PM Yitzhak Rabin and Reasons for Israeli-Jewish Appreciation of the Dutch, 28 Mar 1995 (21 November, 2013, 18 Kislev, 5774)
Contents:
1. Preliminary Note by Editor
2. The Nine Positive Points Listed by PM Rabin
3. Additional Positive Points.
4. Negative Aspects that should not be forgotten.
5. Address in the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin in honor of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
====
====
1. Preliminary Note by Editor:
Our movement, Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations traces the Ten Lost Tribes to Western Europe. The Netherlands is one of the nations within which members of the Ten Tribes settled.
Numerous reasons point to the Tribe of Zebulon having become predominant in Holland. In Ancient Times were find a people known as Sabulingoi i.e. People [goi] of Zebulon in the northern Netherlands. Other peoples who settled in the area also have names reminiscent of the Clans of Zebulon. Zebulon was blessed that he would dwell "be-hof-yamim" i.e. on the shores of the Sea. The Dutch do dwell on reclaimed sea lands. Additional proofs are available. In light of this, the speech by PM Yitzhak Rabin welcoming Queen Beatrix to the Knesset, in Israel, 28 Mar 1995 is of interest.
Yitzhak Rabin (1922 -1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974-77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat. He was assassinated by Yigal Amir, who was opposed to Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords.
From our point of view Yitzhak Rabin had good and bad points.
We were against the Oslo Agreements. History has proven us right and is still doing so.
He caused others to die and was killed himself.
Nevertheless, he was the PM of Israel. He represented the Israeli people. His speeches were written by assistants who were also Israeli citizens.
In the case of Israeli appreciation of the Dutch the words of then-PM Yitzhak Rabin may be taken as reflecting national sentiments.
In the speech below he lists the following points:
====
2. The Nine Positive Points Listed by PM Rabin
(1) The Netherlands gave refuge to the exiled Jews of Spain and Portugal and to Jewish refugees from Poland.
(2) The Netherlands was one of the first to give equal rights to the Jewish community, while other peoples persecuted them and oppressed them.
(3) Amsterdam was enabled to become one of the centers of world Jewry in the 1600s.
(4) The atmosphere of peace and reconciliation the Netherlands has inspired among its neighbors and throughout the world along with the peace and quiet and contentment that characteristic of Dutch People.
(5) The policy of open borders.
(6) Victory over the forces of nature as seen in Holland.
(7) The 4,000 Dutch Righteous Gentiles who extended their hands and rescued those of the Jews they could.
(8) The Netherlands came to the aid of the Jews from the former Soviet Union who were seeking a way of escape, knocked on all doors and found that the right address was the Dutch embassy in Moscow.
(9) Netherlands concern for Israeli safety in the Yom Kippur War and sent a battery of Patriot missiles during the Gulf War.
====
====
3. Additional Positive Points.
In addition to the above we may add:
(a) The many Gentile citizens of the Netherlands who over the years have successively converted to Judaism. This includes those who became Ultra-Orthodox and seamlessly merged with the Jewish people.
[This is a common characteristic of the Dutch, wherever they go they usually fit in quickly.]
(b) Identification with the Jewish people and the Israeli cause has been evidenced by many Dutch individuals in different ways.
(c) The Dutch contribution to world civilization and humane values has been a blessing to all.
(e) Economic and diplomatic assistance to the State of Israel in the past when the State was just finding its way.
(f) Doubtlessly there are other reasons for which we may thank the Dutch people.
====
====
4. Negative Aspects that should not be forgotten.
In addition to the above there are non-positive points:
In WW2 alongside those who helped Jews there were very many who worked with the Nazis and helped chase them down, or were negative in other ways.
After WW2 the Dutch Government (1949) Forced at Least 358 Jewish Infants to Become Gentiles!
http://hebrewnations.com/features/bhr/bhr104.html#a6
These Jewish children were in effect stolen from the Jewish People by Dutch Christians!
It should be remembered that in the Middle Ages Jews would often kill their own children rather than allow them to be taken away and brought up as Christians.
These actions were not in accordance to Jewish Law and were criticized by the Rabbis but it does show how intensely the matter was felt by the Jewish People.
The Netherlands, like most other European nations, has extended assistance on occasion to the Arab Nazi enemies of Israel.
Immorality, exaggerated liberalism, and too complaisant an attitude towards Muslims etc has had a bad influence not only on Dutch citizens but also on other western nations who otherwise admire the Dutch.
====
====
5. Address in the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin in honor of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
28 Mar 1995
GovXContentSection VOLUME 15: 1995-1996
33. Address in the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin in honor of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, 28 March 1995.
On the occasion of the state visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the Knesset held a special session in her honor. This afforded the prime minister the opportunity to express Israel's deep sentiments of gratitude to Holland, for the role it played in providing haven to persecuted Jews as early as the fifteenth century, in sheltering Jews during the Nazi occupation and for the role it played in helping Israel during the dark days of the Yom Kippur War. Text of Mr. Rabin's address follows:
Address in the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin in honor of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
28 Mar 1995
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook10/pages/address%20in%20the%20knesset%20by%20prime%20minister%20rabin%20in.aspx
Your Majesty,
Your Highness, the Prince
Mister Speaker,
Honorable Members of the Knesset,
It is an honor and a pleasure for me and for all of us, to welcome you today to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Israel and the heart of the Jewish people. Welcome.
Your Majesty,
You and your delegation have been here with us for two days and we are certain that you have confirmed what you have always known: the State of Israel embraces you with love.
There are a thousand and one reasons for the special and mutual sentiments of the Jewish people and the State of Israel towards your country - and of your country towards us. It extends over generations, over centuries. Any attempt to pinpoint, to search, to know one main reason, is futile. We can only guess.
Your Majesty,
Perhaps these sentiments are so very special because your country was one of the first countries in Europe to shelter members of the tortured Jewish people, some say already in the 13th century?
Perhaps it is because your country showed kindness to the exiled Jews of Spain and Portugal and to the refugees of evil decrees in Poland and took them in when they were persecuted because of their Judaism and gave them a new life?
And perhaps it is because your country, Your Majesty, was one of the first to give equal rights to the Jewish community, while other peoples persecuted them and oppressed them.
Or perhaps it is because we so enjoy yearning for the past, for the glorious time when Amsterdam was one of the centers of world Jewry in the seventeenth century, for the time of wisdom and knowledge, of learning, the time of printing, the days of students and scholars, teachers and rabbis, when one of the most prominent and boycotted men in Holland was the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, the man of wisdom and enlightenment We don't know. Perhaps we will never know.
And perhaps, perhaps it is the atmosphere of peace and reconciliation which your country has inspired among its neighbors and throughout the world? And perhaps the peace and quiet and contentment which are so characteristic of your people arouse our envy?
And the borders? The borders between your country and its neighbors? The free passage, the minefields which are not there, the arrow vents which are no longer in use and the hatred which for many years you have not known?
And perhaps it is the sights, the endless water courses, the green wherever you look. Can it be that man's victory over the forces of nature in Holland is what stimulates our imagination?
Perhaps it is the bitter memories: the dark days of Hitler and the 4,000 Dutch Righteous Gentiles who extended their hands and rescued those whom they could from the inferno, when almost all of the Jewish community was led to the crematoria?
Can it be that this special Israeli sentiment is the result of your coming to our aid when the Jews on the former Soviet Union were seeking a way out, a way of escape, knocked on all doors and found that the right address was the Dutch embassy in Moscow? And the admiration in the Six-Day War and the concern for our safety in the Yom Kippur War and the battery of Patriot missiles which you sent us during the Gulf War?
Each one of these reasons by itself and all of them together are perhaps the whole story - the love story between Holland and Israel, between The Hague and Jerusalem.
Your Majesty,
While your beautiful country overcomes the forces of nature, our country is currently making a great effort to overcome human nature and to change the order of things; we are trying to change hostility into reconciliation, death into life, war into peace. It is not easy. Every morning brings new tidings of peace, yet every evening brings difficulties. While we discuss peace with our Palestinian neighbors and sit with the Jordanians in order to normalize relations, scheming terrorists, extremists and fanatics, plot to eradicate the lives of Israelis and to topple that chance of peace. I can promise you, Your Majesty, that we will continue on the road to peace and we will fight the enemies of peace.
On this road we find Holland at our side, supporting and aspiring to that same peace. Thank you, in the name of the entire State of Israel. Thank you, Holland.
Your Majesty,
During your visit here, you will discover that with regard to you, your government, your country, we have no coalition and no opposition. We are all united. We are united in the desire for peace and in the desire to always see Holland foremost among our friends - fighting terror and the darkness of bigotry, ignoring the Arab boycott and assisting us in our economic needs, supporting us in the European market, extending a hand to build a stable economy.
This is the second time I have had the honor, as Prime Minister, to meet you. Yours is the second royal visit in the history of the State of Israel, the first being that of the King of Spain. How symbolic it is that your visit, as Queen of a country which opened its gates to the Jewish exiles of the Iberian peninsula, should follow that of a Spanish monarch.
Your Majesty,
David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, once said that Israel suffers from "too much history and too little geography." You have asked to see the new immigrants and their absorption, our scientific achievements and our high technology, the blossoming of the desert and Jerusalem. We hope and believe that you will be impressed with what you see and with our great accomplishments.
I am sure you will find here a nation which dreams of peace and is making peace, while fighting terror and the difficulties of everyday life.
Your Majesty,
Thousands of Dutch tulips are blooming today in Jerusalem. If we could, we would give them all to you.
Welcome to Israel.See Also:
Zebulon-Holland by Bert Otten