Shalom and Shalom

1948: SHALOM (WELCOME) to the new-born democratic State of Israel

2019: SHALOM (GOODBY) to the once-democratic State of Israel.

As everyone knows, the Hebrew word “shalom” can mean peace, hello, or goodby.

In today’s scenario at our national circus led by the chief clown Bibi al-Netanyahu,, there is no peace but instead, only a goodby. A farewell to the democracy which once was the admiration of all.

His attempt to assassinate our democratic system of government by restricting the powers of the Supreme Court and weakening our impartial justice system in his attempt to turn all legislative and executive power to the coalition members in the Knesset is as much a fascist form of dictatorship as we have witnessed in Europe from 1939 to 1945 and as we witness today in Islamic Turkey under Erdogan.

In the case of the State of Israel, the fault as I see it is the lack of initiative of the Israeli citizens to cast out the demons seeking to destroy us. In short, Netanyahu and ilk MUST go by one means or another.

Knesset members are power-hungry and will do anything possible to keep their seats even if it involves political murder.

Netanyahu, as the chief prospective assassin, will violate all laws in order to prevent his hearing and indictment on three criminal charges which we all know. One of his uneducated advisors is a 27-year-old brash punk, related to the prime minister by the accident of marriage.

Good voices, distinguished voices, democratic voices are being hushed… not to control the will of the people but rather to control the vain desires of one man, unfortunately re-elected by the people.

Our nation is losing its good health of body and of mind. A good dose of psychiatric beneficence might cure the disease temporarily, but stronger means might cure it permanently

Do you remember how we welcomed our rebirth in 1948? There was dancing in the streets, shouts of tremendous joy, tears of 2,000 years in exile rejoicing in the return of its children to their home.

Are those glorious memories forgotten? Has the ink upon which our independence was written faded away?

Those born after 1948, inheritors of our newborn pride, cannot share in the exuberation which we had experienced. For us, it was personal. For them, it is ancient history.

And they seek to re-write history to please one man and his often-and-not-always agreeable gang.

Should American history books re-write the origin of Christopher Columbus, the accepted discoverer of America? Should his Italian name, Cristoforo Colombo be changed to Cristobal Colon in order to appease the Spanish who claim him as their own?

Woe to those who attempt to re-write history for their own personal gain !

Our courts and our Supreme Court must remain supreme in the hands of the qualified men and women who sit in its halls and who struggle by day and by night to preserve the laws on behalf of the people.

We are a nation of all our people… Jews, Muslims, Druze, Christians, religious, secular, agnostics and atheists, gays and straights. We must never permit a dictator among us to deprive some of our people from some of their legitimate rights.

The one and only “shalom” which we must use is the “shalom” of peace. Not, God forbid, the “shalom,” the goodby, to democracy in our beloved nation.

In the meantime, today our nation is burning from one end to the other. The flames are consuming homes and properties…hopefully, not too many lives.

Tens of thousands of Jerusalem area citizens have been required to evacuate their homes.
The television news reported that prime minister Netanyahu has turned to Cyprus, Greece and Croatia for help in extinguishing the massive fires. Forests are burning. Highways have been closed. Train service has stopped due to over-heated rails. Israel has never before experienced such a catastrophe of nature.

The flames ultimately will be put out.

That’s more than I can say about the political flames. Their fire can destroy all of us.