You know what gets me? It’s this pervasive mindset that if you criticize Israel you are an anti-Semite. It’s the Jewish equivalent of an Afro-American that cries racism for every perceived slight.
I considered doing this as an op-ed, but, with so many out there already, I’m just going to rant a bit, if you don’t mind.
First, let me state that I have no friends that are Jewish. None. What does that mean? Nothing. I have no friends that are “born-again” Christian’s. I have no friends that are Islamic or Buddhist. Not one friend of mine does yoga or are vegetarians. I can count on one hand the number of people I call friend and every single one of them are people I served with while in the military.
The difference between being racist, or anti-Semitic, and simply disagreeing with actions taken by a people as a whole, or as a government, is very simple; if you hate the people BECAUSE they are Jewish or black, you are a racist; if you have to use a racial slur when talking about a people, you are a racist. If you have demean a culture in order to talk about it, you are a racist, bigot, or both. If you hate something that is happening and their race has nothing to do with your criticism, you aren’t racist. It’s that simple.
It wasn’t the Jew’s fault that the world took pity on them after WWII and bequeathed to them land that just so happened to be the fault-line between two religions that hate each other. They had just faced genocide and surely the last thing on their minds was being “bad neighbors”. Right?
They were surrounded by people that hated them for taking away their land. They needed a big military that was technologically superior. Gaining nuclear weapons just solidified their ability to protect themselves. And, every nation has the right to self-defense. Right?
So, what could Israel ever do to deserve criticism?
Let’s start with the assault on Gaza that left over a thousand dead that led to an embargo on Gaza aid that has now led Israeli forces to kill between 9-14 activists on an aid flotilla most of whom are Turkish nationals, wounding dozens, and toss hundreds of others into captivity until they were deported, all the while confiscating the aid with “assurances” it would be delivered.
Sure, militants in Gaza would fire rockets and mortars into Israel with little care of who they killed. Militant suicide-bombers would kill scores of people at roadside cafe’s. And all of these actions are crimes. But, Israel driving tanks over people while slaughtering thousands, mostly civilians, as a response is also a crime.
Then, you have Lebanon. A group of militants fire rockets into Israel. As the official response, Israel began bombing infrastructure, apartment buildings, roads, airports, all with the mentality that they would “bomb Lebanon back to the stone ages”.
Let’s not forget the political assassinations, the expansion of Jewish settlements that displace Palestinian’s, or the cutting off of electricity, water, and sewer.
I can hate every one of these actions and not be anti-Semite. That would mean I hate Jew’s just because they are Jewish. No, I hate these actions because they are wrong.
Israel has been asked to sit at a peace-table numerous times. Sometimes, it was the Palestinian’s that killed the talks. Other times, it was Israel that undermined them. It’s pretty safe to say that neither side ever see a peace happening. If that is true, then, both sides feel displacement, or at worst genocide, is the only answer to solve the conflict. To this, I disagree.
It was the United Nations that made the decision in 1948 and it can be the United Nations that tells both nations how it is going to be in the future. Because, frankly, there isn’t an argument made yet that holds any water.
“It is our promised land! It was stated centuries before in the Bible that this was the land of the Jew.”
Right. And somewhere in there, it stated you should starve children, mothers, the elderly, and run over anyone else with tanks. Because God just loves him some good war, suffering, famine, disease, and needless death on Earth.
“This is where Jesus was born!” Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So, on that argument alone, you lose. Jerusalem is NEAR Bethlehem. So, if this is the argument, fine, give the Jew’s the barn in Bethlehem.