The Left is Superfluous

Arieh Eldad
December 8, 2009

Anyone who wondered after the last election why the Israeli Left had shrunk to microscopic proportions got his answer this week. There is no need for a Left if the Likud is implementing Peace Now’s program. The microscopes that were being used to measure the size of the Left can now be used to measure the differences - if there are any - between Netanyahu and Tzippi Livni, between Gidon Sa’ar and Ehud Barak, or between Benny Begin and Benjamin “Fuad” Ben-Eliezer.
All of the above support the establishment of a Palestinian state, or at least are supporting Netanyahu who is supporting a Palestinian state, and this week all of them, including those calling themselves the “Land of Israel Faithful,” raised their hands in support of a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria.

But if we try hard enough we can find one important difference between them: their shoes.

Barak’s shoes shine. Because he hasn’t gone far. But Benny Begin’s shoes are worn out from the road he has traveled. The man who once stood on the right side of the Likud and headed the “National Union” has come to the point where he supports a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria. Begin, who certainly knows that you “can’t be just a little pregnant,” also knows that stopping construction is an anti-Zionist decree that eats away at our fundamental values and there’s no way to make excuses based on the limited length of the freeze. And he should know that the seeds planted by Netanyahu in his newly decreed “White Paper” against the settlement in Judea and Samaria will give birth to a monster. This decree prohibiting Jews from building in the heart of their homeland is the first step of the Likud towards establishing a Palestinian state. And this is really Netanyahu’s intention. It’s not a ploy to deal with the pressure from Obama. Netanyahu who once said, “Anyone who says ‘Yes’ to a Palestinian State says No to the State of Israel,” now says ‘Yes’ to a Palestinian state and this week even said ‘No’ to the right of natural population growth of Jews in Judea and Samaria. Ministers Begin, Ya’alon, Sa’ar, Livnat, Erdan, Kachlon, Lieberman, Hershkowitz – all of them are partners in this and all of them share responsibility. They and no less than them Moshe Feiglin and his followers who misled large numbers of loyal people and convinced them to vote for the Likud “because you can only have influence within the ruling party” – they strengthened the Likud and gave Netanyahu the power to freeze construction and establish a Palestinian state.

Autumn is upon us. The leaves are falling from the trees, and with them the fig leaf that covered Netanyahu’s shame. Anyone who thought that this man who had previously voted in the Knesset for the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif had changed – erred because in the last elections Bibi hid behind Begin and Ya’alon. Autumn has come. Obama has blown. Netanyahu has collapsed. And the fig leaf has fallen.

The Likud headed by Menachem Begin destroyed Yamit and its environs. The Likud headed by Sharon destroyed the communities of Gush Katif. And the Likud headed by Netanyahu is threatening to destroy settlement in Judea and Samaria. He recognizes the right of Arabs and Americans to dictate where Jews may build. Don’t let Netanyahu’s slippery tongue or Benny Begin’s deceptions fool you. Surrender and abandoning values and principles bear witness to character and there’s nothing temporary about doing so. Some claim the freeze is a political maneuver; it is not a maneuver, it is idiocy. It is political idiocy because the imposition of a “temporary” freeze in Ma’ale Adumim immediately brought demands for Jerusalem.

There is only one cure for this freeze: To build. And build more. To act morally and as Zionists by violating orders that negate our right to build in the Land of Israel. May the Council leaders who ripped up the written orders be blessed. If tens of thousands of residents rise to build with their own hands, even those who tend to surrender will understand: the nation is stronger than its leaders.