Parshat Devarim  4 Av 5762, July 13 2002

Efrat, Israel - We experience this period of "the three weeks" the days which are between the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Holy Temple in a mood of concern and anxiety for a war-ridden Israel, which has already lost more than 500 of our citizenry to the Intifada El Aksa. It is in this spirit that I submit the remarks I made at a rally on behalf of solidarity with Israel in front of the United Nations.

I Love You, Israel

I love you, Israel, because you are my home, my only home - especially after the holocaust destroyed six million of my family because no other country would provide them with even a temporary home, not even if it meant saving their lives. And so I did not come to you as a conqueror as did the Crusaders, I did not come to you as another possible option, as do the wealthy who have many homes; I came to you as one who returned home, to his only home - and so I shall never leave!

And, so I must say, No, No, No
To a State of the PLO!

I love you, Israel because, despite the conventional wisdom fostered by a Goebbelsian lie, you have not occupied anyone else's land! Much the opposite, the Palestinian militants have attempted to occupy our land! The Treaty of Versailles, at the conclusion of the First World War, provided for the establishment of 18 Arab States in the Middle East and one Jewish State of Israel - on both banks of the Jordan River - the West Bank and the East Bank - the heartlands of the historic Jewish homeland for 4,000 years! Despite that universally accepted treaty, - the Jewish part of which was only brought to a paltry, partial fruition by an oil-hungry, anti-Semitic community of nations which waited 30 years and watched us suffer a holocaust before fulfilling even a fraction of its obligations - and despite two wars of Arab aggression whose avowed purpose was to push us into the Sea - nevertheless by 1995 we had given up 99.2 % of the lands on which Palestinians lived for the sacred delusion of an illusory peace. Not by International Law, not even by United Nations Law, can we possibly be called occupiers!

And so we say, No, No, No
To a State of the PLO

I love you, Israel because you never insisted on exclusive rights to land, you were always ready to compromise with a two - State solution: on November 29, 1947 with the UN partition plan, during the period leading up to June 5, 1967 when we were barred from the Western wall and could not live in most of the West Bank, and on June 2000 in Camp David and Taba, where former Prime Minister Barak was ready to give up 96-98 % of the lands where Arabs didn't even live, when were even ready to give up Arab and Christian East Jerusalem as well as the Temple Mount. But then, when Arafat responded to our all too generous offer with the gun-shots of Intifada El Aksa, when the PLO declared that a return to the 1967 Auschwitz lines was not sufficient but that they demanded a return to the 1947 lines, they advocated the obliteration of the State of Israel, not an Oslo land for peace but a Trojan horse of smashing us to pieces,

We must only say, No, No, No
To A State of the PLO!

I love you, Israel because, in the face of an enemy of unspeakable cruelty, an enemy who has turned our homes, schools, restaurants and access roads into the front lines of battle, and enemy who is worse than the blood-thirsty idol Molech, an enemy who not only sends its children to their death but trains suicidal homicide bombers who blow up untold innocent women and children together with themselves, nevertheless, despite all of this, our army only targets those about to murder, we even risk the lives of our bravest and brightest in order to limit collateral damage as much as possible!

And so we must say, No, No, No
To A State of the PLO

I love you, Israel, because in a world strangely reminiscent of 1938, a Europe infested with anti-Semitic anti-Israelism where Synagogues are desecrated and innocent Jews are violated, we still provide a haven of refuge for defenseless Jewish immigrants, from countries like France and Argentina, and our IDF proves again and again that what happened between 1938 and 1945 will happen never again, we secure Jewish future for Jews in Israel and for Jews throughout the world,

And so we say No, No, No
To A State of the PLO

I love you, Israel, because, in a world poised for a 3rd World War against Islamic Fundamentalism, a world in which the sides have lined up as Civilization against the bush, freedom against slavery, light against darkness, those determined to preserve life against suicide bombers well-bent on destroying life, we Israel, are battling on the front lines for the entire free world, saying no to terror and totalitarianism,

And so we also say No, No, No
To A State of the PLO

I love you, United States of America, because you have upheld the beacon of freedom and democracy against the tyrannies of Nazism and Communism, because your laws uphold human rights for all, irrespective of race or ethnic origin.

And so we say, No, No, No
To a State of the PLO

And I love you, President George W. Bush, because, especially after September 11, you have demonstrated global leadership predicated upon a clear moral compass, because you have articulated a doctrine which demands of any state desirous of world recognition compliance with principles of freedom, democracy and honest government, because you have refused to grant a prize for terror, because you understand that terror is terror is terror.

And so we say, No, No, No
To a State of the PLO

I love you, people of Israel world - wide, standing strong and united with your brethren in Israel, because when we Jews stand together as one no force on earth can terrorize us into submission, can succeed in tearing us asunder.

And so we say, No, No, No
To A State of the PLO

And I love you G-d of Israel, who has returned us to our homeland after more than 2,000 years of exile and persecution, who has taught us that to be alone with G-d is to be with a majority of One, Who guarantees that from Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Torah and a word of ethical monotheism, a religion of peace and pluralism which guarantees a time when nation will not lift up sword against nation and humanity will not learn war any more.

And so we must say, No, No, No
To a State of the PLO

Shabbat Shalom.

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