Ecumenical Deal in Action

This is not the blog I had hoped to be writing tonight. I attended a Presbytery

meeting today.  The Presbytery was asked to concur in an overture to our General

Assembly requesting that the Presbyterian Church divest from Caterpillar, Motorola and
Hewlett-Packard, all companies making a profit by selling equipment for Israel’s brutal
military occupation of Palestine  The motion lost by one vote; 105 to 104. The good
news is that in all of the debate, no one sought to justify Israel’s conduct. The most
passionate argument seems to be,  “We must not offend our Jewish brothers and sisters.”

Jewish scholar Marc Ellis calls this the “ecumenical deal.”  In order for Christians to have dialogue with Jews, we must first agree to never put the conduct of Israel on the table.  To criticize Israel is offensive and anti-Semitic.  Nevertheless, speaker after speaker placed his or her friendship with the Jewish community above taking steps to call Israel into accountability.  (If my neighbor is abusing his children, it might be time for me to re-evaluate my relationship with my neighbor).

We heard, I don’t like what Israel is doing but this is not the way to address it.  Of course, divestment worked in 1985 in South Africa. That government cleaned up its act without a shot being fired.  The value of divestment is not to make Caterpillar or Israel go broke, but exposure.  Most Americans and most Christians sitting in our pews don’t have the foggiest idea of what is happening in Israel/Palestine, not only in our name but with our money. Boycott and divestment is publicity.

Some insisted on a “better way”.  I kept waiting for that better way to be suggested but after defeating the motion to divest, the better way no longer seemed important.  The message we sent to the Palestinians today was,  Sorry about your pain, wish we could do something to help, but you must understand that we do not want to offend our Jewish neighbors.

I remember the story of someone asking a mother if she loved all her children the same.  “Oh no,” she cried. “I love most the one who is sick until she gets well, the one who is injured until he is healed, the one who is afraid until she feels secure and the one who is hungry until he has been fed. Sounds more like Jesus than our presbytery.

Our Jewish neighbors are no longer suffering. They live in comfortable houses, are well fed and enjoy the benefits of civilized life.

On the other hand, Palestinians are suffering. They are sick and injured, afraid and hungry. I venture that none of the objections to divestment would have made sense if presented before a child whose father had been killed by an Israeli sniper or his brother locked up in an Israeli prison or his home demolished by a Caterpillar bulldozer, his school and hospital locked up on the other side of a wall and whose baby brother died at a check point because his mother was forced to give birth in the back seat of a car.  

So, what do we say to our Christian brothers and sisters of Palestinian who are asking for divestment? Possibly we want to send them a message that, “We know better what is good for you than you do.” Or, “You just don’t understand how important our comfort is to us.”  “We do not like what those bull dozers do to you, but we have a church in Peoria that depend upon the money donated by Caterpillar employees. After all, we have to look out for the church.”  

One debater said, “The timing is off.  John Kerry is in the midst of peace talks.”   I want to say,   My God, we have been in peace talks for decades. As long as the US supports building settlements, walls and check points, talking will not produce peace.  The two state solution is dead. It is buried beneath deceptions, broken agreements, and a one sided “honest broker.” Israel has sworn against any state of Palestine unless Israel controls its borders, freedom of movement, water and labor.  As it stands now, what Israel wants is impossible and what is possible is unacceptable to Israel or the Palestinians Someone has to take a stand.  I wish it had been our Presbytery.

Thomas Are

February 8, 2014

 

Sharon Truly Did Represent Israel

I like Thomas Friedman. When I read his book, That Used To Be Us, I was ready to nominate him for president.  However, when it comes to anything critical of Israel, he struggles. Thomas Friedman recently referred to Arial Sharon as representing the stages of Israel.[1]  I think he is right about Sharon representing the mindset of Israel, I just don’t see the progression Friedman seems to suggest in his opinion piece.

Sharon was a “warrior” for what Friedman calls:

the enduring struggle for survival ... there is a Jewish state today because of hard men, like Ariel Sharon, who were ready to play by the local rules … and had contempt for those in Israel or abroad who he believed did not understand the kill or be killed nature of their neighborhood.

The results of Israel’s war of Independence left over 500 Palestinian villages totally destroyed, 750,000 driven from their homes and crowded into refugee camps to live more like caged animals than as fellow human beings for the rest of their lives. Ariel Sharon was the heart of Israel. I am surprised that Friedman is willing to admit it.

When Palestinian farmers, still clutching land deeds and holding keys to their homes, were forced to live on about 11 cents a day, slipped back into the new State of Israel to “steal” a little of the crops they themselves had planted, Sharon called them thieves and drove them back by force. When a Jewish mother and her two children were killed, Sharon was called upon to retaliate.

As commander of Unit 101, a newly formed reprisal and sabotage group, this “warrior without restraints,” ordered his men to cause maximum damage to the village of Qibia. With great pride, these defenders of Israel locked frightened Palestinians in their homes and massacred sixty-nine, mostly women and children, to teach them a lesson about Israel.

During his second stage, in which Friedman said Sharon, “embodied a fantasy that, with enough power, the Israelis could rid themselves of the Palestinian threat, that they could have it all.”  Sharon proudly announced his plans:

                We’ll make a pastrami sandwich of them. We’ll insert a strip of Jewish settlement,

                in between the Palestinians, and then another strip of Jewish settlements, right across the

                West Bank, so that in 25 years’ time, neither the United Nations, nor the United States,

                nobody, will be able to tear it apart.[2]

 

Twenty five years later he was still saying:

              Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements

              because everything we take now will be ours. Everything we don’t grab will go to them. [3]

 

Sharon vigorously expanded the settlements enterprise on Palestinian land, invaded Lebanon and was responsible for the massacre of as many as 2,000 helpless refugees, again, mostly women and children, in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, with countless others raped and brutalized.   

Perhaps I am being unfair. Prime Minister Sharon did pull the Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, which was proclaimed as a great sacrifice by Israel for peace. However, Friedman fails to mention that at the same time, Israel was building 13,000 units for Jews only on Palestinian land in the West Bank, and those moving from Gaza were offered $227,000 to relocate. Palestinians driven from their homes in 1948 and 1967 were given no compensation for the lives and land taken from them by force. Sharon’s disengagement was hardly a liberation. It’s hard to feel liberated when surrounded by a hostile army.  Israel maintained control of all crossing points, sea and air space. Gaza remained alive only as an outdoor prison.  Israel walled in Gaza, continued to control all access in and out of Gaza, cut off fuel, electricity and restricted the flow of humanitarian aid including medical supplies. Gaza may have been evacuated but remained under Sharon’s total control

I fail to see the evidence of a more peace minded Sharon as Friedman writes, “having, orchestrated a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza,  he (Sharon) surely would have tried something similar in the West Bank if he had not had a stroke.”  This is the man who, “ on the day that Rabin shook hands with Arafat, vowed that he would destroy the Oslo Peace process.”[4] 

And, if he did pull out of West Bank, what would be left?  A land checkered with Jewish only roads, checkpoints, walls and military regulations that keep Palestinians locked up in isolated bantustans.

But, what could you expect from a man  who, back in 1980, convened a meeting with some of his top generals and other top military and security people and had them sign a blood oath which committed them to fight to the death to prevent any government of Israel withdrawing from the West Bank.[5]

Friedman references a biography of Sharon entitled, “He doesn’t Stop at Red Lights.” I guess not. The cross street is packed with slow moving compacts and he is driving a tank. He goes to war when he is the only one with an army.

As far as I can tell, Sharon’s life remained dedicated to Zionism. He seemed to believe that Jews were God’s chosen people to be privileged above all others. To him, there were only two kinds of people: Jews and everybody else. He did not want a Jewish state, at least not one with all the restrictions imposed by the Hebrew prophets. He wanted a Zionist state.  I never saw evidence to indicate otherwise.  Friedman is right about one thing. Sharon truly did represent Israel.

Thomas Are

January 30, 2014

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[1] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 17, 2014. p. A-11.

[2] Max Blumenthal, How Ariel Sharon Shaped Israel’s Destiny, The Nation, January 11, 2014.

[3] Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998.

[4] Alan Hart, Zionism, The Real Enemy of the Jews, (Clarity Press, Atlanta, 2009) Volume One., p. 40.

[5] Alan Hart, Zionism, The Real Enemy of the Jews, (Clarity Press, Atlanta, 2009) Volume Three., p. 228.

.

Kerry's Peace Plan

   

I like John Kerry. Voted for him and sent a little money for his presidential run against George W. Bush.  But if he were to ask me what I thought about his performance as Secretary of State, I would give him and A and an F.

 

I would say yes to his leadership with Iran. After years of no talking and saber-rattling, Iran has come to the table and said let’s work together to avoid another war in the Middle East.  Against those in Congress who side with Netanyahu and against their own president and in spite of AIPAC’s crying wolf, Kerry has brought about an agreement with Iran to greatly limit its nuclear program and open its facilities to regular inspections. For the first time in decades, the streets no longer rumble with shouts of  “Death to America”.  Some say Kerry deserved the Nobel Peace prize. In spite of Israel-firsters in Congress and no let up from AIPAC, to sabotage his efforts, most people in the world agree that Kerry has brought us to the closest point of peaceful relations with Iran in years.

 

However, I would give him an F on his so called “Peace Talks” when it comes to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. He talks borders when Israel announces plans to destroy 2,000 more Arab homes in order to construct 828 Jewish only homes in East Jerusalem plus 20,000 more in the West Bank.[1]

 

The issue is still the Israeli occupation. Israel’s separation wall has turned Palestinian towns and villages into prisons. Gaza continues to live in inhuman conditions, under permanent blockade. Settlements gobble up homes and land. Military checkpoints and road blocks by the hundreds humiliate Palestinians trying to get to work or home and hundreds of thousands of refugees still live in camps.

 

Also part of the reality is Israeli disregard of international law and Palestinian citizens

living within Israel suffering from discriminatory policies.

 

Israel justifies its actions as self-defense. It is true that some Palestinians have followed

the way of armed resistance which Israel uses as a pretext to accuse all Palestinians of

being terrorist. However, as many have pointed out, if there was no occupation, there

would be no resistance.

                     

Rachelle Marshall responds to Netanyahu’s saying, “pressure must be put upon the Palestinians” to bring them to a point of peace.

           

It’s hard to imagine what additional pressure could be imposed on the Palestinians as they watch their land disappearing under Israeli homes and golf courses, and their economy remain shackled by Israeli restrictions.[2]

 

And Kerry is talking about borders, movable borders.

 

Does he not know that Gaza has borders.  Yet, because of Israel’s air, sea and land blockade:

 

Hardships steadily increase for the nearly two million Gazans who are being deliberately kept cold and hungry by the blockade Israel imposed seven years ago… Gaza’s only remaining power plant was shut down in early November for lack of affordable fuel… Sewage stations unable to operate their electric pumps are overflowing, and in late November a neighborhood in Gaza was  flooded with 3.5 million cubic feet of raw sewage.[3]

 

With winter in full blast and no electricity for 12 hours a day, no fuel for heat and sewage flooding through your home, with settlers destroying your olive trees, it’s ludicrous to talk about Israeli security.

 

What needs to be put on the table is not a discussion of borders, but Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and resources and Israel’s humiliating treatment of the Palestinian people.   Until that is addressed, borders are irrelevant.

 

 

                                                Thomas Are

                                                January 19, 2014

 

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[1] Rachelle Marshall, Kerry faces Down Israel and its Lobby to Achieve Agreement with Iran,  The Washington Report on Middle east Affairs. January 2014. p. 9.

[2] Ibid. p.9

[3] Ibid.  p.9.

Krauthammer Just Doesn't Get It

Charles Krauthammer just doesn’t get it.  In this morning’s newspapers, he writes that the boycott of Israel is nothing short of anti-Semitism.   He is wrong. The world did not boycott South Africa in the 1980s because it was white but because it had become a brutal apartheid state treating those under its control as somewhat less than human.

Which is exactly how Israel now treats its non-Jewish citizens and those people whose land they have militarily occupied for more than six decades.

I support BDS, (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), not because Israel is Jewish, but precisely because it does not act Jewish.  The heart and core of Judaism is justice and compassion for those in need.  Krauthammer seems far more committed to his Jewish state than to his Jewish scriptures. My friend, Jim Beaty says, “Tel Aviv is no more Jewish than Washington is Christian.”[1]

Many Jewish historians (Norman Finkelstein) intellectuals (Mark Braverman) artist (Gilad Atzman) ex-IDF soldiers (Eran Efrati) and refuseniks (Maya Wind) are touring the US asking the citizens of this country to do exactly what Krauthammer labels anti-Semitic.

Krauthammer  writes:

And don’t tell me this is merely about Zionism. The ruse is transparent. Israel is the world’s only Jewish state. To apply to the state of the Jews a double standard that you apply to none other, to judge one people in a way you judge no other, to single out that one people for condemnation and isolation – is to engage in a gross act of discrimination.[2]

Does Krauthammer not connect the dots?  It is precisely this kind of discrimination which Israel applies to the Palestinians that motivates so many to call for a boycott.  Is he not aware that, as he writes, bulldozers are rumbling through the streets of East Jerusalem to tear down the homes of Palestinians by the hundreds to build more Jewish only houses? His state for Jews is stealing Palestinian land and water, constructing an apartheid wall through Palestinian towns, denying basic human freedoms such as movement and assembly, and doing all that the world will allow it to do to deliberately make life in Gaza and parts of the West Bank unlivable.  Krauthammer knows all this. He is just hoping you don’t know it. And that is why the call to BDS scares him so much. It is attracting the world’s attention to how Israel is treating those under its military occupation, those in refugee camps and even its own non-Jewish citizens.  It’s not anti-Semitism that Israel and its lackeys fear, it is exposure.  

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Charles Krauthammer does get it. He cries anti-Semitism because it’s just getting harder and harder for him to disguise it.  

                                                                                    Thomas Are

                                                                                    January 12, 2014

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[1] Dr. Jim Beaty heads up the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless which offers a hot meal and a safe place to sleep to hundreds of homeless men, women and children every night.

[2] Charles Krauthammer,  Boycott  Israel nothing less then anti-Semitism., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,  January 10, 2014. p. A-12.

What in the World is BDS?

I am certain that for most of my readers, I am preaching to the choir, but BDS stand for boycott, divestment and sanctions. Over 170 Palestinian civic, governmental and NGO groups have come together to ask the rest of the world to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.  It is a very effective non-violent method of challenging Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian families, culture and livelihood. It worked in South Africa and with the support of  people of conscience, Israel’s Zionist government, and the average Israeli, may be pressured into altering Israel’s suicidal path.   

As I understand it, Boycott is something we can do as individuals. Divestment has to be done by groups such as corporations, church investments committees or unions. Sanctions are the responsibility of governments.

As U.S. politicians proudly proclaim that there is “no daylight” between the US and Israel, two groups of people are reacting to the truth of that statement.  First is the vast majority of people all around the globe who identify the US government and its citizens with the atrocities committed by the Zionist government of Israel. And why not?  We finance Israel’s military and expansionist agenda. We ignore Israel’s crimes and veto UN sanctions calling for Israel to abide by international law. What little credibility the US has had in the past is melting away faster than the ice glaciers of the North Pole. Our claim to be an “honest broker” is a joke. Most of the world is not laughing.

But, there is another group of people watching our relationship with Israel. It is a smaller group. They are made up of Jews, Christians and Muslims, generally called “people of conscience,” who simply recognize that wrong is not right and silence is not acceptable.  Their only authority is a voice and their weapon of choice is BDS. 

Omar Barghouti explains:

The BDS movement has dragged Israel and its well-financed, bullying groups into a confrontation on a battlefield where the moral superiority of the Palestinian quest for self-determination, justice, freedom, and equality neutralizes and outweighs Israel’s military power and financial prowess. It is the classic right-over-might paradigm, with the right being recognized by an international public that is increasingly fed up with Israel’s criminality and impunity and is realizing that Israel’s slow, gradual genocide places a heavy moral burden on all people of conscience to act, to act fast, and to act with unquestionable effectiveness, political suaveness, and nuance, and above all else with consistent, untarnished moral clarity. [1]

But, why BDS?  The simple answer is because life in Palestine is a nightmare.

BDS attracted little attention until 2009. Two things happened that year.

Israel’s bloodbath in Gaza, called Operation Cast Lead,  in December ‘08 and January ‘09, killed 1400 Palestinians, most of them civilians. All evidence showed that Israel deliberately targeted public buildings and utilities, including schools, hospitals and sanitation plants.

Next, Israel’s inexcusable attack on the humanitarian flotilla brought to public attention the deplorable conditions forced on the people of Gaza, most of them living in refugee camps having been driven out at gun point by Israel in 1948 and then again in 1967.

We hear people say such things as  “Well, what’s new. Jews and Arabs have been fighting each other for thousands of years. Let them sort it out.”  Well, “what’s new” is the imbalance of power and our responsibility for it. 

“According to Israeli statistics, four days of Israeli violence have created many more victims on our side than forty years of Palestinian violence against Israeli targets. Yet, every casualty is one casualty too any”[2]

Israel talks peace and continues to destroy homes and uproot trees, build settlements, checkpoints, and an apartheid wall.  

And Israel gets away with it.  The US has proven that it is not going to pressure, criticize or even publically admit the crimes of Israel. We have had 62 years to take a moral stand and consistently we have chosen to either look the other way or support Israel’s brutal threat to the life and liberty of Palestinians.

Let me be clear, I support the call to BDS Israel, but not just a few companies or products.  People of conscience must BDS Israel, all of it, no exceptions.  Someone has said, “In a democracy, if a few are guilty, all are responsible.”  No dominant nation in history has ever given up power without being pressured to do so. Thus, I support BDS until Israel does three things:

One - Withdraw from all occupied territory: West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Many groups, including Jewish organization, call for a withdrawal, but this only addresses the injustice committed since 1967.

Two - Offer full rights under the law to its non Jewish citizens.  As it is, Palestinians live as second class citizens within Israel.

Three - Allow the return of refugees or pay compensation to those driven out in 1948 and 1967. Some are calling for the return of only those who were alive and displaced in 1948, a number which is rapidly decreasing due to age. 

BDS must be total and complete. 

When reading about Israel, many American say, “I don’t like it, but….” 

We need to change our stance to,  “I don’t like it, therefore…”

I will not buy Sodastream, Caterpillar shoes, Ahava Cosmetics or Hewlett-Packard ink for my computer.

I will write my church representatives who will be voting in our national assembly or conference urging them to vote for divestment.

I will write congress people urging them to vote for sanctions against Israel until Israel becomes a democratic nation for all its citizens.

And having done all that, I will send a little money to JVP and  Sabeel.[3]

          
                                                                                    Thomas Are
                                                                                    December 19, 2013

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[1] Omar Barghouti,  BDS, The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. (Haymarket Books, Chicago. 2011) p.62.

[2] Testimony of Afif Safieh  before the British House of Commons April 21, 1991. Cited in Afif Safieh, The Peace Process, From Breakthrough to Breakdown, (Saqi Books, 2010) p.144.

[3] JVP, Jewish Voice for Peace, , 147 Prince Street, Suite 17, Brooklyn, NJ  11201. www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org.

Sabeel,, Friends of Sabeel – North America, PO Box 9186, Portland, Oregon, 97207  

Muffling Mandela

Nelson Mandela is reported to have said, “The temptation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine… yet we would be less than human if we did so.”

Let us be clear, Mandela never spoke “in muffled tones” when it came to human rights and suffering for oppressed people all over the world.

All over the media, politicians and newscasters are jumping on the band wagon to sing the praises of Nelson Mandela, and rightly so.  He was one of the outstanding leaders of the world during the past century. Yet, how many leaders, political and religious, tell us the whole of his greatness. To do so would be embarrassing.

Some of his most significant sayings that are being “muffled” are:

But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.[1] 

People of conscience cringe with pain when the thought of what a difference it would make in the suffering of so many people if just one major TV news anchor would emphasize this aspect of Mandela’s struggle for peace.

I believe there are many similarities between our struggle and that of the PLO. We live under a unique form of colonialism in South Africa, as well as in Israel, and a lot flows from that.[2]

When challenged by Ted Koppel on ABC, Mandela responded,

We identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self determination.

He told an Australian news media:

We agree with the United Nations that international disputes should be settled by peaceful means. The belligerent attitude which is adopted by the Israeli government is to us unacceptable.

Mandela went on to say that the ANC does not consider the PLO a terrorist group:

If one has to refer to any of the parties as a terrorist state, one might refer to the Israeli government, because they are the people who are slaughtering defenseless and innocent Arabs in the occupied territories, and we don’t regard this as acceptable.[3]

Western leaders, who until 2008, called him a terrorist are now falling all over themselves to call him a great leader. Obama puts him in the class with Lincoln, Roosevelt, Gandhi and King. Joe Biden eulogies, “The most remarkable man I have ever known in my entire life.”  I agree. But my fear is that many of those world leaders gathered to bury Mandela are hoping to bury his principles of freedom from oppression along with him.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, human rights activist and well known professor, having taught at University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale, writes:

In this week’s compilation from occupied Palestine: Today, a 14 year old child shot by Israeli sniper in the back in Jalazour Refugee Camp. A Bethlehem young man was shot by the Israeli apartheid soldier using live ammunition yesterday. Another lost his life after being in a coma for 7 months from an Israeli bullet. The apartheid state of Israel exonerated itself from the murder of Mustafa Tamimi of Nebi Selah so today we join with the Nebi Saleh community to protest and also to commemorate Nelson Mandela. Our friend Ashraf from Bili’n was Mendela. We faced a barrage of rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. Mustafa’ younger brother Udai Tamimi was shot in the face and is now in a Ramallah hospital.  Christian communities throughout Palestine will hold special services tomorrow… Sunday December 8 in honor of Mendela.[4]

A comment of William Slone Coffin comes to mind; “Peace will come when those who are not victims of injustice feel as keenly about it as those who are.” 

Mandela lived in an apartheid state in “homelands” with no power, no military, no real economy and no control over its land, labor or resources”.  No surprise that he would identify with the Palestinians who suffer every day under the oppression of Israel.  He knew what it felt like to be labeled a terrorist because he stood up for democracy and equality. His moral authority forces us to admit that democracy and racism can never be happily married.  Speaking loud and clear, Nelson Mandela said that the world can only work from a position of truth.    It is time for our political and religious leaders to stop  muffling the tone of his voice.

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                December 12, 2013

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[1] President Nelson Mandela at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. December 4, 1997, Pretoria.

[2] Article in JTA, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Global Jewish News Source,  South African and the U.S. Leaders Dismayed over Mandela’s Remarks.  March 2, 1990.

[3] JTA article,  Mandela Angers Australian Jews with Fresh Anti-Israel Rhetoric.  October 25, 1990.

[4] Mazin Qumsiyeh, Israeli Apartheid Gift to Mandela: Myrters and Injuries. Popular Resistance, December 7, 2013.

Betrayed By His Own State

I believe the doctor was sincere.  Last month, Nancy Snyderman interviewed one of the sixty doctors and nurses who traveled from Israel to the Philippines to help treat typhoon victims. As the sick and injured came in with dehydration, respiratory illnesses, diarrhea, and fever, she asked a doctor why he would do such a thing.

“It’s a sense of helping your brothers whoever and wherever they are. It doesn’t matter your age, your color….”

Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor on the Brian Williams news hour, said that she was in “Awe” of Israel’s medics. The doctor said, “You give what you can and then you go.” Williams added, “They did it in Haiti and now they are in the Philippines.”[1]

As he spoke, I thought to myself; that dedicated doctor did not have to travel half way around the world to help his injured and sick brothers.  Just ten miles away in Israeli occupied Palestine, thousands of men, women and children desperately need medical care. But, there are no TV programs showing Israeli doctors and nurses aiding them because the “typhoon” that has hit the West Bank and Gaza is of Israel’s making.  It amazes me that Israel gets a pat on the back for helping victims of nature and almost total silence on the pain and misery caused by Israel right next door.

While Israel soaked up the admiration and applause for its humanitarian work in the Philippines, a 14 year old girl died in an ambulance detained at an Israeli checkpoint while trying to get to a hospital in Bethlehem. She was a Palestinian, therefore not included in the “sense of helping your brothers whoever they are.”[2]

Again, I think the doctor was sincere.  He represents the best of his Jewish faith as  spelled out by the Hebrew prophets. I can only imagine what was going through his mind and heart, perhaps; “Hear the word of the Lord … wash yourselves; make yourself clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice; correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17). Or even a simple, “For the Lord is a God of justice.(Isaiah 30:18).

There are a few more texts that could easily have influenced the doctor and his team:

Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of  the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not  to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house;

… ? (Isaiah 58:6-7).

Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, And do no wrong to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. (Jeremiah 22:3).

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrong . (Isaiah 61:8). The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed… He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. (Psalm 9:9, 12).

For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight. (Psalm 72: 12-14)

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:3-4).

I believe the medical team flying to the Philippines knew these texts well. At least they were putting them into practice.

On the other hand, the state claiming their loyalty shows little allegiance to their own Jewish scriptures. From the beginning, Israel has been addicted to violence:

On April 9, 1948, in the struggle to rid the land of Arabs, the Stern Gang, headed by Yitzhak Shamir, and the Irgun, headed by Menacham Begin, both future Prime Ministers of Israel, conducted the massacre of an Arab village called Deir Yassin. Arabs say 250 were killed. Israel claims it was only 100.  The commander of the Haganah, Zvi  Ankori, described what happened:

I saw cut-off genitalia and woman’s crushed stomachs…It was direct murder. Soldiers shot everyone they saw, including women and children. Parents begged commanders to stop the slaughter, to please stop shooting.[3]

These acts of violence were designed to frighten Arabs into fleeing for their lives. Begin himself boasted:

Out of our evil, came good. This Arab propaganda spread a legend of terror among Arabs who were seized with panic at the mention of Irgun soldiers… Panic overwhelmed the Arabs of Eretz Israel. Kolonia villege was evacuated overnight… Beth-Isla was also evacuated.[4]

Sixty-five years later, little has changed. In spite of anything the Bible has to say, Israel’s regime has been a history of bloodshed and violence, not a violence of necessity, but a violence of aggression.

An Israeli chief rabbi of the Shas Party proclaims, “It is forbidden to be merciful to Arabs.” Not to be out-Zioned, Eli Yishai, Israel’s internal minister proclaimed, “You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable”[5] Arnon Sofer, the so called Arab counter, spelled out the implications of the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, “When 2.5 million people live in closed off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe… The pressure at the border will be awful. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day … If we don’t kill, we will cease to exist.”[6]

It is amazing. Netanyahu, in a letter to the president of the Philippines, wrote “On behalf of the government and people of Israel, I extend heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives … I hope Israel’s assistance will help alleviate the suffering.”  This is the same Netanyahu who bombarded Gaza in December and January '08 and ’09, killing more than 1400 unarmed men, women and children and destroying thousands of public buildings and private homes. This same Netanyahu sent night raiders to storm a humanitarian ship bringing medicine and supplies to his victims of Gaza, killing nine unarmed volunteers in international waters.

Not only has Netanyahu betrayed these sixty doctors and nurses, he has betrayed Judaism and put Jews around the world in a dilemma.

I remember Marc Ellis saying something like:  “In the early fourth century, you Christians were faced with a choice.  You could uphold the morality and compassion of your faith or you could choose the power and privilege of the state.” He went on to say, “You made the wrong choice and you haven’t gotten over it yet.”  Then fighting tears, he went of to say, “We Jews are exactly in the same spot today. We can choose the morals and compassion of our faith, or we can choose the power and privilege offered by the state.  We are also making the wrong choice.” 

                                                                                    Thomas Are

                                                                                    December 8, 2013

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[1] NBC News with Brian Williams,  November 15, 2013

[2] Jerusalem, Ma’an News, 11/29/2013.

[3] Cited in Lenni Brenner, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revelution From Jabotinsky to Shamir, (London, Zad Books, Ltd. 1984). P.97. Quoted by Ralph Schoenman, The Hidden History of Zionism, (Santa Barbara,California; Veritas Press, 1988). P. 33.

[4] David K. Shipler, Arab and Jew, (Penguin Books, New York. 1968). P.40.

[5] Max Blumenthal, Goliath, Life and Loathing in Greater Israel. (Nation Books, New York, 2013) p.18.

[6] Ibid.,  p. 91.