I am Israel. What that means is that I can do anything I
want to do and nobody gives a damn. I can shoot unarmed Palestinians across the
fence in Gaza, bomb their hospitals,
schools, sewerage treatment plants and drop white phosphorus bombs on their
citizens and nobody gives a damn. I can
push more Palestinians off their land in the West Bank and I can strip
Palestinian citizens of their rights in Israel and nobody gives a damn. I can
ignore my own professed Jewish tradition and who cares?
Joel Doerfler, Jewish activist for social justice writes:
The Jewish ethical and historical
tradition is uniquely or especially committed to social justice and support for
underdogs. Empathy for the Palestinians and anger about Zionist depredations is
therefore a Jewish imperative.
He goes on to add:
Actually, existing Zionism is a
betrayal of the essential Jewish tradition. Not only has it been disastrous for
the Palestinians, it has been bad for the Jews. It has turned them into
oppressors and caused them to abandon their historical “calling” of repairing
the world. As Jews, therefore, we are specially obligated to take up the
Palestinian cause.[i]
I ask myself, what motivated a Jewish activist to commit
himself so strongly to justice issues? The first answer is exactly that: he is
a Jewish activist, committed to his faith.
On top of that, a decade of Begin, Sharon and Shamir, settlements in the
West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza cuts across every Jewish value. I would also
guess that Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 grated against his conscience.
Throw in a paranoid Zionism that ruthlessly seeks to shut down any criticism of
Israel, justified or not, and you have a major contradiction between Jewish values
and the State of Israel.
But, I wonder if it has ever occurred to Israel that if
nobody gives a damn what Israel does --- that in time they may also not give a
damn what happens to Israel. And, that
day could come soon.
Thomas Are
May 26, 2019
[i] Joel Doerfler, An Answer to the Question, “Why do you care
so Much about Israel/Palestine?”, Mondoweiss.net, May 20, 2019.
