What Israel Can Expect After its Redeployment Outside Gaza

By Moshe Feiglin

Two things have become clear tonight, after Netanyahu’s announcement on IDF redeployment outside Gaza.

One: Israel is incapable of defeating its enemies from within the Oslo mentality.

Two: Israelis are still not able to shake free of this mentality. Not yet.

For these reasons, the PM’s decision is a given.

The essence of war is territory. They want the territory on which the Jews are living. They do not want sovereignty alongside Israel; they want sovereignty instead of Israel. To win a war, the opposite result must be achieved: they must lose their territory.

Over the past twenty years, the Oslo mentality has severely compromised the belief of the Israelis in the justice of their bond to the Land of Israel. The handshake of Israel’s leaders – from both Right and Left – with the chairman of the Organization for the Liberation of the Land of Israel from its Jews (Arafat) has turned Israelis into colonialists in Tel Aviv. It has fostered an apologetic mentality, a mentality in which Israelis are guests in their own land.

The Prime Minister cannot change this mentality and thus cannot direct the IDF to conquer Gaza.

Demography is not the  problem. With thought and pre-planning, we can deal with the demographic problem. Israel’s demographic situation is good and a very large wave of aliyah to Israel is about to take place. The Hamas is not the problem, either. The IDF can easily defeat it – if instead of being directed to get entangled in tunnels and alleys, it will be directed to win.

All the tactical problems have solutions. But the real problem is not with the enemy; it is with ourselves. Are we willing now – after all the blows that we have received – to negate the Oslo mentality and internalize that this is our Land?

The answer that the PM gave tonight is ‘Not yet.’

We can anticipate the results of this decision on three fronts:

Terror: All the tentacles of the octopus that threatens us – from Iran to Gaza, from the ISIS to Hizballah, from the Arabs of Judea and Samaria to the extremist Arabs who are Israeli citizens – now understand that Israel is not capable of winning. They have all received a strong tail wind to continue their attack against us. From now, life in Israel will be much less safe, until the next significant round of fighting – which will be much worse.

The diplomatic front: A weak Israel has always beckoned diplomatic pressure. Our lack of faith in the justice of our sovereignty in our Land has not only led to hesitation on the battlefield. It has also caused the West to adopt a new approach according to which Israel is a mistake. And mistakes, of course, must be mended.

Judea and Samaria: The non-defeat of the Hamas will necessarily bring about Israeli submission and unilateral withdrawals in Judea and Samaria (after all, we must find a solution). As our experience with previous withdrawals has proven time and again – the newest round of pullbacks will feed and accelerate the same process of de-legitimization, terror and additional withdrawals.
This is the sorry state of affairs that we face this evening, the eve of Tisha B’Av, 5774.

I am filled with faith in the strength of our Nation of Israel and the State that we have established after 2000 years of exile. These energies will galvanize us to rise, shake off the Oslo mentality, change direction and save ourselves from the strategic danger hovering over our heads. They will motivate us to bequeath to our children a future of both physical and spiritual security and prosperity.

At this point, however, we have not yet crossed the threshold that will engender the necessary revolution of consciousness.

For now, we have to fearlessly tell the public the truth and consistently present the faith-based alternative for leadership of Israel. I will continue to do both. And I know that the Nation of Israel will win.

Let us all rise to this challenge.