Thursday, 22nd of Shvat 5785
The conception is alive and kicking on the border with Egypt.
For some time, Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Eli Dekel has been warning about Egypt’s armament, our southern neighbor with whom we have, as is known, a ‘peace agreement.’ Dekel analyzes the various possibilities to explain this armament, which has been going on for many years, and concludes with an inevitable explanation: the only plausible reason for this is Egypt’s desire to launch a war of annihilation against Israel. This is not about what is commonly referred to as a ‘terrorist organization,’ but about a massive political entity in every way, and this should have long ago raised red flags in Israel’s security system.
Recently, the media has begun to take Dekel’s warnings more seriously, given several signs indicating that Egypt is systematically violating the peace agreement. Even Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, explicitly said:
“There are military bases being built here that could only serve offensive operations and offensive weapons. This is a clear violation. For a long time, we turned a blind eye – but it continues. This is an issue we will put on the table soon and emphasize greatly.” Leiter made these statements at the end of last month before the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. These comments were made during a meeting with Jewish organizations, and a video from that meeting was published last Friday.
It is quite refreshing to hear different voices from official Israel, voices not bound by the conception. But do not worry – the security system shook it off, the video was quickly removed from the internet, and shortly afterward, we were informed that ‘hostile and unknown elements’ were trying to sabotage the relations between Israel and Egypt. They refuse to see, the conception on steroids…
So, in the security system, didn’t they learn anything from the disaster on Simchat Torah? The sad answer is that not only have they not learned, but they are also unable to learn. This is the very nature of the conception. The failure on Simchat Torah was not in intelligence gathering or military preparedness. The failure stemmed from the inability of people, immersed in their Western worldview, to understand that the world does not operate according to their perception, especially not here in the Middle East. Just as they once thought that Hamas was ‘deterred’ and had no ‘interest’ in attacking Israel because it was ‘busy rebuilding Gaza,’ so now they explain, with their hollow reasoning, that Egypt has economic problems and ‘it would not be worthwhile for them to violate the peace agreement,’ and that their continued military buildup, which has been going on for many years, and has intensified since al-Sisi came to power 17 years ago, is meant to deal with Ethiopia. And they say this seriously…
The conception is alive and kicking, and it starts with the signing of that miserable agreement at Camp David 45 years ago. Apart from the loss of the Sinai Peninsula with the destruction of settlements, which was a terrible precedent that continued later with Gush Katif, apart from the loss of oil sources, military bases, and many other assets, alongside Israel’s official recognition of Palestinian rights in our land (by the Likud government, by the way), there was another, no less important, aspect – there was an unrealistic conception of the concept of ‘peace’ in the Middle East. The secular Western Israel believed that peace meant good neighborly relations, tourism, cooperation, and abandoning the goal of destroying the other. Egypt, on the other hand, viewed the agreement as an opportunity to create power that would serve it in the future for the annihilation of Israel.
Those whose ‘religion’ is a life of comfort without any burden are tempted to think that the whole world thinks like them. Those who do not believe in the Creator of the world are sure that their enemy does not believe in any mission and can be bought with dollars. Until the great disaster arrives, and reality slaps them in the face, as we saw in Gaza. The concept with Egypt is indeed alive and kicking, and until we understand that the Middle Eastern mind is not synchronized with the Western mind, no intelligence or strategic analysis will help.
There is a built-in bug in the basic thought system of the IDF and Israel’s security system. Those who do not understand their mission will also not understand the enemy. Those who do not understand the essence of Judaism will also not understand Islam. Those who think Gaza will become Switzerland (this statement was not a joke, it was said seriously by Shimon Peres when the Oslo Agreement was signed) will quickly discover that Be’eri turned into Auschwitz. And those who think that Egypt is different because it is a sovereign state and has signed a peace agreement with us may one day discover that they were deceived by wishful thinking disconnected from reality.
The solution is not to listen to the observers, because ignoring their words was only a symptom of a root illness. The illness is the abandonment of the Creator and His Torah and the fleeing from the mission of the Creator of the World, which will come upon us willingly or unwillingly. However, if it comes unwillingly, it will be accompanied by unnecessary disasters. The prophet Yechezkel [Ezekiel] (Ch. 20 v. 32,33) said: “And that which comes into your mind shall never come about, that you say, We will be like the nations, like the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with anger poured out, will I be king over you:”
If we want to spare that outpouring of wrath, it is advisable to wake up from the conception, and better sooner than later. When we understand ourselves, we will also understand the enemy.
The author of this article is Rabbi Yehuda Epstein, Chairman of the Kedushat Tzion Association, an association of Haredim demanding the return to Zion with purity of holiness.
Editor’s comment: See the post Menachem Gottlieb’s Audio Shiur on Rambam, Islam, and Avoda Zara which explains the connection between Christianity and Islam and the service of wood and stone.
See also the post: On the Issue of Kiddush Hashem – Accepting the Yishmaelite Religion is Like Accepting Idolatry where the opinions of Ritva, Radbaz, the author of the Mishna Brura, Rabbi Yekutiel Halbershtam and Rabbi Dov Lior are brought agreeing with the statement that for some issues acceptance of Islam is like acceptance of idolatry.