           In the traditions of Rabbi Meir Kahane, z"l
                      by Gershon Ben Shabtai
                          May 14, 1992
              Who Stuck the Knife into our own Back?

       President Bush has indicated that he is in favor of the right of "exiled Palestinians" to
return to "Palestine".  All of Israel, from left to right is shocked that the President of the United
States could endorse such a concept.  As Rabbi Kahane, z"tl, H"yd, would so often say, "I am
shocked that they are shocked." After all, who was it who set the precedent for the President?  It
was our accepting, in principle, the concept of a legitimate "Palestinian" Arab nation in Israel that
led to this inevitable position by the White House.  We have been lying to ourselves for forty-four
years and now the lies are coming back to haunt us.
       Logic will tell you that if there is a legitimate people, with a legitimate homeland, no
one has the right to dictate to that people who its leaders should or should not be, or to prevent its
people from living in its rightful homeland.  Yet this is the absurd predicament the Jewish
government has deliberately placed itself in.  We have collectively put both feet into our mouth
and are still trying to speak intelligibly.  It cannot be done!
       It is never too late to be honest.  We made a mistake.  Let us at long last admit that we
were wrong.  No Arab, no matter what he chooses to call himself, has any right to any part of the
Jewish homeland.  If those refugees from Arab countries who have been living in Israel wish to
start a new nation, that should not be our concern.  It is our obligation, however, to make it
abundantly clear that we will never permit such a nation to arise on Jewish soil.  
       The deceitful autonomy plan being offered to the Arabs of Israel is both a tragic
mistake and a cruel offering of false hope to the Arab.  Why are we afraid to clearly and
unequivocally lay down the law that there is only one legitimate people in the land of Israel?  As it
is written in the tfillin that G-d wears, "Who is like thee, my People Israel, One people in the
Land?"  What kind of moron of the Jewish persuasion can dare imply that it is some kind of Jewish
principle to share our sovereignty with others; especially when those others are determined to
destroy us? 
       It is also our obligation to recognize the fact that any Arab who seeks recognition as a
Palestinian, by its current definition, is committing an act of treason against the Jewish State. 
Expulsion is the kindest punishment for such a crime.  Execution is more appropriate.
       How does one sit down at a conference table and calmly discuss, over a cup of tea, how
to amicably proceed in his self destruction?  This is exactly what every Jewish government has
done by suggesting the premise that Jews and Arabs can live together as equal citizens in a Jewish
State which the Arab sees as an anathema.  
       It was our continual lying to ourselves which has directly led to the President's very
logical position.  If the Jewish government recognizes the existence of a legitimate Palestinian
people which has the right to self-determination within the State of Israel, how can that same
government deny the right of exiled members of that legitimate people to come home to their
country?
       Mr. Shamir the time has come to take both feet out of your mouth.  It is late, but never
too late.  Immediately issue a statement retroactively revoking both this country's recognition of a
"Palestinian" people, and of the right to citizenship in the Jewish State to non-Jews.
       If  Palestine is a legitimate Arab entity within the Jewish State, then President Bush is
right in his statement.  If the concept of an Arab Palestinian is a fraudulent one, and it is, then
Bush's statement is meaningless nonsense.  It is up to the leaders of the Jewish State to at long last
act in the interest of the nation which placed them in that position.  We must put a final stop on the
very real war of attrition for which our civilian population has been paying with their very lives
ever since the establishment of the Jewish State.  The "intifada" did not begin in 1987, and it will
not end until every Arab knows that he has no future here.