“For goodness’ sake, all they want is one more dunam here, one more corpse there. Another few exploded Egged buses with human remains spattered across verandas, another few ‘incidents’ in Hebron or Peace Island or some synagogue blown up in Buenos Aires or who knows where — and then, at last, they will be satisfied.”
But this is a makeshift response that does not directly address the issue. And in order to succeed, one must face facts and deal with them with clarity, initiative and creativity. It does not suffice to free Arab terrorists as victims of terror are being rushed to the hospital by wailing ambulances. It does not suffice to refrain from reacting when Palestinian Authority policemen fire upon Israeli soldiers. Although Israeli responses to Arab terror may be mild, tottering and self-abnegating, that does not establish the common bond, the allegiance cemented by Jewish blood.
The one solution that is both practical and symbolic, that will assure the world of Israeli reasonableness while providing Israel with incalculable financial and diplomatic benefits is rudimentary. Israel must inexpensively sell Jewish blood. It must sell it to Palestinian spokesmen, to London Times journalists, to National Public Radio broadcasters, to the Egyptian president, to White House unnamed sources, to Israeli novelists, to sensitive poets who will no longer defend militarism, to the grieving mothers of Palestinian terrorists, and to thoughtful Women in Black who see no other solution.
Let them all buy blood: good, fresh Jewish blood for sale, Jewish blood from shrapnel victims, Jewish blood from teenagers stabbed in the back in a Jerusalem street, Jewish blood from soldiers blown up by a land-mine, Jewish blood from an infant bloody against its mother’s breast on a West Bank road, Jewish blood from a head smashed open by a five-pound stone, Jewish blood from thirteen-year-old girls stitched with the bullets of a Jordanian soldier, Jewish blood of victims of a Palestinian who rams his car into a crowd waiting for a bus.
Still, one might object: Since the only Jewish blood that is of interest is cheap, how much of a profit can one make? After all, let’s be realistic. In the case of a nursing mother, for example, how many pints can she provide? Consider her fat-to-bone ratio, consider the fact that the liquid in her body is being transformed into milk. And her child provides even less blood — especially if it has been stabbed a number of times or riddled with dum-dum bullets, which tear the flesh apart. What blood is left to sell?
Yet there is an answer to that — a cliche, perhaps, but a cliche precisely because it has proven itself. The answer is: sell in bulk. The way to do that is not complex: Provide the Syrians with the Golan so that you can sell good Galilean blood of the sleek and healthy kibbutz Jews. (Remember: the more flesh, the more blood.) Free Arab terrorists — if they have already spilled Jewish blood, so much the better! Place centers of Arab terror right next to Jewish towns, then withdraw Israeli troops. Or allow bomb-carrying Arabs disguised as yeshiva students into Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, and, occasionally, Tel Aviv. A thousand such strategies, now employed haphazardly, must be coordinated.
The killers of Jews may think that they are Israel’s adversaries — but they will perforce be Israel’s diplomatic and economic partners. Let them grind their teeth in mad frustration when they see Israelis scooping the blood of some victim and using it to strengthen Israel’s own resources and will.
The prime minister of Israel will again be able to hold his head up proudly before the watching world, before the American president, whom it is so important to please.
