Building in E1

I personally don’t understand what the big fuss is about. Firstly, we’re nowhere near this supposed two-state solution that will solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas still wants all of Israel to become Palestine. A large percentage of the Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Secondly, even if we were ever to have this two-state “solution”, Israel would not give up sovereignty over Jerusalem. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and will remain Israel’s capital. In any potential two-state solution, Jerusalem would remain Israel’s undivided capital.

So I really don’t understand why it’s so bad that Israel is building in E1 and in areas where no Palestinians are currently living. E1 will not be part of a Palestinian state and neither will Gush Etzion, Ramat Shlomo or anywhere else Israel is building.

Lastly, I don’t think this two state solution has any chance of working within the next twenty years, whether Israel builds or not. The Palestinians have to change their attitude towards Israel if they want a state. Yes… I am pinning this on the Palestinians. I think 99% of Israelis would happily live in peace with our neighbours. We have nothing to gain by starting wars with our neighbours. Any wars we ever get into are about self-defence. No Western country wants to be in a war with any other country. They have nothing to gain from it apart from defending themselves. It’s up to the Arab world to change it’s attitude. I don’t know how long this will take. It may never happen. But that is the root of the problem. You can’t be at peace with people that don’t want it.

(And lastly, I’m sure there are many people in these Arab countries that would prefer to have no wars and would rather develop their countries instead of being in constant turmoil and focusing their efforts on acquiring weapons, but sadly, these people are either the minority or are the ones without power.)

Why Recognition Matters

Why is it so important that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state?

The answer is simple. The reason is because so long as it doesn’t, we can never achieve peace. Recognizing that the majority of the land of Israel belongs to Israel and the Jewish people means the Palestinians agree that it isn’t theirs and they will not try and capture after any peace agreements. The problem is that the Palestinians refuse to recognize this fact. Any land Israel gives away will not lead to peace. The Palestinians will always demand the rest of Israel to be included in their state and they will continue fighting for it, till they have it or until they are no longer alive to fight.

This is why recognition matters and this is one of the reasons we are so, so far from ever reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel – Palestine conflict. When will it end?

Many people think there will be peace in the Middle East when there is a Palestinian state. These people are wrong. The Palestinians want all of Israel and they will not stop till the have it all.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, making his first ever visit to the Gaza Strip, vowed on Saturday never to recognize Israel and said his Islamist group would never abandon its claim to all Israeli territory.

“Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land,” he told a sea of supporters at an open-air rally marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas and a celebration of the organization’s “victory” over Israel.

Israel left Gaza in 2005, but that did not help the peace process at all. Despite thousands of Israelis being evicted from their homes, the only thing Israel got back in response was thousands upon thousands of rockets fired at civilians.

It’s a problem that doesn’t look it’s going away. What bothers me tremendously is that Israel is always seen in a negative light by the world and the media. People argue this isn’t true, since the Palestinians also seem to think that the media is against them, but sadly, the media is heavily against Israel in many countries and many people are too. Israel really does want peace and perhaps even a minority (yes, I think it’s only a minority) of the Palestinian people would like this conflict to end. But how can we have peace when the Palestinians are demanding all of Israel?

This war started many years ago. Jews have always been living in Israel and Israel has always been the Jewish homeland. In the 19th and 20th centuries when Jews started moving to Israel, this angered the Arabs and they started attacking Jews, murdering many. This is where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began. Jews from all over the world started moving to Israel. First the Turkish were in charge and then the British. Jews moved here peacefully and bought the land they lived on. Land was not stolen from the Palestinians, but the Arabs living just didn’t like the influx of Jews and started attacking them. Thank God the Jews here managed to defend themselves. Ironically, these wars against Israel only caused Israel to expand it’s territory. The wars in ’48, ’67 and ’73 were all due to Arab aggression. Had these wars never have happened, the Palestinians would have their land and the Jews theirs. We would be living in Israel happily and peacefully together. This wasn’t to be though and now we’re in the situation we’re in today.

I think the only way this conflict can ever end, is after a big war where Hamas and Israel’s haters are wiped out or if the Palestinians completely change their attitude towards Israel. Recognition of Israel as the Jewish homeland would go a long, long way. I don’t want to see another war, but it will surely happen, since Hamas has made it clear, it will not give up till it has conquered all of Israel.

Operation Pillar Of Defence

Today Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defence. The operation is against Hamas in the Gaza strip. Thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel at innocent Israeli citizens over the past few years since Israel evacuated the Gaza strip. In the last few days rocket fire has escalated and the IDF today killed Ahmed Al-Jabari, the head of Hamas’ military wing as well as launching Operation Pillar Of Defence in an attempt to severely weaken Hamas.

May the mission go successfully and may God protect the Israeli soldiers who are fighting to defend innocent Israeli citizens.

You can follow live-updates from the operation at the IDF blog.

Hamas has been terrorizing Israelis for years and has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Israelis. I am very happy that the Israeli government has decided enough is enough and to launch this operation. I just hope none of my friends serving in the army or other soldiers are hurt in the process.

Before it’s Too Late

This week there was a popular post on Google Plus that was an image of a badge saying: “I’m already against the next war”. I’m not against the next war. I am against the next war happening only after Iran has struck first.

We all want peace, but only somebody completely out of touch with reality could ever imagine Iran making peace with the West and Israel.

I say Ahmadinejad should be America’s number one terrorist target before he blows up the next twin towers. Why wasn’t Bin Laden captured by the US before the twin towers were destroyed? Why do we always have to wait for a travesty to occur before we retaliate? Why can’t we destroy the forces of destruction before they start destroying?

Persia Destroying the World at the Onset of the Messianic Era

In my last post I quoted the Midrash in Yalkut Shimoni Yeshaya whose words contain the lyrics to the song Anavim. The lines just before this quotation are equally fascinating.

To reiterate what I wrote in my last post, Maimonides wrote in his Epistle to Yemen that nobody knows how or when the Messiah will arrive, including the sages of the Talmud and Midrash. This is also explicit in Daniel where it says that many wise people will attempt to determine when the end will be and fail. The Talmud also says it is prohibited to calculate the time of the coming of the Messiah.

Nonetheless, take a look at these words that were written over a thousand years ago.

ילקוט שמעוני ישעיהו רמז תצט

א”ר יצחק שנה שמלך המשיח נגלה בו כל מלכי אומות העולם מתגרים זה בזה, מלך פרס מתגרה במלך ערבי והולך מלך ערבי לארם ליטול עצה מהם וחוזר מלך פרס ומחריב את כל העולם וכל אומות העולם מתרעשים ומתבהלים ונופלים על פניהם ויאחוז אותם צירים כצירי יולדה, וישראל מתרעשים ומתבהלים ואומר להיכן נבוא ונלך להיכן נבוא ונלך, ואומר להם בני אל תתיראו כל מה שעשיתי לא עשיתי אלא בשבילכם מפני מה אתם מתיראים אל תיראו הגיע זמן גאולתכם, ולא כגאולה ראשונה גאולה אחרונה כי גאולה ראשונה היה לכם צער ושעבוד מלכיות אחריה אבל גאולה אחרונה אין לכם צער ושעבוד מלכיות אחריה שנו רבותינו בשעה שמלך המשיח בא עומד על גג בית המקדש והוא משמיע להם לישראל ואומר ענוים הגיע זמן גאולתכם. ואם אין אתם מאמינים ראו באורי שזרח עליכם

Rabbi Yitzchak said: the year in which the king Moshiach (Messiah) will be revealed, all the nations of the world will be arguing with one another. The Persian king will be arguing with the Arab king and the Arab king will go to Aram to get advice from him and the king of Persia will destroy the entire world and all the nations of the world will scream and be confused/scared and will fall upon their faces and pain will grasp them like the birth pangs of a mother, and Israel will scream and be confused/scared and will say: “Where will we go to? Where will we go to?”. And He (God) will say to them: “My sons don’t be afraid. Everything that I did, I only did it for you. Why are you afraid? Don’t be afraid, the time of your redemption has arrived, and not like the first redemption is the last redemption, because the first redemption had after it pain and slavery but in the final redemption, you will not have pain, neither will you be enslaved by the kingdoms.

This is my own translation and it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough.

Anyway, the point is that Iran is Persia (it changed its name in the past century). The king of Persia today is seemingly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and he would most certainly destroy large parts of the world given the opportunity.

In my opinion there will most certainly be a big war in the next fifty years (if not in the next decade). Its only a matter of time before Iran gets its hands on a nuclear bomb. Israel will have to go to war. There’s also the fact that in the next century Muslims will be the majority population in many major European countries and even in America. Things are brewing up. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we don’t see a major war in the near future.

As a religious Jew I believe things will work out for the best at the end of the day, but things could get worse before we get there. God has looked after the Jews for the past 4000 years. May He continue to do so in the future.

I am not trying to bring proof from this Midrash that the Sages of the Talmud knew how and when the Messiah would arrive. I don’t believe that they did know. There are countless Midrashim about the arrival of the Messiah and a high probability that one of them would sound somewhat like the political situation we have today. Furthermore, what this Midrash predicts hasn’t yet happened and it might not happen, but it’s clear that this definitely could happen.