The Zionist Dream
April 16, 2002

by Joe Sobran

     The uproar in the Middle East reminds me of the late 
Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was murdered in New York some 
years ago. Kahane was condemned as a fanatic because he 
openly called for expelling all Arabs from Israel, 
including the occupied territories. His book was bluntly 
titled THEY MUST GO.

     Despite his fanaticism, I always respected Kahane. 
He said what he meant, without the usual Zionist double 
talk. He didn't pretend he was a humanitarian, a 
democrat, or a friend of America. And he insisted that 
other Zionists secretly agreed with him, however 
stridently they denounced him. His slogan was "I'm saying 
what you're thinking."

     It would seem that he was saying what Ariel Sharon 
is thinking. Sharon has never publicly agreed with 
Kahane, but he acts as if he does. He has never specified 
what rights (if any) he thinks the Arabs have, and his 
wildly excessive "crackdown on terrorism" -- terrorism he 
purposely provoked -- is a cover for measures designed to 
drive Arabs out of all the territory Israel claims.

     Yasser Arafat is constantly told he must renounce 
terrorism, but nobody demands that Sharon repudiate any 
plan to drive Arabs out. He has even included advocates 
of "transfer" -- the Orwellian euphemism for mass 
expulsion -- in his cabinet. Does that tell us anything?

     One of the staples of Zionist propaganda is the 
charge that the Arabs rejected their chance to have a 
Palestinian state in 1948, when they refused the proposed 
partition of Palestine that the Jews accepted. But such 
"moderate" Jewish leaders as Chaim Weizmann and David 
Ben Gurion -- Israel's founding fathers -- saw the 
partition plan not as a final settlement, but as a base 
for further conquest later. They never intended to honor 
it, and the Arabs knew this.

     While publicly accepting the partition plan, 
Weizmann wrote privately to a friend that the boundaries 
were "skimpy," adding, "The Kingdom of David was smaller; 
under Solomon it became an Empire. Who knows? C'est le 
premier pas qui compte." It's the first step that 
counts.

     Ben Gurion wrote privately to his son that "a 
[small] Jewish State is not the end but the beginning. 
The establishment of a Jewish State will serve as a means 
in our historical efforts to redeem the country in its 
entirety."

     And how would the whole country be "redeemed"? By 
bringing in as many Jews as possible and building "a 
sophisticated defense force -- an elite army." He went 
on: "I have no doubt that our army will be one of the 
best in the world. And then I am sure that we shall not 
be prevented from settling in all the other parts of the 
country, either through mutual understanding and 
agreement with our Arab neighbors or by other means."

     "Other means" have indeed proved necessary. The 
whole plan is reminiscent of Communist stratagems of 
"peaceful coexistence" as a ground for future conquest. 
The parallel is so obvious that it's amazing that so many 
people continue to miss it. The Arabs remain suspicious 
of Israeli "peace" offerings and pseudo-compromises, but 
most Americans take them at face value and wonder why the 
Arabs are so unreasonable.

     One of the odd ironies of history is that American 
conservatives, who refused to be fooled by Communist 
ruses, are today eager dupes of Zionist propaganda; 
whereas liberals, who were often taken in by the 
Communists, usually see through Zionist deceptions.

     Let's hope that Secretary of State Colin Powell has 
pressed Sharon hard about his real intentions. A few 
blunt questions are in order. What is Sharon's ultimate 
goal, if not to rid Israel (including the territories) of 
all Arabs? And if that isn't his goal, where would he 
stop short of it? What rights do Arabs have that Sharon 
would never violate? And what assurance do we have that 
he will never try to fulfill the dream of Weizmann, Ben 
Gurion, and Kahane?

     The whole history of Zionism points toward that 
dream. It has never been decisively repudiated by 
Israel's leaders, who have gradually and progressively 
edged toward explicitly embracing it. The gains of 1948 
and 1967 were mere stepping stones. Israel will keep 
expanding as long as it can.

     There is no reason for the United States to be 
implicated in the Arab-Israeli conflict, any more than in 
Africa's tribal wars. For us Israel has been a hugely 
expensive headache -- the costs enormous, the gains nil.

     But having given this tar baby a bear hug, President 
Bush expects Powell's diplomacy to get him unstuck. Good 
luck.

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