The Last Exile

h/tip Daled Amos

The original UN vote for partition of the British Mandate for Palestine called for the ‘internationalizing of Jerusalem, although there was a tiny significant point, which hardly any one wants to acknowledge or even discuss; the ‘internationalizing’ of Jerusalem had a best before date.

Ten years after partition, the citizens of Jerusalem would determine, in a majority vote which nation – Israel or Arab Palestine – they would want to join. If that vote was held in 1948 or even ten years later in 1958; the majority of citizens of a united Jerusalem would have been Jews, and I suspect the vast majority of Jerusalemites would have voted to join Israel. Even today, if all the citizens of both West and East Jerusalem, Arab or Israeli, the vast majority of Jerusalemites would still vote to remain as part of the Israeli nation. This ‘clause’ was on the prime reasons it was imperative for the invading Arab armies to ethnically cleanse – at all costs or at any price – ‘East Jerusalem’ of all its’ Jews.

The history of Jerusalem did not start in 1967. Thousands of years of Jewish history took place in what is now called “Arab East Jerusalem. Only when the Jewish residents were driven from their homes in 1948 was the city divided between East and West. This video shows the reality of Jerusalem today and includes interviews from survivors of the fall of Jerusalem.”

Gilad Shalit has returned home.

I can hardly believe I have lived to witness such a miracle, and miraculous it is. The enemies of Israel have rarely returned any Israeli captive – let alone one who is still alive. After six years of captivity that can only be described as cruel and contrary to all established international law concerning the welfare and treatment of captured soldiers, Gilad Shalit has been redeemed out of Egypt.

The price for Shalit’s redemption from captivity was steep and bitter. The ransom has been paid with yesterday’s blood, and possibly, tomorrow’s tears. It is not a deal I would have wanted to be made and it is a deal which has caused controversy and much bitterness within Israel – and inside the Jewish community outside of Israel. But today, in harsh reality of day; we know the price and value of a Jewish life. One Palestinian is worth 1/1027th of a single Jew. I did not set this value on a Palestinian life, and neither did the government of Israel; this is the price the enemies of the Israel have demanded for a single Jewish life. So be it, and let the blood be on their hands.

Everyone and their grandmother has criticized the Israeli government. In an act of irony Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even wrote a treatise years ago arguing against the negotiation with terrorists or the release of terrorists for any Israeli. And yet, it was the Likud government lead by Netanyahu, who was able to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. There is an old axiom in Israeli politics – Only the Israeli left can make war, only the Israel right can make peace. Only the Israeli right could have paid this bitter ransom..

Those outside of Israel often forget how small the country of Israel is – understandably so – given that Israel often punches above her weight. This smallness, creates an interesting dynamic within the society. Israeli society looks at the soldiers of Israel, as literally their own sons and daughters. There is a connection, a personalization of each soldier of the IDF. There is a ‘parental or family’ type relationship between civilian and military within Israel society so Gilad Shalit was not just the son of Noam and Aviva, but of everyone.

Intrinsic within this relationship is a trust, a sacred trust, between the soldiers of Israel and the people. It translates simply like this; no matter what, one way or another, we will bring you home, alive or dead, we will bring you home. The price for Shalit was bitter, but the sacred promise has been fulfilled and the trust preserved. And this, is far more important than what might possibly come in the future. Many other countries say this to their soldiers, but only Israel, fully lives out this creed.

Ask yourself this; who did Israel exchange for the life of Gilad Shalit? Murders and thugs, and such as these, are not the people to lay the foundation of a great society. This is a society based on infamy and blood which will topple under the weight of its own corruption. Someone explain to me how Israel is the loser of this exchange when the likes and lives of those like Amana Jawad Mona are no longer Israel’s responsibility to clothe and feed? I will take a thousand Gilad Shalits over the likes of her.
(Source: Arutz Sheva)

Even now, the enemies of Israel demand more Israeli soldiers be captured and held hostage for ransom. The truth is, the enemies of Israel, have never stopped trying to capture the treasure of the Israeli nation, but, Baruch haShem, their best efforts to date have resulted in only empty hands.

For the past six years, Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity, for six years, Rosh HaShanah has come and gone without Shalit numbered among us. On Yom Kippur, it is thought that our life and portion for the coming year is sealed in the Book of Life. On this day, it is held lawful to pray with even the greatest transgressors among us in the synagogue, and yet, for five Yom Kippurs; Gilad Shalit has not been counted among our midst.

But even so, for six Yom Kippurs, Adon Olam has written Gilad into the Book of Life and sustained his life against the odds of men. And in this year, 5772, Adon Olam has deemed that Gilad Shalit’s portion of life shall be that he can be counted among his people during the holy days of Sukkot. For those who do not know, after the Babylonian captivity ended, Sukkot was the first sacred holiday observed after the resumption of sacrifices in the Temple.

So it is right and proper that a captive of Israel has been redeemed and returned during Sukkot. For those who question the wisdom of the Israel government, perhaps, it is better to have a little faith in the one who has always sustained us and redeemed us.

In recent days, there has been a great deal of push exhibited towards the idea that the Israelis can and should negotiate to divide Jerusalem again. Ynet News:

France accused Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu on Friday of prejudicing the outcome of the Middle East peace process by declaring that Jerusalem would forever be Israel’s undivided capital. “The declaration made by the Israeli prime minister yesterday in Jerusalem prejudices the final status agreement,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux told reporters in Paris

Melanie Phillip’s column penned the best response to the French outraged over an Israeli Prime Minister declaring without hesitation or ambiguity that the eternal capital of the Jewish nation will never be divided again.

Zionism is simply the movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people. And its significance is greater than any other movement of national liberation because Judaism itself rests upon three legs — the people, the religion and the land. If one is lopped off by having its legitimacy denied, the whole thing collapses. That is why anti-Zionism is far more than an unpleasant political position. It is a direct attack on Judaism itself.

Jerusalem is the heart of Zion. It can no more be divided than the Vatican City or Mecca. The Palestinians will have to find somewhere else to plant their flag as Jerusalem is not for division.