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May 23, 2013 /14 Sivan, 5773
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The Tosfos Yomtov was convinced that the death of 300,000 –600,000 Jews during the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-49 were because of improper Tefila. Communicated: Tefilla

Chillul Tefila Bifarhesia, as well as halachicly challenged verbiage and dress, are external manifestations of a critical lack of personal yiras shomayim which has lethal consequences.



The Problem was Oslo – not the Occupation

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Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres

Photo Credit: Moshe Shai/Flash90

“The truth is harsh. The occupation is destroying Israel. It is undermining Israel’s ethical, democratic and diplomatic foundations.”

So claimed Haaretz Correspondent Ari Shavit on 17 December 2009.

I would suggest that, in retrospect, much of the activity surrounding Oslo – rather than the “occupation” – has been “undermining Israel’s ethical, democratic and diplomatic foundations.”

#1 Respect for Human Life

Oslo corrupted our respect for human life. Soldiers and civilians alike became no more than pawns in a game of peacemaking under the gun. And today, after sinking up to our noses in the mire of Oslo, with politicians often ultimately treating brutal murders as temporary insignificant inconveniences, we find a dramatic increase in murder, violent crime, even violence in the schoolyard.

#2 Israel’s intelligence system

Oslo corrupted the very top of Israel’s intelligence system. Some allowed their ideology to seriously cloud their judgment as they naively thought they could sub-contract Israel’s security to their Palestinian pals who they wined and dined on open expense accounts. Others, with an eye on their career track, opted to present reports and analysis that supported the “process” rather than what they really thought. And it didn’t stop there. Some of these top Israelis entered into a web of business relations with their Palestinian counterparts. Money – the ultimate corrupter.

#3. Political system

Oslo corrupted the political system, with it becoming acceptable to make bare-faced lies to the Knesset, as was the case when Shimon Peres denied the existence of his “Jerusalem Letter”, and later when time and again the explicit policy choices made by the citizens was ignored after election day. But it wasn’t just the lies and the vote buying. Oslo introduced brazen and open foreign interference in the Israeli democratic process with money from the European Union and other nations financing various leftist groups in Israel and even some politicians.

Oslo so corrupted respect for the democratic process that the ruling government even went so far as to use the services of the State’s intelligence apparatus to undermine the standing of their political rivals and silence them rather than engage them in serious debate. To this day serious public debate is marred by the efforts to silence voices with charges of incitement and the “extremist” label.

Oslo corrupted the news media as reporters abandoned their critical “watchdog” role, opting to either distort or ignore the truth as their contribution to the “peace process”.

Oslo corrupted our society. Oslo corrupted our democratic system. Oslo corrupted our security.

#4. Security

Yes. And it undermined our security.

Defenders of the retreat from Gaza cite the security conditions faced by Israelis in the Gaza Strip just before the retreat. They either forgot – or hope their audience has forgotten – that before Oslo the security situation was so favorable that places like Netzarim were “defended” by a single bored soldier sitting at the main entrance to the community.

The “terror” that the Labor Party blamed the Shamir Government for in the election campaign before Oslo’s birth was a series of knifing incidents.

Thanks to Oslo, instead of knives, guns, and an occasional homemade bomb we find ourselves facing trained armies in our backyard and even living room. And under the “quiet for quiet” policy our enemies can do pretty much anything they want to to upgrade the weapons they have as long as they don’t use them. Yet. [We try to comfort ourselves by claiming that the quiet is thanks to Israeli deterrence when it could just as easily be described as our enemies opting to pick the time and place – and that time and place hasn’t yet arrived.].

#5. Flood of foreign workers

Thanks to Oslo our country is swamped with the foreign workers who were brought in to replace the masses of Palestinian workers who, thanks to the Oslo security fiasco, could no longer be trusted.

#6. Diplomatic standing

And Oslo – not the occupation – served to undermine Israel’s diplomatic foundations.

Oslo took Yasser Arafat and his PLO off the dung heap of history (wallowing in Tunis after being thrown out of Lebanon) when only radicals in the West were talking about anything beyond a Palestinian autonomy and lead ultimately to the diplomatic challenge we face today – with the critical message of UNSC 242 (no requirement of full withdrawal) being ignored.

Again: We didn’t get into this mess because of the “occupation”. It’s the reckless, ideologically blinded pro-withdrawal policies that got us into this mess.

Originally published at  http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=56865

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About the Author: Dr. Lerner is the Director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis).


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No Responses to “The Problem was Oslo – not the Occupation”

  1. Catriel Sugarman says:
    May 29, 2012 at 6:09 AM

    All this mess coming from Oslo could have and should have been forseen. Just everyone was cought up in the romance of it all. And so facts were hidden from the public. "Just get them to sign on the bottom line. It doesn't matter if they honor anything they sign or not. Nobel Prizes for everyone!

  2. Eli Skoczylas says:
    May 30, 2012 at 1:20 AM

    (H/t to Catriel Sugarman for bringing this to my attention.)

    It's more than just having "redeemed Yasser Arafat from the ashheap of history." I've maintained for nigh onto twenty years now that the local Arabs *DO* have one legitimate grievance against Israel – that we took a group of foreign thugs, Moscow-trained and half of them not even born here, from Tunis and brought them in to the territories and set them up as overlords.

    And let's not forget WHY this happened: Shimon Peres wanted to steal the Premiership away from Yitzhak Rabin, and so he thought that by presenting a fait accompli packaged "peace" deal to the Labor party that he could take over. And his "peace" was all about "peace and quiet," and keeping Israel's hands clean. He brought in thugs, believing that they were viscious enough to "take charge," suppress dissent, and control the terrorism of the First Intifada. Foolish coward that he is, having served only as a "jobnik" and knowing nothing of either the Arab mentality or how bottom-dwelling criminals operate, he couldn't conceive that the man who tried to assasinate King Hussein, and who started a civil war in Lebanon, would ever bite the hand that fed him after being handed the kleptomaniac's fantasy — the keys to an entire "nation."

  3. Avraham Avi Hecht says:
    June 1, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    If we had Meyer Lansky instead of these Stalin type idiots this place could be haven!

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