Jan 03, '05 / 22 Tevet 5765
 

(Israel National News) The recent natural disaster in Southeast Asia and the extraordinary response of the Israeli government and media show us something of what can happen when the Jewish State takes responsibility for Jewish people around the world. Every part of the apparatus of the state is currently enlisted in the effort to find and rescue several hundred Israeli private citizens who've been stranded and hurt in the disaster areas in Sri Lanka and other countries in Southeast Asia. The State of Israel acts as if it is an insurance company for Israelis on vacation.

Israeli government representatives are searching the jungles and wasteland trying to convince these vacationers to come home now. The government is saying "get on the plane and we'll take you back to Tel Aviv right now, because we don't want your mommies to worry." El Al even sent chartered planes to countries where it is normally unwelcome. Israeli soldiers have been sent to search for Israelis in isolated areas in those countries.

In all the media we hear of government representatives and of all the humanitarian organizations in Israel - ZAKA, Latet (to Give), the Foreign Ministry, Chabad, and almost anyone designated as a charity - climbing all over each other looking for Israelis, trying to get them out of the disaster area and send them home.

This is a wonderful thing, regardless of the question as to what Israelis are doing in these places to begin with, why they chose to vacation in countries where food is far from kosher, and idol worship and drugs are a way of life. These are things and practices from which Jews should distance themselves. Yet, in spite of this, I see the situation as an example of how the Israeli government should always act when Jews are in trouble anywhere in the world.

The State of Israel should always assume responsibility not only for Israeli vacationers, but for the Jewish people as a whole, and be their guardian no matter where they are. The State should intensify its efforts to help all Jewish people return and settle in the land of Israel; however, as long as Jews are spread out around the world, the government of the Jewish State and its organizations of national security have a responsibility towards the Jewish people everywhere.

If a synagogue is burned down in Paris, France or Istanbul, Turkey, or a Jewish institution is vandalized in Denver, Colorado or anywhere else in the world, then the Israeli establishment and media should be enlisted to protect and rescue the Jewish people who are in danger.

If there are acts of anti-Semitism in New Zealand, the Foreign Ministry should send El Al planes and bring relief to the Jewish community there. Israel should send in Jewish soldiers to protect the Jewish community, provide guards, send rabbis, social workers and government representatives to convince them to pack their bags and return to Israel.

In I Samuel, Chapter 23, we learn that King David went out to Keilah and saved the people of Keilah from the Philistines. Judah Maccabee crossed over borders and fought battles to save the Jewish community who were being attacked in Gilad. As it was in those times, protecting Jews is the primary responsibility of the modern State of Israel and its leaders.

Israel feels obligated to go into Sri Lanka, even to help save the non-Jews who were affected by this disaster. Similarly, the State of Israel must have rescue teams made up of representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the army and all the rescue organizations. These rescue teams should go out immediately, whether it be to Paris, Istanbul, New Zealand, Denver or anywhere that Jews are in danger. This should be done without hesitation and without being concerned about the response of the country where Jews are in trouble. Israel mustn't wait for permission from anyone when it goes out to protect Jews. Of course, it is the obligation of each country to protect its own residents, but when it comes to the wellbeing of the people of Israel, if those countries do not properly fulfill that obligation, then Jews must have a homeland and government to look to.

The Israeli government has a law that allows them to bring Nazi war criminals to trial. For his part in the atrocities against Jews in World War II, Adolf Eichmann, SS Chief of the Jewish Office of the Gestapo, was abducted from Argentina, brought to Israel, put on trial and executed by hanging. John Demjanjuk was brought to Israel and tried for participating in atrocities as a Ukrainian nationalist concentration camp guard for the Nazis, but unfortunately, he was mistakenly released.

Protecting Jews is the government's primary responsibility. There is every reason - moral, ethical and historical - for the State of Israel to have the same type of laws empowering its forces to go out and protect the Jewish people anywhere in the world they are in danger. Israel must take on the responsibility and not be afraid of what the world will say.

When the world sees that Israel, the Jewish State, has taken responsibility for the Jewish people, the world will respect Israel as a nation that looks after its own. This policy will reduce acts of anti-Semitism, because anti-Semites will be afraid of the consequences. Anti-Semites will know that if they attack Jewish institutions or Jewish individuals, they'll have to be concerned with the Israeli Defense Forces sending in their representatives and bringing those anti-Semites to justice.