Shimon Peres actually believes that he graduated from the post of Prime Minister of Israel to the Prince of World Peace. He opened his Peace Center which he humbly named after himself, and he has begun a herculean effort to raise billions of dollars to give to the PLO to make peace. His assertion is that Arab terrorists will stop murdering Jews and give up on their dream to destroy Israel if they are given good jobs.
Were Peres not a former Prime Minister of Israel his efforts would be comical. But because of his connections with world leaders resulting from his former position, this man is a genuine menace to the Jewish State. As a private individual Shimon Peres, like any citizen, has the right to express his opinion. But when he abuses his former credentials and presents himself to world leaders as an extra-political entity representing a pseudo official Israeli position which places itself above the government of Israel he is overtly undermining his own government. Peres has set himself up as some kind of ambassador of peace by abusing his reputation as a former Prime Minister. He is literally conducting foreign relations independently of the Israeli government and betraying the Jewish state by so doing.
It is amazing that no judicial body in Israel seems to notice that Mr. Peres is undermining Israeli foreign relations under the guise of innocently promoting peace. How is it that he can host leaders of over a hundred foreign nations as if he were still representing the Israeli government without as much as a protest from government sources? Doesn't anyone notice that this man is openly betraying his country before the nations of the world? Doesn't anyone care that the man who was voted out of office for creating the horror of Oslo is being allowed to continue his efforts to help Israel's enemies destroy the Jewish State without as much as a protest? Peres should be tried for treason , not extended the dignity of a pseudo ambassador.
This former head of the Jewish State is openly acting as Yasir Arafat's personal political adviser! What greater betrayal of one's country can there be than for a former head of state to openly counsel its enemies on how to negotiate its self-destruction? He was seen on international television broadcasts addressing the PLO parliament in Ramallah and assuring the PLO that he will personally help them achieve statehood! He was clearly giving them advice as to how best they could achieve this goal. If this is not enough to charge Shimon Peres with high treason, I cannot imagine what else would be.
Israeli elections are around the corner. There are numerous candidates who feel that they are qualified to become the next Prime Minister. Is it not a wonder that not even one of these candidates even addressed the treasonous behavior of a former Prime Minister? Should we not expect at least some of them to demand that criminal charges be issued against him? Nothing? All we hear is the deafening silence of lemmings marching to their self-destruction with smiles on their faces and sweet words about a non-existent peace.
The Jewish people are totally bereft of leadership. Netanyahu, our most eloquent politician and alleged leader of the right, has entangled himself in a web of confusion of his own making which has seen him not only fail to stop Oslo, but to enhance the process of Israel's self-destruction. It seems that every one of Israel's potential leaders feels the need to accept the path of self destruction as the only one open to it. Why can no one muster the courage to openly declare Oslo an act of treason which must be immediately undone? Why can no one seem to remember that Arafat is a
Why is Shimon Peres permitted to conduct official acts of high treason without as much as an objection from anyone?
A word about Benny Begin, now a candidate for Prime Minister. He certainly demonstrated courage by resigning his cabinet post rather than participate in the Hebron giveaway. His breaking away from the Likud only accents how serious he is about protesting the Netanyahu abandonment of his party's most basic principles. It is good that he is making an effort to offer the
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tury ago. But the idea of the Jewish state has never been more confused, incoherent, uninspiring and vulnerable to complete erasure from the map of our world. And without this idea, the material basis for this state might as well be a butterfly in the glass box of a sovereign Europe-where the post-Jewish state will, if fortune shines upon it, in fact be.
Dr. Yoram Hazony is director of The Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
February 1999 - 7 - Outpost