Amona

One of the unwritten mottoes of this blog is Jewish unity. I hesitate to criticize an Israeli government from afar, preferring to write about issues that every thinking person can agree on. Also I am not nearly as well-read in internal Israeli politics as many other JBloggers and there is little I can add to the discussion.

I will try to bend over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt to any Jewish Israeli in issues of Israel and Zionism. I might be saddened by things that happen, and I might disagree with what the government does, but almost always I can understand it.

Gaza is a perfect example - I disagreed strongly but I can understand it and I can readily see that the motivation, however misguided, was a love for Israel.

I can see no such justification for what happened in Amona. The method, timing and viciousness of this attack against unarmed Jews, especially children, is unforgivable.

Read other blogs for the details - I recommend Boker Tov Boulder - but this distresses me greatly. To me, this is the turning point where Israel ceases to be a Jewish state. To me, this is where the leaders of Israel have lost the last vestiges of faith in G-d.

And when Israel loses its unity - when Israel forgets its roots - that is beyond tragic. When winning an election is more important than the welfare of her own citizens; when non-Israeli Arabs get treated with more respect than the most patriotic Jews, when bloodying fellow citizens is cheered as a victory for the rule of law, one must conclude that the current Israeli leadership has lost its way.

And unfortunately, when Israel forgets the fact that her very existence is a continuing daily public miracle, the Creator of that miracle may, chas ve'shalom, forget her.