I want to
talk to the children tonight. Because I'm concerned for your souls and
your faith.
You've heard that we are aggressors -- savagely invading, occupying,oppressing
a sovereign people.
You've heard we have brutally destroyed their cities and towns, their
homes and shops, desecrating holy places, turning once-thriving centers
of life into fields of destruction and death.
You've heard that we have committed atrocity; that we have massacred
hundreds of innocents, bull-dozed living people into rubble, shot pregnant
women and little children, halted ambulences from attending to the wounded.
They say we've even prevented the burial of their dead. And when we
did bury the dead, it was only to cover up the mass murder.
And it seems that everyone says it. You hear it on CNN and ABC and NPR,
you read it in the LA Times, you hear it from world leaders and organizations
devoted to humanitarian causes.
The Portuguese Nobel Laureate, Jose Saramago visited the Palestinian
West Bank as one of a group of famous authors, called the International
Parliament of Writers and declared that "what is happening here
is a crime that may be compared to Auschwitz".
Robert Sheer, in this morning's Los Angeles Time, compares Ariel Sharon
to the Serbian butcher, Slobodan Milosevic. This, after a weekend of
prominant, front page articles describing the wanton destruction and
ruthless mass murder carried out by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian
civilians in Nablus and Jenin. (And you had to read to the fifth paragraph
of the story to discover that none of the reports were independently
confirmed, verified, or corroborated.)
The annual session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,
last week, condemned Israel for "mass killings" of Palestinians,
"gross violations" of humanitarian law" and affirmed
the "legitimate right of
Palestinian people to resist."
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Israel's "brutal
practices in the occupied Palestinian territories." UNESCO issued
a resolution condemning the Israeli attacks on the cultural centres
and holy sites in Palestine. (Strangely, they said nothing of synagogues
burned in France or exploded in Tunisia.)
The European Parliament adopted a resolution last week that called on
the European Union to suspend its 6-year-old trade Treaty with Israel.
You, our children, you hear these things, you read these things. You
witness demonstrations on college campuses and in the great cities of
the world. And you have to wonder: Is this the truth? Are these really
my people? What kind of people are we? What kind of society is Israel?
What happened to the dream that once was Zionism?
Koffi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations put it succinctly:"Is
it possible," he asked, "that Israel is right and the whole
world is wrong?"
As long as you live, I want you to remember this night. Tonight, something
extraordinary is happening. Tonight, we have come, your parents and
grandparents, your rabbis and teachers, distinguished leaders from every
corner of the Jewish community -- Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, religious
and secular, right-wing and left-wing, to say one thing: Is it possible
that Israel is right and the whole world is wrong? You bet your life
it is. You
bet your life, because we've bet our lives. It is true now and it always
has been. From the time the world worshipped rocks and trees and Abraham
discovered the Creator of all. From the time the world bowed low to
Pharoah and Moses commanded that we stand up and be free. From the time
when the world idolized and revered Roman power and Akiba risked his
life to teach Torah.
And it's true today. Because the world has no memory.
They forget, but we remember. In 1947 the United Nations voted to partition
Palestine and to create two states between the Jordan and the Mediterranean:
One, the Jewish state of Israel. The other, a homeland for Palestinian
Arabs. The Zionist leadership, the acting government of the Yishuv,
accepted the plan. In 1947, we affirmed our desire to live in peace,
side by side with a Palestinian State. But the armies of nine Arab states
came pouring over the borders, to extinguish the nascent state of Israel
and to murder yet another million Jew. When a truce came, the territory
for the Palestinian Arab State had been devoured by Egypt and Jordan
and Syria.
They forget, but we remember that thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled
in the face of that Arab invasion. But when they reached the borders
of Jordan and Egypt, they were not permitted to enter. Israel, tiny
beleagured Israel managed to absorb and settle millions of Jewish refugees
from Europe and the Middle East. But the entire Arab League and all
26 Muslim nations, with all their oil-wealth, couldn't find room for
their poor Palestinian brothers and sisters -- and left them to rot
in squalid refugee camps, festering in hatred and rage.
They forget, but we remember every time they came across our border
to murder and to destroy. We remember 1948, 1967, 1973. We remember
the Olympics in Munich and the school in Maalot.
And we remember that when Sadat came to Jerusalem, we dismantled settlements,
and relocated whole cities, and gave Egypt back the entire Sinai, in
return for peace.
We remember Yitzchak Rabin and his dream. And we remember that his protege,
Ehud Barak went to Camp David and then to Taba, and offered, for the
second time in 50 years, to create a Palestinian State, comprised of
97% of the West Bank and all of Gaza with sovereignty over half of Jerusalem
including the Temple Mount, and $30 billion in world economic aid. And
we remember the answer.
They forget, but we remember, just months ago, a bomber in the Dolphinarium
Disco in Tel Aviv killed 21 teens. And what did we do in retaliation,
what did we hit? Nothing. We practiced restraint. And months later when
another bomber destroyed Sbarro's Pizza and dozens more were killed.
What was our retaliation? Nothing. We practiced restraint. And the Bat
Mitzvah in Hadera and the mall in Netanya and the restraurants and cafes
in Jerusalem and Afula and in Haifa -- we retaliated by destroying buildings.
Empty buildings. Because we called them hours in advance of each mission,
to warn them to evacuate.
And then came Pesach. This year, the Angel of Death did not pass over.
Whole families were murdered at the Seder table. But even now, do we
bomb from the air, like America? Risk hitting hospitals and schools
and embassies like America did in Bosnia and Afganistan? No. We send
our kids through the alleyways and byways -- to face booby traps and
snipers and mines.
Tonight, your parents and grandparents, your rabbis and teachers, your
community have gathered here in the thousands to testify that the whole
world is wrong and Israel is right. And we will not apologize for doing
what's right -- for defending our children and their dreams from murderers.
We mourn for innocents, Palestinian and Israeli, who are caught in the
struggle. We take no pleasure in the suffering of any human being --
we dip out wine from our cups -- but we will not apologize for taking
steps to
survive in that vicious corner of the world where, mezmerized by murder
and blood, they dance and sing when their children blow themselves up.
We will not apologize for demanding our land and our freedom and our
security in this world. Jews no longer apologize for surviving.
You must not be apologetic for Israel or ashamed of Israel. You must
not be embarassed by Israel or afraid to stand up for Israel.
And you must never, ever grow bitter, cynical, or dark.
The prophet Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of all he loved: Jerusalem,
the Temple, his people. And through his tears he wrote,
lo yeshama b'aray yehuda, uv'chutzot yerushalayeem,kol sasson, v'kol
simcha, kol chatan v'kol kalah.
Never again will Judah or Jerusalem hear the sounds of joy and the voices
of gladness, the song of the bride and grooms.
But the Rabbis who came generations later knew the prophet got it wrong.
They believed that one day, we would return to Judah and to Jerusalem.
But only if we hold fast to hope and resist despair; only if we cling
tight to our dreams and refuse to surrender to bitterness. The Rabbis
knew that the death of our faith is a greater tragedy than the destruction
of our city; and the crushing of our vision, a bigger disaster than
the ruin of the
Temple. And so they changed one word in the prophecy. Instead of Lo
yeshama, we sing Od yeshama. In every bride and groom, in every Jewish
family, in every community and synagogue, in every place where Jewish
life lives, Jeremiah is proved wrong. Od yeshama b'aray yehuda. For
once again, the hills of Judah and the streets of Yerushalim will ring
with the sounds of joy and celebration, with the music of love and melody
of hope and the song of peace.
Amen
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