Hamas War

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Israeli Left, Levi Report and Trying to Make Facts Fit Ideology

Yesterday I was babysitting for my younger grandchildren.  The almost two year old was very proudly and confidently doing a floor puzzle.  The material of the puzzle is rather flexible, so she was able to get the wrong pieces to fit in wherever she wished. 


She still doesn't know that to put a puzzle together you need to do more than squeeze the pieces to fit.  You have to look at the picture and make sure it all makes sense.

As I watched her, I kept thinking of the Israeli Left.  They are extremely mehadrin (fanatically loyal) to their ideology, as if it's a religion.  They do to facts what my toddler granddaughter was doing to that puzzle.  This may be cute and a sign of great intelligence in a girl of her age, but it can be a tragic mistake when it comes to supposedly military, judicial and political experts and those who are responsible for major policy decisions.

The Israeli establishment, government, judicial, media etc are trying to ignore the fact that the Levi Committee's conclusions are diametrically opposed to the prevailing Leftist ideology that rules Israel. Arlene Kushner's recent article explains this dilemma very clearly.
In January, Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed a committee to consider the status of "questionable settlements" (see more on this below) in Judea and Samaria. Headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Judge Edmund Levy, it included Alan Baker, former Israeli Ambassador to Canada and former legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and Judge Tchia Shapira, former Deputy President of the Tel Aviv District Court.
The Committee released its report on July 8. Most significantly, it concluded that from the perspective of international law, Israel has the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria, and, further that the laws of ‘occupation’ do not apply to the unique historic and legal circumstances surrounding Israel’s decades-long presence in Judea and Samaria.
For a little background, even pre-State of Israel, the ruling Labor Zionists believed that if they played their cards right, there could be peace with  the Arabs.  One of the most upsetting things I learned (or was confirmed) when I read and reviewed the late Benzion Netanyahu's book "The Founding Fathers of Zionism," was how anti-State Chaim Weizman, the first President, actually was.  He seemed to have had preferred that the Jewish State be part of Great Britain.  It's outrageous that he was made president. 

Rav Elchanan Bin-Nun, Chief Rabbi of Shiloh has said many times that the greatest miracle in 1948 was that the Labor Zionists declared independence.  There was a strong chance that they wouldn't. 

So, here we are almost sixty-five years later and forty-five years since our miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Days War, and we're still being ruled by followers of Chaim Weizman.  It's much too easy for them to accept the lie that we have no legal standing, no legal rights in the Land we liberated in the Six Days War.  The Levi Committee's Report goes against their ideology and they can't accept it.  And unfortunately Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hasn't the guts to overrule them and be a true leader.

9 comments:

NormanF said...

Netanyahu is not one to buck Israel's establishment.

Look for the Levi Report to be quietly buried and forgotten, to every one's relief.

Batya said...

Norman, when will we merit a true leader?

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
Have you ever seen a child putting a puzzle together in such a manner who has reached the point at which some of the pieces will not fit ANYWHERE? Oh the tantrum. Of course he/she was doing everything the right way. Everyone else is to blame. And then the child leaves the mess for someone else to clean, and possibly repair a few broken pieces. A puzzle is a lot easier to repair than a country or a nation.

Dov Bar-Leib said...

We will merit a real leader after the first stage of the final war of Gog UMagog which according to Bibi's ultimatum will begin around October 1st at the very latest. The vast majority of our secular geniuses running us into the ground worship a god called personal popularity or if they are a bit more collectivist a god called World Public Opinion. This avodah zarah is a fierce god that demands constant korbanot since positive world appreciation may at most last a grand total of 48 hours if we are lucky. So every other day someone like Lt. Col. Eisner has to be thrown to the dogs. This is the Dor of Pnai HaKelev after all. But now with a dangerous enemy developing rapidly to our south and a World War looming over Damascus, even Bibi's attack plans may be short-circuited by a few surprises in the interim before his planned date of an Iran attack. The quicker Kadima, Labor, and Meretz voters are forced to flee from their homes on the Left Coast, the quicker national relief from this decades old idiocy will come to an end. Batya there really is no other way. Standing on the top of a low water tower on Ulpana Hill in Beit El, I look in one direction and see the roofs of the five slated for destruction apartment buildings. Walking to the other side I can see the ancient holy site of Ya'akov's Dream. Then walking to the tower's western lookout point, I see the entire skyline of Tel Aviv, clear as day. I can even make out the shape of some of the various unusually shaped architectural wonders. I have ceased being frustrated with these idiots. Now I have sheer contempt for them. For me it is Ahavat Yisrael to simply daven that they lose their homes, but that G-d should spare their lives. This is the only way this evil is coming to an end.

Batya said...

Hadassa, so true.
Dov, I'm not into these prophetic visions. I think that Bibi has lost his mind. The only way an attack on the Iranian reactors would have had worked would have been if it was a total surprise.

Dov Bar-Leib said...

We still don't know the exact date of such an attack. Yet, the Home Front has to be warned anyway. The Left Coast has to prepare with gas masks, bomb shelters, and sealed rooms for older buildings. So certain things about the upcoming war or World War whichever it will be have to be publicized in advance anyway.

Batya said...

Dov, the whole business is so badly done.

Peter said...

I don't know, I have been following your blog for some time without commenting. Overall, I would categorise your tone towards the israeli left and even towards the israeli right when they do not exactely toe your line as hateful and despising.
But perhaps this is all mis-interpretation...

Batya said...

Peter, you're projecting what you think is behind my words.