As a child raised in what we like to characterize as a Christian home we were led to believe that there was a holiness to the land of Israel. Christians today are still reverential to Israel as a special place sanctioned by God.
Pastors like John Hagee preach about a coming Armageddon in which the forces of good and evil will meet and Israel will defeat the forces of evil arrayed against her.
Hagee himself would be advised to stay away from that battle based on his own philosophy.
As a Christian myself I had a hard time reconciling the narrative of the western Christian Church, including the white evangelicals who demonstrate an undying fealty to Israel.
So I started digging with a view to finding out for myself what was it about Israel which makes it so near and dear to America. You know outside of the fact that the state of Israel never existed before 1948.
It also struck me that the people who populated the Palestinian’s land were actually white Europeans fleeing Hitler’s rage.
Never mind that as far as Judaism is concerned, the practitioners of that faith does not believe that Jesus, the dark-skinned Nazarene was the son of God. In fact, so angry were the Jews with Yeshua that they offered him up to Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor for execution, once they realized he wasn’t going to lead them into a war to topple the Roman occupiers.
But let us not get caught up in the weeds about Jews in the Bible at the time of Jesus Christ, because contrary to what you hear now, Hebrew-Jews and Gentiles lived side by side in Palestine for thousands of years before Jesus Christ arrived, much less just 70-years ago when the Americans and Brits confiscated huge swaths of land from the Palestinians and gave it to white people who adopted the ideology (Zionism) which is essentially a movement which purports to ensure the safety of those practicing the Jewish faith.
Zionism, Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine.
Zionism is privileging one group of people (Israelis) over another the(Palestinians.
By that very measure the very essence of a Zionist state of Israel is by it’s own definition, an apartheid state.
The creation of the state of Israel and the strategic placement of the so-called Jewish state, cannot be fully understood unless its geographic-placement, armament, and maintenance are viewed against the strategic vital interests of the western world.
On the table for discussion is the question of a different set of rules for Israel than that which obtains for others, particularly African nations.
The strategy of labeling anyone who criticizes Israel’s crimes, “anti-Semitic” also has its roots in the preferred nation status bestowed upon her by America. It is a strategy designed to take full advantage of the empathy derived from the Holocaust by silencing anyone who dares to speak out against Israel’s crimes against humanity.
A strategy which insulates and inoculates the apartheid state regardless of its myriad transgressions of international law.
If you believe the concept of a pie-in-the-sky white God who has favorites, then it is easy to ignore the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians by Isreali defense force soldiers.
It is easy to ignore children picked off like flies while soldiers of one of the best trained, best-equipped military in the world hoops it up like they are shooting at inanimate objects, not human beings.
As long as you are comfortable with the blanket statements that every Palestinian murdered are terrorists then you are good because their lives were already devalued by the Apartheid state and its supporters.
But if you are not a starry-eyed Christian brainwashed by those who enslaved our ancestors, you will readily appreciate that a God who is touted to be “just”, could under no circumstances have (chosen people).
You could under no circumstances believe that-that God signs off on the wanton and reckless murder of innocent men, women, and children with the rationalization that they posed an existential threat to the state of Israel.
But the leaders of the Apartheid state is no longer trying to convince the entire world it is wrong and they are right.
They are engaged in systematic harassment and detention of some people who enter the apartheid state and may have previously expressed dissenting opinions on whether we should all agree it is not okay to have snipers killing unarmed protesting men women and children.
Peter Beinart, a leading Jewish-American journalist, was detained for questioning at the Ben-Gurion International Airport while entering Israel. According to Haaretz.com Beinart who is himself of Jewish heritage and a well-known journalist.
Beinart has written extensively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for years. He has publicly expressed support for boycotting products manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. His questioning this weekend, he reported, didn’t focus on that issue, but included a broad list of questions about his political affiliations and his ties to groups in Israel that oppose the settlements and the policies of the current right-wing government in Jerusalem.
The country’s right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a half-hearted apology to Beinart but the damage was already done. Clearly, Shin Bet the Israeli security service felt sufficiently empowered to harass people who have different views than they do.
In a statement released to the press, Netanyahu said that he “heard of Mr. Beinart’s questioning at Ben Gurion airport and immediately spoke with Israel’s security forces to inquire how this happened. He was told it was an administrative mistake. Israel is an open society which welcomes all – critics and supporters alike.
Keep in mind that this very same Netanyahu has branded African Jews and other immigrants to the state of Israel “interlopers”.
Netanyahu and others in his right-wing government insist if they allow Africans to stay they will change the character of the Jewish state.
Never mind that by 2019 Israel is expected to receive $3.3 billion in American aid much of that, money comes from the taxes of African Americans people.
According to Haaretz, Beinart’s interrogation is the latest in a series of incidents at Israel’s border entry and exit points that involved political questioning of Jewish Americans..
Jewish American philanthropist who donated millions to Israeli hospitals and schools was interrogated because security at Ben Gurion found a booklet about Palestine in his suitcase. Last week, two left-wing Jewish American activists were detained for three hours at the border crossing between Israel and Egypt. One of the activists, Simone Zimmerman- who is one of the founding members of the Jewish anti-occupation IfNotNow- claimed she was interrogated about her political opinions.
How long will the world ignore Israel’s crime and special treatment made possible by America’s support and armament, while other Nations are incessantly maligned and forced to bear brutal sanctions?
Why International laws are not applicable to Israel is a question the world will have to confront sooner or later.