It was clear from Sharon’s statements that he wanted for the IDF to clash with the protesters. Through word and deed he made it clear to everyone that he wanted for the two sides to view one another as enemies and to act that way.
Sharon’s aim was to force a violent clash between the IDF and the opponents of the expulsions in order to delegitimize the supporters of the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in order to prepare the groundwork for mass expulsions from Judea and Samaria.
He failed.
In the now destroyed synagogues in the now destroyed town of Neve Dekalim, in Gedid, in Atzmona, in Netzarim, in Kfar Darom, soldiers and protesters, expelled Jews and their supporters, prayed and sang and wept together.
The IDF stood by its duty to fulfill the orders of the government even when the government is wrong.
And the hundreds of thousands of protesters against the expulsions understood that one man and one man alone – Ariel Sharon – was responsible for this moral outrage, and he was not in Gush Katif.
The strength of the Jewish people was palpable during the dark days of July and August. Both the opponents of the expulsions and the army that was called in to execute those expulsions understood that they held a grave responsibility to avert a civil war that Sharon and his political consultants were pushing for.
But while the achievements of both the army and the opponents of the expulsions were great, ironically they paved the way for the next round of expulsions by making it seem easy to throw Jews out of their homes.
Today Sharon and his associates are planning to move immediately after the general elections to expel an additional fifty thousand Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria.
Indeed, the coming elections will answer one question and only one question:
Will Sharon continue the policy of ethnically cleansing the Land of Israel of Jews and transfer 95 percent of Judea and Samaria to our enemies – even before he begins negotiating Jerusalem, the immigration of foreign Arabs to the Land of Israel and Israel’s security arrangements with anyone?
That is, will the government of Israel expand the nation’s vulnerability to national destruction at the hands of our enemies and continue to turn Jew against Jew in the hopes of inciting a civil war?
Will Israel – at the same time as the Iranians, with the silent support of the Arab world, call for the eradication of the Jewish state – continue to cling to the fantasy that we can live in our land and pretend that we are not part of our neighborhood?
It is possible that Sharon will win the coming elections, though all must be done in the coming months to point out to the Israeli people, and to our friends around the world, the tragic toll such an event will take on the lives of thousands Israelis and our allies around the world.
All must be made to know that the result of choosing fantasy over reality is the murder of thousands of real people.
And if Sharon does win, we must understand that the fight for truth will continue. In such an event the role of organizations like the Zionist Organization of America and its members will become both more difficult and more important.
Just as it has done since Israel first chose fantasy over reality 12 years ago, the ZOA will be forced to remain a voice of truth even as the power rests in the hands of those who base their policies on denying truth.
