Thank you Edith,

Tomorrow - Hannukah comes to its end but the fight of the Jewish people for freedom continues. There is not a single day that Jewish blood is not spilled. The number of Jews murdered since the Arab uprising before about 55 years comes to about 20,000. This is only a small part of the 6 million, which where killed at the Shoah. But if it would go according to the wishes of Arab fanatics and terrorists, they are ready to complete this number by annihilating all of Israel.

When I spoke about such a terrible possibility in the past, I met mostly skepticism and even ridicule. The catastrophe of September 11 wiped off some of the presumptuous smiles of those, who always knew better. The problem was, that many - even those - who acted not out of anti-Semitism believed, that by being tolerant and decent, these principles would be answered in kind. This was not only wishful thinking but was considered by the predators as weakness and encouraged more violence.

In 1948, at the establishment of Israel, 7 countries attacked fledgling Israel that just saved the survivors of the Holocaust. Where was the world? And where was the world since then? Till 1967, Arabs occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Why was not at that time a Palestinian state established? They could have, if they had wanted to. Instead they attacked Israel. But God stood at the side of his people.

After the Six Day War, I had been in charge for medical services by the Israel army for part of the West Bank. At an officer meeting, I asked to return to the reserve, as I had to attend some business abroad. The answer I got was from Moshe Dayan who promised, that in a few days, after this defeat, the Arabs will surely make peace and then anyway, all of us will go home.

Instead, the answer came from a meeting of the Arab League, which convened in Khartoum, Sudan. Their decision came in three sentences: " "Never to negotiate. Never to make peace. And never to accept a Jewish entity in holy Arab land." At that time, the in Egypt born Yasser Arafat, invented the existence of a Palestinian people, which never had existed before. He did not speak anymore as an Arab, which were - over 100 million - united in the struggle against Israel, but as a representative of the newborn people of Palestine. He put a rag of a Keffiyah over his head and play-acted as the poor, the beaten, the week David, who had to fight the Goliath of the bad and mighty Jews.

Arafat could play this role not only because he succeeded to fool the world, but because the world - out of various reasons - fooled itself. Many tried to make peace. But God blesses only the "peace-makers," not the "peace-fakers." And then began the barrage of good advice to the Jews from all sides. Of course all the territories Israel gained by defending itself, had to be returned. "Why?" If only Israel would give up the settlement. This would bring peace right away. "Forget about it!" If Israel would not return fire to its attacker, this would be great. "Great for whom?" And then, by killing a terrorist, it makes things only worse. "Can it get worse?" And the greatest joke, to ask Arafat to fight against terror, to fight against himself.

Now, the curtain went down over this great actor. The Israeli government declared him as "irrelevant." Arafat is a moral dwarf and a historical midget. A man of tactics and not strategies, of phrases instead of principals. He confuses his own survival with the survival of his people. He is full of promises and scarifies his people for the sake of his ego.

We may still hear from him. But we should stop to listen. We have to put trust in God, in real justice and in us. This alone can bring the blessing for Jews and also for the Palestinians.

I am Shlomo Fleischmann

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