President Rivlin Should Know This
Israel is four countries within a country: the ‘Country of Israel’; the Left ‘Country of Tel-Aviv’; the ‘Country of Yehuda & Shomron’ (Judea and Samaria); the ‘Country of the Arab Sector’. There never was a “Shared Existence” in Israel with the Arabs because they want it all, not the “shared existence” virtue. President Rivlin should know that by now, anything else is wishful thinking.
This is not my first time covering the issue of “shared existence” in Israel.
My say in June 2012
In June 2012 I wrote ‘Israel’s Arabs Do Not Really Belong to the State of Israel!’
A nation has an anthem, a flag and ethos. When one decides to immigrate to a new country, one knows, in advance, that in order to become part of the host country’s fabric, he or she will have to adapt, meaning, adopt the new country’s ethos, sing its anthem and salute to the national flag. Become a true and loyal citizen.
History attests that the Land of Israel was unlucky. The Romans expelled the Jews from their homeland that remained desolated for 2000 years. In 1922, the Jews received a lucky card. The Mandate for Palestine was established and Jews were given the right to return to their ancient homeland and make the land their sovereign nation state again.
With their newly regains right to the land the Jews also “gained” Arab population. The flow of Arabs into the land of Israel began in the late 19th century when Jews, mostly fleeing Russian Pogroms, arrived to the land and created attractive economic opportunity, which Arabs, who arrived from Middle East countries, pursued.
The more Jews succeeded economically the more attractive the land became to the Arabs. During the British Mandate in Palestine, from 1920 till 1948, the British authorities encouraged the flow of Arabs into the land they themselves designated for the Jews. Reasons, to make sure that Jewish population remains a minority; the British, who disdained Jews, saw the Arabs a helpful fighting force in their objection to the influx of Jews into the land. Also the black oil; the need of Britain to appease the Arab oil producing nations gave them the justification to prefer Arabs over Jews, when managing their mandate in Palestine.
That Arab population that remained in Israel after 1948 Israel War of Independence ended, never integrated and never became a genuine part of the state of Israel fabric. The 1967 Six Day War added a new dimension to the Israeli-Arab society. The ‘Palestinians’. Now the Israeli-Arabs could openly side with their brethren the “Palestinians.” In fact many simply call themselves ‘Palestinians,’ rather than Israeli-Arabs. They fight for their fellow Arabs’ ‘justice,’ not the justice for the state of Israel.
In the recent years the Israeli-Arab sector has radicalized. Their political leaders, serving as members of Knesset, are hostile to the Jewish state; they spew anti-Israel rhetoric from the ‘well of the Knesset’ and act seditious. They use the democratic system of the state to incite against the country in which they hold citizenship and demonstrate overt loyalty to Israel’s enemies.
In the past I have made a clear statement that the Arabs holding Israel citizenship are simply Israel’s 5th column.
People who cannot relate to the national anthem and the national flag of their country, who do not see themselves as part of their country’s ethos, who hold demonstration waving the Palestine flag, who rather than seeing themselves as Israelis see themselves as “Palestinians” simply do not belong in the country.
To growing demands that the Israel-Arabs comply with responsibilities and obligations to the country, from which they were exempt since the Jewish State was established, they replied: “We are a part of the Palestinian nation, and there is no way we will ever fight our Palestinian brothers.” And, “Israel’s Arabs cannot serve in an occupying army at a time of war.” That sums it all up: we do not really belong to the state of Israel.
As I predicted years ago, Israel’s 5th column is now raising its ugly head; the moment of truth has arrived. The Arabs living in Israel are NOT Israelis, they are part of the “Palestinian” nation, whatever this newly created nation is. The Arabs who found themselves living in the democratic nation state of the Jewish people, Israel, were lucky. They do not see it this way. They want to have all the benefits of living in a democratic system while siding with terrorist organizations and the world’s worst tyrannies.
The question is, are they ‘hanging in there,’ dodging the bullets of civil obligations with the hope that their Arab-Palestinian brethren will win the battle against the state of Israel? Or, Israel will lose its ongoing existential fight, the battle the Arabs started against the Jews 1948? Otherwise, what is the real reason for the Israeli-Arabs staying in Israel, a land to which they have no obligations and which they see its creation as a Nakba, literally “disaster,” “catastrophe”?
The Arabs say, the State must not put their loyalty to the test; loyalty to whom exactly? The moment of truth, which Israel has brushed under the carpet has come to haunt it, probably it wishes this moment would have never arrived.
Is President Rivlin OK with what the Arabs say about loyalty?
My say in August 2014
In August 2014 I wrote an essay: Israel’s growing 5th column. Missiles are very scary, but the Arabs and Muslims’ rage and Islam radicalism is much scarier!”
I am against another Arab state in the heart of Israel, meaning “Palestine.” Because the closer you bring the enemy to your doorsteps the closer the danger from them is for you to bear. A “Palestine” will be in the living room of Israel and Israel will never have peace or security.
So I am against the ‘two states [dis]solution’.
Therefore, in a very weird way, I think it is good that Hamas fired some rockets at Ben Gurion international airport. It is a wake-up call.
I have been saying for years that the governments of Israel will not end playing silly and dangerous games with the Arab savages until the country’s main airport was targeted. Then, hopefully, they will wake up!
Short of that, when Hamas attacks Israel, Israel’s retaliation is weak. It seek a rapid “ceasefire” that leaves the Gaza terrorocracy intact to rearm and attack Israel again.
Then, without crushing Hamas, life in Israel returns to normal. But the normal life is not really normal; there is always the fear that Hamas will start raining rockets at Israel again. The vicious cycle of terror, violence, kidnapping of Jews and murder will erupt again, as it always does.
The government of Israel has been looking for any excuse possible to avoid the inevitable conclusion that Israel needs to re-take Gaza and impose Denazification, demilitarization and martial rule there. Yes, I know the fear of losing many soldiers is a moral and national obstacle but there must be a way.
Since the early days after the Oslo Accords were signed, it has become clear that the action to retake Gaza would be necessary sooner or later. But the Israeli “bury head in sand” policy continued. Israeli kids fought operational wars against Hamas and delayed the inevitable. The goal post was pushed and the cycle repeated.
But, when Israel’s international airport is targeted and Israelis cannot go on their ski holidays or pop over to the French Riviera, or fly to shop in London and New York, then the reality changes.
There is also no room left for delusions about Arabs holding Israeli citizenship. They have showed their 5th Column face in clear daylight. The bulk of these Arabs holding Israeli citizenship are cheering Hamas and they often hold pro-Hamas street demonstrations.
It is time for the government of Israel to DEFUND and refuse to provide ANY revenue to any Arab town or village that engages in open support for Hamas and other enemies of Israel. This is treason against the State of Israel. These Arabs want a war against the Jews? The Jews must fight back!
For so many years the bleeding hearts Left in Israel have whined that Arab terrorism is simply a nuisance for Israel but it is not an existential threat. Therefore, Israel was over-reacting to it in a “disproportionate” manner. Well, now that the savages are shooting rockets at Ben Gurion international airport it is obvious to all that terrorism IS an existential threat to Israel.
And just what is the measured and proportionate response to an existential threat, President Rivlin?
My say in November 2016
In November 2016 I wrote ‘The Blaze That Was Long Coming to Israel‘
One government of Israel after another has been ignoring the fact that a 5th column of Arabs in brewing inside the country. Arabs who carry Israeli citizenship contribute nothing to the country; i.e. do not serve in the military or do national service, pay no taxes in many cases and live in their villages as a totally separate sector.
Israeli-Arabs do not see Israel as their homeland. For the past 68 years Arab nations have tried to destroy the Jewish State, the land that has belonged to the Jewish nation for over 3,000 years. They have not succeeded to destroy Israel militarily, nor through diplomatic maneuvers or lawfare. Instead, the Arbs in Israel have put the country ablaze. Fires started, in the same time, in seventy points all over Israel. That is no accident. That is arson terror. And the country is struggling to overcome the spreading fires and have asked neighboring countries for their help.
Oh’ I forgot, the fear of the government of Israel of what the world will say when the Israelis claim their right to defend themselves is so fierce the government takes ridiculous precautious measures that only ridicule itself.
This is an outstanding opportunity to expel, at least all the residents of villages who set the country ablaze. You do not burn your own homeland. Since they do not consider Israel their homeland, they do not deserve to live there.
Are these arsonists the people President Rivlin thinks want a ‘shared existence’ in Israel?
My say in 2021
It is now the year 2021 and Israeli-Arabs’ violent riots have broken all over Israel in towns and cities where the Jewish-Israeli and the Israeli-Arab population is supposed to live in harmony and coexistence.
Lawlessness, the type of Kristallnacht were the scenes all over Israel.
Mimicking Kristallnacht Nazi Pogrom, carried out by Nazi paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9-10 November 1938, raging Arab mob burned synagogues, business, set fires with Molotov cocktails, attacked their Jewish neighbors and fired at the police; the same violence Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa mob carried out in many United States cities though out the 2020 summer.
The Arabs in Israel claim they do not have an identity. They do not identify with the democratic and Jewish ethos of the state of Israel. The state’s national anthem and flag is not theirs to respect. The ancient and modern culture of the Jewish state is not theirs either. Isn’t best they are stripped off their Israeli citizenship so they can be open to obtain the identity they seek to have? But it will not be within the borders of the Jewish state, Israel, which they wish to burn to the ground.
Shared Existence in Israel
Witnessing the Israel-Arab reality that hit all the Israeli-Jews in the face, Reuven “Ruvi” President Rivlin, the president of Israel stated: ‘Shared’ Jewish-Arab identity key to Israel’s future. He foolishly said that the Israelis and the Palestinians both connected to the land; attempts to force either side to relinquish its narrative ‘destined to fail’.
The Jews’ connection to the land began 3000 years ago. The Arabs ‘connection’ to the land has been through immigration before Israel gained independence and Israel did not give that immigration its approval.
It is obvious to me that the Arabs who took to the streets of the Israeli cities of Jerusalem, Lod, Ramle, Yafo, Acre, Haifa, to name a few are Israel’s growing 5th column. While in the past 3 days Hamas has fired over 1500 rockets and missiles into Israel’s civilian population the Israeli-Arabs have showed their true face, the 5th column face and their disloyalty to Israel, perhaps to Hamas.
They don’t seem to believe in a shared existence in Israel. Not at all.
Lod Mayor Yair Revivo was devastated about what the Israeli Arabs did to his city.
“This is Kristallnacht in Lod,” Revivo said. “I have called on the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in Lod. To call in the IDF. To impose a curfew. To restore quiet … There is a failure of governance … This is a giant incident – an intifada of Arab Israelis. All the work we have done here for years [on coexistence] has gone down the drain.”
Is President Rivlin listening to the Mayor? Or is he sitting in an ivory tower away from where this is all happening? ‘Shared Existence’ in Israel? That is a pipe dream.
Hopefully this reality is now clearer than clear and there is no wiggling room left. Now, still the Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu and company can no longer hide the obvious. There is no alternative to the long overdue R&D = Reoccupation and Denazifization of Gaza and the Israeli-Arab sector population.
I think that Israeli society suffers from short memory. A shared existence in Israel with the Israeli Arabs does not seem possible as the facts shout loud nowadays.
In his famous 1923 essay, “The Iron Wall,” nearly 100 years ago the words of the Zionist, Vladimir-Ze’ev Jabotinsky, resonate as if they were written today, “It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not ‘meet halfway’ those who do not want to meet you.”
