From the earliest times, the Jewish people have been at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods.
It is widely known that Spain and Portugal expelled them in 1492. And over the years they were then expelled from France and England. Living in Russia under the pogroms was tenuous, never knowing when the Cossacks would attack, never living where the rules for them were the same as for everyone else.
Even if not expelled, in many other European countries their taxes were higher, the work they could do was restricted, and on and on.
It all culminated with the massacre and atrocities against 6 million totally innocent people in the 1930s until the end of World War II. Did anyone in the world help them?
I think the Jews heard the message – there is no self determination for the Jewish people, and they needed a land where they had control of their own lives.
In 1948 the U.N. authorized the establishment of Israel, the original homeland of the Jews. If you know history, the Jews were expelled in 70 A.D. by Rome, although some managed to remain. In Hebrew prayer since that time, the sentence of “next year in Jerusalem” has been central.
As soon as Israel was established, the neighboring states attacked. Who would have thought that nascent Israel would survive? Those Palestinians who did not run away became citizens of Israel with the right to vote, an education and health care. Since that time, some leaders of the Palestinians have preached that Israel must be wiped off the map and into the sea.
As a result, Israel has been attacked unprovoked many times. Without walls and checkpoints, Jewish people were being murdered on their farms and in the streets. If all that hadn’t been happening, perhaps there wouldn’t be checkpoints today.
I see a cause and effect here. After not succeeding on the battlefield, tactics were changed. The Palestinian hierarchy decided to win the war by propaganda and terrorist activities. They provoke, Israel responds. The world sees only the response.
Go to Israel and see how it has been turned into the land of milk and honey where before only desert existed.
Since the creation of Israel, 850,000 Jewish people have been expelled from Arab lands. I haven’t heard a hue and cry for justice for them. Have you? I clearly see a double standard at work here.
There are terrible occurrences all over the world: Saudi Arabia bombs children’s hospitals in Libya; there is extreme persecution of Muslim people in Russia; China has taken over Tibet causing ethnic cleansing, to name just a few. Do I hear a hue and cry about that?
No, but when it comes to Israel the world becomes upset. Why is that?
Did anyone notice what happened when Israel returned Gaza back to Palestinian control? The first thing that happened was that the hot houses and homes left behind by the Israelis, which could have provided food production and housing for the people of Gaza, were destroyed. The second thing that happened was that Israel was shelled from Gaza. It is reported that financial help given by the U.N. to Gaza for schools and housing was used to build tunnels into Israel to attack the Israelis. Hamas keeps the populace in turmoil, preaching hatred.
It is time for the world to see the situation for what it is. Israel has continually been threatened to be driven into the sea. Wouldn’t it be unwise for Israel not to defend itself?
After World War II, the Jewish people were accused of not fighting back and walking into the death camps. Israel says “never again” and is doing everything it can to prevent its extinction.
(Judith Eliasberg lives in Concord.)