Ehud Barak is called this country’s Prime Minister. He is the most decorated soldier in Israeli history and was elected to his position based on his sterling military career. He was considered Mr. Security by the Israeli establishment – someone who could at once bring peace and guarantee Israel’s security, since he knew best what Israel’s security meant.
Ehud Barak is an abysmal failure. He has been unable to quell the worst rioting in this country’s history. He has seen three rounds of rioting in just the past five months, and has failed each time to learn the lessons that are staring him in the face. He has been saying for weeks that Arafat is not a willing partner for peace and that he cannot make any concessions when there is no willingness on Arafat’s part to make peace. Yet, after a week in which Arafat has proven these statements correct, Barak travels to Paris to meet with him and to continue the efforts to finish what was started at Oslo. Barak has failed to guarantee Israel’s security, and instead has seen it worsen to such a state that any Israeli soldier must today be afraid for his life due to his government’s inability to take the necessary decisions.
But the thing that really puzzles me is that Israel has become a prison for Jews.
Let that sink in for a minute.
One hundred years ago, Theodor Herzl envisioned Israel as a haven for Jews who would be imprisoned in any other country. Fifty years ago, the State of Israel was founded upon the twin pillars of that vision and the proof of its necessity that was provided by the Holocaust. During that time, Israel has progressed to the status of a world power in industry, technology, science, medicine, and wealth. Israel has accomplished all this with a miniscule population and sparse natural resources, against the combined military effort of the entire Arab world and many of their allies.
But this week has put the lie to all that accomplishment. Israel’s most decorated soldier has seen fit to prevent Jews from traveling from their homes, to imprison Jews in bomb shelters, and to take huge gouges out of the national economy due to missed work days or shortened hours. Roadways across the country have been closed to Jewish traffic, while Arabs are allowed to move virtually unimpeded throughout the country. All because the greatest anti-Semite alive today decided to begin shooting Jews again. All because a few bombs go off.
Israel was not meant to be this way. Israel was meant to be the one place where the Jewish government and the Jewish army would have not only the power but the will to defend Jewish lives and defeat those who would destroy them.
And Israel’s most decorated soldier, who is also Israel’s Prime Minister, today represents Israel’s failure as an idea and as an historical mission.
But it is not only Ehud Barak that bears this historical burden. The Israeli voters who put him in office bear equal responsibility. When the 10,000 residents of Kiryat Shmona were forced into their bomb shelters because of shelling from Lebanon, the entire country voiced the anguish of that town. The media was crawling over the city so that the entire nation could participate in their pain and fear. And the Israel Defense Forces were in the forefront of the battles to defend those people, even though the attacks came from outside Israel and were conducted by remote control.
But when the residents of Neve Dekalim or Morag are confined to their bomb shelters, when the residents of Gush Etzion are confined to their own communities, when the residents of Beit El, Psagot, Shilo, and Eli are fired upon as they travel near their homes, these people are blamed for having the nerve to even be there.
Only two things differentiate between the residents of Kiryat Shmona and the residents of these other communities. The first is that the attacks in the latter case are carried out by terrorists that many Israelis would prefer to believe are partners in peace, while the attacks from Lebanon came from a clearly defined enemy. The second is that the residents of Kiryat Shmona did not live in the Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria or in the Gaza Strip. Many in Israel do not consider the communities in these areas legitimate, and many are secretly whispering that these residents are getting only what they deserve.
When Kiryat Shmona was under attack, the entire country rose to its assistance. When the pioneers of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are under attack, even the Israeli right wing has failed to mount any meaningful campaign to give them the immense credit they are due. No wonder then, that Israel is on the roadway to disaster. One can only hope that, like so many other times in our national history, some sort of road closure impedes our progress to our own doom.
Copyright 2000. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
