Disclaimer: this blog isn't a fun topic and it's a potentially polarizing topic. But it's been bugging the hell out of me, and I have a compulsion to share.
What's happening in Israel is wrong. Simply put.
Under no circumstances is it ok to disenfranchise, enslave, punish, or imprison someone simply because of what they believe, or don't. And yet this is exactly what the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians.
Israel has used terrorist tactics for decades, but that's ok because they are considered allies to the the US, the UK and others outside the Middle East. Hamas is a terrorist organization and should be wiped from the planet. But the reason it's so easy for them to increase their membership is because it seems to be the only means of discourse that Israel respects.
Internationally agreed border are simply ignored. Israeli only roads are illegally build across Palestinian land and Palestinians have plates on their cars that make them easily identifiable by the police. Anyone happen to recall when Jews were forced to wear armbands?
Palestine never had a state. This is true. But it's a red herring argument. This is how the Palestinians have chosen to live for thousands of years. The individual farmers do have documentation of ownership of the land, but because they aren't Jewish, it's irrelevant.
It's called apartheid and it's wrong.
And why is it allowed to occur? Why does no one else stand up for Palestine? Money.
There's money to be made. Palestinians, culturally, are not interrsted in thriving economies. So roads are built cheaply. And then, without conflict, where will the weapons manufacturers sell their goods?
I saw footage of a Rabbi who said something to the effect that while God did decree the land to the Israelis, it's not something to be taken for granted and it's something that must be earned by having high moral character.
According to ancient scripture, while the Jews were driven from Isreal by others, the true reason is that they had abandoned morality and civility. They no longer deserved it.
Subjugating another people is not moral. Israel does not deserve the land, even according to their own scripture.
Now, most of you know that I don't believe in the book of fables. I'm merely pointing out that there is something intrinsically wrong about what Israel is doing.
And until there's no money to be made, it will continue.
I need to get on a computer and clean this up. What a messy grammatical minefield full of thoughts that aren't quite complete.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I believe it's more likely that I'd be called an anti-Semite by someone who isn't Jewish. Truth is that the Israeli government misrepresents Judaism in exactly the same way as Al Quaeda and ISIS misrepresent Islam. This is what terrorists do: they lie and use religion as a cover.
ReplyDeleteJewishvoiceforpeace.org it's staffed by people with first hand knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAre Jewish organizations against the occupation anti-Semitic? It's a bit of a chicken and egg thing when both Hamas and Israel use the same tactics against one another... with the crucial difference being that Israel is far better funded by the US. Hamas gets no support... nor should they. But nothing can justify the way the Israeli
ReplyDeleteGovernment treats law abiding farmers in the countryside, protect illegal settlements and ignore International Law. It's wrong and I pity anyone who is so uninformed to not see this.
The terrible tragedy of war.... innocent bystanders which include children displaced and dead. Never-the-less, the blood-thirsty, single-minded murderers who just happen to be the so-called government of Hamas need to be violently taken out.
ReplyDeleteThere is no argument, no debate, and unfortunately no rules in place because it is Hamas which follows none. The choice is not Israel's.
Now, you were going to answer your initial premise that the war is about making money, which it is not and smacks of anti-semitism but instead threw in a diversionary comment about Israeli organizations that oppose the war.