Guest Post: Moderate Rabbis Become Most Extreme

10 of the Ninth Month 5771

Moderate Rabbis Become Most Extreme

Yekuti'el Ben Ya'akov

No, moderate Rabbi, expulsion of Jews is not stopped with love and hugs.

The prevalent doctrine by leading Rabbinic figures within the nationalist-religious camp such as Rabbi Shlomo Aviner and Rabbi Motti Alon maintains that peaceful means is the most effective way to combat the government freezing of Jewish construction, expulsion of Jews and the surrender of Jewish land. “With love we will win”, was the losing war-cry slogan used by the religious nationalist “marketing geniuses” during the days preceding the expulsion of the Jews from Gaza and Northern Shomron. Video testimony circulating on youtube and supported by Rabbi Aviner’s own articles show how Aviner has taken his peace-loving ideology to such an extreme that it is no wonder why he and his disciples often employed excessive and brutal measures to restrain “radicals” from using any kind of physical force to resist the “disengagement” expulsion forces, when the troops came to rip the Jewish families out of their homes in Gush Katif.

In Kfar Maimon, the place referred to as the last-stand in the failed protest-struggle against the Gaza- expulsion, a half decade ago, when thousands of Zionist “reinforcements” set on a journey to create a human convoy to break through to Gaza and join the soon- to-be-expellees, Rabbi Aviner and Rabbi Motti Alon effectively neutralized any effort by the crowd to break through police-lines. Love and peace was the primary message uttered on the lips of the charismatic and popular rabbis and “settler” leaders. Anyone who dared to try and organize others to break through the self-imposed ghetto fences, was immediately attacked by Aviner peace- thugs who comprised an organized squad of goons and “ushers” instructed to isolate any “troublemakers”, and to use all necessary force to prevent them from breaking through police barricades, while chanting “provocateur” at the perplexed protester.

Aviner often delegitimizes those who support stronger resistance by cleverly reversing the table, and by calling the more extreme protestors: “agent provocateurs” - who are trying to make us all look bad, thereby aiding the government. No, this is not a joke or “The Theater of the absurd.” This is the upside down “settlement” leadership we are “blessed” with. History tends to repeat itself, and more often than not, we Jews are our own worst enemies, and it is Jewish leaders who march their own constituents into the ghettos. Our enemies would never be able to win any battle against us, if not for the collaborators and the leaders who indeed lead us to inaction and defeat like sheep to the slaughter.

I have heard many times from eyewitness accounts of the Kfar Maimon fiasco: Ironically, it was the rabbis and “settler” leaders who presented the only real obstacle before the tens of thousands of protesters from reaching and aiding their brothers and sisters in Gush Katif. According to these accounts, the last opportunity to prevent the “disengagement” was diffused by none others than the very Rabbis who created, with their own hands, an organized fenced-in protest-ghetto, and who squashed any final possibility for the defiant protesters to create the type of angry resistance that was needed to reverse the evil expulsion decree.

The Aviner-Alon-love-thugs-crew, you guessed right, blame the historic anti-expulsion struggle failure on: not enough love and kindness on the part of the anti-expulsion activists, and point an accusing finger at those who preached physical resistance to thwart the “disengagement” expulsion. The Aviners and Alons insist that if the “settlers” are depicted as violent people who threaten to use force, then they will lose the support of the average Israeli and allow themselves to be marginalized and delegitimized in the eyes of the Israeli masses. They argue: This will only play into the government’s hands and make it easier to implement the dismantling of the “settlements”.

This critical debate is now becoming very relevant as the freeze of Jewish construction and the future surrender of most of the lands liberated in 1967, Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem are on the negotiating chopping table. What do military strategists and political analysts have to say about this debate? What is the more effective approach to take when it comes to combating government plans of freezing or surrendering Jewish land in Judea and Samaria? Should we embrace the soldiers and cops sent to expel and freeze us with hugs, coffee, love and kisses or should we stand at the entrance to our homes with baseball bats, showing that we will use the type of reasonable force that most human beings on planet earth would exhibit, if someone came to drive them out of their home?

IDF General Eitan Dengat, had some eye-opening revelations on the subject. However, first allow me to explain who General Dengat is and why his opinion is one that should be taken seriously. Dengat is the man responsible for the implementation and integration of government decisions in Judea and Samaria. His title is: “Coordinator of Government Activities In The territories”. In an address that Dengat gave before military officers from foreign armies he had this to say, according to YNET (Nov. 8, 10), the acceptance by the settlers of the construction freeze is a sign for the future,” in reference to the honoring by the “settlers” to all Jewish construction, earlier this year. Dengat continued, “most likely if a (peace) agreement is reached (that involves surrender of Jewish land and expulsion of Jews) the settlers will display understanding.” He added, that the recent freeze was a success in as much as execution of the law without disruption.

Here we have it. Moderate Rabbis and court Rabbis need to understand, if you have not yet understood, hugging and kissing the forces sent to expel you and to destroy Jewish life in “the territories” is not an effective means to stop the tractors and forces of destruction from carrying out their task. Rather, it is interpreted as support and a “future sign” of that which will follow.

It is not my intention, Heaven forbid, to incite people to violate the law or to use violence against anyone. I am not that brave to openly preach the breaking of the law. (I am not certain that using reasonable force to protect ones property is a violation of Israeli law). However, there is nothing more disturbing than intellectual dishonesty and rabbinic fraud and distortion of Torah. Let all of those who support the next expulsion, hug the soldiers and greet them with cake and kisses. Let all of those who refuse to risk arrest or injury do the same. However, let us not lie to ourselves or to our constituents about a winning struggle, when we refuse to struggle. Our Sages teach us that Israel is acquired through self-sacrifice, not through love and kissing. If we lack what it takes to engage in real and meaningful protests and if we lack what it takes to engage in the type of self-sacrifice that is needed to stop the madness, let us at least have the decency not to pretend that we are doing something and let us not prevent victory from others who have the courage of our convictions.

Furthermore, who is to say that the soldiers would carry out the illegal and immoral orders to expel Jewish families from their homes if they would truly understand the severity of such anti-Jewish orders? The Aviners and Alons who preach love and kindness, do so, as they claim, because they love the IDF and the government with boundless love, even when they admit that the government commits a historic sin that will bring about countless bloodshed of Jews in the future, and as the government commits treason against the Torah, the nation and the land of Israel.

I contend that the Aviners and the Alons do not truly love or respect the IDF as much as they think they do. If they did, then they would give the IDF the benefit of the doubt. Only someone who holds the IDF in complete contempt could believe that the average Jewish soldier, who joined the IDF to fight the enemy, would open fire or use excessive force against their brothers and sisters. If thousands of Jews stood in front of their homes holding baseball bats, willing and ready to use reasonable force to defend their homes and to prevent their expulsion and the surrender of Jewish land to our enemies, the soldiers would never carry out the orders and would never use the necessary force to expel the Jews. How is the soldier to understand the full gravity and seriousness of the treasonous orders he was given to expel the Jews, when those awaiting deportation greet the soldiers with hugs and kisses? If anything, it is the peace- preaching Aviners of the world who push some Jews to more extreme measures, out of desperation, because the Rabbis and leaders of the struggle refuse to lead any form of reasonable resistance and because the struggle or lack of it, lacks clarity.

I believe that if the Aviners and Alons truly loved the IDF then they would stand and fight against the expulsions with the type of protests and self-sacrifice that could not be confused with quiet acceptance of the illegal and evil decrees that the soldiers have been sent to carry out. I believe that the average IDF soldier would show the type of heroism and courage on behalf of Israel that he shows when going into the battle against the real enemy. The soldiers need to understand that the orders they have been given represent absolute treason against Israel and the Jewish people. They will not get that message by peace-preaching rabbis who run to greet them with candy, coffee and kisses when they come to uproot them from their homes!

The Aviners and Alons are no different than the majority of the “meraglim” (spies sent by Moses to tour the land and who came back and warned the nation against taking on the “giants” for we are mere “grasshoppers in our eyes”), who were also leaders and great men. Yes, they too viewed the good and G-d fearing Jews as grasshoppers. They too were concerned about what the giants will say and do if we do that which we must do to conquer and maintain Jewish sovereignty over the land. The Aviners and the Alons refuse to realize that we do not stand alone and that the left are not Giants. Indeed the left would be completely bereft of power if not for our misplaced fear of them that empowers them and allows them to enlist us and other decent people to wage battle against ourselves and to neutralize the only ones left who would lead any effective resistance to their suicidal policies.