ON ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD I just returned from a tiring but productive trip out of town and am writing at 2:00 a.m. having been awake for about 24 hours. However, a note from a friend prods me to write about the current situation in Israel, lest my comparative silence be misconstrued as disinterest. My research leads me to the conviction that the world only knows how to respond to Jews when we are subjugated, suffering, dying, and weak. The world does not know how to respond to Jewish strength and by and large resents it. It is similar to the unjust experience of Blacks in America, who for centuries were expected to be servile, while Black strength--Black Power--was viewed as by definition problematic and threatening. The State of Israel was founded within a few months of the founding of the World Council of Churches, which was nonplussed by this sudden emergence of Jewish strength from creamatoria ash. This was not mere surprise: the Church did not know what to do with the Jews being back from the dead, and no longer St Augustines Wandering Jews consigned by divine edict to wander the face of the earth without a home as a sign of what happens to a people who rejected Christ. Again, viscerally, and despite some exceptions, Jewish strength is resented and distrusted: only Jewish weakness meets with international sympathy, Finally, it is my conviction on the basis of my reading of Scripture that the day is coming when Israel will have no friends at all among the community of nations. Zechariah prophesies that there will come a day when all the nations of the world will come up against Jerusalem. But if one reads further, the Prophet promises that in that Day, God Himself will act to vindicate Israel, not as sinless, but as his everlasttngly beloved people. Many will resent this too--but this resentment is nothing new, and to me, not at all surprising. Even Jewish Israelis realize that their country does not act in a flawless manner. But the widespread denunciation of Israel today is grounded in something other than in truth--it is grounded in an ancient antipathy to this people, and in the canny political maneuverings of those who have succededed in positioning the Jews as victimizers rather than victims. That this portrayal and positioning took hold as it has is largely due to the fact that Western culure in particular feels uneasy with Jewish strength. If the Jews cannot be driven back to neediness, weakness, and refugee status, it seems the next best thing is to label their strength as illegitimate and fascistic. But the truth lies elsewhere, and Israel will be vindicated, not as without sin, and not as always right, but as Gods first and continuing beloved. I count on that and suggest you join me.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 10:00:24 +0000
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