Exclusive: A healing of rifts

In an exclusive Independence Day interview with The Jerusalem Post, President Moshe Katsav asserts that the gaps between Israel's political parties are narrower than they have ever been, and believes there is now a real opportunity for greater internal dialogue and understanding.

Even before winning office, Moshe Katsav had set himself a goal as Israel's president - to try and heal the internal rifts afflicting the Jewish state. "I am going to ignore my political ideology - to put my ideology in a box and close it for seven years," he told The Jerusalem Post in June 2000, shortly before he secured election. "I will be involved just in Israeli society, to minimize the gaps and lower the tensions… The mission of the president is to find a way to increase interaction and dialogue between all the different sectors. Every rift requires a different formula."

Now, in the penultimate year of his seven-year term, Katsav says he feels some of those gulfs are healing. And the former Likud Knesset member, a little surprisingly, cites the Oslo Accords as what he calls the "belated" catalyst for this narrowing of differences.

Some things that stood out:

"I am certain that there cannot be a religion that supports bloodshed. It cannot be that the Koran and Islam support this. But I don't hear Muslim religious leaders speaking out against this."

<.snip>

"They (Israeli Arab MK's) truly oppose terror - I have no doubt of that. My criticism of them is that they don't make this known in a clear, determined voice. It's not enough to say this behind the scenes. And some of their initiatives, such as this meeting with Hamas, should not have taken place."

<.snip>

In his views of the Arab Islamists, this strikes me as incredibly naive for a Jewish leader.

This was truly insightful:

"Globalism is increasingly more dominant than national identity. It may be that the Israeli-Arab conflict deters some Jews from identifying themselves as Jews. But all this and more is nothing compared to the historical journey over thousands of years in which we overcame all obstacles. In the current era, when we have a state, we are disconnecting? We all have a responsibility to future generations. Any one of us who stops being Jewish, or whose children stop, is breaking a historical chain of 3,000 years. He has personal responsibility, a national conscience. How can he so lightly break that chain, by raising children who have no basic knowledge of Judaism, who never came to Israel, who never entered a synagogue or saw a Sefer Torah? That Sefer Torah preserved the Jewish people for 3,000 years. Thanks to it, the Jewish people did not disappear. And people are prepared to lightly disconnect from it."

The Jews at Free Republic can straighten me out, but he sounds like a Jewish leader who is tired and trying to straddle the yellow line in the middle of the road. Thing is, I have read many others like this in recent months which strike the same tone.

Nevertheless, Israel is still in G-d's capable hands.

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MikeFromFR ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~

"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~

"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~

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