When the kidnapping of our sons – Gilad, Naftali, and Eyal – became public, Israelis held their breaths with prayer, anticipation and great unity. With sorrowful hearts and tearful eyes, we were informed 18 days later that the worst had happened.
Once again the bitter enemy has sunk its claws into our children, and the three boys stormily ascended to heaven.
In this difficult time, our hearts are with the dear families left behind, the yeshivas where they learned and the communities where they grew up.
This is a moment of truth, a fateful moment, a time when we must examine ourselves, explore our next steps and determine what we must do now.
For the past 20 years, we have been deceiving ourselves. We have aggrandized the most despicable of our children’s murderers, transforming them from what they really are – loathsome terror organizations – into a legitimate and accepted nation. Worst of all, we have clearly declared that the Land of Israel and Jerusalem, our Holy Land, is theirs.
With the despicable handshake with the lead murderer, we transformed ourselves into occupiers in our own land, to foreigners in our birthplace. And we deposited the most important weapon – justice – into the hands of the most reprehensible of our enemies.
We had mercy on the cruel. Until today, we provide them with free electricity and truckloads of cash. They have cost us a trillion shekels since the infamous handshake. And they continue to cost us.
What could Israel do with those resources?
One trillion shekels could be spent on an apartment for every family in Israel.
One trillion shekels translate into development and a respectable income for all.
One trillion shekels could be spent on improving society’s health and education needs and provide true internal security.
Instead we invested all the abundance given to us by our Father in Heaven on separation fences and on sophisticated missiles to eliminate flies – missiles that, in the moment of truth, will never suffice.
We have directly bribed our enemies with money and valuables so they would allow us to continue to deceive ourselves.
We had mercy on the cruelest of our enemies. We convinced ourselves – and the world – that justice is on their side and that bribing them is the key to our wellbeing. We had mercy on the cruel, but we were cruel to the merciful.
Meanwhile – without mercy – we expelled our brothers, the pioneering lovers of the land, from their homes. The good and noble faces that searched for our kidnapped sons.
We lost our sense of justice and our self-confidence. The cabinet ends its sessions without making decisions.
We bomb empty fields. We lick our wounds, which become more and more infected. And eventually, we return to our daily routines.
The moment of truth has arrived.
We must return to ourselves. We must return to our identity and to our God. We must return to the meaning of our lives in this land, restoring our sense of justice.
The first thing that must be done – immediately – is to end the occupation and declare Israeli sovereignty over our entire land.
The IDF must immediately expel any Arab resident who was involved in the slightest way with terror, or who supported terror. Residents uninvolved with terror must sign a declaration of loyalty to the state of Israel, the state of the Jewish nation. They must continue to live their lives in quiet and serenity.
Since the state’s birth (and even before then), we have witnessed waves of aliyah approximately every 20 years. These waves of immigration always surprise us anew, and propel Zionism to new horizons.
