The Moral Matrix

by Moshe Feiglin


Arutz Sheva, Israel, January 21, 2007

I would really love to write about Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz's resignation. Manhigut Yehudit was the first body to call for him to resign. From the very beginning of the war, we understood that Israel was going to lose.

Why? Because the IDF—which buried its soul in the sands of Gush Katif—and the High Command that did not identify the black flag waving conspicuously over the Disengagement, can no longer win any battle against an enemy that is not settlers. It makes no difference who will replace Halutz. As long as this basic moral concept is not understood, we will continue to lose.

But I am going to write about China. Why China?

Last week a Kadima Knesset member proposed to legislate the harvest of organs from donors who have not given their explicit permission to do so. Obviously, this Knesset member thinks that even the bodies of Israel's citizens belong to the State. According to his proposal, if a person is not willing to have his organs harvested following his death, he must sign a declaration to that end.

China has been harvesting organs from its executed citizens and exporting them to the rest of the world. I wrote an article last week on the topic, and received the following letter in response:

I would like to bring to your attention that the major source of the Chinese organs is not executed individuals, as you wrote. According to the report written by David Kilgour, a Canadian Member of Parliament and former Secretary of State and David Matas, a human rights attorney, there is a different source for the majority of the organs.

Most of the Chinese organs are harvested from followers of the Falun Gong sect. The Chinese government cruelly prosecutes the Falun Gong adherents. In the past years, it has placed hundreds of thousands of these people in at least 36 concentration camps, where they are held until their organs are needed, whereupon they are killed or simply provide the ordered organs while still alive.

The Kilgour-Matas report was recently sent to all of Israel's Knesset members, as reported in the Israeli media. The Knesset Health Committee even discussed the matter. I would like to know your stand on this issue as a Jew, an Israeli, a leader and a journalist.


I immediately sent the writer the following answer:

Thank you very much for sending the information. If it
is true, Israel must sever its diplomatic relations with China.


One of the fundamental stories upon which I was raised was the story of the British and American bombers that flew over Auschwitz but did not interfere with the death factory. Israel, at this point, cannot bomb the concentration camps in China. But at the same time that the Chinese are amputating and selling corneas, kidneys and livers of the opponents of its regime, Israel's Prime Minister visits there and declares that we have a billion friends in China.

Do we still have any claims against the British and Americans in World War II? We no longer believe that we are just. As a result, we no longer see ourselves as a light unto the nations.

Imagine for a moment a different Israel. Imagine an Israel that believes in the justice of its existence; an Israel that understands the significance of the bond between the Jewish People and the Land of Israel; an Israel that understands the universal message that the People of the Bible carry to the entire world.

Imagine what would happen if such an Israel would sever its diplomatic ties with the radical Leftist regime in China. Imagine what would happen if Israel would boycott the Beijing Olympics until all the organ farms would be closed. Humanity—most of which believes in the Bible—is waiting for an ethical directive from the Nation of Israel.

All of our struggles in Israel have an ultimate purpose. It is not control or power. Our goal is to create an exemplary Jewish society in Israel so that we can rectify the world. We must settle our holy Land, provide our children with authentic Jewish education, take care of our security, justice, economy and health—for an ultimate cause.

The entire world is waiting for a new light that will emanate from Zion. The Temple for which we pray and struggle is not only the Jewish moral matrix. It is the moral matrix that the entire world anticipates. When the horrors in China do not bother us, not even on a diplomatic level, how can we hope to proceed toward our destiny?

Instead, the entire world witnessed Israel in Gush Katif. The media message that emanated from Zion was that the Jewish People are disengaging from their land and destroying it. The Chief Commander of that process was Dan Halutz.

In the sands of Gush Katif, Israel completely lost its goal. Without a goal, it is impossible to win. That is what brought Halutz to his inevitable resignation. The authentic Jewish moral matrix is what will lead Israel—and the entire world—to its ultimate redemption.