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Subj: This War is for Us
Date: 3/27/2003 4:18:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: myers@cyberone.com.au
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This War is for Us

Ariel Natan Pasko

Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

26 March 2003

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=2125

Of course this war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein is for us. Even the
anti-Semites, like Patrick J. Buchanan and Congressman Jim Moran know
it. Pat Buchanan has been accusing the neo-conservatives, what he calls
the War Party - i.e., the Jews and their followers in America - of
pushing the United States into this war. He´s also blamed Prime Minister
Sharon and Israel for wanting the war. That´s what he said in a recent
article, "Whose War?" Rep. Moran recently came out of the closet saying,
"If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this
war with Iraq, we would not be doing this." Other anti-Semites have also
been saying it.

They´re both right, and dead wrong. True, most Jews in America and
Israel want the US to capture Saddam Hussein and his gang, disarm Iraq
of Weapons of Mass Destruction, institute some form of regime change,
and introduce freedom and democracy. But so do most Americans, many
Iraqis, and many other freedom-loving people in the region and around
the world. Although it might be in Israel´s interest to see the
´neighborhood bully´ - Iraq - have its non-conventional weapons
confiscated, it is also in America´s interest, it is also in Europe´s
interest, it is even in Russia´s and China´s interest - they have both
been plagued by Islamic terror in recent years. And, though they might
not like to admit it publicly, it is even in the interest of Arab states
in the region.

Nobody who thinks about it for a couple of seconds should want a
dictator like Saddam Hussein - who has already used chemical weapons on
his own citizens, the Kurds, and his neighbors, the Iranians - to have
Weapons of Mass Destruction. Whether he uses them himself or passes them
off to terror groups like al-Qaida, Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, the
Chechens, or Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who wants some nut cases releasing
Small Pox, Anthrax, or VX Nerve Gas onto innocent civilian populations?

However, we already knew that this war is for us - i.e., the Jews and
Israel. Chazal - our sages - throughout the ages have explained the
Torah, telling us that everything that happens in the world is for the
benefit of the Jewish People.

Simply put another way, if all the world is a stage, then the Jews -
and especially those in the Land of Israel - are the lead actors on the
stage of history, and the goyim - the nations, i.e. the gentiles - have
supporting roles, while the evil-doers are props and background scenery.
As our tradition states, G-D - the great playwright - created the world
for the sake of the Jewish People, and it is our responsibility to
implement the Torah - absolute morality and the blueprint of creation -
in it.

Stop and think for a moment: the last Gulf War in 1991 ended erev -
just before - Purim. This Gulf War began motzei - just after - Shushan
Purim. Get the picture? In between, "The Jews had light, and gladness,
and joy, and honor." (Book of Esther 8:16)

Read the Purim story in Megilat Esther again, it is a rags to riches
story on a national scale. Haman, the proto-typical anti-Semite, plans
mass murder of the Jews and in the end pays with his life, the life of
his ten sons - all hanged - and the Jews kill 75, 800 members of the
anti-Semitic - i.e. Nazi - party of the time.

This is not so different from the Nuremberg Trials after World War II,
when 23 Nazi war criminals were tried. Originally 11 were to have the
death penalty imposed if found guilty. Everybody in those days thought
that they would be shot - as is customary in military executions - or
get the electric chair - as was common in the United States. But when
the judges announced the verdict of guilty, they also said that hanging
would be the method of execution. Two hours before the execution, they
found Hermann Goering dead in his cell. He had committed suicide. That
left only 10 Nazis to execute.

There is more to this story than meets the eye. In Megilat Esther
(9:7-9), when it describes the execution of Haman´s ten sons, their
names are listed in a vertical column. If you look at the Hebrew
closely, you´ll notice extra-small letters in three of the names. The
first name, Parshandata, has a small tav. The seventh name, Parmashta,
has a small shin. The tenth name, Vayzata, has a small zayn. Hebrew
letters are also used as numbers, as well as for dates in the Jewish
calendar. Tav, shin, zayn numerically means 707, corresponding to the
year 5707, which began with Rosh HaShanah - the Jewish New Year - on
September 25, 1946. On October 16, 1946, as foreshadowed in the names of
Haman´s ten sons, ten Nazi leaders were hanged as war criminals. And if
that doesn´t impress you, out of nowhere, with the rope around his neck,
Julius Schtreicher - editor of Der Sturmer, the Nazi propaganda
newspaper - shouted out with flaming hatred in his eyes, just as the
trap door opened, "Purimfest 1946!" It was reported in the international
press of the day.

As I said earlier, of course this war is for the Jews and Israel, and
instead of hiding from the accusation, or crying, "anti-Semitic slur",
we should gratefully acknowledge what the Master of the Universe is
doing to our enemies for us. Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Bashar
Assad, Osama Bin-Laden, and the other dictators, terrorists and mullahs
of the region, are the modern day Hamans and Hitlers.

Great things are yet to come. The Hebrew month of Adar is a time for
´increasing joy´. Purim is a time for celebrating our salvation from
enemies who plot our destruction. Adar falls at the end of the calendar
for months and the end of the winter. And after Adar comes Nisan - or
Aviv, meaning springtime. Springtime is a time of rebirth and
regeneration after a long dark winter. Pesach - Passover - Z´man
Cherutainu - the time of our freedom - falls in Nisan. In Nisan, we were
redeemed from slavery in Egypt, and the future redemption will be in
Nisan.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook taught that we were liberated from
Egyptian bondage in order to bring liberation to the entire world. The
Torah repeats three times that we departed Egypt in the springtime
(Exodus 13:4, 26:15, and Deuteronomy 16:1), because our freedom is not
only the spring of our people, but also the spring of the entire world
and its inhabitants. The objective of our liberation is to perfect the
world under the reign of the Almighty, as G-d promised Abraham, "and
through you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis
12:3)

Yes, the war is for the Jews. But it is also for all decent,
peace-loving and freedom-loving people. Just as when the Jews were saved
from Egyptian slavery, liberated, given the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and
brought into the Holy Land, the world now has a great opportunity to rid
itself of the Hamans, Hitlers, and Pharaohs who want to kill or enslave
them today.

In the Purim story, Mordechai told Queen Esther, when she seemed
apprehensive about approaching the king to ask for help to avert Haman´s
plan of genocide, "If you remain silent at this time, then relief and
deliverance will come to the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your
father´s house will perish." (Book of Esther 4:14) That is what we
should tell the Pat Buchanans, the Jim Morans, and all those in America
and around the world who say that the Jews are behind America´s war in
Iraq. That is what we should tell all those in the ‘Anti-War Movement’
who are against America.

Pat Buchanan really is Anti-American, though he hides it well. Who
could imagine an isolationist America, disengaged from the world, as he
advocates? Terrorists and terrorist states would multiply. It would end
up bringing more tragedies like September 11th to America. Rather than
blame America´s support for Israel for September 11th, as he and
Jihadist Muslims have done, Israel, America, and their allies will
lessen the threat of mass murder, through war on Iraq, on other
terror-regimes, and on terrorist groups.

Great things are coming, for the Jewish People, for the State of
Israel, for America, for the Western democratic world, and for all those
who aspire to be like them. And why should we apologize for that?
-------------------------------------------------------- Ariel Natan
Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master´s Degree in
International Relations and Policy Analysis. His articles appear
regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites, in newspapers,
and can be read at www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko. (c) 2003/5763
Pasko ************ Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.

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