Yesterday's knife attack essay, exile--and aliyah

After reading yesterday’s essay (“Knife attack in Israel: is 21 feet safe enough?”, below, December 3, 2015), a reader who works in self-defense training has sent me feedback I’d like to share with you. His feedback adds to yesterday’s self-defense information. But it also reminds me that these thoughts about defending oneself in Israel aren’t just about self defense. They’re actually about exile, Israel--and aliyah to Israel.

This feedback is an excerpt from a training manual (Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault, Dekel publishing, Tel Aviv, Israel, p. 43). It was written for law-enforcement officers. I highlight what’s new:

“[when facing a knife attack], your empty-hand defense training must be employed to save your body from immediate critical injury. Most attackers can close a gap of fifteen to twenty feet before a defender is ready to utilize higher force options such as a gun or [police] baton. Many law-enforcement officers around the world have unfortunately lost their lives as tragic proof of this fact…

In experiments with a knife-wielding assailant who was standing less than twenty feet (six meters) from, and bursting towards, an officer who was aware of the danger facing him, it was proven that any attempts that the officer makes to retrieve and operate his (or her) firearm will be made in vain, and that he (or she) will ultimately be stabbed several times. This is due to the time needed in order to react effectively, which is composed of the time needed to process the information about the attack and make a decision to draw the gun from its holster, plus the time needed to aim and fire. This time may vary between 1.5 and 3 seconds, [that is, the 1.5 second delay needed to draw-and-shoot that was stated in the Tueller Drill is not set in stone (“Knife attack in Israel…”, ibid); the actual time you might need to draw-and-shoot could be higher than 1.5 seconds, for reasons highlighted above] during which [time] the assailant can practically operate undisturbed. 

Therefore, even if you carry a gun, you must practice hand and foot defences and counterattacks in order to survive an attack at close range, as detailed above.”

If you own a gun, you should find a gun instructor who will help you practice. But, as this excerpt makes clear, you must still learn self-defense and counter-attack drills.

So how do we connect guns and self-defense with exile, Israel and aliyah? That connection is actually clear. It has to do with the dangers of exile.

Today, exile is not an isolation bubble. If you’re in exile, you’re not cut off from the world.

The internet has changed everything. Because of what’s called ‘internet connectivity’, you don’t just see news headlines from your own country. You see headlines from every country.

What you see from Israel is certainly disturbing. You see headlines about Jews being stabbed or run over, more Jews getting stabbed or run over—and yet more Jews getting stabbed or run over. But from exile, you see something very different about these stories. In exile, headlines don’t tell you that ‘Palestinian’ Arabs are attacking Jews. Instead, those headlines tell you: Palestinian killed by Israeli police…2 Palestinians shot by IDF…Israel security forces kill Palestinian….WATCH video of IDF beating Palestinian. 

Get the picture? Those anti-Israel headlines are misleading. They don’t tell the truth.

They are everywhere. In exile, they are universal.

They have become in exile the iconic symbol of Israel. Israel, the land of the Jews, has become, by slight-of-hand (altering headlines) the new Nazi regime.

Because of that false and misleading image, Israel is not the most dangerous place for you. Exile is.

The presentation of Israel as the ‘new Nazi’ means that anti-Semitism in exile rises. In that kind of environment, exile won’t protect Jews the way Israel does.

In Israel, those who attack Jews often die immediately. That’s why those ‘Palestinians’ mentioned above died. They were killed by security forces (and even by civilians at the scene) at the point of the ‘Palestinian’s’ attack.

In exile, those who attack Jews often don’t get caught, let alone shot on the spot. Anti-Semitic incidents often don’t even get reported—or, they’re called, ‘criminal mischief’ instead of ‘hate-crime’.

In Israel, those attacks against us are going to stop. In exile, anti-Semitic attacks against Jews are just beginning.

In Israel, we know how to deal with anti-Semitic attacks. Even if we aren’t perfect in defense and counter-attack, we do act--and we do understand the consequences of failure. In exile, anti-Semitism isn’t high on authorities’ to-do list. In exile, protecting communities against Islamophobia is more important that protecting Jews against beatings and assaults.

Today in exile, you are not far from ‘the time’ when you will be safer in Israel than exile. For some of you, you’re already at ‘that time’.

This is why you should make aliyah now. The longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes to get here. The longer you wait, the greater the risk you run that your assets in exile (including the value of your house) will plummet.

If you follow Israel news, you know that you will definitely read about every single attack against a Jew. That’s how the news business works.

But it would be a mistake to conclude that you’re safer in exile than in Israel. That would be a big mistake.

You see, what headlines don’t tell you is, no one in Israel is running away. Very few hide in fear.   

There’s a reason for that: this is our land. No matter what Jew-hating Jews say, no matter what the UN says, no matter what the EU and the US say, this is our land. The more we are attacked by knives, cars and children, the more united we become. The more united we become, the stronger we get.

The more attacks we see, the more we begin to talk about the Redemption process. The more we see how people miraculously survive these attacks, the more people say, we are on the threshold of Redemption.

You don’t have that spiritual sense of anticipation in exile. In exile, the more you get attacked, the weaker you get. The weaker you get, the more frightened you become. The more frightened you become, the darker your spiritual vision becomes.

That’s why you need to make aliyah. You need to be strong, not weak.

The truth is, the only place you will get stronger when attacked is Israel. The only place you will really feel that HaShem is at work, is in Israel.

Stop waiting. Make aliyah.