Israel the liberator
Until Israel defines its objective as final victory, Islam will not leave it alone. But we don't need to bomb the whole pyramid of jihad to smithereens. We need to pull out the cornerstones of this totalitarian structure – and it will collapse by itself
The current conflict with Hamas and Hizbullah are spearheading the Moslem world's long-term objective: The destruction of Israel and replacement it with Moslem "Falesteen," a part of a world-wide khalifate. Slowly and surely the Moslem world is progressing to its objective by waging a military, political, psychological, and demographic jihad against the Jewish state.
Moslems are clear about what kind of Israel they wish to see, but what kind of Islamic world does Israel want to see? We don't have a response. We don't care a fig about them. We don't care what they have over there. All that matters to us is that they leave us alone; the only difference between the Israeli left and right is that the former want to be left alone within the borders of '48, and the right within the post-'67 borders.
No victory
The katyusha attacks have made even the left wake up and approve a counter-offensive, but they do not even pretend to be striving for victory. Look at the way news programs and TV panels end their broadcasts: Reporters wish recovery to our wounded, the return of the kidnapped soldiers, and, most importantly, for "quiet" to return. No one wishes a victory to our own army!
What would total victory mean? Right now, tactically speaking, victory would mean the total destruction of Hizbullah and Hamas, including the liquidation of Nasrallah, Haniyeh, and other terrorist commanders.
Yet the full and complete victory that should be the objective of the government and the elites consists in something else. We do not need to seize Islam's land or humiliate and destroy Moslems.
Our victory lies in accomplishing Israel's mission: being the light unto nations. Our victory would mean transforming their conscious and their social structures, liberating Islam from the demons of bestiality that have taken possession of their spiritual realm.
Destroying the foundations of Umma
Israel's vision of Islamic world will not be achieved through democratization a la Bush, but through individualization a la Abraham; through personifying Moslem conscious. It would mean returning the biblical Ishmael to his father's heritage of kindness; to an individual dialog with the Creator, to personal rights and personal responsibilities.
Towards this great objective, Israel must develop a clear theo-political strategy and work hard to implement it. It is Israel – not American neo-cons – who should spearhead the offensive on the distorted Islam. Israel must be the spiritual leader in this great war, because it is Isaac who knows the soul of Ishmael as a soul of one's brother.
This war does not entail bombing Damascus and Teheran. It entails destroying the foundations of Umma.
One of them is the Palestinian Problem. The only way out of this rut is the Humanitarian Solution, which rejects Palestinians' illegitimate collective political demands in favor of legitimate individual ones.
Oslo's greatest sin was not the betrayal of Jewish lives – that was the consequence. The greatest sin was the betrayal of Arab freedom. Rather than work with "savages" for another hundred years, helping them overcome their tribal lifestyle and herd mentality, enlightening them and bringing them close to the civilization of Israel, the Oslo architects chose a treaty with death.
They imposed a bandit and a tyrant on Palestinian Arabs, lavishing money, weapons and international recognition on him, in the false hope that one more Arab dictator would bring us security.
Shrink and tune out
It may be painful to admit, but we should realize that until we do drive for total victory, we will not be left alone. The Arabs will provoke us endlessly until we engage.
The longer Israel refuses to perform its mission and liberate the prisoners of false Islam, the longer it persists in its desire to fence itself off, to separate, to shrink, and to tune out its neighbors, the more they will hate it.
The tragedy is that even Israel's national camp does not think in these categories. As it refuses to see beyond the River Jordan, it does not even have a vision of future Islam, to say nothing of taking responsibility for its transformation.
Right now our task is to rout Hizbullah. But if we want this to become a preamble for our final victory, we should set for ourselves a more elevated objective. We must realize that Israel is not an avenging force (for the violation of our borders), but a liberating one. This is our choice: either we'll be the liberators of Moslems, or we won't be at all.
Dmitry Radyshevsky is the director of The Jerusalem Summit
