August 30, 2002

Sharon’s Endgame - What Is It?

“May the year and its curses come to an end”, (Meggila 31:B) but is there an end? What is Ariel Sharon’s end game? Is there a plan, if there is, why haven’t we heard about it? General Yaalom, the IDF Chief of Staff, says it can take years before Israel will successfully conclude its war on terrorism. Do Israelis have the stamina and the perseverance to suffer suicidal murderers? Can Israel continue its stand against a hypocritical Europe and a corrupt world media?

Many of us admire Ariel Sharon. He is dedicated and one of the greatest field commanders in modern history, a superb tactician and a man of courage. But Israel cannot continue without a delineated program and ultimate objective. The Arabs know the Jewish psyche well, they have an endgame plan. By continuing the terror, they expect Israelis to begin a trickle of emigration leading to even greater economic woes and political conflict.

I suspect that Sharon does have a plan in mind but will not reveal it. If it satisfies his political flank on the right, the left will have an excuse to leave the unity government and will do so with a loaded gun. Sharon, they will say, has surrendered to the extremists on the right and will provoke the Arabs causing more bloodshed. Should Israel’s Prime Minister decide to offer an olive branch to the enemy which would have to include enough land to form a Palestinian State with its capital in east Jerusalem, the right will not only abandon him but will explode in his face. What should Sharon do?

Sharon should wait despite the exigency of the unity government beginning to totter as the Mayor of Haifa, the left’s newest candidate for Prime Minister, pushes even harder for Sharon to reveal a plan.

President Bush will open a door which will enable Israel and Sharon to reveal an endgame. Bush for the time being has decided to hold his war against Sadaam off, and for good reason, he has little support. He will now call for renewed inspections in Iraq, which the Iraqi dictator will resist, but in the interim, Bush will find allies and evidence of weapons of mass destruction, hidden in Iraq for a war against Hussein, history's worst terrorist.

And when this war begins, it will have much more support, and other countries will join forces with the United States. The Palestinians will run to the streets and rooftops in support of their “great friend and hero, Sadaam.” Sadaam will be crushed and Israel will be in an extraordinary position to dictate terms for peace. Better yet, the war will not end in Iraq. The United States and its allies will have to take on Syria and the Hizbollah against whom there is clear reason for a justifiable attack. The FBI has evidence to prove that Hizbollah terrorists are selling drugs on the streets of America with the full knowledge of the Syrians to fund their terrorist activities. Syria itself is one of the world’s largest illicit drug producers. These drugs are manufactured in Lebanon’s Beka Valley and are marketed throughout Europe and the United States.

The Persian Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia will have little alternative but to support this war against Iraq, Syria and Hizbollah. Failure to do so would do serious damage to their oil industry. Now, unlike the past, the United States is less dependent on Arab oil than it ever was.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think so for several reasons, some good, others bad. The West must put an end to the Islamic threat to its culture and civilization. Destroying Iraqi and Syrian tyrannies and replacing them with embryonic democracies, yes, nation-building, will send a message throughout the Moslem world calling for change and hopefully leading to peace, a blessing for all Arabs and humankind. War itself is ugly and abominable and should be avoided at all times. Slicing human flesh is an equal abomination, but when surgery is called for, it becomes an essential pain and a life-saving procedure. I find it very difficult to pray for a war, so my prayers are for miraculous Divine intervention. Let the patient, Israel be spared the surgery and our beloved America, the horrors of war and make the Healer of all that ails man inspire love in place of hate, that old malignant cell that could even defy the surgical skill of man’s most powerful forces.

Shabbat Shalom