WE are the Moral Compass

By Moshe Feiglin


28 Iyar, 5773
May 8, ‘13


Translated from Makor Rishon

The importance of the caucus on organ harvesting in China, sponsored by our Liberal Lobby in the Knesset last week, cannot be exaggerated. On the surface, the topic of the caucus seems odd. Knesset Members and other VIPs were called together to discuss horrors being perpetrated by the Communist regime in China against what the government there calls “regime opponents.”

Hundreds of thousands of peaceful citizens in China are imprisoned in camps, tortured in the most inhuman ways and worst of all – their organs are harvested while they are still alive and sold for transplants throughout the world. Apparently, the human bodies in the grotesque Body Show recently exhibited in the Holy Land, were also supplied by these prisoners.

“You don’t have any more issues left here in Israel?” many people asked when we began publicizing the event.
“You don’t have anybody but China to start up with?”
“You don’t understand that you are harming Israeli interests? And what do you think, anyway? That anybody among the billion Chinese really cares what exactly you are talking about in the Knesset?”

It is not about the Chinese. It is about us and how we perceive the essence of the Jewish Nation and the Return to Zion. 

We have become so accustomed to the moral finger-wagging in our direction; being blamed by holier-than-thou nations the world over for all sorts of “ethical lapses”; we have become so accustomed to the leftists in Israel who join the chorus – that we haven’t even thought of the possibility that perhaps – just the opposite is true. Perhaps the moral compass of the entire world is the People of the Bible; the nation that brought the world faith in the One G-d; the nation that, on the foundation of its belief in G-d heralded the message of liberty for all mankind. We haven’t dared to think that the message of justice and liberty does not emanate from the Hague – but from Jerusalem.

Despite the fact that deep in its consciousness, humanity recognizes and even expects to hear this message from Zion, the Israelis have become grasshoppers in their own eyes – and thus – in the eyes of the world. This is the root of the condemnations and the relentless pressure brought to bear on Israel.

In other words, when you don’t fulfill your universal. ethical role, somebody else usurps it and you turn from the judge into the judged. If there is no construction being allowed today in Jerusalem, it is because Jerusalem is not fulfilling its universal role. If we are being pressured to apologize to Turkey and pay remands to their wounded from the Mavi Marmara, it is because when it was uncomfortable for us, we ignored our universal ethical role and did not take a stand against Turkey’s denial of the Armenian holocaust.

“We dreamed of a place where the new Book of Books would be written in preparation for the redemption of the world, for you, after all, are a treasured nation,” British intellectuals explained Israel’s demonization to Professor Ze’ev Tzachor. “The world had expectations, and now look what you have done.” (From an interview with Meir Uziel in Makor Rishon).

The Chinese actually were very displeased with our Knesset caucus. They put pressure on me and on other Knesset Members in an attempt to torpedo the conference. But they did not succeed. For things that may be difficult for us to understand here, are very obvious in China. While Communists do not believe in G-d, essentially making everyone there slaves (China is one giant prison camp) they do have a long tradition of spirituality. They perfectly understand the value of the “treasured nation” status of the Jews. An ethical stand that emanates from the parliament of the People of the Book is less financially troubling than a similar stand coming from European parliaments, but its ethical weight is much greater – and the Chinese understand that. 

Knesset Members from across the political spectrum: Right and Left, Haredi and secular, honored the caucus with their presence. The Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharansky and Rabbis Uri Cherki and Elyakim Levanon also attended and spoke at the event. The audience heard shocking testimony from a survivor of those camps and watched filmed testimony on what takes place there.

As the caucus progressed, I began to realize that it was a watershed event. The large audience, the media interest and the focus of the caucus on Jewish ethics created a new reality. The State of Israel has begun to position itself as the moral compass for the world - as befits the People of the Book."

Related News:
Epoch Times: Israeli Politicians Call for End to Organ Harvesting in China
Israel National News: MK Feiglin Hosts Forum on Strengthening Family Unit