Supported by warnings from the defense and security establishment about threats from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and in compliance with expectations of the US administration, Defense Minister Benny Gantz has ordered that a flag parade scheduled for this Thursday be cancelled or curtailed. The issue demands a thorough examination of considerations that have shaped demonstrations of Israeli sovereignty in recent years.
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The question is for what and how far the government is willing to go for the sake of national values, even when it comes to international opposition and extortionist threats. This was the position David Ben-Gurion was in when he declared Jerusalem the capital of the state of Israel. Going against the UN demand, just when the General Assembly met in December 1949 to discuss the issue of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion stood at the Knesset podium and announced that Israel had "an obligation" to declare that "Jewish Jerusalem" was an inseparable part of Israel, just like it was an inseparable part of Jewish history, Jewish faith, and the "soul of our people."
"Jerusalem is the very heart of the state of Israel," Ben-Gurion said.
True, even a sovereign state has to negotiate difficult circumstances. Still, the bottom line is that a state's sovereignty is tested by its ability to attempt to fulfill its national aspirations, even in the face of extortion and threats, whether domestic or foreign. The IDF's definition of national security states that national security is expressed through defensive abilities, not only when it comes to physical threats, but also national interests. These are the criteria by which the government of Israel is being tested, in the face of threats from terrorist leaders in the Gaza Strip. And Jerusalem was and continues to be a major national interest.
This is what distinguishes between a weather forecaster's warning about flash floods in the Negev and intelligence warnings about extortionist threats by an enemy. Taking weather conditions into account does not entail a strategic discussion. There is no situation in which decisions made based on the forces of nature will rebound in the form of greater threats. But things are different when it comes to a strategic battle between people or nations. Here, acquiescing to extortionist threats speeds up the extortion until sovereignty and, ultimately, existence, are lost. In the battle for Jerusalem, Israel's defense of its sovereignty and honor is being tested.
From this perspective, the flag march planned for Thursday, after it was stopped on Jerusalem Day by a volley of Hamas rockets, is a supreme moment for the Israeli people's sovereignty over the capital of Israel.
Times like these are what the prophet Joel meant in his prophecy about Jerusalem:
Announce this to the nations: "Proclaim a holy war! Alert the warriors! Let all the soldiers report and march! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning knives into spears; let the weakling boast, 'I am a warrior!'"
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