Uzi Benziman of Haaretz has written a most eloquent article regarding the failure of the right-wing leadership to rein in the extremists in its midst. While the leadership is to be complimented for its quick condemnation of the recent terror attack in Shfaram last week, they must also do more to root out these fanatics. To not take action would most certainly be detrimental to the settler movement, as it will be forced to prove its legitimacy in the wake of such actions perpetrated in their name.
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I was addened to read in your comment to Sarah’s post that you had lost a child to illness. I, too, am part of that “exclusive” club to which no one wants to belong, having lost my daughter to leukemia four and a half years ago.
I absolutely agree, of course, that no political or other statement is worth the risk of losing a child. As you must know, though, people who have not gone through that most horrible of experiences haven’t a clue as to what it really means. (I say this not to excuse the people that do this, but to identify with your comment.) If there were some way of letting other people understand without their having to actually go through the loss, perhaps they would be slightly less cavalier about endangering their own children – and perhaps even other people’s children! – by sending them to war, for example. And then perhaps the world would probably be a better place.
May Heaven comfort you.
Sara
MARTIN LUTHER KING ON ZIONISM
“… You declare, my friend; that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely ‘anti-Zionist’. And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of G-d’s green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews — this is G-d’s own truth.
“Anti-Semitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so.
“Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. Fromtthis they were expelled by the Roman tryant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered our L-rd. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.
“The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested — DEMANDED — the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.
“How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfillment of G-d’s promise, that His people should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land. This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.
“And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-Semitism.
“The anti-Semite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the anti-Semite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerrade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just ‘anti-Zionist’!
“My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate anti-Semitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled — as others have been — into thinking you can be ‘anti-Zionist’ and yet remain true to those heartfelt principles that you and I share. Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews — make no mistake about it.”
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From M.L. King Jr., “Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend,”
Saturday Review XLVII (August 1967), pg. 76
Reprinted in M.L. King Jr., “This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”)
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you are right, I am sad for the two of you guys.
my thoughts are with you both
Sara,
I wouldn’t wish what he have been through on anyone. There can be no worse tragedy than to lose one’s child. I think it is sad when people allow their ideologies and beliefs to become so all-consuming that they lose sight of that which should come ahead of everything else – the children.
Just a comment: neither the book “I believe…” nor the Saturday Review article ever existed. There seems to have been much discussion about it, but it doesn’t appear to be authentic.