I suppose we can be thankful that this is now a war of words and for a change it looks as if the Israelis have come off second best. At least their moral standing and their ego seems to have been dented somewhat.
The United Nations has just produced a report on the damage inflicted on various UN building in Gaza by the Israeli during their incursion into Gaza in December 08 and continuing into January 09.
Ehud Barak, Israel’s Minister of Defence repudiates the UN’s report. He says it is biased because it does not give enough weight to the restraint the Israeli’s have shown while under attack from thousands of rockets fired by Hamas, into Israel, over a number of years.
This is a valid statement.
But how about the restraint shown by the Palestinians after some sixty years of being landless people – remember that Israel was formed from land taken from the Palestinians in 1946, without compensation? Many were forced to live in that sliver of land called the Gaza Strip, without adequate facilities, shortages of all supplies (because of the Israeli blockades) and desperate overcrowding.
Whatever the Palestinians – through the agency of Hamas and others – do to Israel and the Israelis (and I do not condone it at all) is born out of frustration and anger at the injustice of the whole Israel/Palestine/Middle East saga.
The Israelis are not doing themselves any favours by trying to maintain their high moral tone, claiming that their army is the most moral in the world, against a mounting body of evidence that this is not so.
As in any institution which relies on extreme discipline to ensure its orders are carried out to the letter, the Israeli army leaders (and their masters, the Israeli politicians) must always be guided by the highest moral imperatives. I do not believe this was the case.
There are grounds for believing that the Israeli politicians were thinking about the benefits to be gained, politically in Israel, by appearing to be strong and determined against the ‘enemy’ (Hamas and the Palestinians) just before their forth-coming elections. Remember that the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert was at the time considered a lame duck PM, who was allegedly involved in a corruption scandal. He would have wanted to hand over the reins with his party in the best possible political condition.
It is recorded that the great teacher, Hillel (who died in 10 C.E.) summarized the essence of Judaism by saying: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow humans; this is the whole Torah, all the rest is commentary. Now go and learn.” Another central premise of the Torah (the moral code of Judaism) is the command to “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
I wonder if they told that to the Palestinians? Imagine saying, “We love you and we hate what we are going to do to you – but we will do it anyway.” That is the height of hypocrisy. The Israeli’s know this, which is why they are so upset with this report. It shows them up and they have to see themselves for what they are and how the rest of the world sees them. Very confronting!!
Showing posts with label occupation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occupation. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Israel's staggering presumption
So now Israel has agreed to a cease fire, of sorts and we are told that it has ‘exceeded its objectives’ in Gaza. Big deal. Over 1200 dead and many thousands injured. What for? If the Israelis think that bombs, rockets and assassinations will destroy a dream, will destroy the emotional fervour of the Palestinians (however disunited their various factions are) then they have learned nothing from their own history. Have the many and various anti-Jewish activities that have happened over the centuries ever sapped the Jewish dreams; ever broken their morale? Of course not! So what makes them think that doing what they have done, during the last 22 days of their offensive will bring ‘peace’ any closer.
The Israeli have destroyed the infrastructure of Gaza (for sure they will not pay for the repairs!); they killed, injured and maimed thousands of people after 22 days of brutal activity to arrive back at the point they started from! As I say what was all the death and destruction for?
They may kill thousands and destroy houses and buildings but they will never kill the Human Spirit. They should know that. So what makes them think that they are so special that what never had any affect on them will affect Palestinians any differently? We are all human beings on this world together. For whatever reason we are all here, now, with our differences in skin colour, beliefs and creeds, daily practises of living, our loves, our dreams, our hopes and aspirations – we are all in this together. So for one group of people (the Israelis) to try to subjugate another group (the Palestinians); to attempt to control how they should think and act towards the first (dominant? group) shows breathtaking arrogance, unbelievable hubris and staggering presumption.
The presumption is that Israel knows best. Do they? Have they addressed the root of the problem – a landless, disenfranchised population? That they are an occupying nation that was ‘given’ Palestine in 1946 because the world wanted to give the traumatised survivors of the Nazi death camps some place for them to recover and call home? What about the Palestinians? Without so much as a by your leave they were made landless and moved.
As the English poet and sermonist John Dunne wrote in the 1600s, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
The Israelis have been diminished by their actions – therefore they have lost. They may have ‘exceeded their objectives’ in Gaza but as I said, in the long run they have lost.
This is a defining moment in Israel’s short history. As a people the Jews in Israel are morally bankrupt. Their only recourse is to arms, to fight. That is not the way civilised people act. Whatever the shortcomings of Hamas and other hard line Palestinians, and there are many, by lowering themselves to ‘Hamas levels’ of activity the Israeli have diminished themselves – and they know it.
Why can’t the Israelis show moral leadership and lift the whole region to a new level of consciousness? Isn’t this what Jewishness; the Kabbalah and their spiritual practices are supposed to bring about? They should not just talk about it. They should walk the walk, not just talk the talk!!
The Israeli have destroyed the infrastructure of Gaza (for sure they will not pay for the repairs!); they killed, injured and maimed thousands of people after 22 days of brutal activity to arrive back at the point they started from! As I say what was all the death and destruction for?
They may kill thousands and destroy houses and buildings but they will never kill the Human Spirit. They should know that. So what makes them think that they are so special that what never had any affect on them will affect Palestinians any differently? We are all human beings on this world together. For whatever reason we are all here, now, with our differences in skin colour, beliefs and creeds, daily practises of living, our loves, our dreams, our hopes and aspirations – we are all in this together. So for one group of people (the Israelis) to try to subjugate another group (the Palestinians); to attempt to control how they should think and act towards the first (dominant? group) shows breathtaking arrogance, unbelievable hubris and staggering presumption.
The presumption is that Israel knows best. Do they? Have they addressed the root of the problem – a landless, disenfranchised population? That they are an occupying nation that was ‘given’ Palestine in 1946 because the world wanted to give the traumatised survivors of the Nazi death camps some place for them to recover and call home? What about the Palestinians? Without so much as a by your leave they were made landless and moved.
As the English poet and sermonist John Dunne wrote in the 1600s, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
The Israelis have been diminished by their actions – therefore they have lost. They may have ‘exceeded their objectives’ in Gaza but as I said, in the long run they have lost.
This is a defining moment in Israel’s short history. As a people the Jews in Israel are morally bankrupt. Their only recourse is to arms, to fight. That is not the way civilised people act. Whatever the shortcomings of Hamas and other hard line Palestinians, and there are many, by lowering themselves to ‘Hamas levels’ of activity the Israeli have diminished themselves – and they know it.
Why can’t the Israelis show moral leadership and lift the whole region to a new level of consciousness? Isn’t this what Jewishness; the Kabbalah and their spiritual practices are supposed to bring about? They should not just talk about it. They should walk the walk, not just talk the talk!!
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