comment by Jerry Gordon
M.K. Dr. Arieh Eldad of the National Union party in Israel’s Knesset is one of the few who speaks truth to power. When he was in the U.S., we discussed getting English translations of his weekly columns in Ma’ariv and Yediot Aharanot in an effort to broadcast his views to a wider audience. This column was translated by Zeev Golan. So, here is an Israpundit exclusive, the translation of his weekly column from last Friday’s Ma’ariv. In it he shows his rapier-like acerbic wit in contrasting the IDF trumpeting the foiling of a planned abduction of an IDF soldier under the ‘umbrella’ of a Hamas Kassem rocket attack in the western Negev with the actions of the IDF Samarian division commander denying bus transports for thousands of Jews who returned to Homesh on Yom Ha’Atazma’ut to raise an Israeli flag on the ruins of the water tower in the abandoned settlement. We hope that this becomes a steady flow of commentary from Dr. Eldad - one of the few in the Knesset who are incorruptible in pursuit of the Zionist ethos. Kol Hakavod to Dr. Eldad.
by M.K. Dr. Arieh Eldad, Ma’ariv, April 27, 2007
Hamas terrorists attacked the western Negev with Kassam rockets and artillery on the morning of Independence Day. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has taken pride in an impressive achievement: True, it did not prevent the bombardment and did not kill – or maybe did not even try to kill - the terrorists – but IDF spokesman knew that they could take pride: We prevented the planned kidnapping of a soldier under cover of the bombardment.
The purpose of the IDF is to protect the state, its residents, its borders, its sovereignty and its honor. On the morning of Independence Day, the IDF failed to fulfill its role. But the IDF did succeed, at least this time, in preventing a kidnapping. An attitude and world view similar to this previously led Israel to accept the provocations and entrenchment of Hezbollah in Lebanon. We lowered our profile, avoided moving our military up north, and did not respond as we should have to the bombardments of our northern settlements. We hoped to “contain†Hezbollah terror and Israeli leaders promised that Hezbollah’s rockets would rust in their warehouses. (more…)