Our Moral Hypocrites

There was recently a “feel good” story in Israel that didn’t make me feel so good. I’ll explain why.  An Iranian female blogger for the Times of Israel (a publication I hold in very low esteem) living in Turkey believed herself to be in danger of being deported from Turkey back to Iran. There was fear that she could face punishment in her native Iran for her Israeli connections and possibly even the death penalty. (link – https://worldisraelnews.com/iranian-journalist-granted-refuge-in-israel-lands-in-tel-aviv/)
As a result of this potential life-endangering scenario, the Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri granted the non-Jewish woman asylum in Israel. After some Turkish imposed delays, she arrived safely in Israel.
While I don’t know for sure how likely any of this actually was, including the death penalty part, I think I’m in the solid majority of opinion that its better to be safe than sorry in such cases and it was right of the Israeli Government to act as they did. Despite this, I am left with a bad feeling. Why?
Another story also came out this week (link: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/palestinian-authority/report-israeli-police-collaborated-with-pa-agents-in-interrogating-arab-who-sold-hebron-building-to-jews/2017/08/04/) about a non-Jew who had contacts with Israeli Jews and faces a potential death penalty. But this story is much worse and, so far, doesn’t end as nicely. In this case, the arab sold properties to Jews in Hevron, a capital crime under the Palestinian Authority (PA) for which other offenders have been executed in the past. He is now being held in confinement by the PA in Hevron. Not only is Israel not helping him, according to reports they are actually actively incriminating him. And he’s not the only arab being held in Hevron for the “crime” of selling land to a Jew. Where is his asylum and that of others?
I have no problem rescuing a politically irrelevant blogger in Turkey, but woudn’t it be more moral and strategic to rescue the very relevant and very endangered arab(s) in Hevron?  I don’t expect the Times of Israel to take up their cause, but I think we should expect faithful Jews to do so.

Hevron: Where Jihad Was Born

My first visit to Hevron in the summer of 2001 put me face to face with what would become a sign of things to come for the world over the last 15 years. I was a very different person in those days. 23 years old and idealistic about learning Torah in the Holy Land.  The second intifada had already been raging for the better part of the previous year and Sharon had yet to undertake Operation Defensive Shield.  In those days Arafat’s Fatah controlled up to the main road and Gross square right across the street to the Jewish neighborhood of Avraham Avinu.

The world was still silent. The World Trade Center had yet to be taken down.  George Bush was focused on other things. Israel was the epicenter of terror. Before my Shabbat in Hevron I had been one of many who had run down to Sbarro’s in downtown Jerusalem after it was blown up. Despite seeing the aftermath there, nothing would prepare me for what should have been a quick walk back to where I was staying from our Shabbat meal.

A few others and I started our walk back from the Beit Hadassah neighborhood down the main street. A few moments passed and then like drilling in a construction site a hail of bullets were sent at us.  We did the only thing we knew how to do…we ran. I still remember feeling the bullets go passed me and down by my feet. Miraculously we made it to a concrete barrier, diving behind it. A soldier was there and as the bullets whizzed passed all of us, he told us to run.  We reached the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.  The bullets continued, hitting the sandbags that were up in those days. The IDF returned fire and that is how it went for a better part of the night.  The next afternoon and evening was more of the same.

Today, Hevron is different.  New neighborhoods have grown.  Children play in the streets. The army is based in positions well inside the Arab areas.  There are problems and tensions, but no more machine gun fire or wanton killing. The Jews of Hevron have continued to be resilient in reestablishing King David’s first capital city.

Hevron, A Jewish City

The Jewish community in Hevron is ancient.  From the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the first and second commonwealth, Hevron played a central role to the Nation of Israel. The Jewish community lived there until the year 1929, when their Arab neighbors turned on them and massacred them. The Hevron Riots were part of the larger 1929 Arab pogroms that saw Jews being pushed out of historically Jewish neighborhoods in the Old City and the Kfar Shiloach (today Silwan).

Jews returned to Hevron in 1967 and for the first time in 500 years were allowed to enter the Cave of the Patriarchs where our forefathers and mothers are buried. The community has expanded and grown since then.

A Microcosm of the Global Struggle With Ishmael

In the last 15 years since those tense and very dangerous moments in Hevron, the world has become engulfed in multiple wars and a seemingly unstoppable rising flood of Jihadist terror. The Arab world seeks to challenge the root of monotheism and claim it as their own.  Their fight in many ways burst into a new stage in 1929. There they killed the “people of the book.” It is this root between Isaac and Ishmael that is at the heart of the struggle here and around the world.  Hevron is that root. It is where our fathers established their covenant with the Almighty and David established his Kingdom.  Despite all of our setbacks we have returned to our roots in Hevron and grown.  For this Ishamel is angry for in his collective mind the root is his, but his root is chaos and destruction, the Jihad.

In many ways what we have witnessed over the last decade and a half and especially in the last few months with the attacks in the Sinai, Paris, and now San Bernadino is that the Jihad of 1929 is live and well throughout the world. It is a mentality the Jewish people have faced since our return to our ancient homeland as a sovereign entity. It is this reason why we have no choice but to hold onto our roots.  We must embrace the ethics and morality of our fathers and most importantly attach ourselves to the Creator.  For this reason Hevron is key.  It is our source and corridor to our past and an example of how the Jewish people can be resilient and come out on top.       

In order to defeat the army of Ishmael the World must reconnect to the source of its faith.  That faith is rooted in the Jewish presence in Hevron.  Following the Jewish Nation’s example in its ancient birthright the world can overcome this chaotic time and build a new future.                             

Jihad and the Darkside

Shai and I discuss the current security changes in Judea and Samaria.  At the heart of the security situation is the fact that the government is not ready to fight Jihad at its core and that is with expelling those who are pushing violence.

We also cover the growing clash between Turkey and Russia and its broader context within the global arena and the conflict’s spiritual roots.

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