                         Genuine Faith
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg
                         July 10, 1994
                                
     The purpose of terrorism is to frighten large numbers of people into submitting to the
demands of the terrorists.  If you maim and murder people randomly, merely because they are
Jews, then there is very little that can be done to prevent such events from taking place.  If
terrorism cannot be prevented then more and more people will be affected by it and seek ways
to capitulate to terrorist demands in the desperate, if futile, hope that the terror will
stop.  
     Arab terror existed in Israel even before there was an Israel. When the state was declared,
rather than remove the Arabs, our leaders chose to feign brotherhood with them in the hope
that our enemies would love us.  It was a stupid concept destined to nurture even greater
terror.  
     Today we have reached the extreme result of our refusal to eradicate terror.  Our very
government has cowardly backed down to terrorist demands.  It has begun to capitulate to our
enemies at a pace of self destruction which will only end when we either completely destroy
ourselves, or when we wake up and destroy our enemies.   There is no possibility of
compromise here.  The only question remaining is how long it will take before those in
leadership (or opposition) positions realize this fact.
     The real problem confronting us is not Arafat or Clinton.  It is the absence of any Jewish
leadership.  While it is easy to blame Rabin and call for new elections, even should we succeed
in toppling this self-hating government we have nothing with which to replace it.  Likud is,
understandably, seeking to regain power. But they had the power and were just as guilty as
Rabin in creating the conditions which led to our present abominable situation.  There simply
is no viable party which is even talking about taking the minimum steps needed to turn this
mess around.
     Rabin and Peres embrace Arafat, pick up their "peace" prize and come home to the results
of their "peace" in the form of more murdered Jews.  They then have the audacity to call upon
Jews to make aliyah!  What ever for?
     There was once a tiny party which even sat in the Knesset.  It was a lone voice of sanity
and logic in a vast sea of fear, dishonesty and confusion.  The more this voice pointed out the
very real nakedness of the emperor, the more the voice was stifled, by all factions,  until it was
snuffed out altogether.  Today they are all naked and nobody seems to notice or care.
     If you don't like the sting of the scorpion, you can vote for the bite of the snake.  Does that
sound like a choice worth running to the ballot box for?  I want to vote for the Lion of Judah,
but he isn't even running.  And, should he even try to run, he would be put under
administrative detention until after the elections.
     On July 8, 1993, Mordechai Lipkin was driving from Alon Shvut to his home in Tekoa. 
His car was passed by an Arab one which opened fire and murdered him.  He left a wife and
four children under the age of nine.
     On November 7, 1993, Efraim Ayoubi was driving Rabbi Druckman to Kiryat Arba in the
early morning hours.  His car was passed by an Arab one which fired thirty bullets into his car. 
Ayoubi was murdered instantly and Druckman miraculously was only lightly wounded. 
Ayoubi left a pregnant wife and four small children.
     On December 1, 1993 Shalva Ozana, a young kindergarten teacher, and Yitzchak
Weinstock, a yeshiva student, had hitched a ride to Jerusalem from the Shomron early in the
morning.  The car broke down a veritable stone's throw from IDF Military headquarters
near Beit El.  A passing Arab car fired upon the four victims killing two of them.  The young
lady died instantly, while the yeshiva student succumbed later at the hospital.
     On December 6, 1993, Mordechai Lapid and his son, Shalom, were waiting in their van by
the main road to Kiryat Arba.  A passing Arab car opened fire on the van killing the father and
son on the spot and injuring three other children inside the van.   Mordechai left his wife and
fourteen children.
     On February 18, 1994, Ziporra Sasson was driving with her family to her home in
Ariel.  A passing Arab car fired at her vehicle murdering her instantly.  She was five months
pregnant.
                                   On Tuesday, May 17, 1994, Raphael Yairi, was on his way home to Kiryat Arba after
spending the Shavuot holiday at the Neve Dekalim Hotel at Katif.  Rather than take the bus
with his family, he decided to accompany a woman and her young daughter in their car, rather
than let them drive the dangerous roads alone.  As they approached the southern Hebron
settlements, in the morning hours, their car was passed by an Arab one which fired upon them,
murdering Yairi on the spot.
     On July 7, 1994, at about 9:00 pm, a young lady, Sarit Prigal,... a mere teenager, had
her head blasted off as she was riding home from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba with her family. 
They were a mere 200 meters from home when a passing Arab car sprayed them with bullets. 
It was nothing less than a miracle that the rest of occupants of the car, her father and two
younger brothers, all survived the fifteen bullets which riddled their car, fired by
automatic weapons from a passing Arab car.  
     I drove that rode three times this week.  Twice I had my wife and children with me.  I
know the fear which results from such dastardly and indefensible ambushes of civilians.
     Thus, over a period of one year, nearly to the day, ten Jews were shot down in cold blood
in a series of seven ambushes where Arabs fired automatic weapons from passing vehicles
which sped off and disappeared.
     There is simply no defense against this kind of attack, other than bullet proof vehicles or
armed guards at the ready with guns out the window.
     When a Jew living in Judea and Samaria, and even in other parts of our country, drives the
roads of Israel, he cannot be certain that he will survive the journey.  This is the fact created
by terrorism.  Fear understandably takes its toll upon each and every Jew in the country.  It
demoralizes and weakens the resolve of all but the very strongest among us to continue with
our lives.  It will see Jews leaving Israel from both sides of the so called "green line" for
"safer" places to live.  But there are no safer places.
     The Jewish State is the only haven for the Jewish People.  It is a grave crime against the
Jewish people that any Jewish government can find a higher priority than the very lives of its
constituents.  It is possible to stop terrorism.  There is no price too high to pay in order to stop
it.  And if the only way to stop it is to move out all of our Arabs.  Than it is long past time to
do just that.   Instead we find ourselves having to accept the dictates of a self made monarch
who has arbitrarily decided to build a "Palestinian State" on Jewish soil, install Arafat as king,
and support that state financially and militarily.  The Jewish citizens of Israel seem to have no
recourse other than to protest to deaf ears and wait for the next election.  And even new
elections do not offer much hope of a change in policy, no matter who might win.
     Now is the part of the article where I am supposed to come up with the magic solution. 
Unfortunately I just don't have one.  All that is left now is genuine faith in the Living G-d of
Israel.  There simply is no other avenue of rescue for us.  Genuine faith must be far more than
words and prayers.  Genuine faith means really believing that the G-d of Abraham has already
begun to fulfill His Promise to our father, Abraham.  It means showing that faith by continuing
to live normal lives, in all parts of our holy country, even as Rabin invites our enemies to come
and destroy us.  There is no more genuine faith than this.  
     May it be the Will of our Creator to reward the genuine faith of His People and bring His
redemption upon us speedily.