The true nature of the struggle [Arab-Israeli]

We are accustomed to think of the secular-religious divide that exists in Israel today as relating to denominational pluralism, conversions, civil marriage, Sabbath observance and other matters of ritual and budget allocations. All of this may be true, but it ignores the basic divide, which is one of values, world view and perception of ourselves and others.

The recent success of Hamas in the elections for the Palestinian parliament should serve to focus the attention of our leaders and public on a hard fact that Israel has always chosen to ignore until now: that the Arab-Israeli struggle is at its core a religious dispute. Only by appreciating and understanding this unpleasant but very real truth does the struggle take on a somewhat rational and understandable, and perhaps even predictable, pattern.

Since the leadership, political and academic, of the Zionist movement from its founding in 1897 and later of the State of Israel itself has always been devoutly secular and disdainful, if not downright hostile, to traditional Jewish beliefs, values and religious practices, it placed itself in a mind-frame that did not appreciate the Arab position on the emergence of the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel.

If we care nothing about our religion, the Jewish leadership seemed to say, then it should be true that they - the Arabs - must also not allow religion to play a decisive role in reconciling our differences.

In effect, we always maintained that since we had freed ourselves of the constraints of our religion and thus saw our way forward to territorial solutions that would end the conflict, it was obvious that eventually the Arabs would also become completely secularized - the wave of the future, as Marx predicted - and the rose garden of the Middle East would then begin to bloom.

BUT THIS was and is a gross underestimation of the strength and tenacity of the faith and practices of Islam among its adherents. Europe may by now have shed most of its Christianity, but the Muslim world, which currently spans the globe, refuses to give up on Islam and the Koran. And a Jewish state in the heartland of the Muslim Middle East is a denial of the tenets of Islam as they have been interpreted for centuries on end; just as Jewish survival throughout the millennia served as a denial of early basic Christian tenets.

The mere existence of such a Jewish state, no matter what its borders, would still remain an affront to Islam even if it was completely disarmed and headed by Yossi Beilin. Thus, the president of Iran, among other Muslim leaders, would still be duty-bound to call for its destruction, God forbid. And he and they mean exactly what they threaten.

The secularization of Israeli society has brought much harm - physical, social, economic and psychological - to the Jews here in Israel. It has torn families apart, embittered vast sections of the public against one another, blinded generations to the richness of their Jewish heritage and distorted any understanding of the true nature of the struggle for the existence of the State of Israel.

The Arabs view us as the latter-day reincarnation of the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. The struggle and triumph over the Crusaders was a victory of Islam over Christianity, pure and simple. It reinforced in the Muslim mind the exclusivity and superiority of Islam over all other faiths. It strengthened the concept of dhimmi in the Muslim world, whereby non-Muslims could exist in their society solely in a subservient, second-class state of being, and even then only at the sufferance of the Muslim rulers themselves.

Religion was the motivating force in that struggle. It remains so in our current struggle.

THE TRUTH is that territory, water rights, refugees, monetary compensations and mutual reparations are all items that can be negotiated and eventually even compromised. But religious beliefs and faith dogmas are not susceptible to such tactics of negotiation and compromise. Israel undoubtedly contributed to Hamas's success by its shortsighted bluffing over the unacceptability of Hamas as a player in the arena of the Arab-Israeli contest. As usual, we could not keep our mouths shut. However, even more subtly and insidiously, Israel highlighted Hamas and gave it enormous strength on the Arab street by refusing to recognize it as the Islamic religious organization it is. We preferred to see Hamas only as a terrorist organization, which it also is. But that is not what, at its core, it really is. It is a religious organization.

America can label Osama bin Laden an arch-terrorist, which again he certainly is; but in the Muslim world he is viewed as a religious leader, an accepted interpreter of the Koran and of Islamic principles. The Muslim world does not speak out strongly against him - not so much out of fear as out of Islamic faith.

And this is why victory for the secular West - even born-again Christian George W. Bush is pretty much secularized and, in any event, certainly an "infidel" - in Iraq or anywhere else in the Arab world is so difficult and problematic.

The Cold War was fought on a secular basis. The current terrorist war is a religious struggle between the true believers and the secular "infidels," who do not seem to understand their enemy and its true motivation.

I DO not expect the current candidates for prime minister in Israel to easily shed their secular mind-traps. But if they and the secular Israeli society generally showed more knowledge, appreciation and understanding of Judaism, its practices, customs and world view, and were less slavishly devoted to the ideas, fads and political correctness of the current secular Western world, we would have a much more logical, realistic and successful policy in the struggle in which we are engaged.

Through understanding and knowing ourselves we would have a more accurate view of our adversaries. In the yeshiva we were taught that understanding the difficulty, the inherent problem itself, constituted half the solution.

A religious struggle conducted from a purely secular point of view cannot really ever be concluded successfully, for the true core problem remains unrecognized. And this is the true religious-secular fault line that divides Israel today.

Bottom line, it will finally be a "Red Sea before them; Pharoah and the Egyptian Army behind," and the Holy One of Israel directly intervening again in the Jewish existence, before the seeds planted by Chabad and the Jews of faith began to finally bloom in the Nation of Israel.

Therefore, keep standing steady in Him in the face of the gathering storm....

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There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~

"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~

ISRAEL IS NOT SOME VAGUE AFFRONT TO ISLAM.
KORAN AND HADITH SAY 'KILL THE JEWS' FOR WHATEVER REASON!
THE JOOOOOOZ IN ISLAM:
KORAN [9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair [Ezra] is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

KORAN [5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:52:176] Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:52:177] Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:56:791] Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' "

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6981] Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, Muslim, there is a Jew (hiding himself behind me); kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6982] Ubaidullah has reported this hadith with this chain of transmitters (and the Words are):
"There is a Jew behind me."

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6983] Abdullah b. 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6984] Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said:
The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6985] Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Hadith Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Chapter 41: THE MURDER OF KA'B B. ASHRAF, (THE EVIL GENIUS) OF THE JEWS [for authoring songs and jokes about Muhammad]

HADITH Sahih Muslim [19:4436] It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said:
Who will kill Ka'b b. Ashraf? He has maligned Allah, the Exalted, and His Messenger. Muhammad b. Maslama said: Messenger of Allah, do you wish that I should kill him? He said: Yes. He said: Permit me to talk (to him in the way I deem fit). He said: Talk (as you like). So, Muhammad b. Maslama came to Ka'b and talked to him, referred to the old friendship between them and said: This man (i. e. the Holy Prophet) has made up his mind to collect charity (from us) and this has put us to a great hardship. When be heard this, Ka'b said: By God, you will be put to more trouble by him. Muhammad b. Maslama said: No doubt, now we have become his followers and we do not like to forsake him until we see what turn his affairs will take. I want that you should give me a loan. He said: What will you mortgage? He said: What do you want? He said: Pledge me your women. He said: You are the most handsome of the Arabs; should we pledge our women to you? He said: Pledge me your children. He said: The son of one of us may abuse us saying that he was pledged for two wasqs of dates, but we can pledge you (cur) weapons. He said: All right. Then Muhammad b. Maslama promised that he would come to him with Harith, Abu 'Abs b. Jabr and Abbad b. Bishr. So they came and called upon him at night. He came down to them. Sufyan says that all the narrators except 'Amr have stated that his wife said: I hear a voice which sounds like the voice of murder. He said: It is only Muhammad b. Maslama and his foster-brother, Abu Na'ila. When a gentleman is called at night even it to be pierced with a spear, he should respond to the call. Muhammad said to his companions: As he comes down, I will extend my hands towards his head and when I hold him fast, you should do your job. So when he came down and he was holding his cloak under his arm, they said to him: We sense from you a very fine smell. He said: Yes, I have with me a mistress who is the most scented of the women of Arabia. He said: Allow me to smell (the scent on your head). He said: Yes, you may smell. So he caught it and smelt. Then he said: Allow me to do so (once again). He then held his head fast and said to his companions: Do your job. And they killed him.

© Religion of Peace

KORAN: http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/
HADITH: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html

Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Mat 7:1-2)

ISLAM DELENDA EST!

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