The destruction of Jewish homes in the Land of Israel continues, as if there is no way to prevent the State of Israel from self-destructing, no way to prevent it from sending the riot police to carry out the goals of Peace Now.
But to judge by the number of people who showed up at the recent prayer gathering at Giv’at Asaf, another settlement slated for demolition, it looks like the faith-based public has despaired of its ability to stop the destruction. The common excuse is that people are tired of demonstrations or that they have lost faith in their effectiveness. But that is not correct. The public is willing to rally around ideals and vision. It is simply tired of a rearguard war.
The process of collapse and destruction that we have witnessed over the years is not the trademark of any particular government. Actually, every government that has been in power in Israel in the last generation, from both Right and Left, has been dragged in one way or another into the same modus operandi. The disintegration stems from the fact that Israelis today feel morally inferior to the Arabs.
The era in which the legitimacy for our presence in this land could be drawn from an ideology that denies the existence of the Creator is finished. The elites that fashion the Israeli mindset no longer believe that this is our land. They feel like uninvited guests here; they worship the “deep bond” between the Arab and the land and are painfully careful not to “desecrate” it. Whether an Arab home is legal or illegal, its destruction is unthinkable. Even the Arab olive harvest has become a sanctified ritual, and guarding it is the supreme mission of the IDF. It makes no difference that the olive trees are in the settlement of Itamar, right under the home of the Fogel orphans. It also makes no difference that the harvesters are part of the murderers’ family, whose smiles mock the Jewish residents of the town still reeling from the horrific massacre.
All of Israel’s leaders of the past generation represent the mentality that prefers to buy temporary legitimacy in Tel Aviv by dividing the Land of Israel. That is why the terrorists are jailed in such comfortable conditions. After all, they are actually freedom fighters, recognized by the Israeli mindset as the just side in the struggle over the Land. That is why it is simply a matter of time until they are released.
So now what do we do?
Lately, a lot of people have been invoking the memory of Zo Artzeinu, the successful protest movement from the Oslo era that eventually evolved into Manhigut Yehudit.
What was Zo Artzeinu’s secret? How is it that under the direction of a small and largely unknown movement, tens of thousands of Israelis protested in the streets and were willing to be arrested?
Many factors came together to bring the people out into the streets. There was leadership, independence from the establishment, and more. But the real, underlying reason why everybody remembers Zo Artzeinu is very simple: Its name means, “This is our Land.”
Sixteen years ago, the Israeli mindset was already sick with the moral inferiority flu. The audacity to declare that “This is our land” was engraved on its intimidated consciousness – and has remained there ever since.
The Land of Israel is ours. Not because a particular settlement was built on public land and not private land. It is ours simply because God gave it to us. Whoever tries to live side-by-side with the Israeli mindset that sees this country as Arab land will always find himself or herself on the wrong side of the law. But if our actions are guided by the conviction that this is our land, we will always be right.
