By Steve Kramer
KFAR SABA, Israel — The Purim holiday will be celebrated throughout the Jewish world the evening of Friday, March 14, and daylight hours of Saturday, March 15.
Purim is a joyous Jewish holiday celebrating the survival of the Jewish people in ancient Persia, as told in the Book of Esther. Traditions include reading the Megillah (historic scroll), wearing costumes, giving gifts, charity, and feasting on triangular shaped filled pastries (hamantaschen). Haman, a high official in the King’s court, is the villain of the story who schemed to have the Jews of ancient Persia, circa 250 BCE, destroyed. Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai are the heroes.
Why is Purim so significant today? Because many governments and political/religious organizations want to rid the world of Jews and especially the Jewish State of Israel. Just as in the days of the ancient Persian Empire, Jews are vilified for their success or failure and their separateness. Will Israel be able to dispatch its enemies and have a state of non-belligerence with those states which are not its allies? A strong backbone emanating from our government is essential for that. Without a formidable Israel, the future of Jews is not only dim in the Middle East, but throughout the Diaspora.
Israel’s leaders, both governmental and military, aren’t aggressive enough to convince its neighbors that it’s not a good idea to mess with it. For example, when Hamas sent its shock troops across the border into Israel on the morning of October 7, 2023, it tasked them with wreaking extreme havoc on the unsuspecting residents of the ‘Gaza Envelope.’ They, and the so-called civilians who followed the invaders, didn’t worry that Israelis would retaliate by copying the Gazans, who invaded their homes, shot them, knifed them, burned them, tortured and raped them. They knew that Israelis are civilized, which in the Middle East automatically puts them at a disadvantage. To modify this deficit, Israel must become a feared enemy. The Israeli military must mimic porcupines. Why? Other animals want nothing to do with porcupines.
Israel’s softheartedness is a big problem. I’m not advocating that Israelis copy the inhuman, atrocious behavior of our enemies, but there must be a change from Israel trying to please the UN (won’t happen), the EU (won’t happen), the International Red Cross (won’t happen), and so many other individuals and groups (won’t happen). The texts in 1 Samuel 15:1-34 describe the behavior that the Israelites must follow to make their way in the world. The Biblical setting is King Saul’s (the first king of Israel) battle against the Amalekites, an ancient Biblical nation living near the land of Canaan, descendants of the evil Amalek.
The Lord said, It is time to punish the Amalekites! When the Israelites left slavery in Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them from the rear. Now attack them and kill their King Agag, the men and women, and the children and babies. Completely destroy everything that they have. Kill their cows, sheep, camels and donkeys. But Saul spared King Agag, the best of the sheep, the oxen, the lambs and all else that was of value.
The prophet Samuel said to King Saul: the Lord gave you a job to do, to kill all the wicked Amalekites. Fight against them until you have destroyed them all. Why did you not obey the Lord? You have turned against God by deciding not to obey the Lord’s command. Now the Lord has decided that you will not be king any longer. In his place, David eventually became the King of Israel, made Jerusalem his capital, and unified the country from his capital in Jerusalem, circa 1,000 BCE.
Hitler and Stalin (and Mao) surely fit the description of Amalek, each having killed millions of people, including Jews. In the Talmud it says that if someone comes planning to kill you, you should hurry to kill him first. This certainly applies to the Jewish people, who have been a target of killers for millennia. In Israel’s current situation, is it better to try to please the ‘world’, even when we know that the Palestinian Arabs (and other Arabs) have made it their mission in life to eradicate us Jews – and are doing so? It’s a Muslim predilection!
Unfortunately the ‘world’ makes up new rules for Israel to follow, rules that were never before applied to warfare. During WW2, the allies would go to any length to force unconditional surrender on the Axis powers, Germany and Japan. They firebombed Germany relentlessly and used nuclear bombs against Japan – twice. The two countries’ re-education under the seven-year occupation was deemed a sufficient start for them to govern themselves. The full process took two generations to essentially ‘cleanse’ the two countries.
One would be hard-pressed to find any reason for Israel to be so lenient against its enemies, who proclaim daily that their mission is to destroy us. But the world won’t let us remove from our homeland obdurate enemies who will never stop fighting and killing us. A complete defeat of Hamas and something similar for the Palestinian Authority is crucial to begin the Palestinian Arabs’ re-education.
But what about ‘two states living side by side in peace’? It’s a fantasy. Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims have been fighting each other since the death of Mohammed. In our lifetimes hundreds of thousands of Arabs have been murdered by other Arabs, especially in Algeria, Syria, and Iraq. The Jihadist Arab states endanger not only Israel, but also non-Jihadi Arab states. Western states are also suffering from a huge influx of Muslim immigrants, many of whom despise Western values.
France, Germany, Italy and UK are giving support to an Arab-backed plan for rebuilding Gaza.
Foreign ministers say the proposal “shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza.” This Egyptian plan was thoroughly rejected by the US and Israel because it does not significantly address the Hamas threat. The plan leaves Hamas in place in Gaza and gives a role to the Palestinian Authority, both totally unacceptable to Israel.
Israelis must be bolder. We should be like porcupines, too prickly to mess around with. If our enemies do not fear us, they won’t respect us. There are some relatively friendly Arab countries with whom Israel lives in peace, such as those associated with the Abraham Accords. If Israel is recognized as ‘the strong horse’ of the Middle East, it will have additional allies among the Arabs, who need protection from jihadists. Israel can’t afford to continue being subjected to strictures by the UN, EU, and others that could seal Israel’s demise. In some ways, these organizations are the ‘Amalek’ of today.
*
Steve Kramer is an American-Israeli based in Kfar Saba, Israel.