Something Rotten in Palestine

A few years ago, I would have described myself as largely sympathetic to Israel.

After all, radical Islam is the great threat to the West, is it not? Israel is a prosperous democracy besieged by ‘Islamo-fascists’. Of course we must ‘stand with Israel’.

But after the rise of ‘wokeness’, the great oppression that was covid, I have come to see the War on Terror as a concept just as fake as the War on Covid or the War on Climate Change. (I have even begun to doubt the mythos of World War II.)

All of these ‘wars’ attacked freedom; none of them did any good for everyday people; and all of them force us to question how much is true of what the corporate media of ‘the free world’ tell us.

This has obvious implications with regards to how we should perceive Israel…

With regards to the Middle East, and the US/Israeli perspective thereof, my scepticism was first piqued by a mere cursory examination of the story of 9/11, the lodestar of the entire ‘war on terror’ narrative.

It turns out the 9/11 story is just as rotten as the ur-covid mythos of Wuhan, Northern Italy, and New York City.

And then I began to wonder why Bibi Netanyahu, the current Israeli Prime Minister, said this after 9/11: “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.”

Strange.

I don’t know what this all means. I just know you are not taken seriously, at least in ‘respectable’ circles, if you begin to talk like this.

We should at least all be able to acknowledge the deceit that came after 9/11…

The fake ‘anthrax’ story that proved to be an inside job… The fake Iraqi weapons of mass destruction… the mysterious US/Israeli support for the Sunni radicals who wanted to topple Gaddafi in Libya (where they succeeded) and Assad in Syria (where they did not).

In short, was the whole War on Terror really about ‘terror’, or even radical Islam? Was it truly concerned with the wellbeing and freedom of everyday people? Not in the West, and certainly not in the Middle East, where millions died… for what?

Over and above this, the most ancient Christian communities in Syria and Iraq have been decimated, with the support of the West, even as borders have been opened in the West for Middle Eastern and North African refugees.

Again, note the similarity with covid. The interventions were exponentially worse than the problem. And who was responsible for the ‘problem’?

Therefore, it seems like the protagonists with whom I am meant to sympathize, really do not deserve my sympathy at all.

And this has led me to re-assess the premises of Zionism.

Allow me, however, to state the obvious. Hamas evokes no sympathy from me either. Their association with South Africa’s ANC and the ‘Antifa’ proles is enough to put paid to that.

But I do wonder at how callously so many people in the West, no matter their political persuasions, disregard the suffering of the people on the ground in the midst of so much horror:

A former US congressman, Justin Amash, has shared news of losing relatives in an Israeli strike on a Gazan church, putting faces on some of the 20 000 odd casualties (1 in a 100 of the total Gazan population):

I share the above for two reasons.

First, I do not think many people realise there are churches and Christians in Palestine. (More on this below.)

Second, this is but one example of major figures in Europe and the US with reach sharing personal stories of the suffering resulting from the Israeli airstrikes. Hamas is naturally to be condemned. But I also stop and wonder whether taking out so many civilians in reprisals (many, many times more than died at the hands of Hamas) is morally just or even strategically prudent.

How can this result in anything but an increase of radicalization amongst Palestinians against Israel and, over time, a reduction of western support for Israel to zero?

I have no idea what Israel believes it is accomplishing, unless, bizarrely, the South African case currently before the International Court of Justice has some merit, namely that mass ethnic cleansing is underway.

If the Israeli retaliation is confusing, so also are the details of the original Hamas assault on October 7th.

Where did the now-retracted stories of 40 babies burnt alive/beheaded come from?

How many civilians died overall?

How many Israelis were actually killed under ‘friendly fire’ from the Israeli Defense Force?

From The Grayzone:

Tuval Escapa, a member of the security team for Kibbutz Be’eri, told the Israeli press, that he set up a hotline to coordinate between kibbutz residents and the Israeli army. Escapa told the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, that his desperation began to set in. “The commanders in the field made difficult decisions, including shelling houses on their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages.” The newspaper reported that Israeli commanders were, “Compelled to request an aerial strike against its own facility inside the Erez Crossing to Gaza in order to repulse the terrorists who had seized control.”

Is this the reason why whole buildings appeared shelled in these kibbutzim and so many cars had almost melted?

What to make of this eye-witness testimony aired on Israeli radio?

Of course, it is certain that Hamas killed hundreds of people. But it seems quite likely many were killed by the IDF too.

I am not trying to make some kind of case here. I am simply pointing out that everything that happens in this region is mysterious, and it is simply not the case that Israel is a mere victim of fanatical, irrational Islamic terror, emerging out of the desert.

And if the current situation appears as a series of confusing, flickering images, a quick glance into the past shows just how much history regarding the region is consistently memory-holed.

Some of the forgotten moments of the recent past include:

1. The original impulse behind Zionism was atheistic and socialist. Thus, the Soviets supported Israel in the 1948 war, as did communist Czechoslovakia. (This would change after the Arab states moved into the Soviet camp. Today, Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid.) Many Jewish rabbis were in fact opponents of Zionism for this reason. Many traditional Jewish groups maintain this position to this day, saying it is the Messiah who should restore Israel and not atheist socialists (as the first leaders of Israel were).

2. The Rothschild banking dynasty played a key role in the establishment of Israel. The British Balfour Declaration of a Jewish home in Palestine was addressed to Lord Rothschild. The Israeli Declaration of Independence was signed on Rothschild Boulevard in the financial district of Tel Aviv.

3. By 1948, Jewish land ownership in Palestine as a whole was only around 6%, while their share of the population was half that of Palestinian Arabs. Yet the UN Partition Agreement awarded them the majority of the territory. The Palestinians would turn down the deal and war would ensue. Millions of Palestinians would be forced out their homes.

4. The USS Liberty incident, during 1967’s Seven Day War, in which Israel sunk a US Navy observation boat, killing 34 sailors. Israel claimed it was a mistake. All of the survivors assert this is ludicrous, and point to the likely motive that Israel wanted no eyes and ears on their assault upon the Golan Heights. Imagine if Iran had made this ‘mistake’?

5. George Bush Sr in the early 90s would call for an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and he would laud a speech of James Baker’s, his Secretary of State, in its assertion that it was “time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel … Forswear annexation, stop settlement activity, allow schools to reopen, reach out to the Palestinians as neighbours who deserve political rights.”

6. Israel sold arms to the latest target of the West, Iran, in the 1980s. Indeed, the US basically allowed the Iranian mullahs to topple their ally, the Shah, as recalled by Nixon:

7. One of the worst spy cases for US Intelligence in recent times, involved a Jewish American, Jonathan Pollard, who sold state secrets to Israel and was later given refuge in Jerusalem.

8. Initial post-9/11 from the pro-Israeli Fox network reported Israeli espionage in the US before 9/11, that reportedly had connections with Al Qaeda and thus would have had foreknowledge of the attacks.

9. Israel, along with the US, supported Al Qaeda, ISIS, and their affiliates in Syria, as they sought to topple Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad.

10. For years, Israel propped up Hamas, so as to discredit and fracture the Palestinian cause, allowing suitcases of Qatari cash to flow through Israeli-controlled checkpoints to bolster the militant group. From the Times of Israel, “According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2019, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Does this accord with the mainstream view of Israeli statehood?

And then there is the ‘Christian Zionism’ that has become so prevalent in the USA.

Is it true that Israel has been granted the Holy Land for all time? That they remain God’s chosen people and thus the ‘elder brothers’ of Christians to be revered and supported?

Was not the land promised to Abraham and his children in perpetuity?

Yet, the rest of the Torah is quite clear that the land is granted on condition of devotion to Yahweh and his law.

Christian Zionism is rendered ridiculous however by the words of Jesus himself, who explicitly stated that being of the flesh of Abraham meant little in the New Covenant, because ‘out of these stones, God can raise children of Abraham.’

Before his crucifixion, Jeses prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem because of the rejection of the promised Messiah, which would happen in AD 70 at the hands of the Romans.

As the Book of Deuteronomy had stated, “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young…”

This is obviously highly politically incorrect, but this is what Christians always believed, until the rise of ‘Rapture’ and ‘Dispensationalist’ theology amongst certain new-fangled Protestants in the UK and the US. In this thinking, the Jews remain in covenant with God, even those who reject Jesus, ina kind of ‘side-deal’.

But this is bizarre.

Why did the apostles preach to the Jews then?

How to account then for the actions of Peter at Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2?

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Why did Paul describe the church as the new Israel in his Letter to the Galatians: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.”

How can it be possible that Israel need not believe in Jesus, how can Christians support a secular Israeli state when Jews who convert to Christianity in foreign countries lose their right of return to the Jewish homeland?

Pope Pius X told the father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, “We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem but we could never sanction it. The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people. If you come to Palestine and settle your people there, we will have churches and priests ready to baptize all of you.”

This was always the Christian position.

Maybe you disagree with the merits of it, but to my mind the coherence of it within orthodox, historical Christianity is surely unquestionable, outside of adherence to novel, frankly bizarre, dispensationalist, televangelist theology.

To conclude, I wish nothing but good toward the Jewish people.

Historically, I believe it would have been better for Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine to avoid forming something akin to a modern, post-Westphalian state, replete with mass immigration from Eastern Europe and Russia, whose genetic connection with the ancient Jewish inhabitants if fairly tenuous. Instead, community rights should have been respected in some kind of federation.

(Frankly, Britain and France should not have opposed the Russian conflict with the Turks at Crimea in the 19th century, and the whole region would have turned out differently.)

The modern state of Israel is simply unsustainable given the realities on the ground and these realities should have been acknowledged from the outset, for the good of everybody.

Now, we see the conflict in Gaza extending to the Red Sea, where the US is finding itself bombing targets in Iraq and Yemen, after the Houthis began attacking ships using the Suez shipping route.

Calls are now growing for some kind of confrontation with Iran.

How is this to the good of anybody?

How will this affect migrant crises in the West?

What kind of distraction will this create from increasing repression of citizens in the West by their own overlords?