Last night I read a few overly hysterical bloggers who seem to think that the loss of Ariel Sharon means that Iran is going to get the drop on Israel and blow her away with the nukes that Sharon would have destroyed, if only he had lived to order the strike.
Now Charles Krauthammer is wringing his hands like the heroine of a silent movie while the screen flashes “Help! Help! Won’t somebody save me!” as the villain is about to tie her to the train tracks.
Oh, puh-leeze.
Yes, this is a disaster for Israel. Yes, the country needs to find a leader who can pull the country together. No, it doesn’t seem likely that anyone else will have the strength and force and persona that Sharon had. Or at least, we don’t think so–now. I would like to remind people that when FDR died, the war with Japan was still ongoing, and our military men were mentioning things like one million casualties if we had to invade Japan. Harry S. Truman wasn’t supposed to lead the country through the war. But he did.
Let’s be realistic: Israel isn’t going to disappear. The IDF and the IAF and the intelligence services remain. The Knesset remains. The Cabinet remains. The people of Israel remain. And most important, the will of the people of Israel remains.
You know the phrase that we chant at pro-Israel gatherings and put on our blogs (and most especially to piss off the anti-Israel crowd)? Am Yisrael Chai? It means “The people of Israel live.” I now teach it to my fourth graders when they are learning the various phrases for the names of the Jewish people. “Am Yisrael” by itself doesn’t stick, but my last two classes can chant “Am Yisrael Chai!” with the best of them. If nine-year-olds can get it, so can the rest of us.
I’m with Sabba Hillel on this one. I think that a leader will arise to do what must be done.
We Jews have survived for thousands of years. We’ll survive the loss of Arik Sharon–even though it comes at one of the worst possible times for Israel.
Am Yisrael Chai.
And in the interim, I would say that this leaves the IDF/IAF Shin Bet and Mossad in an even stronger position politically to do what needs to be done.
Yes, it’s a disaster. But it’s only a disaster.
Israel was going to loose Sharon sooner or later. The Jews will survive.
I don’t mean to pick nits, but…
Cassandra’s curse was that her prophecies were accurate predictions, but that noone believed her.
I don’t know what Greek mythic character falls under the “predictions that everyone believes, but that don’t pan out”.
MG
Hm. You’re right. I was thinking more in terms of a doomsayer.
I’ll go change the title.
You’re right—we Jews have survived and we will; Israel has and will. Understanding that is not just having faith in Am Yisrael, but also in the strength of democracy. It’s the difference between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has survived the death of all its leaders, great and not-so-great; with Yassir the strongman dead and gone, the Palestinians are falling apart. They will recover, but not until they have first slaughtered each other to find the next autocrat.