Shalom Pollack: Dreams

 Joseph had a dream that changed history

Theodore Herzl famously said, "If you will it, it is not just a dream" His dream changed history tooMartin

Luther King also had one followed by big changes.

 I think I had one of those dreams last night. I saw a combined Israeli naval and air operation successfully destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities and all forces returned safely to base.

It was clear that Iran would order its proxies on Israel's borders to let loose with hundreds of thousands of deadly missiles they have been stockpiling for years.

To save Israel's population and infrastructure from this mortal threat, a preemptive assault was launched successfully eliminating over ninety percent of their targets. and the entire terrorist leadership down to low-level command was eliminated in surgical airstrikes and commando raids. 

With the heavy military activity going on, massive attacks by PA Arabs and personnel on Israeli settlements and transportation erupted in Judea and Samaria.

Quick on its heels came the Arabs of East Jerusalem. Not to be left out of the jihad, the Arabs of Israel joined in. The scenario of violent Arab uprisings in Israel was not a figment of my stupor or a faded historical episode, but memories of a few months ago during the May 2021 pogroms.

 My dream continued.  As the Tanakh describes on a number of occasions as a hero arises to lead the people against an enemy, " the spirit of the Lord filled him."Israeli military superiority and prowess was not the exciting part of the dream; rather that the Israelites were able to finally shrug off the chains of self-doubt and apologetics as a "new spirit of God entered them" This time the rioting Arabs were met by confident unhesitating Jews, determined to protect Jewish life, property and honor at all costs.

 In the village of Awarta in Samaria from where the terrorists who killed the Fogel family in neighboring Itamar village came, there was a bloody confrontation. Some Arabs there approached the security fence of Itamar and began throwing gasoline bombs. One of the residents responded by shooting two of the attackers.

Normally, this would mean the immediate arrest of the Jew and years in jail. This time it's different. A new spirit entered Israel. Instead of protecting the Arab attackers the Israeli authorities joined the Jews and chased the terrorists back into their village. There, many used weapons and gasoline bombs against the soldiers. Loudspeakers ordered them to deliver their weapons and to gather in the town square. All unarmed civilians would not be hurt. Not yet aware of the renewed spirit of the Israelis, they played by the old rules and used their families as human shields and shot from behind them. This time Israeli soldiers acted like normal armies and were not deterred by the old game rules.

Their own lives came before those of the enemy  There was a firefight. Casualties were taken on both sides. Many Arabs including civilians were killed. It did not take long for word of the "massacre" to reach every Arab between the river and the sea. They were on their way out. 

Israeli Arabs were certain that the old rules still applied especially for those holding the cherished/hated Israeli citizenship. In Lod, where Arabs torched hundreds of Jewish vehicles and homes and killed Jews just a few months ago, they were ready for round two. Alas, they faced the new spirit.

Who knew? 

This time as the Arab mob streamed out of their mosques screaming "slaughter the Jew"!  they were met by gunfire from within besieged Jewish homes. They in turn let loose with their own armory of illegal weapons just as the security forces appeared.

Unlike in May 2021, they did not arrest Jews for daring to defend themselves but rather joined their Jewish brothers and sisters in repulsing the Arab mob. The Arabs retreated into the main mosque dragging a Jewish policewoman with them as a hostage. They were given a choice: release the hostage and be tried in a court of law or be killed on the spot and their families banished to Gaza.  They came out unarmed with white flags. One of them had a pistol hidden and hiding behind some others opened fire on the police. They responded with a fusillade that killed him and a few near him. Some of the enraged Arabs rushed the police and they were cut down. Word of this "massacre reached every Israeli Arab within minutes.

They were on their way out too.

 In Jerusalem, Arabs attacked isolated Jewish communities on the Mount of Olives and in the old city.   The same thing happened. The new spirit. They hurriedly packed their bags. 
The result of these events was a mass exodus of Arabs from Judea and Samaria towards the Jordan border and Israeli Arabs in every direction. It was a Deja vu of 1948. In the war of Independence, one incident more than any other caused the panicked exodus of the enemy population; Deir Yasin.

 In that hostile, armed Arab village that controlled the entrance to Jerusalem, Jewish troops entered and demanded the Arabs disarm.  A fight ensued and some Arabs used as human shields were killed. 

The story of Dir Yassin was exaggerated in order to stiffen Arab resolve to fight. It had the opposite effect and thus the exodus began. It happened again. 

All Israeli villages that had been previously surrendered to the enemy in Gaza
and Samaria was to be rebuilt and expanded immediately.

  We were rid of our enemies from without and from within as the "spirit of the Lord rested upon Israel"The confused apologetic devil within was purged.

I was so happy, I probably smiled in my sleep. 

 And then I woke, trying desperately to hang on to the clairvoyant soaring images of the night.

 Is that how Joseph, Herzl, and King felt?


 Written by Shalom Pollack, author of, "Jews, Israelis, and Arabs"
 shalompollack613@gmail.com