A Matter of Courage


Paul Eidelberg

1) Some people ask, “How did Israel ever get into Oslo?”—which journalist Charles Krauthammer called “the biggest diplomatic blunder in history”? One may also ask, “What prevents Israel from getting out of this suicidal blunder?” Why doesn’t Israel’s government simply abrogate Oslo, i.e., the Israel-PLO Agreement of September 1993? After all, the PLO has violated this agreement countless times. Indeed, Oslo has resulted in some 10,000 Jewish casualties.

2) To get out of Oslo we first need to know how Israel got into this death trap in the first place. The simplest answer goes like this: During the 1992 Knesset election campaign, Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin said there would be no recognition of, or negotiation with, the PLO. Yet that is precisely what the Rabin government proceeded to do once it was entrenched in office. One may therefore conclude that Oslo is the result of the Labor Party’s betrayal of the nation. All this is true, but too simple.

3) Oslo as not a place so much as a state of mind. Israel’s ruling elites succumbed to the Oslo mentality as soon as Israel won her greatest military victory in the Six Day War of June 1967. A Government of National Unity offered to “return” the land Israel repossessed for a peace treaty. Imagine: returning this strategic and cherished land to the aggressors for a piece of paper!

And these were not ordinary aggressors: they were Arabs and Muslims. Theirs is a “culture of hate” with 1,400-year history of aggression. These aggressors exulted in bloodshed, in slaughtering “infidels.”

4) Accordingly, Israel got into Oslo because Israel’s government refuses to take Islam seriously. Dominated by a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, and speak-no-evil mentality, Israel’s ruling elites would have us believe that genuine and abiding peace is possible between Israel and Arab-Islamic despotisms. Israeli prime ministers, however, are not merely blind-deaf-mutes.

5) Why did Prime Minister Menachem Begin surrender the Sinai, including not only the settlement of Yamit, but also Israel’s most sophisticated strategic air bases and Israeli-developed Alma oil fields—all this for what Egyptian dictator Anwar Sadat subsequently called “ a piece of paper”?

6) Why did Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir attend the October 1991 Madrid Conference that tacitly recognized the PLO whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction? Indeed, why was Mr. Shamir silent about Teheran Conference, when 60 Arab-Islamic states, including Egypt, passed various resolutions calling for Israel’s annihilation a mere two weeks before the Madrid Conference?

7) Why did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrender more than 40 percent of Judea and Samaria, including 80 percent of Hebron, for a piece of paper?

8) Why did Prime Minister Ehud Barak offer PLO chief Yasser Arafat 95 percent of Judea and Samaria, including eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, for a piece of paper?

9) Is it any wonder that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew from Gaza for less than a piece of paper?

10) How ironic or idiotic that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, having witnessed the brave policies of his predecessors, should confess, “we are tired of being courageous”?

Can it be that Israel got into Oslo because Israeli prime ministers lack the courage to face the truth about Israel’s implacable enemies? The key word here is courage. For it may well be argued that it is precisely lack of courage that prevented Israeli prime ministers from facing the ugly truth about Israel’s relentless enemies.

But this suggests that most Israeli politicians are not only feckless but habitually mendacious. Indeed, it may well be that these politicians have come to believe in their own lies!

The question arises: how do these politicians get away with such monumental lying? Are the people of Israel so gullible? No! At least 90 percent regard Israeli politicians as corrupt. But then why do they keep electing the same scoundrels to office? Can it be that the Israel, “the only democracy in the Middle East,” is not really a democracy? Can it be that the people of Israel have long been enslaved by a political system that entrenches cowards and liars in office?