The New Enemy

Once upon a time, long ago now it seems, Jews left their comfortable homes in golus and returned to our Holy Land to beging the process of its rebirth. They were the chalutzim, the pioneers who, to this day, are remembers as great Jewish leaders who struggled against every sort of adversity, including a local hostile Arab population, to build up the land of Israel.
Today there are still chalutzim in the land of Israel. People who have left their comfortable homes in golus and pre-1967 Israel to build up the remaining parts of Israel that were stolen from us in 1949 and returned by the help of God after the Six Day War.
However, unlike the original chalutzim, these brave men and women are subjected to a different treatment by today's historians and social programmers. To put it simply, the Israeli left has spent the last 15 years demonizing them as obstacles to peace and a threat to the future of the State because they supposedly illegaly occupy so-called Palestinian land.
Never mind the facts: That what today is Israel and Jordan was promised as a Jewish National Home by the League of Nations and the Great Britian in 1922. Or that Jordan was spliced off by Winston Churchill to reward Arab allies from the First World War despite this solmen agreement. Or that the Arabs never recognized the 1947 United Nations partition plan and, until this day, continue to reject the idea of two states west of the Jordan River. Never mind that this lack of recognition meant the occupation by Jordan and Egypt of Yesha was never recognized by the international community (until, curiously enough, 1967!) and that these territories remained as "unclaimed".
Rmember: Israel's pre-1967 borders are the armistice lines of 1949. Had Israel managed to conquer Yesha before being forced into an unfavourable ceasefire, there would never have been a "West Bank" and today the Arabs would be forced to state to all what they say to each other in Arabic: they consider all of Israel to be occupied Palestine.
Never mind all that: it's convenient to demonize our chalutzim.
It is, however, especially galling when Israelis themselves participate in this stupidity. Time was, the Israelis had a saying: ein bereirah. The majority, even those on the left, recognized that Israel was surrounded by hostile enemies that wanted to wipe it out and that unilateral concessions in pursuit of an illusory peace would be potentially fatal.
Not anymore. Since the madeness of the Oslo Discord infected the intelligentsia of the State, the idea of wanting a strong, united Israel and putting its survival and success first has come to be seen as a form of fascist hatred. Yet, as this article in Haaretz suprisingly points out (since Haaretz prides itself on being front and center when it comes to attack our brave pioneers), the hypocrisy of this intelligentsia knows no bounds:
Much has been written about an Israeli prime minister who was suspected of criminal activity but shielded from criticism so he could advance the "correct policy." And none other than President Shimon Peres recently extolled the virtues of Abie Nathan, founder of the offshore pirate radio station The Voice of Peace, who violated the law and said what a good thing it was to do so. Barely anyone reminded the president of the ideologues running a pirate radio station on the "other" side, who violated the law so their voices could be heard from aboard the Arutz Sheva ship. Unlike Nathan, they did not merit immunity from the law and were punished for breaking it.
One must beware of those who talk about the greatness of the rule of law even as their hearts are full of hatred when it comes to the Other. What does Talia Sasson, the champion of the rule of law when it comes to illegal outpost construction, have to say about the tens of thousands of illegal buildings constructed by Bedouin and Arabs in the Galilee, Negev and East Jerusalem? And when was the last time the left wing or the media criticized the anarchists who attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers near the West Bank separation fence the same way they criticize the settlers? Why is the press interested in how much money Israeli taxpayers have to pay for security at right-wing rallies, while the cost of left-wing rallies is irrelevant? Why is there extensive media coverage when police refrain from raiding an outpost due to fear of clashes with settlers, but not when police refrain from chasing Arabs who steal cars, cattle and agricultural equipment along the seam line between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods and in Judea and Samaria? Take, for instance, the many articles about the body of the Palestinian shepherd whom the Palestinians accused the settlers of murdering - and the silence that greeted the news from the police laboratory that there had been no murder at all, that a dud shell caused the shepherd's death. Are the facts relevant only when they hew to the line? In a few weeks the country will commemorate the 13th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. In the eyes of his supporters, those who object to the legacy attributed to Rabin are just as terrible and out of bounds as the assassination itself. In this matter too, the accusatory finger the left points at the right is generalized and inflammatory, to the point where half the country finds itself alienated from the memorial day. From the perspective of the left and the media, settlers have become the ultimate Other, mainly because of the ideological threat that they, religious Zionists and anyone who identifies with them poses to those who pride themselves on an absence of ideology. The Kadima party, with its blurred identity and limited values, is just one example of this. The settlers - in the path they have chosen, in their faith and even in their appearance - represent the exact opposite. That is their sin, and that is their reward.
Those of us who see the big picture, who know history and can see past the politically correct lies that have been forced upon us, should be prapred to point this out to the appeasers and their friends. Either that, or once again it's time to tell them: Just shut up!