During Rabin's speech to Congress, he said, "today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish. This is the only battle which it is a pleasure to wage: the battle for peace." Rabin said this as part of the event of making peace with Jordan. The final agreement has not yet been reached, but the state of war is over. I must admit that I am impressed. For the first time in over two years, Rabin has done something I can support. And I do support efforts at peace with Jordan wholeheartedly. This is a situation in which Israel has nothing to lose, and in which Jordan has nothing to lose, and both sides have so much to gain, that it would be ludicrous not to support it. Yet even at such a proud moment, Rabin proves that he is not the courageous leader, but the cowardly ignorant.
On the same day as Rabin was making this statement about "no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish", the Israeli embassy in London was bombed. Sixteen people were wounded -- not none -- and sufficient blood was spilled to cause Rabin to blame "Islamic extremists" without having any proof upon which to base his accusation. It may well have been perpetrated by the PLO itself for all Rabin knew. Later on that evening, a residential area of London was the scene of another bombing aimed at Jewish victims. A Jewish community building was destroyed with initial reports estimating four wounded.
The community bombing was reminiscent of the bombing eight days earlier of a Jewish community building in Buenos Aires. In that attack, ninety-six people (as of July 27) were killed and over 300 were injured. Tens are still missing (as of July 27). On the same day as the Buenos Aires bombing, in a story that pretty well escaped notice by the world media and was not among the headlines in Israel, a plane exploded over Panama killing sixteen people, most of whom were Jewish.
In the Middle East, meanwhile, four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian murderers in July, as well as six Israelis killed in Lebanon by "Arab extremists". In addition to them, tens of Israelis have been injured in Israel and Lebanon by these same "elements".
We are witnessing an evolution of Rabin's regard for his own citizens, especially those whose very existence helps to ensure what security there is in Israel. During the last half of 1993 and the first few months of 1994, Rabin and various of his advisors and cabinet ministers referred to victims of Arab terrorism, whether in Israel or abroad, as "The Price For Peace". Following the Afula massacre, I wrote an article bearing that title, expressing my views on that label.
But now, we see that victims are no longer even considered at that low level. Now, they simply do not exist. In Rabin's stated estimation, there are "no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish" in the "battle for peace". Three months ago, there was a "Price for Peace". Now, the victims no longer exist.
Well, I've got some news for Rabin and his cronies. Sarit Prigal does exist. Aryeh Frankenthal does exist. Guy Ovadia does exist. Ninety-six people in Buenos Aires do exist. Fourteen people over Panama do exist. And all those injured by armed attacks in this time of "peace" do exist. If they no longer exist among the living, their memory still lives. Their contribution to the Jewish world, whether in Israel, or in Diaspora communities, whether they were soldiers protecting Israel or Jews acting as part of the community, does exist. Their pain, and the pain of their families, does exist. Their anguish cries out. Their spilled blood continues to stain the hands of a man who calls himself their leader, yet who does not recognize their existence.
The same, however, will not be said of Rabin. Rabin will certainly exist in the history of the Jewish people. But he will exist not as a person fulfilling his duty and responsibility to his people. Instead he will exist as a man who abrogated that responsibility, shirked that duty, and ignored those people. It is shameful that it must be this man who achieves peace with Jordan. For while it is a useful peace, and a workable situation, Rabin does not have the proper appreciation for his own people and his own mission to render his efforts successful. One can only pray that peace with Jordan does not extract the "price" that the settlement with the PLO has extracted. And while we are praying, let us also remember those victims of Rabin's wishful thinking.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
