btwisted, defamed, and subjected to emotional and hysterical
bdiatribes by people who are too frightened to consider them in-
btelligently or to debate them intellectually. It is far easier to
bshout “Fascist!” or “Racist!” than to think. It is ironic, though
bI suppose inevitable, that those whose “Jewishness” is irrelevant
bto them and who lack scholarly knowledge of “Jewish values”
bshould shout at me, “Un-Jewish!”
bIf one wants to know what Jewish values are, the place to
bsearch for them is not in Karl Marx or Edmund Burke or Thom-
bas Jefferson. Jewish values are found in Jewish sources, most of
bwhich are vast wildernesses unexplored by the hysterical critics
bwho have suddenly discovered “Jewish” morality.
bI love the Jewish people and the Jewish state, and it is be-
bcause of this that I preach the words I do. I am committed to
bJudaism and real Jewish values, and every word in this book—
bdisagreeable as it may be to most—is Judaism.
bIt is a human failing to be unwilling to think about, let
balone acknowledge, uncomfortable realities. Painful decisions
bare delayed and painful problems avoided. That which is un-
bbearably difficult to contemplate is put out of mind, denied, and
bwe think that to look away will make the problem go away. It is
ba human delusion that we Jews—so eager to find peace and
btranquility after centuries of suffering—have developed to the
bfinest of arts.
bBut the Arab problem will not go away, because the very existence of
bthe Jewish state creates it.
bAnd precisely because the reality is so painful and so clearly
bthreatening to the very foundation of the Zionist-Jewish state,
bJews make haste to delude themselves with patent nonsense and
bcosmetic camouflage. The Arab-Jewish problem in the State of
bIsrael threatens the very philosophy and most deeply held beliefs
bof Jews. It lays bare the glaring foolishness and misconceptions
bupon which political Zionism is based. Worst of all, for the secu-
blar, Western-oriented Jew, it clearly and inexorably forces him
bto choose between Western liberal democracy and a Jewish state.
bI do not wish to lose the Jewish state through either war or peace. I
bdo not wish to see Arabs or Jews killed in the Land of Israel, but
bmany, many will die, I fear. And if it happens, it will not be
bbecause we will have done what I call for, but rather because we
bwill not have done it. And so, let there not be hysteria or
b