           In the traditions of Rabbi Meir Kahane, z"l
                      by Gershon Ben Shabtai
                         March 3, 1992
                   When will we accept Reality?

       Because of our centuries-old fear of what the goyim might think, and our
unwillingness to do what we must because of that fear, we bring down upon our heads the
degradation which would only be expected to be showered upon the weak and helpless.  Yet
we are neither weak nor helpless any longer.  Our G-d has returned us to our homeland and
given us more than we could have dreamed for, yet we, in our blindness to reality, turn around
and deny His gifts!
       When one is subjected to severe trauma, hysterical paralysis is not an unusual result. 
While it may be that no real physical damage exists, the fact is, albeit for purely psychological
causes, the patient is disabled.  If there would be some way to reach the patient and cure him
of his fears, his disability would disappear.
       We Jews have been subject to severe trauma for many generations.  Is it any
wonder than that many of us exhibit a form of national hysterical paralysis?   We have been
given freedom and independence in our own homeland, yet we cling tenaciously to our
antiquated crutches of imagined weakness and seeming dependance upon outside benefactors.  
       When a well-meaning person came to gently take away one of those crutches, in an
effort to show us that we can, indeed, stand on our own two feet, suddenly we found
superhuman strength to take the other crutch and smash him over the head with it.
       One might hope that, during one of these fits of hysteria, we would notice our true
strength and learn to live without the use of crutches altogether.  But, alas, as with all phobias,
its reason for being is not based upon logic, rather upon irrationality.
       What if someone calls us racist?  We know its not true, but what if they think it is? 
What if we are called "non-democratic"?  Surely the world will collapse around us.
       These are the "important" issues that concern our hapless leaders.  The fact that our
citizens are being murdered, maimed and attacked by Arabs every day is far less important,
thus rendering the so called "intifada" something we must resign ourselves to live with.
       There is only one element holding back our immediate redemption; our refusal to
see it!  All the things our prophets foretold are happening before our very eyes.  Despite the
fact that the world would prefer that we disappear: we have reestablished our sovereignty in
our ancient homeland; we have an army that is the envy of the world; we responded to efforts
by several Arab nations to wipe us off the map in 1967, by soundly defeating them all and
liberating Jewish holy places formerly in Arab hands all in less than a week; in 1976 we
mounted an unprecedented rescue of a hijacked airliner in Entebbe; and in 1980 we sent an
elite crew into Iraq to destroy a nuclear reactor there; we have seen our people, in ever
increasing numbers, returning home from all over the world; and now, despite all this and so
much more, we can worry about loan guarantees?
       Why can we not accept the fact that we will succeed in building our country no
matter what we or anyone else thinks or does?  
       There have been many defense mechanisms used by Jews throughout the centuries
to try to escape antisemitism.  One example was the effort to deny our Jewish identity in order
to blend in with the goyim.  This syndrome was originally spawned in places where denying
one's Jewish identity was a sincere effort to avoid torture and murder.  Through the years, this
inherited fear, whose original cause we may well have forgotten, still drives some of us to hide
our Jewishness, so much so that we have actually come to despise it.
       Thus, in Israel, we have a tiny political group, whose appearance in the press and
the media far out shadows its limited following, which calls itself "The Citizens Rights Party". 
Among the "rights" this self-hating group fights for are: the right to have public transportation
run on the Sabbath; the right of Arab terrorists to live in Israel as an equal citizens; and the
changing of Israel from a Jewish State into an open democracy for all peoples.  
       While, on the surface, one might be impressed with the "open-minded" goals of this
party, once that surface is but scratched, the self-hatred virtually screams out at you.
       If this so called "Citizens Rights" party were truly interested in the rights of all
citizens, one would naturally assume that this interest would apply to Jewish citizens as well. 
Why then does this group fight so hard to prevent Jews from living wherever they choose in
their own country?  Why is the mere presence of a Jew in certain areas of the Jewish State
termed by these fighters for equal rights as a "provocation"?  And, if so, why is there no
parallel situation which finds an Arab presence in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood
equally provocative?  Why do these fighters for the rights of Arab citizens fail to fight with the
same furor for Jewish rights?  If the Temple Mount, the site of the Akedah and the location of
both of our holy Temples, may be used as a place of worship by Moslems, how is it that the
leaders of the Citizens Rights Movement are not in the forefront demanding at least equal
rights for Jewish prayer at this same site?
       Can it be that the real rights that they are fighting for is the right to deny Judaism? 
Could it be that by effectively denying Judaism, they believe that they will prevent another
holocaust?  Could it be that their sole motivation is the fear of being Jewish?
       This psychosis may be limited to fringe groups, but the unbalanced exposure of their
diseased self-image to the Israeli public cannot help but take its toll on the vast majority of
Jews in Israel who have forgotten the meaning of a Jewish State.  
       It is a tragedy that those who control the media in this country were appointed
many years ago by a labor government and are entrenched in their positions with no checks or
limits to their control.
       That is why, despite the misnomer of democracy applied to the media here, a tiny
worm by the name of Yussie Sarid, of the Citizen's Rights Party, is quoted almost daily in the
newspapers and seen almost nightly on Israel television, while Rabbi Kahane, z"tl, h"yd, was
rarely quoted and never interviewed; this in spite of a supreme court ruling that he be covered
by the media.
       The media does, unquestionably, have an effect upon molding the opinions of the
populous.  But there are limits to which the people will permit themselves to be duped.  While
many of those in powerful positions do suffer from various psychoses, and as such expose all
of us to their paranoia, the vast majority of Jews are healthy and self-respecting.  
       Rabbi Kahane knew this and clearly appealed to this majority which was slowly
coming to understand the selfless, honest, healthy and Jewish position represented by this giant
of our generation.  He was free of those psychoses which diseased the minds of the selfish
power brokers in this country.  He tried to reassure the vast majority of Jews that they were,
indeed, healthy and well able to rise to heights reserved only for the Jewish people.  The sick,
perverted and frightened pygmies tried to label and libel the Rabbi by accusing him of being
infected with the very diseases which had befouled them.  But nothing could stop his
determination to help his people recognize their true strength.
       Rabbi Kahane had an almost magical affect upon audiences.  I personally witnessed,
on more than one occasion, people who came to heckle and left inspired.  Yet the Rabbi
himself noted that, while he was speaking, he held the audience in the palm of his hand, but
once they left they fell back into their apathy.  Yet he refused to be discouraged.
       It was an endless and thankless task he set out to accomplish.  He dedicated every
waking moment of his life to making a mench out of his people.  Wherever he went you could
see the glow of pride and Jewish self-respect shining in the faces of those who saw him.  He
reminded us all who we really are, and what our destiny is.  After listening to him speak all
doubts melted away and we all knew that the future belongs to us, the Jewish People.
He was on his way to the top.  Even the media who vilified him had to concede that vast
numbers of Jews were prepared to follow him and, had he succeeded to run, Kach would have
been the third largest party in the Knesset.  The Rabbi said it many times.  There was only one
way to stop him--- with a bullet.  Who can calculate the damage still being done to Am Yisrael
by that bullet?