A Rose to a World Gone By

Ari Bussel

June 8, 2009 (first post)

A day following his Cairo Speech, US President Barack Hussein Obama toured Buchenwald Concentration Camp accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Holocaust survivors Elie Wiesel and Bertrand Herz.

The four entered the camp, now a museum to an era gone by—but must not be forgotten—with a throng of reporters recording their every move and expression. They were given four long, white roses, which they later laid on a metal plate-tombstone on the ground. The perfect photo-op: Each in turn stepped forward, approached the flat inscribed metal plate-tombstone and laid a single rose. Dues were paid; President Obama’s tour had to continue. Six million Jews were unfathomably brutally exterminated only because they were Jews. Did the world learn any lesson? More importantly, did Jews learn any lesson? There are approximately six millions Jews in Israel today, and according to Iran, it is time to eliminate them as well. It seems as if there is no place for the Jewish State, and as stubborn as it may seem to be, it will be extracted, like a tooth, for the greater good and the possible global peace of mind. Then, one day, a white rose can be laid on a tombstone on the ground, in remembrance of a country that once was.

Several months ago, while in Israel, I was walking in Jerusalem toward the President’s Residence. The sun was setting along with a light breeze and the side street leading to the Presidential Residence was quite, not a single soul—bird or human. While walking, I noticed a building that was converted from a residence to a historical foundation memorializing the history of some group. I remember thinking that a day might come and a person like me will be walking in this very same street to notice that the foundation building still exists, but it was expanded along the entire block because it will have to hold the archive record and information of a great country that once was; the Jewish Homeland, the State of Israel.

I hastened my pace, almost running, afraid to be late for my meeting. My inner me knew with increased confidence: Israel must remain, not as a celebrated place to visit but as a viable Jewish State.

Is it time already to lament Israel? It still exists as a vibrant, diverse society, a country like no other around the world. Can the world in fact rid itself of this ‘nuisance’ called Israel? Many now advocate that our world would be a far better place if only Israel had ceased to exist.

The Thief from Bagdad

The proposition of a ‘Two State Solution’ has been in the working since the first half of the last century. “Greater Palestine” under British Mandate was divided into what today are two sovereign states, Israel and Jordan, on both sides of the Jordan River. A generation has arisen that aspires to draw new lines. Each time a line is changed in the slightest–moved, redrawn, or erased altogether--a price must be paid, blood will be spilled.

In a different era, borders were drawn on paper maps using different color markers whose thickness translated in some instances into a very weird geographical reality. Such practice of dividing lands and spheres of influence was commonplace. Take another look at Iraq for instance. Should the Kurds not have their own country, extending from portions of Turkey to Iraq? Cut a slice from Turkey, divide Iraq into three parts, and declare the independence of the Kurds.

Those living side by side in this area struggled. After several unsuccessful attempts by the Arabs to destroy Israel, a wise person arose, Yasser Arafat. Formerly a terrorist with blood of many on his hands, he understood the methodology: Grab whatever you are given, then demand more. He managed to plant a new identity, a dream depicted on maps in textbooks –a world without Israel, a Middle East devoid of Jews. A new creation: the “Palestinian People” and a dream for a “Statehood.”

Arafat was not bashful borrowing from what was never his—the Bible, historical records, archeological artifacts, even olive trees. He borrowed and used the Arabian imagination to embroider the story with beautiful artwork. So beautiful, in fact, that anyone looking at it was mesmerized, forgetting the past, oblivious to facts or reason.

The fantasy and its effects were so potent that even those far away were affected. Not really understanding the culture, background or historical framework, they all started chanting: Statehood. Give The People a Home. Very fast the chanting became a thunder, those few who dared to protest were crumpled under the feet of the multitude, and people were rushing to the mirage in the desert, wanting to satisfy this deadly desire, their craving to see the most beautiful embroidery once again.

There cannot be a Two State Solution in the area today called Israel; it simply cannot exist. The sooner we wake up and recognize this reality, the better everyone will be. Those elements in the Palestinian Authority and Hamas which armed themselves, tooth and nail, will have to be disarmed. The issue is slightly more complicated than simply stopping the armament and the training provided by Western countries. The terrorists use pipes—the ones otherwise needed for plumbing supplies, gardening, agriculture, construction and other daily uses—and turn them into deadly rockets.

A dream of a “State” requires investment in future generations: establishing state institutes, building infrastructure, applying law and order, educating children and youth, not on hatred and incitement; using religion to teach and embed values, such as helping those less fortunate and caring about others, not only oneself, and prohibiting gratifying one’s twisted desire for 72 female virgins awaiting each homicide bomber.

A phantom “Two State Solution” is not the solution, for no one is seriously pursuing building towards it. There is only death and destruction among the camp of the dreamers. They exist for only one goal: to bring about the utter and complete destruction of the State of the Jews.

Marching to the Death Showers

Israel seems to be divided. There are those who strongly believe that parts of Israel must be butchered off and given to the enemy. Then there are those who recognize the only effect of such a move would be to hasten the end, the death of the patient.

The next war will help Israelis wake up to the grim reality that it really does not matter if one is associated with the center-to left party Kadima or the center-to right party of Likud. All are Jews. When a bomb explodes, when a missile hits, when a viral, biological or chemical agent is released, the labels Israelis and Jews like so much to assign become meaningless. Everyone, including Arab-Israelis will all be dead.

Marching to take a shower, stripping of one’s clothes and then entering these large rooms without any windows, waiting for the water flow to start from above, Jewish men and women still held the belief that human beings are, of their own nature, good. No one imagined that the flow could be of Cyclone B. Even the rumors, the stories, the hints fell on deaf ears.

Labels will not matter, and death will greet us. There will be no one to blame but ourselves, as we have heard, but did not want to believe. We have read and listened but refused to comprehend. It is contrary to human nature, and it defies our culture and our ultimate being, to think that people’s fulfillment aspirations may be the utter and complete destruction of another People, of a Nation, of a State.

So we will go on arguing among ourselves in hushed voices what else we can do or give and how can we make the life of the enemy more bearable and how we are those at fault. A few will march in silence, realizing the ill path taken, when the truth dawns on them, the moment of truth reached just before eternity spreads its wings over us.

Can we allow it to happen that one day, not so far away, someone will walk up the street in Jerusalem and lament the nation that was? Or that someone, in the not so distant future, will hold a red rose to be placed where once a heart was beating, pumping red, hot blood throughout the world, supplying oxygen to the brain, ensuring a supply of nutrients to the cells and tissues throughout the body. At present we are so blind sighted that by our own actions and doing, we allow the enemy to stub the heart, constrict its flow, ultimately enabling the savage to extract our heart with his hand and shout, like an animal, a victor’s roar:

Jews and Israelis the world over, your journey is over.