No Abrahams in Israel Today

“That which is hateful to you, do not do to others. ” Rabbi Hillel (1st Century BC)

Religious Zionists of any description love to claim entitlement for the Zionist state to the land of Palestine based on a superficial understanding of the promises of God to Abraham as revealed in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament.

Proverbs 24:17 tells the descendants of Abraham “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. And let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown;”

Israeli pilots apparently found no problems in dumping bombs on Gazan children during the day and then going back home to celebrate Hanukkah, during operation Cast Lead, with their own families.  The attack commenced at 11:30 in the morning of December 27th 2008. At this time of day the children of Gaza are on the streets  as this is the time when the change of shift between morning school and afternoon school takes place. Children are either going home from school or going to school from home.

But to claim such callousness from Israelis is tantamount to anti-Semitism. Much safer to accuse Palestinians of child murder even though far, far more Palestinian children have died at the hands of the IDF than Israeli children have died at the hands of Palestinians. This is, of course, because (as every Zionist will tell you) Palestinians care little for their own children, using them as human shields at the drop of a hat. Zionist ideology has taught Israel’s youth that Palestinian life is at best worthless. Arabs are not worthy recipients of true compassion, let alone equal rights with Israeli Jews. Christian Zionism teaches us that Palestinian life is demonic. How can once cry at the destruction of the devil? All those who do cry for such people are surely in league with the forces of the anti-Christ!

Genesis chapter 18 relates the story of Abraham’s intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the wicked city if only ten righteous men could be found. Sadly there are no Abraham’s in Israel today. If there are any, the Zionist state does not esteem them as it says it does in the case of their founding patriarch. Zionism seeks to gain the inheritance of Abraham while resisting the spirit and heart of God’s mandate for the descendants of Abraham. Zionist Israel claims that no amount of righteous or innocent people could ever warrant mercy for the citizens of Gaza. Even an “eye for an eye” has been usurped by a mentality that was expressed by a Rabbi at Zionist mass murderer Baruch Goldstein’s funeral when he said that “one million Arab lives are not worth one Jewish fingernail.” But we should ignore such ravings. It is only the ravings of Arab extremists that should be taken as a true picture of Arab mentality.

Images of Gazan children who have been blown to pieces are never allowed to invoke compassion for Palestinians. If ever such images are shown, the context is always that these things happened because of the insanity and intransigence of groups like Hamas. Responsibility can never lay at the feet of the Israelis. This is an unwritten law in our society. Operation Cast Lead is the fault of Hamas we are told. It is as if the Israeli planes were manned by Islamic militants themselves. Whatever the scenario, Israelis are free to kill Palestinians at will. Any retaliation by Palestinians is quickly portrayed as evidence of the innately violent nature of Arabs toward Jews. Arabs should take their comeuppance and submit to the demands of civilised Israelis. No discussion of the reasons for Palestinian grievances are tolerated. The concept that Palestinian violence might have been provoked by Israeli dispossession and oppression of Arabs will receive the quickest accusations of anti-Semitic motivation that one can imagine.

But such lies can never last. I have as much faith in the ultimate decency of Jewish people (be they Israelis or not) as I do of Arab people or any people in the world today. Israelis will never be free while they continue to oppress their Arab cousins.

In the meantime, I think the words of Miko Peled, son of Matti Peled the Israeli General become peace activist, are sound advise for my Christian brethren who unconditionally support the Zionist state.

“So those people who want to associate themselves with Israel, Zionism and drape themselves in the Zionist flag – the flag that has come to symbolise intolerance, hatred, racism and brutality – they can feel free to do so. But they need to know this:

that when the trials begin and the tribunals take their place, and when the truth and reconciliation commission begins its work and they are finally shamed into admitting they were wrong, they need to remember to go down on their knees and beg forgiveness from the people they so greatly wronged.

They need to realise that we will never forget them and that their conscience will never allow them to forget that they supported the killings, that they draped themselves in the flag and that they mocked the bereaved.

The rest of us will move on in line with the rest of the Middle East which will follow the example of the people of Egypt to create something that will surely be a tremendous accomplishment – a democratic, secular state in our own shared homeland –  a state where Muslims, Christians and Jews live as equals and educate their children to love their homeland with its multitude of cultures, its rich history and its promising future.”

Peled. M, The Generals Son. 2011

Craig Nielsen

ACTION FOR PALESTINE