There is a saying of our Sages that there is no credit for desecration of G-d's name, meaning that for one who does so, retribution is swift if not immediate - as opposed to 'credit', where accounts accumulate and are repaid at a future date.

It is amazing to see how this adage would appear to have been applied to those chiefly responsible for the destruction of Gush Katif and subsequent withdrawal from Gaza a few years ago, in which 21 settlements were razed to the ground, 8,000-10,000 settlers were made homeless (most still living in temporary 'ersatz' accommodations), their lives ruined, and their land given over to the Hamas terrorists. This paved the way to the incessant shelling of Sderot and surrounding villages, resulting in the IDF's 'Operation Cast Lead' in and around Gaza, from which one Goldstein found full-time occupation for a number of months, his report doing little to enhance Israel’s image in the world.

Let's see who were those chiefly responsible for this:

Moshe Katzav - President of the State of Israel
Ariel Sharon - Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert - Deputy PM
Haim Ramon - Deputy PM
Dan Halutz - IDF Chief of Staff
Mosha Karadi - Chief of Police

Some of those familiar with Israeli politics can already sense where I am going with this.

Moshe Katzav was President of the State of Israel at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif. He was subsequently forced to resign the Presidency in disgrace following accusations of sexual harassment. He is currently standing trial for these alleged offences, and may end up serving a prison term.

Katzav’s involvement in invoking retribution was (1) his not speaking up against the destruction and (2) on the first day of the destruction he appeared on TV beside Ariel Sharon, to give his active support to what Sharon was doing.

Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif. Many years earlier, when Moshe Arens resigned from the position of Minister of Defense because he refused to destroy the town Yamit, Ariel Sharon took over from him - and razed Yamit to the ground. As Prime Minister many years later, the destruction of Gush Katif was his idea and his responsibility entirely. He suffered two strokes soon after the destruction and subsequent Gaza withdrawal and has been in a coma for a number of years. Neither the ground nor the Devil will receive him. This seems apt for a man who has enormous credits to his name in the building of the State of Israel. In the Six Day War he was one of the leading Generals in Sinai; he altered the course of the Yom Kippur War by crossing the Suez canal and moving the war to enemy territory; he did much to develop the Judean/Samarian (Western Bank) settlements; as Minister of Housing at the time of massive immigration from Russia, he ensured that every single immigrant found a roof over his head. He has many other credits to his name as well.

But the destruction of Gush Katif ways heavily over all these achievements - and Sharon lies in the balance: neither dead nor alive.

Ehud Olmert was Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif. Replacing Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister, he was subsequently forced to resign due to allegations of bribery and corruption, for which he is currently standing trial. Only recently a new bribery scandal ('Holyland' – what a misnomer!) broke in which he is hinted at being one off the major 'recipients'.

Haim Ramon was Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif. He later became Minister of Justice, and was subsequently forced to resign in disgrace following one accusation of sexual harassment. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to a few months labour at a horse stable. His trial and verdict were in fact seen to be the result of political machinations within the judicial system - he had made proposals for alterations in Israeli Law that were unacceptable to the heads of said system, and this was the way to 'remove' him. But the disgrace was well-earned.

Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz was the IDF Chief of Staff at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif. It was he who allocated many months of the IDF's valuable resources on planning the destruction of Gush Katif and evacuation from Gaza. 20,000 soldiers and police were assigned to the 'project'. It had been assumed by some that Halutz, formerly commander of the Air Force, had been selected by Sharon as Chief of Staff because Sharon was planning an offensive designed to thwart Iranian nuclear plans, and that obviously the Israeli Air Force would be one of the main components in such a project.

Halutz before his appointment as Chief of Staff, was regarded as extremely right-wing, following a number of comments he had made publicly. So right-wing, that when said appointment was announced someone from the Left petitioned the High Court of Appeals in an attempt to invalidate the appointment. The petition was rejected.

Not long after the destruction of Gush Katif the IDF - led by Halutz - conducted the 2nd Lebanon War. The execution was a failure - although it did in fact subdue Hizbollah - forcing Halutz to resign his position as Chief of Staff. Incidentally, Halutz remains recalcitrant regarding the manner in which he conducted the war. At a recent conference he said "If I had to repeat it, I would have done the same things again". He was immediately followed at that conference by Major-General Moshe Kaplinski - Halutz's Deputy Chief of Staff at the time of the War - who listed a number of errors that had been made during the war.

Moshe Karadi, Chief of Police at the time of the destruction of Gush Katif, resigned after dubious involvement in criminal activity. A committee appointed to examine the matter reached a majority decision that Karadi should not be asked to resign, but that he should not be offered the customary 4th year extension of his appointment. He resigned after the decision was announced.

It should be noted that Judaism has specific laws relating to the subject of Gush Katif. Maimonedes discusses the law of the Idolatrous City, which applies only in the Land of Israel. Such a city, under certain conditions of extreme idol-worship by a majority of inhabitants, is razed to the ground. BUT, if a city lies on one of Israel's borders, it cannot be destroyed, and one cannot destroy three adjacent idolatrous cities, so as not to create a "bald patch" within the Land of Israel. So theoretically, even if the majority of the Gush Katif residents had been idol-worshippers, it would have been forbidden to destroy their villages. In fact, quite the opposite was true: in preparation for the destruction the Police Station at Neveh Dekalim - one of the larger settlements - was closed, and it was announced that NO criminal events had ever been recorded at that station. How many other villages can make the same claim?

In the world in which we live today, we usually cannot point our fingers at what would appear to be Divine Retribution and state decisively "G-d punished him for that". But sometimes the Law of Cause and Effect seems to be so blatantly active, that correlation of events, facts and conclusions just cannot be ignored.