Thursday, April 28, 2016
Dayan : 'To Be Armed and Prepared, Strong and Determined"
A Remembrance. ~~~~~ Nahal Oz became a kibbutz in 1953. Roi Rotberg, the Nahal Oz security officer, was regularly involved in chasing off infiltrators from Gaza. On 29 April 1956, he was caught in a prepared ambush; Arab harvest workers began to reap wheat in the kibbutz's fields, without authorization, in a spot where Rotberg would see them. As he rode toward them to chase them off, others emerged from hiding to attack. He was shot off his horse, beaten and shot again, then his body was dragged into Gaza. His remains were returned on the same afternoon, badly mutilated, after United Nations intervention. ~~~~~ Almost sixty years later, in April, a young Israeli soldier was captured by islamic terrorists and horribly beaten and shot. He escaped and was found by his brothers-in-arms on the same day in April in which Roi Rotberg had been ambushed, shot, beaten and mutilated. Our friend lived for eight months after his ordeal. He was young. He was fearless. He was a patriot. He will live in the hearts of his friends forever. ~~~~~ Here is the graveside eulogy Moshe Dayan gave for Roi Rotberg. It is wholly fitting to repeat it here for our friend, not on the day he died, but on this, the day he was found and comforted in the arms of his brother soldiers. "Greater love than this hath no man, than that he give up his life for his friends." Rest in peace. ~~~~~ Moshe Dayan : "Early yesterday morning Roi was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him, at the edge of the furrow. Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the Arabs in Gaza, but in our own midst that we must seek Roi's blood. How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Have we forgotten that this group of young people dwelling at Nahal Oz is bearing the heavy gates of Gaza on its shoulders? Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms. Roi's blood is crying out to us and only to us from his torn body. Although we have sworn a thousandfold that our blood shall not flow in vain, yesterday again we were tempted, we listened, we believed. We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the cannon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home. Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken. This is the fate of our generation. This is our life's choice -- to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down. The young Roi who left Tel Aviv to build his home at the gates of Gaza to be a wall for us was blinded by the light in his heart and he did not see the flash of the sword. The yearning for peace deafened his ears and he did not hear the voice of murder waiting in ambush. The gates of Gaza weighed too heavily on his shoulders and overcame him."
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A quote of Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, still resonate: "the state of Israel is a work in progress and its borders should not be fixed or even defined. Notably the borders with Syria and Jordan."
ReplyDeleteRussia was convinced that Israel was about to use nuclear weapons against Syria and Egypt, Moscow put huge pressure on both to rein in their advancing forces. Damascus, already in range of Israeli artillery on Golan, ordered its armored forces on Golan to halt, allowing Israel to mount powerful counter-attacks and retake the strategic heights.
ReplyDeleteThe world has pretty much forgotten how close it came to nuclear war in 1973 over Golan. The heights became a primary nuclear trigger point along with Kashmir, Germany’s Fulda Gap, and the DMZ, Korea’s inner border.
Likud Party founder, Zeev Jabotinsky, a militant Russian Zionist asserted that the “Arab states were an artificial, fragile mosaic of inimical Arab tribes.”
I bring up this history because it speaks to the will of Israel, as does the posting for today’s Casey Pops article.
The world has many times been at the brink of a ‘nuclear war’ only for cooler leadership has it not occurred yet.
“Let us make it clear that we will never turn our backs on our steadfast friends in Israel, whose adherence to the democratic way must be admired by all friends of freedom.”
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to understand the position of the Obama Administration on the existents of the State of Israel. The Foreign Policy beliefs/policies of most of todays (Ultra) Progressive Socialists Democrats defies logic, and any connection to the beliefs of the American people.
The above quote was made by a democratic that I at that time considered a very liberal person – only to be fooled. His name John F. Kennedy, the speech was given at Eastern Oregon College of Education, November 9, 1959.
Being prepared for a conflict was the best recourse the United States has or had in preventing wars. The threat of force is often sufficient to avoid war, but often force must be used. But in today’s world I am not so sure that – “striking while the iron is hot” isn’t a better idea.
ReplyDeleteUp against the likes of ISIS and all the other off springs of The Brotherhood doesn’t really give much room for diplomacy.
Israel more than knows this fact. War looms just around the corner for Israel every day of the week and every hour of the day. They silently remain prepared hope that the best offense is an outstanding defense. Normal day to day life goes on in Israel.
They are disillusioned with an American president that has their defeat and elimination as a country at heart. But they keep preparing. They keep training. They keep vigilance every minute of every hour, of every day.
General Moshe Dayan strived for peace as hard if not harder than anyone in Israel at any time. He was a military genius, a warm hearted, kind, and gentle Husband and Father.
ReplyDeleteHe was a doer who sought peace for Israel, but understood that the enemy of that idea would never rest until all of the Land of Israel was the Land of Palestine and not a living Jew was left.
Nearly all of what Israel is today is because of General Dayan. I had the privilege of calling him a friend.