When they say End the Occupation They Mean Destroy Israel

When they say "End the Occupation" They mean "Destroy Israel"

From the Heart

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

Language is important. Sometimes words mean exactly what they say. That would be nice. But there are problems in language. When you translate from one language to another and words have different meanings or shading of meanings, the translator has to pick just one, and freezes out all the other possibilities. The Aramaic translation of the Bible, the Targum, sometimes gives us a better insight to the Hebrew text, as understood in its time.

 

But there are times when people speak "in code." The words do not mean what they usually mean. They mean something else entirely. If you don't know that the person opposite you is speaking in code, you are completely blinded to what they are saying. Your response could be entirely wrong and inappropriate, even to the extent of doing your own self significant harm. This is dangerous. Very dangerous.

 

It is even more dangerous when the other listeners to the words being said about you don't realize that the speaker is speaking in code. They are hearing them in their face value, their plain meaning. As such, they don't sound so bad. But the speaker and those 'clued in,' they know the real message. They get it. They can trap all the rest of the listeners by having them reply to the fake message and not to the real message.

 

So when Hamas says that "Israel needs to end the occupation," it sounds plausible? It sounds appropriate? Hamas sounds right and Israel sounds wrong? Because you might be thinking that Hamas is arguing about Israel's control of the West Bank/Judea/Samaria. There is a discussion to be had on this matter. But they're not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hamas is not talking about the West Bank. When they say occupation they are talking about Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheva, Eilat, Tiberias and everything in between. They mean, completely and totally, the destruction of the State of Israel.

 

There is no occupation of the Gaza Strip. Israel left there in 2005 'lock, stock and barrel.' Except for synagogues, they left everything else standing. They left all the fields that they had created. They left their homes erect. They left the streets, the electric lines and buildings. The Palestinians either tore them down, or their leadership did not allow them to use it. What a sin against their own people!

 

The Gaza Strip is not under siege. That, too, is a lie. While there could be more, there is a constant stream of trucks from Israeli ports to the Gaza Strip. They are not starving because there is a constant stream of produce and food. They are not cold because Israel has been supplying them with electricity even when they haven't been paying for it. They are not thirsty because Israel has been supplying them with water, even when they haven't been paying for that, too. They are not dying from illness, because they have access to Israeli hospitals [even though one cured patient wanted to come back as a suicide bomber and blow it up] even when they don't pay for the services. Peace loving people in Gaza don't have to worry at night for Israel does not shoot indiscriminate rockets into Gaza, as Hamas has done to Israel.

 

Understand the code!!!

When they say: "End the Occupation" They mean: "Destroy Israel."

 

Our answers are:          Understand the code.    Tell that to others.         Support Israel.

 

We celebrate Tu B'Shevat in January. Buy trees and help the Jewish National Fund build the state, repair that which has been bombed and broken. Buy Israel Bonds that also help build the state. There are many things that you and I can't do or change.

 

But there are things we can. Do them!