Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Israel: Born in Fire and Desire


Rochelle R. was her name. I met her in 1959 when I joined the Russian Club at the University of Miami. She was a remarkable woman in many ways. A former member of both Irgun and Haganah (these Jewish organizations were sometime allies and sometime antagonists) she was by her own admission a freedom fighter for Israel. She made no apologies for her activities though often said she regretted the young soldiers she helped to kill. In the “Mandate” it was illegal for Jews to carry weapons, so one or her tasks was to carry guns or grenades under her skirts, knowing that the British soldiers were too polite to search a woman’s legs. She had a British soldier boyfriend/lover who was killed in this hell of confusion and oppression, and she never forgot him. Her ethnic roots were Russian and she arrived in America in the 50s. She was fluent in Russian, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Yiddish and English. She was married to another Israeli and had two daughters.  She tutored me in Russian and Israel.
My friend Rochelle might be in this photo of Begin with Irgun
Israel has been fighting for survival from the days before it was Israel. The desire of the Jewish people for a homeland burned then as now, and thwarted at every turn, still came to pass. During the constant fight for freedom from the “Mandate”, millions of Jews were murdered (along with my gypsy family) and millions more were displaced. They fought on and the desire for freedom never wavered. And they fight on today. Early in the history of these people the philosophy, more a doctrine really, of “Active Defense” became operational. It still is. Everybody in the Middle East knows this truism: If you mess with Israel, there WILL be consequences.
Which brings me to this point: When rockets flew from Gaza and rained on the land of Israel, everybody knew what would come next. Hamas knew. Israel knew. The whole world knew. Active Defense. Like everyone with a heart, I mourn for the dead innocents of all aggressions. In Syria. In the Ukraine. In Gaza and in Israel. The blame game is a losing game to play. The real game is actions and counter actions, and that is the reality in Israel.
The people of Israel are the descendants of Rochelle, her husband and daughters, and thousands of other freedom fighters, and of the indomitable Jews of the world. If the world has learned nothing else it should have learned this: If you mess with Israel, there WILL be consequences.



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