Next year in Jerusalem

Editorial

As we celebrate Passover, the commemoration of the ancient Israelites' escape from bondage and oppression, we are presented with myriad opportunities to consider the contemporary applications of our ancient memories.

The creation of the state of Israel was seen by many Zionists as the fulfilment of the ancient desire not only to return to Jerusalem, but to escape from centuries of oppression. These Zionists were partly right, though we know too well that Israel is not the safe haven we had once hoped.

The idea that Israel could be a force to protect Jews remains a guiding ideal in contemporary Zionism, but external forces are constantly challenging that belief. For example, despite Israeli sovereignty, there is an overwhelming public and diplomatic consensus that says Israel has no right to defend itself against attack. This attitude, which is at the root of most opposition to Israeli policies, is reflected in the response to the killing of Ahmed Yassin last week. Israel has been subjected to the deliberate premeditated murder and maiming of its citizens by Hamas, a terrorist organization whose explicit goal is to destroy the state of Israel. Moral outrage over the 377 Israeli citizens killed and 2,076 Israelis maimed over the past three years by Yassin and his followers has been deafening in its silence. Yet the vocal global condemnation of the killing of Yassin reinforces the common assumption that Israel should stoically take what's dished out and dare not retaliate or defend itself.

Yassin's replacement as head of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, has said: "By God, we will not leave one Jew in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have. This is our land, not the Jews'." This statement was made, mind you, last year, long before Israel killed Yassin. Through this statement – and the violent acts Hamas employs – Rantisi has thrown down an existential gauntlet, declaring that he will stop at nothing to rid the Middle East of Jews. Yet the world insists Hamas and its leadership are legitimate advocates of the Palestinian cause and should be protected from the violent ends they themselves mete out almost daily. It is an astonishingly immoral and irrational position that has been adopted almost without question by the United Nations, the European Union, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and seemingly millions of others.

A similar intellectual atrocity is the reaction to the defensive fence Israel is constructing. The killing of Israelis by suicidal West Bank zealots is a matter of little concern to the world, but the idea that Israel should act to defend itself by preventing murderers from entering the country is met with outrage. Opponents of the fence include the leaders of effectively every state in the world – even the United States – and their message is this: Israel deserves everything it gets and should have its hands tied behind its back to make it easier to attack.

Meanwhile, the real atrocities in the Middle East – the treatment of women in Arab states, the near-absence of free expression, the institutionalization of Islamic extremism, the killing of gays and lesbians, the oppression of political opposition, the outlawing of legitimate trade unions, the routine use of torture against political dissidents and others – draws little interest or concern. In fact, the Arab League is so incensed by the idea that its member-states should have to address any of these issues that their meeting in Tunisia this week had to be cancelled for fear of confronting any of these harsh realities. It is far easier to blame Israel than to deal with the roots of one's own problems. Scapegoating has a long and effective history, as Jews know well.

Meanwhile, Israel's critics rub their hands in glee over the legal troubles of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a man who is derided as a war criminal and terrorist by those who defend and encourage mass murder by Arab extremists.

And then comes The Passion of the Christ, a film that rolls back decades of progress between Christians and Jews, a film that affirms and reinforces the most fundamental cornerstone of 2,000 years of anti-Semitic assaults: deicide.

This litany of unhappy truths is intended to remind us that there is a reason why, even since 1948, the Passover seder still includes the prayer "Next year in Jerusalem." It is the hope for permanent safety and an indestructible homeland for the Jews that we have sought for two millennia. Though Israel is a reality and has been for 56 Pesachs, the dream of a free and peaceful home remains just that: a dream. Maybe next year in Jerusalem.

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