The Bible tells me so

I know Jesus loves me because, in the words of the children's hymn, "the Bible tells me so."

Similarly, we "know" that the land of Palestine, all of it, belongs to the Israelites because God promised it to them.  It belongs to the Jewish people alone, not the Arabs, because the "Bible tells us so."

That raises a vexing question that few American political leaders seem willing to confront, let alone answer:  Whether you're a believer or a non-believer (many Israelis are thoroughly secular), should any foreign policy be based on the Bible?

For most sane people, religious or otherwise, the answer is clearly no. 

So why does the United States, then, with its tradition of separation of church and state, back the Israeli demand that Palestinians acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a "Jewish" state as a condition for peace?  "Jewish" has both religious and ethnic connotations.  Religious and ethnic homogeneity, or "purity", as an intentional cornerstone for the creation of a modern state, flies in the face of all accepted notions of democracy.

In an open letter to President Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire pleads with the President to broaden his vision and to acknowledge the well-documented suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli government. 

It's time, writes Maguire, to "say to Israel ‘enough is enough'."

Closer to home, Hala Gores writes in today's Oregonian, in response to an earlier commentary in defense of Israeli "perceived sins," that history tells a different story:

"...the expulsion in 1948 of more than 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children... -- and the killing and maiming of thousands more -- because they were not Jewish, is not a 'perceived sin.' It is a historical fact documented by many, including Israeli historians. It is the core injustice of the region and one that occurred within the lifetimes of many people still living today. Moreover, Israel's continuation of this ruthless policy of ethnic exclusion is at the center of today's conflict."

Whether ones calls it "ethnic exclusion" or "ethnic cleansing,"  the Israeli persecution of Palestinians in pursuit of a "Jewish" state is an injustice that begs acknowledgment by Israel's greatest benefactor, the United States of America.  Without a change in the carte blanche American acceptance of any Israeli atrocity, there will never be peace in the Middle East. 

Comments

[Harry Kershner]

Thanks for republishing Hala Gores' fine piece. For those who are inclined, please note that comments are welcomed following the article. Hala deserves our support. Here's mine:

Hala Gores should be a role model for the right-wing Jewish hate-mongers who disparage her. As a Jewish American who has long supported the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians, I continue to be dumbfounded by the continuing lies about the very existence of the Palestinian people.

The work of Jewish intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, and Naomi Klein should be consulted by those who question the veracity of many of these comments. The fact is that most Jewish Americans are shamed by these people, and we wish that they would move to Israel, where their hatred will be appreciated.

However, it is the U.S., including the Democrat savior Obama, that we should be attacking, not Israel, which is totally dependent on us for military, political and economic support. We must end all so-called "aid" (most of which goes into the pockets of U.S. corporations) to Israel until the long-suffering Palestinian people receive their due.

Israel is little more than an offshore military base for U.S. hegemonic designs in the Middle East. If there were no oil there, the U.S. would have no interest in supporting Jews there, and U.S. Jews had best wake up to that reality.