The Left's Existential War Against Hamas

  by Elyakim Haetzni

Arutz Sheva - July 14, 2006

Kidnapping has become a national sport for the Arabs. The Hizbullah declared an

open season in which the Arab is the hunter and the Jew -any Jew, from children

to old people - is the prey.

What was the illicit drug trap that was set for Elchanan Tennenbaum if not a

hunt? And the fact is that the prey entered the trap, and the Jewish government

went in after. Just as the operation near Kerem Shalom was a Hizbullah-style

guerrilla action - and apparently with Hizbullah direction - so too the

kidnapping trend has come from there. We captured a cell that attempted to hunt

the two girls near Rachelim, who were miraculously saved. And another kidnapped

young man, Eliyahu Asheri, has already lost his life.

The future is ominous. Those who regularly break into homes in the Sharon

region, for example, and steal the car keys from the owners' pockets as they

sleep, who have been stealing everything from us over the years - from tractors

to bee hives to entire barns and the laundry from the line - will not have

difficulty wandering around in Israeli dress, in stolen cars, hunting lone

pedestrians.

Nonetheless, one must assume that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, knowing all of

this and despite his declarations, will eventually fold. He'll eventually agree

to a "deal" and he will turn the people of Israel into a herd of sheep from

which the wolf chooses a new victim each time.

The reason is, as the prophet says, "He who sows wind will reap the whirlwind."

The "Now culture", of which Peace Now is just its political manifestation, is

vengeful. Even now, the media is pressuring the government, hinting, asking

questions, investigating day and night: What has changed? Why is Israel suddenly

altering its policy and being stubborn this time? And they have already drawn

the doomsday weapon: Jewish morality. The hostile media suddenly remembers

"Jewish morality" and rolls pious eyes heavenward, claiming that it is a

"supra-mitzvah" to redeem captives at any price. Indeed, the redemption of

captives is a very important mitzvah; however, we are explicitly forbidden to

pay more than "market value", so as not to encourage more kidnapping. In other

words, precisely the opposite approach.

Even if Olmert and company have every honest intention not to concede this time,

the warped education - leftist, egotistical, short on stamina - will take its

revenge. They will be forced to give in to the Golem of Now-ism, of concessions,

of withdrawal, of weakness, of nihilism, of short-term calculations at the

expense of the future - and they will institutionalize kidnappings.

And from here to the big question. Why are the Kadima government leaders all of

a sudden displaying a strong stand against the Hamas regime? No right-wing

government (or what we incorrectly identified as "right") has ever expelled

Hamas members from Jerusalem, or thrown Hamas "ministers" and "parliamentarians" in jail, or publicly threatened the life of the Palestinian "prime minister" - not even the criminal and murderer Yasser Arafat, who makes Ismail Haniyeh look like a saint. And no Israeli government has ever launched a military offensive that had as one of its aims deposing the Palestinian "government".

Only a far-leftist in spirit must launch a war of destruction against the Hamas

regime in the Palestinian Authority. You see, for a nationalist Jew, there is no

difference between Haniyeh and the evil Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), financier of

the Munich Massacre. Both Haniyeh and Abu Mazen are our enemies. In fact, the

regime of Fatah is perhaps more dangerous to us than the Hamas. Fatah gives the

appearance of a chance for peace; whereas, Hamas insists on telling the truth -

that all of them, including the "moderates" of Fatah, are intent on liberating

Haifa and Jaffa. Deception is always more dangerous than the truth. Therefore,

the Right did not fall out of its chair over the rise of Hamas.

A nationalist Jew sees anyone who wants to take even a centimeter of his country

away from him as an enemy. What difference does it make if it is accomplished by

war and terrorism or by negotiation? A patriot does not give up his country even

to an English lord. Therefore, the rise of Hamas to power among the Palestinians

does not appear to the Right as such a big change, for even the words of peace

of the leaders of Fatah are lies and their signature is not worth the paper it

is written on.

A nationalist Jew will define violence between us and the Arabs as war and will strive for victory. He has wartime goals, a strategy of victory that includes whatever expands, stabilizes, reinforces and entrenches our hold on our homeland. In the eyes of a nationalist Jew, war was, is and will be about the land of Israel, and how to take advantage of the momentum of Arab aggression in order to expand Jewish settlement.

It is precisely the opposite among the Left. For the leftist, the Land of Israel

is not a value. A value is "the good life", which he calls "peace". And if peace

cannot be obtained, then at least "quiet". And for that, it is enough to

"converge" into a small corner, with no need for a homeland. All that is needed

is a "Palestinian partner" for the "solution" delusion.

If a nationalist Jew is told that he can have the Land of Israel, but not peace,

as long as the Arabs remain as they are, he will accept such a "deal". He

understands that "the Land of Israel is acquired through suffering." It was for

this reason that the people of Gush Katif absorbed 5,000 mortar shells with

almost no complaints.

A leftist - once convinced that an authentic Palestinian partner, who will not

deceive him, will never be found, that there will never be peace here like there

is between Belgium and Holland - will apparently reach the conclusion to simply

emigrate. That is why the Left treats the rise of the Hamas regime as if it is

an existential disaster. If the result of withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and

northern Samaria, and the destruction of 25 communities, is a strengthening not

of the "moderates", but of the rule of Hamas, then the foundation for peace, for

negotiation, for coexistence crumbles. When the Left's vision collapses, with no

partner, there remains no reason for them to live here.

It is precisely the true Left, the innocent Left that truly believed in the

possibility of good neighborliness with the Arabs on the basis of our

concessions in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and east Jerusalem, and on their concession

to Israel within the Green Line, that has had its world destroyed by the rise of

Hamas. It is precisely this innocent lamb that all of a sudden becomes a vicious

tiger in its opposition to Hamas. Aggressive tactics are aimed at bringing down

the Hamas regime and returning Fatah, along with the fantasy of peace, to power.

Without that fantasy, the Left is not willing to live here at all.

Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz would have been happy to release

terrorists in exchange for the kidnapped soldiers had the Palestinian Authority

been ruled by Fatah, the partner from Olso, the partner to the Road Map.

What bothers our leaders is releasing terrorists to Hamas, which would amount to an

admission that there will be no "peace process", but a process of concessions to

extortion, of Arab war for the land and Jewish defense with no concept of why,

with no purpose.

All these years, I held feelings towards the Left of dislike and outrage in my

heart. Today - I pity them.

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Elyakim Haetzni is a lawyer and former Knesset member who resides in Kiryat Arba.