October 20th: No’ach
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Last week, we considered the term Tohu Vavohu, the primordial chaos that God wrestles into order in Genesis 1. As Rabbi Micky Boyden observes, it is with words that the Eternal One effects this effort: “When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being tohu vavohu / unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God hovering over the water—God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Words are powerful and can have a positive effect. However, in this week’s story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11.1-9), we learn that words can also be a source of confusion.
Many words have been written or spoken about the Palestinians—about their safety, needs, human rights, and national aspirations, but are these words sources of light or obfuscations of reality? It might be helpful to consider this simple question: Who loves the Palestinians?
NOT HAMAS: Hamas is a terrorist organization that ruthlessly dominates the politics and society of Gaza. It seized power in farcical elections, intimidates and murders local opposition, diverts much needed humanitarian resources to military use, and uses Palestinian civilians—often children—as human shields. It destroyed industrial facilities and housing left by the Israelis in 2005, and it invokes destructive retaliations from the Israelis by mounting petty attacks on Israeli citizens and agriculture. (I use the word petty in the sense that the attacks have no hope of actually “freeing the land of Palestine from the river to the sea.” They are not petty when one considers the damage they bring to individual Israelis.)
NOT IRAN OR HEZBOLLAH: Though the Islamic Republic of Iran and its various terrorist arms send lot of money and rhetoric to Gaza, it is to Hamas in Gaza. Rather than helping the Palestinian people in Gaza (or in Syria or Lebanon or the West Bank or Israel proper), Iran props up abusive and violent thugs—malevolent actors who violate Palestinian human rights and prevent any kind of progress or prosperity. Also, the Shiite Iranians do not smile on the Sunni Islam of Gaza, and one wonders how freely the Muslims of Palestine would be allowed to practice their religion if an Iranian surrogate were to be in charge.
NOT EGYPT: Notice how Egypt is not letting the Palestinian refugees leave Gaza. Remember how the blockade has been in effect for years. Remember how, despite the fact that Egypt owned Gaza (then called The Gaza Strip) from 1948 to 1967, it never allowed the Palestinians to enter Egypt as immigrants and be absorbed into Egyptian society. Among the ironies here is that a vast number of “Palestinians” were really immigrants (colonists?) from Egypt, a prime example being Yasser Arafat, the infamous leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
NOT JORDAN: Great Britain declared the whole of Palestine a Jewish Homeland in 1917, but then split it in half in 1922, assigning the eastern side of the Jordan River as the original Palestinian State. However, from 1948-1967, Jordan kept almost all the Palestinian refugees in squalid West Bank internment camps, refusing to let them enter Jordanian society. When Jordan finally allowed some to enter after 1967, a bloody civil war erupted, resulting in the expulsion of the refugees. This brutal time is known in Palestinian lore as “Black September,” a name made infamous by the terrorist organization that murdered twelve Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Jordan does not love the Palestinians nor want them in Jordan.
NOT LEBANON: Though the motherland of modern Arab culture, Lebanon is caught between two camps—neither of which loves the Palestinians. One camp is dominated by Hezbollah or PLO remnants and treats the Palestinians as pawns in its terror campaigns. The other camp is traditional Lebanese society which has been terrorized by the Hezbollah or PLO remnants for decades. They have endured a continuing civil war provoked by terrorists and have seen their country reduced from a pearl of Arab culture and commerce to a dysfunctional tragedy.
NOT SAUDI ARABIA: Since 1948, Saudi Arabia has funded Palestinian terrorists in astronomical amounts, while doling out pitiful sums for humanitarian assistance. It has also refused to welcome Palestinians into their society—allowing only limited numbers of those willing to endure abusive domestic servitude.
NOT THE UNITED NATIONS: While presumably focusing on relief and human rights, the UN turns a blind eye to the corruption and criminality of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. UN personnel ignore terrorist activities and diversion of humanitarian funds. They fund and print textbooks which foment hate—and therefore prevent peace and progress. When generations of Palestinian children are raised to hate Israel, what real chance is there for a Two State Solution? Is enabling the terror state that reigns in Gaza helping anyone but Hamas? Rather, the UN is actively involved in making sure that Israel never has “a partner for peace.”
NOT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS: In traditional Arab society, the vast majority of women are not free to pursue education, employment, sexuality empowerment, or even their own fashion choices. Far too many women are forced to endure “female circumcision.” The situation is even worse in Islamist-dominated societies like Iran or Afghanistan where “morality police” act with impunity, carrying whatever misogynist outrages they choose. In terms of LGBT+ rights, there are none. Gays and Lesbians are hounded, imprisoned, raped, and even murdered. The idea of gender re-assignment is not even on the agenda. Freedom of speech and assembly are absent—as is real voting. Elections are held, but any district or village that does not overwhelming support the terrorist regime suffers violence and repercussions. Palestinians deserve human rights, but the organizations that speak for them are consigning them to tyranny and oppression.
Ironically, the best chance for Palestinian freedom and economic and social viability lies with Israel. The Arab citizens of Israel have more freedom, prosperity, and human rights than almost anyone in the Arab world. The continuing violence, however, creates suspicion and hate for all Arabs and all Muslims. It sabotages their full participation in Israeli society. It torpedoes any hope for a Palestinian State—or a single state where Jews and Arabs live together. By allowing and encouraging terrorism to dominate, all of these supposed “friends of the Palestinian people” doom the Palestinian people in dozens of ways. There are lots of words of concern and support, but too much of it is babble—and there is little love.
As we pray for peace, let us pray for clarity, truth, and wisdom.