Betar is a reminder of courage, of fighting against overwhelming odds, of struggle against those who would eliminate Jews, and of self-assertion in pursuit of independence. By their action, the Palestinians have allowed the international community to become aware of the Jewish history of Betar. Israelis, confronting the immediate menace of Iran, not to mention the existential threat and the relentless assault by many against their country, can once again evoke the historic lesson of Betar in their response to the danger they face. That response will now, as in the past, embody the words of Pericles’s great funeral speech: “happiness requires freedom, and freedom requires courage.”
Originally published by the American Thinker.