Israel Does Have Borders, From the Mediterranean to the Jordan

The Israel Hayom newspaper, which appears in English on the internet and is a free giveaway in Hebrew, has been doing a series of video discussions between Editor Steve Ganot and top op-ed writer Ruthie Blum.  The latest is about the European boycott of industrial products and other things from what is known as "the west bank."



Steve Ganot and Ruthie Blum in the Israel Hayom studio on Monday

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Photo credit: Israel Hayom

                                                   
Ruthie Blum is one of my favorite writers and I must include that I know her personally.  Remember that Israel is a small country, so it's not all that unheard of or surprising that people who have the same basic principles will end up meeting and becoming friends.

I haven't copied and used the code for the embedded discussion, because it goes on automatically and is annoying to people who want to read my blog.  So just click here and you'll be able to watch and listen.

There are a number of things that Steve Ganot has gotten wrong and isn't taking into account.  Even many of the Leftists who are in favor of a "Palestinian" state want it to be "demilitarized," so that Israel would have the only army between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.  For all practical principles, that's a border.

I don't think borders are all that important in a way.  I think of borders as the fence Shiloh and some other yishuvim don't have.  When we were looking for a yishuv to move to, I'd start feeling claustrophobic when I'd see these small fenced in communities.  In Shiloh we never had that .  There's a terrible disadvantage of a fence.  It must be moved every time we build for natural growth or any other reason.  It becomes like a noose.

In all honesty, I think that trying to make policy to please the Europeans is a total mistake.  Europe, which voted for Nazis, cooperated with Nazis and cooperated with the Nazis in the murder of six million Jews and four million others, has no right to give us lessons in morality.  Yes, I know there were wars between the Nazis and European countries and Great Britain, but once the countries were defeated, they joined in the killings.

I've been living in Shiloh for thirty-two years.  I don't see us as not being in Israel.  We pay Israeli taxes, vote in Israeli elections, obey Israeli law, serve in the Israeli Army.  Ganot claims that we aren't subject to Israeli law.

Ruthie brings up the important point that according to the Arabs, the issue isn't Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, Golan etc. The Arabs don't want us here at all!  Once we accept and recognize it we should be able to understand that all this "peace negotiation pressure" is a dangerous waste of time.