From the Depths of Despair      
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                       December 26, 1994
                                
     The whole world watched as IDF reserve soldier, Shmuel Meiri, was caught in heavy
traffic in Ramallah and nearly murdered by the frenzied mob of Jew hating Arabs.  The
cameras flashed and the videos buzzed around the frightened soldier.  His life flashed before
him as he faced a slow and tortuous death as the object of a modern version of the Roman
theater.  To add injury to insult, as Arabs leaned inside his car and smashed his head with
rocks, Meiri was afraid to even consider using his rifle against his attackers.   After all he was
only being attacked by pedestrians with rocks.  How would it look if he were to kill someone
with his gun?  So, rather than defend his very life from hundreds of his enemies who were
rejoicing at his predicament, Meiri cried out to his would be murderers for mercy.  
     The leadership of the Jewish State has steadily eroded the confidence and pride once
possessed by the Lion of Judah, and turned the IDF into a cowering pussy cat.   Our sages
have told us that he who is merciful unto the cruel is destined to be cruel unto the merciful.  
What better illustration of the truth of that proverb than to be forced to watch the humiliation,
not merely of Shmuel Meiri, but of the mighty IDF and the entire Jewish State.
     One does not win wars by being merciful to his enemies.  One does not make peace by
surrendering to those who would destroy him.  And one does not bring pride and self respect
by denying his birthright and attempting to share it with frauds and impostors.
     The commanders of the IDF have been forced to become politicians.  When the Chief
of Staff of the army announced to the world that the intifada cannot be won militarily, only
politically, what he really meant is that we have no choice but to surrender.   In other words,
even when Shamir was in charge, the die was cast and the stage was set for the defeat of the
Jewish State by Arab women and children.
      What then can one expect from poor Shmuel Meiri?  Can we expect one soldier to
fight the war by himself when the entire army has been trained to lose?   After the fact Rabin is
quick to condemn him for not shooting.   But who can deny the likelihood of the very same
Rabin condemning him for shooting had he succeeded in escaping by killing some of his
attackers?  Our soldiers are the victims of a peace process which grants license to our enemies
to wage war while tying the hands of our soldiers to as much as defend themselves.
     For peace our soldiers were given orders to retreat from an outpost in the Gaza Strip
as the entire world watched the Hamas take over the outpost and hoist its flag in place of the
Israeli one.   If this is peace, give me war.
     After the "Christmas bombing" by a suicidal terrorist at the central bus station in
Jerusalem, which, miraculously, saw only the terrorist killed, the primary concern of Shimon
Peres was to announce that Arafat and Nabil Shaad bitterly condemned the act.  The fact is
that the attacker was a palestinian policeman.  Arafat made no public statement that I heard,
and Shaad, far from vigorously condemning the act, made a dictionary style statement that
"one condemns such acts", not clearly defining who the "one" might be.   These low life
murderers are at least honest.  But we read into their statements what we want to hear and
ignore that which is unpleasant.  Better to live a pleasant lie than to admit to bitter truth.   
     There is only one way to achieve peace in Israel and that is to restore pride and self
respect to the nation.  From the very founding of the reborn Jewish State, our leaders, while
certainly awed at our miraculous accomplishments, none the less felt constrained to build the
new nation upon alien concepts.  While openly stating that the Jewish People has returned to
her ancient homeland in order to fulfill Divine Destiny, they were unable to truly believe what
they knew to be true.  Miracles are just not so easy to accept.  So, while paying lip service to
what their Jewish souls could not deny, they also decided to "address reality" and turn what
was always meant to be a Jewish State into a "democratic" one.  
     In their twisted desire to emulate the government of the United States, they somehow
managed to find a way to compare the enemies of the Jewish State, the defeated Arab
squatters on Jewish land and would-be destroyers of the Jewish people, to the American
Negro.  There is nothing remotely similar.  We did not import Arabs to Israel to be our slaves. 
The Arabs have always sought to exploit and even to annihilate the Jewish people, even before
there was a Jewish State.  And, once the state was established, it became their ultimate goal to
see it destroyed.
     It was blindness, arrogance, and stupidity which caused our leaders to think that they
could allow a small minority of defeated Arab enemies to fester among us forever without
them eventually developing into a formidable threat.  Aside from the fact that the Arabs
themselves had no interest in becoming "equal" to Jews upon whom they looked as their
inferiors, the policy of the Israeli government never intended to grant Arabs genuine equality...
only enough to look good on paper.
     The entire matter was a fraud from the very outset.  Rather than realize that they were
creating a monster, the government closed its eyes and hoped that the creature they were
feeding would not grow too big to control.  In their twisted minds they felt and hoped that by
feeding the monster it would learn to love them.  So the Arab was given citizenship, including
the right to run for the Knesset; financial aid to develop his towns and villages; direct financial
support for their children; and improved medical and educational services. 
     Far from feeling indebted to their benevolent patrons, the Arabs seethed with hate for
the infidel which they felt stole Arab land and presumed to belittle Islam by installing Jewish
sovereignty over it.  The Arab dreamed of his day of revenge when he would remove the Jew
and place his own sovereignty over his holy land.  If the pompous Jew wanted to give him
rights he would use those very rights to destroy Israel from within.  
     The more the Arab grew, in quantity and in quality, the more he dreamed of his day of
revenge.  Over the years he fed this dream by creating a "no people" which never before
existed, "the Palestinian".  His determination and perseverance paid off in the recognition by
many nations of the world of the "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people."  
     It was amazing enough to have caught the ear of the Pope, who had his own quarrel
with a Jewish State in the Land of Israel, but the most incredible feat of all was the success at
getting Menachem Begin, the alleged right wing radical Prime Minister of Israel, to accept that
deceitful phrase.
     This was a strategic turning point in the Arab war against the Jewish State.  If this
wasn't clear then, it certainly has become crystal clear today.  The natural consequence of
Begin's recognition has come home to roost.  Peres and Rabin have followed this insanity to
its logical, if absurd, conclusion and recognized the legitimacy, not only of "palestine", but of
the PLO led by none other than Yassir Arafat!   Peres has publicly apologized for "oppressing"
the "palestinians", and has promised to make amends.  Rabin took Arafat to Washington,
shook his bloody hand and signed an agreement, before the President of the United States, not
only recognizing the legitimacy of his enemies to the Land of Israel, but agreeing to begin to
give parts of the Land of Israel to the PLO! 
     Thus, with the stroke of a Jewish pen, all the terrible acts of terror committed over the
years which left so many Jewish civilian men, women and children murdered, in all parts of our
country, became justified acts of "liberation" against Jewish "occupation" of Arab "Palestine"! 
     If Rabin and Peres have, after the fact, legitimized Arab terror, how can they complain
about it now?  Clearly they have given license to the continued Arab struggle to redeem all of
"palestine" from the Jewish nation in the form of more Arab terror against civilians in all parts
of Israel!  
     Why should the Arab compromise on even one millimeter of what he contends is his, if
even his enemy agrees that Israel is really "palestine"?   What Rabin has signaled to the Arab
world by beginning the process of Gaza and Jericho first, is that, eventually, all of Israel will
be handed over to the Arabs, for "peace".  If Arafat was justified in murdering Jewish children,
as proven by the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister rewarded those dastardly acts by giving
him Jewish land and recognition, then who can blame Hamas and others for conducting a
similar campaign?  Should we then be surprised if those who murder Jews in Jerusalem and
Tel Aviv today are tomorrow our future partners in "peace" and new recipients of the Nobel
Peace Prize?
     When the time came for the Jewish People to be redeemed from Egypt, G-d came to
Moses and commanded him to lead us out of slavery there.  Moses was not elected by the
people.  As a matter of fact, he didn't even want the job!   Yet, in spite of the impossibility of
taking the Jewish people out of Egypt, including the fact that the greater majority didn't even
want to leave, the redemption took place.
     Today too we are slaves.  We are slaves to generations of subjugation to foreign
concepts and ideas.  We worship the gods of the Dollar and so called "democracy".  We have
strayed from the fountain of living waters and continue to drink from broken cisterns.  
Despite the fact that the cisterns are clearly empty we still insist upon trying to draw water
from them.   This in defiance of the fact that we have a fountain with an endless supply of pure
clear water within our possession.  
     The Torah tells us that, from the depths of our despair in Egypt we cried out to G-d
and He heard us.  It was in reaction to our crying out that He sent us Moses and took us out
of Egypt, gave us the Torah and brought us home to Israel.
     While in Egypt we were enslaved by foreigners, today we are enslaved by ourselves.  
G-d has wrought many miracles and returned the Jewish homeland to the Jewish People.  
Most of us, both at home and abroad, have rejected the gift.  It is this and only this factor
which prevents the complete redemption.  Were the entire Jewish People to accept the reality
of Jewish return and publicly declare our recognition of this fact as fulfillment of Jewish
prophesy and act accordingly, nothing would stand in the way of complete redemption.
     Instead of reading and believing the Promises of G-d written in our Torah and
accepting the reality of their fulfillment, we "pray" to Clinton, Mubarak, Assad, and Arafat!
     When Moses came to the elders and told them that he was sent by G-d to redeem the
Jewish People, they believed him.   But when they were called upon to act upon this belief,
they failed.  They were to accompany Moses and Aaron to ask Pharaoh to let the Children of
Israel leave Egypt.  Yet, one by one, they all deserted Moses on the way to the palace.   If
these were the sages and leaders of the generation of the Exodus, what can we expect of our
puny leaders today?
     There can be no doubt that redemption is upon us.   We suffer only because we refuse
to accept our role as Jews.   Our leaders reflect the confusion of the people.  The democratic
process alleges that the people know what is best.   The Jewish process declares that only G-d
knows what is best.  When the Jew bends his will to the commands of G-d, as outlined in our
Torah and explained our rabbis, then he will discover the authentic road to redemption and
genuine peace.   
     It will not be in a Knesset election that leadership will arise.   Much like the choosing
of Moses, G-d will send us His chosen redeemer the very minute we are ready to receive him. 
All we need to do is turn to the Living G-d of Israel, both by doing His mitzvot, and by crying
out for His intervention to save us.