In the past 5 months, Ehud Barak - the most decorate soldier in Israeli history - has presided over the worst security nightmare this country has seen since it last fought a full-blown war. And he has failed miserably to end the violence, which claimed yet another Israeli life the day before the election. 54 people have been killed since the end of September in what can best be described as a Palestinian War, which Israel has refused to fight.
All of Barak's promises of peace have gone up in the smoke of gunfire throughout Judea and Samaria, with a few bombs in major cities thrown in for good measure. And the former Chief of Staff never once saw fit to allow his army to defend the people he was elected to protect. It got to the point where Barak was apologizing for the fact his police force killed 13 Arabs in October, while he couldn't bring himself to even bother apologizing to the Jewish victims and their families who must bear the burden of his non-security policies.
Barely two weeks ago, outgoing Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami left the Taba talks doing his impersonation of Neville Chamberlain. "We have never been closer to an agreement," he intoned, which begs the question why there was no agreement.
In truth, Israel has never been farther from peace at any time since he Yom Kippur War. The reason this is the case has everything to do with the "leadership" Israel has suffered with for the past eight years. It has to do with a flawed vision of what peace actually means, with a desire on the part of some to end the violence even at the cost of causing more violence, and with the utter disdain and contempt with which the left-wing leadership holds most of the country.
Yesterday's election had the lowest voter turnout in Israeli history. Conventional Wisdom says that part of the reason was that the election was a foregone conclusion. The fact that the margin of victory for Prime Minister Sharon was the largest in Israeli history bears this out. But part of the reason is that many voters simply did not want either candidate. Most of the country prefers a national unity government, and they prefer one that is lead from a position of power with policies that will strengthen Israel - not its enemies. Even Sharon announced early in the election that his preference was a national unity government.
Many analysts on the radio last night claimed that this is in fact what Israelis have voted for. Yet there, in the midst of all the commentary, was Yossi Beilin - one of my favourite politicians - railing against the idea. "G-d forbid," he intoned.
Even in the midst of the most lopsided loss in Israeli history, Beilin can't say a good word about the idea of unifying the nation. Even in the midst of a horrendous security situation, one to which he had no small contribution, he can't fathom the idea of joining a government that can unite and strengthen the country.
Perhaps this is to be expected. After all, Beilin had a primary role in bringing Israel to the situation in which it now finds itself. He was one of the main architects of the Oslo Process, he met secretly and illegally with the PLO even before Rabin's government was elected, and he was the original proponent of the plan to divide Jerusalem that Bill Clinton handed the world as his parting gift.
What is more surprising is the role G-d has played in the election's immediate aftermath. Here you have Beilin, who is also largely responsible for the now defunct "secular revolution", and who, as Religious Affairs Minister, almost succeeded in shutting that ministry down, invoking G-d to make a political point. Perhaps the Mashiach really is on the way if Yossi Beilin is invoking G-d on national radio.
What is more comforting than anything Beilin says, however, is one comment overheard at Sharon's victory headquarters: "I am secular, but today I now believe that there is a G-d," said one celebrant.
The reason is very simple. Ehud Barak, with Beilin and others at his side, tried valiantly to take all vestiges of Judaism out of the Jewish State. His government issued diktats to the religious parties on how they must run their policies and institutions, insisted on violating the Shabbat when other alternatives existed, actively disenfranchised and even tried to marginalize the entire religious public, and worked to expunge religion from the government.
The final straw that broke the back of the outgoing government was the issue of Holy Places. In the past 5 months, we have witnessed the destruction of the Tomb of Joseph without much of an attempt to defend it, attempts to destroy the Tomb of Rachel, and a diplomatic move to hand the Temple Mount to a band of murderers and divide the city of Jerusalem.
Yesterday featured the lowest voter turnout in Israeli history. But the fact that it also featured the largest margin of victory in Israeli history indicates to me that it was time for G-d's vote to be counted.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
