As Israel sinks deeper into its hardened positions, relying simply on superior force to impose its will on the Palestinians, what does that mean for our ancient and deep Jewish moral heritage? And what does it mean for me, someone born as a Jew but increasingly alienated by what is being done by the Israeli government in my name?
Racism and extremism seem to be growing in Israel. A recent article in Issues of the American Council of Judaism quoted from “The King’s Torah,” a best-selling book by two rabbis who claim that the biblical prohibition on murder applies “only to a Jew who kills a Jew.” Non-Jews, according to this book, are “uncompassionate by nature,” and even the children of Israel’s enemies may be killed for, the authors write, “it is clear that they will grow up to harm us.”
This is simply not the Judaism I was brought up to believe is the core of who we are as a people. Rather, it is a tribalistic, gang mentality, not worthy of the great tradition of ethical principles given to the Jewish people to embody as “a light unto the nations.” The Judaism I was brought up with states that, as Jews, we are obligated to always look out for the underdog, always take the moral high ground, and never be the oppressor of another people — principles themselves enshrined in the Torah.
It is clear as day that in relation to the Palestinians, the Israeli government and its apologists have failed to live up to these ethical standards. The history is complex, of course, but as David Ben-Gurion stated in the 1930s, “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. … Politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves. … The country is theirs because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country” (quoted in Noam Chomsky’s “The Fateful Triangle”).
Of course, the long history of repression, vilification, pogroms, and murder, culminating in the Holocaust, that we have so often suffered as a people for the last 2000 years is the root cause of some Jews feeling justified in lashing out against any perceived threats from the outside world. But let it be remembered that our suffering as a people has been perpetrated almost exclusively by the Christian world; Jews have traditionally been allowed to live in peace in Arab cultures (albeit with a subsidiary status), going back many centuries.
That changed profoundly, however, when the State of Israel was created in 1948, at the expense of the native Arab population. In my view, anti-Jewish acts committed by Arabs since then stem not from prejudice against Jews simply because we are Jews (as has historically been the case in our relations with Christendom) but are caused by what many Arabs consider to be the theft of Arab land and the ongoing oppression of their fellow Arabs in Palestine — actions which were started by the Zionist movement in the early 20th century and then continued by every Israeli government up to the present.
In our heart of hearts, most Jews know that, regardless of any justifications used, it is simply inexcusable to attack the virtually defenseless population of Gaza, killing thousands of innocent people, as has happened three times in recent years (2008, 2012 and 2014). We know that it is beneath our ethical standards to prevent pregnant women from reaching hospitals, for example, at the checkpoints that exist all over the Palestinian territories; or to allow armed Jewish settlers to repeatedly attack their Palestinian neighbors with impunity; or, in a thousand other ways, to betray the ethical heritage that is the best part of our Jewish identity.
Of course, like all Jews, I have a deep affinity for my own people. Jews in Israel, like all people, deserve to live in peace. But peace has to be preceded by justice in order to be meaningful and lasting. In this case, that means our bending over backwards to reach a fair accord with the Palestinian people that will provide them with some semblance of justice. At the very least, this would require finally allowing them to have sovereignty over what world opinion has repeatedly stated is Palestinian territory, i.e., all lands occupied by Israel as a result of the 1967 war.
This path of peace would offer us, as Jews, the chance to begin to recapture, redeem and reinvigorate our moral heritage, which has been so badly compromised in our relations with the Palestinian people. I believe that all Jews of goodwill must grapple with these questions, do some research on how this situation has come to be, and search our souls for ways to protect the safety and rights of all people residing in the Holy Land.
Chuck Sher is a musician, the founder of The Petaluma Progressives and host of the The Progressive Festival, now in its 18th year. He lives in Petaluma.