It looks like Tat-aluf Eitam shares your expectation:
'Russia safer for Jews than Israel,' says Eitam
By Arieh O'Sullivan
(February 20) -- Israel is the most dangerous country in the world for Jews, and the IDF must greatly intensify its pressure on the Palestinian Authority nearly to the point of its collapse, said recently resigned Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ephraim (Fine) Eitam. --
Six weeks after slamming the door on a 30-year military career, Eitam has emerged at the head of a new organization aimed at revitalizing Zionism through Judaism.
He said that a synthesis of Jewish content and western technology had to replace the "western, liberal, secular, democratic" character of the country which has made peace the nation's supreme value.
"Am I scaring you?" Eitam asked. "There is great ignorance of Judaism in Israel today. Without Jewish content, there will be assimilation in our own country... If Israel is a pale western, liberal, secular, and democratic copy of America, then why should an American Jew identify with Israel more than with America? In order to consolidate or renew the Jewish people's commitment to this country, [Israel] must become a Jewish state," he said.
Eitam, known for his hard-line views, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that the IDF had to take "drastic action" against PA Chairman Arafat's rule. "You have to present the PA with a choice between existing as an authority and disappearing. I think the PA has a great interest in continuing to exist," he said.
As the gruff, bearded ex-general and decorated war hero sees it, the IDF's flight from Lebanon sparked the Palestinian attempt to emulate Hizbullah's fight in the territories.
"We are seeing the results of our flight from Lebanon now [in the territories]... The state of Israel is the most dangerous place for Jews to live. Show me another place in the world where Jews are killed because they are Jews. Even Russia is safer," Eitam said.
Eitam believes that the latest round of violence with the Palestinians has not only taught Israelis that Oslo has failed, but has unified the Left and Right in across-the-board opposition to the return of Palestinian refugees.
"We want a Jewish majority in the land of Israel," Eitam said. "We won't accept someone because they are Arab," he said. "This is one of the results of this intifada. This intifada has revealed to us that Israel is starting to speak in terms of Jewish identity as a central value for its existence. "Suddenly, here the Left and Right agree that the most primitive Jew is preferable to the most educated Arab," Eitam said.
Known for his outspokenness in the ranks, Eitam doesn't shy away from sensitive topics. He supports the idea that Jordan is Palestine and said that both Jordan and Egypt must contribute land and funding to resettle the Palestinian refugees.
He said Jordan has a Palestinian majority "which is being ruled by a family [placed there by] the British Empire. I think that making Israelis and Palestinians fight for this little patch of land all our lives so that King Abdullah [II] can keep ruling Jordan does not make sense.
"I don't want to get rid of the Arabs. I want to get rid of the Arab nationalism which is demanding the land of Israel as a national homeland," Eitam said.
Eitam left the IDF last December, after it was made clear to him that he would not be promoted to the General Staff. He said he quit the army because he felt that he belonged somewhere else, where he wouldn't have to carry out orders he didn't believe in.
"I could have stayed in the army and watched the government of Israel negotiate away the Temple Mount and Jerusalem with a gang of terrorist murderers. If the leadership is weak then it doesn't matter how strong the army is. So why should I stay in the army? For my ego, for the rank?" he said.
Eitam became religious during his military career, and was one of the few generals to wear a kippa. There has been some speculation that Eitam would join the National Religious Party.
But Eitam said he felt the best path was not to step straight into politics, but to set up "Mayim," an acronym for Mahaneh Yehudi Meuhad (United Jewish Camp). He said the organization was a non-partisan organization, and a conservative, Orthodox-leaning counterbalance to Peace Now. Eitam plans to cultivate the organization as the spearhead of a political movement.
What makes this movement stand out on the already-crowded political stage?
"Israel is going through a profound leadership crisis," said Eitam, who saw himself taking up a leadership role in the future. "The future leadership of Israel needs to put the concept of a Jewish state above all others."
Eitam refused to divulge the identities of those who have already joined him, but says they come from all walks of Israeli Jewish life. In the short time since his organization was founded, he said, thousands of people have contacted it to volunteer and become involved. But, he said, his organization would not be ripe for entering politics for at least another year.
"Politics is not my goal. It is a tool," Eitam said.