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Israel's Everyday Heroes
Democracy is the real winner in the Jewish State’s battle against terrorism
By Gil Troy
April 13, 2005
After enduring terror for four years, Jerusalemites deserve to be inducted into the historical hall of fame honoring heroic mass resistance by average citizens. Like Londoners during the Nazis' World War II Blitz, and Berliners during the Soviets' Cold War Blockade, Jerusalemites have demonstrated the extraordinary courage it takes sometimes to maintain ordinary routines. Israelis, and in particular the citizens of the country's oft-targeted capital, have weathered Palestinian terror with aplomb, teaching the world how to cope with the defining challenge of the times.
Israel's security fence, military vigilance and the Israelis' indomitable contrariness have brought optimism back to Jerusalem's streets. But only naive foreigners believe that the lack of terror attacks reveals an absence of terror attempts. Last summer, one seemingly peaceful day brought 53 bona fide terrorist warnings. Unlike Americans, Israelis rejoice when terror alerts do not result in terror attacks, rather than dismissing warnings as cynical scare tactics.
Yasser Arafat's last major decision was catastrophic. His addiction to terror united Israelis, an infamously fractured people. Had Palestinians limited attacks to Jews beyond the pre-1967 border, the Green Line, they might have triggered a civil war. By treating the entire Jewish State as one big settlement - and one big target - the Palestinians helped build Israel's consensus around a strategy of resolve on the streets, reprisals in the territories and a two-state divorce with clearer boundaries.
An unsung army of as many as 100,000 security guards provides a final line of defense in case terrorists breach the fence. These underpaid, oft-ignored sentries stationed outside banks, offices, pizzerias and bars will throw their bodies between a suicide bomber and strangers, be they religious or non-religious, leftist or rightist, Arab or Jew.
The years of terror have filled Israeli society with stories, not just of innocents losing lives or limbs, not just of security guards and soldiers acting heroically, but of ordinary people making extraordinary gestures. Many private groups have emerged to supplement national insurance aid to terror victims. One girl , for example, turned her Bat Mitzvah celebration into an embrace of those injured in the Sbarro's pizzeria bombing of 2001. The organization stemming from that celebration, One Family, has become a multi-million-dollar enterprise helping hundreds. One woman who survived a bus bombing began distributing food to needy victims every Thursday, turning one street into a weekly cornucopia of free goods for the unfortunate.
Reflecting Israel's sophisticated, capitalist society, celebrities and corporations helped, too. Last summer, Chris Noth of the television show Sex and the City visited to lend support, eliciting feminine squeals wherever he went, including the Western Wall. Back in the spring and summer of 2002, when Palestinian terror peaked, ads appeared announcing "The Lions are Coming." Peugeot of Israel, whose symbol, like Jerusalem's, is a lion, spent $200,000 sponsoring local artists who placed 80 sculptures of lions throughout the city. Many of these creatively conceived creatures still dot the city, a warm reminder of a pleasing distraction during trying times.
The world can learn much from Israel. Russians need to study Israeli techniques for minimizing innocent casualties when counterattacking terrorists. Spaniards need to learn about defying terror and not rewarding it. Americans need to understand better how to mobilize the citizenry, and balance vigilance and normalcy, as Jerusalemites have.
It has become cliche to mourn democracy's weakness against terror. The freedoms terrorists exploit, the cowardice many European democracies demonstrate, justifiably worry analysts. But considering the bravery and decency exhibited by Jerusalem's everyday heroes, it should be apparent that Vitamin D, democracy, is in fact the secret to Israel's success in the face of a grave threat. The values of civility, restraint, generosity and creativity that kept Jerusalem functioning - and once kept London and Berlin functioning - are democratic values. As Palestinian nationalism has degenerated into nihilism, Israel's liberal democratic values have ennobled Jewish nationalism - and emboldened Israel's citizens to face unprecedented challenges with dignity, grit, and an unyielding commitment to the poetry and prose of everyday life.
Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University, and the author of “Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today.” His latest book, “Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s,” was just published by Princeton University Press.
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