                                                               
                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
          How Long will we Fear to act as Proud Jews?
                        January 30, 1997
                                
     Now that we have succeeded in convincing ourselves that we have accomplished
something positive by turning most of Hebron over to the PLO, under the protection of terrorist
murderers, new attempts at Jewish self-debasement are being made.
      I cannot remember hearing a complaint when Arafat praised Yechi Ayash, the martyred
terrorist responsible for so many bus bombings.  Just today we were witness to the honor given to
the murderers of  Nachshon Waxman in Gaza.  I cannot say that even one Knesset committee or
faction complained that such pomp and ceremony violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our new
"peaceful" relations with the PLO.  Terrorist murderers are now, with our complacency, if not
overt assistance, transformed into heroes of the liberation movement without so much as a word
of protest from our government.  On the contrary, it has given its seal of approval of honoring
terrorists under the self-delusion that the Devil himself has now donned a halo of peace.
     Since bad has been declared good, it only stands to reason that good must therefore be
declared bad.  As such, the only true Jewish hero, who sacrificed his very life to try and turn the
tide of murder and degradation around, is labeled by Jew and Arab alike, as a "murderer".  The
Knesset interior committee, headed by an Arab, has decided that the grave of  Dr. Baruch
Goldstein, z"l, H"yd, must be desecrated and moved to a less convenient location in order to
discourage the fact that it has become a site of prayer and pilgrimage.  Jewish self-hater, Ron
Cohen, of the Meretz faction, has been working overtime to remove this object of Jewish pride
and self respect.  Such a concept is an embarrassment to him.  Cohen, who sits on the Knesset 
committee, found the Arab head of the committee more than receptive to his desire to desecrate
the grave of a Jewish tzaddik.   
      The only thing wrong with Dr. Goldstein's counterattack against our enemies is the fact
that it was caused by an ineffective Jewish leadership which refused to stop Arab terror.  A
brilliant physician and genuine Jewish hero is demeaned by the very people he sacrificed his  life to
protect.  There was no leadership and our army refused to do its job.   Now that same useless
leadership condemns the only Jew who had the courage to try and salvage Jewish self respect. 
After having accepted Yassir Arafat as a noble statesman and angel of peace, it seems only proper
to take a Jewish hero and defame him as a "murderer".    
     Unfortunately many good Jews, who are caught up in the confusion, really don't
understand that this "peace" process is one sided, and that the other side is actually waging war
against the Jewish state.  Those of us who are victims of the war against the Jewish state find
ourselves accused by our fellow citizens as being "obstacles to peace".  Rather than accept the
fact that Arafat and the entire Arab world seek our destruction, they choose to cling to Arab lies
and blame their own brothers for obstructing a new world of brotherly love between Arab and
Jew.  
     If we cannot truly believe that we are in a process of Divine redemption which will
continue to completion in spite of all odds, then we have a very difficult problem of how to deal
with the "reality" of being overwhelmingly outnumbered by our enemies.  If we cannot withstand
such an opposition, then our only hope is surrender.  Quite clearly this is the path taken by the
pragmatists who presume to lead us.  The so called "peace process", as anyone with eyes can see,
is nothing less than a surrender process.  There is no other way to define the concept of "land for
peace" other than "surrender".








     Shulamit Aloni actually summed it up best years ago when she stated, "The army of Allah
has more soldiers than does the army of the Jewish G-d."  Of course she is right.  The fact is,
throughout Jewish history, our enemies have always outnumbered us.  If we had used that fact as
an excuse to give up on Judaism, then we would have disappeared from the face of the earth
thousands of years ago.  How dare we, now, at the culmination of Jewish Destiny, close our eyes
to millennia of miracles, including so many in our own time, and fear our enemies because they
outnumber us!
     As our Prime Minister goes to Switzerland to meet with Arafat and Mubarak in order to
negotiate away more of our heritage for "peace", here at home aguments are being sounded at the
Knesset suggesting that a law should be passed which would enable an Arab to run for prime
minister!   After all, banning a whole segment of our citizenry from running for prime minister
smacks of racism.
     There was a time, not long ago, when it was only a small radical segment of our society
which objected to the Jewish identity that goes hand in hand with the State of Israel.  Little by
little our secular legislature negated one Jewish value after another in the name of democracy and
freedom.  Even those parties and individuals who functioned as "religious" elements became
enmeshed in the movement for democratic reform.  Today we have seen the pendulum swing so
far away from the original Zionist goal that we can honestly say that the majority of our
govenment has openly rejected Zionism!  Indeed, our own Knesset can be said to have, in effect,
justified the United Nations resolution declaring Zionism to be racism!
     While we expected Peres to attempt to destroy Israel with his "New Middle East," who
could have predicted that Netanyahu would be doing it more quickly and efficiently, with the help
of the "right wing" and "religious" parties?  Rather than stop the charade and reject Oslo,
Netanyahu decided to "do it better" than Peres. And he is.
     What we really need now is direction.  And the only place we can, or should expect to,
find such direction is from our rabbinnical leadership.  Certainly Shas, with all of its rabbis, would
seem to be in an ideal position to exercise its influence to bring Jewish values to the government. 
Instead, they use their power to promote petty personal interests and do nothing to protect the
Jewish character of the nation.   They voted to abandon Hebron!!!  They accepted Oslo!!!  They
too, endorsed Arafat as our "peace partner".   Their rabbis are reciting tehilim (psalms),
petitioning the Creator of the Universe to protect Aryeh Deri from prosecution.  Where are their
petitions to the All Mighty to save the nation as our homeland is being served up to the PLO?!! 
No one can tell me, by any stretch of the imagination, that the present negotiations with the PLO
can find halachic sanction.
     Even the National Religious Party has, once again, proved that it is neither nationalistic
nor religious.   For either grounds should have been enough to see them resign from a government
which clearly rejected both values.   The lame excuse that they could better serve the country
from within the government sounds pitifully like Kapos in the concentration camps who served
the Germans for similar reasons.
     Of course Mubarak tells us that Jewish settlements are an obstacle to peace.  Of course
Assad tells us that he will not even sit down to discuss our surrender until we first give him the
Golan Heights.  And of course Arafat demands Jerusalem as the capital of  "Palestine." What is
absurd is that our prime minister doesn't respond with "reciprocity" by annexing Judea, Samaria
and Gaza, removing our enemies from our midst, and responding to every terrorist act with an
iron fist.
     If we do not act as Jews by placing at least as much faith in the Living G-d of Israel as our
enemies place in "Allah", then we bring disaster upon our own heads.