Israel likes to pride itself on being a Western nation, and in too many ways (idolatry and immorality) it is. However, in too many other ways their bought and paid for leaders act like they're old-style Russian Communists who hate religion and the religious and will exert a brazen double-standard in enabling the left to get away with murder (remember Yitzhak Rabin?) and persecute the right for any trumped up charge or wild accusation. Those precious Israelis of American descent are particularly "troublesome" to the hardcore leftists who aren't used to such independent thought (1 Kings 18:17), who abhor any who dare question the State, and who cherish their God-given rights of freedom of speech and religion. Israel is blessed to be like a Western nation in this regard, to the extent that those of American and other Western Israelite democracies are free to live and prosper in the Jewish homeland, free to set a noble example for the nation to follow, and free from politico-religious persecution. Nadia Matar is one of the precious Israelis of freedom-loving American origin who is now under fire for expressing her heartfelt Jewish opinion in the letter that appears below, something that would be considered harmless in the United States. Yet, in today's quickly disintegrating Israel, Nadia Matar (Co-chair of Women For Israel's Tomorrow/Women In Green) has been indicted for it! The outrageous charge in the insulting indictment is "Insulting a Public Servant." More than a year ago, Nadia wrote her open letter, a public plea, to Yonatan Bassi (head of the Disengagement Authority -- the man responsible for forcibly evicting Jews from their homes in Gush Katif/Gaza/Samaria). Is this further proof that Freedom of Speech, and legitimate discussion is verboten (forbidden) in Israeli-style democracy? Judge for yourself: Fast of Gedaliah 5765 (2004),
September 19,2004
To Mr. Yonatan Bassi,
Head of the Deportation Administration Re: Help in writing your letter to the Jews of Gush Katif I read on the Internet that in the coming days you will send a personal letter to each of the inhabitants of Gush Katif who are designated for deportation. Your letter contains a "personal appeal and initial explanation of the evacuation process." According to the report in YNet, the final version of the letter has not yet been formulated, and therefore I am volunteering to "help" you formulate the letter. I am attaching a document that is chillingly similar to what you are about to send - and, actually, all you need to do is to change the date (from 1942 to 2004) and the place of the deportation (from Berlin to Gush Katif) and, here, your letter is ready. The document is a letter from 1942 to the Jews about the upcoming deportation from Berlin. The letter was sent to the candidates for deportation by the Jews of the Judenrat (the Disengagement Authority), in cooperation with the Nazi authorities. The document goes into great detail as to where the people will be transferred, what they are to take with them, and what they are to leave behind. The letter can be found at Yad VaShem. The document ends with an emotional appeal by the heads of the Jewish community in Berlin to act calmly, and thereby facilitate the work of the deportation. "We fervently request that you obey the orders and perform all the preparations for the transport in a calm manner. The members of our community who are designated for immigration should be aware that they con decisively contribute to the smooth implementation of the transport by their personal conduct and orderly compliance with all the orders. Needless to say, we will do all that is in our power, to the extent that this is permitted us, to stand by the members of our community and offer them all possible aid" [Council of the Jewish Community in Berlin, 1942]. How similar is this to your words, when you say in various interviews how much you "identify with the pain of the settlers of Gush Katif," and how important it is that you, specifically, are involved in their deportation, in order to ease the process. But all of your declarations will be of no avail, Yonatan. The truth is that you are a modern version of the Judenrat - actually, a much worse version, because then, during the Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it is extremely difficult for us, today, to judge them. Today, no one stands with a gun to your head and forces you to collaborate in the crime, without any conscience pangs. Yes, I know. There is a difference between then and now. The goal of the Nazi monster - that also annihilated most of my family - was the physical annihilation of the Jewish people, a physical Holocaust. But let's not pretend to be innocent: the goal of the deportation from Gush Katif and northern Samaria is the annihilation of the entire Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, as an interim stage of a spiritual Holocaust: the elimination of the state as a Jewish state, and its transformation into a secular state, a state of all its citizens, without any Jewishness. Not to mention, of course, the bloody price that we will have to pay for our retreat. If the criminal Oslo accords cost us more than 1000 victims, Sharon's deportation plan will give such a push to the Nazi Arab terror (for the Arabs will see that Israel's folding is proof that terror pays) that I fear to think how many Jews will pay with their lives for Sharon's "disengagement." In conclusion - I wish to correct the empty words by Minister Poraz, who said today that "a Jew, too, may be an anti-Semite." This sentence should be: "History has proven that Jews are the biggest anti-Semites." And, Yonatan, you should know that there is no escape from the simple truth: whoever participates in the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria - participates in an anti-Semitic act, and will be remembered as such, for everlasting shame. It is still possible for you to resign from your abhorrent post and arrive at Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment, clean and at peace with your conscience, without being part of the modern Judenrat - the Deportation Authority. Nadia Matar, Co-Chairperson of (Women in Green) |
