|
Site Index
Israeli Campuses
Gallery of Rogues
Israeli Academic Extremists outside Israel
Anti-Israel Petitions Signed by Israeli Academics
|
Tel Aviv UniversityTel Aviv University – Elia Leibowitz (Dept of Physics) claims that unless Israel withdraws voluntarily from all the "settlements," it will be forced into such withdrawal by 9-11 style attacks on Tel Aviv SkyscrapersPuts forward that the 'only' way to deal with security risks to the nation is through the Leftist Agenda and capitulation to Hamas demands. 'The government's only choice is between carrying out the withdrawal while Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers are still standing tall on Derekh Hashalom or carrying out the withdrawal after their collapse, which almost certainly will be the work of man. Clearly such an event would end the possibility of the Israeli government choosing between those two options for withdrawal. In the framework of an Israeli withdrawal carried out while the Azrieli Towers are still standing, the government has the power to set the Green Line as the border for withdrawal. But if the withdrawal occurs after the towers collapse, the wave of killing and slaughter that causes their destruction will be only a part of the tragedy of this unfortunate country, and there is considerable doubt about whether the withdrawal will stop at the Green Line.'
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-only-choice-1.390876 Israel's only choice By Elia Leibowitz Many interpretations have been given to the description of the Jewish people as a chosen people, many of them unsympathetic. But Israel is also the name of a country, and for about 44 years now the term "chosen country" has been very suited to it. This term does not just have to do with the Jews in Israel or their religion. The concept is not evoked to imply superiority or the uniqueness of the Israeli nation relative to other nations around the world. The expression "chosen country" is used here to show that this country's fate is determined by a choice between two possibilities that its government makes every day and every hour. This choice is bound to be fateful, perhaps even to the point of to be or not to be. Today the Israeli government still has the possibility to choose otherwise, but this possibility will be taken from it some day. The fateful choice the Israeli government makes is not between having social justice prevail in the country or ignoring this concept. The choice is not between advanced education for its citizens or cultural and scientific decline, nor is it between building a society based on compassion and kindness or an existence based on exploitation and corruption. The fateful choice is not between preserving the quality of life or the destruction of nature - the soil, air and water controlled by the state. The choice is not even between being or not being the occupier of another people. Nor is it a choice between an attempt to encourage and nurture rationality, mutual responsibility and moral and cultural ideas in Israeli society, or between the sinking of society into a decadent mix of superstition, greed and egotistical hedonism. All these choices are of course important and even fateful for the life of every nation. But in the Israel of 2011 they are almost irrelevant, contrary to what is thought by the heads of the political parties, and apparently also by most of the country's citizens. But even if the government makes the correct choice among each of the above alternatives, this would not be a step toward the correct choice on the one truly relevant issue. And in the absence of a correct choice, even a genuine intention to make the right choice in each of the other dichotomies has little significance in the practical world. Nor is the relevant choice facing the Israeli government between withdrawing from Ariel, Kiryat Arba, Ma'aleh Adumim and the rest of the Israeli footholds beyond the Green Line or an infinite continuation of Israel's presence there. Here the government has no choice at all because this withdrawal will inevitably come even if the government is headed by the chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements or the leader of a "price tag" group. The government's only choice is between carrying out the withdrawal while Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers are still standing tall on Derekh Hashalom or carrying out the withdrawal after their collapse, which almost certainly will be the work of man. Clearly such an event would end the possibility of the Israeli government choosing between those two options for withdrawal. In the framework of an Israeli withdrawal carried out while the Azrieli Towers are still standing, the government has the power to set the Green Line as the border for withdrawal. But if the withdrawal occurs after the towers collapse, the wave of killing and slaughter that causes their destruction will be only a part of the tragedy of this unfortunate country, and there is considerable doubt about whether the withdrawal will stop at the Green Line. If the Israeli government changes its current choice, which has gone on for 44 years, and chooses to withdraw from all Israeli footholds beyond the Green Line before the towers fall, the towers will most probably continue to grace Tel Aviv's skyline for many more years. Quite soon after this choice, all the other issues will become relevant at once, and there will be a point to fighting for the right decision on each, because then this could have practical significance around the world.
|