is developing is the chasm between a significant group in the Israeli public and a regime that is perceived as illegitimate, as deceiving its voting public, as carrying out an expulsion and "transfer" of its citizens, without having received any mandate from the public.The prime minister makes life easy for himself by throwing responsibility for the great conflagration that is arising before his eyes solely on the opponents of disengagement. He bears supreme responsibility for what is unfolding. It is he who wrought a situation that has brought us to the brink of the abyss, where refusal to follow orders in the army has ceased to be a marginal phenomenon and is gradually becoming the mainstream view among opponents of disengagement.This process occurred because Sharon has for months stubbornly refused to let the people make the historic decision, as is only right. Sharon could have neutralized this dangerous wave many months ago, and he can still cut it short simply by giving the people the right to decide.This would not only be moral and right; it is also the smart move. The mainstream among opponents of disengagement - the Yesha Council of settlers and the majority of extra-parliamentary rightist organizations, including most of the rabbis - have already announced their readiness to accept whatever decision is made. They believe that they will be able to persuade the public that Sharon is making an awful mistake. They have to be granted the opportunity to prove it, not only because Sharon's style of governance - firing ministers, threatening MKs and ignoring decisions reached by the institutions of his own party and its members - is undemocratic, but mainly because he has deceived his voters.Sharon - who declared prior to the elections that "so long as Palestinian terror continues, there will be no progress on even the beginning of an agreement," who promised "not to evacuate settlements when I am in office," who said that "any such withdrawal would only encourage terror," who spoke of "painful concessions only in exchange for true peace"; Sharon who showed Amram Mitzna the door, when the latter spoke of a unilateral evacuation of settlements - refuses to put his plan to the broad public test, for one simple reason: He is afraid of losing.Somebody has to tell the prime minister - and the president of Israel would be a suitable candidate - that at a time when civil war threatens to break out among us, he should put aside his political accounts and do all he can to prevent it. If he loses, it means that there truly was no legitimization for the unilateral uprooting of individuals from their homes. If he wins, he can carry out his plan, without the danger of a civil war. It is so simple. In fact, the knights of democracy from the left should have subdued their burning passion to evacuate settlements and said this to Sharon.Instead, supporters of Peace Now and the kibbutz movement, whose eyes are sometimes blinded by hatred, are now pouring oil on the burning campfire and enlisting battalions of volunteers for the evacuation. This draft, which Yoel Maharshak, one of the leaders of the kibbutz movement, says is being done with the blessing of the Prime Minister's Office, is a surefire recipe for civil war.However, most worrisome of all, the prime minister who bears the supreme responsibility to prevent a civil war promises he will not let the opponents of disengagement "win" and does not understand that in the internal dispute between Jews, there are only losers. The past few days show that Sharon and his close aides are panicking when it comes to the opponents of disengagement. Evidence is provided by recent statements about "breaking hands and legs."Logic also dictates that Sharon now maintain open channels of dialogue with the public that opposes the course he has taken, but Sharon, in his fervor to "disengage," has also been blinded by the light and has instructed the chief of staff and the defense minister to cease meeting with Jewish settlement leaders in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.The prime minister, it turns out, has not plumbed the depths of the rupture taking place among broad sections of the public, who feel more insulted and bitter with every passing day. This large public is only a step away from the Yitzhar-type extremists, but Sharon the Disengager is widening the circles of fanaticism instead of narrowing them. The president of Israel, who has in the past expressed his support for turning the decision over to the people, is well aware of the danger of internal conflict, but awareness is inadequate. If he wishes to prevent bloodshed between brothers, he must immediately throw his full weight behind an attempt to refer the decision to the public.