The Rabbi is correct about false equivalencies but not in the way he means. Gaza is an occupied territory, not a sovereign state, and has been living under occupation for approximately 60 years. While the Israelis may have "pulled out" of Gaza, it still controls its Gaza's borders and effectively exercises dominion over it. One only need…
The Rabbi is correct about false equivalencies but not in the way he means. Gaza is an occupied territory, not a sovereign state, and has been living under occupation for approximately 60 years. While the Israelis may have "pulled out" of Gaza, it still controls its Gaza's borders and effectively exercises dominion over it. One only needs to watch some of the videos being posted by IDF soldiers in Gaza to see the depravity with which this campaign is being carried out. Israeli has used its vastly superior military might, including 2,000 lb US supplied bombs to kill tens of thousand of people and level entire densely populated urban areas, rendering them unlivable. The Pope calling that cruel was probably the most euphemistic term he could have applied so the Rabbi is way out of line for criticizing that mild rebuke.
The complexity of this issue cannot be dealt with in the length of a post but I would posit this question, if the Nazis just kept the Jewish population contained in a larger version of the Warsaw ghettos for 60 years and then a number of Jews broke out and started killing German civilians and Nazi officials, would you be advocating for the Nazis to go in and level the ghetto because that is effectively what Israel is doing now? Whatever one thinks about Hamas and Hezbollah, the Palestinians are God's children and the dwindling number of Christians in the area are Palestinians.
Not all Jews are zionists and and no all zionists are Jews (many are evangelical Christians). The bravest critics of the Israeli government and its conduct of this "war" are Jewish journalists and academics. However, if the zionists and the Israeli supporters continue to label all criticism of the Israeli government and its conduct as antisemitism, they risk creating the very problem of which they complain. If they make no distinction between criticism of Israel and anti-semitism, then eventually their critics will stop distinguishing between Israeli supporters and Jews and that will make what is already a human tragedy, far worse.
1) I've personally seen how this conflict has radicalized the previously-apathetic secular leftist jews of America, people I've known who had always been big leftists sharing criticisms of the occupation of Palestinian territories have become rabid, a guy I once went to school with started publicly advocating for the mass murder of all Palestinian boys under 13. Wack.
2) This is also seemingly in the long-standing tradition of "any criticism of any degree over anything relating to an action however objectionable by either Israel or an individual jew is horrifically antisemitic and abhorrent in the highest degree and it's the start of anotha shoah!" The antisemitism-card is extremely powerful, and can bend the will of entire nations when it's played right. The ADL knows it, AIPAC knows it, the Israeli state knows it, and this rabbi knows it. This rabbi knows he's trying to guilt-trip the pope, since '48 Israel has had a penchant for taking swipes at the Vatican. Antisemitism, and legacy of the Holocaust, has been (hate to say it) milked for socio-political gain. Back in the 1960s/70s, the Holocaust was something that everyone was very of and knew about, but it wasn't any more culturally prominent than other atrocities/events of the war. In the past 50 years, almost every mid-size city in America has built a Holocaust museum, there's a Holocaust Museum on the National Mall, and the Holocaust almost overshadows the entirety of WWII in school curriculums.
Thank you. I think you raise some excellent additional points. I always found the proliferation of holocaust museums in the U.S. somewhat odd given that the United States was one of the liberators of the camps and it was Dwight Eisenhower who made sure they were documented, lest people forget or deny what happened. Also the US has been one of the safest and most hospitable countries in the world for Jews to live and thrive (albeit imperfect, as it is for everyone). If the US is to be making museums of this type, it would be more appropriate to make them to remind us of the horrors of our national sins such as slavery and the genocide of native Americans.
Terms like antisemitism and racism can provide a societal shield against such conduct by virtue of the severe social opprobrium they rightfully engender. However, when they are used as a sword to shut down debate and dismiss legitimate criticism, they risk being denudered of their meaning and the behavior moderating social stigma they engender. Once this happens, the flood gates for real antisemitism and racism can open. This is what I fear as Zionists and Israeli supporters continue to apply a maximalist concept of antisemitism to any legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.
Btw, the US government deserves as much criticism for enabling Israel's behavior because without our aid money, munitions and blind support of their policies, none of their bad conduct would be possible.
Gaza has a border with Egypt, which is not controlled by Israel. Gaza has been Jew free for 20 years, and rather than build a nation Hamas built tunnels. Your understanding of the situation seems to fall down in the face of very simple facts. There are also a few of God’s children that you didn’t mention: the 100 hostages being held (if still alive) in Gaza. Cardinal Pizzabolla tried a peaceful offer to release them, could you bring yourself to suggest what Israel should do instead?
My suggestion is quite simple: stop carpet bombing Gaza and making it unlivable for the survivors. Stop preventing international aid from getting to the victims. Stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank. Stop bombing Christian churches, all of the hospitals and schools claiming they all have munitions and tunnels under them, which in nearly all cases has been proven to be patently false. Abandon any plans for establishing Greater Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and Western Syria.
As for building a nation, do you mean a self-determining nation with a recognized right to exist and defend itself with a military of its own (like Israel)? Don't forget, a Palestinian nation with a military that can defend itself is, and always has been, a non-starter for Israel because as Israel will tell you itself, its security is of primary importance. This means it must come at the cost of Palestinian security. Israel screams about Hamas "hiding military targets among civilians." If you can't have a military, you can't have military targets. This gives Israel carte blanche to bomb wherever they want and then after the fact label all of the dead as terrorists. I'm not saying there aren't terrorists among the victims but you reap what you sow. It is well established that Netanyahu and the Likud government funded Hamas because both Hamas and Likud are against a two state solution and Hama was viewed as a useful tool to create the situation for Israel to invade Gaza in order to displace the local population and expand Israel's borders to the sea.
The Rabbi is correct about false equivalencies but not in the way he means. Gaza is an occupied territory, not a sovereign state, and has been living under occupation for approximately 60 years. While the Israelis may have "pulled out" of Gaza, it still controls its Gaza's borders and effectively exercises dominion over it. One only needs to watch some of the videos being posted by IDF soldiers in Gaza to see the depravity with which this campaign is being carried out. Israeli has used its vastly superior military might, including 2,000 lb US supplied bombs to kill tens of thousand of people and level entire densely populated urban areas, rendering them unlivable. The Pope calling that cruel was probably the most euphemistic term he could have applied so the Rabbi is way out of line for criticizing that mild rebuke.
The complexity of this issue cannot be dealt with in the length of a post but I would posit this question, if the Nazis just kept the Jewish population contained in a larger version of the Warsaw ghettos for 60 years and then a number of Jews broke out and started killing German civilians and Nazi officials, would you be advocating for the Nazis to go in and level the ghetto because that is effectively what Israel is doing now? Whatever one thinks about Hamas and Hezbollah, the Palestinians are God's children and the dwindling number of Christians in the area are Palestinians.
Not all Jews are zionists and and no all zionists are Jews (many are evangelical Christians). The bravest critics of the Israeli government and its conduct of this "war" are Jewish journalists and academics. However, if the zionists and the Israeli supporters continue to label all criticism of the Israeli government and its conduct as antisemitism, they risk creating the very problem of which they complain. If they make no distinction between criticism of Israel and anti-semitism, then eventually their critics will stop distinguishing between Israeli supporters and Jews and that will make what is already a human tragedy, far worse.
Many salient points! I'll add two things:
1) I've personally seen how this conflict has radicalized the previously-apathetic secular leftist jews of America, people I've known who had always been big leftists sharing criticisms of the occupation of Palestinian territories have become rabid, a guy I once went to school with started publicly advocating for the mass murder of all Palestinian boys under 13. Wack.
2) This is also seemingly in the long-standing tradition of "any criticism of any degree over anything relating to an action however objectionable by either Israel or an individual jew is horrifically antisemitic and abhorrent in the highest degree and it's the start of anotha shoah!" The antisemitism-card is extremely powerful, and can bend the will of entire nations when it's played right. The ADL knows it, AIPAC knows it, the Israeli state knows it, and this rabbi knows it. This rabbi knows he's trying to guilt-trip the pope, since '48 Israel has had a penchant for taking swipes at the Vatican. Antisemitism, and legacy of the Holocaust, has been (hate to say it) milked for socio-political gain. Back in the 1960s/70s, the Holocaust was something that everyone was very of and knew about, but it wasn't any more culturally prominent than other atrocities/events of the war. In the past 50 years, almost every mid-size city in America has built a Holocaust museum, there's a Holocaust Museum on the National Mall, and the Holocaust almost overshadows the entirety of WWII in school curriculums.
Thank you. I think you raise some excellent additional points. I always found the proliferation of holocaust museums in the U.S. somewhat odd given that the United States was one of the liberators of the camps and it was Dwight Eisenhower who made sure they were documented, lest people forget or deny what happened. Also the US has been one of the safest and most hospitable countries in the world for Jews to live and thrive (albeit imperfect, as it is for everyone). If the US is to be making museums of this type, it would be more appropriate to make them to remind us of the horrors of our national sins such as slavery and the genocide of native Americans.
Terms like antisemitism and racism can provide a societal shield against such conduct by virtue of the severe social opprobrium they rightfully engender. However, when they are used as a sword to shut down debate and dismiss legitimate criticism, they risk being denudered of their meaning and the behavior moderating social stigma they engender. Once this happens, the flood gates for real antisemitism and racism can open. This is what I fear as Zionists and Israeli supporters continue to apply a maximalist concept of antisemitism to any legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.
Btw, the US government deserves as much criticism for enabling Israel's behavior because without our aid money, munitions and blind support of their policies, none of their bad conduct would be possible.
Gaza has a border with Egypt, which is not controlled by Israel. Gaza has been Jew free for 20 years, and rather than build a nation Hamas built tunnels. Your understanding of the situation seems to fall down in the face of very simple facts. There are also a few of God’s children that you didn’t mention: the 100 hostages being held (if still alive) in Gaza. Cardinal Pizzabolla tried a peaceful offer to release them, could you bring yourself to suggest what Israel should do instead?
My suggestion is quite simple: stop carpet bombing Gaza and making it unlivable for the survivors. Stop preventing international aid from getting to the victims. Stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank. Stop bombing Christian churches, all of the hospitals and schools claiming they all have munitions and tunnels under them, which in nearly all cases has been proven to be patently false. Abandon any plans for establishing Greater Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and Western Syria.
As for building a nation, do you mean a self-determining nation with a recognized right to exist and defend itself with a military of its own (like Israel)? Don't forget, a Palestinian nation with a military that can defend itself is, and always has been, a non-starter for Israel because as Israel will tell you itself, its security is of primary importance. This means it must come at the cost of Palestinian security. Israel screams about Hamas "hiding military targets among civilians." If you can't have a military, you can't have military targets. This gives Israel carte blanche to bomb wherever they want and then after the fact label all of the dead as terrorists. I'm not saying there aren't terrorists among the victims but you reap what you sow. It is well established that Netanyahu and the Likud government funded Hamas because both Hamas and Likud are against a two state solution and Hama was viewed as a useful tool to create the situation for Israel to invade Gaza in order to displace the local population and expand Israel's borders to the sea.
Israel did not conspire with Hamas so they could invade Gaza. You are in la la land, nothing you say is remotely serious.
Does the phrase "mowing the lawn" mean anything to you? If it doesn't, you have no idea what you are talking about.
I may be in la la land but before you dismiss what I said, try looking at these photos and tell me this is neither cruel nor designed to permanently displace the current population: https://www.reuters.com/pictures/what-gaza-looks-like-today-after-15-months-war-2025-01-21/