Smokescreen?

Sometimes, we get diverted from our main path, the one we are supposed to be on because of our honor and integrity, or a commitment that had been made to another person, etc. This week’s Torah reading in the book of Numbers (Chapter 5) concerns the procedure for how to handle the case of a “wayward wife,” or at least for a wife suspected (without any eyewitness proof) of being unfaithful to her husband.

In the Bible, there had to be at least two, or perhaps three, witnesses to a major sin or crime. If the witnesses were not able to step forward, and a wife and husband wanted to stay together (but he was still suspicious and jealous) then she could voluntarily go through this ritual of the “bitter waters.” Last weekend, the entire Jewish world celebrated the festival of Shavuot/Weeks, and we were all reminded that, at Mount Sinai, God became married to this nation that He had created, and that the Torah is like a marriage contract between God (as the groom) and Israel (as the bride).

Israel is right now going through a bitter time, with all of the continued attacks against Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and civilians through suicide bombings and sniper fire or drive-by shootings. Some might argue that Israel has been “unfaithful” to God, her husband, and therefore deserves to be going through this bitter struggle for her existence as His “wife.” But the modern-day state of Israel is not anywhere near a theocracy, wherein the government makes all their decisions based solely on the word of God. And certain secularists in Israel even had the teaching of the Bible (Torah) taken out of the main schools for awhile. So that kind of reasoning actually misses the mark. And besides, the sheer number of attacks are far outweighed by the amount of daily “miracles” regarding a small number of deaths and relatively minor injuries or near-misses. These are aspects of the mini-war that are not lost on the God-fearing Jewish people – and the fact that God is still coming to their aid and protection.

No, it seems to me that the reason for this bitter struggle has more to do with “manipulating the media” and, with it, world opinion, to set them all against Israel for a future war. (see “New Rules for Middle East Reporting“)

The low intensity fighting, and refusal of the PA to call a cease-fire, has been very hard to understand. Now, some have tried to explain it as a guerrilla war, or a war of attrition. But again, that may be a term that is used to simply throw people off track regarding what this war is really all about. If one looks up the word “attrition” in Webster’s Dictionary, it says ” … a gradual diminution in number or strength due to constant stress: a war of attrition.” Another definition is “… a wearing away, or rubbing down by friction.” Now, if this was a war of two mostly-equal parties or countries, then I could understand one party hoping to wear down the other like this. But how can the PA hope to wear down Israel, who has so much resolve to stay alive (i.e., where else could the Jews go?) and has much more military strength – along with her ally the United States?

As for wearing down the United States, in her resolve to befriend Israel, that may not be so hard to do. I’d like to call your attention to a most excellent article in the National Review Online called “Israel’s Reality,” by Seth Gitell.

He writes:

A terrorism attack at a place of leisure takes the lives of innocents. The aggrieved country chooses to retaliate against the perpetrators of the terrorist act with jet air strikes. The world erupts in outrage. All these statements describe Israel’s decision to use F-16 fighter jets in Gaza and the West Bank last week.

Few seem to recall that these conditions also apply to another use of force – America’s April 1986 air strikes against Libya’s Col. Muammar Khadaffi. The Bush administration, for all its Reaganite posturing, seems to have forgotten the president’s 1986 raid. With America’s closest ally in the Middle East, Israel, buffeted from attacks from all quarters, recalling the earlier air strike may drive some sense into the thinking of Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is beginning to resemble President Bill Clinton at best and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at worst.

As for wearing down Israel, that would take a bit longer, perhaps even many years, to accomplish. And so I’m not so sure that this is the real objective of the current mini-war. I think the real objective is rather to distract onlookers to what is being planned and to what’s really happening, behind the scenes.

Israel revealed a few weeks ago that it had captured a munitions-laden ship, the San Torini, destined to supply arms to the Palestinians according to Professor Murray Kahl. In his recent article, Professor Kahl exposes the “Syrian-Mafia Connection” and how there are plans to arm the Palestinian intifada through munitions that are being sold through the Mafia in Italy. The only problem is that the Mafia will sell arms to anyone with the cash. At the end of Professor Kahl’s article, the most important piece of information is disclosed. “Additional information indicate(s) that advances have been made in a European country between the Mafia and elements of the Free Lebanese Resistance. The Free Lebanese Resistance has accumulated sums of cash and (they) are negotiating for enough weapons to supply thousands of Lebanese Freedom fighters who are expected to begin their military training outside of Lebanon. The reports indicate that weapons shipments are planned to arm a native Lebanese uprising and secret routes have been worked upon to bring these weapons into Lebanon at the appropriate time.”

I guess two can play this game – even though it is a very dangerous one – a game that could set the entire region into conflict.