From Shalom Pollack On the heels of the latest Arab murder rampage, this time in the heart of the very model of "Jewish - Arab coexistence" ( where local Arab mobs ransacked and burned Jewish properties a few years ago), Mayor Huldai recommended that we, "get used to it. " I assume that some of you may be as shocked as I am by this.., what shall we call it, statement..? Yet the mayor's remarks did not seem to even lift an eye brow in the media or else where as far as I know. Arabs; boys and girls, old men and women, increasingly run amok killing Jews in the streets, and ...we are told that we must get used to it. Is it just me being unrealistic and unsophisticated as I find it difficult agreeing with the mayor's fatalistic assessment? Was it just me who did not fully appreciate the promise of the brilliant intricacies of Oslo?..or the transfer of South Lebanon to the Hizbullah; or of Gaza to Hamas, or of releasing thousands of terrorists time and again as good will gestures...? Am I just too much the incurable dreamer not to understand that there simply is no solution and that we must.... "get used to" Jews being murdered by Arabs daily? I happen to belong to a large established synagogue in a nice Jerusalem neighborhood whose members are largely educated, liberals; many of them form the US. It seems to me that not a few of my neighbors have adopted a "see no evil , hear no evil"/ get used to it" attitude about the Arab war on Jews. The last thing they would like to discuss is, solutions. So, I had a few Tee shirts made up and wear them prominently in the synagogue. I just could not bear the lethargy and aloof disconnect! One shirt states. End the (Arab) Occupation! Another; "He who is merciful to the wicked will be wicked to the merciful" And the clincher; Rav Kahane was right! For some, I am a total embarrassment and annoyance and they try to avoid me.. For others, I have learned, and not surprisingly, I am almost a hero. There are actually masses of people, I have found, that do not dare to express these thoughts in the presence of the high and mighty Liberals ( who are always open to discuss anything..well almost any thing..) Last week, I greeted a man as I walked down the street . He said," I can't greet you." Why, I asked, are we not all brothers." No, he said you are not my brother because you are a racist"! I asked him , "if I wore a shirt with the face of Stalin would that bother you less than one of Rav Kahane. He admitted that it would indeed bother him less. I asked him if he knew how many people Stalin murdered and that Rav Kahane killed no one?" Get used to it. Hey that's another idea for my next shirt.. |