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Comparing Winston Churchill to Ariel Sharon

By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Except for a few leftists steeped in denial—and they have become politically irrelevant—who does not know what Sharon has so inelegantly proclaimed this? Hardly anyone in Israel needs to be told about the deadly aim of Arafat’s terrorists. What the people of Israel need to know is the aim of Israel’s Government. We look in vain for a clear statement of this aim, not even as concerns the destruction enemy.

Contrast Wintson Churchill at the outbreak of the Second World War:

“You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny …. That is our policy. You ask: What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”

Reading Sharon’s reaction to the carnage that occurred in Israel on September 2, one senses the senility of his Government, his own lack of moral vigor, indeed, his timidity. Sharon conveys no sense of urgency in the face of ceaseless terrorist attacks. He displays no sense of daring, no passion for victory. He continues to talk of a long drawn out conflict; and in this conflict he will persist in tit-for-tat approach, which means he make no serious attempt to defeat and disarm the enemy. He will employ caution at a time that requires boldness (which is why old generals have to be replaced with young blood at the outset of any war).

Again Churchill, in a world broadcast of May 19, 1940: “Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of truth and justice:

‘Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.’”

Can one compare the puny Arab army that confronts Israel with the awesome might of Nazi Germany that confronted England in 1940? After the fall of France and the terrible British losses at Dunkirk, Churchill told the House of Commons:

“I expect the battle of Britain is about to begin…. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole might and fury of the enemy must soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he must break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

What is lacking in the Sharon Government? I say VALOUR or COURAGE, whose source is profound conviction in the absolute justice of one’s cause. And HONOR. It is profound conviction in the absolute justice of one’s cause that steels the sense of HONOR. But honor has fled in Israel, whose Prime Minister tolerates the murder of his own people. Where will honor be found when Israel’s Prime Minister would permit a governmental meeting with Yasser Arafat, whom he calls a “liar” and a “murderer”?

Hence a closing word from Churchill. In a world broadcast, April 27, 1941, Churchill declared:

“I have thought in this difficult period, when so much fighting and so many critical and complicated maneuvers are going on, that it is above all things important that our policy and conduct should be upon the highest level, and that honour should be our guide.”