                                                           B"sd

                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                       Rana in Wonderland
                         March 10, 1999
                                
     Just when we thought we reached the lowest point we could possibly reach, we find
ourselves sinking even lower.  It was bad enough that the Jewish State was represented at an
international song festival by a lovely young lady who used to be a young man.  Now, it would
seem that among all of the beautiful women in Israel, the judges of the Miss Israel beauty pageant
felt that an Arab girl, Rana Raslan from Haifa, can best represent the Jewish State!

     Upon winning the title of Miss Israel, the new beauty queen declared that there is no
difference between Arabs and Jews, we are all people, exactly the same.  Don't get me wrong.  I
am sure that the young lady is quite pretty, and equally sincere in her utopian beliefs spoken in
perfect Hebrew.  But the very fact of this excursion into wonderland only exacerbates the
confusion which reigns in this country.  Religious Jews understand the difference between Arabs
and Jews.  Unfortunately the majority of Jews are not religious and were delighted to hear an
Arab say what they think.  But the vast majority of Arabs are also religious and certainly would
repudiate this young girl's idealism.  But this we do not see on our television screens, or, if we do
we simply ignore it.  

     The lemmings of Peace Now will point to this as proof that we can live in peace with
those who seek our destruction.  They will use such moments to justify making trips on the
Sabbath to rebuild illegal Arab homes destroyed by the IDF.  And they will point to this pretty
Arab girl as proof that we can live in peace with the PLO.  It is exactly moments like this which
make it easy, for those of us who choose to lie to ourselves, to believe our own lies.  And most of
us are guilty of lying to ourselves.  Barak declares that he will get us out of Lebanon within a
year.  Now Netanyahu claims that he too will negotiate with Syria and get out of Lebanon.  They
are both liars.  Even should we give away all of the Golan and leave Lebanon we will never see a
moment of peace as a result.

     Over thirty years ago the United States faced a threat which bears a strong similarity to
our confrontation in Lebanon.  The former Soviet Union was arming Cuba with nuclear weapons.
President Kennedy immediately understood the implications and took drastic action.  He got on
television and announced a naval blockade of Cuba, and declared that should Cuba launch an
attack against the United States, it would be considered as an attack from the Soviet Union and
responded to accordingly.  It was a dangerous but necessary strategy and may well have saved the
United States from a devastating military blow.

     Everyone in Israel knows who is behind Hisballah.  Had we a leadership with even the
slightest bit of courage it would declare that any further attacks upon Jewish soldiers or territory
by Hisballah will be considered an attack by Syria and that country will be attacked in response. 
It certainly would be a dangerous stance, but it would force Syria to accept responsibility.  Our
present stance enables our enemies to continue to attack and murder our soldiers with impunity. 
Syria doesn't care if we bomb Hisballah.  But she would certainly think twice if we would bomb
Damascus.

     So Netanyahu can declare how much peace he will make with the Syrian butcher.  He can
proudly announce how he will insist that Arafat honor agreements as he parcels out yet more of
our holy country to him.  And he can boast of his special skill in achieving peace with security. 
Any honest observer, however, can clearly see that such utopian declarations are meaningless. 
Our enemies certainly want peace.  But their definition of peace is a Jew-free Middle East.  When
you turn on your television set and listen to a pretty Arab girl who just won the Miss Israel
Beauty Pageant declare that "there is no difference between Arabs and Jews. . . we are all the
same," if you are one of those who likes to believe his own lies, this fantasy only makes it that
much more easy to do so.

     