This is Gaza's Passover. As Jews approach the great festival days of liberation, I promise you we are all thinking about Israel and Palestine in the wake of the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian children. Some of these thoughts are crazy and chiliastic (in a word, neocon). Some of these thoughts are crazy and religious (this Haaretz piece adapting the Passover ritual of spilling drops of wine/blood over "the necessary loss of Gazan life 3 months ago.").
And some of these thoughts are inspiring and humanistic–and say there's light at the end of this tunnel of belligerence. Adam Horowitz, writing today in my old paper, the Philadelphia Daily News:
THROUGH the ritual of the Seder, Passover tells the story of the
Pharaoh's oppression of the Jews in ancient Egypt and their eventual
emancipation from slavery. It's a time of reflection, and after the
recent war in Gaza, many Jews are asking: Who are the slaves and who is
the Pharaoh?The war saw more than 1,417 Palestinians killed, more than 900 of them
civilians, as opposed to 13 Israelis. The war was not only a
devastating event for Palestinians but also the moral challenge of our
time to the American Jewish community whose communal leadership
supported the onslaught publicly and loudly. This year, Passover gives
us a chance to reflect on this war, our history and our responsibility.This year, by coincidence, the start of Passover also falls near an
important anniversary, Deir Yassin Day. Deir Yassin was a Palestinian
village destroyed by Zionist militias on April 9, 1948.More than 100 men, women and children were killed. As word of the
massacre, and others like it, spread through Palestine, many residents
fled, expecting they'd be able to return after the fighting subsided.
Within a year, Deir Yassin, emptied of Palestinians, was repopulated
with Jewish immigrants and its name was erased from the map.The Passover Seder is about learning and teaching – using the stories
of the past to understand our place in the world today. The story of
Egypt is told and remembered through ritual, questioning and
storytelling.This year, a group of Jewish activists in Philadelphia are using the
Seder ritual to wrestle with the Jewish history of being both slave and
Pharaoh.Today and tomorrow, Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace are holding
"From Deir Yassin to Gaza: an 18-hour Passover Vigil" outside the
Israeli Consulate (at 19th and JFK Blvd). This event will combine a memorial to Deir Yassin, a
Passover ritual remembering the past as well as a teach-in and
discussion.We are holding this event to understand the past and take responsibility for its legacies in the present.
G-D, this guy Cliff Thier (from the American Stinker), 'e doesn't 'alf bleat on, Israul this, and Israul that… Iran: bombs away. The bit about "Obama's bowed head" is the funniest. Personally I blame the McCain campaign for spreading rumours about Obama's Muslim faith. Because credulous cretins like Thier lapped it up…
Adam's piece was thoughtful and interesting.
I recently read the autobiography of Virginia Gildersleeve, Dean of Barnard College. As a member of the United Nations Charter Committee, she had close connections with the UN, and was well aware of what had happened at Deir Yassin at the time, in 1948. She writes very critically about Israeli conduct at the time.
Jews and friends celebrating Passover should include readings from the Book of Joshua, with some of the bloodier instructions from Yahweh in the Books of Moses, as well as the traditional liberationist texts.
Canaan/Palestine wasn't empty at the time of the mythical Exodus either — and the genocidal tales of conquest and massacre in "the promised land" should temper the happy story of freedom for the ancient Israelites — especially in the light of modern Zionist history and the recent horrors in Gaza.
Netanyahu and threat of bombing Iran – the bluff that never stops giving?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trita-parsi/netanyahu-and-threat-of-b_b_183822.html
God caved in the walls of Jericho.
All the inhabitants were slaughtered–that was their religious job.
Americans too must bow to their fate.
Me too!
Me 2!
Any reasonable man would deduce the Palestinians are the modern Pharohs, and the slaves, the poor Jewish people who beg for help, but get it not.
The significance of mutual hostility is that they both are harmed.
Ideologues overshadowing common decency to their neighbors.
Phil should see. It will be staggering to him as it was staggering to him to see what he saw in Hebron.
But, he should go farther. He should sympathetically address the experience of all concerned.
If his conclusions end as focusing on Gazans as a result of real non-biased, thoroughly explored, investigation, wonderful.
If he goes only on a dissenters' tour, then he will end up speaking to himself, rather than opening to surprise.
I personally believe that to be a cruel Jew, is not much of one, and to be a cruel Israel is also not much of one.
But, I also believe that to be a harrassed Jew or harrassed Israeli is also not much of one.
That is why peace and moderation are the most important values to encourage, RATHER than resentment. Even where it is important to dissent, the most useful is to inform, and in a manner that actually does inform (which requires respecting the listener).
Richard, take the goddammed mush out of your mouth! Okay?
Shorter Witty:
"Do what the Israelis want and we won't kill all you Palestinians."
Mooser,
You don't hear very accurately.
Phil,
A more accurate description of the day would be "Our Passover", or "my Passover".
Its ok to be subjective, and subjectively try to help others if you are so moved.
"The war saw more than 1,417 Palestinians killed, more than 900 of them civilians, as opposed to 13 Israelis."
Your figures are the usual Palestinian spin. I'm surprised you didn't claim all the Palestinian deaths were civilians.
The actual figures were:
"1,166 Palestinians were killed in the operation. It found that 709 were Hamas militants, while 295 were civilians, including 89 minors and 49 women. It was unclear whether another 162 men who died were militants or civilians."
link to huffingtonpost.com
The story how God saves the Jews from Pharaho is a beautiful one in the Quran. Very emotional at times, inspiring and critical of the Israelis as well.
I studied surah (chapter) "The Cow" with an Islamic scholar some years back. It was one of the best religious moments I have had in my life. Usually I find studying with Muslim teachers stiffling.
I just read the president will be hosting a Seder dinner Thursday evening. I hope he uses the dinner to celebrate one of America's ethnic celebrations and intimate a change in Israeli policy. Still, Obama is not going to resolve the Israeli Palestinian oppression without great pressure from the electorate.
"this Haaretz piece adapting the Passover ritual of spilling drops of wine/blood over "the necessary loss of Gazan life 3 months ago.")."
My eyes must be playing tricks on me. The Jews in Israel are actually validating and celebrating the blood libel!!!?
Say what? It must be some kind of a stupid dream, this can't be real.
Yeah Richard, I don't hear too good. I can sure hear this unctous, oily blend of meaningless blather you have sunk to lately. The kind of mealy-mouthed platitudes you offer now are not compatible with the sucess of a colonial and expansionist Jewish supremacist state. So it's just blather, and it's nothing I haven't heard all my life.
And your entire bit of mush hangs on the equivalency canard, the fallacy that Israel and the Palestinians are equal nations caught in a conflict. You always try to fall back on that, getting their by some side door, in this case, empathy for the emotional suffering on both sides.
Richard is imitating the christian padres.
Mooser
You are right that there is an obvious disconnect between the disjointedness of Witty's writing and what apparently is going on in his brain. He obviously has points to make. But expect on rare occasions he never states them clearly or unambiguously. My guess is he's deeply conflicted and simply can't bring himself to directly say what he really thinks. I think he knows that on some level what he really thinks is clearly indefensible.
Witty is like my Jewish friend. My friend makes a whole lot of sense when he speaks on everything but Israel.
His brain shuts down when it comes to Israel.
So we decided to talk about everything but Israel. That way he won't hit the roof, and can avoid a heart attack.
!The actual figures were:"
In what sense do you regard these as being "the actual figures", juli baby?
Of course I'm deeply conflicted. That is the appropriate state in the current world.
Conflicted is constructed of dilemma between support with just and real basis, and criticism with just and real basis.
You should be too.
To not be conflicted (but rather "certain", and often cruelly so, is to be more confused).
Elliot Abrams on why further construction of West Bank settlements advance the cause of peace:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040703379_Comments.html
"The actual figures were:"
In what sense do you regard these as being "the actual figures", juli baby?"
In the same sense that Palestinian organizations always lie. After their performance at Jenin where "thousands" were killed, why are they believable now?
"Socrates always lies. This man is not Socrates. Therefore this man is telling the truth".
There you go Julie baby, it's not just Suzanne I coach in logic, you can have that lesson in fallacious reasoning for free.
"Palestinian organizations always lie." What baffles me is that somebody accused Julie of being a racist, he would react with outrage (although actually since a belligerent self-righteous outrage is his default position, it might be difficult to detect.)
We only killed 1,100 people, and out of those only a few were civilians. The rest were evil, blood-sucking Hamas terrorists. Honest
- The IDF
And as for Jenin, which you love to cite, tell me again, why did the IDF refuse to let investigators in? And why exactly did they remove some of the bodies before they had been counted?
Off-topic:
an update on the AIPAC spy trial:
The Samson Gambit, Why Steve Rosen is suing AIPAC
I have a friend, an 82-year-old Chinese man from Fujien Province. He's an extremely interesting old fellow, and we have lunch sometimes and discuss, in a mixture of English and Chinese, things that interest us: history (especially Chinese), politics, society, loyalty, religion. We were eating in a Japanese restaurant one day, and we got on the subject of the Bible. I was telling him how some members of my family view the Bible as "the word of God", written by men through divine intervention. Yep, every word of it. This old Chinese gentleman, lao Tsai (old Tsai), looks up at me and says, "I remember that there is a story in the Bible in which God kills the first-born son of every Egyptian family." I agreed with him, further explaining that according to the Bible the killing of the first-born sons was the tenth plague visited on the Egyptians by God. This old Chinese gentleman looks up at me and asks "What kind of God would kill the first-born son of every family?" Perhaps some of you are aware of the import of the first son in traditional Chinese culture. Anyway, I thought about this question for a minute or two and was surprised that I had never asked the same question. Why didn't he just wipe out the power structure in Egypt: the Pharoah and his entire staff? Why kill the innocent? I could only think of one answer for Mr. Tsai, and as he was looking at me expectantly, I gave it to him: "Not my God!"
I'm sure that my mother and father would answer lao Tsai's question with the same answer they would give to why an omnipotent God (He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good, so you'd better be good, or else!!) would allow young children to suffer and die from cancer, disease, etc.
"His ways are not our ways".
My response to that line:
You're fucking right they're not!!!
PM
The same God killed 100 in Italy yesterday.
It was very confusing to Jews why God would allow millions of Jews, and tens of millions of others to be killed during the holocaust.
MANY lost their faith on that basis. How could such a God be described as "compassionate".
They/we experience similar dilemmas when terrorists invoke the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful prior to self-detonation.
How can such a God do such things. How can humans do such things in God's name?
Floods, disease, tornados, hurricanes, drought, volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, cancers, wars.
We are asked to be as compassionate in real life as is possible. That is God in the world. "His ways ARE my ways".
For everyone that calls themselves progressive, from motivation of kindness or coherence in whatever form, whether you use the term "God" or not, "those ways are MY ways".
So, is Richard The Grand Inquisitor, Doestoievski style? The subject boiled down to a child's innocent tears. Ivan K says, "If there's no God, then I can do anything?
There's also a stock answer often afforded by pious Christians: "God works in wondrous ways."
I guess the buried idea is if you were God high above you'd see the ends justifies the means?
Somehow that covers cockroaches?
@ Colin Murray
Thanks, Colin–good article–I see the AIPAC trial has been continued another month. Truly
amazing this treasonous guy scuttled Chas Freeman. The Kennedy brothers tried to weaken AIPAC and ultimately failed, and Obama and Holder are not the Kennedy Brothers. Jeez, they rubber-stamped Marc Reich's activities.
Many Jewish organs ask the question, Why was this case brought in the first place? The question assumes foreign policy lobbyists have more right to inside information than the general public.
I think the analogy is to securities dealing.
BushCo, under Chaney, took lack of transparency to new levels, bundling their hedges.
We the people need Obama to stand up for the First Amendment, not what amounts to fat cigars in smoky back rooms where our lives and treasure are gambled away. The MSM does not even cover the AIPAC trial. Who would know about it without the internet? Mostly only those
who read Jewish house organs.
Alert!
A good German man, Hermann Dierke, is being castigated and excoriated in Germany for supporting the Palestinian cause.
You can show your support for Dierke, a life-long campaigner against racism, by signing a petition supporting Dierke.
Thank you.
"…destruction of hundreds of Palestinian children." so, 'blood libel' not a libel after all.
such a religion. such a "people".
give 'em respect, why?
'"Religious Jewish terrorists on Wednesday attacked a small Arab village north of al Khalil (Hebron), shooting randomly on civilians and vandalizing homes and businesses.
The Beit Ayn settlement outpost near Hebron
Eyewitnesses said as many as a hundred settler(squats) terrorists descended on the small village of Safa, 10 kilometers north west of al-Khalil, with the purpose of carrying out a pogrom against local inhabitants.
The terrorists were escorted by several Israeli army soldiers(terrorists) who reportedly made no effort to stop the terrorists who were shouting “death to the Arabs.”'
for the west's 27 actual christians, may you have a blessed Easter Sunday.
"What kind of God would kill the first-born son of every family?"
One who speaks Hebrew.
Something else the Zionists did in the Nakba was to poison wells, at least according to Ilan Pappe in The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. When the Zionists were besieging Acre in May 1948, there was an outbreak of typhoid among the Palestinian population, as well as among British soldiers. British medical authorities identified the source of the epidemic as water from an aqueduct. A couple of weeks later, the Egyptians caught two Jews trying to inject typhoid and dysentery viruses into Gaza's wells, and later executed them without any official Israeli protests. (Pp. 100-101).
Re: death of the firstborn
When reading the Hebrew Bible (esp. the Torah) it is very important to remember that the actors and authors did not have the same understanding of morality and justice as modern Westerners do.
We think justice consists in rewarding or punishing individuals for their own conduct, and modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have a concept of individual judgment and eternal punishment and reward.
This is not the case in Exodus. In the world of the Torah, God's justice is collective. The greatest gift God offers to Abraham is not individual eternal life, but to have descendents who cannot be numbered.
Likewise the worst divine punishment is not individual torment in hell, but to have one's bloodline extinguished, or one's children subjugated and enslaved. The Hebrews took it for granted that punishment for the sins of the individual could fall on their children, or on the whole people. This was why they were so obsessive with purging idolators or other sinners from their midst, lest they all face divine wrath.
I think Paul's Chinese friend understood the horror of the death of the firstborn much as the ancient Hebrews would have understood it. For the Hebrews, though, it was not necessary that the firstborn be guilty of any sin, any more than it was necessary that Job's children be guilty. God was punishing the whole Egyptian nation by striking their very future as a living people.
We moderns abhor the idea of collective reward and punishment, but in the Torah it is simply taken for granted as the way the world works. I think the Hebrews were better able than we to reconcile the idea of divine justice with the obvious fact that the world is not fair.
@ Gert
Thanks!
from gert link: "..Everyone can help strengthen pressure for a different politics, for example by boycotting Israeli products."
current america and germany(west in general) are israeli products and should be boycotted and sanctioned, sliced and diced.
@aristeides – So true. Naeim Giladi also wrote of it in "THE JEWS OF IRAQ."
Bacteriological Warfare
The Haganah put typhus bacteria into the water going to Acre, the people got sick, and the Jewish forces occupied Acre. This worked so well that they sent a Haganah division dressed as Arabs into Gaza, where there were Egyptian forces, and the Egyptians caught them putting two cans of bacteria, typhus and dysentery, into the water supply in wanton disregard of the civilian population.
from: link to palestineremembered.com
The death of the firstborn by plague, contrasted with the whole Passover context of a 30 year Egyptian law that all Hebrew first born sons would be executed.
You confuse the political dictum of the Egyptians with the will of God (or nature if you prefer).
Or maybe you didn't know of the story.
Witty: "You should be (conflicted) too."
I've got plenty of conflicts but none of them involve my basic identity. I'm an American. I suffer no crisis in my soul between that and any old ethnic roots. The question of dual loyalty just doesn't come up.
RE: "But, I also believe that to be a harrassed Jew or harrassed Israeli is also not much of one."–Witty
Amen!
"If there is a God, he is a malign thug." ~ Mark Twain / 1835-1910
If the old testament biblical God was my father, I would rebel. I rebelled against my human father. Now, decades later, while I understand his POV, and indeed, incorporate it in many way, I still see how
much he was handicapped by his own limits of nature and nurture, not to mention his lack of imagination, which conspired with my own lack of experience growing up, when he still had economic and authority power over me as a late teen-ager.
I now see there is no God except the one you makeup in your own mind. The only question is, is that God more or less a conduit for respecting the best humans, both in terms of all human survival and at least cost to other humans as individuals? You can call that POV anything, the creed is in the deed and lack of deed.