"If you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk," goes the famous quote.
Israel has usually been good at following this mantra: Over the years it has made sure to carry out special operations and meet the military objectives to ensure the safety of its citizens even while others wanted it to wait and even if this elicited criticism.
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Sometimes it has done so quietly. According to foreign sources, that is how Israel developed its supposed nuclear program, and that is how it has carried out mysterious clandestine attacks to prevent radical elements from gaining strength and threatening it or Jews around the world.
By keeping this low profile, it has managed to avoid direct criticism while maintaining deterrence. In other words, Israel has been getting a salary but has not paid taxes.
There is one area in which Israel has failed to follow this path – applying Israeli law in Judea and Samaria.
We could have done it 53 years ago, but we chose to talk. We argued, we talked, we did everything but act. One right-wing government after another decided to pass this hot potato to its successor. None of the governments have expressed any meaningful intent regarding the future of this territory, except promising to avoid withdrawing, ensuring more construction, or keeping the status quo.
So this is how we reached this point where on the most central issue in this strategic reality we are living in, Israel is paying the taxes without being paid.
On the one hand, we get criticized over every balcony being built there or just for the fact that Jews live in their homeland. The detractors range from Columbia University to The International Criminal Court at The Hague to anti-Israel rallies in Iran and anti-Israel conferences organized by the boycott, divestment sanctions movement. On the other hand, Israel has never fully claimed that area as its own and has never applied its sovereignty there.
So now that this option has finally been put on the table, Israel has to act. Its 36 newly appointed cabinet ministers must convene and make a decision on the matter. Israel should not tolerate the excess of condemnations and criticism while avoiding the actual gain.
This is not a binary choice. Israel doesn't have to apply Israeli law to all the territory or to the millions of Palestinians there, and neither does it have to relinquish all of it for eternity. Even a decision to partially apply Israeli law to the area makes sense and doesn't have to be final.
We can decide to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Vally now and thus delineate Israel's eastern border and then, later on, discuss other areas, after we assess the outcome of the first decision. But a decision has to be made.
Israel cannot afford to squander another dozens of years debating these issues. Moreover, the window of opportunity that has opened might be closed several months from now. By not making our opinion clear, we may pay a price. What should the world make of Israel if it prefers to dither rather than make a decision on the matter even in optimal conditions?
