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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (786)	11/30/2001 1:00:00 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 32591

Visions and Illusions Rabbi Berel Wein 30 November 2001 Now that Secretary Powell has given us his vision for the Middle East and for the peaceful, economically viable and progressive neighboring state that will be established next to us, my only question is "what planet does he live on?" After decades of dealing with Yasser Arafat and his band of murderous terrorists, Israel and the world at general should understand by now that Arafat´s vision of his state and the Middle East bears no resemblance whatsoever with the peaceful and stable reality that we and the rest of the West hope for. What more does it take for all to realize that Arafat is no partner for anything - not for cease-fires, final-status agreements, economic cooperation, sports events or even a bridge tournament? Yet the "peace camp," here in Israel and in the United States, is never convinced by facts. It only operates with its visions and false illusions and it never admits its past failures and mistakes. As an example of this inability to admit that one can ever make a mistake, witness the shameful testimony to the Or Comission by Shlomo Ben-Ami and Ehud Barak a week ago. They are not to blame for the death of the thirteen Israeli Arab citizens in the riots of September 2000. No, it is someone else that bears the guilt - the police, Sharon´s visit to the Temple Mount, the GSS - anyone but the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Security at the time. In a different culture and in a different time, Japanese officials in the same position would have committed hara-kiri out of guilt and shame. In contrast, our political stalwarts are never wrong and no blame can ever be attached to them. It is not farfetched to point out that the wild concessions made by Barak and (Clinton) Ben-Ami to Arafat raised Arab expectations (and Israeli Arab expectations as well) to a level that could only cause an outbreak of frustrated violence when those unrealistic expectations were not realized. Of course, Ben-Ami and Barak are also not responsible for their totally unsupported and reckless behavior in the final-status negotiations of 2000 with Arafat. No, our intellectuals and political leaders are never wrong. Speaking of visions, the Jerusalem Post carried an article about a Jewish professor who came to the startling discovery that the prophet Ezekiel had all of those visions of his due to the fact that he was suffering from a form of epilepsy. Now, tearing down all of the heroes of Jewish history, ancient and modern, has been de rigueur in all Jewish secular scholastic circles for quite some time. After all, if the Bible is really true and has something to say to us, then we would have to admit that many of the gods that large sections of the Jewish people have worshipped over the past two centuries - Enlightenment, socialism, Leninism, secularism, etc. - are false. We would have to say that we made a mistake. So, it is simpler to say that Ezekiel saw his visions because of epilepsy. That noted professor had previously discovered that Samson suffered from a severe personality disorder. There are also a number of new books around that make King David into a very un-heroic person, to put it mildly. Now, my friends, it is difficult enough for a mental health professional to correctly diagnose a live patient sitting before him, but our scholars are able to do so for people who have been dead for almost three millennia. Of course, our newly minted scholars are never wrong, no matter what the Bible, Jewish tradition and past Jewish scholarship say about the matter. Ben Gurion University of the Negev made the unforgivable sin of granting an honorary degree to the Prime Minister of Israel last week. There were howls of protest from student "activists" of the left and the Arab sector, along with some professors. Letters were written to editors of the country´s newspapers protesting this act. Of course, no mention was made of academic freedom, university independence and popular opinion. Those are issues that the Left only raises in its defense. Also, truth be told, our Prime Minister is a different man than he was twenty years ago. Yet none of that counts for anything, because the learned critics are never wrong - they never change their mind - they are incapable of admitting error - they live with illusions and not with visions. Too bad for them, but too bad for us as well. Shabbat Shalom. ------------------------- Originally published in the Jerusalem Post. The article is posted with permission of the author. Rabbi Berel Wein, noted author and lecturer, is founder of the Destiny Foundation, dedicated to educating Jews about their historical and ethical heritage (JewishDestiny.com ).