As the polls close in Israel I am reminded of when, in February 2001, Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister. Sheindy and I were living in Israel at the time. As I left my apartment in central Jerusalem the morning after Ariel Sharon’s overwhelming victory I was stopped by a television news crew from the United Arab Emirates, live of TV they asked me for my reaction to the victory of the controversial hardliner. “Thank God Israel is a democracy,” I said, “And now that the people of Israel had spoken in a democratic manner the world must respect their decision.”
Today the Israeli people have spoken once again and this time they have given their endorsement to a policy of appeasement that will ultimately give away land that was won through the loss of Jewish blood. I, for one, have written numerous articles arguing the fallacy of the disengagement policy. Maybe I, and like-minded others, have not written enough. Maybe indeed we who believe that the land of Israel is a sacred gift from God to the Jewish people and as such forbidden to be given away and we who understand the immense risk to Jewish life that this reckless policy posses are suffering from the same symptoms as most Israelis – we have lost our will to fight.
Indeed this is the only conclusion I can reach: Israelis have lost the fighting spirit that swept Sharon to victory and unseated the appeasing Ehud Barak in February of 2001. Israelis no longer wish to be at war with their neighbors. They have chosen to take the immense risk of retreating rather then deciding to fight for their survival. I no longer live in Israel and although my children hold Israeli citizenship, it is unlikely that they will ever have to fight in the Israeli army. It is therefore difficult for me to judge an entire nation that seems so tired of war.
So now as then, as much as I lament the fact that Israeli society have taken this defeatist attitude, I must respect the democratic choice of the Israeli people. At the same time however, I am taking a vow to regain my fighting spirit and to speak out and work harder to explain the recklessness inherent in the direction Israel is now taking. I invite you, nay, I implore you to join in this vow.