By BENNY ELONBenny Elon 248.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Yuli Tamir's decision to depict the Green Line in maps of Israeli textbooks has nothing to do with education but rather to do with a narrow-minded political provocation that shows that the State of Israel has a very poor minister of education. Tamir is abusing her position as Minister of Education by attempting to further her personal political objectives through the educational system.
The political failure of 'Peace Now', of which Tamir is still a leader, to market the concept of land for peace has cost us much bloodshed since the Oslo Accords. Rather than the peace we were promised, the disengagement plan has brought about more threats to our existence and a newly elected Hamas government chanting the credo that terrorism works.
'Peace Now' leaders are not courageous enough to admit that this so-called solution of land for peace is a complete failure. The enemies of Israel clearly say that they will not make peace until they have pushed the Jews into the Sea and they hold all land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. No land deal can solve the real existential threat of Islamic anti-Jewish and anti-Israel ideology.
Since Tamir is unable to deliver her agenda through 'Peace Now', she has decided to indoctrinate our children with revisionist history and to misguide them with the Green Line's borders as part of the educational curriculum. This decision is an attack on our youth and an attempt to convince them that we do not have a right to live here in peace.
Our biblical rights are the core of our existence. These values unfortunately contradict extreme left wing ideology. This is also the precise explanation why only last week Yuli Tamir objected to my bill in the Knesset that called on the Education Ministry to include a mandatory visit to the Western Wall at least once in 12 years of learning. I introduced this bill after statistics showed that 50% of IDF soldiers have never visited the Western Wall before.
It is clear that the current war in the Gaza Strip/Sderot, the war in Lebanon and the threats from Iran have nothing to do with territory. Iran never had a territorial debate with the State of Israel and all of the territories that Israel has settled in Lebanon and Gaza have been returned to the 1948 borderline.
The Green Line was a temporary border for a mere 19 years between 1948 and 1967. This border was not recognized by the UN, the US or the international community. Only the UK and Pakistan recognized the 1948 annexation of the West Bank by King Abdullah of Jordan. Every Israeli up to the age of 40 was born without the Green Line.
The Jews were given this entire land in an eternal covenant as a promise from G-d to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The bible states: "To you and your offspring, I will give this land as an ever-lasting possession" (Genesis 28:13 and several other places).
The Balfour Declaration, inspired by the bible and encouraged by the League of Nations in San Remo, gave the Jews the entire land of Israel including Judea and Samaria. It enabled the Jews to build a sovereign state that would become the Jewish national homeland. Since 1967 every Israeli government has retained the legal right to the entirety of Judea and Samaria. Only under the confines of a permanent peace settlement have some governments used this part of our historic homeland as a bargaining chip.
The spiritual assimilation of Yuli Tamir and her camp is tearing a rift in our society. They are fighting against our roots, our heritage, our bible, against visiting the Western Wall, and against Jewish ideology. It is a great injustice that the head of education in the Jewish state has proven to be an irresponsible and underhanded politician. Our children deserve better.
