So what?
So what if a "Palestinian" girl smacks an Israeli soldier across his cheek.
Turning the other cheek is a classic Jewish ideal, isn't it?
Oh, excuse me it isn't a Jewish ideal, just a Jewish practice.
So what if she spits in his face? Maybe it was really rain and we should not jump to conclusions.
So what if she kicked him and hit him repeatedly? Perhaps he was standing exactly in the path of her limbs as she merely exercised them. Besides, it was occupied territory.
Anything is possible in the quest for "quiet" and a "good press" in the eyes of the world.
Has not decades of "restraint" has won us tons of friends and admirers?
So what if she repeatedly cursed the soldier?
"Sticks and stones can break my bones...
Or maybe her exact words were lost in the translation and the whole thing is a mistake?
Sought of like "Jihad" really means peaceful introspection...
So what if an Israeli soldier (someone's son or father) quietly absorbed the humiliation as the cameras recorded the shame for the world to see?
Israel is debating this latest "incident", and as can be expected, the well-known voices of "reason and temperance" praise the "restraint" of the soldier.
These are the same voices that brought us Arafat and Oslo - Rabin and Peres; the hysteric withdrawal from South Lebanon - Ehud Barak (into which the Hizbullah immediately entered and butchered our SLA allies who we abandoned)
These are the voices who expelled thousands of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Samaria - Ariel Sharon and help create "Gazastan" with its periodic torrent of rockets and death tunnels.
Add to the list the exceptionally brutal expulsion of Jews from Amona - Ehud Olmert.
All of the above assured us that their criminal follies would make the world love us.
These "moderate and experienced types, applaud the model behavior of the humiliated soldier, representing the mature, rational Israel, Israel that the world will learn to love.
There was a time when this humiliating scene would not happen. It was not even a thought, not in the minds of Jew or Arab or any observer.
Something has changed.
Some of us have become tired. They tired before our enemy has.
They did not have the spirit to endure
I have seen and felt that change in the forty years that I live in Israel.
Apparently, I came just as the winds began to turn. One could feel it and smell it.
I arrived just after the historic Sadat visit to Jerusalem where our ex Nazi neighbor was accepted as a Messiah.
An Arab leader finally smiled at us! Hallelujah! (he remembered to wear a tie of interlacing swastikas - just in case we took him too seriously)
Nothing he said; no demand, no threat could wipe the smile off the faces of those who embraced this true Messiah. He mesmerized many of us.
Israelis began a mass "return Exodus" to Egypt which lasted until Israelis began being gunned down in the land we so wanted to adore and to adore us.
Alas.
Same goes for the initial mad rush into Jordan after our peace treaty with them in which we assured them access to our water, agriculture assistance and the very stability of the king's throne.
We only sought their smile but were rejected again.
What were we doing wrong?
The same "moderate voices" urged Israel to give the Golan Heights to Assad (Rabin, Peres, and Barak) in return for the dream of "eating hummus in Damascus".
Why are we so loved starved?
Two thousand years of being spurned, humiliated and scorned may have something to do with it.
Having our own country - a strong, wealthy free country was supposed to finally change this.
For many, it has not.
I have observed that relatively few God-fearing Jews in Israel seem to share the same love obsession.
I wonder if that is just a statistical coincidence.
The irrepressible hunger for a warm touch, some acceptance; to make up for millennia of love privation still has some of us in its grip.
There are those who still feel that it is better to be spat upon than be accused by the "world" of unacceptable behavior, i.e. Jews refusing to lay down and to be walked upon.
We don't want to upset anyone out there now, do we?
We do not live alone in this world...
After all, to whom can we look for our salvation..?
So now this "Palestinian" teen is a hero and an example for millions like her who view the u tube clip and will now dare if they did hesitate before.
Rest assured that there will be top Jewish lawyers, journalists and such, falling over themselves to defend this "hero of the resistance to occupation" and squelch the voices of " irresponsible", simplistic Jews who have had just about enough.
For some, it can be said, "you can take the Jew out of the Exile but you can not remove the Exile from him."
www.shalompollacktours.com
Pioneers, archeology, and Jacob's goats
Wednesday, January 10
Itinerary:
Travel through the Judean desert to Bet Hogla, a pioneering Jewish "ecologically friendly" village on the Jordan.
There we shall be given a tour of the pomegranate, olive and Olivera orchards from which the exquisite products are produced locally for you to sample and purchase.
We will visit the spot where Joshua crossed the Jordan river.
We shall also visit the unique "Shofar, so good" exhibit.
We continue on through the Jordan Valley and visit the Jordan Valley Memorial to our soldiers and terror victims of this exquisite area. Behold the beauty and miracle of the renewed Jordan valley since its children have returned to it after 1967.
We continue to Bet Shean where we will visit the remarkable " Pompei of the south".
This was Rome's very lavish showcase, window to the East that was destroyed in seconds in an earthquake.
It is being unearthed now and will take your breath away!
Finally, we visit one amazing couple living near the Lebanon border in Moshav Ramat Naphtali.
Jenna and Gil moved from Canada to Israel a few years ago with a dream. They were accompanied by a flock of multi-horned, spotted "biblical sheep" which they raised in Western Canada.
This is exactly the breed that Jacob tended in the house of Lavan 3,500 years ago and is just now being reintroduced by them into the area after all those years.
Departure, 7:30 from the Inbal hotel.
Return, before 7:00
Bring a picnic lunch
Cost: 200 shekels
Cancellations prior to 72 hours of departure will be charged in full.
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