On June 27th, forty-four outstanding Christian clergy, including Jimmy Allen, Ron Sider and Tony Campolo, wrote to President Obama supporting his “call for progress in bringing about an agreement to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine.” They expressed appreciation for his “important and helpful proposals concerning the issues of borders and security as a basis for negotiations.” They even asked for a “statement that addresses all final status issues, including the need for Jerusalem in the future to be the shared capital of both states, a just resolution to the issue of all refugees, and assured access for all faiths to their holy places.”
I appreciate their letter and commend them for writing it. It’s a letter that the president might actually get to read. However I wish they could have been more specific. They write, “There are of course other concerns, but they should not be allowed to interfere with making real progress toward an agreement on borders, security, Jerusalem and refugees”
Israel makes sure that Americans don’t forget what it feels like to be afraid of suicide bombers in the shopping mall, how much Israel is forced to invest in protecting its streets and guarding its citizens against suspicious characters. No one denies how hard it must be to live under such threat.
But what about the thousands who have been killed by Israeli planes, tanks and mortars, and those who die of ill health because of Israel’s blockade of food and medicine and those thousands more, including children, languishing in Israeli prisons?
History has shown that any president or politician who speaks out against such Israeli atrocities will suffer the loss of the Jewish vote and contributions. It’s not just that Obama might be a one term president; it will also mean the loss of numerous democratic seats in congress.
I wish the letter could have been more specific. I am not sure how much impact letters, or in fact any other statements, make when talking in generalities.
For instance, there is the specific matter of our ship, The Audacity of Hope, carrying American citizens currently being prevented from proceeding to Gaza with humanitarian aid. In fact, according to Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco:
The Obama administration appears to have given a green light to an Israeli attack on an unarmed flotilla carrying peace and human rights activists – including a vessel with 50 Americans on board – On June 24, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized the flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Campaign by saying it would “provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.”
Zunes goes on to say:
Clinton did not explain why a country had “the right to defend themselves” against ships which are clearly no threat.
The flotilla has been stopped in Greece and its passengers; doctors, writers, professors, political figures, clergy from various faith traditions and a holocaust survivor, plus nearly three thousand tons of supplies necessary to sustain life in Gaza have been held up. The captain of our American ship is now in jail and has yet to be visited by anyone from the U.S. Embassy.[1] Still, our president is silent. And who can blame him. The deck is stacked. Following last years attack on the Mavi Marmara in which Israeli commando killed nine unarmed humanitarian volunteers:
329 out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter that referred to Israel’s attack as an act of “self defense” which they “strongly support.” A Senate letter – signed by 87 out of 100 senators – went on record “fully supporting what it called Israel’s right to defend itself.”[2]
The American president must use stronger language than “unsustainable” in light of the fact that the United States has contributed billions of dollars every year to sustain Israel’s persecution of the Palestinians.
And how can any letter of concern to the president not mention the wall snaking down through the West Bank claiming the aquifers at Qalqilya on the Israel side, forcing 350,000 Palestinians to live in “the dead zone,” separated from their families, schools, hospital and farms. Then there is also the matter of continued destruction of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.
Isn’t it time to raise the question of harassment by illegal settlers living on Palestinian land who attack citizens, beat children on their way to and from school, and shoot holes in water tanks.
And surely it is time for our president to raise the question of Palestinian security. Hamas is a democratically elected government. It’s a cheap shot to just label them terrorist and do all that can be done to disempower them. It is time to acknowledge the “State terrorism.” of Israel which continues to kill Palestinians every month. If the president addresses these issues, maybe even the media would be forced to report them and maybe the president would gain the support of public opinion without which it seems even he becomes irrelevant.
Peace is an interesting and safe subject. Everyone supports peace. But what about justice, Mr. President? Fourteen hundred Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast Lead last winter and all the presidential candidates were silent. Nine humanitarian aid volunteers were cut down last May by Israeli commandoes including a nineteen year old American citizen and the White House remained silent. Israel’s continued blockade of Gaza leaves a million and a half people imprisoned in that overcrowded little walled in strip of land and the president says nothing.
It’s easy to say, let’s talk peace. It’s quite another to seek justice, without which there can be no peace.
Thomas Are
July 16, 2011
[1] Philip Weiss, US Flotilla Passengers Begin Fast at US Embassy in Athens, Mondoweiss, July 3, 2011.
[2] Stephen Zunes, Washington Okays Attack on Unarmed U.S. Ship. Foreign Policy in Focus. Paul Craig Roberts writes, “If there were ever any doubts, this dispels it. The U.S. government is the complete and total puppet of Israel.” (Email, June 30, 2011)
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Historians Unknown to Larry
This week a friend who had read my blogs asked if I were making any headway with my Jewish friend, Larry. I answered that I do not expect to change Larry’s understanding of the Israel/Palestinian situation. After all, he is going to be slow to accept or believe anything I say. I am not Jewish. My only hope is that he might be influenced by the numerous Jewish authors, journalists and historians who are writing with more clarity and passion than I ever could. Larry shares their respect for the moral teachings of Judaism which I believe sooner or later will touch his conscience.
Of course, Larry has probably never heard of these courageous Jewish writers, but I can’t help but wonder how he would respond to them if he ever would read them. Would he think that they also needed to be enlightening?
Michael Lerner - - Editor of Tikkun
--- We call upon Jews in Israel and around the world to...adopt a stance of
open-hearted repentance for the unnecessary pain Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people.[i]
--- Israel’s attempt to regain control by denying food to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, by raiding homes and dragging out the their occupants in the middle of the night to stand for hours in the cold, by savagely beating a civilian population and breaking its bones — these activities are deplorable in any civilized human being.
--- Stop the beatings, stop the breaking of bones, the late night raids on people’s homes, stop using food as a weapon of war, stop pretending that you can respond to an entire people’s agony with guns and blows and power. Publically acknowledge that the Palestinians have the same right to national self-determination that we Jews have...”[ii]
Norman Finkelstein
---Yet by 1948 the Jew was able not only to “defend himself” but to commit massive atrocities as well. Indeed, according to the former director of the Israeli archives, “in almost every Arab village occupied by us during the War of Independence, acts were committed which are defined as war crimes, such as murder, massacres, and rapes.”[iii]
Joel Kavel
--- The Two State notion is essentially a code word for the maintenance of the status quo … More than a half-century of chewing and gnawing away at Palestinian land has left the latter more a rag-doll on a stick than the framework for a living social organism. Down to some 8 percent of the original territory, surrounded by the IDF, laced with Jewish-only roads, and peppered with hundreds of settlements that arrogate the water and best land, a dumping ground for Israeli waste, its fields and olive trees destroyed, its land carved up by the “apartheid wall,” the potential Palestinian state is no more than a bad joke… more aptly called a concentration camp than a state-in-waiting.[iv]
Ilan Peppe
--- Today, Israel could have security, normalization of relations, and integration into the region. But it very clearly prefers illegal expansion, conflict, and repeated exercise of violence, actions that are not only criminal, murderous, and destructive but are also eroding its long-term security.[v]
Marc Ellis
---has identified what he calls the myth of Jewish innocence … It has the effect of making only our suffering important and erasing that of others, even where the others’ suffering is caused by us. The interest of the Jews always occupy center stage; the experience or point of view of others is secondary.[vi]
Jeff Helper
--- As of 2009, more than 24,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed – homes, we must add, of people who had already lost their homes inside Israel in 1948 and after.[vii]
---Some 350,000 Palestinians, trapped between the border and the wall, face impoverishment, alienation from their land and water, and eventual transfer. Entire cities like Qalqiliya and Tulkarm have been completely encircled.[viii]
Mark Braverman
--- You may not give out information about the abridgement of human rights in occupied Palestine, or talk about targeted assassinations, house demolitions, humiliating and life threatening restrictions on movement, or any other examples of Palestinian suffering, without presenting what is usually termed the “other side.” The “other side” is the recognition of the suffering of the Israelis, who are faced with terrorist attacks and the threat of annihilation… In my experience, the demand for “balance” is almost always made as a way to invalidate and neutralize scrutiny if those actions of Israel that are, in my view, the root cause of the threat to its own well-being and survival.[ix]
Larry’s conflict is not with me. It is not even with the Palestinians. His real conflict is with his own faith. There is no way that he can reconcile the teaching of the Jewish prophets with the conduct of the State of Israel.
I remember Marc Ellis saying that Jews today are in exactly the same spot where Christians were in the fourth century. Christians had to choose between the ethics and morality of their faith and the power of Constantine. He said that the Christians made the wrong choice then and we have not recovered yet. Jews today, he argues are having to choose between the ethics and morality of their faith and the power of the State of Israel. He cries when he sees so many of his fellow Jews making the wrong choice .
Thomas Are
June 22, 2011
[i].Michael Lerner, Healing: Israel/Palestine, (Tikkun Books, San Francisco, 2003) p. 137
[ii].Rosemary Radford Ruether and Marc Ellis, Beyond Occupation, (Beacon Press, Boston., 1990) p. 99-100.
[iii] Norman Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. P.110.
[iv] Joel Kovel, Overcoming Zionism, (Pluto Press, London, 2007) p.216
[v] Norm Chomski and Ilan Peppe, Gaza in Crisis, p. 123.
[vi] Mark Braverman, Fatal Embrace. p.93.
[vii] Jeff Halper, Obstacles to Peace, p.46.
[viii] Ibid., p.38.
[ix] Mark Braverman, Fatal Embrace, p. 9.
Of course, Larry has probably never heard of these courageous Jewish writers, but I can’t help but wonder how he would respond to them if he ever would read them. Would he think that they also needed to be enlightening?
Michael Lerner - - Editor of Tikkun
--- We call upon Jews in Israel and around the world to...adopt a stance of
open-hearted repentance for the unnecessary pain Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people.[i]
--- Israel’s attempt to regain control by denying food to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, by raiding homes and dragging out the their occupants in the middle of the night to stand for hours in the cold, by savagely beating a civilian population and breaking its bones — these activities are deplorable in any civilized human being.
--- Stop the beatings, stop the breaking of bones, the late night raids on people’s homes, stop using food as a weapon of war, stop pretending that you can respond to an entire people’s agony with guns and blows and power. Publically acknowledge that the Palestinians have the same right to national self-determination that we Jews have...”[ii]
Norman Finkelstein
---Yet by 1948 the Jew was able not only to “defend himself” but to commit massive atrocities as well. Indeed, according to the former director of the Israeli archives, “in almost every Arab village occupied by us during the War of Independence, acts were committed which are defined as war crimes, such as murder, massacres, and rapes.”[iii]
Joel Kavel
--- The Two State notion is essentially a code word for the maintenance of the status quo … More than a half-century of chewing and gnawing away at Palestinian land has left the latter more a rag-doll on a stick than the framework for a living social organism. Down to some 8 percent of the original territory, surrounded by the IDF, laced with Jewish-only roads, and peppered with hundreds of settlements that arrogate the water and best land, a dumping ground for Israeli waste, its fields and olive trees destroyed, its land carved up by the “apartheid wall,” the potential Palestinian state is no more than a bad joke… more aptly called a concentration camp than a state-in-waiting.[iv]
Ilan Peppe
--- Today, Israel could have security, normalization of relations, and integration into the region. But it very clearly prefers illegal expansion, conflict, and repeated exercise of violence, actions that are not only criminal, murderous, and destructive but are also eroding its long-term security.[v]
Marc Ellis
---has identified what he calls the myth of Jewish innocence … It has the effect of making only our suffering important and erasing that of others, even where the others’ suffering is caused by us. The interest of the Jews always occupy center stage; the experience or point of view of others is secondary.[vi]
Jeff Helper
--- As of 2009, more than 24,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed – homes, we must add, of people who had already lost their homes inside Israel in 1948 and after.[vii]
---Some 350,000 Palestinians, trapped between the border and the wall, face impoverishment, alienation from their land and water, and eventual transfer. Entire cities like Qalqiliya and Tulkarm have been completely encircled.[viii]
Mark Braverman
--- You may not give out information about the abridgement of human rights in occupied Palestine, or talk about targeted assassinations, house demolitions, humiliating and life threatening restrictions on movement, or any other examples of Palestinian suffering, without presenting what is usually termed the “other side.” The “other side” is the recognition of the suffering of the Israelis, who are faced with terrorist attacks and the threat of annihilation… In my experience, the demand for “balance” is almost always made as a way to invalidate and neutralize scrutiny if those actions of Israel that are, in my view, the root cause of the threat to its own well-being and survival.[ix]
Larry’s conflict is not with me. It is not even with the Palestinians. His real conflict is with his own faith. There is no way that he can reconcile the teaching of the Jewish prophets with the conduct of the State of Israel.
I remember Marc Ellis saying that Jews today are in exactly the same spot where Christians were in the fourth century. Christians had to choose between the ethics and morality of their faith and the power of Constantine. He said that the Christians made the wrong choice then and we have not recovered yet. Jews today, he argues are having to choose between the ethics and morality of their faith and the power of the State of Israel. He cries when he sees so many of his fellow Jews making the wrong choice .
Thomas Are
June 22, 2011
[i].Michael Lerner, Healing: Israel/Palestine, (Tikkun Books, San Francisco, 2003) p. 137
[ii].Rosemary Radford Ruether and Marc Ellis, Beyond Occupation, (Beacon Press, Boston., 1990) p. 99-100.
[iii] Norman Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. P.110.
[iv] Joel Kovel, Overcoming Zionism, (Pluto Press, London, 2007) p.216
[v] Norm Chomski and Ilan Peppe, Gaza in Crisis, p. 123.
[vi] Mark Braverman, Fatal Embrace. p.93.
[vii] Jeff Halper, Obstacles to Peace, p.46.
[viii] Ibid., p.38.
[ix] Mark Braverman, Fatal Embrace, p. 9.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Larry's Six Day War Myth
On their way to church last Sunday (June 5th) in New York City, some friends of mine passed through a parade on Fifth Avenue. Thousands from the Jewish community, in fact more than 30,000 according to the New York Times, celebrated Israel’s expansionist war of 1967.
My Jewish friend Larry would have joined the march with pride. To him the war of 1967 proved not only Israel’s superior courage and valor, but also God’s endorsement of Israel’s occupation of the Sinai, West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Larry sees the Six Day War as a “miracle” which established Israel as the dominant force in the Middle East. And it was all a gift from Nasser who gave Israel no choice but to defend itself. According to Larry’s article to our neighborhood paper, the taking of all this Arab land by force was justified because “Israel’s neighbors threatened Israel’s existence threatening to drive them into the sea.”
This is a myth and I have written about this previously and even listed the following quotes. I do not like repeating myself. However, this history needs to be known and repeated. Larry’s defense of the Six Day War is not only a distortion of the facts, his version is almost universally believed. I feel compelled to respond to it again.
One of the biggest myths imposed upon the American people is Larry’s claim that the Six Day War of 1967 was begun by Egypt and Israel only defended itself. But, not so according to some of Israel’s leaders:
Yitzhak Rabin - “I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.”[i]
Mattiyahu Peled - Israeli General Staff - To pretend that the Egyptian forces massed on our frontiers were in a position to threaten the existence of Israel constitutes an insult not only to the intelligence of anyone capable of analyzing this sort of situation, but above all an insult to the Israeli Army.”[ii]
Mortecai Bentov - Israeli Cabinet - 1972 - “Israel’s “entire story” about the “dangers of extermination” was “invented” of whole cloth and exaggerated after the fact to justify the annexation of new Arab territories.” [iii]
Menachem Begin - 1982 - “The Egyptian army concentrated on the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.” [iv]
Moshe Sharett - Former Prime Minister, years before the six Day War said- “Israeli political and military leadership never believed in any insuperable Arab dangers to Israel. They sought to maneuver and force Arab states into military confrontations which the Zionist leadership were certain of winning so Israel could carry out the destabilization of Arab regimes and the planned occupation of additional territory.”[v]
King Abdullah II of Jordan has been dealing with Israel’s aggression since he was five years old. I think he gets it just about right when he says:
One of Israel’s greatest talents has been exaggerating the threat posed by countries it considers strategic enemies, perpetrating the story of it being a tiny nation, surrounded by hostile powers. This myth has allowed the Israelis to portray their own calculated acts of aggression as self-defense and, in some cases, to persuade other nations to attack its enemies in its stead.[vi]
No sooner than Israel declared itself to be a state than its expansion goals were announced. When asked about borders, David Ben-Gurion said,
As for setting borders, it’s an open ended matter. In the Bible as well as in our history, there are all kinds of definitions of the countries borders. There is no real limit. No border is absolute. If it is a desert, it could just as well be the other side. If it is a sea, it could also be across the sea.[vii]
To this day, after 62 years of statehood, and 44 years of occupying Palestinian lands, Israel has yet to declare its borders. It seems obvious to anyone willing to see that 1967 was not a defensive war, but a part of a larger master plan to claim Arab lands. Either Larry knows something that all of these leaders of Israel missed, or the truth is just too hard for him. I guess its almost impossible to understand something if your self image is dependent upon your not understanding it.
Thomas Are
June 14, 2011
[i].Paul Finley, Deliberate Deceptions, Facing the Facts about the U.S., Israeli Relationship, (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago,. 1993.) p. 36.
[ii]. Clifford A. Wright, Facts and Fables: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, (Kegan Paul International, New York, 1989.) p.132.
[iii].Paul Finley, Deliberate Deceptions, Facing the Facts about the U.S., Israeli Relationship, (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago,. 1993.) p. 36.
[iv].Clifford A. Wright, Facts and Fables: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, (Kegan Paul International, New York, 1989.) p.132.
[v].Ralph Schoenman, The Hidden History of Zionism, (Veritas Press, Santa Barbara, California, 1988) p.59.
[vi] King Abdullah II, Our Last Best Chance, (Viking Penguin, 2011) p. 17
[vii].Knowledge Products audio Cassette on The Middle East, narrated by Harry Reasoner. 1991., (Carmichael and Carmichael, Nashville, Tennessee.)
My Jewish friend Larry would have joined the march with pride. To him the war of 1967 proved not only Israel’s superior courage and valor, but also God’s endorsement of Israel’s occupation of the Sinai, West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Larry sees the Six Day War as a “miracle” which established Israel as the dominant force in the Middle East. And it was all a gift from Nasser who gave Israel no choice but to defend itself. According to Larry’s article to our neighborhood paper, the taking of all this Arab land by force was justified because “Israel’s neighbors threatened Israel’s existence threatening to drive them into the sea.”
This is a myth and I have written about this previously and even listed the following quotes. I do not like repeating myself. However, this history needs to be known and repeated. Larry’s defense of the Six Day War is not only a distortion of the facts, his version is almost universally believed. I feel compelled to respond to it again.
One of the biggest myths imposed upon the American people is Larry’s claim that the Six Day War of 1967 was begun by Egypt and Israel only defended itself. But, not so according to some of Israel’s leaders:
Yitzhak Rabin - “I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.”[i]
Mattiyahu Peled - Israeli General Staff - To pretend that the Egyptian forces massed on our frontiers were in a position to threaten the existence of Israel constitutes an insult not only to the intelligence of anyone capable of analyzing this sort of situation, but above all an insult to the Israeli Army.”[ii]
Mortecai Bentov - Israeli Cabinet - 1972 - “Israel’s “entire story” about the “dangers of extermination” was “invented” of whole cloth and exaggerated after the fact to justify the annexation of new Arab territories.” [iii]
Menachem Begin - 1982 - “The Egyptian army concentrated on the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.” [iv]
Moshe Sharett - Former Prime Minister, years before the six Day War said- “Israeli political and military leadership never believed in any insuperable Arab dangers to Israel. They sought to maneuver and force Arab states into military confrontations which the Zionist leadership were certain of winning so Israel could carry out the destabilization of Arab regimes and the planned occupation of additional territory.”[v]
King Abdullah II of Jordan has been dealing with Israel’s aggression since he was five years old. I think he gets it just about right when he says:
One of Israel’s greatest talents has been exaggerating the threat posed by countries it considers strategic enemies, perpetrating the story of it being a tiny nation, surrounded by hostile powers. This myth has allowed the Israelis to portray their own calculated acts of aggression as self-defense and, in some cases, to persuade other nations to attack its enemies in its stead.[vi]
No sooner than Israel declared itself to be a state than its expansion goals were announced. When asked about borders, David Ben-Gurion said,
As for setting borders, it’s an open ended matter. In the Bible as well as in our history, there are all kinds of definitions of the countries borders. There is no real limit. No border is absolute. If it is a desert, it could just as well be the other side. If it is a sea, it could also be across the sea.[vii]
To this day, after 62 years of statehood, and 44 years of occupying Palestinian lands, Israel has yet to declare its borders. It seems obvious to anyone willing to see that 1967 was not a defensive war, but a part of a larger master plan to claim Arab lands. Either Larry knows something that all of these leaders of Israel missed, or the truth is just too hard for him. I guess its almost impossible to understand something if your self image is dependent upon your not understanding it.
Thomas Are
June 14, 2011
[i].Paul Finley, Deliberate Deceptions, Facing the Facts about the U.S., Israeli Relationship, (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago,. 1993.) p. 36.
[ii]. Clifford A. Wright, Facts and Fables: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, (Kegan Paul International, New York, 1989.) p.132.
[iii].Paul Finley, Deliberate Deceptions, Facing the Facts about the U.S., Israeli Relationship, (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago,. 1993.) p. 36.
[iv].Clifford A. Wright, Facts and Fables: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, (Kegan Paul International, New York, 1989.) p.132.
[v].Ralph Schoenman, The Hidden History of Zionism, (Veritas Press, Santa Barbara, California, 1988) p.59.
[vi] King Abdullah II, Our Last Best Chance, (Viking Penguin, 2011) p. 17
[vii].Knowledge Products audio Cassette on The Middle East, narrated by Harry Reasoner. 1991., (Carmichael and Carmichael, Nashville, Tennessee.)
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Lunch with Larry
It’s been a while since my last blog , (Feb. 24th), but I have not retired from the cause. Last January, I taught a four weeks class using Steadfast Hope, an excellent study of the Israel/Palestine issue published by the Presbyterian Church.
I share this as a lead in to a challenge I received from a Jewish neighbor who was “shocked” at the report of my class because he found it to be “much misleading and inaccurate from a factual and historical point of view. I think it is you who needs to be enlightened and have a wake up call,” he wrote. He submitted a long criticism of my position to the neighborhood paper for publication. However, he offered to meet with me one on one that he might “enlighten” me. I immediately contacted him for a lunch and we finally got together this past week.
Larry is a very likable and devoted Jew, committed to the Torah and to the State of Israel. I am grateful for the time I had with him. However, I found his knowledge of Israel’s history somewhat lacking. He built his case on three arguments. Most of all, “God gave that land to the Jews and the Arabs should accept the will of God and get out.” He also declared that Jews are smart and therefore Israel is an intelligent and moral nation, the only democracy in the Middle East with the most moral army on the globe. Finally, Larry lifted up the suffering of Jews as a justification for anything Israel wanted to do. I came to believe that the only way Larry could reconcile his respect for the teachings of the prophets with the actions of Israel over the past 64 years is to deliberately avoid knowing or believe the “stories” of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Larry is unaware of, or will not admit knowing about, the ethnic cleansing of 1948. He believes the Six Day War of 1967 was the work of Nasser. And he justifies the wall by saying it stopped suicide bombers, but he had no interest in the route of the wall or the pain it causes Palestinians. He feels that settlements simply need to be negotiated, keeping in mind that Samaria and Judea were given to the Jews by God. He admires Netanyahu and cannot understand why Presbyterians would be picking on Israel. I hope I have not misrepresented Larry. I did like him. However, in my next few blogs, I will respond to Larry, but I will address only his written article, not our private conversation. The words in bold print are his words.
Larry wrote, there has “never been a country of Palestine ruled or governed by Palestinians; in fact there has never been a Palestinian people per se.”
I say, not so. In fact, there is a Palestinian people now, governed by Palestinians. I have met Palestinians who proudly presented their Palestinian passports. They were issued by Jordan but they were passports of Palestinian citizens, not Jordanians. But let’s suppose Larry is right. Just because the Palestinians had no government to protect them, would that give Israel the right to kill, destroy homes, steal water, imprison and exile because they were “not a people?” Larry is echoing what Golda Meir said, “It’s not as though we came in and drove them out and took their land, they did not exist.”[1] On page 160 of Jeff Sharlet’s The Family, he writes about the efforts of Germans to forget what they had allowed to happen during the war.
In Nuremberg, a little girl asked her mother where the Jews of “Jew Street” are. Hush, There are none, darling, there never were.
How hard it must be for those who have been oppressed for so long to admit that they have now become the oppressors.
The point is, Palestinians are human beings who share this planet with the rest of us. They work, educate and feed their children. They love and respect the rights of others, like all civilized people do, and they worship God
Larry proudly pointed out that “Israel was the first country on the ground in Haiti after last years earthquake." I agree, and this was Israel at its best.
However, Larry was shocked to learn that without much fanfare, the Palestinians in Gaza, because of their religion, and out of their poverty, took offerings for the people of Haiti
At the same time, Israel did not respond to the “earthquake” caused by Israel right next door in Gaza during December-January 2009. Rather Israel bombed hospitals, schools, sewage plants and community centers, destroying 22,000 buildings. Israel called it a war. Over 1400 Palestinians were killed, mostly women and children. Israel lost 13, six by friendly fire. Israel did drop leaflets warning Palestinians to get out. But all the exit routes were closed by Israel. Where was a mother and her small children supposed to go to be safe?
There were no medical teams like those sent to Haiti. Rather, Israel enforced a barricade blocking out fuel, food, and medicine. This closure remains in effect until this day.
None of this was acknowledged by Larry who still insisted that Israel is the most moral nation on the globe.
More response to Larry in my next blog.
Thomas Are
June 9, 2011
[1] There are numerous sources for this quote. I read it first in Naim Ateek’s, Justice and Only Justice, (Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1989). p. 36
I share this as a lead in to a challenge I received from a Jewish neighbor who was “shocked” at the report of my class because he found it to be “much misleading and inaccurate from a factual and historical point of view. I think it is you who needs to be enlightened and have a wake up call,” he wrote. He submitted a long criticism of my position to the neighborhood paper for publication. However, he offered to meet with me one on one that he might “enlighten” me. I immediately contacted him for a lunch and we finally got together this past week.
Larry is a very likable and devoted Jew, committed to the Torah and to the State of Israel. I am grateful for the time I had with him. However, I found his knowledge of Israel’s history somewhat lacking. He built his case on three arguments. Most of all, “God gave that land to the Jews and the Arabs should accept the will of God and get out.” He also declared that Jews are smart and therefore Israel is an intelligent and moral nation, the only democracy in the Middle East with the most moral army on the globe. Finally, Larry lifted up the suffering of Jews as a justification for anything Israel wanted to do. I came to believe that the only way Larry could reconcile his respect for the teachings of the prophets with the actions of Israel over the past 64 years is to deliberately avoid knowing or believe the “stories” of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Larry is unaware of, or will not admit knowing about, the ethnic cleansing of 1948. He believes the Six Day War of 1967 was the work of Nasser. And he justifies the wall by saying it stopped suicide bombers, but he had no interest in the route of the wall or the pain it causes Palestinians. He feels that settlements simply need to be negotiated, keeping in mind that Samaria and Judea were given to the Jews by God. He admires Netanyahu and cannot understand why Presbyterians would be picking on Israel. I hope I have not misrepresented Larry. I did like him. However, in my next few blogs, I will respond to Larry, but I will address only his written article, not our private conversation. The words in bold print are his words.
Larry wrote, there has “never been a country of Palestine ruled or governed by Palestinians; in fact there has never been a Palestinian people per se.”
I say, not so. In fact, there is a Palestinian people now, governed by Palestinians. I have met Palestinians who proudly presented their Palestinian passports. They were issued by Jordan but they were passports of Palestinian citizens, not Jordanians. But let’s suppose Larry is right. Just because the Palestinians had no government to protect them, would that give Israel the right to kill, destroy homes, steal water, imprison and exile because they were “not a people?” Larry is echoing what Golda Meir said, “It’s not as though we came in and drove them out and took their land, they did not exist.”[1] On page 160 of Jeff Sharlet’s The Family, he writes about the efforts of Germans to forget what they had allowed to happen during the war.
In Nuremberg, a little girl asked her mother where the Jews of “Jew Street” are. Hush, There are none, darling, there never were.
How hard it must be for those who have been oppressed for so long to admit that they have now become the oppressors.
The point is, Palestinians are human beings who share this planet with the rest of us. They work, educate and feed their children. They love and respect the rights of others, like all civilized people do, and they worship God
Larry proudly pointed out that “Israel was the first country on the ground in Haiti after last years earthquake." I agree, and this was Israel at its best.
However, Larry was shocked to learn that without much fanfare, the Palestinians in Gaza, because of their religion, and out of their poverty, took offerings for the people of Haiti
At the same time, Israel did not respond to the “earthquake” caused by Israel right next door in Gaza during December-January 2009. Rather Israel bombed hospitals, schools, sewage plants and community centers, destroying 22,000 buildings. Israel called it a war. Over 1400 Palestinians were killed, mostly women and children. Israel lost 13, six by friendly fire. Israel did drop leaflets warning Palestinians to get out. But all the exit routes were closed by Israel. Where was a mother and her small children supposed to go to be safe?
There were no medical teams like those sent to Haiti. Rather, Israel enforced a barricade blocking out fuel, food, and medicine. This closure remains in effect until this day.
None of this was acknowledged by Larry who still insisted that Israel is the most moral nation on the globe.
More response to Larry in my next blog.
Thomas Are
June 9, 2011
[1] There are numerous sources for this quote. I read it first in Naim Ateek’s, Justice and Only Justice, (Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1989). p. 36
Thursday, February 24, 2011
U.S. VETOS U.N. RESOLUTION YET AGAIN, AND STILL ALONE
Susan Rice, Ambassador to the UN wants to be clear. She defended her veto of the UN Security Council resolution calling for Israel to stop the building of settlements by saying, “Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should not be misunderstood to mean that we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.” She went on to stress, “that the Obama administration agreed with the resolution’s sponsors but had to oppose it for political reasons.” All fourteen other members of the Council backed the resolution. “Our goal is to bring the sides back to the negotiating table.” She explained
Sounds noble, but with what do the Palestinians have to negotiate? Israel’s military might has already taken everything it wants; land, water, control of Palestinian borders, freedom and dignity.
With what would I have to negotiate when the neighborhood thug takes over my house, occupies every room and forces me to live in the garage? Even when the police come, he continues stealing everything he wants. I find little comfort when the cops say, “We are not going to stop his thieving, even as he hauls away the stuff in your garage. We want you to sit down, make peace and negotiate.” All my other neighbors are beside themselves in the shadow of this bully. After all, they could be next. They protest in the streets and call the sheriff. But, nothing happens. The thug makes huge reelection contributions to the sheriff. So, he says, “I think it is best to just let them talk it out.”
Back to today’s situation. It happens over and over and over again. The United States first used its veto power over the United Nations Security Council on behalf of Israel in 1973. Since then, whether it concerns a condemnation of the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, or objecting to the construction of the apartheid wall or the killing by Israeli forces of United Nations personnel, the US has covered Israel’s guilt forty one times with its veto power.[1] Since the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, Israel has known that it can do anything it wants without a word of condemnation from the US government.
As the world declares the settlements “illegal,” the strongest language coming out of the US government is “We are deeply disappointed by the announcement. (of new settlements). State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley found it “counterproductive.” (Whatever that means.) Hillary Clinton said that the settlements were not “illegal,” but simply “illegitimate.” All the while, she “reiterated America’s unshakable commitment to Israel,” and in an 8-hour session with Netanyahu, they reached a tentative agreement that slowed, but did not stop, further settlement expansion.”
In exchange for a mere 90-day “partial” halt, the U.S. would provide Israel with $3 billion worth of F-25 attack jets, make no further demands for a settlement freeze and veto all U.N. resolutions critical of Israel as well as any attempt by the Palestinians to gain U.N. support for a declaration of statehood. Israel will therefore receive a payoff of $1 billion a month for the brief three months it refrains from building more settlements – money that might have been spent putting Americans back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges, caring for the elderly, poor or reducing class size in cash-strapped school districts.
A significant provision of the agreement excludes East Jerusalem from the proposed freeze, giving Israel a free hand to continue replacing the Arab population with Jews….[2]
How long will the citizens of the US look the other way while our “AIPAC bought” politicians continue to do the wrong thing? We talk about being on the side of freedom and self determination but seldom speak of what we are doing to the Palestinians.
So far, the street demonstrations in the Middle East seems to be focused on their internal economic suffering. But both the US and Israel must be asking for how long.
Fahed Abu Akel, past moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, warns:
The journey to end the Israeli military occupation over the lives of 4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza is very long. We need to be clear that our work is in the USA not in Israel or Palestine. We must end the AIPAC occupation over our International policy. The advisors to our president must be on drugs and must be crazy. After what is taking place in Tunis, Egypt and what is going to be in other Arab countries in the near future - our action in the UN is 50 years behind history and we are acting like a colonial power who wants to protect what is wrong in day light. This action at the UN is going to play against our interest all over the Arab and Muslim world.
Israel has made clear that it will not stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Period.
The U.S. has made clear that it will say…What? … Well, Nothing. and Palestinians will continue to be forced from their homes for Jewish only settlements.
Thomas Are
February 24, 2011
[1] Report of the Middle East Study Committee to the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) Breaking Down the Walls, p.103.
[2] Rachelle Marshall, U.S. Elections Mean a Big Win for the Israeli Right, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2011, p.9.
Sounds noble, but with what do the Palestinians have to negotiate? Israel’s military might has already taken everything it wants; land, water, control of Palestinian borders, freedom and dignity.
With what would I have to negotiate when the neighborhood thug takes over my house, occupies every room and forces me to live in the garage? Even when the police come, he continues stealing everything he wants. I find little comfort when the cops say, “We are not going to stop his thieving, even as he hauls away the stuff in your garage. We want you to sit down, make peace and negotiate.” All my other neighbors are beside themselves in the shadow of this bully. After all, they could be next. They protest in the streets and call the sheriff. But, nothing happens. The thug makes huge reelection contributions to the sheriff. So, he says, “I think it is best to just let them talk it out.”
Back to today’s situation. It happens over and over and over again. The United States first used its veto power over the United Nations Security Council on behalf of Israel in 1973. Since then, whether it concerns a condemnation of the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, or objecting to the construction of the apartheid wall or the killing by Israeli forces of United Nations personnel, the US has covered Israel’s guilt forty one times with its veto power.[1] Since the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, Israel has known that it can do anything it wants without a word of condemnation from the US government.
As the world declares the settlements “illegal,” the strongest language coming out of the US government is “We are deeply disappointed by the announcement. (of new settlements). State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley found it “counterproductive.” (Whatever that means.) Hillary Clinton said that the settlements were not “illegal,” but simply “illegitimate.” All the while, she “reiterated America’s unshakable commitment to Israel,” and in an 8-hour session with Netanyahu, they reached a tentative agreement that slowed, but did not stop, further settlement expansion.”
In exchange for a mere 90-day “partial” halt, the U.S. would provide Israel with $3 billion worth of F-25 attack jets, make no further demands for a settlement freeze and veto all U.N. resolutions critical of Israel as well as any attempt by the Palestinians to gain U.N. support for a declaration of statehood. Israel will therefore receive a payoff of $1 billion a month for the brief three months it refrains from building more settlements – money that might have been spent putting Americans back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges, caring for the elderly, poor or reducing class size in cash-strapped school districts.
A significant provision of the agreement excludes East Jerusalem from the proposed freeze, giving Israel a free hand to continue replacing the Arab population with Jews….[2]
How long will the citizens of the US look the other way while our “AIPAC bought” politicians continue to do the wrong thing? We talk about being on the side of freedom and self determination but seldom speak of what we are doing to the Palestinians.
So far, the street demonstrations in the Middle East seems to be focused on their internal economic suffering. But both the US and Israel must be asking for how long.
Fahed Abu Akel, past moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, warns:
The journey to end the Israeli military occupation over the lives of 4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza is very long. We need to be clear that our work is in the USA not in Israel or Palestine. We must end the AIPAC occupation over our International policy. The advisors to our president must be on drugs and must be crazy. After what is taking place in Tunis, Egypt and what is going to be in other Arab countries in the near future - our action in the UN is 50 years behind history and we are acting like a colonial power who wants to protect what is wrong in day light. This action at the UN is going to play against our interest all over the Arab and Muslim world.
Israel has made clear that it will not stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Period.
The U.S. has made clear that it will say…What? … Well, Nothing. and Palestinians will continue to be forced from their homes for Jewish only settlements.
Thomas Are
February 24, 2011
[1] Report of the Middle East Study Committee to the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) Breaking Down the Walls, p.103.
[2] Rachelle Marshall, U.S. Elections Mean a Big Win for the Israeli Right, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2011, p.9.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Marc Ellis
About 20 years ago, while teaching a Bible class, I backed into an interest in justice for the Palestinians. We had been studying the book of Exodus. When we finished, someone asked, “Why don’t we continue this study to bring us up to date as to what is happening in Israel now?” I answered, “Because I don’t know that history.” But, I was challenged and started to confront my ignorance. I read a book by Naim Ateek, called Justice and Only Justice and I was shocked. I had never heard this side of the story and here was a Christian pastor writing things that angered and confused me. I was angry because I claimed to be somewhat of an educated person and here was a narrative which I should have known, yet, it was totally new to me. I was confused, wondering if I could trust what I was reading. In his book, Ateek referenced a Jewish writer named Marc Ellis. I ordered his book thinking that now I will hear the “other side,” the only story with which I was familiar, the story with which I was comfortable. I could not have been more wrong.
I am not by nature a hero worshipper. I never stand in line to get an author to autograph the book I just purchased. But having said that, I have to admit, Marc Ellis is a hero to me. Marc, (I can call him by his first name because he has been a friend for twenty years.) is a devoted Jew who is critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Judaism, to Marc, stands for the triumph of good over evil, freedom over injustice, and peace over violence. He declares that “God is notoriously biased, forever taking the side of the weak, the oppressed, and the down-trodden against the kings and powerful elite.”[1] There are others, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Michael Lerner and dozens of others, but Marc Ellis was, for me, the first to criticize Israel. Many America Jews, maybe most, seem to have a blind spot when it comes to Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians.
Ellis began his adult life living and working among the poor of New York, Atlanta and New Orleans. In houses of hospitality he looked into the faces of those who lined up each morning for soup and bread and saw fellow human beings. He said, “I was living within a system that created tremendous wealth for the few among whom were many Jews.”[2]
Marc Ellis, who now teaches at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is a man who seeks to take seriously the ethics and morality of his Jewish faith, taught by the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He once said to me, “As I grew up and encountered the State of Israel, I wondered what had happened to my Jewish faith?” He continued on a quest for justice… and at a great personal price. He risked rupturing his relationship with fellow Jews, his synagogue and endured rejection by the very people with whom he identified the most. He exposed himself to all manner of criticism, being called a ‘self hating Jew,” and worse. He engaged himself in dialogue both here in the US and in Israel/Palestine when his personal safety was at risk. Few people appreciated his honesty and passion for justice. He still operates under a very Godly principle: If you are doing something and you know it is wrong, then stop it!
The first time I met Marc Ellis, I asked about his book Beyond Occupation. “You open your book with a story of soldiers breaking the legs of teenage boys. It’s barbaric. Is it really true?”
“I didn’t write a novel.” he replied. “That account is a matter of record, the testimony of the soldier involved.” In 1988, an Israeli captain entered the village of Hawara and ordered the local mukhtar to round up twelve Arab boys, all teenagers. Yossi Sarid describes what happened:
The soldiers shackled the villagers, and with their hands bound behind their backs, they were led to the bus. The bus started to move and after 200-300 meters, it stopped beside an orchard. The “locals” were taken off the bus and led into the orchard in groups of three, one after another. Every group was accompanied by an officer. In the darkness of the orchard, the soldiers shackled the Hawara residents’ legs and laid them on the ground. The officers urged the soldiers to “get it over with quickly, so that we can leave and forget about it.” Then flannel was stuffed into the Arabs mouths to prevent them from screaming and the bus driver revved up the motor so that the noise would drown out their cries. Then the soldiers obediently carried out the orders they had been given: To break their arms and legs by clubbing the Arabs, to avoid clubbing them on their heads, to remove their bonds after breaking their arms and legs, and to leave them at the site.” The mission was carried out.[3]
I met Marc Ellis at Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Conference center in New Mexico. After giving a lecture on the Israeli/Palestinian situation, he walked out on the porch and shed tears. I felt a little insensitive invading his thoughts but I ask him what in particular had brought the tears. He responded, “Judaism, my faith, the faith that I love, is now at the same point you Christians were in the fourth century. You had to choose between the integrity of your faith and the power of Constantine. Jews today are being forced to choose between the integrity of our faith or the power of the State of Israel. You made the wrong choice and you have never recovered. It looks like we are going to make the same mistake.”
In 1990, Ellis wrote about the testimony of Ari Shavit, a young Israeli soldiers ordered to serve in Ansar II, one of Israel’s prisons for Palestinians, reported in Ha’aretz -
Perhaps the fault lies with the screams: At the end of your watch, on the way from the showers, you hear horrible screams...from over the galvanized tin fence of the interrogation section come hair-raising human screams. I mean that literally. Hair-raising. And you of course have read the B’Tselem report...And you ask yourself, what is going on here five meters away? Is it someone being tied in the “banana” position? Or is it a simple beating? You don’t know. But you do know that from this moment forth you will have no rest. Because 50 meters from the bed where you try to sleep, 80 meters from the dining hall where you try to eat, human beings are screaming. And they are screaming because other people wearing the uniform as you are doing things to them to make them scream. They are screaming because your state, your democratic state in an institutional systematic manner — and definitely legal — your state is making them scream.” [4]
Because Israel so consistently identifies itself as a Jewish nation and insists on keeping that distinction, last year, Ellis published a book with the title, Judaism does Not Equal Israel. He bemoans the fact that, “For more Jews, self-identification with Israel is more important than religious observance.” He goes on to say, “What has been done to us, we have done to others.”[5]
From Ellis I learned about what he calls Holocaust theology and the Ecumenical Deal. If I understand him, Holocaust theology means: "We have suffered, therefore, we are innocent. We are empowered, therefore, we are entitled.” The ecumenical deal is an unspoken agreement that when Christians and Jews get together for community service and dialogue, Israel is not to be mentioned. Period. “The Israeli government is placed on a pedestal and to criticize it is to be immediately dubbed anti-Semitic.”[6]
The question is, “Can Jews justify gaining security at the expense of another people?”[7] Ellis answers: “God is present in the struggle of the poor… God is against injustice and against those who structure society in an unjust way for their own benefit…. This biblical God still stands with the world’s poor and marginalized.”[8]
If a hero is “a man who shows courage and has noble qualities,” how could Marc Ellis not be called a hero? He does both.
Thomas Are
February 4, 2011
.
[1] Marc Ellis, Judaism Does not Equal Israel, (The New Press, New York. 2009) p.vii.
[2] Ibid., p.37
[3] Rosemary Radford Ruether and Marc H. Ellis, Beyond Occupation, (Boston: Beacon Press. 1990), p.1.
[4].Marc Ellis, Beyond Innocence and Redemption, (Harper and Row Publishers, San Francisco, 1990,) p.73.
[5] Marc Ellis, Judaism Does not Equal Israel, (The New Press, New York. 2009) p.xi, xiv.
[6] Ibid., p.138
[7] Ibid. p.20.
[8] Ibid., p.43
I am not by nature a hero worshipper. I never stand in line to get an author to autograph the book I just purchased. But having said that, I have to admit, Marc Ellis is a hero to me. Marc, (I can call him by his first name because he has been a friend for twenty years.) is a devoted Jew who is critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Judaism, to Marc, stands for the triumph of good over evil, freedom over injustice, and peace over violence. He declares that “God is notoriously biased, forever taking the side of the weak, the oppressed, and the down-trodden against the kings and powerful elite.”[1] There are others, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Michael Lerner and dozens of others, but Marc Ellis was, for me, the first to criticize Israel. Many America Jews, maybe most, seem to have a blind spot when it comes to Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians.
Ellis began his adult life living and working among the poor of New York, Atlanta and New Orleans. In houses of hospitality he looked into the faces of those who lined up each morning for soup and bread and saw fellow human beings. He said, “I was living within a system that created tremendous wealth for the few among whom were many Jews.”[2]
Marc Ellis, who now teaches at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is a man who seeks to take seriously the ethics and morality of his Jewish faith, taught by the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He once said to me, “As I grew up and encountered the State of Israel, I wondered what had happened to my Jewish faith?” He continued on a quest for justice… and at a great personal price. He risked rupturing his relationship with fellow Jews, his synagogue and endured rejection by the very people with whom he identified the most. He exposed himself to all manner of criticism, being called a ‘self hating Jew,” and worse. He engaged himself in dialogue both here in the US and in Israel/Palestine when his personal safety was at risk. Few people appreciated his honesty and passion for justice. He still operates under a very Godly principle: If you are doing something and you know it is wrong, then stop it!
The first time I met Marc Ellis, I asked about his book Beyond Occupation. “You open your book with a story of soldiers breaking the legs of teenage boys. It’s barbaric. Is it really true?”
“I didn’t write a novel.” he replied. “That account is a matter of record, the testimony of the soldier involved.” In 1988, an Israeli captain entered the village of Hawara and ordered the local mukhtar to round up twelve Arab boys, all teenagers. Yossi Sarid describes what happened:
The soldiers shackled the villagers, and with their hands bound behind their backs, they were led to the bus. The bus started to move and after 200-300 meters, it stopped beside an orchard. The “locals” were taken off the bus and led into the orchard in groups of three, one after another. Every group was accompanied by an officer. In the darkness of the orchard, the soldiers shackled the Hawara residents’ legs and laid them on the ground. The officers urged the soldiers to “get it over with quickly, so that we can leave and forget about it.” Then flannel was stuffed into the Arabs mouths to prevent them from screaming and the bus driver revved up the motor so that the noise would drown out their cries. Then the soldiers obediently carried out the orders they had been given: To break their arms and legs by clubbing the Arabs, to avoid clubbing them on their heads, to remove their bonds after breaking their arms and legs, and to leave them at the site.” The mission was carried out.[3]
I met Marc Ellis at Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Conference center in New Mexico. After giving a lecture on the Israeli/Palestinian situation, he walked out on the porch and shed tears. I felt a little insensitive invading his thoughts but I ask him what in particular had brought the tears. He responded, “Judaism, my faith, the faith that I love, is now at the same point you Christians were in the fourth century. You had to choose between the integrity of your faith and the power of Constantine. Jews today are being forced to choose between the integrity of our faith or the power of the State of Israel. You made the wrong choice and you have never recovered. It looks like we are going to make the same mistake.”
In 1990, Ellis wrote about the testimony of Ari Shavit, a young Israeli soldiers ordered to serve in Ansar II, one of Israel’s prisons for Palestinians, reported in Ha’aretz -
Perhaps the fault lies with the screams: At the end of your watch, on the way from the showers, you hear horrible screams...from over the galvanized tin fence of the interrogation section come hair-raising human screams. I mean that literally. Hair-raising. And you of course have read the B’Tselem report...And you ask yourself, what is going on here five meters away? Is it someone being tied in the “banana” position? Or is it a simple beating? You don’t know. But you do know that from this moment forth you will have no rest. Because 50 meters from the bed where you try to sleep, 80 meters from the dining hall where you try to eat, human beings are screaming. And they are screaming because other people wearing the uniform as you are doing things to them to make them scream. They are screaming because your state, your democratic state in an institutional systematic manner — and definitely legal — your state is making them scream.” [4]
Because Israel so consistently identifies itself as a Jewish nation and insists on keeping that distinction, last year, Ellis published a book with the title, Judaism does Not Equal Israel. He bemoans the fact that, “For more Jews, self-identification with Israel is more important than religious observance.” He goes on to say, “What has been done to us, we have done to others.”[5]
From Ellis I learned about what he calls Holocaust theology and the Ecumenical Deal. If I understand him, Holocaust theology means: "We have suffered, therefore, we are innocent. We are empowered, therefore, we are entitled.” The ecumenical deal is an unspoken agreement that when Christians and Jews get together for community service and dialogue, Israel is not to be mentioned. Period. “The Israeli government is placed on a pedestal and to criticize it is to be immediately dubbed anti-Semitic.”[6]
The question is, “Can Jews justify gaining security at the expense of another people?”[7] Ellis answers: “God is present in the struggle of the poor… God is against injustice and against those who structure society in an unjust way for their own benefit…. This biblical God still stands with the world’s poor and marginalized.”[8]
If a hero is “a man who shows courage and has noble qualities,” how could Marc Ellis not be called a hero? He does both.
Thomas Are
February 4, 2011
.
[1] Marc Ellis, Judaism Does not Equal Israel, (The New Press, New York. 2009) p.vii.
[2] Ibid., p.37
[3] Rosemary Radford Ruether and Marc H. Ellis, Beyond Occupation, (Boston: Beacon Press. 1990), p.1.
[4].Marc Ellis, Beyond Innocence and Redemption, (Harper and Row Publishers, San Francisco, 1990,) p.73.
[5] Marc Ellis, Judaism Does not Equal Israel, (The New Press, New York. 2009) p.xi, xiv.
[6] Ibid., p.138
[7] Ibid. p.20.
[8] Ibid., p.43
Friday, December 17, 2010
Relationships with Jewish Family and Friends
I have had several people recently to ask about keeping relationships with Jewish friends while at the same time being critical of Israel. This can be especially difficult when dealing with a Jewish member of ones own family. So, for what it’s worth.
I think sometimes we have to opt for relationship rather than issues I have in mind my relationship with one of the most anti-Muslim, pro-Israel men in Georgia. My last blog was in response to his email that said, “it was too bad that Israel did not sink the Mava Marmara. It would have freed the world of 600 terrorist.” Trying to get a sympathetic fact by him is like trying to give a flu shot to a tombstone. So, we do not talk about anything important except kids and doctors. Mark Braverman tells us to give up on the hard liners. Marc Ellis rejects what he calls “the ecumenical deal,” which requires Christian and Jews engaged in dialogue to never mention Israel’s occupation. I have a Jewish friend who is very vocal about “being free to criticize Israel.” Yet, she spends most of her time and energy criticizing those who criticize Israel. I understand the strain on relationships.
Now to the grandmother whose daughter is married to a “fine Jewish man.” I say, Jews are good people, and intelligent. Your grand children have every right to be proud of their heritage. When I was in Mississippi, the issue was civil rights for African Americans and the leaders of this cause came from the Jewish community. I think of those three civil rights worker who were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, two were Jews and the other was African American. Throughout history Jews have been sensitive to the needs of others. It is in their DNA to be caring and to stand up for the poor and oppressed. It’s also in their scriptures, especially the Psalms and the Prophets. Give it a little time and you will win your daughter’s heart and appreciation. Her struggle is not with you, it is with her own faith. My guess is that in years to come, her struggle will be with her children. Many, many young Jews are beginning to question the policies of Israel and some of them are angry. I would also bet that your daughter has never been there and has never seen what is going on in the West Bank and Gaza. The most passionate Jews who cry for Palestinian justice are those who have been there and are shocked by what they see.
Your daughter is absolutely right about anti-Semitism which has been a senseless stain on the Christian church for almost two thousand years. However, there are some in the Jewish community who cannot hear criticism of Israel as anything other than anti-Semitism. For those, I say we can only go on seeking justice without their approval.
Justice for Palestinians is the position of more and more Jewish authors, professors and peace advocates. I have in mind, Marc Ellis, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Joel Kavol, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Peppe, Gideon Levy, Jeff Halper, Sara Roy, Mark Braverman , Tanya Reinhart, Richard Goldstein and many others These brave people are not seeking to destroy Israel, but believe Israel is on a path of self destruction.
Israel is deliberately starving people, depriving them of medicines, fuel and building supplies, stealing land, and water, creating Jewish only roads that separate families and restrict movement, constructing a wall which surrounds communities separating kids from their schools, farmers from their fields and the sick from medical care, bulldozing homes by the thousands, imposing closures, curfews, and checkpoints, all in the name of exceptionalism. These actions promote anti-Semitism and the reaction of the Arab nations. I cannot understand why the Jewish community is not standing on its heels shouting condemnation of Israel’s anti-Jewish policies rather than debating supersessionism. When have you heard a Rabbi even mention the word “occupation?”
Who is going to speak out for justice if we don’t at least try? Politicians are silenced by the lobby. The Christian right declares that the Jews must drive out the Palestinians for Jesus to come back, even if it means murder, torture, cruelty and theft. The media is seldom “fair or balanced.” Israel’s aggression is reported as a “reaction.” One Israeli soldier held in captivity and everybody knows of Gilad Shalit by name. Netanyahu called it "inhumane," which it is, while the 9000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons are seldom mentioned. Israel’s military is one of the most powerful and brutal on the globe and everybody in the world knows it but citizens of Israel and the US.
The argument that other governments do things that are bad or even worse, therefore we should not “pick on Israel,” does not hold up. If I am hauled before the judge, it’s a poor defense for me to say, “OK judge, I raped that girl, but Big John up the road raped two girls so it is unfair to judge me.” It makes no sense unless Israel is vying to be the most barbaric state on earth. It is our tax money that pays for Israel’s planes, bombs, and bullets. It’s our government that blocks international law from applying to Israel and vetoes UN resolutions. We, you and I, are involved in everything Israel does. We have a responsibility to speak out. So, keep up your good work, be who you are, and be guided by your moral convictions. Keep on loving your daughter but let someone else deal with her defense of Israel.
Thomas Are
December 18, 2010
I think sometimes we have to opt for relationship rather than issues I have in mind my relationship with one of the most anti-Muslim, pro-Israel men in Georgia. My last blog was in response to his email that said, “it was too bad that Israel did not sink the Mava Marmara. It would have freed the world of 600 terrorist.” Trying to get a sympathetic fact by him is like trying to give a flu shot to a tombstone. So, we do not talk about anything important except kids and doctors. Mark Braverman tells us to give up on the hard liners. Marc Ellis rejects what he calls “the ecumenical deal,” which requires Christian and Jews engaged in dialogue to never mention Israel’s occupation. I have a Jewish friend who is very vocal about “being free to criticize Israel.” Yet, she spends most of her time and energy criticizing those who criticize Israel. I understand the strain on relationships.
Now to the grandmother whose daughter is married to a “fine Jewish man.” I say, Jews are good people, and intelligent. Your grand children have every right to be proud of their heritage. When I was in Mississippi, the issue was civil rights for African Americans and the leaders of this cause came from the Jewish community. I think of those three civil rights worker who were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, two were Jews and the other was African American. Throughout history Jews have been sensitive to the needs of others. It is in their DNA to be caring and to stand up for the poor and oppressed. It’s also in their scriptures, especially the Psalms and the Prophets. Give it a little time and you will win your daughter’s heart and appreciation. Her struggle is not with you, it is with her own faith. My guess is that in years to come, her struggle will be with her children. Many, many young Jews are beginning to question the policies of Israel and some of them are angry. I would also bet that your daughter has never been there and has never seen what is going on in the West Bank and Gaza. The most passionate Jews who cry for Palestinian justice are those who have been there and are shocked by what they see.
Your daughter is absolutely right about anti-Semitism which has been a senseless stain on the Christian church for almost two thousand years. However, there are some in the Jewish community who cannot hear criticism of Israel as anything other than anti-Semitism. For those, I say we can only go on seeking justice without their approval.
Justice for Palestinians is the position of more and more Jewish authors, professors and peace advocates. I have in mind, Marc Ellis, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Joel Kavol, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Peppe, Gideon Levy, Jeff Halper, Sara Roy, Mark Braverman , Tanya Reinhart, Richard Goldstein and many others These brave people are not seeking to destroy Israel, but believe Israel is on a path of self destruction.
Israel is deliberately starving people, depriving them of medicines, fuel and building supplies, stealing land, and water, creating Jewish only roads that separate families and restrict movement, constructing a wall which surrounds communities separating kids from their schools, farmers from their fields and the sick from medical care, bulldozing homes by the thousands, imposing closures, curfews, and checkpoints, all in the name of exceptionalism. These actions promote anti-Semitism and the reaction of the Arab nations. I cannot understand why the Jewish community is not standing on its heels shouting condemnation of Israel’s anti-Jewish policies rather than debating supersessionism. When have you heard a Rabbi even mention the word “occupation?”
Who is going to speak out for justice if we don’t at least try? Politicians are silenced by the lobby. The Christian right declares that the Jews must drive out the Palestinians for Jesus to come back, even if it means murder, torture, cruelty and theft. The media is seldom “fair or balanced.” Israel’s aggression is reported as a “reaction.” One Israeli soldier held in captivity and everybody knows of Gilad Shalit by name. Netanyahu called it "inhumane," which it is, while the 9000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons are seldom mentioned. Israel’s military is one of the most powerful and brutal on the globe and everybody in the world knows it but citizens of Israel and the US.
The argument that other governments do things that are bad or even worse, therefore we should not “pick on Israel,” does not hold up. If I am hauled before the judge, it’s a poor defense for me to say, “OK judge, I raped that girl, but Big John up the road raped two girls so it is unfair to judge me.” It makes no sense unless Israel is vying to be the most barbaric state on earth. It is our tax money that pays for Israel’s planes, bombs, and bullets. It’s our government that blocks international law from applying to Israel and vetoes UN resolutions. We, you and I, are involved in everything Israel does. We have a responsibility to speak out. So, keep up your good work, be who you are, and be guided by your moral convictions. Keep on loving your daughter but let someone else deal with her defense of Israel.
Thomas Are
December 18, 2010
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