Israel Matzav

Baffled in Sderot

On Tuesday of this week, I was at a campaign rally in Sderot.
"I would like to ask what some of you may see as a strange question," I said to the audience in the packed hall. "In the war that is raging right now (this was before the major fighting began on Wednesday) between us and the Gazans, who is right?"

The hall fell silent. The audience looked uncomfortable and curious.
"They are right," one woman said.
"We are right," said another.
Most of the audience just looked baffled.

"Look at what is happening ", I continued. "Even here in Sderot, we cannot get a clear answer to the most fundamental of questions. So who is right?"

An endless stream of commentators, security experts and politicians visit Sderot. One advocates targeted assassinations, the other conquest, one says we should talk and the other says we should disengage. When all is said and done, it is clear to all that not one of them has gotten to the root of the real problem and is still incapable – after 12 years of Sderot being on the receiving end of incoming missiles – of relieving the misery of the residents of southern Israel.

Sderot's problem is not military in nature. Clearly, we are stronger than they are. The reason that we cannot deal with murderous attacks on our citizens is not military – it is spiritual. We have lost our belief in the justice of our cause. A mistake of this proportion cannot be rectified with shortcuts. We must return to the point at which we strayed from the path. That point is Oslo. It is there that we declared that this land is not our land. It is there that we recognized the rights of a different sovereign on our country's heartland. It is there that we lost the legitimacy for our existence in Sderot and as a result, the ability to fight against an enemy who does believe in the justice of his cause.

Labels: Moshe Feiglin, Sderot

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:07 AM