As I write this, mere hours before Yom Kippur, I must take issue with this pompous attitude on the part of a leader who stifles and scorns his "loyal opposition" for merely exercising their democratic right and duty, who imprisons peaceful demonstrators without charge or trial, and who tortures some of those prisoners to the point of endangering their lives. A leader whose police force brutalizes peaceful demonstrators and whose army seems incapable of protecting his citizens from increased terrorism, a leader who negotiates the future of his people with the most anti-Semitic of all people, a leader who scoffs at the murders of innocent members of his population -- this leader believes he has the G-d-given right to determine the future course of Israel and that he therefore need not ask the forgiveness of anyone.
At the beginning of this month, Lieutenant Oren Edri of the Israeli Defense Forces was kidnapped by Israeli police officers, beaten and tortured. He was placed in a closet with rats, a bag placed over his head, and his finger was broken. He was an exemplary officer in the IDF, according to a report in the Hatikvah newsletter of September 8, and was beaten and tortured in an attempt to elicit a confession that he had taken part in an anti-government demonstration. Three other cases of torture are documented in this article.
Yarden Moreg, a 17-year-old Israeli teen who took part in a legal demonstration in August, was arrested and beaten by police officers. A gun was repeatedly pointed at his head, shoved to the ground, kicked in the groin, and hit with communication equipment. He was then incarcerated for over 13 hours until he was released on bail. None of his medical needs were taken care of, nor was he allowed to see to personal needs. His kippah was confiscated.
As I write this article, I look at a list I have of the names of all the victims of Palestinian terrorism within Israel's borders. I note with great sorrow that there are now 257 such names since the beginning of the Intifadah, and that 72 of them have come since the Oslo Accord was announced last August 31. This means that due to Rabin's cowardly attitude toward the PLO, there has been a marked increase in Arab terrorism in Israel. Over 6000 Israelis have been injured in the past year in Arab terrorist attacks. That is as many Israelis as were killed in the 1948 War of Independence.
Rabin chooses to forget all the suffering of his people. He chooses instead to make light of that suffering and reward the perpetrators with gifts and concessions. We must recognize the PLO for what it continues to be: the most virulently anti-Israel and anti-semitic organization in the world. There no longer is any intention among PLO leaders to change their Covenant. It remains as a testimony to the wishes of hateful Arabs to destroy the one Jewish home there is. Now, Arafat blames Rabin and the Israeli regime for the "delays" in changing that document while he has been more than able to convene the PNC Council any time he chooses. And so Rabin continues to make concessions to the PLO every time they are demanded of him.
Yet Rabin believes that he is equivalent to G-d Himself, not needing to ask forgiveness from anyone. He has anointed his very own Messiah in the person of Yasser Arafat. He has given over the Land Of Israel as an inheritance for the delivery of the Palestinian people from slavery and bondage at the hands of their oppressors. He has allowed that men, women, and children should be murdered in cold blood, maimed and tortured, for resisting the return of the Palestinian people to a land that never was theirs. Certainly at this time of renewal, when the past events of history can be forgotten and a new beginning can be made, Rabin does not need to ask forgiveness from anyone. He must beg for it from everyone.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
