I find objectionable the unique singling out of Israel for condemnation. Given that history and current reality, and even though I believe the creation of Israel was a historic disaster, I am a member of the tribe (perhaps its more pacifist, atheist wing). One need only see how the vast number of South Asian, Philippine and African near-slaves are treated even in the more benign countries such as the UAE. The comments about the racism of the Zionists are fair, but the Arab world does not lack for similar attitudes. It is a tribe that is also divided, like the Arabs, into factions, some of which are fanatical and war like and others more moderate. The Zionists brought another tribe to the war. Observe the genocidal destruction of Homs by Hafez Assad, just to point to a recent example. And in those wars they have committed horrors on their own people. The Arabs have been engaged in tribal conflicts for centuries that from time to time have been quelled by imperial powers such as the Ottomans and strong men such as Saddam and Ibn Saud. It is also worth noting that the largest Muslim populations are not Arab and the largest, Indonesia, is fairly peaceful. And the Arabs and Persians perpetuate a conflict-ridden neighbourhood with almost no exceptions, fighting against each other and with hate of Israel the only thing that they share. Israel has lost its way and commits horrors in the interest of its own survival. I don’t think there is any honour to go around here. In addition, the pro-Israeli lobby in America has been very effective in the political arena and their Arab counterparts have been counterproductive. Israel’s behaviour in their youth, the past two decades, has destroyed whatever moral standing the Israelis had with them. Those of the younger generation, my son Ben’s age (24), have a much more balanced view. So my generation and most of today’s American leadership grew up with the Israelis as heroic good guys and Arabs/Persians as greedy bad guys. The UN is no longer seen as legitimate and almost always acting against US interests. We can add Saddam, Gaddafi and Osama bin Laden to the pantheon of American villains. Seeing the delight throughout the Arab world at the fall of the twin towers did not endear the Arabs to the American people. (Of course, we Jews would have to convert to Christianity to survive the second coming.) The attacks of 9/11 amplified the American antipathy to the Arab world. To this was added the growing and ironic support from the US religious right who saw the route to salvation as the Israeli defeat of the Arabs leading to a second coming of Christ. The Israelis were seen as innovative and benign, people who made the desert bloom. (We should never forget that we have a Republican-dominated Congress, half of whom do not own a passport and see ignorance as a virtue.) That perception was given particular impetus by the oil embargo of 1973 and the Iranian revolution, even though it was Persians not Arabs, because Americans don’t see that distinction. The Arabs were seen as the oppressors and enemies of the US. And of course, the Second World War and the Holocaust sealed the deal. The British government with its Balfour declaration (1917) and the League of Nations Palestine Mandate (1922) gave impetus to that hope. An end to the diaspora and a return to the biblical homeland were seen as the only hope of escaping the persistent repression of places such as Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, etc. Zionism began near the end of the 19th century as a response to a millennium of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. Israel will destroy Judaism.įirst, the history has two important intersecting threads, Zionism and the end of the Ottoman Empire. And that contradiction is now very evident in Israel’s behaviour. The actions nation states take to assure their survival are usually in contradiction to any moral values that a religion might espouse. And I believe that creating the Jewish state of Israel was a historic mistake that is likely to destroy the religion behind it. I am culturally Jewish, but with no religious or spiritual inclinations, an atheist. Let me say, that, as you know, I am an immigrant and child of Holocaust survivors.
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