                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                                
                Referendum or Passing the Buck?
The Immorality of Surrender will not become less if the Majority agrees
                         June 26, 1998

        There has been much controversy of late concerning the possibility of holding a referendum
to decide whether or not to give away more land to Arafat.  The cabinet itself has shown mixed
reactions to this concept.   

        The Torah has an excellent precedent which describes what can happen with a Jewish
referendum.  In effect such a concept was initiated by Moses himself when he decided to send out
prominent leaders of all of the tribes of Israel to do an on the spot examination of the Land of
Israel and report back to him.  Moses assumed that after seeing what a desirable Land Israel is,
much enthusiasm would be generated for the expected homecoming.

        Much to his surprise and displeasure, an overwhelming majority clearly decided that it was
impossible to go up to the Land as commanded by G-d.  Now we are not talking about left-wing
radicals, nor were there any anti-Judaism Meretz types back then, and there was not even one
Arab faction involved.   All of these people were Torah giants who heard the Voice of G-d on
Mount Sinai.  Were the referendum to have been binding I suppose the whole People of Israel
would have had to turn back to Egypt.

        Today we are coming very close to the inevitable moment which will reveal to us all the very
special difference between Israel and all of the other nations of the world.  Other nations are
governed by the whims of dictators or elected leaders.  The Jewish State, believe it or not, is
governed by the Creator of the Universe, the Living G-d of Israel.  We may think that our leaders
make irrevocable decisions concerning our future, but the fact is our leaders make decisions which
either further the Divine Process of Zionism, or try to thwart it.  Only those decisions which
support it will prevail, while other decisions will merely bring tragedy upon our heads as the
process proceeds in spite of them.

        The People of Israel could have entered the Land right after the revelation on Mount Sinai. 
Because the majority decided that it was "impossible" to do so, that entire generation wandered in
the desert for forty years until all those who comprised that majority perished in the desert.  Their
children, however, did enter the Land and made their homes here.

        We are making a similar error today when we think we can make "peace" by abandoning our
obligation as Jews.  We are commanded, by G-d, to inherit the Land.  It is not our right, nor
within our ability, to sell, give away, or abandon this Land.  Any effort to do this will simply
result in Jewish tragedy, G-d forbid.  The only real peace process that will work is for the Jewish
people to accept their obligation to inherit the Land.  

        If our Prime Minister would change his policy of "Peace with Security" (which is pure
nonsense in that Arafat is not the address to find security or peace) to one of Peace as a result of
compliance with Jewish obligations to the G-d of Israel, he would achieve that which he seeks
and much more. 

        What could a President Clinton say if he is told, loudly and publicly, that the concept of Land
for Peace is a violation of the Bible?    What could he say if he is told that any attempt to interfere
with the Divine Process of the ingathering of the Jewish Exiles will surely bring the wrath of G-d
upon those who make such a grave error?  

        Surely there will be many who condemn and threaten us, but such is the case now too. 
There are those who would warn that such a position will invite a war with all of the Arab
nations.  This may be true, but can any honest observer say that the conditions we have today can
avert such a war?  Is our "peace" with Egypt, Jordan and Arafat an honest peace?  What price did
we pay for this illusory peace?  If we are honest and if we listen to our "partners", we should all
know that all we have accomplished is to buy a little time by weakening ourselves before our
enemies.  This way, when the inevitable war does break out, it will be much harder for us to win.  

        The policy of this country has always been an effort to avoid genuine conflicts of ideology in
the hope that they will somehow, miraculously disappear.  The result has only been to compound
those conflicts and leave our children with a far more complicated problem.  As such we find
ourselves continuing to weaken ourselves before our enemies in the ridiculous and futile hope
that, by so doing, they will, eventually, be willing to accept and live with a tiny Jewish State. 
Clearly the Arabs are waiting for us to get tiny enough for them to destroy completely.  The most
incredible thing is that the leaders of the Jewish State are still actively helping our enemies to
accomplish this very obvious plan! 

        Why any Jew would entertain even the most remote hint of a possibility of giving away any
of his land to any non Jew, for any reason at all, defies logic.  That an alleged right-wing,
nationalistic Prime Minister is already giving away Jewish Land to our worst enemy should cause
all of us to doubt our own senses.

        Morality is not determined by referendums.  The will of the majority is not always moral. 
Hitler was elected by a majority.  We Jews have a Divine Gift which gives us the ability to know,
for certain, how to make moral decisions.  Such decisions may not be easy to stand by, but they
are easy to know. . . if we have the courage to seek them.   There is no way that our Torah could
sanction a Jewish government giving away any part of the Land of Israel.

        So let us all stop confusing the issue and return to Jewish reality.  The Land of Israel was
given to the People of Israel by the Living G-d of Israel as an eternal possession.  We dare not
reject our obligation to possess it.  We will never achieve peace or security by defying the
Creator of the Universe by attempting to reject our obligations.  Such a path will only make things
worse.  If our present Prime Minister really wants to make Jewish history and bring true and
lasting peace to the world he has the power to do so.. . not by playing foolish word games with
world leaders and Arab terrorists, rather by acting and speaking like a Jew.  Only when a Jew is
prepared to sacrifice for Jewish principles does he merit reward for his actions.  And only when a
Jewish leader is willing to make such sacrifices will he succeed in his holy endeavor.

        The only Jewish response to a request to Land for Peace is "never. . not one inch"!  Enough
with the word games implying that we accept such an absurdity in that we already gave away land
and thus now expect peace.  Once we accept the legitimacy of this concept (which honestly only
means surrender) we have condemned ourselves to continue the process of surrender until our
enemies feel themselves ready to destroy us. 

        We have made many mistakes.  But there is no mistake which cannot be corrected.  It is not
too late to recognize our tragic errors and correct them.  Yes, war is bad.  It is horrible and
should be avoided if possible.  But if it is not possible to avoid a war, then it is best to fight it
quickly and win, rather than allow, and even help, our enemies to grow stronger.   Every day that
we continue this Oslo fiasco we strengthen the hands of those who would destroy us.  There is
nothing more immoral than this.


