Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: In an effort to make peace with the Palestinians, some perhaps well-meaning politicians have attempted to negotiate to give away parts of the holy land of Israel, and this is a big mistake.

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THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Never A Doubt: Not An
Inch
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
In an effort to make peace with the Palestinians, some perhaps well-meaning
politicians have attempted to negotiate to give away parts of the holy land of
Israel, and this is a big mistake.

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In contrast to these politicians and some diehard “peaceniks” (i.e. who believe
in peace at almost any cost), there are many people in Israel, from Zionists and
nationalists to settlers, messianists, and the religious who maintain a deep
underlying faith that the land of Israel, in its entirety, belongs to the Jewish
people. Moreover, they trust that our current and miraculous possession of
Israel, after 2,000 years of exile, is anchored in our transition from helpless,
stateless, and victimized Jews to instead those of self-reliance, bold action, and
faith in the Almighty that we are living in the times of redemption and
Mashiach.
Moreover, after the 1967 War, G-d has even given us Jerusalem (“If I forget thee,
O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill”) and returned us to our ancient
places of Judea and Samaria as well. In other words, Hashem has kept His
promise and returned us fully to the land of Israel, and it is a heritage from Him
to the Children of Israel, and thus, it is not for anyone to give it away. Therefore,
not one inch should be given back. Rather, we must lovingly retain the
sovereignty over all of Israel, fully settle the land, and follow in G-d’s ways. This
is what will lead to the ful llment of all Hashem’s prophecies and ultimately
peace to us all.
It’s not easy to stand rm in the face of delegitimization, boycotts, terrorism,
and even war. For Jews, it’s a matter of faith over fear. If we have faith that G-d
has brought us back to Israel and that he will not forsake us, then we will
neither fear the absurdly biased resolutions of the crooked United Nations or
the nations and their terror proxies roundabout that have sought our
destruction. In the end, G-d decides, and not man, the fate of Israel and its
people, and let it be for blessings only.
In this vein, former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, says in his
autobiography, Summing Up, that when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
asked him to think over the participation of the Arabs of East Jerusalem in
certain elections that would call into question the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s

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united and eternal capital of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir stopped the discussion and
told Carter the famous story of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz. In the tenth century, the
local bishop tried to get Rabbi Amnon to convert, and instead of saying “No, out
of the question,” he asked for three days to think it over. Well, after those three
days, Rabbi Amnon remorseful with his wishy-washy response, didn’t return on
time to the bishop. He proposed to the bishop that his tongue be cut out for
having said that he would even contemplate converting. Instead, the bishop
ordered that Rabbi Amnon’s arms and legs be amputated and salt poured into
the wounds for his not coming back on time to respond. The lesson is clear that
what we say and do has huge consequences. Telling others that we would even
dare contemplate giving away any portion of the Holy Land is sacrilegious and a
violation of G-d’s giving the Promised Land as a heritage to the Jewish people.
We learn in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything, including a time to be
silent and also a time to speak up. At Aish of Greater Washington, Rabbi Baruch
Frankel’s father-in-law taught today about the power of speech and of silence
from the Torah portion of the week, Shemini. He said that Aaron’s children,
Nadav and Avihu offered a strange re to G-d and in turn Hashem sent down a
re that consumed them and that “Aaron was silent.” Aaron knew when to keep
quiet in the face of rebuke by Hashem. Further, he said this portion in the Torah
is next to the things that G-d tells us not to eat, because while the rst tells us
to watch what comes out of our mouths, the second informs us what not to put
into our mouths. I would add that while Aaron was rightfully silent before
Hashem’s rebuke, he should’ve spoken up when Moses was on Mount Sinai
getting the Torah and the Israelites erred and made the Golden Calf. Similarly
with those who seek to negotiate away the land of Israel, we need to understand
that this is a time to speak up and say that this is wrong, and that faith can
overcome fear of Arab might as well as of their demographics. In fact, as we’ve
seen in 2020 with the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain as well as normalization of relations with Morocco and Sudan, “peace
for peace” is not only possible, but actually probable.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a business and technology leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
As much as we yearn for peace and we sincerely do, we must “stick to our guns”
insisting on a recipe of peace for peace, and not a warped trade of our limited
physical land and national security for a mere piece of paper, as hopeful as we
may wish it to appear. We only have one State of Israel (the size of New Jersey)
as a homeland for all the Jewish people. This is our explicit heritage from G-d
(Exodus 6:8):
In the book by Charles Selengut, Our Promised Land, he explains the position
that Israel is our national birthright and is not anyone’s to give away, but rather
according to Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Cook (following the teachings of both
Maimonides and Nahmanides), it is a Milchemet Mitzvah (“war of obligation”)
to ght for it, as truly undesirable as war is. Yes, from a humanitarian and “love
thy neighbor” perspective, we need to give the Palestinians civil autonomy over
their people and to improve their lives and futures, but at the same time when it
comes to the land of Israel, let us neither be silent as Aaron at the Golden Calf
or as Rabbi Amnon, let us not say anything that can be misconstrued as
shedding any doubt; Israel is ours now and forever, period.
And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the L-rd.”
“