Articles

by Yosef Ben Tzion (Joel Busner) — Apr. 2001

NOT MUCH TO CELEBRATE?

It seems as though it gets harder and harder to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut in Israel each year.  This year is especially troublesome as we are experiencing endless amounts of terror from our 'peace partners'.  The situation has sunk to a new low with major cities like Kfar Saba considering canceling festivities from fear of terror.  Of course the media won't let us forget the plight of the 'poor' Arab citizens of Israel who claim to have nothing to celebrate.  In brief they feel that our gain of a State is their loss.  Interesting.

It hurts me to see so many young Israelis looking to leave our country to go anywhere.  To be truthful, I can't blame them.  Most of them have been raised believing that we can't win against fear and terror, that we don't have rights to all the land (or maybe not any of it?), that we really have no special reason to be here.  It is very depressing.  Then there are the Diaspora Jews.

Somewhere around 5,000,000 Jews live in the United States (depends how you count them and who still claims to be Jewish).  It is astonishing to learn that close to 70% of the American Jewish population have never even visited Israel.  Now with the situation in turmoil here the number of Jewish tourists from abroad has shrunk drastically.  Hotels have laid off huge numbers of employees.  Aliya from abroad outside of the former Soviet Union is virtually non existent.  Shame, shame, shame.

I find solace in some historical facts.  The State of Israel came into being because a couple of small groups of Jewish freedom fighters with a belief in our G–d given obligation to settle the Land of Israel fought for it.  They didn't show restraint against Jew haters.  They hit back harder.  They taught a strong Jewish lesson to the Jew haters in the land that this is our home and we're not going back to Galut (Diaspora).  Enough inquisitions, pogroms, and holocausts.  Enough speeches about poor, dead Jews.  Enough of the policy of "Ma Yomru HaGoyim?" ("What will the gentiles say?").  From history we can learn.

Today, history is repeating itself in many ways.  The government is restraining our army clearly out of fear of what the Nations will say.  For Jewish and logical reasons I have never agreed with that type of policy.  I understood and disagreed with those who claimed that we had to play some sort of balancing act between what will keep the world quiet and what will keep our home secure.  History has taught us repeatedly that the more we try to please the Nations the more the Nations condemn us and subsequently put more negative pressure on us.  This pattern has now put us in a perceived impossible situation.  If we hit the Arab Jew haters hard, we will definitely suffer world condemnation.  The threats of isolation, restricted trade, multi national intervention, are just too much for our timid leaders to bear.  We now have the pleasure of hearing our 'leaders' babble nightly on national television shows sounding more and more confused as the situation worsens.

BUT THERE IS A G–D OF ISRAEL

I am not an overly religious person.  I am a proud Jew.  A normal Jew.  I am a Jew who can't always explain to you all of G—d's actions.  Terrible tragedies have befallen the Jewish People and many ask, "where was G–d?" or, "Is there a G–d?"  I challenge those people with the following questions: How did we survive the War of Independence in 1948?  How did we get through the 6 day War in 1967 victoriously, when the most optimistic experts predicted at least 50,000 Jewish casualties, while others predicted the end of the Jewish State?  Today, I ask the following question; how come so many Arab bomb makers are accidentally blowing themselves up?  Or, how is it that so many Jews come out unharmed after so many vicious armed attacks?  Of course G–d exists.  That is the reason that we are here in the 1st place.  You don't have to be a tzadik or a Torah genius to understand that our existence here in Israel is a miracle in itself.  If you believe in our G–d given right to the Land then you must show your belief.  If the European Union cuts off trade because we fight to defend our people and our land, believe that it will turn out good for us in the end because we acted with faith and with pride.  We will get through it and be stronger in the end for being self–reliant.

A JEWISH STATE

Yom Ha'atzmaut is a day of 'JEWISH INDEPENDENCE'.  Of course people whose religion dictates that we are infidels will never be able to celebrate their loss.  They are normal.  As long as there exists a state that declares itself to be Jewish in character they won't accept it.  Sure, the smarter ones will talk 'peace'.  However, the last 7 months have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Jew's understanding of peace and the Arab's understanding of peace are not the same thing.  The Arabs of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, along with their brothers in Jaffa, East Jerusalem, Uhm El Fahem, Nazareth, etc, have taken the Jewish sign of weakness to better arm themselves to conquer 'Palestine' and eventually throw the Jews into the sea.  One cannot leave out all the help they receive in smuggled weaponry from our peace partners in Egypt and Jordan, as well as the northern attacks from Syrian sponsored Hizbollah.  I believe in a Jewish State.  That means I celebrate Jewish victory over evil Jew haters.  No apologies necessary.  I don't have any guilty feelings about being proud of having a country that is mine.

OUR CHALLENGE IS YOUR CHALLENGE

To those of you who have shied away from our homeland I ask of you the following: How can you give in to all the haters of Jews by shunning our country?  Take a trip.  Purchase land here.  Invest in a business.  Seriously consider Aliya.  Have Israel on your mind and in your heart.  This country is our inheritance.

To those of us here who are thinking of leaving, don't!!!!!!!  Arafat and Tibi would only be too happy.  Our forefathers and foremothers prayed for our return from the 4 corners of the earth and that process has surely begun!  The pioneers who came to develop this Land without a dime in their pockets had a dream.  Their dream of a beautiful land for all of the world's Jews must be realized.  Each and every one of us can make a difference towards a better Israel.

THE REAL HEROES

Every day in this country Jews are attacked.  Many hospitals have injured soldiers and terror victims.  One of our organization's activities is to regularly visit these victims and their families.  This Thursday morning, Yom Ha'atzmaut in the Central region as well as in Jerusalem we have staff and volunteers scheduled to visit with these heroes.  We will be bringing cakes, cookies, fruit baskets, magicians, etc.  Why specifically on Yom Ha'atzmaut?  Simply because if people didn't sacrifice themselves on behalf of the Jewish Nation there wouldn't be a Jewish country.  It is time for all good Jews to unite in support of these types of endeavors.  Together we can and will build a better Israel.  Chag Sameach!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Yosef Ben Tzion (Joel Busner) — May 2001

Since the very beginning of what has become known as the 'Peace Process', we've been inundated by politicians and the media by a term called 'Peace Dividends'.  Any positive economic news for the State of Israel has been coined as a dividend of the peace process.  A multinational corporation makes an investment in Israel and the peace banner waves on and on.  A home grown start up technology company gets listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and the proponents of 'compromise' beam with self assured confidence celebrating that the pundits are wrong once again.  Along the way some Jews are murdered.  They are brushed off as mere sacrifices for the greater good, the 'Peace'.  By September 2000 Arabs in the Land of Israel have murdered almost 450 Jews.  Many times more are injured and maimed seriously and/or permanently.  Then the 'Aksa Intifada' erupts and this latest excuse for an 'uprising' has claimed the lives of close to another 100 Jews and almost no one is talking about dividends any longer.

DEFINE DIVIDENDS

The economic benefits and so–called world recognition that we enjoy from the 'Peace' is what the architects of the process and their supporters, and mostly followers, have defined to be their definition of 'Peace Dividends'.  I have 2 problems with the way they have coined the term.  The 1st problem is who says that what they have been calling 'Peace Dividends' are necessarily dividends?  The 2nd problem that I have is what really is peace?

There are more than enough arguments to support the theory that Israel's economy was growing rather well before and up to the original signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993.  The world was heading high tech and Israel had one of the world's highest percentages of engineers within her population.  With or without a new peace agreement Israel's high tech industry was growing.  I therefore question the veracity of their claim that it was the Oslo Agreement alone that paved the way for Israel's economic growth.  As for world recognition, all one has to do is open any newspaper or television and see how Israel's standing amongst the nations has crumbled even further.

DEFINE PEACE

The Jewish definition of peace is the Jewish Nation finally living in peace.  I can't and won't define Jews getting stabbed, shot, and bombed as peace.  When Jews have to be escorted from the Kotel on Fridays because it's too dangerous to pray there, I don't call that peace.  When Arab schools in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and all the rest of the State of Israel don't need security guards to protect Arab children from terror, but every Jewish Israeli school wherever there are Jews in the Land of Israel, all have security guards to protect them against Arab terror, I don't call that peace.  When Jewish motorists and bus passengers can't ride past an Arab community in the land of Israel without fear from violence, I don't call that peace.  When Jews have to have their bags checked at shopping malls, theaters, etc, while Arabs have no such problems in their marketplaces in the Land of Israel, I don't call that peace.  When the despots with whom Israel has signed agreements continue to join in mass denunciation of Israel while their state–controlled media continue to spout vile anti–Jewish and anti–Israel rhetoric, I wouldn't call that peace.  There are more examples of what I wouldn't call peace which have been taking place in our beloved country, many since the capitulation of one Israeli government after another in the name of 'Peace'.  What are examples of peace?

When the early settlers and holocaust survivors fought against the British and retaliated harshly and consistently against Arab marauders to finally force out the British along with many of their Arab terrorist partners and in doing so created the State of Israel, I call that the beginning of peace.  Following the '67 war when faced with annihilation Israel destroyed Egypt's, Syria's, and Jordan's armies, while at the same time captured large chunks of land that finally placed her citizenship in a defensible position and awakened Jewish pride around the world, I call that a big step toward peace.

SECURITY AND SAFETY ARE THE REAL DIVIDENDS OF PEACE

It is the responsibility of the State of Israel to show the world that we won't be forced or negotiated back to the days of exile when Gentiles could beat, rape, steal from, and murder Jews with impunity.  To do this takes faith and a deep belief that our cause for a secure homeland in Eretz Yisrael is the right and destined one.  Corporations don't invest in countries because of their peace policies.  They invest because of the security of their investments.  They may endorse a peace agreement but only because they believe that it will bring stability to the region and will subsequently be good for their current and/or future investments.  Now that the truth is so completely exposed, that Camp David, Oslo 1 and 2, Wye, etc, were just tools to break Israel down, very few people including Israelis themselves want to invest money here.  Tourism is completely flat, foreign investment is shrinking, etc.  Tourists want to have a safe and enjoyable time.  Companies don't want to deal with instability.  I agree with them.

There is a time for war and a time for peace.  It is never the time for peace when gentiles kill Jews with impunity, especially on our G–d given soil.  If we haven't learned this lesson yet, we will because they obviously won't stop until we finally do.  That is when we will crush those who seek to destroy us.  And, after some harassment from the world community and perhaps a bad recession from the economic sanctions that may follow, the world will be dealing with a leaner but ideologically stronger Israel.  The new Israel will then be ready to receive the real dividends of peace.

by Yosef Ben Tzion (Joel Busner) — May 2001

The evolution of Yasser Arafat from terrorist, murderer, and thug, to Nobel Prize peace partner with Israel was a gradual one.  After so many years as a career murderer of innocent Jewish men, women and children, the transformation of Arafat didn't happen overnight.  The Jewish public would never be able to digest such an archenemy in one gulp.  Slowly but surely a sequence had to be played out.  It would be impossible to take a villain and his entire organization, which called for the total annihilation of the Jewish State and suddenly stamp them with the label of "kosher".

ROUND 1: CAMP DAVID

First there was Camp David.  Not only did Israel give up its only oil wells and thereby commit herself to more United States dependency for oil purchase guarantees, the Israeli government led by Menachem Begin gave away huge amounts of land for a promise of peace.  Those were the big headlines of that era.  Unfortunately a couple of things not so big then have turned out to be very relevant now; Yamit the Jewish settlement in Sinai was dismantled under the direction of the right wing 'hawk' Ariel Sharon and for the 1st time an Israeli government finally recognized a 'Palestinian' People.  Of course a People must have a place to call their own.  Begin and Sharon and many other Herutniks of the right wing Likud offered autonomy to the 'Palestinians'.

ROUND 2: THE LEBANON WAR 1982

After getting constantly harassed from south Lebanon, Israel had no alternative in 1982 but to go into Lebanon and put an end to the growing terror against her residents in the North.  It looked easy at first.  The Israeli Defense Forces smashed through Lebanon, killing terrorists and the occasional civilian all the while seizing huge arsenals of military equipment from you guessed it, Arafat's PLO army.  It was later revealed that Yasser Arafat was under the telescope of an Israeli sharpshooter.  He asked the great hero, Rafael Eitan for an order to shoot.  Eitan declined and Arafat's life was spared.  Eventually both Arafat and his men were surrounded in Beirut.  Under international pressure not only was his life spared, Israel allowed him and his band of murderers to leave with a victorious send off carrying their weapons.  It is very worthy to note that the Arab world noticed that for the 1st time the Israelis were ready to risk their men to sniper attack by conducting door to door searches instead of blowing up entire buildings and possibly injuring or killing 'innocent' civilians.

ROUND 3: THE INTIFADA AND THE MADRID TALKS

At the end of 1986 after many terrorist attacks against Israelis Arafat and his followers developed a new game called the "Intifada" or "Uprising".  This time the innocents were not just supporters of the PLO.  They were 'innocent' stone throwers.  The Israeli government once again bowing to international pressure began to do less and less to restore law and order.  New precedents were set when Israeli soldiers and settlers could no longer use their weapons unless their lives were clearly endangered.  Often that meant being maimed or killed 1st.  With the Israeli leftist press and the international anti–Semitic press behind them, the newly recognized Nation of 'Palestinians' were encouraged to keep up with their valiant struggle against so called Israeli oppression.  This led to the Madrid talks where former Stern gang hero Yitzhak Shamir came as close as one could come to begin the process of giving away Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.  The election loss of 1992 saved Mr. Shamir and his right wing coalition from doing the dirty work.

ROUND 4: RABIN TAKES THE BIG STEP

Of course Yitzhak Rabin lied to the Jewish People.  He said he wouldn't talk to the PLO and that certain things were not negotiable.  Many other Israeli politicians have lied before and since including Ben Gurion, Begin, Sharon, and Netanyahu to name a few.  The people on the inside knew that many of Rabin's peers and perhaps he himself had been talking to the PLO for quite a while.  Interesting being that speaking with them was still a criminal offense in Israel in those days.  With no way to stop the Intifada short of killing and perhaps expelling many Arabs, the Rabin government took the bold step of making friends with Yasser Arafat.  No referendum was ever held.  The media went into high gear and before you knew it Gaza and Jericho were 1st on the chopping block.  Oslo was the utopian answer for Israel's left.  Most of Israel's right had no alternative to offer because they believed and still believe 1st and foremost in what the world will say or do and not in our G–d given exclusive right to the Land of Israel.  The peace process or what has turned out to be the 'terror process' intensified quickly as Rabin, Peres, and Arafat shared a Nobel Peace Prize.  The huge number of Israeli casualties combined with the assassination of Rabin did nothing to derail the process.  Arafat was now an international player loading up on weapons as he was amassing bigger and bigger parts of ancestral Eretz Yisrael.

ROUND 5: BIBI BLOWS IT

Although the 1996 election was close Benjamin Netanyahu was elected with a 59% Jewish majority.  When push came to shove, Arafat outmaneuvered Bibi by murdering 14 Israeli soldiers and burning down Joseph's tomb.  Instead of going right out and destroying Arafat, Bibi finished the Hebron give away and helped him build the airport in Gaza.  When it was rumored that Arafat may have been extremely ill, Bibi reportedly commented that "A healthy Arafat is good for Israel".  He soon followed up with the Wye agreement and tried to sell a tired Jewish public 'reciprocity'.  He said, "They give, they get".  I always meant to ask him what that meant?  In other words, if they don't commit terror we give them more of our land.  That could be interpreted as being willing and flexible enough to give them everything.  Similar to the case of Shamir the 1999 election saved Mr. Netanyahu from further humiliation by dismissing him from office.

AND NOW: FROM BARAK TO SHARON AND BACK TO PERES, THE BEAT GOES ON

Barak offered Arafat the unimaginable, yet he said no.  He even told him to go to hell.  Most Jews in Israel lack guidance and leadership.  Many have been brainwashed for years that we have no alternative or worse that we are robbers and that the Arabs deserve large chunks of Eretz Yisrael.  Many of our youth don't see a reason to stay here.  Except for areas with horrible economies and/or serious anti–Semitic threats, most Jews in the Diaspora wouldn't dream of aliya today.  Our peace partners (tear us to pieces partners?) are shooting at us, bombing us, and stoning us all over this land.  The so–called Israeli Arabs in large part have joined in the struggle to free Palestine.  None of today's Israeli political elite are willing to do what must be done to save our country from complete destruction.  Only a new class of leadership with vision, Jewish pride and belief in our G–d given destiny to be here as 'a nation that shall dwell alone', will be able to overcome the obstacles which we face.

AVRAHAM ALON A VICTIM OF ARAFAT'S PEACE

Avraham Alon was shot several times as he drove his van outside his settlement in the Shomron about a half a year ago.  He was supposed to die.  He didn't.  He is alive and goes with his wife almost every day for therapy in Tel Hashomer hospital.  His wife can no longer work, as she must assist him to do the most basic of tasks.  His income has been destroyed now that he is handicapped.  Our wonderful national–insurance program known as Bituach Leumi is giving him and his wife the runaround.  They are giving them 2,300 shekels a month to live on (approximately $575).  We at B'Ahavat Yisrael have taken on their case.  We have begun to pay for their electric and gaz bills.  Shortly we will send an attorney to fight for their rights so that they may live in some sort of dignity and not as paupers.  The guns used to shoot Avraham Alon and many other people in our country were patriots loyal to Yasser Arafat.  Shimon Peres still thinks that Arafat is our partner.  Being that Peres helped get him the guns, perhaps they are partners.  They certainly are no partners of Avraham Alon and the mounting victims of Jews daily on our beloved soil.

Dear Jew, as Shabbat approaches here in the holy–land I ask you to think.  Wherever you are and whatever you do.  If every time a Jew is attacked resulting in death or injury, does it hurt you inside?  If it does, please help us to help them.  If it doesn't you can always join another partnership. Shabbat Shalom

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