IS OLMERT’S SUITCASE ALREADY PACKED?

Letter from Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Dear Friends,

On January 2, 2007, the Hebrew newspaper, Maariv, published a very important article by Moshe Feiglin. This article appeared subsequently in an English translation in various publications in Israel, as well as in the United States. The title given by Feiglin to his article is “Gimme Shelter.” I am including his article in its entirety.

Gimme Shelter
By Moshe Feiglin

Why does Israel have to invest three billion shekels to build an underground nuclear bomb shelter for the government? For those of you who do not understand what the endless construction work at the entrance to Jerusalem is all about, we have some disconcerting news. The construction is part of an atomic shelter six kilometers long in which Olmert, Livni, Peretz and their aides can continue to run the country with no fear — even if a nuclear mushroom is billowing at street level. The shelter also serves as a shortcut to Israel’s airport. No, this is not a joke. An elevator descends from the Prime Minister’s office to the secret tunnels, far from the traffic congestion on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway — or the radioactive congestion – straight to the airport and the reunion with Olmert’s sons in New York. It’s sort of like a modern-day Cave of Tzedekiah.

Recently, I heard Avi Farchan — twice exiled from his home in Sinai and Gush Katif — express his ire at the fact that the government is searching for a place to shelter the residents of Israel’s south in the case of heavy shelling from Gaza. “There is no difference between the residents of Sderot and the residents of Ein Gev and Gadot, who continued to plow their fields under Syrian shelling,” Farchan insisted. It is impossible not to like Farchan, but he is a bit reminiscent of the Japanese soldier that continued to “fight” in the jungles tens of years after Hirohito had surrendered. The kibbutzniks in Ein Gev who continued plowing their fields had leadership that intended to triumph. The residents of Sderot are soldiers whose leadership has backed out of the battle, leaving them abandoned in the battlefield. Who has the right to tell them to stay put and be sitting ducks, when their government has already surrendered?

The only way to understand what is happening now in the Western Negev and in the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit is to realize that Israel’s government has already surrendered. When they tell us that there is “no solution for the Kassams,” they mean that they have raised the white flag. The State of Israel continues to exist due to inertia and thanks to the perseverance of its citizens.

So why spend so much money to shelter the government far underground? After all, Israel has already waved the white flag of surrender. Why take bread out of the mouths of the poor? The elegant solution would be to send the government to a safe haven in London now. Why London? Because the English have experience with governments in exile.

In his research, Military Historian Dr. Uri Milstein claims that Israel won the Six Day War because the Chief of Staff broke under the pressure of the war and was hospitalized in a psychiatric institution, rendering him incapable of bungling the army’s battle plan. Who knows? Maybe a government exile, elegantly implemented under the pressure of current events — will liberate the healthy forces in this Nation, allowing them to rise, defend themselves and triumph?

Just think about all the money that we could save if we would halt the atomic shelter project. Think about all the miserable Arab refugees from Gaza who would be thrilled to get a small fraction of this money and start a new life in Canada. With these colossal sums we could have a genuine peace process here. And if we add the 13 billion dollars that the Separation Fence will cost (That’s right, the fence that cannot stop anything from flying over it or crawling under it) we could also begin to solve the problem of the Arabs of Shechem and Jenin. And if we add the cost of the Disengagement, we could begin to consider solving the problem of Israel’s Arabs – who are involved in approximately half of the terror attacks attempted or perpetrated against Israelis. And if we add to all this money the incessant flow of funds that Israel has transferred to the terrorists since Oslo – who knows? Maybe we could have set them all up with good jobs and nice houses all over the globe? And we may have even had something left for medicines and food for hungry children in Israel. After all, we have already accepted the principle of Evacuation-Compensation, haven’t we?

What? Gaza and Shechem belong to them??? O.K., if you think so, maybe you really should take the elevator underground – as close as possible to the airport.

* * *

In the hills outside Jerusalem, the Israeli government is now building a massive war bunker where top government officials would take shelter in case of biological, chemical or nuclear attack.

The construction of the underground bunker was approved in the last decade when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert served as mayor of Jerusalem.

Last night, Israel TV Channel 2 tried to film the clandestine goings on in the beautiful hills of Jerusalem surrounding the Spring of Lifta. They were prevented from filming this by government “security” guards. The only pictures the TV crew came away with were of two enormous hills of dirt.

It now develops that the building of this bunker is an old story, originally published some five years ago in local Jerusalem newspapers, but not by any of the major newspapers. Government suppression?

THE BIG QUESTION IS: Are the suitcases of Olmert’s family, his merry crew of ministers, deputy ministers, and friends, and their families, already packed?

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

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