Four hundred Jews – men, women, and children – had to be sacrificed, and another four thousand had to be wounded, many of them to remain crippled for the rest of their lives, so that 28 "wise men" would begin to feel uncomfortable in their ministerial seats and decide that it’s high time to fight back.

And we thought that the blood that had been spilled thanks to the Oslo criminals had finally shaken up our conscience-less leaders, and that from now on they would allow the army to fight a normal war as one needs to do when fighting for one’s life. No such luck!

"This is a war against our homes," said the prime minister in his dramatic way, but unfortunately it was all talk. The one who won this war was Yasser Arafat, yimach shmo.

Arafat remained "at home," and the Jewish people retreated from the liberated homes, from Ramallah, Beit Lechem, Sh’chem, Jenin, Kalkiliya, and all the other towns and villages whose holiness and importance to the security of millions of Jews is no less than that of Tel Aviv and Chaifa.

I attended the funeral of five-year-old Danielle Shefi. One of the Zionist Rabbis spoke, in great pain of course, and he concluded his speech by saying, "Baruch Hashem we have a government. Baruch Hashem we have planes and tanks. Let us just ask Hashem, that the Geula that began, continue until the final Geula."

I was amazed, for what use is a government that waits two years without responding to its enemy that has made life hell for us? What use are those planes if they can’t drop one bomb and destroy the terrorists in the refugee camp in Jenin, so that dozens of our soldiers are killed in an idiotic door-to-door war? How have we benefited from our tanks if they stand powerless outside Arafat’s compound, and then they move away, freeing Arafat and hundreds of terrorists?

What Geula began if the "medina" deliberately throws away the chance it has to destroy all its enemies and to redeem the Holy Land from the band of murderers that wants to wipe us out?

Political considerations override military considerations – this has been our curse since Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan threw away the lives of thousands of soldiers Erev Yom Kippur 5734. It was continued by Menachem Begin, Yitzchok Rabin, Yitzchok Shamir, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak, who brought Camp David, Oslo, Wye, etc., upon us. And we are living it now with Sharon’s government, which, even when it decided to do something, did it too late, too little, and so stupidly.

The old system of "inviting pressure" is working overtime. Instead of solving the problem of the so-called Church of the Nativity and forcibly removing the terrorists, we start in with the declarations about our responsibility to protect "holy" sites, thus getting more and more entangled. Instead of entering the terrorist enclave known as Arafat’s headquarters immediately, and eliminating all the vipers, we tell the world that we have no intentions of harming the "Chairman" and then we literally beg the U.S. for a way of saving face. We degrade ourselves before one and all.

Instead of declaring that we won’t rest until we eradicate all terrorists as the U.S. is doing in Afghanistan, we debase ourselves and apologize before the "enlightened" world, we invite inspectors, and get more entangled in the sewer that we dug for ourselves.

A few weeks ago, Sharon proudly announced the end of operation Protective Shield. At first they had announced that it would take at least eight weeks to complete, and then suddenly, the operation shrank by half, a third, and a quarter, and became a show without protection and without a "shield." None other than the investigative committee of NATO says this: In the course of the I.D.F.’s action, the leaders of the attack arm of Hamas were not touched, not in Sh’chem, Ramallah or Tul Kerem, and not one was arrested. They are already working on refurbishing the terrorist infrastructure in order to carry out suicide missions immediately after the army leaves. Hamas terrorists who carried out the Pesach massacre in Netanya, and the Fattah terrorists in Tol Kerem, returned to their city in order to plan future terrorist acts."

So who won? Of course Arafat did! He didn’t have water, electricity, or an army or weapons, but 28 miserable ministers of the "ischalta d’Geula" did not manage to eliminate his pluck, or his faith in the justice of his ways.

Who lost big-time? Sharon, of course! With all of his authority, with the biggest government, with the broadest coalition ever, with the "strongest army in the Middle East," with his modern, hi-tech weapons. And yet, debasing himself to the gentiles, with faintheartedness, without faith and without a vision.

So we’re back to where we started. And who knows how many sacrifices it will take to get the army out there again, where it will be hobbled from the very start.

Both the regular army and the reservists fought bravely and with self-sacrifice, and their blood was let in order to free their brethren from a world of anti-Semites. The government doesn’t value their spilled blood, and made their battle purposeless.

The Church of the Nativity is a sacred place to the Israeli government, and so you can’t touch it, despite the knowledge that it is because of this that soldiers and citizens die. But the gravesite of Yosef HaTzaddik is not important to Sharon and the others. Just abandon Yosef to the unholy in Sh’chem.

The great military man who was going to save us all, Retired General Mr. "Effi Eitam" was an active partner in this. He was instrumental in giving over all the cities and villages of Yehuda and Shomron to terrorists. He and his friend Rabbi Yitzchok Levy didn’t even bat an eye when the Cabinet decided to evacuate the cities that were liberated with the blood of Jewish soldiers. They were also full partners to the decision to prevent Jews from going to Kever Yosef and to its abandonment to the evildoers of Sh’chem. They are also fully responsible for the blood that will be spilled (may it not happen), because of this appalling evacuation.

The Gemara in Sota 13a describes Moshe Rabbeinu’s greatness by saying, "chacham lev yikach mitzvos" ( a wise man takes mitzvos), for while the Jewish people were occupied with the spoils of Egypt, Moshe was occupied with Yosef’s remains. But in our days, while a handful of Jews with self-sacrifice tried to pray at his kever, the ministers of Mafdal and Shas, and the Knesset members of Yahadus Ha’Torah, were occupied with imaginary honors and with pork-barrel politics. Okay, Shas and Yahadus Ha’Torah admit that "they have nothing to do with matters of security," but you, Rabbi Yitzchok Levy and your good friend, Mr. Eitam – why did you join the Coalition if you can’t save Kever Yosef? Shame on you! How did you allow the army to leave Sh’chem and Kever Yosef?

How boastful was Sharon at the beginning of the campaign, about his success in isolating Arafat. And then not even 24 hours passed and the isolation turned the murderer into the world’s most distinguished V.I.P. All delegations managed to reach him, including many Israeli traitors who serve before him with awe.

And then the end… He was in your hands Sharon, but you released him for nothing, not even for a pottage of lentils. Now he can go and rebuild his army of terrorists and send them on more "holy" missions to murder innocent men, women, and children, r"l. You just caved in, you and your ministers, turning the "medina" which you so prided yourself with on your holiday of Independence, into one of America’s satellites.

So who did you isolate, Arafat or the State of Israel? Whose ambivalence and trepidation have made it an object of revile among the nations?

And what happened to Sharon’s demand for Minister Ze’evi’s murderers to be handed over, a demand he said he would not concede, a demand for which he said he was ready to go to elections? The Prime Minister has nothing except empty boasts. Once again, he proved what the Rebbe said twenty years ago on 3 Tammuz, that Sharon can only speak on behalf of the Arabs, for he helps them. He cannot speak on behalf of the Jews.

And the agreement of the thirty "Sages of Chelm" in the government to put the murderers in jail under the watchful eye of British and American guards, will naturally lead to those same countries protecting the interests and rule of Arafat in the West Bank. The Israeli army will be extremely hampered in its movements throughout the area. So who is Sharon and his government helping – the Jewish people or the terrorist leader?

And when did this latest outrage perpetrated by our ministers take place? Immediately following the murders of another four Jews in Adura on Shabbos, and as other terrorist attempts are made and don’t succeed, thank G-d, and while we receive more warnings about many attacks being planned. And as though to encourage this, the Israeli government gives the victory to Arafat and closes the door on the campaign that could have, with Hashem’s help, stopped the bloodshed.

This shameful retreat from Arafat’s compound was accomplished by President Bush via his invitation to Sharon to visit Washington. No doubt this visit will lead to further concessions, and to the fulfillment of Sharon’s dream of establishing a Palestinian state.

***