The seal of G-d is truth (Sanhedrin 64a)

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A Minyan For The Dead

Ten Jewish soldiers were killed yesterday. They didn't have to die. They died because our leaders are so desperate to show the world that we aren't bloodsuckers. How did that experiment go? Are ten dead Jews enough? Now the Jewish death toll has climbed to 53.

CNN will still report that we are ghouls. The BBC will portray us as baby killers. The European blood libel in 2014.

While families across Israel spend their remaining summer days and nights in bomb shelters (if they have them), Netanyahu sends humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ceasefires? How about mini ceasefires while Hamas fires rockets at us? Bibi's new policy would certainly make Ghandi proud. (Gandhi thought it moral to sit passively while someone stomps on your skull.) We were told that the IDF would only return fire. I wondered how many Jews would have to die to provoke a response.

We are witnessing the premature end of Operation Protective Edge, even in the event that Israel resumes the offensive. Netanyahu's cabinet rejected the ceasefire, but Bibi (on his own) instituted what amounts to a ceasefire. For all practical purposes the war is over. And yet each time Netanyahu decides to end the war, Hamas forces his hand for awhile. Until Kerry's next trip or Obama's next angry phone call. I don't know about you, but were I Prime Minister, I'd slam the receiver so hard he'd be bleeding from the ears.

Obama will not mourn these ten murdered Jews. He will enjoy his after-Ramadan feast, and cozy up with his Islamic brothers. Ten dead Jews means nothing to Obama. But he will sit shiva for Hamas.

Normal countries study sophisticated philosophies of warfare. “The Art of War” by Sun Szu. The theories and tactics of classical battles throughout history. Netanyahu uses the war strategy of Chelm.

  • Only Chelm would repeatedly warn the enemy in advance. Tell them precisely when and where they intend to attack.
  • Only in the land of the lost, would they feed, cloth, and treat the enemy's wounded.
  • Only screwballs would pay for their electricity and keep their water running
  • Only those with a lesion in the brain would grant the enemy time to regroup and refortify.

Despite clever pilpulistic attempts to spin the tale, Hamas is still very strong. Morale is high on their side. They don't need to destroy the IDF or Israel, Heaven Forbid, in order to garner a victory. Anything short of their destruction is a victory for them. They have put the entire country under siege. Our economy is suffering, and tourism has been bled dry. And they have murdered Jews. They only need to make us bleed. In the meantime, untold numbers of rockets remain in their possession, along with a network of tunnels that probably haven't even been identified. The Hamas leadership is alive and well inside their fortified hideouts. Laughing at us, as we bury the dead.

World approval. As if the Jewish people ever experienced such a miracle. Naked Jew-hatred parades the international stage. Obama has sanitized Hamas. The U.N. shrieks when Jews defend themselves. The world wants us to die. Nothing more needs to be said. More speeches from Netanyahu using the cliche of the olive branch in one hand and the sword of David in the other. What a joke. Wonderful. We know Bibi can speak well. But the image is flawed. If only we had a King David to wield the sword. Judaism doesn't offer the olive branch to those who march under the banner of Amalek.

And what sort of peace is it that Netanyahu proposes to those who show us the sword? The typical liberal Jewish notion of peace. We give up territory, they collect it. We send them money, water, and technology. They print more copies of The Protocols. They send us death, either directly or indirectly. This isn't the Torah's definition of peace. (A topic I will address in the future.) This is the demented peace of Shalom Achshav.

Ten more dead Jews. Sacrificed on Bibi's altar of appeasement and capitulation.The U.N. isn't impressed. Not enough of a body count.

Much like his repeated failures to deal a terminal blow to Oslo, Netanyahu lacks courage to rectify Sharon's sin and set the country straight. A ceasefire not only gives Hamas a victory, it will destroy the morale of the IDF and the country at large. Remember, Israel has not secured a true victory since The Yom Kippur War. (Despite Golda Meir's insane refusal to preemptively strike.) And even that saw the prestige of the IDF take a battering.

In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Forefathers), we are told, “who is wise, he who can foresee the future.” If Hamas is not destroyed, many more Jews will die the next time around. At first Hamas could only hit the southern periphery. Then came Beersheba and her environs. Now the entire country can be hit. The next war will be unimagible.

I read a heartbreaking account yesterday, (they are all heart-breaking) of the funeral of Chief Warrant Rami Chalon, age 39 (May G-d avenge his blood) who fell in battle. A description of his 16 year old boy Yosiel kneeling on his Abba's grave, bawling like a baby. “Aba, I am still crying.” One whose Jewish heart doesn't bleed at this image should check his lineage.

And now we have a new minyan of the dead. Ten Jewish soldiers died because Bibi wanted to show the world that we tried another ceasefire. Bibi is unfit to lead. He better step aside. There's a war going on, dammit. And I'm sick and tired of seeing my Jewish brothers lowered into the ground.

Aba, I am still crying.” Ribono Shel Olam.

Never forget these words. Let Gaza burn until yovel (jubilee).





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