The channel 13 commentator, Zvi Yehezkeli: The connection between the riots in the mixed cities, the disturbances in Jerusalem, and the attacks from Gaza, is the Jewish identity that they are seeking to undermine. It is neither occupation nor neglect.
“The Weakness of Our Faith in the Virtue of Our Path is the Source of the Weakness of Sovereignty”
Zvi Yehezkeli, the commentator on Arab affairs for the Channel 13 news, was one of the participants in the 3rd Sovereignty Youth Conference. In his presentation, he combined familiarity with the atmosphere on the Arab street, the dubious conduct of the government and law enforcement officials in Israel, and faith.
At the beginning of his talk, he mentioned the farhud in Iraq, eighty years ago, when his grandfather was in Baghdad, and on Shavuot eve, the Arab residents of the city rioted against its Jews and slaughtered approximately two hundred of them. The connection between those events and the riots in the mixed citied and the Hamas attacks from Gaza is, “The fact that we are Jews. Identity is significant here,” he asserted.
According to Yehezkeli, although the Israeli leadership receives reports from experts in Middle East affairs and Intelligence Corps monitors, it lacks a basic understanding of the atmosphere on the Arab street and does not relate to its significance. He attempts to depict that atmosphere in his various television appearances. “The leadership does not pay attention to what they are thinking,” Yehezkeli said. “Before the expulsion from Gush Katif, they said that they would not fire missiles. But we knew that they would fire missiles, because in the Hamas charter it is clear that they seek to drive us out of the entire land.”
“After the first missile, they assessed our reaction, and that reaction enabled them to continue. The same was true after our reaction in Jerusalem. That is the test of sovereignty,” Yehezkeli asserts. They rationalized the terrorist attacks with the occupation, and we bought it, just as there are those who buy the story that the Bedouins riot because of neglect. When the Jews were in exile, they did not occupy anyone; nevertheless, they rioted against us.
Yehezkeli considers the source of the weakness of the Israeli reaction and attitude toward the events, as a severe lack of a sense of virtue. “Without a sense of virtue, the Jew does not take action against a Bedouin challenge to Israeli sovereignty. When they see that you lack faith, they know you are vulnerable. Faith in the connection of the people to the land is the strength of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. If we continue to buy the Arab narrative, they will continue to tell it.”
Yehezkeli believes that the future of the State of Israel’s sovereignty over the Land of Israel is dependent on the extent of the Israeli investment in this issue already today. In his talk, he quoted Rabbi Naḥman of Breslav who asserted that “the essence of exile is in the soul.” He added that the mission is incumbent on each and every one to clarify for himself what G-d wants from him. In order to realize a dream, one must first and foremost awaken from his slumber and begin to take action. “It is not dependent on governments. They are pursuing ministerial chairs. We must perform our labor; to arise in the morning, to build another floor in the Land of Israel, and not to despair.”
Yehezkeli said this at the 3rd Sovereignty Youth Conference that took place on Thursday in the Oz VeGaon Nature Preserve in Gush Etzion, where the initiative to expand the municipal borders of Jerusalem, the “Greater Jerusalem” initiative was launched.