On Iraq And The Gulf Crisis Pt. 4: Two Paths
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane
And for the Jews of the exile, the ones who sincerely worry for us in Israel: That there is a crisis in the Middle East is undeniable. And that an Israel that does not go back to G-d faces terrible times is of course true. But the Jews of Israel can never be exiled again. There can be no destruction of the Jewish state; at worst - great suffering that can be stopped by a return to G-d and having the kind of faith in Him that leads Jews to do all the things that will anger the world: annex the territories, drive out the Arabs, strike at Iraq without asking American permission and without bowing to her wishes, take over the Temple Mount.
But for the Jews of the United States and the rest of the Exile - there is no way out. For them, who worry about Israel, let the message be: "Heal thyselves! Worry about your fate, for yours is by far the more dangerous situation. The Exile - which was never more than a curse and punishment for Jewish sins, never more than a forbidden spiritual graveyard for the Jew at a time when a Jewish homeland existed - is ending. The Jew there has no choice and the explosive upsurge of Jew-hatred throughout the world in recent months is part of the clear final period of the final redemption. The Jew has no choice, and though he willfully blinds himself to truth and though he stubbornly insists on remaining in the graveyard, the voice of the Prophet rings out:
"As I live… surely with an outstretched arm and with fury poured out will I be King over you; and I will bring you out from the peoples… with a mighty arm and with fury poured out… And I will cause you to pass under the rod… and I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against Me…"
That the secular and the denier-rabbis understand nothing is not in the least surprising, but one sadly watches and hears scholars and spiritual leaders of great stature who fail to speak out on the lessons of this era and this immediate turn of history.
And so the two Chief Rabbis tell Jews, "The Guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers and no doubt the present tensions in the Gulf will only turn out to be good for the Jews."
And the Rebbe of Lubavitch issued a soothing statement stating that there is no concern for the security of Israel since one should "ask any five-year old child who is learning Chumash what the Torah states explicitly - that 'Israel is a land which the Lord your G-d cares for; the eyes of the Almighty are always upon it.'" He adds that there is nothing to fear because all these events are merely preparation for the coming of the Messiah.
And I sit sadly and say: Learned rabbis, I have not merited understanding your words. Of course, the Lord neither sleeps nor slumbers, but that did not prevent Him from turning His face from Israel throughout the centuries and allowing tragedy to come upon them for their sins. And it did not prevent King David from crying out (Tehilim 44): "Awake, why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast not off forever." And (ibid 78): "Then the Lord awoke as one asleep…" And the fact that a five-year old child knows that "Israel is a land which the Lord, your G-d, cares for," means he also knows that that did not prevent Him, innumerable times, from allowing the enemies of Israel to bring tragedy to it.
Of course, the events in the Middle East are the footsteps of the Messiah and a long way into the beginning of the Redemption, but what kind of redemption? That which will come swiftly because we merit it, or that which will be accompanied by awful tragedies because we sin and deny and trample the Torah and desecrate G-d's Name? We allow the Temple Mount to remain in the hands of the cursed Ishmaelites even as Jews are barred - not for religious reasons but out of a disgusting fear of offending Moslem sensitivities; we refuse not only to annex the territories of Eretz Yisrael, Judea-Samaria-Gaza, but also allow free and unlimited Jewish settlement anywhere in those areas; an "intifada", deep into its third year, sees not only Jews stoned and firebombed but terrified to travel in large parts of Eretz Yisrael, including parts of the State of Israel, even as the army, de facto, creates a "Eretz Yisrael" by pulling out of large parts of the territories, thus giving them over to the un-tender mercies of the "shabab" which flies PLO flags from every mosque; Jews are murdered in cold blood in Jerusalem; Jewish cars and buses are stoned and torched in Jerusalem; Jews are afraid to walk in the Old City of Jerusalem; and the Hillul Hashem, the desecration of G-d's Name, goes on with secular leaders deceiving us and themselves and religious leaders interested only in the funds for their institutions. And the name of G-d, the honor of G-d - what will be with it? And if the Rabbis cry out (Avot 6), "Woe unto us because of the shame of Torah which is not studied," what shall we say for the shame and humiliation and degradation of Torah when G-d Himself and His Torah prohibition against Hillul Hashem are ignored and trampled upon?
For this there can be no forgiveness except through pain and tragedy, G-d forbid; the travails, the terrible travails of the Messiah. The travails that need not be if only we would be the Jews of authenticity and courage and yoke of Heaven. The travails whose beginnings we see in the entire saga that is unfolding today in the Middle East.
That is what the rabbis should be saying rather than soothing us with platitudes and easy answers that are so reminiscent, may Heaven help us, of the days of the Prophets who cried out (Jeremiah: "And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly, saying: 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace." And (ibid, 4): "We looked for peace but no good came, and for a long time of healing, and behold - terror." For there can be no simple and simplistic and easy and soothing peace when all the above - not to mention the desecration of the Sabbath and the hallowed mitzvot of Judaism and the intrusion of foreign cultures and ideas, into the minds and hearts of Jews that turn them into gentilized and Hellenized practitioners of dead-again Jews, rage through the Land. The Almighty is not a subject for our manipulations. We do not create Him in our image, a jolly deity who give us a never-ending happy hour and life. He laid down a rule of reward and punishment for our conduct and only the denier and knave create a new "G-d" who ignores and overlooks sin and who, indeed, was created in the image of Jefferson and Hyannisport. And the Rabbis intone (Bava Kama 50): "He who says that the Almighty overlooks sin - may his life be overlooked." There can be never be a waiver of sin, without repentance and renunciation of it. There can never be the painless redemption for the sake of His Holy Name as long as there is daily and open desecration of it. "There is no peace, saith the Lord, concerning the wicked" (Isaiah 48). And there is no way out of that basic dictum of Judaism.
A foundation of Judaism is the concept of "hashgacha pratit", the personal direction of G-d of the world and of the affairs of individuals and nations. And that is why one does not read a newspaper - one studies it. Events do not just happen - they are allowed to occur or they are compelled to occur because the Almighty directs the world. And in the affairs of the nations, the rise and fall of nations is directly connected to its effect on the Jewish people as part of their reward or punishment. Nations and rulers that rise and prosper are not their own masters. The concept of "Assyria, the staff of My wrath," lays down the dictum that the empires that rise to the top are nothing more than a staff, a dry stick, in the hand of the Almighty. When Israel merits punishment the Almighty allows the gentile staff to strike. When not, the staff breaks and splinters.
Thus with the events of our times. When the Shah of Iran was toppled, one of the two things might have occurred. Either the United States and its then President, Jimmy Carter, would have reasoned that if Iran of the Shah, the linchpin of American foreign policy, the major power of the region with the most massive and expensive army, could collapse so quickly and easily and completely, then it was clear that the Moslem was a volatile and uncertain and unreliable ally; that only Israel could be depended upon.
Or. Or Carter could have reasoned that with Iran's collapse it was more imperative than ever to solidify alliances with the "moderate" Arab states, such as Kuwait, Saudi and the other Gulf nations.
Had Israel and the Jews been worthy and deserving of it through their conduct and through their deep faith in G-d and willingness to do that which He wants without fear of the gentile, surely the first scenario would have been played out. But we were not, and the second became the reality. The Carter staff struck in the wrong direction.
Similarly today. Iraq, undergoing a brutal and bloody eight-year war with Iran might have come out of it bloody, battered, weary, despondent. And, indeed, that is exactly what would have occurred had Jews merited it by their own actions. Or Iraq could have emerged from that war with a tough, experienced, veteran army and a people propagandized by its "victory" over Iran. And that is what happened, because Jews did not merit it. And so, we pay for our sins and our blindness. We pay for our fear of the gentiles and our lack of faith in the Almighty. And the battle of Gog draws nearer.
When the United Nations Security Council unanimously, with the United States and the Soviets and China and all the rest joining in, voted to stop Iraq, Yossef Tekoah, former Israeli chief delegate to the United Nations, stated with joy and satisfaction that "there had never been such unanimity" before. Foolish, blind little Hellenist. Unable to understand the words of the Rabbis, "the gathering together of the wicked is bad for them and bad for the world." Unable, in his secularized mind, captured by the foreign culture that grips him, to see that the unity of the world will, some day, be aimed against Israel and that the only positive thing about the United Nations since its birth was its weakness and impotency. Now, even that is changing and Israel is just down the path of its agenda.
"And though shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost parts of the north, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon mighty horses, a great company and a great army; and thou shalt come against My People Israel, as a cloud to cover the land" (Ezekiel 38). And: "I will turn thee about and lead thee on, and will cause thee to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel." (ibid, 39)
The Rabbis tell us that Gog will rise up against Israel in order to do war against the G-d of Israel. The ultimate Hillul Hashem. And, indeed, until the Jew understands that the war against Ishmael and ultimately the world, is a war of Judaism, of the G-d of Israel, against the nations and their religions and beliefs, a war to proclaim the G-d of Israel as King, as the One and only G-d, we will never understand any of the events that are taking place around us.
By Rabbi Meir Kahane September - October, 1990 Kahane Magazine
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On Iraq And The Gulf Crisis Pt. 5: Lessons
Written by Rabb Meir Kahane
We do, indeed, not understand. Worse, we do not want to understand. Having been conquered and subjugated by the gentilized Foreign Culture, such talk sounds to us as "medieval" and "primitive" and "tribalistic" and of course, "Khoumeinism." Alas, the Ishmaelites, the Muslims understand it only too well and Saddam, whether through belief or cynical politics, used it and proclaimed it in his proclamation calling for a holy war:
"To all Arab and Muslim masses wherever they are - save Mecca and the Tomb of the Prophet from occupation…
"The imperialists, deviators, merchants, political agents, the servants of the foreigner and Zionism all stood up against Iraq only because it represents the conscience of the Arab nation and its ability to safeguard its honor and rights against any harm.
"Iraq, O Arabs, is your Iraq… It is the candle of right to snuff out darkness…
"O Arabs, O Muslims and believers everywhere. This is your day to rise and defend Mecca, which is captured by the spears of the Americans and the Zionists.
"Strike at their interests everywhere. Save Mecca and the Tomb of Prophet Mohammed in Medina…
"Victory is ours, G-d willing, and the invaders will be repelled and with them oppression and corruption everywhere and the sun will shine forever on the Arab and Muslim nations…"
This is what Gog is all about. This is the beginning of the final era and the lessons of the events of our time can be summed up in one general cry: "Return unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will return unto you" (Zechariah 1); "Return unto Me, ye backsliding children; I will hear your backslidings." That is the lesson of lessons, and from it all the others, the individual lessons are to be learned.
The events surrounding the Iraqi attack and conquest of Kuwait are things to be studied, learned, to be engraved on the tablet of our hearts. For there are so many lessons to be learned here, so many lessons that the Almighty pleads with us to learn before terrible tragedy strikes.
One: The Arab world is populated with people who are filled with hate and cruelty, ambition for power and lust for ascendancy. They are people for whom truth, a promise and pledge are totally meaningless things, without the slightest moral or ethical value, meant to be used as weapons and means to achieve whatever goal strikes the fancy at that time. The fact is that whatever the Iraqis said and did was part of one huge tissue of lies. The cover of meeting with the Kuwaitis to ostensibly work toward a settlement was a lie. The claim that they were called in by Kuwaitis rebelling against the government was a lie. The greatest truth of the Middle East is that the Arabs simply lie.
Of course, it is not only Iraq. Every time (and that means many times) slaughter breaks out in Lebanon, there is a call for a truce. Any particular outbreak of violence is certain to give birth to at least a dozen "truces", each one broken whenever any side feels that it has an opportunity to benefit from the breach. A promise, a word, a treaty in the Arab world is a weapon in the game of acquisition, and the person who takes an Arab's word seriously deserves his punishment if for no other reason than that he is a fool.
The lesson? We would be worse than foolish to trust the PLO/Hamas Arab Muslim Nazis. We would be murderers of our loved ones. Saddam Hussein is not a person - he is a concept. Every Arab ruler is a Saddam Hussein, and given the opportunity, they behave like him. Anwar Saddat who attacked across the Suez Canal on Yom Kippur was Saddam. And we, who gave away a huge land mass and moved the border to within 60 miles of Tel Aviv, are mad. And Husnei Mubarak is a Saddam and when he feels that his opportunity is ripe, will strike at Israel. And Hussein of Jordan, the little king, in 1967 smelled that opportunity for himself and attacked Israel.
There is no truth, no honesty, no word, no loyalty among the Arabs. Yesterday's enemy is today's "friend", and Jordan can massacre the PLO and then a PLO terrorist can assassinate a Jordanian minister and drink his blood, and tomorrow they can be "allies". Yesterday, Syria tried to do to Jordan what Iraq did to Kuwait; today they are "brothers". There is a diseased soul in the Arab world. Learn the lesson.
Two: To everyone who has told me (and I cannot begin to count the ways), that the reason we cannot expel the Arabs is that the world will not accept it: Why is it that Saddam Hussein was not worried about "the world"? Why is it that the Iranians were not worried about "the world"? Why is it that the Esaus of the world never worry about what all the other Esaus might say and do? Why is it that only Jacob sits about all day watching tragedy grow and awesome and terrible future come closer and refuses to act normally because of "the world" and what it might do and say? Why is it that Saddam is prepared to do a terrible thing and not fear "the world" and Jews are not ready to do a mitzvah that will save them, i.e. throwing out the Arabs, because of the world? Learn the lesson.
Three: The real and natural reaction in the Arab world was one of awe and respect for a man who wasted no time in diplomatic niceties but used power and strength. And here is the key to the Arab and Middle Eastern mind - strength and power is what impresses, not goodness and morality. When Israel was perceived by the Arabs to be strong and tough, they hated her but feared her and cowered in terror. Each time that Israel, consistent with her Hellenistic-influence, grants insane concessions, it is not perceived by the Arabs as "goodness" but as weakness, and the weak in the Middle Eastern jungle are ripe for the slaughter. Learn the lesson.
Four: The Iraqi dictator has become a hero to the Arab Nazis who see in his actions the only way to deal with Israel. They dream that his moves, in defiance of the world, will be adopted by other Arab states against Israel. That is why the PLO supports him. He has brutally taken over another Muslim state - does that matter? Not the slightest in the jungle of beasts and wild animals that comprises the Arab world. Learn the lesson.
Five: From this lesson comes forth another lesson. The Iraqi move will embolden the Israeli Arabs inside the Jewish state to intensify their attacks on her. The so-called "intifada" will grow and expand inside Israel and give Iraq greater reason to intensify its own threats against Israel's existence until the madman who typifies so much that is the Arab megalomaniac mind may be driven by dreams of modern-day Saladanism, to launch his missiles and chemicals against the Jewish State. Already we have seen the demonstrations by Israeli Arabs on behalf of Saddam, a man who threatened to incinerate Israel. The Arabs of Israel are possessed by a hatred of the Jewish state that transcends their fear of being incinerated along with the Jews. And we allow them to remain and grow and become a fifth column cancer within our midst. Madness! Learn the lesson that cries out two things:
a. Remove the Israeli Arabs now, before it is too late.
b. Strike at Iraq now, before that, too, is too late. And that is the next lesson:
Six: It is only a mater of time before Saddam, drunk with the adulation of his people and the Arab world, and seeing himself as one of the great Arab heroes of history, takes it upon himself to do that which the Arab world had dreamed of doing for 42 years - wiping out Israel.
Every day that passes sees Saddam's nuclear and chemical power and potential grow. Israel's interests are not those of the United States. America seeks to protect the oil fields and the "moderate" Arab states. Our concern is not that; ours is knowledge that even if Saddam should capitulate to all American demands and retreat from Kuwait, he remains to continue his progress to nuclear weapons, even more awesome chemical and biological ones, and the ever-more sophisticated means of delivering them.
The U.S. wishes Israel to stay out of the fray. It wants Israel neither to be seen nor heard, lest that harm U.S. interests in the Arab world. It certainly does not want Israel to bomb Iraq, despite the fact that Iraq's main and hallowed target is Israel. The nuclear bombs of Iraq are not aimed and never will be aimed at Washington. They will be at Israel.
Israel's interests are not those of the United States, and we should do only what is best for us. One can feel for American hostages, and in great measure they are there now because George Bush waited and allowed the Iraqis time to round them up and place them as hostages inside the sensitive Iraqi targets. But all that is ultimately irrelevant. Just as the U.S. did nothing for Israeli hostages and really could not have cared less, so must Israel disregard American interests when its survival is at stake.
Every day Saddam moves closer to perfecting weapons of awesome mass destruction. Now, now, now, before he can wipe out, G-d forbid, hundreds of thousands of our people, is the time to strike and level his potential - factories, installations, missiles. Now, now, now while the world - which we so fear - is itself in a mood of anger and fear of Iraq. Strike, destroy the man and people, who, both, have the halachic status of a "rodef", of one who wishes to kill Jews.
Israel should never be bound by any mad, murderous, perverted ethics and immoral morality of the disturbed liberal-left axis. Never should it ever pledge not to strike a first blow. If the need arises or if Israel even perceives the need arising, it must strike first. And never should Israel ever fall into the trap of banning any kind of weapon. There is nothing in any way less "moral" about a huge weapon of mass destruction than a small one. Any weapon that is used to kill people in an immoral war is bad. Any weapon used to kill vicious enemies in a war of survival is a "mitzvah".
Israel should make no bones about, and should not be shy in any way about telling the world that it plans to have one of the world's most potent and efficient arsenals of what is stupidly called "unconventional weapons". Israel faces cruel, vicious, irrational Arabs whose "conventional" forces far outnumber Israel's and who are working feverishly to obtain nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Israel should have every possible weapon of mass destruction imaginable and deal with the question, "but will that not give the Arabs an excuse to do the same," with the nausea it deserves.
It is best that no one bomb. But it is better, far, far better, to bomb than to be bombed. It is better to gas than to be gassed. And when dealing with Saddams and Arabs - that is the only language they will ever understand. Learn the lesson.
Seven: The last and most important lesson, without which all the others will avail us nothing. Return unto G-d, quickly, now, now, now. We and all that is ours are in His hands. The Saddams of this world are as nothing before Him, and yet, everything, if G-d hides His face from us. Of course, we must strike at Saddam, but the hawks of this world who devour shrimps are too small to help the Jewish people. They understand nothing that is Jewish. And yet, the lesson is so clear, the lesson of G-d and history.
Two things are the call for the hour: Return to the Lord, G-d of Israel. And wipe out Iraq's power. Now
By Rabbi Meir Kahane September - October, 1990 Kahane Magazine
Topic: Coming back to real, authentic, fundamental Judaism - by Rabbi Kahane - part 2 (Read 571 times)