Fateful Triangle

Israel and Palestine: Historical Backgrounds277powers as the biblical king, all territories captured as a result of this warbelong to Israel.” As for “the argument that by not surrendering theterritories, we might be heightening the possibility of a future war,” thisis “not valid” under religious law which “indicates that, on the contrary,we must start a war to prevent even the possibility of permanentsettlement nearer our borders than heretofore.” 165 After Sadat’s visit toJerusalem, a group of leading Rabbis and religious authorities in Israeland the U.S. warned the government that it is “forbidden” to return anyterritories of the Land of Israel, 166 and the Supreme Rabbinical Councilof Israel later reiterated this judgment, citing biblical obligations andreligious law. 167The chief Rabbis also gave their endorsement to the 1982 invasionof Lebanon, declaring that it conformed to the Halachic (religious) lawand that participation in the war “in all its aspects” is a religious duty.The military Rabbinate meanwhile distributed a document to soldierscontaining a map of Lebanon with the names of cities replaced byalleged Hebrew names taken from the Bible, along with the explanationthat much of Lebanon belonged to the Hebrew tribe of Asher. They alsoprovided a strategic analysis of the Lebanon war under the heading“Joshua son of Nun to the clearing of the nests of the enemies inLebanon,” referring to the biblical account of the conquest of the Land ofCanaan 168 —the phrase “clearing the nests of terrorists” is now astandard way of referring to operations against Palestinian vermin.Speaking to soldiers under the auspices of the hasbara (“propaganda”;literally, “explanation”) officer, a military Rabbi in Lebanon explained thebiblical sources that justify “our being here and our opening the war; wedo our Jewish religious duty by being here”. 169Such pronouncements are by no means novel, and since 1973 atleast, they have been taken seriously in significant circles. In the masscirculationjournal Yediot Ahronot in 1974, Menahem Barash wrote withClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky