Has The State Of Israel Lived Up To Jewish Values?
Photo Credit: Jewish Press  In a recently circulated audio clip, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, ztl, delivering a talk in 1958, shared his concerns about the emerging State of Israel. Rabbi Soloveitchik said, The Jew has experienced prosecution and brutality. We never had a state, we never had political province. Will we restrain ourselves from engaging in certain injusticeswhich are in conflict with basic Judaic ethics, or will we yield to temptation?  Rabbi Soloveitchik continued, Here we have an opportunity, the Jews are the rulers, they legislate the laws, they are, so-to-say, the masters. This is my problem with regards to the State of Israel. Advertisement    The whole of Jewish history will be interpreted in terms of what the State of Israel will do in the next 50 years. If the State of Israel doesnt live up to Jewish ethics, people will reinterpret Jewish history in a whole different light. To me this is the most important problem.  Rabbi Soloveitchik focused on the Jewish history of being oppressed by Gentile rulers. Governing brings out the worst of human nature and rulers generally oppress their people. For the first time in 1900 years, Jews have found themselves the rulers. Rabbi Soloveitchik taught that the challenge facing the Jewish people with their newfound state was whether theyd remember their history and values and become benevolent rulers over their Arab minority or forget those values and become oppressive rulers. Seventy years later the world slanders Israel and accuses Israel of failing Rabbi Soloveitchiks challenge and becoming oppressive rulers over their Arab minority and Palestinians. The world claims there is rampant racism practiced by Jewish Israelis against Arab Israelis. Israels adversaries accuse Israel of denying Palestinians freedom, treating them in apartheid like conditions and of occupying Palestinian land. Even some of Israels friends decry Israels treatment of Palestinians. They believe the narrative of the suffering Palestinian and hold Israel responsible for Palestinian suffering. They ask why Israel cant be more flexible, offer more generous solutions and empathize with the Palestinian condition. The accusations against Israel can be divided into two categories. First, the Jews stole Palestinian land. While Palestinian activists in America refer to the West Bank as the stolen Palestinian land, the Palestinians in the Middle East consider all the land from the River to the Sea to be Palestinian. There is no room for a Jewish State. The Torah declares that all the land, whether it be Tel Aviv or Hebron, Jerusalem or Haifa, are all Jewish lands. Jewish values stem from the Torah. A primary Jewish value is settling our land. There is no Jewish value of abandoning Jewish ancestral land because others claim it is their land. The second category of accusations against Israel is that Israel mistreats Palestinians. Israels critics consider any behavior that upsets Palestinians or doesnt allow them the rights of Israeli citizens as oppression  and even apartheid. This accusation doesnt stand the test of reality. A careful inspection of Israels policies against the United Nations list of human rights clearly demonstrates Israel doesnt deny Palestinians any human rights. Palestinian civil rights are the Palestinian Authoritys responsibility. Israel isnt violating any Jewish values when Palestinian leadership oppresses their own people. Palestinian suffering isnt caused by Israeli policy, but by Palestinian Authority and Hamas policies meant to subjugate Palestinians. Many of the Israeli policies toward Palestinians that even our friends criticize  checkpoints, restricted movement, refusing Palestinians entrance into Israel and Jewish areas  arent a restriction on Palestinian rights and are born of security needs. In a choice between benevolence toward Palestinians and Israeli security  and yes, those are frequently the choices  Israel must choose the security of its citizens. Israels policies toward Palestinians are perfectly in line with Jewish values. I wasnt a student of Rav Soloveitchik and dont know how he would have judged Israels actions today. I think an honest assessment of how Israel has governed will show Israel isnt perfect but has governed in accordance with Jewish values. Israel has granted Arabs who stayed in Israel after 1948 full citizenship, with equal rights to Jewish Israeli citizens. Israeli Arabs have the highest standard of living of all Arabs in the Middle East, with full civil rights and health care that is the envy of most of the world. In 1967 Israel captured the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria (West Bank). At the time, only four Arab cities in the West Bank had running water and there were few roads built. Since then, Israel has greatly improved the infrastructure of the West Bank. Palestinian population numbers, life expectancy and quality of life has greatly improved. Theres no doubt that many Arab-Israelis and Palestinians would rather the Jewish state disappear and that they  for the first time  rule over the land from the River to the Sea. Israels refusal to appease those Arabs and Palestinians doesnt make them oppressive rulers. Israel and the Jewish people have a right to rule their own land, and ruling Eretz Yisrael is consistent with Jewish values. If Rav Soloveitchik were alive today, I hope hed be proud of how the government of Israel and its people have ruled their land.