Channels

Nahum Barnea

Dying for the sake of our country

Someone either heard or imagined hearing the heroic saying by the dying Trumpeldor, 'It's good to die for the sake of our country.' Whether it had actually been said or not, it became a motto by which generations of Israelis grew up

Atop a hill overlooking a beautiful vista, between Kibbutz Kfar Giladi and the Tel Hai courtyard, lies the kibbutz cemetery. At the front of the cemetery, beneath the statue of the roaring lion, eight bodies are buried in a mass grave. They are the bodies of six of the fallen from the battle that took place at the Tel Hai courtyard in March 1920, led by Yosef Trumpeldor. The remaining two were killed the night before.

 

The veterans of the Shomer organization are buried in military honor behind the statue. Israel has been blessed, unfortunately, with many cemeteries, many of which are military. If there is place in Israel, besides Mount Herzl, that deserves to be named the national pantheon, this is it.

 

Sunday 12 reserve soldiers were killed not far from this cemetery. While I was writing this article, it was still too early to name them. They were simply called "people" to differentiate them from other Israelis killed by Hizbullah missiles, who are termed "civilians."

 

Yizkor

 

Heroic songs were written in memory of the eight buried at Tel Hai. The Yizkor prayer, the most beautiful of secular prayers cited on Israel's Remembrance Day in honor of the fallen, was written in their honor.

 

Left and right wing youth groups adopted the heroes and annually conducted a festive ceremony in their honor opposite the lion.

 

The Arab village, Halsa, from where the attackers came, turned into an unauthorized development town named in honor of the fallen: Kiryat Shmona.

 

Criticism aside and myth aside

 

The battle at Tel Hai was a crushing defeat. The right questioned the right of an isolated settlement to exist in the midst of an Arab area (it was a different right wing then, one that opposed settlements); the left camp criticized Trumpeldor's arrogant conduct on the eve of the battle.

 

But criticism aside and myth aside. The entire settlement attributed the battle of Tel Hai with great significance: The land of Israel isn't bought with money, not by lobbyists and not by God's doing. It is achieved with blood. Death is an act of ownership. "The earth, my earth," wrote Alexander Penn, "I will inherit you through blood."

 

Someone heard, or imagined hearing the heroic saying made by the dying Trumpeldor, "It's good to die for the sake of our country." Whether it had actually been said or not, it became a motto by which generations of Israelis grew up.

 

Alarming figures

 

Heroic songs will not be written in memory of the 12 soldiers killed yesterday, and no monuments will be erected. The Katyusha that hit them was just one of 3,000. It could have hit others, or not at all. The figures are alarming.

 

In the meeting in which the cabinet decided to embark on this war, IDF commanders estimated that the casualty toll on our side, including soldiers and civilians, would reach 90. I have no idea what the General Staff bases its accurate assumptions on, but it appears that with the deaths of the 12 soldiers Sunday, we have gone way beyond that figure.

 

We have gone beyond this number but have still not achieved the minimum – control over the majority of the missile launching sites, and significant reduction in the number of rockets fired at the home front everyday.

 

Israeli society can bear the daily figure of casualties. We have withstood higher numbers. We can also withstand the enormous economic hardships inflicted by this war, but only in the event that the deaths carry a purpose.

 

Front without a front

 

Whoever planned this campaign the way it was planned, couldn't have imagined that three-and-a-half weeks later the Israeli home front would still be exposed to a dose of 200 rockets everyday. If that was the plan, they should be admitted into a hospital. If they didn't plan it this way, some improvement is called for.

 

There are three fronts in this war against the Hizbullah: The Lebanese front, the home front and the diplomatic front. Who would have believed that the news coming from the diplomatic front would be good - considering that Israel is dependent on the benevolence of hostile countries such as France, Russia and China – whereas when it comes to the news coming from the fighting inside Lebanon, and to the home front's leadership - the news is all bad.

 

One of the most fascinating books written on Tel Hai is a book by Nakdimon Rogel titled "A front without a home front." More than 86 years later, at the same place, we have a home front without a front. It's not really great, not at all. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.07.06, 15:00
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment