Fundamentally Freund

Where is the "Spirit of Entebbe"?

Even as the nation prays for the safe return of kidnapped soldier Gilead Shalit, reports now indicate that yet another Israeli appears to have been abducted by Palestinian terrorists.

This afternoon, fears mounted that 18-year old Eliyahu Ashri, of the community of Itamar outside Shechem (Nablus), may have been taken hostage over the past day or two by the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee, which is believed to be holding him in Ramallah.

And so, over the course of just 72 hours, the people of Israel have had their sense of personal security shattered, as the Government stands by and does nothing (thus far) to rescue the beleaguered captives – other than issue empty, meaningless threats.

It is hard to believe that this is the same country that once did everything in its power to protect its citizens and bring them home.

Indeed, next week marks thirty years since the heroic Israeli operation to free Jewish and Israeli hostages who were being held at Entebbe, Uganda, by Palestinian hijackers and terrorists.

For years afterwards, the "spirit of Entebbe" guided this country, and deterred its enemies from daring to repeat such hijinks.

Only by regaining that spirit, and hitting back at our foes, can we hope to dissuade them from further atrocities.

The sooner Mr. Olmert and his government adopt that approach, the safer the people of Israel will be.

What About the Jews?

It is almost too absurd to believe.

The headline in Ha'aretz the other day just about said it all: "Peretz Orders Fence Route Reviewed with Palestinians in Mind."

Silly me. And I thought the entire purpose of the security fence was to protect Jews from terrorism. Who knew that its route would also be dependent on what is most convenient for our foes also?

And yet, as the Ha'aretz article makes clear, that is precisely one of the considerations being taken into account: "Defense Minister Amir Peretz has decided to review the route of the separation fence to make sure that it allows for the everyday needs of the Palestinian population."

Now don’t get me wrong – it is perfectly fine to try to accommodate the basic needs of Palestinian civilians, but what about "the everyday needs of the Jewish population" living in Judea and Samaria?

After all, thousands of them are being left "beyond the fence", their communities essentially cut off from the rest of Israel. And yet, no one in the Government seems to care too much about the needs of these loyal, upstanding and tax-paying Jewish citizens of the Jewish state.

Don’t they deserve some consideration too?

France's Dr. Dumb

He is a prominent businessman and philanthropist, well-known to his French countrymen and to statesmen alike, and he even received an honorary doctorate this week from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But don't let all that fool you. Baron Eric de Rothschild is still the purveyor of some of the most inane opinions you are ever likely to hear (outside Israel's present governing coalition, of course).

In an interview last week with the Jerusalem Post, he laid bare his outlook on everything ranging from Israeli Beduin to Jacques Chirac. Here is one of Mr. Rothschild's choice pearls of wisdom: "The one thing you can't say is that France is an anti-Semitic country."

Oh, really? Tell that to the thousands of French Jews moving to Israel each year who are fleeing the hatred back home. Or to the family of Ilan Halimi, the 23-year old French Jew who was tortured and murdered several months ago by anti-Semitic thugs.

But perhaps Mr. Rothschild's most ridiculous comment of all had to do with Jewish charitable giving. The Post story reported as follows: "the priority for Jewish giving, he said, should be helping Israeli Arabs."

That's right. Despite Israel's crumbling educational system, underdeveloped development towns, and myriad other social and economic problems, Mr. Rothschild nonetheless thinks that the Jewish people's number one philanthropic priority should be helping the Arabs.

All one can say in the face of such astonishing foolishness is that while Mr. Rothschild may indeed be a "baron", it would seem more appropriate to refer to him as France's own Dr. Dumb.

Olmert's Unique Negotiating Strategy

The people of Israel owe a debt of gratitude to Ehud Olmert.

In a speech today to the British Parliament in London, Israel's Prime Minister unwittingly succeeded in summing up everything that is wrong with our nation's policy towards the Palestinians in a mere two sentences.

With nary a trace of sarcasm, here is what Mr. Olmert had to say about his plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria while retaining control over a handful of so-called settlement blocs:

"There was no 'Zionist' reasoning here, as you might be inclined to argue. There is an honest, real will on my part to give a lot and receive little in return."

Yes – you read that correctly. But just in case you didn't, here it is again: "There was no 'Zionist' reasoning here, as you might be inclined to argue. There is an honest, real will on my part to give a lot and receive little in return."

And so, the two key principles upon which Mr. Olmert's policy rests, based on his own remarks, appear to be the following:

1 – no "Zionist" reasoning guides Israeli decision-making

2 – Israel will give up a lot with the aim of receiving little in return

And all this time, we were wondering if the guy knew what he was doing…

Palestinians Mourn Zarqawi

The world became a whole lot safer yesterday, after the US took out Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Israel eliminated his Palestinian counterpart, Jamal Abu Samhadana.

In both instances, solid intelligence backed by a healthy dose of airpower neutralized these two evil men, whose daily regimens consisted of trying to figure out how to murder as many innocent human beings as possible.

Samhadana was far less well-known in the West than al-Zarqawi, but that does not take away from his heinous record of bloodshed, which included attacks on Israeli soldiers and involvement in the October 2003 bombing of a US diplomatic convoy in Gaza.

Both these men deserved what they got, and got what they deserved, and we should all be grateful to the US and Israeli military forces for a job well done.

Not surprisingly, the Palestinians came out into the streets to protest – not just against the killing of Samhadana, but also of Zarqawi too.

The fact that they identify with that ruthless thug, and mourn his passing, should be proof enough that they neither warrant nor merit Western understanding or support.

Does Anyone Care About Israel's Holy Sites?

In recent years, Israelis and Jews around the world have looked on with horror as the Palestinians desecrated Jewish holy sites. From the dismantling of Joseph's tomb in Shechem (Nablus), to the wanton destruction of the synagogues in Gush Katif, our ostensible "peace partners" have shown little inclination to respect all that is holy and sacred to the Jewish people.

But the sad fact is that Israel itself has not done very much to respect and maintain our own holy sites, many of which lie in an appalling state of decay and neglect. As I note in the article below from today's Jerusalem Post, it is time for us to show our ancestors, and ourselves, a bit more respect in this regard.

The Jerusalem Post, June 7, 2006

No Way to Treat Our Founding Fathers

By Michael Freund

Everyday, thousands of people drive right past it, barely noticing the small stone structure that lies along the highway outside of Kibbutz Eyal, near Kfar Saba.

The building sits quietly amid a field, with its domed ceiling waging what appears to be a losing battle against foliage and neglect.

From year to year, the cracks in the roof grow ever larger and more ominous, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before the edifice simply collapses.

Welcome to the burial place of Shimon (Simeon), son of the Biblical patriarch Jacob.

The first time I visited the site, I could not believe my eyes. The tomb itself is a two-layered block of stone in the middle of the one-room structure, and it is surrounded by a dirt floor and filthy, unpainted walls.

The decay is dreadful, the dilapidation downright depressing.

This, after all, is the burial place of one of the founding fathers of the Jewish people. It is a piece of our nation's history, and it lies in near ruin.

How could such a thing be allowed to occur?

It is akin to visiting George Washington's grave at Mount Vernon, Virginia, or Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides in Paris, and finding them in a state of utter and complete disrepair.

Can anyone imagine the paint at Queen Victoria's mausoleum in Windsor, England, being allowed to peel off the walls? Or the ceiling at Grant's Tomb in upper Manhattan being overtaken by untended shrubbery?

Some of you are probably thinking: that's all fine and nice, but we know for sure where Washington is buried, and where Napoleon was laid to rest. But who says that crumbling structure outside Kfar Saba really is the tomb of Simeon?

Interestingly enough, the site is considered holy both by Jews and by local Arabs, who referred to it over the centuries as A-Nebi Shimaan, or "the prophet Simeon." The Samaritans also identify the tomb as such, thereby placing the burden on the skeptics to explain just how these three traditions, which so often clash, nonetheless point to this very same place as the burial ground of the Biblical figure.

Unfortunately, though, Simeon's tomb is not alone when it comes to a pronounced lack of care and attention. The burial places of some of his famous siblings are not in much better shape, too.

Neither the tomb of Benjamin, also outside Kfar Saba, nor the tomb of Judah, in the town of Yehud, can be said to be in sparkling, pristine condition. Though they are visited regularly by a stream of pilgrims and worshipers, the conditions at both sites are woefully appalling.

ALL TOLD, Israel is home to over 120 Jewish holy sites which dot the landscape, from the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. They stand as silent witnesses, providing incontrovertible proof for our people's age-old presence in this land.

According to statistics compiled by Israel's Holy Sites Authority, which is now part of the Ministry of Tourism, over 7 million people visit the holy sites each year. This includes everyone from yeshiva students to new immigrants to Christian tourists from abroad.

Some seek out the holy places as a means of drawing closer to God, while for others it might be out of curiosity or a desire to come into contact with a piece of history.

But whatever the motivation, these sites provide visitors with a range of meaningful experiences, be they religious, social or educational in nature.

A visit to Rabbi Akiva's grave in Tiberias, or King David's Tomb on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, provides a window not only into our nation's past, but also to its soul.

And that is precisely why the government's disregard for their upkeep is so utterly shameful.

Incredibly, the annual budget for protecting, maintaining and repairing the holy places (not including the Western Wall) is a paltry NIS 4.6 million.

By contrast, Israel's 50 largest museums, which draw less than one-third the number of those who visit the holy sites, nonetheless receive five times the amount of support each year from the Treasury.

The government is literally throwing pennies at our heritage, doing virtually nothing to preserve these national and historical monuments or to make them more accessible to the public.

Take, for example, the Tomb of Habakkuk the prophet, which is located in the lower Galilee. Though it is adjacent to Route 65, the dirt path leading down to the tomb from the highway is not even paved.

And then there is the grave of the Talmudic sage Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, in Kafr Kana, which has been repeatedly vandalized by local Arabs in recent years, because little is done to protect the site.

This is no way to be treating the founding fathers of the Jewish people, those who gave us the wisdom and heritage that we have struggled so long and so hard to keep.

The state of the holy sites in Israel today is an insult not only to them, but to ourselves, too, and it is time for the government to correct this.

After all, you can tell a lot about a country by the respect that it shows for its forefathers.

And ours, I dare say, deserve a whole lot more.