Israel gives Jews a bad name

By Saul Landau

As a Jew I identify with a long tradition of my ancestors getting persecuted in Russia, the Ukraine and much of Eastern Europe as well as in Germany and other nations. The historical experience both motivated a desire for a Jewish state, the ideology of which was Zionism, and made Jews sympathetic with the plight of others who suffered persecution, like black Americans. The Jewish state, populated initially by many Holocaust survivors, has now turned into a persecuting State, a virtual settler colony that treats Palestinians in many ways in the same fashion as Nazis treated Jews – save for extermination camps.

Israel took Palestinian land, chased many Palestinians out of the territory and then occupied and had some of its people settle on Palestinian land where they remain and multiply under the protection of the armed Israeli Occupation Force. Here are reports made from the occupied areas that the U.S. media never cover. Mondoweiss sends out notices such as the following:

7 Feb — An IDF force operating near Nablus has been disturbing the peace of the residents of the Palestinian village of ‘Urif, which is adjacent to the city, by using the public address system mounted on its vehicles, Ynet learned Thursday. The force, which patrolled the villages area in December, would enter the village in all hours of the day and night, and sound the PA system’s sirens and horns, as well as use stun grenades and light flares – for no reason. The IDF said that the troops were found in violation of military protocols and were reprimanded.

JENIN / 6 Feb — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed at dawn Wednesday Tobas city … and performed military exercises and combed both areas. Eyewitnesses said that IOF performed military drills in the valley after a landing operation using helicopter gunships and fired flare bombs in the process. IOF soldiers also stormed Faqu’a village, east of Jenin, and combed its alleys and streets before stationing in the vicinity of the village’s main mosque.

IOF troops on Tuesday afternoon broke into the village of Orif, south of Nablus, and attacked the village’s secondary school, locals said, adding that the soldiers ordered the headmaster to evacuate the school immediately and to turn himself in. Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers used violent means in storming the village, recalling that they had frequently attacked the village earlier this week firing teargas canisters, stun grenades, and rubber bullets at citizens. They said that dozens of the village inhabitants were treated for gas suffocation including a month old baby girl.link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Army invades Ya’bod near Jenin IMEMC 8 Feb — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Thursday afternoon, the schools area in the village of Ya’bod, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, clashed with dozens of school students, and fired round of live ammunition, gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets. Injuries were reported. Eyewitnesses reported that at least 10 students have been treated for the effects of teargas inhalation after the soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs into schoolyards in the area. The attack led to clashes between dozens of students and the invading Israeli soldiers www.imemc.org

7 Feb by Team Khalil — A 14-year-old boy was detained at checkpoint 56 in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. At 2 p.m. on 6th February Amir Ibrahim Shawar was taken by soldiers of the Israeli occupation forces near the Jewish cemetery in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. He was accused of throwing stones at the soldiers; he was then marched down to the checkpoint where he was detained for about an hour. Amir from Azaria near Jerusalem was on a family visit with his mother when the incident happened. Whilst at the checkpoint the soldiers said to Amir’s mother, "We know he is not guilty but we want him to tell us who threw the stones." Members of the local community came to the checkpoint to complain about his detention and filmed the incident to help deter the soldiers from any unnecessary abuse of the teenager. (http://palsolidarity.org/)

Since these incidents don’t get reported in the U.S. media, one should look at how Israel’s protector, the USA, fails also to respond to other issues involving Israel.

The Nazis used chemicals and outlawed weapons against Jews in extermination camps, and then Israel used cluster bombs (of dubious legality) to attack Lebanon in their 1982 war with that neighboring country. U.S. media barely acknowledged this uncomfortable fact. But when news emerged that Iran might seek a nuclear weapon, Washington freaked out. The U.S. used nuclear weapons against Japan, and then employed tons of Agent Orange and other chemical weapons against Vietnam. Then the U.S. became super righteous when our leaders thought Iran might make a nuclear bomb or Syria might use chemical weapons. After all, Washington had to protect tiny Israel, which possesses lots of naughty weapons of mass destruction. (Israel possesses some 200 nukes).

So what has Israel to do with Jewish history or Jewish morality?

Where in Israeli conduct is there space for the old Judaic teaching that Injustice cannot be tolerated, and cruelty and human suffering shake the foundations of society. Judaism revealed the true source of morality: God, not man, prophecy not wisdom. Dictated that man could no longer be complacent about the moral situation. "Righteousness was asleep until it was awakened by Abraham." (Midrash Tehillim, Psalms 110)

Israel has become an aggressive settler state and as such worries ever more about state security than kit does about Jewish morality and ethics. Having taken land from others and settled on it, Jewish settlers appeal to history claiming God intended Jews to possess the area they now occupy. They do not refer to ethical and moral commandments in the religious books. Righteousness has gone back to sleep in Israel. And Israelis, by their daily persecution of Palestinians and by turning them into very second-class residents, have given Jews around the world – because Israel is a Jewish state – a bad name.

Saul Landau’s FIDEL and WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP are on DVD through cinemalibrestudio.com.