Why Jews need a Jewish state
There are a lot of Jews out there - especially among the leftist-liberal variety - who are indifferent to the State of Israel's continued existence. Either they are complacent that "it couldn't possibly happen here," or they regard themselves as so disconnected from anything Jewish that they don't believe they would ever call upon the State of Israel or the organized Jewish community regardless of what may come. Those Jews - who unfortunately are not really candidates to read this blog - ought to consider what is currently going on in Georgia (Hat Tip: NY Nana via Little Green Footballs).Israeli officials and Jewish organisations have been operating deep inside the war-torn provinces of Georgia this week to seek out and rescue Jews caught up in the conflict.Read the whole thing.
Israel and the Jewish Agency have also been planning an Operation Solomon-style airlift from Georgia in case the fragile ceasefire with Russia fails.
Close to 600 Israeli citizens who were caught in Georgia as fighting broke out in South Ossetia over the weekend were flown out on Tuesday on three specially chartered planes of El Al and Georgian Airlines.
Officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Nativ and the Jewish Agency arrived at the embassy in Tbilisi - where most of Georgia's 12,000 Jews live - to process the stream of requests for emigration to Israel. These normally take a month to process, but over 90 permits were authorised in one day.
About 30, mainly refugees from Gori, were flown to Israel on Tuesday. Some 200 from Gori, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are still unaccounted for. About 250 from Kotaisi and another 200 from Batumi have asked to emigrate, but since both towns are cut off by Russian forces from Tbilisi, attempts are being made to remove them by air or sea.
A handful who lived in the disputed enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were brought to Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, in Russian territory.
Before fighting began, there were 19 confirmed Jewish residents of Tskhinvali, the capital of the unrecognised republic of South Ossetia. Their names and addresses were culled from the rolls of a Hessed in nearby Gori, the birthplace of Stalin.
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In case the situation suddenly deteriorates, Israel has prepared for an emergency airlift of the type that Israel undertook in 1990 to bring 13,000 Jews from Ethiopia.
"Most of the Tbilisi community are well-connected, local patriots," an Israeli diplomat said, "and they are loth to leave their homes. But if the ceasefire collapses and the Russian forces advance on Tbilisi, we expect thousands to clamour for planes to Israel."
If the fighting makes flying into Tbilisi too dangerous, there is an alternative plan to bus the Jews to neighbouring Azerbaijan and fly them from Baku airport. They are also prepared, in an emergency, to have Prime Minister Ehud Olmert call Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to secure the necessary assurances.
The representatives are worried that if the Israeli presence is too visible, it might lead to anti-Jewish feelings.
I doubt that two weeks ago any Georgian Jews had the slightest suspicion that what went on last week was going to happen. How quickly the outlook can change!
What's changed since 70 years ago is that it is no longer the case that Jews in distress have no place to go. They have a place to go and that place is Israel. With all the problems this country has, the fact that it is a safe haven for Jews is indisputable. That alone ought to be enough for all Jews to support it.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:49 AM
2 Comments:
Both the Naturei Karta and the extreme Left, oppose Israel's existence. The NK because Israel is not Jewish at all and the Left because Israel is too Jewish! The vast majority of Jews, including Orthodox Jews, see Israel as an imperfect but necessary homeland. Sure, Israel may have many problems, including being run by a a self-hating elite but the answer isn't to eliminate the only land of refuge the Jewish people have. The answer is to make Israel a true Jewish State all Jews can be proud of. Attaining that goal requires bringing every last Jew to Israel.
Thanks for the hat tip, Carl.
'I doubt that two weeks ago any Georgian Jews had the slightest suspicion that what went on last week was going to happen. How quickly the outlook can change!
What's changed since 70 years ago is that it is no longer the case that Jews in distress have no place to go. They have a place to go, and that place is Israel. With all the problems this country has, the fact that it is a safe haven for Jews is indisputable. That alone ought to be enough for all Jews to support it.'
Exactly. I remember 'Operation Magic Carpet', in 1950, when the Yemenite Jews were airlifted to Israel. For them, an airplane was truly magical. Before then, what happened after WWII, in getting Jews from the camps to Israel? I was a kid, sitting safe in Boston, but was aware of how terribly they were treated by the world, who then knew about the Shoah, but not completely.
May 14, 1948, is a day that I will always remember...and what it took to truly free Israel after the declaration of the State of Israel.
I hope the Jews in Europe are waking up very quickly, and making Aliyah in greater numbers. All these years after the end of WWII? We seem to be going backwards in time, sadly.
Will North America be the next to leave? If, G-d forbid, Obama wins? But sadly, the Jewish Democrats seem to be asleep at the controls.
It seems to be the younger American Jews who are intellectually removed from the concept of Israel as the Jewish homeland.
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