shalom aleijem

עידן יניב

Sharansky Warns Against Post-Pittsburgh Aliyah Push

Ira Stoll

Natan Sharansky. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Israeli politicians tempted to try to capitalize on the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre by urging American Jews to immigrate to the security of Israel should hold their tongues.

So says Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet prisoner who became deputy prime minister of Israel and recently stepped down after nine years of leading the agency in charge of gathering Jewish immigrants to Israel. Sharansky made his remarks Sunday in Manhattan at the Jewish Leadership Conference, which drew 800 participants from 28 states for a full day of discussions on Jews and conservatism.

“I am now waiting with fear,” Sharansky said, predicting that Israeli politicians would react as they did after antisemitic attacks in France, by inviting Jews facing physical threats to their safety to make aliyah, or move to the Jewish state.

As he did after the killings in France, Sharansky suggested that “shelter” isn’t the best motivation for Jewish immigration to Israel. “Shelter — shelter can be in Miami, too,” he said.

“Aliyah of escape is almost finished,” Sharansky said. In its place, he said, “Mainly it’s aliyah of free choice. They are doing it because it’s their home. You need to strengthen their identity.”

Sharansky noted that for such views, he was accused of being “anti-Zionist” as the head of the Jewish Agency, which has long been in charge of attracting and absorbing new immigrants to Israel.

At the event Sunday, just a day after an assailant apparently motivated by antisemitism killed 11 Jews in their Pittsburgh synagogue, Sharansky was awarded the inaugural Herzl Prize by the Tikvah Fund, a non-profit organization that develops leaders and promotes Jewish and conservative ideas. He was interviewed by Elliott Abrams, who was a foreign policy official in the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations.

Abrams asked Sharansky, who is known for promoting freedom and democracy, whether he favored such an approach in Egypt.

“There are no people who want to live under dictatorship,” Sharansky said, adding that democracy isn’t just elections, but also freedom and the rule of law, which could sometimes take “hundreds of years” to develop.

Sharansky praised President George W. Bush for meeting with dissidents rather than dealing with dictators. “For this point, there is no difference between Obama and Trump,” Sharansky said, blaming Obama for having “really betrayed the Iranian Revolution.”

The conference also heard from Israel’s justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, who warned that legislation outlawing rent increases could worsen Israel’s already significant problem with housing affordability. She suggested an alternative approach focused on making it easier to obtain building permits. “Most land is owned by the state,” she said.

Observing that Shaked had expressed condolences over the American Jewish casualties, a founder of The Weekly Standard, William Kristol, noted that such statements usually go in the other direction, with American Jewish leaders offering statements of solidarity after terrorist attacks in Israel. The role reversal “is a little unnerving,” he said.

NETANYAHU: PEOPLE OF ISRAEL GRIEVE WITH THE FAMILIES OF THE DEAD

TAMAR BEERI

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said that he has “instructed the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to prepare to assist the community in every possible way.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem September 5, 2018.. (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a comment on the shooting that occurred on Saturday morning during Sabbath services at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stating that “the entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead.”

A man opened fire on a Jewish community congregating for Shabbat services on Saturday morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in modern US history, killing at least 8 people and injuring several others.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message Saturday evening saying that “The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead.”

“We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, we stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous antisemitic brutality and we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded,” he continued.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said that he has “instructed the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to prepare to assist the community in every possible way.” Immediately after his comment, it was announced that he would be flying out to Pennsylvania that same night.

President Reuven Rivlin commented on the shooting, stating that he is “sure that the law enforcement agencies and the legal authorities in the US will investigate this horrific event thoroughly.”

Israeli Ambassador in the United Nations Danny Danon commented, as well. “We will stand together like a rock against hatred and against those who try to harm Jews all over the world.”

Dov Khenin, Knesset member for the Joint List, said, “I suspect the attack is an expression of the growth of dangerous antisemitism in American society — a part of the racist and violent wave during the presidency of Trump. A leadership that gives way to incitement.”

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, while in Abu Dhabi with Israel’s judo team, said, “Once again, a murderous attack on a holy place and on a holy day.”

“I am certain that the US law enforcement authorities will put their hands on the abominable murderers and their agents and provide them with the full extent of the law,” she continued.

Head of the Zionist Union party Avi Gabay said that “a man who opens fire in a synagogue is not attacking reform, conservative or orthodox Jews. He is attacking all of the Jews.”

Chair of Yesh Atid Yair Lapid released a statement Saturday evening, too. “It is important to remember that these are the same good Jews who love Israel that the Israeli government told for years that they are ‘not really Jews’ in their opinion.”

“They are Jews in our opinion. If you are murdered for being Jewish, you are Jewish.”

Michael Wilner contributed to this report.

Israel Air Force Strikes 80 Hamas Targets in Gaza After 30 Rockets Launched at South

   Defense Tech

The dangerous illusion of absolute security

Yoram Yuval

Yoram Yuval / Photo: IDF Spokesmans Unit

Op-ed: We need to acknowledge that no high-tech defense system can provide absolute security, even if time and time again our politicians lead us to believe otherwise; this is dangerous nonsense that will blow up in our faces; we must heed and internalize the instructions of the Home Front Command, like Miri Tamano, who saved 3 children when a missile struck her home.

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manlis said a simple truth this week. This truth must be said, and everyone who lives in Israel must hear it, and internalize it too. It is the truth that our politicians do not want to tell us about the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and the other expensive defense systems: “The system’s defense capability is not hermetic. What saved the day were the correct actions of a citizen,” the IDF spokesman said after a rocket hit a residence in Be’er Sheva.

That is the truth; and we need, and can, live with this truth. Protection, any protection, will never be perfect. The illusion of absolute security, which our politicians pretend to demonstrate to us time and time again, is seductive but also a flawed and dangerous illusion.

Iron Dome missile defense (Photo: Roi Idan)

This is not the first time that the IDF has been forced to do the dirty and unpopular work for the politicians on behalf of the Israeli public, and will almost certainly not be the last time.

Even the coalition members, who do not say so explicitly, constantly emphasize Israel’s wonderful defense capabilities. They lead us to believe that the Israeli home front is on its way to being completely protected, hinting that we will all soon live in safety under a multi-layered defense shield of the Iron Dome, David Sling, the technological barrier around the Gaza Strip and other amazing and expensive defense systems that will protect us from harm.

It is written in the monthly prayer for the sanctification of the new moon: “Just as I leap (and dance) opposite you and cannot touch you, so may my enemies be unable to touch me for harm.” Our politicians lead us to believe that when crunch time arrives, the Iron Dome will ensure that hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah and Hamas rockets will not harm us.

This is not just false, it is utter nonsense; nonsense that will smack us in the face during the next major military confrontation, as it did this week in the apartment of Miri Tamano and her three children in Be’er Sheva.

Tamano home after a rocket strike (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Anyone who suggests that we can, now or in the future, be totally protected from harm on the home front, thanks to our defensive missile systems—is simply lying to us.

Why do politicians insist on lying to us?

About two months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the “Security Concept 2030“. Its main aim is to add enormous funds to the air defense and cyber defense systems at the expense of the ground forces. In other words, strengthening the home front defenses, at the cost of eroding IDF’s ability to achieve a swift and decisive victory on land.

“Rest assured,” the politicians say, “we are watching over you. Vote for us, and we will spare no amount of money so that you are completely protected.”

But why? Why do politicians insist on lying to us over and over again by telling us about the wonders of Israel’s impenetrable defense technology? Why are they telling us that high-tech missiles will protect us from all evil and thwart any possibility of harming Israel’s citizens?

The answer is human nature—we very much want to hear it and believe it.

Iranian ballistic missiles

Our politicians, clever and efficient at marketing, are always happy to soft-soap us. Who does not want absolute security for themselves and their family? And who is unwilling to pay any price, and vote for any candidate in order to attain this confidence?

There is only one small problem: there is no such thing as absolute security; nor will there ever be. We are always living under some level of danger. Mental health is the ability to live with this knowledge, to live with doubt and in the shadow of danger, and still function normally, and feel at ease.

What we need in the home front is not blind faith in the falsehood that we are completely protected, but rather the readiness to act when attacked. The air defense systems will successfully intercept most of the missiles that would hit us, but not all of them. There is no substitute for a well-trained home front that is prepared for any challenge.

This, in fact, is what Miri Tamano, a true Israeli hero, understood this week. As her sister, attorney Ora Tamano, said: “My sister is a lioness, she slept downstairs and the children slept in three separate rooms upstairs. She simply grabbed them (upon hearing the alarm) and dragged them to the security room. It gave them life. There is nothing left of the house except for that protected room. She is special; a woman of valor. When I myself am at home, there is a dilemma whether to go to the security room or not, because we rely on the Iron Dome. She did the right thing.”

She is 100% correct. We have the means to deal with the missile threat to the Israeli home front. Our air defense systems are indeed a pride-worthy technological achievement, and they are an important element in protecting the home front. But they have cracks, and there will always have cracks. They cannot — and must not — replace vigilance and resourcefulness, readiness for quick response, and use of safety rooms.

The desire for absolute security, and hermetic defense of the home front, is a dangerous illusion. And since our politicians will not tell us this, we should listen to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. We must be prepared to carry out the instructions of the Home Front Command, which is what Miri Tamano did, and by doing so, she saved her children’s lives. This is our true defense, which must be nurtured and practiced, even if it does not add points to politicians in the polls.

Yoram Yuval  is a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and Israeli brain researcher, professor and head of the Brain Institute for Emotional Research at the School of Social Work, University of Haifa.