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MENACHEM BEGIN’S BROADCAST TO THE NATION, MAY 15, 1948- THE
STATE OF ISRAEL HAS ARISEN!
Editor’s Note: This is excerpted from Begin’s address on Israel’s
independence day on the Irgun’s radio station. His words are worth remembering in this time
of unprecedented challenges to Israel’s right to exist.
Citizens of the
Hebrew Homeland, Soldiers of Israel, Hebrew Youth, Sisters and Brothers in
Zion! Today is truly a holiday, a Holy Day, and a new fruit is visible before
our very eyes. The Hebrew Revolt of 1944-1948 has been blessed with success —
the first Hebrew revolt since the Hasmonean insurrection that has ended in
victory. The State of Israel has arisen
in bloody battle. The highway for the mass return to Zion has been cast up. The
foundation has been laid — but only the foundation — for true independence.
One phase of
the battle for freedom, for the return of the entire People of Israel to its
homeland, for the restoration of the whole Land of Israel to its God-covenanted
owners, has ended. But only one phase. We should recall that this event has
occurred after 70 generations of dispersion and unending wandering of an
unarmed people and after a period of almost total destruction of the Jew as
Jew. Thus, although our suffering is not yet over, it is our right and our
obligation to proffer thanks to the Rock of Israel and His Redeemer for all the
miracles that have been done this day, as in those times. We therefore can say
with full heart and soul on this first day of our liberation from the British
occupier: Blessed is He who has sustained us and enabled us to have reached
this time. The State of Israel has arisen. And it has risen “Only Thus”:
through blood, through fire, with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with
sufferings and with sacrifices. It could
not have been otherwise.
And yet, even
before our state is able to establish its normal governing institutions, it is
compelled to fight, or rather, to continue to fight satanic enemies and
blood-thirsty mercenaries, on land, in the air and on the sea. In these
circumstances, the warning sounded by the Philosopher-President Thomas Masaryk
to the Czechoslovak nation when it attained its freedom after three hundred
years of slavery has a special significance for us. In 1918, when Masaryk
stepped out on to the Wilson railway station in Prague, he warned his cheering
countrymen: “It is difficult to set up a state; it is even more difficult to
keep it going.”
We are
surrounded by enemies who long for our destruction. Our one-day old state is set up in the midst
of the flames of battle. And the very first pillar of our state must therefore
be victory, total victory, in the war which is raging all over the country. For
this victory, without which we shall have neither freedom nor life, we need
arms; weapons of all sorts, in order to strike the enemies, in order to
disperse the invaders, in order to free the entire length and breadth of the
country from its would-be destroyers. But in addition to these arms, each and
every one of us has need of another weapon, a spiritual weapon, the weapon of
unflinching endurance in face of attacks from the air; in face of grievous
casualties; in face of local disasters and temporary defeats; unflinching
resistance to threats and cajolery.
But even after
emerging victorious from this campaign — and victorious we shall be — we shall
still have to exert superhuman efforts in order to remain independent, in order
to free our country. First of all, it will be necessary to increase and
strengthen the fighting arm of Israel, without which there can be no freedom
and no survival for our Homeland. Our Jewish army should be, and must be, one
of the best trained and equipped of the world’s military forces. In modern
warfare, it is not quantity that counts but brainpower and spirit are the
determining factors. All of our youth proved that they possess this spirit –
those of the Hagana, the Lehi, the Irgun, youth that no other nation has
merited. Indeed, no generation since Bar-Kochba and until the Bilu pioneers has
seen such spirit.
As for
brainpower, after 120 generations, the creativity of the Hebrew mind is one of
the most developed and unlimited. Our military science will be built up on the
Jewish mind and will be the world’s best. We will yet achieve strength for we
possess the power of the brain. In order to free our country and maintain our
state, we shall need a wise foreign policy. We must turn our declaration of
independence into a reality. Secondly,
we must establish and maintain the principle of reciprocity in our relations
with the nations of the world. There must be no self-denigration.
Of no less
importance is our internal policy. The first pillar of this policy is the
Return to Zion….Quickly, quickly! Our nation has no time! Bring in hundreds of
thousands. If there will not be enough houses, we’ll find tents or even the
skies, the blue skies of our land, as a roof.
We are now in the midst of a war for survival; and our tomorrow and
theirs depend on the quickest concentration of our nation’s exiles. And within
our Homeland, justice shall be the supreme ruler, the ruler over all
rulers. The Ministers and officials must
be the servants of the nation and not their masters. “Righteousness,
righteousness shall you pursue” will be the guiding principle in our relations
amongst ourselves.
The Irgun Zvai
Leumi is leaving the underground inside the boundaries of the Hebrew
independent state. In the State of
Israel, we shall be soldiers and builders. And we shall respect its government,
for it is our government. The State of Israel has arisen, but we must remember
that our country is not yet liberated. The battle continues, and you see now
that the words of your Irgun fighters were not vain words: it is Hebrew arms
which decide the boundaries of the Hebrew State. So it is now in this battle;
so it will be in the future. Our God-given country is a unity, an integral
historical and geographical whole.
Whoever does
not recognize our natural right to our entire homeland, does not recognize our
right to any part of it. There can be no
distinction between the nation-state and its homeland. We will yet fly the flag of freedom, of
peace, of progress. Our soldiers will unfurl that flag over the Tower of David
and we will yet plow the fields of the Gilead. Citizens of the Hebrew State,
soldiers of Israel, we are in the midst of battles. Much blood will be spilled. Fortify
yourselves. Strengthen your morale. There is no other way. We cannot buy peace
from our enemies with appeasement. There is only one kind of ‘peace’ that can
be bought — the peace of the graveyard, the peace of Treblinka.
Be brave of
spirit and ready for more trials. We shall withstand them. And you, brothers of the fighting family, do
you remember how we started? You were
alone and persecuted, rejected, despised and numbered with transgressors. But you fought on with deep faith and did not
retreat. You were driven to the gallows but went forth with a song. But for the time-being, let us think of the
battle, for only the outcome of the battle will decide our fate and future. We
shall go on our way into battle, soldiers of the Lord of Hosts, inspired by the
spirit of our ancient heroes, from the conquerors of Canaan to the Rebels of
Judah.
We shall be
accompanied by the spirit of those who revived our nation, Zeev Benjamin Herzl,
Max Nordau, Joseph Trumpeldor and the father of resurrected Hebrew heroism,
Zeev Jabotinsky. We shall be accompanied by the spirit of David Raziel,
greatest of the Hebrew commanders of our day; and by Dov Gruner, one of the
greatest of Hebrew soldiers. And in this battle, we shall break the enemy and
bring salvation to our people, tried in the furnace of persecution, thirsting
only for freedom, for righteousness and for justice. God, Lord of Israel,
protect your soldiers. Grant blessing to their sword that is renewing the
covenant that was made between your chosen people and your chosen land. Arise O
Lion of Judea for our people, for our land. On to battle. Forward to victory.
Thanks NG
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