Commentary on the New York Times OpEd by Gadi Taub

Those Damn Settlers

By Jerome S. Kaufman

Once again the New York Times publishes an OpEd promoting a fool proof solution for the Israeli/Arab conflict. Gadi Taub, assistant professor of communications and public policy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem solves the problem by simply getting rid of those awful 130,000 orthodox settlers and their settlements in Judea Samaria (West Bank). The Israel Foreign Ministry however, reminds us that these settlements are perfectly legal under international law: "The Fourth Geneva Convention was certainly not intended to prevent individuals from living on their ancestral lands or on property that had been illegally taken from them. Many present-day Israeli settlements have been established on sites that were home to Jewish communities in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) in previous generations, in an expression of the Jewish people's deep historic and religious connection with the land. Many of the most ancient and holy Jewish sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs (the burial site of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and Rachel's Tomb, are located in these areas. Jewish communities, such as in Hebron (where Jews lived until they were massacred in 1929), existed throughout the centuries. Other communities, such as the Gush Etzion bloc in Judea, were founded before 1948 under the internationally endorsed British Mandate."

Never mind removal of the settlements will result in the loss of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) along with Israel’s priceless defensive barrier, the Judean Mountains rising steeply from the Jordan valley. Nevermind, an Arab Palestinian state with Barack Obama’s blessing, would be quickly created. According to this strategy Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah will become Israel's bosom buddies with peace reigning forever.

Forget the fact that every piece of territory given to the Arabs by the Israelis in their abject hope for “peace” has become just another launching pad for lethal terror. Have the Israeli academic Leftists chosen to forget the Lebanese Security Zone withdrawal with the abandomment of Israel's Lebanese Christian allies and the resultant complete take-over by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border?

What about Ariel Sharon’s abandonment of Gaza and its brave Israeli settlers allowing it to become Hamastan, a permanent huge thorn in Israel’s underbelly and a launching pad for thousands of rockets further and further into southern Israel? Is there any doubt a viable Ariel Sharon would be turning over in shame over what he has created.

Does it take any foresight to understand that is exactly what will happen with the abandonment of the territory of Judea and Samaria? Will it take more than 48 hours for it to become another Fatahstan and, in the wink of an eye, another Hamastan?
Will Israel continue to force march itself on this road to self-destruction? In the meantime, Israel is rapidly shrinking its borders and natural defensive barriers to a point where even the glorious IDF will be unable to defend its citizens.

Taub pronounces, with great forboding, that the religious settlers will, “spell the end of the Israel “we” have known.” He may be right there. Maybe the Israelis will finally get rid of his particular “we” - the legions of Left wing academics that have taken over the educational system of the country, defamed its glorious 3000 year history, warped the minds of the Israelis against their own religion, their special existence and their amazing competence.

In fact, the Israel “known” by the rest of Israelis is a smashing success. In just 60 plus years, Israel has become an economic, scientific and military powerhouse - the envy of all its neighbors, enemies and supposed friends round the world. It has grown from 600,000 destitute powerless souls to a nation of near 7 million incorporating about 1.5 million Arabs that live light years better than their brothers in the surrounding Arab nations and show no inclination to leave.

Also, completely ignored by Taub is the major contributions of the religious Zionists. They enthusiastically embrace the defense of their homeland and make up a large percentage of the most dangerous volunteer military units of the Israel Defense Forces. These are the true defenders of Israel rather than far Left academics distorting history, using discredited demographic statistics, demeaning religion and spewing hatred against an essential element of the Israeli population.

Taub has also descended to historical revisonism as a basic tool for his discourse. Yes, there were isolated ultra Orthodox Jews that opposed the Jewish State but it was rather establishment Jews that campaigned against Herzl and, some 50 years later, did the same against the great Ze’ev Jabotinsky, thwarting his every move to form a self-sufficient Jewish nation.

These establishment Jews lived in fear, immersed in their sad, desperate attempt to disappear into the woodwork, to assimilate as Russians, Brits, Slavs, Hungarians, Germans, Communists, Socialists, and now have switched to universalists, environmentalists, conservationists, academics - whatever designation that could becloud their Jewish identity. One would think that the lessons of Adolf Hitler would discourage later Jews from this sick self-deception. Not so.

Finally, if G-d forbid, the Israeli government chose to abandon these 130,000 exemplary citizens, where will they put them? How would the government support them? Would they be doomed to the same poverty and homelessness as the refugees from the Gaza withdrawal? It is beyond belief that any one who truly understands our history and the existential importance of this land and these settlements could make such recommendations.

Comment: Divide and conquer, delegitimize a group, distort and revise a group's history-all tactics used by an enemy to defeat an enemy it cannot stand up to militarily. Sound familiar? Words are important and are a major way we communicate messages with one another. This alone is not new information. As long as Israel continues to accept our enemies' words and continues to play into our enemies' hands we shall die a slow death. The terms "Settlers" and "Settlements" are words used to divide us, they are used to distort and revise our history. The trap was set decades ago and Israel has chosen not to release itself. I say stop the nonsense and do so today!

The truth, the facts, the honesty is that Israeli citizens, fellow citizens have chosen to live in towns and cities just as you and I have made a choice. They decided to live in either Judea or Samaria, both disputed areas for so many years. Stop distorting what is known-simply tell the correct story. Long ago you all stopped calling a major city a settlement, remember the settlement of Tel Aviv?