Israel, where is your justice?
I sometimes read the Bible and it may occur that it directly questions me about what is going on in the world. Today it indeed questions me about the Gaza crisis and its humanitarian sequels. And since I as a Christians share with the Jews the same Old Testament, which includes the Torah and the prophets – the most sacred texts of Judaism, it should also question those who have destroyed and killed in Gaza, those who have not taken it to heart to repair their damages and even more those who are now preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. (On Saturday, January 31st 2009, according to the French radio channel Europe1, « France repatriated a water purification station destined for Gaza, after it was blocked for 6 days in Israël. The French Foreign Ministry expressed incomprehension at this embargo on humanitarian aid and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Ministry. ») To have to wage war is tragic, but not to know how to make peace is fiendish.
In the Torah, third book of Moses or Leviticus, we can read: « Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, neither rob him. » (Deut. 19/13) et trois versets plus loin « You shall not endanger the life of your neighbour. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord. »
The fifth book of Moses, or Deuteronomy, stresses that « You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates » (Deut., 24 / 14)
Of course, laws are regularly broken! That’s why prophet Esaiah rants and raves and has to announce the fate of those who ignore these laws. « Woe to you who destroy, but you weren't destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed. » (Esaïe 33/1) and he goes on: « Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. The highways are desolate. The travelling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn't respect man. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare. "Now I will arise," says the Lord; "Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You will conceive chaff. You will bring forth stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.! » (Esaïe 33 /7-13) The prophet associates to the « everlasting burnings » of hell.
I’ll stop quoting Isaiah there, otherwise this could become long, and I won’t go into quotes by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or others. Have they come in vain?
When shall Israel understand these words, in an alternative translation: « Your anger is a fire that will devour you. » ?
While Israel honours the « justs among the nations » in its Yad Vashem memorial, remembering those who sometimes at the price of their life, helped and preserved the lives of so many chirdren of Israel during the Shoah, why does Israel put the red colour of same on the faces of those “Justs among the nations” and their descendants?
What is Israel waiting for to send assistance to the innocents victims of the bombings, and to rebuild schools and hospitals which were rightly or wrongly hit during the offensive on Gaza? Or at the very least to let the flow of assistance go through?
Israel, where is your justice?
I sometimes read the Bible and it may occur that it directly questions me about what is going on in the world. Today it indeed questions me about the Gaza crisis and its humanitarian sequels. And since I as a Christians share with the Jews the same Old Testament, which includes the Torah and the prophets – the most sacred texts of Judaism, it should also question those who have destroyed and killed in Gaza, those who have not taken it to heart to repair their damages and even more those who are now preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. (On Saturday, January 31st 2009, according to the French radio channel Europe1, « France repatriated a water purification station destined for Gaza, after it was blocked for 6 days in Israël. The French Foreign Ministry expressed incomprehension at this embargo on humanitarian aid and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Ministry. ») To have to wage war is tragic, but not to know how to make peace is fiendish.
In the Torah, third book of Moses or Leviticus, we can read: « Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, neither rob him. » (Deut. 19/13) et trois versets plus loin « You shall not endanger the life of your neighbour. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord. »
The fifth book of Moses, or Deuteronomy, stresses that « You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates » (Deut., 24 / 14)
Of course, laws are regularly broken! That’s why prophet Esaiah rants and raves and has to announce the fate of those who ignore these laws. « Woe to you who destroy, but you weren't destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed. » (Esaïe 33/1) and he goes on: « Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. The highways are desolate. The travelling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn't respect man. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare. "Now I will arise," says the Lord; "Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You will conceive chaff. You will bring forth stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.! » (Esaïe 33 /7-13) The prophet associates to the « everlasting burnings » of hell.
I’ll stop quoting Isaiah there, otherwise this could become long, and I won’t go into quotes by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or others. Have they come in vain?
When shall Israel understand these words, in an alternative translation: « Your anger is a fire that will devour you. » ?
While Israel honours the « justs among the nations » in its Yad Vashem memorial, remembering those who sometimes at the price of their life, helped and preserved the lives of so many chirdren of Israel during the Shoah, why does Israel put the red colour of same on the faces of those “Justs among the nations” and their descendants?
What is Israel waiting for to send assistance to the innocents victims of the bombings, and to rebuild schools and hospitals which were rightly or wrongly hit during the offensive on Gaza? Or at the very least to let the flow of assistance go through?
Israel, where is your justice?
posted by Antoine Jaulmes at 9:20 AM
1 Comments:
Antoine, Thank you for showing me your blog. While I am not religious, I share precisely your inability to comprehend Israel's actions. I have always thought that Israel is strangely insensitive and hypersensitive to its own history at the same time. It can deny formal recognition of the Armenian Aghed, wage sophisticated genocidal policies and war against the Palestinians, and yet do so in the name of their own Shoah. How can this be?
It is, as my friend Marc Nichanian writes, 'the logic of the executioner', and perhaps ultimately the very worst tragedy of mass violence--it perpetuates itself.
I grieve these days for Palestine and Palestinians around the world, for the future of the "Middle East", and for all our futures. I grieve with little hope of stopping.
And I hope fervently that the voices of reason in Israel--which are, fortunately, strong--may one day soon come into power. Or at least sway policy.
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