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Dry Bones

We Can't Let Up

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1,. s American Jews, we need to provide mul-
tidimensional — and unconditional —
support to Israel, our beloved homeland.
We need to give of ourselves — includ-
ing time, effort and money — as we stand with
Israelis, spiritually if not literally, during these dark
days in the war-torn Middle East.
Since the Passover Massacre, when a suicide
bomber at a Netanya hotel the first night of
Passover ultimately killed 27 Israelis, Detroit Jewry
has strengthened its response to Israel's cry for help.
But we can't let up.
We shouldn't let U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell's visit to the region this week blind us to the
ever-present threat of a suicide bombing,
sniper attack or blood libel.
Throughout the 18-month intifizda
(uprising), fanatics tied to Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat have unleashed their fury when
we've least expected it: on a bus, at the grocery, in a
restaurant, even seated at the seder table.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis pressed on, even as
world leaders denounced the Passover Massacre.
Such brazenness during a Jewish holiday commemo-
rating freedom from religious oppression gave Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon no choice but to send
troops and tanks into the West Bank to dismantle
the terrorist infrastructure.
.
Over the past 17 days, since that fateful seder at the
Park Hotel in Netanya, Jewish Detroiters have prayed
together for Israel at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills and twice demonstrated together for

Israel at major Oakland County sites. We've rallied
GOAL IS
behind the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
TO BRA N6
Detroit's 30-day Emergency Campaign to raise
poioCRACY
money for Israel, especially victims of terror. We've
had pro-Israel letters published in daily newspapers.
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And we've re-affirmed a May solidarity mission.
In today's Jewish News, nearly 1,000 people signed
a two-page ad responding to Detroit Free Press cover-
age the Jewish community considers biased against
Israel. Meanwhile, we continue to send our children
to Israeli yeshivot. Next week's local Yom HaZikaron
(Israel Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel
Independence Day) activities will provide ample
rPRONo-ING
opportunity to do more. The week will culminate in
DeMocRAc.
our synagogues with Stand With Israel
is No toM
Shabbat.
TO kilt.)
We need to stay united in support of
SUPPORT
Israel — and keep unity in the spot-
light so non-Jews see just how deeply we back
the land of our forebears.
To that end, we urge Federation to draw on the
growing chorus of Jews yearning for a bolder, more
demonstrative way to broaden exposure of our soli-
darity and organize a pro-Israel rally outdoors as a
companion to its Emergency Campaign.
Recalling the 1,000 Jews who conducted a
"Masada shall never fall again," Rabbi Loss said.
mass murder. atop Masada rather than surrender to
"Masada shall never fall again."
the advancing Romans in the year 74, Rabbi Harold
Jews everywhere must make sure it doesn't. Too
Loss of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield says the
many enemies are agitating at Israel's borders with
mountaintop ruins near Jerusalem underscore why
the hope of claiming Masada and the entire Jewish
Israel cannot ignore aggression and Jews in the dias-
state as their own. El
pora cannot ignore the urgency of its plight.

We Have A Job To Do

search out and arrest those men, must show by its
deeds that it can be trusted to enforce a peace.
As you know, sir, this is what they have refused to
do, again and again. So we must do the job for
them. Our soldiers must be their policemen, not
just for our good but for theirs as well.
You yourself said, just last week, "Terror must be
stopped. No nation can negotiate with terrorists, for
there is no way to make peace with those whose
only goal is death."
We could not agree more.
But terror will not be stopped by words alone. It
requires action; it requires our troops and our
weapons because no one else is willing to do the job.
Would you send American soldiers to arrest
Palestinian terrorists? Would the European countries
that shed such tears over the "poor Palestinians4 send
their forces on a mission to capture the heads of
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine? If not you or them, who if not us?
For believe us, Mr. President, if the infrastructure of
terror that has been built in the West Bank and Gaza is
not torn down, it will spring up again like dragons' teeth.
We understand that one consequence of this mili-
tary action is that it will confirm to even more
Palestinians that we are a hateful enemy and that
will lengthen the time before this part of the world
can live in peace. But that is not the worst outcome
that we can envision, for we have been driven from
this land twice in the last 3,000 years, and we will

EDITO RIAL

. ear Mr. President:
We're sorry, but we cannot call it off
right now Soon, maybe. We hope very
soon, but not before the job is done.
It is not just that too many of our people have died,
though that is certainly true. And it is not that we want
to kill more Palestinians, because too many of them
also have died in the last 19 months since they started
their campaign of violence. We want, as you want, an
end to the killings, an end to the senseless attacks in
which unarmed civilians die along with the soldiers. We
want a cease-fire that means something, and we want
the Palestinians to want it also, just as you do.
But the problem is that Yasser Arafat and the
leaders of all the factions who want to prove that
they will be worthy successors to him when the time
comes are not willing to do what they must do to
make the shooting stop.
And, Mr. President, what they have to do is heart-
breakingly simple. They must say, publicly and repeat-
edly, that suicide bombing is an abomination, that
shooting at settlers is unacceptable, that the statehood
they say they want cannot be won this way. And they
must act accordingly. Instead of letting terrorists out
of jail cells, Arafat's Palestinian Authority must actively

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not allow that to happen again.
Mr. President, you do not have to imagine what it
would be like if two dozen worshippers at the
were killed by a
National Cathedral in
suicide bomber on Easter Sunday, as our people were
killed at a Passover seder. You know what terror is like,
because it killed thousands of your people on Sept.
11. To your credit, you did not hesitate to strike back
at the terrorists' haven, and your men are still there,
doing what must be done to show the world you will
not tolerate this despicable ideology of death.
Sir, we mean no disrespect when we tell you we
cannot withdraw immediately. Perhaps by the time
this reaches you, we will have been able to start a
pullback from some of these cities. We hope so, for
we have no wish to occupy them for one minute
longer than we must.
We are grateful to you for sending your secretary
of state, Colin Powell, to see for himself and on
your behalf what can be done to halt the violence.
We completely agree with his assessment that the
Arab states must come forward and act more
responsibly. We hope his very considerable skill as a
negotiator will quickly make it possible to replace
military confrontation with political process.'
But for right now, we have a job to do, to make
sure that the future of this place is determined by
the forces of hope and of life and not by the cadres
of hatred and death.
Sincerely, The Nation Of Israel

4/12
2002

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