BY RICHARD DEATON
GUEST OPINION
We in the Jewish community recently celebrated Passover, the secular holiday commemorating our escape from slavery in ancient Egypt; its central theme is freedom for all people. Given recent events it is necessary for us to take stock of what is now occurring in Israel and at what cost to Jewish values.
The Passover Day Massacre which was carried out by the Israeli army (IDF) on March 30th against unarmed civilians in Gaza who were demonstrating for their right of return to Israel was premeditated murder. Palestinians in the Gaza exercised their freedom of association, and no demonstrator came close to breaching the Israeli border. Yet, 17 people were shot, two in the back, and another 1, 000 were wounded. This past Friday, nine more demonstrators were killed by Israeli snipers.
When the former white South African government perpetrated the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the world was outraged. Israel has now had its Passover Day Massacre. This marks an historical turning point. But the international community does nothing. We in the Jewish community have forgotten our history and have forgotten how to empathize with the oppressed, despite our Passover seder platitudes. Israel has gone from being the oppressed to being an oppressor.
Today Israel is engaging in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Any internal political or cultural criticism of its racist and expansionist policies against the Palestinians is being crushed. And many of its policies against the Palestinians are similar to those of the former white South African government. Israel is increasingly becoming a theocratic police state.
Good Jews must speak out. Zionism is not Judaism. For too long Jews who have been critical of Israel's repressive policies have allowed themselves to be cowed by the Jewish establishment by being called "anti-Semites,""self-hating Jews" or "traitors." Mordecai Richler, Canada's leading Jewish author, was an outspoken critic of Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories in his book, This Year in Jerusalem. And what has gone wrong with the Zionist experiment are Israel's repressive and racist policies towards the Palestinians that undermine Jewish values.
The Israeli documentary, The Gatekeepers, interviews the six surviving heads of the Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, all of whom bluntly state that the occupation has been a disaster for Israel. They relate how Israel over the years has systematically undermined and sabotaged any peace negotiations. Israeli PM Netanyahu has adamantly rejected a two-state solution while the World Jewish Congress (WJC), representing over 100 countries, is a strong advocate of such a policy.
In order for Israel to expand territorially it must remove the Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem. The situation has badly deteriorated since U. S. president Trump reversed long-standing American policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In March 2018 Israel passed legislation allowing them to unilaterally revoke the residency of any Palestinian living in Jerusalem, contrary to international law.
Israel is now trying to forcibly transfer Palestinians from three areas in the West Bank (Area C) to build housing for Israeli settlers. The white South African government passed the 1950 Group Areas Act specifying where blacks could live; Israeli policies will have the same result for Palestinians.
Israeli policy towards the Palestinians is driven by an increasing racism. For example, the Jewish village of Kfar Vradim recently passed a bylaw withdrawing plots of land for sale because they were being purchased by Arabs and Palestinians. The US Supreme Court struck down racially-based restrictive covenants in 1948. And Israel's PM said that, "(black) migrants are a bigger threat than terrorism" while Israeli settlers beat up Palestinian farmers with impunity.
Israel's policies in the Occupied Territories violate the spirit of Passover and formal international law. For many Jews, Israel is rapidly becoming the God that failed. The draconian measures against the Palestinians is negatively affecting the attitude of many American and Canadian Jews towards Israel, especially young Jews. Israel will soon have to make a decision as to whether it wants to be Jewish or democratic.
- Avrim ben Ezra, aka Richard Deaton, Ph.D., LL.B.
Stanley Bridge.
