An important personal friend and fellow activist, Rita Corriel, wrote the best analysis of Israel which I have ever come across. In her 2003 article, she claims that in obtaining and securing the Promised Land, those in Israel who support how their government treats the Palestinians have lost their faith (click here for the article). Why is that the case? It is because in obtaining and securing the Promised Land, they made it into a physical idol and thus have had to regard and treat the Palestinians as less than human because they are see as obstacles to the worship of that idol. We should note that that phraseology of Palestinians being less than human was never quoted or cited either in her article or any article I've read which support today's Zionism. But here, actions speak louder than words.
So because the Promised Land has become an object of idol worship, that which was essential to the spirit of Judaism is being sacrificed. And in how Israel treats the Palestinians, Corriel contends that Israel has learned more from its oppressors than from the 'experience of being oppressed.' And that is true because the way the Promised Land has been worshiped and secured indicates that 'Never Again' does not apply to everyone, especially to those who get in one's way. So she contrasts Israel's treatment of the Palestinians with how the 'Righteous Gentiles,' those Gentiles who chose to shield European Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. She contrasts the Zionist idea of being chosen with the Righteous Gentiles who put their humanity and their following of Universal Law above any other allegiance including their national identity.
One of her strongest points is that in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, Israel has decided to turn a deaf ear to the world rather than the world turning against Israel. And thus a significant amount of the criticism that Israel receives from the world is not because Israel's Judaism, but because of its lack of Judaism as demonstrated in how it treats the Palestinians.
Now either we could focus solely on Israels' sins here, or we could look into a mirror of truth to see if we have either imitated Israel's sins or we have already set a precedent for Israel's approach to the Promised Land. For there is one thing we should note about Israel's sins against the Palestinians, and yes I know that the Palestinians are not innocent either, that is that Israel's sins are NOT sins peculiar to the Jewish people as defined either religiously or ethnically. Instead, they sins that been practiced by people of other ethnic groups and religious faiths.
To illustrate how Israel's sins against the Palestinians are sins that any group of people could commit or imitate to varying degrees, we Christian Americans can look at our history to see how we share the moral weaknesses demonstrated in how Israel approaches its Promised Land. For from our beginning, many of our national and religious forefathers viewed themselves as a then modern version of Old Testament Israel. Thus they viewed the land as the Promised Land and the indigenous people who lived here as the Canaanites. Our national and religious forefathers thus felt entitled to a land that belonged to others and they did so based on a belief in their own moral and religious superiority. And neither the Native Americans nor the Africans slaves whom they had kidnapped and shipped here were never seen as fully human, as fully equal.
Whereas escaping brutal anti-Semitism and the belief in Zionism became driving forces for some European Jews to pursue the Promised Land, escaping religious persecution caused Christians to come here and their belief in white supremacy eventually created and carried out the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. And here we should note that our fellow Americans who are Black are still trying to obtain a full equality with White Americans.
But there is another parallel here with the analysis Corriel gave of Israel. Many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians claim that America was founded as a Christian nation and are fighting what they perceive as America losing that identity. If we suppose that is true, then we have to wonder whether America has become our physical idol since history shows how we have devalued Native Americans and Blacks in building America and have devalued the LGBT community in our most recent attempt to maintain America as a Christian nation. Thus we have to wonder whether we have sacrificed our faith on the alter of our nationalism.
Certainly Corriel's view of Judaism is different from how many of us religiously conservative Christians have been taught to see Judaism. And part of her view of spirituality goes against the grain of what we have been taught in Church. But her analysis of Israel's Zionism is the best I've seen and should be read by all. And the similarities we American Christians have in how we have treated others with how Israel has treated the Palestinians raise a host of red flags about the consistency in which we have lived out our faith here.
No comments:
Post a Comment