Hebron, Pollard and Jewish Anti-Semitism
Moshe Feiglin - Manhigut Yehudit - January 26, 2006
Jews have a peculiar habit of attempting to escape their Divine mission. The Jew tries to imitate the non-Jews, to blur his identity and to flee the entire burden of being Jewish. But then anti-Semitism comes and brings the mirror close up to his face. No costume will help. You are a Jew. This creates a strange chain reaction. Non-Jews hate Israel because it is the state of the Jews. Israel refuses to recognize the fact that it did not mange to escape its Judaism. Instead of negating anti-Semitism, it simply joins in the fray in a futile attempt to deflect the hatred down the line to the religious Jews and the settlers.
Last week in Israel we witnessed two blatant anti-Semitism issues that were entirely homegrown. In a virulent attack on Hebron's Jewish community, Israel's politicians and media unleashed the anti-Semitic specter against the firmly Jewish community reclaiming its heritage and property rights in the second-holiest city to Judaism. Tens of thousands of illegally built Arab homes do not threaten the "rule of law" in Israel. But when Jews with sidelocks and beards return to Jewish property in Hebron that was robbed from them after Arabs murdered the Jews there in 1929, it "threatens the very foundations of the State". Anti-Semitism has been a potent political weapon for centuries. If you want to prove that you are a strong leader, batter the Jews. Olmert learned this lesson well. Zero tolerance for the settlers! We'll teach them who is boss here! Batter the Jews and transform yourself into the beloved father figure, just like Sharon. Jumping on the anti-Semitic bandwagon, Police Chief Karadi prepared the public for the eventuality that the police will shoot at the settlers. The anti-Semitic winds are blowing harder in Israel than anywhere else in the world.
A Prisoner of Zion in America?
Jonathan Pollard has been in a cruel American prison for 21 years.
Israel recruited him to spy in the US and to access vital information that our "great friend" chose to withhold from us. Among other things, this information pertained to plans to destroy Israel. It is possible that Pollard saved us all from evaporating in an Iraqi atomic mushroom cloud.
The US was hostile enough to Israel to warrant Israel's activating a spy there to retrieve information vital to its survival. But the US is not hostile enough for the Israeli Supreme Court to recognize that after 21 years in prison, Jonathan Pollard is a Prisoner of Zion. Pollard made a naive decision. He sacrificed his liberty for his brothers in Israel in a country that just happens to be the ultimate Israeli dream. If we recognize the fact that Pollard is a Prisoner of Zion, we will be accusing America of being an enemy of sorts. We can do that with the USSR without getting confused. But if we even hint that America is adversarial toward Israel, what will we be left with? If America is our enemy, then who are we? Jews?
So, the anti-Semitic reasoning goes, let Pollard rot another 20 years in prison and leave us alone...
In my new book, "The War of Dreams," I wrote:
"Two people fled from the FBI to the security of the Israeli embassy. One of them was an Israeli -- Brigadier General Aviem Selah, a high-ranking officer in the Israeli Air Force and Pollard's handler. The second was a Jew -- Jonathan Pollard. The Americans demanded that both be turned over to them. Israel extricated the Israeli despite heavy American pressure. But it threw the Jew outside the embassy gates. That is the whole story. Pollard is in jail because he is a Jew."
Israel prefers that Pollard remain in jail because he holds us before an impossible mirror image. When push came to shove, a Jew saved Israel from the Americans. Only an Israeli can understand the destructive significance of this fact to the universal Western consciousness that the Israelis attempt to create for themselves.
The last thing that the anti-Jewish Jews need is for Pollard to get to Israel and to start to talk. He must be swept under the rug -- deep inside the walls of the North Carolina penitentiary. Manhigut Yehudit is committed to helping Jonathan Pollard, a true Jewish hero, in any way that we can.
The author, Moshe Feiglin, is the head of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) Faction.
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