No Pushovers

By Moshe Feiglin

Menachem Av, 5767

August, '07

Translated from the article in the Makor Rishon newspaper.

And what did you think? That there wouldn't be draft evasion?

When you organized the peace rally in the square and Rabin and Peres hugged the great, leftist draft dodger Aviv Gefen -- what message did you think you were sending Israel's youth?

And when you hugged the head of the Organization to Liberate Palestine (from us) -- in other words, when you adopted the justice of our enemy's claims -- what did you think? Did you think it would motivate our youth to enlist?

And when you degraded, scorned, expelled and destroyed the very people who -- more than anyone else -- embodied love of our land and self-sacrifice for it, what message did you think you were sending to the new recruits?

And when you totally confused them with an "ethical code" that maintains that the life of the enemy is more important than their lives, what did you think? That you were motivating them to fight?

And when, with "progressive enlightenment" you drafted women to combat units, what were you thinking? That only the enemy would stop taking you seriously? Did you really think that the soldiers would continue to respect the IDF?

And when you deleted the concepts "enemy" and "victory" from the army lexicon, did you think that you could continue to rely on youthful energy alone?

And when, time and again, our sons put their lives on the line to capture terrorists and then you release them, what do you think? That they won't ask themselves why they should continue to risk their lives?

And when they discover that the guns that shot at them are Israeli weapons that the IDF supplied to the terrorists, what do you think that does to the soldiers who just "won" the battle? Do you think it motivates them to continue?

And when you elect a prime minister whose two sons dodged the draft and left Israel, what type of claims can you possibly make against other draft evaders?

And when you elect a president who declares that he hates history and that he is an "Israeli" whose battle is against the Jews, what do you think?

Are you looking for ambition? For lightening in the eyes? Are you looking for youth with motivation to enlist? Then start telling the kindergarten children about Abraham. Teach them how to say the quintessential Jewish verse, "Shema Yisrael." Most of today's soldiers do not know the rest of the words of this verse, which, for over 3,000 years, supplied the Jewish People with all the energies and ambitions they needed. Take the school children on a class trip to Jerusalem, Hebron, Rachel's Tomb, Shiloh and Shechem. Take them to Joshua's altar on Mt. Eval. Open the Bible and let them connect to their forefathers, who lived here 3300 years ago. Teach them what a special nation we belong to. Connect them to their heritage, their culture, their nation and their homeland. Explain what a tremendous tradition they perpetuate. Explain what they are fighting for. Then you will see their ambition!

But you don't want to do that. You want to disengage -- from the Land and the people faithful to it, from history, from your identity, from your faith and from everything that justifies our presence in the land. And then you want to be protected by the self-sacrifice of the youth. But there is a limit to how much you can rely on the natural will of every young person to give and to be part of the common effort. At a certain point, he will no longer be interested. And now we have reached that point.

Israel's youth are not pushovers. If you don't have serious answers, they won't enlist.

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