Horses, Carts, Eggs and Chickens

Musings #96
January 24, 2005
The 14th of Shvat

Horses, Carts, Eggs and Chickens

This morning I heard one of those offers on the news. It reminded me of the jokes I heard as a kid about gullible people buying the Brooklyn Bridge, or the children’s story about the small animal who trusted the fox to give him a ride across the river and made it to the other side in the fox, rather than on him.

The offer I heard actually put the cart before the horse; it’s a reversal, a perversion, of reality. The Israel-Arab “conflict” is not a philosophical problem, like eggs and chickens, which came first. And what’s the offer? If you haven’t already guessed, the Arabs offered to stop terrorism if we stop our military activities. Yeah, sure. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=75775

It seems like they’ve conveniently “forgotten” something, ignoring a “minor” detail. They’re the aggressors, the initiators, and we’re just trying to defend ourselves. They bomb homes, schools, civilians, families and school children. We wipe up the blood, dig graves and on occasion try to carefully capture terrorists without harming anyone “who may be just an innocent civilian.”

There wouldn’t be any Israeli military activity if the Arabs weren’t attacking and murdering us. There is no country more ambivalent, less enthusiastic, about its military than Israel. Catholics consider sex to be “the necessary evil,” and Israelis treat its military that way. Without an army, we would never have achieved statehood and would never have had been able to defend ourselves in the wars the Arabs made against us.

People here bless newborn males with: “he should never need to be a soldier.” After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, there was a top hit song, sung by Yoram Gaon, “Ani mavti’ach lach, yaldah sheli, k’tana, shezot t’hiyeh hamilchamah ha’achronah,” “I promise you, my little girl, that this will be the very last war.” Another favorite was “Shir Hashalom,” “The Peace Song,” based on the philosophy sung by John Lennon in “Imagine.” Its theme is that there’s nothing worth dying for, neither religion nor nationality. This philosophy is extremely dangerous for a country whose very existence is threatened daily. The songwriters have been brainwashing the Israeli public for years. Educators and anthropologists have always known for that the easiest way to learn something is to sing it. A pleasant tune can overcome almost anyone’s inhibitions. You don’t even know that there’s a message; it’s so singable. That’s the danger. People will believe anything if you say it long enough.

The natural consequence of that philosophy is that if nothing’s worth dying for, then nothing’s worth living for either. Unfortunately we see that more and more as the escape to drugs, materialism and mystic searches are becoming more and more common. There is a terrible emptiness is sections of Israeli society, since they are “disengaged” from their heritage.

The schism in Israeli society can be seen in how the cart and horse are arranged. We, in YESHA and our supporters, have something to live for. We’re building our country and we’re not trying nor willing to pander to anyone. Our goals are clear. Our security and independence are paramount. Our cart is hitched behind the horse, and we’re working hard. If we have to fight our enemies, we will. When they stop attacking us, and not for a few hours or a day, when they hand us their weapons and surrender, then we can cease our “military activities.” But we will always have to be on the alert to safeguard our country.

And for those who believe the Arab promises, I have this bridge….

Batya Medad, Shiloh
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