Delegate for Israel

Jonathan Sanger di Prusa

Israel Delegation Activity Report

Tel-Aviv 28/01/09

 

Today, the Israeli delegation met for brunch followed by a discussion.

The knights assembled in Tel-Aviv for a light brunch and a heavy discussion. The ambiance was informal and fraternal as usual. We were happy to see all our friends and members return safe and sound from their recent recall to active duty for Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Their tour of duty was difficult but fortunately short.

Chivalry in the 21st Century

The conversation was 2 hours long, the following text is a shortened account of that discussion and the conclusions we all agreed upon (translated into English).

Chivalry and Social Status

We wanted first to clarify the general confusion many uninformed people make between chivalry, nobility, elitism and social status. Being a knight is not and has never been a symbol of social superiority. In the public’s mind, being knighted often means being recognized or rewarded for economic or social accomplishments. Wearing a decoration is for many recipients a symbol of pride and simply a way to flatter their ego. It is true that knightly orders have been used more and by reigning monarchs' governments as a gradation of the traditional "cursus honorum".

We, as Knights of Saint George of Burgundy feel otherwise. Our Brotherhood has been founded in medieval times and we feel that today it is more than ever important to adhere to the fundamental core values of chivalry: Honor, Courage, Generosity, Service, Protection of the needy, to name but a few. In short, Chivalry is not an honor to be received even if we wear it with pride. It is a way of life we have embraced. One does not need to be rich to live a righteous life. One does not need to be powerful and established in the community to adhere to strong principles. The members of the Confraternity by their diversity worldwide have proven that men and women of equal mind can be found in all stratus of society.

Chivalry and Responsibility

After discussing at length each other’s experiences, we concluded that Responsibility is a primordial quality of Chivalry that is dreadfully missing in the world. Responsibility is accepting the consequences of one’s actions and decisions. Responsibility is leading his life and not being led by events. By his oath, a Knight takes responsibility for his life. Western society has created a passive Man. Today, more and more, the idea of public responsibility is ridiculed. The public expects more and more from the government while it is ready to give less and less. An example of this attitude is the public’s reaction to the 2003 "canicule" in France. The heat wave killed 15 000 people, most of them elder people. The public was outraged at the government. We ask why? Who was responsible for caring for elder parents? Making sure they had enough to drink or were sufficiently sheltered? Wasn’t this their children’s duty? The same ones that complained so loudly. The modern man has forgotten what /Res Publicae/ means. The common good. The government is not an authoritarian figure that represses or provides. We as knights should by speech and example remind our contemporaries of taking their lives into their hands. To create initiative instead of expecting others to do it for us. To understand and use wisely this instrument of choice that is the right to vote. Voting is not a tool to express one’s malcontent. To vote is a responsibility. To choose a leader is to accept his or her decisions.

Chivalry and Actuality

The economic crisis that strikes our world is leaving all of us worried. What can we do as Knights about the situation? Those of us who are in position of power should exert it to assuage it. Information today is available anytime and anywhere by everybody. We live in a society of information overload. Is the media coverage of the crisis too much? Does the media contribute to the climate of fear, aggravating further the crisis? Probably yes but on the other hand it would be more worrying if the media were “covering up” a bad situation. Courage is a central value of Chivalry. It is, thus, our duty to adopt a brave attitude towards the events that strike the economic sphere. We cannot ignore the hardships that we also face on an individual level but instead of hiding in fear we should go forward and show the rest of the world that a positive attitude can make a difference. We must show that the only solution to the crisis is to keep planning for the future with confidence. We must help each other to go through the crisis. We must have the courage to trust one another. We think that the crisis has been brought upon mostly by a lack of responsibility on the part of world leaders. As western democracies, major corporations are governed by men lacking accountability. They have taken inconsiderate risks because they were under tremendous pressure to create unrealistic results while their golden parachutes guaranteed them total immunity in case of failure.

Operation Cast Lead was, technically, an Israeli military victory. That is the general assessment here. Rocket fire on Israel has been stopped, Hamas leadership has been mostly decapitated and israeli casualties has been kept to a minimum. This “victory” is for us a political and human defeat. Death and suffering, whatever the religion or nationality cannot be see as a sign of victory. Nations may have won many wars but Mankind has lost all of them. Politically, Hamas still controls the Gaza strip and is already rearming for the next round, its leaders have already been replaced. Bad leadership on both sides has lead to another blood bath. An Israeli government facing tough elections needed to show its capacity to wage war and Palestinians led by a democratically-elected terrorist group kept on trying to make life impossible for Israelis. It is our duty as knights to raise general awareness. To try to elect responsible men who lead us to a long term resolution of the conflict.

We would like to see more honor, responsibility and ethics in our leaders. We need more Knights.