Israel has broken my heart: I’m a rabbi in mourning for a Judaism being murdered by Israel

I've always been proud of Israel, but the brutal Gaza assault requires Jews worldwide to be honest, not nationalist

My heart is broken as I witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the seeming indifference of Israelis. All my life I’ve been a champion of Israel, proud of its many accomplishments in science and technology that have benefited the world, insistent on the continuing need for the Jewish people to have a state that offers protections from anti-Semitism that has reared its head continuously throughout Christian and Islamic societies, willing to send my only child to serve in the Israeli Army (the paratroopers unit-tzanchanim), and enjoying the pleasures of long swaths of time in which I could study in Jerusalem and celebrate Shabbat in a city that weekly closed down the hustle and bustle of the capitalist marketplace for a full 25 hours. And though as editor of Tikkun I printed articles challenging the official story of how Israel came to be, showing its role in forcibly ejecting tens of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and allowing Jewish terrorist groups under the leadership of (future Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir) to create justified fears that led hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians to flee for their lives, I always told myself that the dominant humanity of the Jewish people and the compassionate strain within Torah would reassert itself once Israel felt secure.

That belief began to wane in the past eight years when Israel, faced with a Palestinian Authority that promoted nonviolence and sought reconciliation and peace, ignored the Saudi Arabian-led peace initiative that would have granted Israel the recognition that it had long sought, an end to hostilities, and a recognized place in the Middle East, refused to stop its expansion of settlements in the West Bank and imposed an economically crushing blockade on Gaza. Even Hamas, whose hateful charter called for Israel’s destruction, had decided to accept the reality of Israel’s existence, and while unable to embrace its “right” to exist, nevertheless agreed to reconcile with the Palestinian Authority and in that context live within the terms that the PA would negotiate with Israel.

Finally, maybe, the world is seeing the immoral reality of the Israeli government and their disregard for Palestinian life and freedom.

They always remind us of their own aspirations; their own fight against oppression; their own struggles. But do they ever look at the Palestinians as human beings who have the same aspirations as they do. I don’t think so.

Its time for the world to relegate Israel to the same category the world relegated South Africa years ago with that struggle against Apartheid.

It is clear Israel is little better than South Africa was.
Even President Carter agrees with that.

“Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said in remarks broadcast Monday that Israeli policy in the West Bank represented instances of apartheid worse even that those that once held sway in South Africa.” www.haaretz.com...

The world needs to go on the offensive against Israel as it went to take down South Africa with massive boycotts, sanctions and world-wide condemnation of its policies.

I would advise people here to search the web for viable boycott options against the government of Israel. There are many credible groups participating in these kinds of activities.

I don’t want to get in trouble here with ATS so I won’t give URL but please on your own seek out credible groups that are doing boycotts against this wicked government of Israel.

a reply to: Willtell

It's broken my heart too. What is being done at the moment is an abomination. The holy land has been desecrated.

Is Hamas innocent in all of this?

It seems to be politically correct to bash Israel for what they've done in the past couple of weeks, but as I recall, it was Hamas that started things.

If Israel announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… the nation would be destroyed.

If Hamas announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… peace.

a reply to: adjensen

If Hamas announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… peace.

Doubt it, but Israel would definitely be motivated to continue their reign of terror, so good point...

originally posted by: aboutface
a reply to: Willtell

It's broken my heart too. What is being done at the moment is an abomination. The holy land has been desecrated.

That holy land is bathed in the blood of thousands of years of horrific conflict, most of it justified by religion. I do not know if "desecrated" really applies but "abomination" has an appropriate ring.

I understand that this stomps all over people's belief systems here but there comes a point when one has to wonder if the devil isn't just laughing his ass off.

originally posted by: adjensen
Is Hamas innocent in all of this?

No side is innocent.

It seems to be politically correct to bash Israel for what they've done in the past couple of weeks, but as I recall, it was Hamas that started things.

Incorrect.

Israel began the current conflict by performing an airstrike on Gaza, resulting in one death and three injuries. Hamas had only fired rockets following the airstrike. Not to mention the fact that prior to the airstrike, Israel had been active in the West Bank, where it killed nine people, arrested 800 people without charge, and raided over 1000 buildings:

Times of Israel: "Hamas operatives were behind a large volley of rockets which slammed into Israel Monday morning, the first time in years the Islamist group has directly challenged the Jewish state, according to Israeli defense officials.. The security sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, assessed that Hamas had probably launched the barrage in revenge for an Israeli airstrike several hours earlier which killed one person and injured three more.. Hamas hasn't fired rockets into Israel since Operation Pillar of Defense ended in November 2012."

The Nation: "During ten days of Operation Brother's Keeper in the West Bank [before the start of the Gaza conflict], Israel arrested approximately 800 Palestinians without charge or trial, killed nine civilians and raided nearly 1,300 residential, commercial and public buildings. Its military operation targeted Hamas members released during the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011."

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk...

If Israel announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… the nation would be destroyed.

I think that's just hyperbole.

If Israel announced that it would no longer occupy Palestine, there wouldn't be any need for these conflicts...it is after all, the reason behind the existence of Hamas and other liberation organisations.

If Hamas announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… peace.

No. There are other armed Palestinian revolutionary organisations besides Hamas. Additionally, it is entirely possible that Israel would continue to occupy both, the West Bank and Gaza, while pushing forwards with illegal settlements and blockades. If they did, i'm sure there wouldn't be any peace.

originally posted by: Willtell
I'v e always been proud of Israel, but the brutal Gaza assault requires Jews worldwide to be honest, not nationalist

My heart is broken as I witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the seeming indifference of Israelis. All my life I’ve been a champion of Israel, proud of its many accomplishments in science and technology that have benefited the world, insistent on the continuing need for the Jewish people to have a state that offers protections from anti-Semitism that has reared its head continuously throughout Christian and Islamic societies, willing to send my only child to serve in the Israeli Army (the paratroopers unit-tzanchanim), and enjoying the pleasures of long swaths of time in which I could study in Jerusalem and celebrate Shabbat in a city that weekly closed down the hustle and bustle of the capitalist marketplace for a full 25 hours. And though as editor of Tikkun I printed articles challenging the official story of how Israel came to be, showing its role in forcibly ejecting tens of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and allowing Jewish terrorist groups under the leadership of (future Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir) to create justified fears that led hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians to flee for their lives, I always told myself that the dominant humanity of the Jewish people and the compassionate strain within Torah would reassert itself once Israel felt secure.

That belief began to wane in the past eight years when Israel, faced with a Palestinian Authority that promoted nonviolence and sought reconciliation and peace, ignored the Saudi Arabian-led peace initiative that would have granted Israel the recognition that it had long sought, an end to hostilities, and a recognized place in the Middle East, refused to stop its expansion of settlements in the West Bank and imposed an economically crushing blockade on Gaza. Even Hamas, whose hateful charter called for Israel’s destruction, had decided to accept the reality of Israel’s existence, and while unable to embrace its “right” to exist, nevertheless agreed to reconcile with the Palestinian Authority and in that context live within the terms that the PA would negotiate with Israel.

Finally, maybe, the world is seeing the immoral reality of the Israeli government and their disregard for Palestinian life and freedom.

They always remind us of their own aspirations; their own fight against oppression; their own struggles. But do they ever look at the Palestinians as human beings who have the same aspirations as they do. I don’t think so.

Its time for the world to relegate Israel to the same category the world relegated South Africa years ago with that struggle against Apartheid.

It is clear Israel is little better than South Africa was.
Even President Carter agrees with that.

“Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said in remarks broadcast Monday that Israeli policy in the West Bank represented instances of apartheid worse even that those that once held sway in South Africa.” www.haaretz.com...

The world needs to go on the offensive against Israel as it went to take down South Africa with massive boycotts, sanctions and world-wide condemnation of its policies.

I would advise people here to search the web for viable boycott options against the government of Israel. There are many credible groups participating in these kinds of activities.

I don’t want to get in trouble here with ATS so I won’t give URL but please on your own seek out credible groups that are doing boycotts against this wicked government of Israel.

I would just ask that you spread the word...

“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” -- St. Augustine.

a reply to: aboutface

Indeed. This area should be respected as a valuable part of human heritage. Religion, as archaic as it was, did produce some great artists.

a reply to: adjensen

If Hamas announced that they would no longer fight tomorrow… peace.

There wasn't peace before Hamas was formed so why would there be peace if they were gone? Some of the main leaders of Israel has said time and again they want the "greater Israel" some say their "biblical homeland" for them to get this Palestine needs to be gone.

originally posted by: Not Authorized
a reply to: aboutface

Indeed. This area should be respected as a valuable part of human heritage. Religion, as archaic as it was, did produce some great artists.

This part of the world is where all of the biblical prophets came from. It is not right for one group of people to dominate the whole area it should be open to peoples of all the Abrahamic religions.

a reply to: buster2010

I agree. Together is better. :-)

We should respect that.

originally posted by: adjensen
Is Hamas innocent in all of this?

It seems to be politically correct to bash Israel for what they've done in the past couple of weeks, but as I recall, it was Hamas that started things.

Just how did Hamas start things - by kidnapping and killing three isreali teens? Even isreal cannot support that any longer.

And then there is history:

"Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation," says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel's destruction.

online.wsj.com...

From the Wall Street Journal in 2009.

Before you start spouting propoganda talking points, you should check them out for some slim degree of truth.

originally posted by: seasoul
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” -- St. Augustine.

Truth is subjective the facts are not. St. Augustine was mistaken. He was pushing religion as fact. Religion is subjective just like truth.


This is why so many religious people get upset when you question what truth really is.....Subjective.

a reply to: SubTruth

Within objective truth lies subjective truth and within subjective truth lies objective truth; within order lies chaos and within chaos lies order; within reality lies illusion and within illusion lies reality.

Yeah right................

This is like saying "I have always wanted to live in the ghetto because I get shot at."
No one is saying live in the middle east.






OH SNAP...the truth appears and it isn't from the MSM

Hamas and Israel are in it together. I can't believe people think they are not on the same side when Hamas has done everything to provoke Israel into bombing more Palestinians.

Don't be fooled. Netanyahu and Hamas are on the same side

How Sharon and the Likud party nutured the rise of hamas

There are loads of links out there from Independent researchers and news outlets that detail the fact that Hamas is a creation of Israel. And it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to see that what they are doing is good for the Israeli Terrorists and bad for the Palestinians!

I applaud you Willtell for standing up for humanity. Both sides try to deflect the point that innocent woman and children are being killed. The killing has to stop.

originally posted by: johngrissom
Yeah right................

This is like saying "I have always wanted to live in the ghetto because I get shot at."
No one is saying live in the middle east.

OH SNAP...the truth appears and it isn't from the MSM

What truth exactly is in those two pictures? The first one is a line pushed by the IDF, we have yet to see anyone corroborate this statement just another case of having to take their word for it and the second one, did you make that yourself? It looks like a crude photoshop pic that my nine year old nephew would make.

This has been going on for as long as I can remember, the first instance I remember was in the 60's when the Redgrave's (Hollywood Actors) were blacklisted for their support of the PLO. I remember my Mother being upset because she was a fan, but she believed what the MSM told her. It hit me at a young age that something was amiss here.

It is not all of a sudden, this cruelty and genocide has been going on since the Balfour Declaration. You should have spoken out long, long ago.