Letters

Last week I sent a letter to the head of the Deportation Administration, Mr. Yonatan Bassi, in which I wrote that the fact that he plans to send a personal letter to each of the inhabitants of Gush Katif designated for transfer, and that his letter contains a "personal appeal and initial explanation of the evacuation process," fills me with chilling associations from the Holocaust. I attached to my letter one that had been written by the Berlin Judenrat in 1942 to the Jewish community, with details and explanations of the approaching deportation. I wrote to Bassi that, in my opinion, the document from 1942 was chillingly similar to the letter that he was about to send. I further stated that I believe that "Yonatan Bassi is a much worse version of the Judenrat in the Holocaust, for then in the Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it is very difficult for us to judge them today. But today no one stands with a pistol to Ba! ssi's head and forces him to cooperate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria." I added that "whoever aids in the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria in actuality aids an anti-Semitic act, and will be so remembered to everlasting abhorrence." I concluded the letter with an emotional appeal to Bassi that "he still can resign from his contemptible position and enter Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment, clean and at peace with his conscience, without being part of the modern Judenrat - the Deportation Administration" (the entire letter in Hebrew and the letter from 1942, also in Hebrew, can be seen at the Hebrew language Women in Green web site: http://www.womeningreen.org.il

The letter received wide exposure, and I must admit - I am shocked. I am shocked by the responses of the establishment and the state media. All cry out to high heaven, because of the use of the strong epithet I applied to Bassi - while, on the other hand! , no one is disturbed by the criminal act that Ariel Sharon seeks to commit, with Bassi's help, against which I cry out in my letter: the brutal deportation of Jews from their inheritance and their homes - most of whom are already the third generation on the land - men, women, and children, against their will, solely because they are Jews. This will be accompanied by the razing of their homes, the elimination of their lives' undertaking, the destruction of scores of synagogues, ritual baths, kindergartens, libraries, and schools; the disinterment of dozens of bodies from the cemeteries - many of them, the victims of Arab terror. And the trauma of ethnic cleansing will be followed by the ultimate crime: the handing over of all the Judenrein territory to the Arab enemy, territory that is the inheritance of our forefathers, that they were given by G-d, and that no Jew is permitted to give away. This is a national crime that will (correctly) be interpreted by the Arab enemy as a victory! for terror, and will incite it to continue to murder Jews in Israel and throughout the world, knowing that these murders will result in additional "disengagement" plans - and this time from Netanyah, Haderah, Askhelon, Beersheva, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.

Instead of this terrifying scenario shaking every Jew to the very depths of his soul, instead of this scenario causing every public figure in Israel - the politicians, the Rabbis, civil rights activists, journalists, and others - from stopping their everyday routine to cry for help "Gevalt!", instead of this scenario resulting in a general strike by the entire country until the despicable plan is shelved, instead of all that, this is accepted naturally, with frightening tranquility. Yes, they "express sorrow and identification with those earmarked for uprooting and transfer, "but there is no shock, no outcry of "Gevalt," no proclamation that this is inconceivable, as if this were a heavenly decree! And about what is ever! yone alarmed? About the victim daring to call the hangman names!!

Just imagine the response in Israel and the world if the French government were to declare that "because of the great antagonism between Muslims and Jews in Paris, all the Jews must leave Paris by the end of 2005." All the houses of the Jews, the synagogues, the schools, and all other Jewish properties in Paris would be put at the disposal of the Muslim community. Jews who would oppose the evacuation would be forcibly placed in internment camps by the French security forces. Just imagine the response in Israel and the world if the Israeli Prime Minister were to declare that "by the end of 2005 there will no longer be any Arabs in Israel." Every Arab who would dare to resist the evacuation would be removed forcibly by the security forces and would be arrested. In each of the cases depicted above, a worldwide outcry would result. Everyone would compare the decree to the Holocaust period. Derogatory epit! hets would be hurled at those implementing the deportation, and the entire country would be disrupted by violent demonstrations, that would be organized spontaneously as soon as the plan became known.

And I ask: how is it that when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proclaims to the entire world that "by the end of 2005 there will no longer be any Jews in Gaza," and even adds that the operation to deport Jews, simply because they are Jews, is not limited to Gaza, but also that additional extensive portions of our land, our homeland, will be handed over to the Arab enemy and become Judenrein - this is accepted without an upheaval similar to the outcry that would arise in response to either of these two scenarios?

One woman answered this question and told me: "Because Ariel Sharon is a Jew and this is a government of Jews, and so they are permitted." To which I respond: To the contrary! This is even more horrendous, just because this is a Jewish government! Master of the Un! iverse, after two thousand years of Exile during which the worst of anti-Semites persecuted the Jews, expelled us, murdered us, burnt us, we have finally returned to the portion of our forefathers, to the Promised Land, and we established the State of Israel "to be a free people in our land" - and, oh, the horror of it! here, too, we are deported because we are Jews. This time it is not the Romans who are committing the crime, but our Jewish brothers! This is a crime for which there can be no atonement.

The late Shmuel Shnitzer already wrote about this in 1990, in an article in Maariv (February 23, 1990) entitled "The Racists": If we are the people of the Bible, if "the Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people" (in the words of the Israeli Proclamation of Independence), if this land is the land of the dreams, longings, and prayers of the people of Israel throughout all the generations of its exile and dispersion, how is it possible to determine, specifica! lly now, that some areas are outside the bounds of the Children of Israel? In the places where the residence of Jews must be stopped, in the past the kings of Israel were enthroned, the prophets of Israel delivered their message of morality and justice, the freedom fighters of Israel shed their blood in the defense of their homeland. And there, of all the lands in the world, will be established the only area in the modern world in which the residence of Jews will be prohibited? I do not think that discrimination against Jews and the determination of areas within the Land of Israel as Judenrein, in which Jews may not live, becomes more respectable due to the fact that some Jews consent to this. For me, the true nature of all the restrictions of the "except for Jews" type is not in question. Whoever champions them, whoever preaches on their behalf, whoever bases his political theory on them, has to be capable of explaining why this anti-Jewish discrimination is any better or more vali! d than the old type that the world vomited up in revulsion 45 years ago.

Accordingly, in order to upset the entire system, I wrote what I did to Bassi. Since I have learned from the Internet that I might shortly have to undergo questioning by the police for my statements, I therefore wish to defend my letter, and show that there is nothing wrong, or inciting, in the epithets and the comparison that I used. I will show that it is not I who should be put on trial, but other prominent public figures.

My use of the word "Judenrat" and my stating to Bassi that "you are worse than the Judenrat of that time" resulted in two types of harsh criticism directed against me by the media and by the establishment. The first charge raised against me is that the use of Holocaust terminology is unfit and forbidden. The second, that my letter constitutes incitement to harm Bassi.

I wish to relate to both charges, to categorically deny them, and to indicate the hypocrisy of my critics:

1) The use of Holocaust terminology: The Jewish public in Israel and the world, from the left and the right, is divided on the question of the permissibility of the use of Holocaust terminology. Is it legitimate to compare then and now? Doesn't the use of terms from, and comparisons with, the Holocaust diminish the horrors of the destruction of European Jewry? Some say that the entire subject of the Holocaust is untouchable. It is sacred, and we are not allowed to use any word that recalls the Holocaust, because there is no situation today that can be comparable to what was then. I respect those who hold such an opinion, and I know that I cannot convince them to think otherwise. Since, however, they do not have a monopoly on the Holocaust, I am entitled to disagree with them and maintain that it is very important to make comparisons, to draw conclusions, and to act so that there will not be another Holocaust.

I was born a! nd raised in Belgium. A considerable portion of my family was destroyed in the Holocaust. Throughout my childhood I heard from my grandparents about the stories and about the horrors. Already at a young age I made a promise to myself to do everything so that it would not happen again, that I would act so that the murder of my family would not have been for nothing, that I would do everything not to forget, and not to forgive.

In my humble opinion, the Holocaust is an event that could recur, in some form or other, if we do not open our eyes and understand that the Nazi monster is still breathing, and attempting to continue what Hitler, may his memory be blotted out, did not have time to finish. I am speaking of the Arabs around us, who have been trying, even from before the establishment of the State of Israel, to eliminate any Jewish existence in Eretz Israel, regardless of our borders. The Arabs have been murdering us on a daily basis from the days of the pogroms in 192! 9 (when it could not be claimed that we were "occupiers"). They slaughter Jews at every opportunity, whether in war or in terror attack, cold-bloodedly firing at the heads of Jewish infants. Muslim suicide bombers explode buses, pizza parlors, and discotheques full of Jews. It is they who are the modern version of the Nazis. Every thinking person knows, or should know, that Hitler's legacy plays a starring role in the Muslim world. Hitler's book Mein Kampf is a bestseller in all the Arab countries. Everyone knows, or should know, that the hero of the Arabs, Haj Amin el-Husseini, was Hitler's close friend, and together they planned the Holocaust of the Jews of Eretz Israel. Every intelligent person knows, or should know, that all the wars and terror attacks by the Arabs against us have the same goal: the total destruction of the State of Israel, and the elimination of all its Jewish inhabitants. Every intelligent person knows, or should know, that every sign of weakness, submi! ssion, or retreat by Israel will encourage the Nazi-Arab enemy and incite him to engage in more and more terror.

Consequently, every political plan that will merely play into the hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy and bring him closer to his final goal, that is, the removal of the Jews from Israel and the elimination of the Jewish state, is a dangerous plan against which we must sound the alarm. While, during the Holocaust, the Jews of the Judenrat played into the hands of the Nazi foe when they (unwillingly) collaborated and aided in the deportation of the Jews (without knowing the destination of the transports); today, Sharon's deportation plan also plays into the hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy, incites him to murder more and more Jews, and is liable - if, Heaven forbid, it were to be realized - to result in tens of thousands of murdered Jews, by Katushas and rockets fired from Gaza and northern Samaria to the densely populated centers in Gush Dan. In addition, Sharon's plan w! ould give fuel to the antisemites in the world. They would rightfully say: "If a Jewish government can uproot Jews and deport them from their historic homeland; we in Europe can do the same and deport our Jews far away from here". Thus, in my eyes, the comparison between Yonatan Bassi (and Ariel Sharon) and the Judenrat is definitely appropriate. With the proviso that Bassi and Sharon constitute a much more horrible version, since, unlike the Judenrat of then, today, there is no one holding a gun to Sharon and Bassi's forehead and demanding that they commit the deportation crime.

People like Minister Sharansky, who claimed that I compared the government of Israel with the Nazi regime, are wrong and deceptive. I would never compare Jew and Nazi! As I said, the Arabs who murder us today should remind us of the Nazis then. And Jews who play into the hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy with political plans that are the realization of the Hamas platform (the expulsion of Jews from E! retz Israel) should remind us of the Judenrat, in a more terrible version.

All those who have joined the outcry should recall the words of Ariel Sharon from nine years ago, when he was interviewed by the Kfar Habad magazine. On the agenda at the time was the declaration by the then Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, that within the framework of Oslo it might be necessary to evacuate several settlements. When Ariel Sharon was asked about this, he issued a clear statement: "I am happy to say that nothing will be of avail to the government and its aims: the settlers do not intend to move from these places." When he was asked: "If so, then what response from them do you expect when an attempt will be made to evacuate the settlements?", Sharon continued: "This is inconceivable. [...] This would be an extremely grave matter. In my opinion, people will not leave, and I think that the government has to think well where this decision will lead. This will result in the most severe cons! equences [...] to civil war."

Mr. Sharon also had a clear definition of the government and its head, who were capable of even conceiving of the possibility of a withdrawal and the evacuation of settlements. Sharon also said in the same interview:

"It must be understood that this government and those heading it have fallen prey to insanity, and have lost all restraint. [...] Although we must not compare any current situation with the Holocaust, I nevertheless want to recall that before the Holocaust, as well [...] the Jewish leadership said then: There is no alternative.": "We are talking about cooperation between two people - Peres and Rabin - who, in any other country, would be put on trial in court. [...] I call here for all the parties to abandon their acting like beautiful people and to go forth, once and for all, to a battle that will bring about the fall of this disastrous government! [...] If, Heaven forbid, the government were to realize its plans, ! the public would have to blame itself for not having the powers of the spirit to arise and do what must be done. Already a year and a half ago I called for popular passive, unarmed resistance. If it were possible to conduct a silent demonstration of 50,000 people around the government ministries for ten days, this wanting government would already fall. [...] Defense of life is the most legal thing, and passive popular resistance, without weapons, is one of the ways to do this in democratic regimes. The Likud must lead the struggle against the government's policy, and fully support the settlers, who are defending, not only their homes, but the people as a whole."

If, nine years ago, none other than the Prime Minister himself compared the Rabin-Peres government to a Judenrat, because of their willingness to expel Jews from the Land of Israel, why, all of a sudden, is it forbidden to compare the government of Sharon and his aides, such as Yonatan Bassi, with a Judenrat?
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Here is the place to cry out against the hypocrisy of those attacking me. In my letter I did not compare Bassi or Sharon to the Nazis, but to the Jewish Judenrat. Notwithstanding this, everyone in the media fell on me, crying out to the heavens. In contrast, the list of public figures from the Israeli left who compared Jews to Nazis is extremely long - and they were not attacked, neither by Yad Vashem nor by government ministers. They, of course, will not be placed on trial. The following reminder is a short selection from this lengthy list:

- A few months ago: Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, after seeing on television a picture of an Arab woman crying next to the ruins of her house, the house of Arab terrorists: "She reminds me of my grandmother in the 1930s." In other words, Lapid compared our dear soldiers to Nazis.

- Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz: "IDF soldiers are Judeo-Nazis."

- Prof. Moshe Zimmerman, from the Hebrew University: "The children of Hebron are Hitlerjugend."

- Uzi Benzamin, Haaretz, 2002: "The behavior of those who are called the 'youth of the hills' among the settlers is reminiscent of that of the skinheads in Europe and the US."

- Prof. Michael Harsegor, Haaretz, September 1996: "The leaders of the ultra-Orthodox are the enemies of democracy, no less than the blackshirts or the heads of the National Socialist Workers' Party [the full name of the Nazi party]."

- Shulamit Aloni, Maariv, December 2002: "Eli Yishai (as Interior Minister) acts in accordance with the Nuremberg Laws [...] the [PR] film [by the Shas party] reminds me of a Nazi propaganda film."

- Haaretz, May 1996: "The editors of Der Stuermer [the newspaper of the Nazi party] would enjoy reading these headlines [from the Likud election propaganda]."

- the newspaper of the Tel Aviv University student organization, May 2002: "Citizen, religion is your enemy, it is incumbent upon every Israeli citizen to fight it. [...]! When a person chooses to believe these lies, he throws man's essence into the garbage can. [...] Others will come and say that this makes [a person feel] good. [...] Many of those who joined the Nazi Party also experienced spiritual elevation and joy."

- Yedioth Ahronoth, Shlomo Gazit: "The religious soldiers remind me of the Nazis."

- Kidmah ("Progress"!), January 2003: "A general statement may be made of the ideological settlers, that they are much worse than any neo-Nazi in Austria."

- For many years the sculptor Yigal Tomarkin has made statements and engaged in acts that anti-Semites would not be ashamed to utter or do. For example, in 1980 he brought a pig enwrapped in tefilin to Malkhei Yisrael Square, in protest against the settlements. Some of his utterances that are reminiscent of leading anti-Semites: "When I see the ultra-Orthodox, I understand the Nazis," or "I identify the religious by their smell." In 1988 he won the Sussman prize by Yad Vashem(!! ) for his works relating to the Holocaust, but the awarding of the prize was canceled due to protests against him. Despite all his anti-Semitic statements, Tomarkin recently received the Israel Prize for sculpture from Education Minister Limor Livnat.

2) Now that we have shown that there definitely is cause for a historical comparison between the Bassi letter to the residents of Gush Katif and the letter from the Judenrat to the Jews of Berlin, and we have demonstrated that many others in the public sphere in Israel use terminology from the period of the Holocaust, we must attack the second argument against my letter: as if my statements constitute incitement to violence.

The following is the relevant section of the Penal Code, 1977 (as amended in Amendment no. 66, on May 22, 2002): 144d2. Incitement to Violence or Terror [amendment: 2002(3)] (a) One who publicly calls to commit an act of violence or terror, or issues a statement of praise, sympathy, or encouragement fo! r an act of violence or terror, support of it or identification with it (in this section: inciting publication), and in accordance with the content of the inciting publication and the circumstances in which it was publicized, there is a real possibility that it will lead to the performance of an act of violence or terror, is punishable by five years imprisonment. (b)In this section, "an act of violence or terror" is an offense that harms a person's body or places a person in danger of death or in danger of serious injury.

In other words, a call that is liable to constitute the offense of incitement must include an explicit call for inflicting serious bodily injury to someone. What connection does this have to my letter to Bassi, in which all I did was draw a historical parallel between two documents, and appeal to Bassi to resign from his contemptible position?

But now that the subject of incitement has entered the public discourse - I wish to direct the attentio! n of Police Minister Gideon Ezra and the Attorney-General to clear calls of incitement to murder and violence, that for some reason have not been subject to any legal treatment. The inciters have not yet been questioned or placed on trial. Could this ensue from the fact that the inciters are situated on the left side of the Israeli political map? The following is a collection from among a lengthy list of such incitement (some of the quotations were found in the archives of the Hatzofeh newspaper):

- Prof. Zeev Sternhal, Haaretz, May 11, 2001: justifies Arab terror against settlers, calls upon the Arabs to murder settlers, and encourages them to place explosive charges, but only on the eastern side of the Green Line. "There is no doubt regarding the legitimacy of the armed resistance in the territories themselves. If the Palestinians had a bit of sense, they would concentrate their struggle against the settlements. [...] They would similarly refrain from placing explosive charges on the western side of the Green Line." The Women in Green movement lodged a complaint with the police against Sternhal, accusing him of encouraging an act of terror and incitement to murder settlers. The response of the police was: "there is no criminal guilt" in Sternhal's statements.

- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, May 1998: "Secular Israel is the occupied territories of the religious parties. If the secular desire to live here, they have no choice but to start an intifada. Yes, I am prepared to throw the first stone." Here, as well, the police decided that there was no need to investigate these statements.

- Sheike Levi, Yedioth Tikshoret, November 2003: "The settlers are lunatics, I get angry even if I only hear about them. [...] I cannot tolerate small children with peyot [sidelocks], that they have a mori [a traditional Yemenite teacher], who teaches them to be Yemenites and not Israelis. I wanted to grab their mori and break his bones."
- Ha-Kibbutz newsletter, August 1995: "They [the settlers] are not my brothers. [...] A civil war will be a war [...] I will run to it [...] and I will crush their flesh with mighty blows, to rout them. [...] I will go forth to the foe in order to fight, for once, a justified war. [...] Much blood will be shed."

- Michael Roeh, Meretz faction, June 1998: "We have established anti-ultra-Orthodox reconnaissance units that will knock off the heads of the ultra-Orthodox."

- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, 1996: dreams of the assassination of Netanyahu: "I was angry, and I wrote that I had a wet dream that I shot Bibbi Netanyahu twice. They didn't print this. And why is it permitted to print [...], while they continually reject my wet dream about rubbing out Bibbi Netanyahu?"

- Hadashot newspaper, October 1992: "The ultra-Orthodox should be hung from electric poles."

- Haolam Hazeh, Uri Avneri, November 1988: "The time has come to bury them [the settlers]."
- Davar, Zeev Sternhal, April 1988: "Fascism cannot be stopped with rational arguments. This can be stopped only by force, and when there is willingness to risk a civil war. When necessary, we shall have to forcibly deal with the settlers in Ofrah or in Eilon Moreh. Only a person who is willing to advance against Ofrah with tanks will be capable of curbing the fascist drift that threatens to inundate Israeli democracy."

- Yoel Marcus, Haaretz, July 9, 2004, an article entitled "Don't Try and Frighten Us with Bloodshed": "They should not try to frighten a nation - tens of thousands of whose sons were killed in wars to ensure its very existence - with [the prospect of] the shedding of blood in the cause of peace."

MK Abu Vilan, from the Yahad party, in an interview with Ari Shavit, Haaretz, September 5, 2004: "If, Heaven forbid, they will force us, we will be compelled to open fire [against the settlers]. [...] It will be necessary to pull the trigger, slowly, res! ponsibly, coolheadedly, and intelligently."

Ami Ayalon, the former head of the General Security Service, in an interview in Yedioth Ahronoth, November 14, 2003: suggests killing, in cold blood, the "problematic" settlers who would refuse to willingly be evacuated of their own free will: "I will say this in clear words: There is more than one Altalena in the life of every state or nation. [...] The political leadership in the State of Israel has already taken difficult decisions when the alternative was clear, and in the future the political leadership will have to take difficult decisions when the alternative is clear." Anyone who is familiar with the Altalena episode (in which sixteen Jews, Ben-Gurion's political rivals, who were swimming, unarmed, in the sea towards the coast, were coldbloodedly murdered by the Palmah under the command of Yitzhak Rabin) knows that the call to conduct an "Altalena" against a political rival is incitement to murder that rival. The Women ! in Green lodged a complaint with the Attorney-General for Ayalon's inciting statements. Talia Sasson wrote in her reply: "After an examination of this matter, it was decided that what Mr. Ami Ayalon said in the context of the interview that is the subject of the complaint does not constitute a criminal transgression. It is our understanding that Mr. Ami Ayalon did not call for the implementation of a violent act against settlers, but rather estimated that when it will be necessary to evacuate settlements, there will be a certain percentage of inhabitants who will not consent to be evacuated from the settlements of their own free will. In such a situation, he maintains, the state will have no alternative other than to confront anyone who will not obey the legal order of the elected government. As was noted, I did not find any transgression in these statements." In other words, Talia Sasson, on behalf of the State Attorney's Office, justifies the cold blooded murder of settlers,! just because they would refuse to be evacuated of their own free will.

In light of all the above, the conclusion to be drawn is unequivocal: the offensive launched against my letter has a single purpose - this is a Bolshevik attempt to stifle the National Camp, and prevent it from expressing its strong opposition to Ariel Sharon's deportation plan, a plan that Sharon is dictatorially imposing on the public, against the wishes of the majority of the people. In the last elections, a majority of the people voted for Sharon, because he convinced us that Amram Mitzna's unilateral withdrawal plan from Gaza would be disastrous for the country. To our amazement, after his victory, Sharon decided to push through Amram Mitzna's plan! In this manner Sharon stole our votes and deceived the people!

The broad support from the people that I received in light of the blatant attempt to block my freedom of _expression - the many telephone calls, the e-mails, and the faxes of support! and encouragement - prove to me, once again, that the majority of the public has a healthy spirit, loves the Jewish People, and loves its Homeland and its Heritage. Our problem is with our weak and galut (diaspora-like) political leadership, which demeans itself before the enemy in an attempt to curry favor. This is a political leadership lacking a Jewish backbone, without roots, without values, without loyalty to the people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel.

This corrupt leadership will never succeed in silencing us. We shall continue to proclaim before the whole world: Eretz Israel belongs to the People of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel, and no Jew has the right to hand it over to the enemy. With God's help, the people of Israel shall be victorious. I will conclude with Ariel Sharon's words from nine years ago, in the interview in Kfar Habad:

"On the occasion of the New Year, I want to address the people (not the government, ! because there's no one to talk to there): In this difficult hour, you must reveal courage and spiritual powers, and understand that if you desire independent existence, you must be prepared to struggle for Eretz Israel. Eretz Israel is the 'desirable land,' but it is also a harsh land in which we must contend, both with ourselves and with our brothers. I naturally would want to wish you all that true peace, tranquility, and security would reign here - but what the Jews really need as the new year approaches is to return to themselves, to walk with Jewish pride, and to act as a real people; and above all, to be ready for the struggle as the time of testing approaches. I want to wish the entire Jewish people, in Israel and in the Diaspora, that this shall truly be a good year, and that we will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, with the removal of the current government and the establishment of a Jewish government that shall act as such in all realms."
To these words by Ariel Sharon from nine years ago, we can only add: Amen, May it be G-d's Will!.
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