Let's not gamble on Israel's future
This year, we have seen the Israel Defense Forces, the institution that binds Israel together, attacked - not by Palestinian terrorists or by neighboring armies, but by Israeli citizens, Jewish settlers in the West Bank. In Israel and throughout the world, Jews responded in shock as we saw Jewish extremists attacking not just Palestinians, but other Israelis, including with violence and death threats, as part of an insidious strategy these extremists call "price tag".
This year we have seen increasing concern about a possible war with Iran, possibly initiated by Israel - despite the fact that experts in the U.S. and Israel, from the military to the intelligence services, have deep reservations about military action. And while advocates of an Iran strike insist that Iran poses an existential threat to Israel, many seem blind to the immediate existential threat to Israel posed by Israelis who are actively thumbing their noses at the rule of law, using violence against civilians and institutions of the state alike, and who have demonstrated a readiness to foment civil war rather than give up some of their settlements in the West Bank and see the formation of a Palestinian state.
You'd think it was Purim, the topsy-turvy Jewish holiday where nothing is what it seems and behavior often runs to excess. Except the Purim spectacle is all in fun and lasts only a single day. It's a Purim tradition, for instance, to drink until one can no longer tell Mordechai (the good guy of the Purim story) from Haman (the bad guy). But you don't have to touch a drop to look at Israel and the West Bank and see that things have been stood on their heads.
The Illegal outpost of Migron, ordered by the Supreme Court to be removed, remains standing as the government works to find a way to get around the Court's ruling. Prime Minister Netanyahu refers to peace activists as "criminals" and compares them to violent settlers. His minister of foreign affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, calls peace groups "terrorist-supporting organizations."
Nevertheless, it is possible to find sane players in this theatre of the absurd such as the committed activists of Peace Now. It took the bravery of Esther to save the Jewish people from Haman. And like Esther in the face of annihilation, the men and women of Peace Now face death threats while steadfastly telling the world the truth about the ossified and dangerous policies of settlement building and occupation. And like Esther, they are the heroes of this story. It is because of their determination and devotion that Israel has the chance to survive and remain truly democratic and Jewish. If we do not remove the settlements, rein in the extremists and make it possible for Israel to make peace with her neighbors, we are gambling with Israel's very survival.
In the Purim story Esther's gamble to save the Jewish people paid off. There is no guarantee that the outcome today will be equally favorable. We need your help to assure that Israel survives. APN stands with Peace Now - Shalom Achshav - our Israeli counterpart, which for more than three decades has been fighting for peace and Israel's future.
The word "Purim" means "lots" - a reference to the lottery which Haman used to determine on which day the Jews would be killed. In modern times Jews celebrate the good outcome of the gamble of Purim, but do we really want to gamble on Israel's future?