MK Benyamin Elon: Time to Fight Back

I never thought I would side with the National Religious Party, but MK Elon seems to have the right idea.

Time to Fight Back
Zionism is not about packing our bags; a response to Yossi Beilin (link to MK Yossi Beilin's article "Time To Pack?")
MK Benyamin Elon
Published: 12.07.06, 13:03

It is no longer controversial to say that there is an axis of evil that threatens the very existence of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas have made themselves and their intentions well known.

My colleague, Dr. Beilin, believes that the best way to deal with this menacing threat is to downplay the Iranian nuclear problem and to surrender the Golan Heights as well as Judea and Samaria to those who threaten our very existence. While our enemies threaten to cut our collective throats, Dr. Beilin recommends that we expose our necks.

When leaders see a disaster approaching, they have an obligation to warn of immanent dangers in order to both prepare the public and to gather domestic and international support for countering the threat before it is too late.

Mr. Beilin describes these warnings as a “scare campaign” and a “hysterical reaction”. He states “If Berlin 1938 is here and now, then the conclusion is clear to everyone: The Jews should be packing their bags”. If Dr. Beilin were present during the London Blitz, he would have turned to Wiston Churchil and accused him of causing the disaster by provoking the Nazis with his pre-war hysteria.

No, it is not time to pack our bags; it is time to preempt the threat by fighting back against the axis of evil. Zionism is not about packing our bags and running when the going gets tough, it is about collective self-defense.

Israel is the one place in the world where Jews can defend themselves, where we don’t have to run when we are threatened, where we can face our enemies head on. Yes, we do face threats, but make no mistake about it, the State of Israel can and will overcome.

Dr. Beilin recognizes that there is a threat, but he thinks that we should deal with it by reaching peace agreements with the Syrians and the Palestinians. What he refuses to recognize is that we already attempted to reach peace agreements with both parties. These efforts failed not for lack of effort, they failed because those who have made themselves enemies of Israel do not want peace, they want to destroy us and they say so clearly.

Beilin continues to misguide Israelis

Syria continues to supply Hizbullah with long-range missiles and advanced anti-tank weapons. Hamas, who was elected by a Palestinian majority, is unwilling to even pretend that they can accept a two-state solution. Our military intelligence states that since Israel forced Jews from their homes in Gaza to make peace with the Palestinians, more than 60 long-range rockets have been smuggled from Egypt into Gaza.

These weapons now point towards our population centers, and they rained down on Sderot just a week ago. While Abbas, like Yassir Arafat before him, is at least willing to pretend that he can accept a two-state solution he is obviously unwilling to lift a finger against Hamas. Making peace with any of the above by surrendering strategic territory that is vital to our self-defense is both futile and dangerous.

Of course, we know all of this because we already attempted to make peace with our enemies, and the result was the disaster that we are still attempting to recover from. This is why Dr. Beilin doesn’t have any credibility, which he compensates for by conjuring up the legacy of “Rabin’s Vision”. This “Vision” means that despite all that has happened, we should continue to enact the same policies that Rabin attempted to enact over 10 years ago:

Stop being afraid. There is no danger that these guns will be used against us. The purpose of this ammunition for the Palestinian police is to be used in their vigilant fight against the Hamas.

They won't dream of using it against us, since they know very well that if they use these guns against us once, at that moment the Oslo Accord will be annulled and the IDF will return to all the places that have been given to them. The Oslo Accord, despite what the opposition claims, is not irrevocable.

- Yitzchak Rabin.

Politicians like Mr. Beilin don’t have the courage to admit when they are wrong. They continue to misguide the citizens of Israel through policies that inevitably bring about more bloodshed. These politicians should not be giving advice about the threat of radical Islam, especially when they cannot even see the threat themselves.

The writer is a Knesset member and chairman of National Union-NRP