First, there came the shooting spree in the Nahalat Shiva section of Jerusalem. One of the terrorists involved was a member of the PLO "police force", and the other had been released from jail three weeks earlier after having signed a pledge to no longer take part in terrorist activities. Who does Rabin think he is fooling by exacting these pledges from murderers? How do these releases, and the pledges that go along with them, increase Israeli security?
Then came the tragic death of Corporal Nachshon Wachsman and Captain Nir Poraz, who tried to save him. Throughout the developments of that horrible week, Yitzchak Rabin performed an exercise in fastidious ineptness. He claimed with utmost certainty that Wachsman was being held in Gaza, and professed to hold Yasser Arafat directly responsible for his fate. When Wachsman was found to be in the Ramallah area, Rabin ordered the ill-planned raid to extricate him from captivity. Instead of bringing Wachsman out alive, it resulted in his death, and that of the leader of the raiding unit. Rabin, having pledged to hold Arafat responsible for Wachsman's fate, broke off negotiations with the PLO for exactly two days, and then proceeded as if nothing untoward had happened. And of course, no cabinet ministers deigned to show up for Wachsman's funeral.
Hot on the heels of the Wachsman and Poraz murders, a bus bomb exploded in the heart of Tel Aviv, killing 22 people, injuring 48 others, and spraying body parts and brain matter over a five square block area. Rabin ordered the demolition of the house in which the suicide bomber lived, and then rescinded the order when it was found that the house was occupied by the entire rest of his family. What was the point of demolishing the house supposed to have been, if not to cause some measure of discomfort to the family of the terrorist who had caused so much discomfort to so many other families? And of course, the diplomatic process between Israel and the PLO did not skip a beat. Negotiations continued as if Tel Aviv were a million miles away.
Following the wanton death of 26 Jews within two weeks, the Jewish nation lost its spirit. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach died, while on a flight from New York to Toronto. Rabbi Carlebach was the man singularly responsible for helping tens of thousands of Jews to return to their people, their history, their religion, and their spirit. Carlebach single-handedly effected the revival of Jewish music in the late twentieth century, and is largely responsible for whatever spiritual well-being there is among the Jewish nation.
Soon after his death, Rabbi Shlomo Goren passed away. Rav Goren was the Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces during the Six-Day War, and was on the scene when the Western Wall was recaptured by IDF paratroopers. He later became the Chief Rabbi of Israel, and was a driving force behind the re-invigoration of religious Zionism over the past 30 years.
What the Jewish nation has suffered in the past month is horrific. Great people who gave their lives in the defense of the Jewish State, the Jewish land, the Jewish soul, and Jewish life, have passed from this world. Many mourn their loss, I among them. Many recognize the enormity of our sorrow. Many do not. The PLO is still a friend dearer to Yitzchak Rabin than the Nachshon Wachsman's, the Nir Poraz's, the Tel Aviv victims, and the Two Shlomo's ever were. In the midst of all the death, Yitzchak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat share a Nobel Peace Prize that destroys the credibility and the reputation of that heretofore honourable institution. They do not mourn.
Yet, there is one shining light through all this murky blackness. Yehuda Wachsman, Nachshon's father, showed the true heroism that is the ultimate guarantor of the Jewish people. During the shiva -- the week of mourning for a lost relative -- when his pain was at its zenith, he agreed to give an interview to Israeli press. In that interview, he provided an insight into how the Jewish people survives. When the Jewish nation can come together to pray for a missing son, to defend against those who would destroy us, and to continue settling our homeland, a grieving Jewish father had this to say:
"I lost one son. But I gained seven. Nir Poraz and the rest who gave of themselves to try to save my son are now also my sons. And it doesn't stop there. All the women who lit an extra candle that shabbat night for my son, in solidarity with my wife, are my sisters. The thousands of people who came together to offer their prayers around the world on behalf of my son are my brothers."
This is the Jewish family. This is Nachshon Wachsman's family, and Nir Poraz's family, and the family of the victims of Tel Aviv and Nahalat Shiva. This is the family Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres have spurned to join its destructors. This is my family.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
