Has Our Chance For Geulah Passed? Part II

Two days ago I wrote that Israel may have recently entered a limbo stage leading neither to destruction nor to redemption -- the two possible outcomes Kahane saw Israel rapidly approaching. As part of my argument, I wrote, "[J]udging by Abbas's behavior, a Palestinian state is not arising any time soon." On second thought, I think I may have been mistaken on this point. In fact, I think the rise of a Palestinian state is a distinct possibility in the coming decades. If a Palestinian state rises, however, Israel will find itself even deeper entrenched in this limbo stage.

People think that a Palestinian state would mean the destruction of the Jewish state. I highly doubt that. As dangerous as ceding the West Bank to the Arabs is, the chances of "Palestine" -- even if allied with Egypt, Jordan, and Syria -- defeating Israel in battle is minimal. Terror attacks would no doubt continue, but Israel will not fall from the occasional terrorist attack. Surviving, however, would actually be a problem. Some Kahane followers believe they will ascend to power when matters become so grim that everyone realizes "Kahane tzadak." But matters might never become so grim. Israel may never reach a particular moment that is so bad that its citizens will clamor for someone with "an answer" to take over. Instead of dying "with a bang," Israel may just "fade away" over the course of hundreds of years.

The bottom line is this: If we wish to bring redemption to Israel, we must work now. We cannot afford to wait until matters get much worse because they might just remain "tolerable" for the masses of Israelis (whose tolerance for death and humiliation is staggering) for decades upon decades to come. And if we wait until a "Palestine" arises, we might be too late. It's hard enough, politically speaking, to deny the "Palestinian people" their "right" to an independent state. It will be 100 times harder to wipe a state off the map, which is what a Kahane follower would have to do if he became prime minister after a Palestinian state arose.

I asked two days ago if it's possible that our chance for geulah in this generation has already passed. I don't know the answer to that question. But if we surrender the West Bank to the Arabs and allow them to establish a state there, the answer to that question will almost certainly be "yes." I, for one, would rather die than see such a dark stage of renewed and intensified galus.