The Tragedy of Israel

By

Stuart Yates

The Jewish race has a long history of suffering and it seemed eminently reasonable for the international community to accede to the creation of a state which Jews could call home. The Jewish race has also a long and distinguished history in contributing to the growth of civilisation, in the arts, philosophy, scientific progress and politics/economics. It is a tragedy therefore in the real sense that the state of Israel has developed into a travesty of what it might have been. The seeds of this travesty were present from the beginning. Theodor Herzl, regarded as the founder of Zionism, wrote in 1895:

"We must expropriate gently the private property on the state assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our country........Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."

Acknowledging the gentleness and discretion alluded to, this reads rather like a non-violent way of achieving what in fact happened, which through massacres such as Deir Yessin, before the creation of the state of Israel, created panic amongst the Palestinians, causing them to flee in their thousands to the refugee camps where they still live. The 1917 Balfour declaration is often quoted as a justification for the founding of the state of Israel, but we rarely read the last two phrases of this extract:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".

Balfour was certainly clear in his intentions to preserve the rights of all people, Jews and non-Jews, in Palestine/Israel.

Not all Jews agreed or agree with how the state of Israel was founded and is maintained. One of the most famous of all Jews, Martin Buber, also a Zionist, was deeply troubled by Deir Yessin, writing

"Let the village of Deir Yessin remain uninhabited for the time being, and let its desolation be a terrible and tragic symbol of war, and a warning to our people that no practical military needs may ever justify such acts of murder".

Buber also hoped that

"The time will come when it will be possible to conceive of some act in Deir Yessin, an act which will symbolise our people's desire for justice and brotherhood with the Arab people".

It is Israel's and the Palestinians' tragedy that the men with power who founded and who run Israel did and do not have Buber's vision and humanity. Israel, with all the talents at her disposal, could have been a shining beacon, not just in the Middle East, but across the whole world. It may be that this vision may yet be achieved but it will take considerable efforts over some time to repair the damage done.

Benny Elon, the Tourism Minister in the present Israeli cabinet said recently "the unpleasant fact is that the largest ghetto in the world is right here", referring to Israel in the context of the Road Map. The corresponding fact is that Israel has created her own ghetto and has also created the ghettoes of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel took land occupied by the Palestinians but once Israel became strong enough, militarily, politically and economically, she failed to engage with moderates on both sides in order to establish a way of Jews and Arabs living side by side. Instead Israel has followed a path exemplified by the words of current leader Ariel Sharon in his speech to the Knesset on February 27th 2003: "This has always been the destiny and trademark of our people: to withstand - and survive. To confront - and overcome. To fight - and triumph." The mindset is one which sees only struggle, which sees only adversity, only victimhood and triumph over all the odds. Yet the political, economic and military reality, a reality which has existed for many years, is that Israel is not the underdog anymore. Israel is one of the most heavily armed nations in the world, facing an 'enemy' armed with stones, handguns and explosives which can only be delivered by human bodies. The terrible irony is that Jews know what it is like to be dispossessed, they know in effect how the Palestinians feel, yet for over fifty years they have driven them out, driven them into smaller and smaller ghettoes, relentlessly extending the borders of Israel well beyond any that the international community would sanction.

There is a second irony, a cruel, inhuman, tragic irony. Ariel Sharon, in that same speech, said

"The central and most important goal of the new Government will be mass migration to Israel. Aliyah [the right of return] is the lifeblood of Zionism...............We will work towards strengthening the pioneering endeavor of settling the entire country."

This means the right of people of Jewish descent to settle in Israel, no matter that there is no record of their ancestors ever having lived in Israel, whilst Palestinians who actually lived in modern day Israel, who could take you to their former villages and homes, have no such right. Indeed, the state of Israel has made it clear that this aspect of any negotiated settlement with the Palestinians is not and never will be on the agenda. So a Jew who has lived comfortably, say in Los Angeles, being descended from a long established Los Angeles family, has the right of 'return' to Israel, whereas a Palestinian has no right to return in fact to his own home. I wonder too about the precise words used above, where "pioneering" is used in the same phrase as "settling the entire country." Just what does Ariel Sharon mean by "the entire country" in this context and the word "settling."

Aliyah is also blatantly discriminatory. If you can prove you are of Jewish descent, then you have right to emigrate to Israel and a right to state aid whilst finding work etc. If you are not Jewish, it is "rare":

"A non-Jew may apply for permanent residence status if the applicant can show special reasons for wishing to live in Israel. The granting of such status is at the complete discretion of the Minister of the Interior and is rather rare. Christian clergy are the most common example for obtaining this status." (Memorandum: IMMIGRATION TO ISRAEL: Immigrant Status / Citizenship /Work Permit Visas Author: George Rosenberg and Ari Rosenberg Date: February, 2001)

Also:

"Jewish immigrants receive better benefits than non-Jewish immigrants, including guaranteed housing, ulpan (Hebrew language study), full tuition for graduate degrees, and other benefits including discounts on major purchases, such as cars and appliances. The absorption process is more arduous for non-Jews and may take many years, during which they might not have health insurance and other government services." (Who is a Jew? by Rebecca Weiner)

Where else in the so-called civilised world are we likely to meet such discrimination?

There would be an outcry if for example the UK were to say: 'Only white-skinned Christians are now to be allowed entry. Only those Canadians, Australians etc who can prove their UK ancestry can return.' Just note the nonsense of the word 'return' in this context, but it could be argued that Canadians etc have at least as much right as is offered to Jews of the Diaspora. No-one (as far as I know) believes that North African Muslims should automatically be allowed to settle in Southern Spain because of their Moorish ancestry, even though the Moors have a more recent claim to this land than have the Jews to Palestine. If we were to follow the Zionist argument America, Australia etc would be governed by their respective original inhabitants.

We hear a lot about 'Islamic fundamentalism' and 'Christian fundamentalism', always used negatively when coming from sources external to those religions. I have yet to see the term 'Jewish fundamentalism', but is this term not apt and to be used negatively from outside Judaism, if the other terms are deemed to be acceptable? Similarly, the term 'Islamic state' when applied to such states as Iran is always meant negatively, but the term 'Jewish state' when applied to Israel is regarded as a straightforward description. Indeed, the whole purpose of Zionism was to set up a Jewish state and to maintain it as a Jewish state. So why are Iran et al wrong to regard themselves as Islamic states?

There has always been a strong movement within Israel which envisages a 'greater Israel', an Israel which would sweep the Palestinians out of the whole of the West Bank and Gaza. Ariel Sharon in 1998: "let everyone get a move on and take more hilltops, take more land. Whatever we take - will be ours" was quite clear in his aims for a greater Israel. Benny Elon too, in 2003: "Jordan must be the Palestinian state." is equally uncompromising. This claim for a greater Israel originates in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible's Old Testament:

"On that day the Lord made a covenant wirh Abram and said 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates'" (Genesis, 15:18).

This area would take in much of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, half of Iraq and a substantial part of Saudi Arabia. This was certainly Herzl's vision. It makes Israel's willingness to invade Egypt, Syria and Lebanon more understandable when reading the words of Ivraham Stern, the leader of the 'Stern gang' who fought for the formation of the state of Israel:

"Consolidate and increase the fighting force in the homeland and in the Diaspora, in the underground and in the barracks, to become the Hebrew army of liberation with its flag, arms, and commanders............ Constant war against those who stand in the way of fulfilling the goals................... Solve the problem of alien population by exchange of population................ Total in-gathering of the exiles to their sovereign state............ [aliyah again] ...........The Hebrew nation shall become a first-rate military, political, cultural and economical entity in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean Sea." (Avraham Stern, The Ideology of the Lehi).

There is a long history of expansionism in Zionist thought.

There is a link to the concept that the Jewish people are superior, a people chosen by God and therefore have rights e.g. To land, even if this at the expense of 'inferior' peoples. The corollary to this is of course that other peoples e.g. The Palestinians do not have rights. There are many Web sites which quote all sorts of extracts from the Talmud to try to demonstrate from 'original' sources that Jewish teaching advocates discrimination, at the very least, against non-Jews. There are also Jewish sites which attempt to refute these claims. Having read a number of both these types of site, I am not convinced either way and do not have the time to pursue it further at the moment. My inclination is to view the attitude of Jews to non-Jews as split possibly along Zionist/non-Zionist lines. Thus, Zionists tend to view Jewish belief and culture as superior. Stern again:

" The establishment of a social order in the spirit of Jewish morality and prophetic justice. Under such an order no one will go hungry or unemployed. All will live in harmony, mutual respect and friendship as an example to the world."

There is a certain hubris in that last sentence and it is exclusive when taken in the context of "Solve the problem of alien population by exchange of population" just five lines later. It can be taken to mean: we Jews will create a perfect state, the envy of the world, but no non-Jew will be allowed to live in it.

A part of me quite accepts the possibility that the Jewish people really are different and superior. I suspect that a lot of anti-Semitism is based on the fear that this may be so. I do not regard myself as anti-Semitic, however, I am fiercely against Israel's persecution of non-Jews in Israel and the occupied territories. If Jews are indeed God's chosen people then I do not believe that the Jews who are in charge of Israel can be carrying out God's will. My God is a God of love, a God who honours difference and does not discriminate, a God who cannot be known and therefore appears in a multitude of guises to different individuals and peoples. There are many paths on the mountain.

Rightly or wrongly, Israel has received an enormous amount in aid, especially from the USA - around $97 billion since Israel was founded and this has helped to make Israel one of the world's richest countries. No other country has received anything like this degree of support. Such aid however has not just been used for the benefit of Israeli Jews, let alone Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Israel's ability to wage war with Britain and France on Egypt in 1956 - just eight years' from its founding using the latest fighter aircraft - tells us where the priority has always lain:"To fight - and triumph." in Ariel Sharon's words quoted above. Do successive Israeli governments really believe that Israel just had to have nuclear weapons? Such aid is currently being spent not just on armaments but on the grotesque and obscene wall being built, not between the West Bank and the Israel of 1948, but deep within the Palestinian territory. This wall acts as a symbol of Israel's inhumanity, of Israel's squandering of aid on evil enterprises. It will go down (eventually literally) alongside the Berlin Wall in history.

It is sad fact that some, not all, people who were abused in childhood become abusers in adulthood. As with individuals, so with groups of individuals. There is an odious term 'Judeo-Nazism', which may strike us as anti-Semitic in itself until we learn that it was coined in 1983 by Professor Yeshayahu Leibovitz, editor of Encyclopedia Hebraica. That the Nazis were persecutors is beyond doubt, but it is shocking to perceive the parallels between what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany and what Jews are doing to non-Jews in (part) of what Zionists would call Greater Israel.

The first parallel is expansionism - Lebensraum in Nazi Germany. To quote from a moderate Jewish site:

"Why do we, the Jews celebrating Pesach (Passover) in Jerusalem, still say: 'Next year in Jerusalem!' Aren't we already here? The rebuilt Jerusalem we pray for is not this modern city, and the redeemed Eretz Israel is not the political state of the Jews we see today. As the influence of the Torah extends, so will the boundaries of Eretz Israel expand accordingly." (ahavat-israel.com)

This site incidentally speculates that the boundaries of this planned Eretz Israel will stretch from the whole of the Sinai in the East to the borders of Iran in the West, from the borders of Turkey in the North to Aden in the South (ie the whole of the Arabian peninsula). Some expansion! Some Lebensraum!

If someone can explain the differences between the, for example, Warsaw ghetto and the Gaza ghetto, other than the nationality of their inhabitants, please feel free to do so. It is scarcely believable that a group of people can persecute another group as they were persecuted until we remember the parallel of the abused individual. We do not however turn a blind eye or condone adult abuse however. Why should we condone and ignore Israeli abuses? The Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza ghettoes endure the same sort of humiliations that the Jews suffered in Nazi Germany. So there are roads for Israelis only - the equivalent of 'nicht für Juden'; there are stringent restrictions and checks on movement and identity ('Ausweis'). The following extracts from a current travel warning from the American Department of State gives an indication:

"In addition, dual Palestinian-American citizens may encounter difficulties entering and/or departing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza during times of Israeli closures. For example, from January to March 2003, the Israeli government banned the departure via the Allenby Bridge, Rafah, Erez and Taba border crossings of all Palestinian ID holders under the age of 35. The ban applied to all travelers regardless of gender or any other foreign citizenship, including American citizenship. Americans who hold Palestinian ID numbers should consult the Embassy or Consulate for the most recent information before attempting to cross relevant borders. These restrictions can change frequently and without any advance notice."

and

"During times when the closures and curfews are lifted, in order to depart Israel via Ben Gurion Airport, Palestinian-Americans must apply for an Israeli transit permit. Except in humanitarian or special interest cases, Israeli authorities are unlikely to issue this permit. In this event, and notwithstanding the new restrictions mentioned above, travelers must depart via land crossings and may experience lengthy delays. All travelers who enter or travel in Gaza or the West Bank should expect delays and difficulties at checkpoints located throughout those areas, and should exercise particular care when approaching and traveling through checkpoints. Travelers should also be aware they might not be allowed passage through the checkpoints."

If Israel restricts Americans (their allies!) holding dual nationality in this way, we believe the stories we hear of how Palestinian women are refused travel to hospital and lose their babies as a result, the long hours of waiting in the searing heat at checkpoints and the other inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian civilians. That's before we consider the indiscriminate rocket attacks in civilian areas and the casual shooting of children throwing stones. The Israeli attitude to Palestinians is the same as that of the Nazis to Jews: Untermenschen.

We have already mentioned above the tendency for some Zionists to regard Jews as superior and for Israel to be populated only by Jews. There is also a tendency to regard the purity of the Jewish race as sacrosanct:

"As Jews, we have a unique identity that is connected to our purpose in the world. We are the 'chosen people.' We were chosen to propagate the ethical monotheism of Judaism."

- a reply by a Rabbi to questions about marrying non-Jews, later writing:

"We were chosen as a permanent protest group against idolatry and immorality. Intermarriage is therefore antithetical to the Jewish purpose and to the Jewish identity."

and

"Being Jewish isn't a cultural affiliation or a tradition. It's being part of the Chosen People."

It is quite clear that the prohibition against inter-marriage is not just about the continuation of the religious belief: after all the Catholic Church marries Catholics to non-Catholics on the proviso that any children are brought up as Catholics. Underneath the religious intent is the belief that the Jewish race should be kept pure: the Chosen People. This has direct parallels with the desire of the Nazis to create/sustain a master race and the laws in Apartheid South Africa on inter-marriage.

It is saddening to draw such parallels. It is saddening that the belief that Jews are victims blind many Jews to what Jung called the 'shadow' inherent in every one and every group. That there is a corresponding dark side to the good side in everyone and every group which we ignore at our peril. The good side of the Jewish people, of the Israeli state and Judaism is immense. The tragedy is that the dark side is being denied and in being denied, grows.

July 2003