About
Israel
Rosh
Hashana 5775
Temple
Beth Jacob of Newburgh
Rabbi
Larry Freedman
Today, I need to
talk about Israel. It’s not a very
unusual topic for a crowd such as this and, spoiler alert, I support
Israel. But with Operation Protective
Edge over the summer and the more vitriolic than usual fallout, it’s worth
discussing Israel. We need to remember
why we stand by Israel and there are things to wrestle with and
acknowledge. Second spoiler alert: you
won’t like those.
Let’s begin at the
beginning. In 1894, Alfred Dreyfuss, a
French army officer was accused of treason.
Turns out he was framed.
Eventually, the true turncoat was found and after 5 years on Devil’s
Island Dreyfuss was released. Theodore Herzl was an Austrian reporter sent to
cover the trial and he witnessed the French shouting not “death to Dreyfuss”
but “death to the Jews.” He understood
that there would never be a safe haven for Jews in Europe. Whether poor and religious like Eastern
European Jews or rich and secular like Western European Jews, Europe would
never accept Jews and never be safe for them.
Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in 1897 creating the modern
Zionist movement to find a homeland for Jews, someplace where they could be
safe.
Little by little,
money was raised, land was purchased and the Jewish population in the Land of
Israel began to be built up. Jews had
always been there but now European Jews started to move in and develop
agriculture and towns and infrastructure.
The true story of
the founding of a Jewish state is a story of how only Jews were going to look
out for Jews; if Jews wanted a safe haven, they would have to create it
themselves. The romantic and heroic
story of Jews leaving permanent victim status and creating their own state is
very much true. It is important to
understand that the Jewish people since our dispersal by the Romans in 70 CE
were no longer players on the world stage.
We were guests in someone else’s country, guests in someone else’s
story. In the 19th century,
nationalism became a popular and prized political philosophy but Jews had no
nation and so we had no place in the world.
Zionism returned a nationalist narrative to the Jewish people and 1948
returned us to the world stage.
Of course, around
this time, the dream of an independent state wasn’t unique. Empires around the
globe were crumbling and former colonies were becoming actual countries. India was founded in 1947. Jordan, as we know it today, was founded in
May of 1946, two years before Israel. The difference for Jews is that we
encouraged more Jews to come and live in this new country. I don’t know if India and Pakistan had a
worldwide campaign to encourage Indians and Pakistanis to come home after their founding. If they did, nobody seems to mind.
We returned to the
world stage. We had a country that would
speak for Jews and we didn’t have to scrape and grovel to our host
countries. We had diplomats who would
argue for the State of Israel and by extension Jews. We had representation at sports events and
scientific conferences under the banner of the State of Israel offering pride
to Jews everywhere. It cannot be
overstated what life was like for Jews after the declaration of the State of
Israel. You became somebody. You walked prouder and quite frankly, you
didn’t take the crap you used to take.
The State of Israel looks out for Jews wherever they are and raises the
pride of Jews wherever they are.
But this true
heroic, romantic story is taking a hit these days by the reality that
followed. In Israel, the promise of
equality for all remains but the reality is not what we might want. Arabs and Jews for the most part live
separately and go to school separately.
Everyone meets and mixes in the courts and hospitals, shopping malls and
universities but in many other parts of society, there is separation. Yes, everyone will be treated fairly in the
hospitals. Yes, there is an Arab supreme
court justice. Yes, there was an Arab
Miss Israel. Yes, yes, yes. And even with all that, day-to-day, there’s
bigotry towards Israeli Arabs. They face
a lot of discrimination. It’s not even
close to apartheid but it’s not good either.
We need to understand that.
Since 1967, there
has also been another issue that we haven’t wanted to deal with. When Israel won the 6-Day war, a success
beyond belief, a miracle from on high, that victory brought the west bank of
the Jordan river under Israeli control.
It was occupied by the military and it continues to be occupied. Perhaps it is occupied because Israel never
had the vision to get out or it is occupied as a necessary military buffer zone
to keep terrorists at bay or it is occupied because Biblical lands, the very
towns mentioned in the Torah are under Jewish control and cannot be
relinquished. But in the end, it is
occupied territory.
For a number of
years, the occupation was benign as far as these things go but in the 1970s,
settlements started. Some of the
settlements are right on the Green Line boundary, populated by Jews who want
inexpensive housing. Other settlements
built farther in are populated by religious Zionists; real zealots and as a
group, not very nice to the Palestinians.
While I’m sure there are kind settlers, the settlers who cause friction
are bigots and harass the Palestinians where they can. Currently there is a Price Tag phenomenon
whereby settlers vandalize and destroy Arab property. The occupation itself is rough and brutal and
oppresses the Palestinian people. That’s
the honest truth. Of course, we know
why. Without it, the West Bank would return
to a cauldron of suicide bombers.
Without the oppression, terrorism would be unchained. But that doesn’t change the facts of
occupation or that the settlements are taking land, taking resources and
carving up the topography. Palestinians
fear that the real purpose of the settlements is to disrupt any ability for a
State to Palestine to even exist. And
gauging by the current government, they just may be right.
I’m reading Ari
Shavit’s book, “My Promised Land.” It is
a compelling narrative based on first person interviews and arduous archive
searches. He recounts a glorious story
of Jews buying and developing land into farms, kibbutzim, schools, medical
clinics; of Jews giving up everything to build a place where Jews would be
safe. And they did this with the help
and aid and friendship of the local Arabs.
Before the British left, Palestine was a place of orange groves and
Arab-Jewish cooperation. Except when it
wasn’t. There were lynchings of Jews,
bombings of Jews, murders of Jews. And
at times, murders of Arabs. It bred
suspicion. Could these friends of the
Jews be trusted if war broke out? Whom
would an Arab village support? The Jews
or the Jordanian army?
In 1948 when the
Yishuv, the pre-State government, declared independence with its arm
outstretched to neighboring Arab countries, it was, to no one’s surprise,
smacked away. War broke out and while
some Arabs fled their villages those Arab villages in strategic areas were
occupied and then emptied by Jews.
Israel itself was not cleansed of Arabs but this town here, that village
there certainly was. The Palestinian
story of being kicked out of their homes is not just rhetoric. It really happened and they really believe
they are entitled to return. We have to
come to grips with that. You may feel
better knowing that Jews were expelled from any territory the Arab armies
captured, most famously the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. They were also attacked and expelled from
Arab countries before and after 1948.
Babylonian Jews, a presence for 3000 years, were unceremoniously
expelled from Iraq. We are not speaking
of polite times. The ugly side of
nationalism was alive and well all around the middle east. War brings out the worst in everyone.
The Palestinians
call the Israel War of Independence the Naqba, disaster. From their point of view, it surely was. And
I feel pretty bad about that. I really do feel for them if their grandparents
and great-grandparents were forced out of their homes. What kind of person would I be if I ignored
suffering? I’m sorry if Palestinians feel like they are trapped in Gaza because
of that Naqba. A decent Jew should be
willing to discuss that history. But a
decent Jew also has to live in the modern day and today they are shooting
rockets at my people. In word and deed
they seek the destruction of the State of Israel and the death of as many Jews
as possible. So, honestly, I want to be
sympathetic but first things first. Stop
trying to kill my family. We have much
to discuss. We can look forward to reconciliation
but first stop… killing…my … family.
Palestinians want to talk about a lost home from 1948. I want to talk about rockets in 2014. I think my issue has more urgency.
That’s why we
defend Israel. That’s why we stand by
Israel. The outcome if we don’t is too
horrible to imagine. Jews who feel more for the plight of the Palestinians than
Israelis are either ill informed or fools.
However, Jews who ignore the claims of the Palestinians are either ill
informed or cruel. I’m not a fool but I
also don’t want to be cruel. The issue
isn’t that I don’t care. It’s that I
have to prioritize. Multiple things are
happening all at the same time and they can’t all be dealt with at the same
time. There are legitimate grievances of
Palestinians. Then there is the more
pressing matter of rockets being fired to kill Jews. My full defense of Israel’s self defense
doesn’t presume I’ve forgotten about the suffering of the Palestinian populace. My sympathy towards those who suffer war’s
effects doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten why Israel went after Hamas in the first
place: to wipe out the State of Israel,
slowly but surely.
And if that’s not
reason enough to support Israel, the worldwide reaction to the war in Gaza
offers more.
This past summer,
out of anger at Israel, there was a near lynching of a Jew in Calgary.[1] A
supermarket in England was attacked by a protest that yanked kosher foods off
the shelves. Following this, another
supermarket in England pulled it’s kosher products of their shelves though
they’ve since apologized.[2] European protests called for gassing the Jews
and shouts of Hitler was right. In
Paris, 200 Jews were besieged in a synagogue.
In Germany an orthodox Jewish 18 year old punched in the face and a
Molotov cocktail thrown. Why did so many
protests include the cry “death to the Jews” and not “death to Israel”?
We’re back to the
Dreyfus case. We’ve returned to where we
see people around the world feeling comfortable not just to criticize Israel
but also to hate Jews. That’s something new
– and old – and new. And this, too,
needs our voices raised in protest.
This, too, is why we must support Israel because what happened around
the world this summer is the very reason Israel came to be. To support Israel means refusing to go
backwards in time.
The history of the
State of Israel is complicated and filled with uncomfortable truths of what we,
in the name of self-preservation, did and what we continue to do to
others. And it’s a story of what others
did to us: expulsions, lynchings, bombings, hatred.
Let’s acknowledge
that but let’s not lose focus. We have
to support Israel during times of self-defense.
Decent people everywhere need to speak out in support of the only country
interested in the national liberation aspirations of the Jewish people. Israel remains a refuge for oppressed
Jews. Israel remains a source of Jewish
culture and learning and a protector of Jewish heritage. It is home to the largest population of Jews
with very hostile terrorist groups all about. We have to speak up and defend
Israel’s right to exist. The rest of it
is up for discussion but don’t let anyone confuse the issue. There is disagreeing with the policies of a
sovereign nation and then there is the desire to erase that sovereign
nation. One is fair, the other is pure
hatred.
In lightening
speed, Jews from around the world turned a former Ottoman Empire backwater into
an amazing economic, cultural, academic, tour de force. Israel is simply, on so many levels amazing. We should never let the headlines make us
forget that. That’s why it’s okay to
celebrate Israel even as you remember the legitimate grievances of the
Palestinian people. It’s not okay to let
the world get away demonizing the State of Israel while ignoring the right of
Israeli self-defense against thousands and thousands of rockets. It’s okay to be torn over Israeli policy and
proud that Israel remains strong. There
is no shame in being strong. There is no
shame in acknowledging mistakes. One can
make mistakes and be strong and on balance, be just. That is a complicated position but it is the
right position. Welcome to the middle
east. Welcome to Israel.
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