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Israfax
The moment feels like a turning point--but will it prove to be one? The UN's man in Iraq, Hans Blix, failed to deal decisively with Saddam the first time around; Iraq is a past master at eluding inspection and hiding evidence; and media celebrations of Colin Powell's (and the State Department's) "return to influence" are disquieting. In Israel, there are intelligence indications that a new and even more dangerous terrorism phase may be in the offing. Israelis have recently foiled a number of attempts to wreak large-scale havoc by blowing up refineries and large urban buildings. These efforts bear the mark not of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but of al-Qaeda. Arafat, despite his complicity, remains in place, and the Europeans continue to visit, embrace, and fund him. Here in Canada, our Liberal government acts as if it were leading a pro-Arab European Community member. Hamas and Hezbollah have still not been declared terrorist entities, post-9/11 anti-terrorist legislation remains largely unused, and Foreign Minister Bill Graham bitterly protests prudent American registration of border-crossing Arab-Canadian citizens born in terrorist-supporting states (the media term it "racial profiling"). Meanwhile, our Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, holds that poverty "explains" Islamic terrorism. In Montreal, where riots prevented Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at Concordia University on September 9, a court endorsed a University-sought injunction last Friday preventing virulently anti-Israel and "anti-Zionist" left-wing NDP members of Parliament from speaking on campus. Invited by the radical pro-Palestinian Student Union, they had a sought to break a temporary moratorium on Middle East-related campus debate. Just as the violence of September 9 echoed Middle East violence, so the Concordia situation reflects the Islamist-sparked world-wide revival of antisemitism. And just as the outrageous manipulation of "human rights" by supporters of vicious Arab dictatorships licenses the world-wide campaign, so too the apathy of students and faculty, and the embrace of "freedom of expression" by those committed to preventing it, licenses the propaganda assault at Concordia and other campuses. It is indeed a strange and fateful moment--will true freedom of expression and respect for human rights finally win out on our campuses? Will Israel finally extinguish Arafat's terrorist campaign? Will America finally deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed Saddam Hussein? Key questions to ponder, as we light our precious Hanukkah freedom candles. (Prof. Frederick Krantz, Editor of ISRAFAX, is also Director of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research) ISRAELIS TO PRIMARIES, THEN ELECTIONS Arik, short of a majority in the Knesset, looked to his right and saw nothing but a year of political blackmail and instability. So he called an election...Likud hopes to double its number of seats in parliament, thereby to form a stable, security-minded government with centrist allies. But the big political question in Israel is: Who will bear Likud's standard? Will it be Arik, who made a comeback out of oblivion rivaling that of de Gaulle and Nixon, and won in the biggest personal landslide in Israel's history? Or will Likudniks choose Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, a former prime minister who--with victory in prospect two years ago--refused to stand for election because he nobly wanted it coupled with the election of a parliament that would give him a mandate? That question of leadership will be settled within the next month... Though both are hardliners and conservatives, this primary is no Tweedledee- Tweedledum election. The contrasts go far beyond the contestants' 20-year age differential. Arik is of Israel's "greatest generation," a passionate Zionist...a leader in battle who likes to crumble the earth on his farm between his fingers. Bibi, from a legendary family, is intense...a passionate pro-growth capitalist, highly articulate [and] determined to reform his country's outdated socialist ways. Arik is primarily focused on winning the terrorist war being waged on Israel. Once a symbol of division, he is now a determined unifier, with his campaign theme to his party stressing his electability that will add seats in the Knesset...Bibi is attuned to economic worries... A factor in the minds of Likud voters is the American connection. George W. Bush was first introduced to Israel by then-P.M. Netanyahu, who wisely saw the Texas governor's prospects. But Bush has welcomed P.M. Sharon to the White House seven times (to zero for Arafat), and Arik's connective issue with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and Rice is considerable... Neither man likes the State Department "road map" with its one-sided deadline and unwanted Russo-European-U.N. intercession, but with Iraq in the offing, both duck that issue. No More Sham Unity
Governments Most of us appreciated the value of a unity governmentÉIt provided a transition from the Oslo fantasy to the cruel reality and it gave us a badly needed respite to absorb the changes instead of hurling ourselves at one another. But there is a strong case to claim that a so-called unity governmentÉhad more than outlasted its usefulnessÉ[It] had become an administration of disunityÉWe are certainly better off without a foreign or defense minister whispering to the media and foreign leaders that the government they serve is driven by ÒradicalsÓ and Òextremists.Ó Or that Israel has no choice other than to negotiate with whomever the Palestinians elect, even if that means Yasser ArafatÉEven our friends were confused by the contradictory positions taken by individual ministersÉ The key question is what sort of government would best suit Israel's needs after the Iraqi situation has been resolved, when it is probable that we will come under pressure from the Americans to make concessions... To adequately relate to such a situation, we need a government with a clear leadership...The Road map promoted by the Americans relates to the establishment of a Palestinian state within a few years... [W]e simply cannot acquiesce or remain silent over a proposal which could truly have disastrous consequences... Before even contemplating statehood we are entitled to demand...that the Palestinians display their determination and ability to control the murderers in their midst. They must also undertake to undergo a process of education designed to reverse the malevolent hatred and evil ethos which encompasses every level of their society... We must explain to the world that just as denazification in post-war Germany would have been inconceivable had Hitler or other Nazis continued to exert influence, any process of Palestinian reform is doomed to fail if the current leadership of the P.A. remains in power. Our government must persuade our friends...that if we were to succumb to pressures for Palestinian statehood in the present circumstances, we would simply be recycling the mistakes of Oslo and bestowing a legacy of terror and murder on our children... We desperately need a government that will provide true leadership, exercised by a cabinet that adheres to ministerial responsibility and discipline. Only with a truly united leadership sharing a clear plan will we be able to win the all-important battle for ideas and strengthen support from our friends... (The writer is senior vice president of the World Jewish Congress.) |
     
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ISRAFAX
EDITORIAL