Anti-Semitism - or Everyday Violence?

I recently posted a story, “Wikileaks Sony Hack Reveals Hollywood’s Hand in Repairing Israel’s Broken Image” (http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-sony-hack-reveals-hollywoods-hand-in-repairing-israels-broken-image/205176/) on my Facebook page – and got a response that I think is worthy of further discussion.

My respondent (who I will call “Jane”) told me the post made her “uncomfortable” because it repeated accusations made against the Jews before and during the Holocaust. I know “Jane” is a kind, caring person who, like me, grew up on what I now refer to as the “Exodus Myth,” and am sad that she remains “stuck” in that piece of “history” that was obviously written by the victors.

(To explain that one a bit – as a teenager, I watched the movie Exodus over and over, fell in love with Paul Newman’s beautiful blue eyes and thought, “Of course, the Jewish people need a homeland after all they have been through! And it’s a “land without people for a people without land.” It wasn’t until I reached late middle-age, that I learned there was another side to the Exodus story – that, while Paul Newman was out-witting the British army and wooing Eva Marie Saint, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were being driven from their homes, creating what I now know as the Nakbah!)

But I digress. For many people like “Jane” the Exodus story is the only narrative they’ve heard – the only “truth” they know. And, while “Jane” and others like her are now starting to see that Israel’s policies are detrimental to the “peace process” that they support, they are not able to make the connection that many of the seeds of the “anti-Semitism” they are seeing have been planted by a government desperate to maintain its image as “the only Democracy in the Middle East” in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.

“Jane” is one of the few people I know who does try to understand “the other,” and who has, in fact, increased her understanding on this issue in the few months that we have been discussing it. My concern is that many, if not most, people do not even try – preferring, instead, to stay in their safe little boxes of ignorance and intolerance.

We don’t need to go to the Holy Land to see this; we saw it last week in a church in South Carolina! The problem in the Holy Land is that people on one side of the Wall are not able to see the people on the other side as people! Jews, Christians and Muslims used to work and play together – now they cannot! They (all “sides”) are taught to “hate and fear” (as the song goes) the “other” – and we can all see the results. Anti-Semitism is but one manifestation of that. What does one call massive bombings that kill more than 2,000 people in the world’s largest outdoor prison (Gaza)? Sadly, violence begets violence!

It is not anti-Semitic to oppose a government that does things one does not like. And I would respectfully suggest that, in its campaign to stomp out BDS (which hurts it economically), the Israeli government (and people like Sheldon Adelson, who has pledge millions in “anti-BDS” money!) is calling on people like us – good, sympathetic, caring people – to “remember the Holocaust” in the hope that will somehow “trump” the evils that are happening in Israel – and Palestine – today!

More Church Politics - and a Victory!

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Practicing my speech

"Unlearning" the myths

Preparing for Oregon/Idaho United Methodist Annual Conference - which starts tomorrow (June 10) and runs through the weekend), I've been making notes on how to introduce the divestment legislation that our Holy Land Task Force will be introducing.  What do you think?

We believe that the time has come for our Annual Conference to join other Annual Conferences who have already voted for divestment, including our neighbors in Pacific Northwest, Cal-Nevada and Cal-Pacific.

Divestment is not easy.  It asks us to “unlearn” the myths that many of us have about the reality of life in the Holy Land and to learn the hard truth of the reality of an Occupation that has lasted for longer than most of us have been alive.  

 It also asks for sacrifices – not financial sacrifices, because we believe these are minimal, especially when compared to the “upside” of following our Biblical teachings, the teachings of John Wesley, and our own hearts.  Rather, the sacrifices come from letting go of long-held beliefs and doing the right thing - as United Methodists, as Christians and as human beings - for human rights and the dignity of all people.  

The Kairos document, which our Task Force has been studying and sharing, sets forth the request of the Palestinian Christians to help “reach a just and definitive peace that will put an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine and …guarantee security and peace for all.”

I observed crowded checkpoints...

Some of you know that I spent three months in Palestine as a human rights observer in 2013.  During that time, I lived in the Palestine city of Tulkarm, where I documented human rights abuses and walked alongside those of all faiths who were working for peace in the region.  I observed such things as demolished homes and crowded checkpoints.  I also accompanied children on their way to school to protect them from attacks by settlers and soldiers, and watched locals and internationals peacefully demonstrate for the opening of arbitrarily closed roads, or the prevention of expanding the Wall deeper into Palestinian territory.

...and accompanied children on their way to school

I found a lot of good people – Christians, Muslims and Jews – working together for peace where they could, but too often divided by walls and laws designed to keep people apart.  (red sign)  We need to learn to work together – to know each other as human beings and not as “the other” to be feared for their differences.

A lot of people believe that the whole “Middle East Issue” is too complicated to understand – that it is a 2,000 year old problem without a solution.  I believe that what we are seeing in the Holy Land today is a 60+ year problem, and that the solution starts with us.  I believe that this resolution is a first step toward helping our church understand the reality of Occupation and a positive way to express our Christian values for peace.