                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                       November 14, 1995
                       The Song of Peace

     Three pistol shots were fired on Saturday night November 4, 1995.  They were fired by a
Jew in the middle of Tel Aviv.  Those shots were clearly heard throughout the entire world as
they succeeded in fatally wounding the Prime Minister of Israel.
     An already confused and terrorized nation was thrown into even greater confusion as it
mourned this unprecedented tragedy and tried to fathom how it was possible.  To what depths of
perversion have we sunk to find a young religious intellectual actually gun down his own Prime
Minister?  There were some who questioned the existence of G-d.  There were others who
accused religious extremism for having gone overboard in their fanaticism.  And, of course, there
were those who simply blamed all those who opposed the present peace process.  The last
accusation, if taken seriously, could illegitimize any political opposition to the present
government.
     In times of tragedy, of national calamity, opposition must cease and efforts must be made
to heal our wounds.  But the danger exists that the deepness of these fresh wounds can be
exploited to virtually nullify all political opposition to the policies of the present government.  
     It is true that the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin was an extreme and outrageous
act.  But the question must be asked, and honestly so, what conditions caused a young religious
idealist to go to such an extreme?  If he was a third year law student, he certainly cannot be
stupid.  Clearly he felt that he was sacrificing for his country and his people.   But when in the
history of nations has one resorted to assassinating his own Prime Minister for patriotic reasons? 
It appears to be a contradiction of concepts.
     One does not take a gun to settle "differences of opinion."  This act was not committed as
an expression of disagreement with a political stance.   The only way to describe it, not to justify
it, is to recognize the depth of despair into which this nation has fallen.  
     Beautiful lies have been woven about a wonderful world of peace.  The lies were so
beautiful that we closed our eyes to reality.  On the night of his assassination Mr. Rabin and Mr.
Peres were active players in the theater of the absurd and macabre.  They were happily singing the
song of peace.  But it was a song that was stained with the blood of hundreds of victims of this
peace.  What they chose to call "peace" was, in reality, a process of surrender to the PLO in
stages.  And, with each stage of our retreat from our homeland, more Jewish blood was shed. 
With every murder, our Prime Minister declared, "We must bite our lips, hold our breath and
continue."  So our leaders continued to sing of peace.  But the song they were singing was
drenched in Jewish blood.
     If this was not clear to everyone before, on the day of Rabin's funeral it was waved before
the entire world as a red flag of danger.  The Prime Minister himself was the most recent and
renowned victim of his own fatal illusion.  After participating in the song fest, Mr. Rabin, as was
his custom, folded the paper containing the words he had just sung and placed it into his breast
pocket.  On the day of his funeral, his former advisor produced this paper and read out the words
of the song of peace . . . a song that was soaked with blood for all to see.
     The tragedy was great enough.  But it does not stop here.  Greater tragedies are already
unfolding.  Worse than even the obscene resurrection of the infamous "Season," where
McCarthyism will seem like a picnic as religious and nationalistic Jews are being vilified and
victimized as accused partners in the murder of the Prime Minister, is the fact that Mr. Peres has
taken up that blood soaked song and is singing louder and faster than ever.  Jenin is now
completely under the control of the PLO, and further retreats are planned in the immediate future. 
With virtually no opposition and the implementation of  tools to arrest any who might protest, the
song of peace may soon change its tune to that of a national funeral dirge. 