I Met Jabotinsky This Week

בעה''י

[First published June 20, 2002]

I met Zev Jabotinsky this week at the Likud Party Meeting, held at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv. You know who I mean: THE Zev Jabotinsky, founder of Zionist Revisionism and the Independent Zionist Organization, Rosh Betar, founder of the Jewish Legion, the Haganah and patron saint of the Irgun. It was kind of like an Elvis sighting. He died in 1940, but a 20 foot portrait of him stood on the bimah of the Likud Central Committee meeting last Sunday night. He cast his rather stern, imposing gaze upon the assemblage, dwarfing the small men sitting at the rostrum.

“Jabo,” I asked, “as the person who contributed so much to the advancement of modern spoken Hebrew; you, who spoke so poetically about the inherent lyricism of the Hebrew language; tell me, Jabo, what thinketh you of the crude discourse and raucous shouting we have witnessed in the hall tonight? Does this meeting reflect your concept of hadar?” Jabotinsky did not respond.

“Jabo,” I asked again, “as the person who called for large scale capital investment and industrialization of the Jewish economy in Palestine; you, who constantly fought the socialist, agrarian central planners who had a stranglehold on economic development; what is your view of a Likud-led government, purporting to speak in your name, which has just approved another round of punitive tax hikes on an economy already in deep recession?” Jabotinsky did not respond.

“Jabo,” I persisted, “as the person who first spoke out so forcefully for Jewish Self-Defense against Arab violence in 1920 and 1929 and again in 1936; you, who sat in Akko prison and was later banished from Palestine for the crime of defending innocent Jews; you, who endorsed Irgun action in the face of Haganah ‘restraint;’ tell me, Jabo, how do you respond to a Likud Prime Minister who purports to speak in your name when he declares that ‘restraint is strength?’ What say you to a government that is comfortable with a daily quota of several murders or attempted murders of Jews at the hands of Arab terrorists? ” Again, Jabotinsky did not respond.

“Jabo,” I asked a little louder, “as a secular Jew who insisted on preserving what you described as ‘the sacred treasures of Judaism;’ how can you countenance a government led by your party that forbids Jews access to the Temple Mount and the Cave of Machpelah?” Jabo was silent as stone.

“Jabo,” (I was shouting this time,) “as the person who stated unequivocally that the goal of Zionism is a Jewish majority straddling both sides of the Jordan river; you, who challenged the world superpower of your day by organizing large scale illegal immigration of diaspora Jews; you, who split from a World Zionist Organization that was content to abide by the British White Papers; what say you to a Likud Prime Minister, purporting to speak in your name, who is capitulating to a modern-day world superpower and is prepared to recognize an Arab sovereign state west of the Jordan?”

As I stared into his serious, determined eyes, waiting for an answer, I realized that Jabotinsky had already left the building.