I Will Lift Up My Eyes to the Hills

For the moment let us forget about Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, PLO, PA, Bibi and Sarah and concentrate deeply upon the problem within our borders…problems of intense hatred, racism, violence and shame.

The many recent and frequent attacks upon Arab farmers, their homes, cars and property is a national disgrace for the decent Jewish communities in the State of Israel.

Hundreds of tires slashed on Arab cars, hated graffiti wishing death to all Arabs scrawled on walls and doors of Arab homes, 150 grape vineyards destroyed and this week 15 more olive trees, source of food and income for Arab growers, have been viciously chopped down. Jewish terrorism has again reared its very ugly head.

Why is the press and media so silent? Why don’t our police arrest the criminals who are known to them? Why doesn’t our government publicly condemn the actions of a scum group known as the “hilltop youth”?

They are disciples of the outlawed Kach party of the late Meir Kahane, bent upon wreaking havoc and destruction upon innocent Arab families simply because they are Arabs.

If cars of Jewish owners were found with tires slashed, if graffiti was found on Jewish homes marked “Death to the Jews,” our security, police and military officials would round up the criminals in less than 24 hours.

But when it comes to elderly Arabs who commit no crimes, who do not march in protests but merely tend their grazing sheep and harvesting their olives from trees and grapes from vines,  we can wait from Pesach to Rosh HaShanah before any real action is taken to locate and to punish the perpetrators who bring shame and disgrace to the religion of the Jewish people and nation.

Like the prophet who cried out “Shalom, shalom v’ain shalom”… Peace, peace but there is no peace… we find ourselves in a similar situation. We say that we want peace but I really doubt it. If we truly wanted peace with our neighbors we would rise up with loud cries of “busha, busha”..shame, shame on the perpetrators of crimes against the innocent.

In the Book of Psalms it is written “esa  ainai el ha harim…” I will lift up my eyes to the hills. And it continues, “mai ayin yavo ezri”… from where will my help come?

It is a proper psalm for Arabs to recite. From where will their help come?  Israeli Jews need to remember another verse from our prophets of old … “We have One God. One God has created us all. Why then do we deal treacherously brother against brother (neighbor against neighbor)?

What harm did the Arab seller of watermelons commit against us? The knife to slice the melons was not used to slice Jewish throats. The Arab waiter in a café in the Mamilla Mall did not spit into the Turkish coffee prior to serving it to a Jew.

If true hatred must be, then let it be to those who seek to destroy us and to eradicate our State from off the face of the earth. I salute our brave soldiers who daily face death on the border with Gaza. I do not condemn them for firing weapons, even live fire, against violent groups of Gazan protestors. These are the enemies of Israel.  Not the growers of grapes and olives.

The “hilltop youth,” wanderers on land separating them from decent settlers, must be arrested, tried in courts, and imprisoned for their hateful crimes. If they sincerely wanted to defend the Jewish State they should enlist or re-enlist in the IDF and fight and serve the country honorably, not as the thugs they are.

I do not personally believe that a mutual peace is around the corner. I know as a certainty that there will be no peace in my lifetime.

But for the sake of my children and grandchildren we must implement another prophetic cry, from our holy Tanach  :  “Tzedek Tzedek tirdof”… Justice and righteousness shalt thou pursue.

Sadly, our lawful authorities and our media have forgotten about justice, and as for righteousness they are conveniently blind.

“Esa ainai el ha harim”..I will lift up my eyes to the hills.

“Harim” could be changed by one small Hebrew letter to become “horim”…parents.

Jewish parents must instill integrity into their hate-filled sons.