                                                               
                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                       Chanukah revisited
                       December 10, 1996
                                
     Isn't it amazing?  After all the time our Prime Minister spent trying to find a way to honor
Peres' treacherous agreement to redeploy in Hebron without jeopardizing the security of the
Jewish residents there, it is our arch enemy, Arafat, who refuses to agree.
     Actually there are numerous reasons not to honor the agreement.  The only real reason for
which our government seeks to honor it is fear of adverse reactions by the United States, as well
as the Arab nations.  There is no such thing as honoring agreements because they were signed by
the former government.   First of all, the reason we got a new government was because the
majority of the people rejected the agreement!   How then does our present government justify
continuing the policies which the people clearly rejected?  Secondly, the entire Oslo process was
an illegal one which should have been trashed and its authors brought to justice.   And, thirdly,
even should one choose to accept the line of the government to honor signed agreements, the
Arabs have consistently and blatantly violated both the spirit and the letter of the agreement from
the very outset.  As such any normal government would have every justification to scrap it.
     Our sovereignty has been openly challenged.  Our soldiers have been murdered by PLO
"policemen", using our own weapons.  Jewish prayer books and mezuzot have been damaged in
the Cave of Machpelah building during the time when our government gave exclusive use of the
building to Moslems.  What does it take for our government to at long last say, "enough"?
     Arafat gets sympathetic coverage on Israeli television.  More recently Israeli viewers were
subjected to an in-depth interview with King Hussein.  This charming pseudo-monarch is very
photogenic and lies with a depth of sincerity that is hard to fathom.  The reporter actually asked
him if he regretted attacking Israel in 1967.  To listen to him one would be led to believe that the
King was forced into an unwanted war.  The fact is that Israel pleaded with him not to get
involved.  He took those pleas to be a sign of weakness.  Had he really respected Israel, as he
claims, he would have stayed out of the war and still be in possession of Judea, Samaria and East
Jerusalem!
     We Jews are so enamored of this misnamed "peace" process that we hear only what we
want to hear and reject that which is unpleasant.  There is no peace process.  There is only a
process of  "liberating" all of Israel from the Jewish People using any means possible.  What
business is it of France, England, Ireland and countless other countries to help the PLO establish
its sovereignty on Jewish soil?  And how dare a Jewish government treat such attempts with
anything but contempt?  If democracy is so holy and we choose to put our existence on the line
for a popular vote among the nations of the world can anyone doubt the outcome?  Would our
government willingly bow to the will of the masses and agree to disband the Jewish State?   Yet
this is precisely the kind of reasoning behind the policies of our government which is threatening
to destroy this country today.
     Logically there is neither rhyme nor reason for such a state to continue.  The Arab
campaign to rid the Middle East of a Jewish State of any size is now being aided by the nations of
the world, and scarcely resisted by the Jewish government itself!  It is a wonder that such a
government even attempts to continue such an impossible existence.  The fact is that Peres was
already beginning the attempt to surrender to our enemies . . . for peace.   Our present prime
minister has apparently not yet realized how far down the road to surrender we have already
gone.   He has not only failed to halt the process, but is accelerating it.


     The holiday of Chanukah reminds us that things are not necessarily what they appear to
be.  Although logic and numbers are not on our side, and by such measure we are doomed, we
must remember that the Jewish State is not governed by the rules of logic.  This state came into
being only as a result of Divine Providence.  Our very existence is fulfillment of Biblical prophesy,
and our continued growth and development is part of Divine Destiny.  If our leaders would
understand this, and conduct their affairs with Jewish pride and self respect, redemption would
come immediately.  No power on Earth would have any affect upon us.  All the nations would
seek our blessings and offer us tribute.
     In the time of the original Chanukah our homeland was ruled by foreigners.  They were
willing to accept us as "equals" on condition that we rejected our G-d and Torah.  There were
many Jews who saw this condition as acceptable.  It was only a small minority of "fanatics" who
refused.  Matitityahu, the high priest, began the impossible rebellion against the super power of
his time by personally killing a Jew who publicly bowed down to a Greek idol.  Matitityahu and
his sons took to the Judaen Hills and fought both the Greek army as well as "logical" Jews who
dared not fight against impossible odds.
     Today we are not under the control of a foreign power.  The Living G-d of Israel has
returned Jewish sovereignty to our homeland.  Yet our leaders seem not to notice.  Why is Orient
House still in the hands of the PLO?   Didn't we elect a new government which promised to close
it?   Why does our prime minister shake hands with Arafat, who seeks to take our homeland from
us?   Why does he respect a French President who declares Jewish communities in Judea Samaria
and Gaza "illegal"?   Why is he even talking about redeployment in our holy city of Hebron?
     Noam Federman is in jail.  Why?  Because he is a "fanatic".  Did he break any law? No. 
What he did was proclaim, on Israeli television, that, whether or not there is a troop deployment
in Hebron, he would lead large groups of Jewish "tourists" on walks all over the city of Hebron. 
As such, he reasoned, the IDF would have no choice but to remain deployed to protect Jewish
lives.  It was in direct reaction to the "threat" of leading fellow Jews on tours of our holy city that
the Jewish army viewed Noam as a security threat deserving of imprisonment!
     When a Jewish government seeks to make "peace" by advocating the will of the nations in
priority to Jewish rights and sovereignty in our own homeland, it will not be long before it finds
itself prosecuting its own people in deference to it relations with our enemies.  Noam Arnon was
arrested on the Sabbath in Hebron and forced to ride in a police vehicle to a prison in Ashkelon
for "questioning" which could have been done in Hebron, without violating the Sabbath, or
deferred until after the Sabbath.  These are clear acts of intimidation which not only will fail to
break the spirit of the Jews of Hebron, but which will bring needless harm to the rest of the
nation.  
     Let our leaders look more closely at the Chanukah lamps and remember the meaning of
the holiday.  It is not simply a time of merry-making and gorging ones self with jelly doughnuts. 
It is a time to reflect upon Jewish self respect.  It is a time to remember that Israel is not merely
another member of the world of nations.  The Jewish State is the vehicle which will bring true
peace and redemption to the world . . . but only when it is loyal to the Law of G-d, especially
when it conflicts with the morality of the nations.  Peace will never result from desecrating our
Torah.  Jericho and Gaza belong to the Jewish State by the Will of G-d.  No government has the
right to give it away to another.   How much greater the violation to even consider sharing the
graves of our Fathers with our enemies?
     The spirit of Chanukah still lives.   Great miracles still happen here.  Those who follow the
path of the Living G-d of Israel will see a glorious redemption.  Those who seek to pervert that
path will only bring destruction upon themselves.