Beilin was referring to members of the Zionist parties in Israel, those who in a classic misnomer have come to be known as "the right wing". Among these parties there exist quite a few heroes of the Zionist adventure. From Ariel Sharon's exploits as an 18-year-old in the War of Independence to Benny Elon's insistence that he be allowed to pray at the Western Wall while Arab hooligans were throwing stones from the Temple Mount above, and from Natan Sharansky's simple heroism in the face of Soviet anti-semitism and his metamorphosis into one of Israel's most sensible politicians to Rabbi Yitzchak Levy's stoic resolve after his daughter was murdered in a Palestinian terror attack earlier this month. And there is no shortage of other heroes of Israel.
Beilin's remarks came at the end of a very difficult week in Israel. The week began with Yasser Arafat's police-soldiers firing a missile at a school bus full of children on their way to school. Two teachers were killed and nine people were seriously wounded including five children. A few days later, another Palestinian terrorist triggered a car bomb next to an urban bus carrying commuters home from a day at work. This attack took place in a mid-sized Israeli city along the Mediterranean coast. Two more people were killed and a little Arab baby was among 65 people who were
injured.
This evening, upon the completion of the Shabbat, 100 children from the city of Beit Shemesh gathered to write letters and cards to the injured children of the school bus attack or to offer strength to the children of confrontation line communities that have been hard hit by the past two months of Arab violence. None of the children asked why, and none of them complained about writing letters to other children they don't even know. They simply came out and showed their own brand of heroism by identifying with the true heroes of Israel, those who live their lives in order to
defend Israel from its enemies.
For Yossi Beilin, there is no use for heroes such as these. He believes in giving in to all of Israel's enemies simply because Jews are threatened in our own homeland. For Beilin, anyone who stands up to these threats and defends the Jewish right to live in Israel has no place in a government of Israel. Beilin also apparently has no qualms about rejecting Zionism altogether. After all, if the heroes of Zion have no place in government, then Zionism has no place in Israel.
Given that Israel was built upon the Zionist dream and that Israel is the fulfillment of the Zionist adventure, it is statements such as Beilin's that have no place in the political dialogue of the country. Even to the keenest observer of Israeli politics over the past ten years, Beilin's statements must come as somewhat of a shock.
For two months, and indeed for the past 35 years, Yasser Arafat has been fighting to rid Israel of the Zionist adventure. He succeeded in conning three successive governments and two successive US administrations into believing that he is really interested in peace. But when Ehud Barak offered Arafat everything he ever wanted, Arafat opted for war instead.
Now, in the midst of that war, Yossi Beilin has come out and given Arafat a vote of support. Dear readers, Arafat is killing our children. Arafat is bombing our busses to the point that people can't feel safe going to work or coming home every day. And Yossi Beilin has decided to support Arafat's war against Israel.
There is no room, according to Beilin, for the heroes of Zion in the government of Israel. But those heroes include Tehilla Cohen, her brother Yisrael, and her sister Orit, all of whom had limbs blown off their bodies while travelling to school. Those heroes include Shoshana Reis, who was killed while standing on a sidewalk outside a cafe in Hadera. Those heroes include Ayelet Levy, who was helping a friend move into a new apartment when she was killed by a car bomb in Jerusalem. Those heroes include Shimon Ohana who was shot in the heart while protecting the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo from Palestinian murderers across the valley. Ohana miraculously survived, and was released from hospital this week.
And those heroes also include all the residents of Kfar Darom, Netzarim, Psagot, Tekoa, Gush Etzion, Elon Moreh, Hevron, and all the other Jewish towns and villages which have been targetted by Palestinian murderers the past two months or the past 13 years. Those heroes include the two soldiers brutally lynched by a horde of semi-human "Palestinian activists" in Ramallah in October.
For all these heroes and all the rest, Yossi Beilin believes they have no place in the government of Israel.
Yossi Beilin is nobody's hero. Yossi Beilin is a coward who thinks that just because someone fires a few shots at some Jews, we should give up all that is dear and holy to us. The truth is that for Yossi Beilin there is no place in the government of Israel. Israel was not built to be ruled by cowards. Israel was built to bring national pride back to the Jewish nation. And Yossi Beilin stands in the way of the fulfillment of that purpose.
Copyright 2000. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
