I’m not going to rehash my issues with those who maintain that we Jews have a claim to Israel based upon ‘indigenous identity.’ That’s not the point of this article. I’ve already written two articles on the subject, and I am confident that both dissect the unsound foundations of such claims. Nor am I interested in arguing the various disputed, arbitrarily applied, vague definitions of indigenous people, since as I see it, only flora and fauna can be indigenous to a land. In any event, those who are unimpressed with my arguments will never be convinced since it is impossible for people to abandon something which makes them feel distinct and unique. For some unknown reason, many people don’t consider Torah exotic enough. Some prefer an imagined commonality with pagans.
This article is concerned with other problematic issues which often go hand-in hand with those who argue for Jewish indigeneity. I am focusing specifically on Jews, since I find non-Jews who wish to define us or “remind us” of our identity an affront. (I don’t lecture them about their identities so don’t purport to understand mine.) Ironically, many religious Jews jumped on the band-wagon, and use this argument as a new hasbara tool against anti-Semites. Those who identify as “right-wing” generally follow the small “indigenous activist” group not comprised of anti-Semites, which claims that Jews are indigenous to the region but that Arabs are not, in opposition to the larger anti-Semitic indigenous movement which asserts the opposite.
And then there is an even more peculiar camp of Jewish activists out there today, who in their own way are creating a new bizarre left-wing peace movement, even as many of them argue for a Greater-Israel. This camp naively believes that they can both retain the land and appease the Arabs. They see their movement as an unprecedented vision which will change the world. Yet their magical notions are grounded in pipe dreams which ignore history and the laws of Torah. They don’t view Arab anti-Semitism as the problem, or Islam itself. Rather than identifying the obvious evil, they assert that the problem arises because Jews are not asserting our indigenous character enough, as they would have it.
When I watched several of the videos put out by these activists I was thoroughly repulsed. So shameful and degrading. And true to form, like all liberals, theirs is a pandering posture which lets the predator know that you are prey. It mirrors the self-loathing of other liberal Jews who need to identity with the Arabs and apologize for imagined wrong-doings. As such, you can find the following post on the Facebook page of one Yehuda HaKohen, a self-styled Jewish indigenous rights activist involved with the “Alternative Action” peace movement:
I’m not interested in belittling anyone’s pain but I think the message of Naqba Day would be a lot more powerful and easier for Israelis to empathize with if it didn’t occur each year on the [solar] date of our anti-colonialist victory against England. Why not mark the date a Palestinian community was destroyed or the day Israel decided you aren’t coming back? By marking the date the British left and the Jews declared independence, you make it easy for us to believe that this is more about us and less about you (and some of us really don’t need such assistance).
I’m not even going to get into the latter part of the paragraph. Belittling others pain? What self-respecting Jew speaks this way? Was The Almighty cruel (Heaven forbid!) when he demanded that we show no mercy towards enemies in a halachic war? Are the laws of Jewish war unjust? I was astounded at the responses on HaKohen’s wall. Most gave him a pass. And even those who “gave it to him” largely threw softballs. In Judaism we are explicitly commanded NOT to show mercy to the merciless.
And while I am at it, let’s take a look at Alternative Action’s perspective on peace. It explains so much:
“Alternative Action views conflict between the Jewish people and other natives of the Middle East as an unnatural situation brought about by external forces. Because the closest people in the world to the Jews are the other indigenous peoples of our region, we strive for unity and peace as an ideal stemming from our belief that the Semitic peoples are brothers bonded together by common culture, ancestry and values.”
So much for those who reject the claim that many Pro-Israel indigenous rights activists are willing to grant Arabs that term!
“External forces” also caters to a certain segment of conspiracy freaks who would blame the Illuminati, The New World Order, and the Masons as the real cause of our problem, but will pardon the Arabs of our age-old Jew hatred. In any event, it is a dangerous stream of foolishness that plants seeds for another “religious” peace-movement.
HaKohen reflects on empathy (albeit theoretically) for “the Nakba.” When the shameless Sarah Tuttle Singer of the “Times of Israel” recently shared her perverse views on “the Nakba,” she was rightfully hammered. Yet the same people who hammered her gave HaKohen a pass, because he’s an indigenous rights activist and a part of that ‘new’ hasbara camp which stands together even though they collectively stand for nothing. In many ways, HaKohen’s position is more perverse than the ever befuddled Ms. Tuttle, since he is creating a false morality within the camp of those advocating for Greater Israel.
I have no concern or sympathy for Arabs or for what Arabs call the Nakba. I don’t shed one tear for those barbarians who throughout the centuries have murdered so many Jews and will continue to do so for time eternal. I bleed for Jews; I cry for those murdered by Arabs. I am neither interested in Arab pain nor Arab plight. I am only concerned with my people and I have nothing but hatred for my enemies, as the Torah demands. The Arab Nakba is my celebration, but, as I mentioned in my last article, it is largely incomplete. The Arabs are still in Israel, and they are still killing my brothers in the name of their Nakba. Let them shriek and tear themselves to pieces over their Nakba. But not in Israel. Let them scream to the desert Jinn, the hyena, and the sand fleas of the Arabian Desert.
This new indigenous movement largely caters to new-age types, with mystical notions and liberal beliefs. They are a genuine tragedy, as are all Jews who create false idols to worship. It is blatantly logical that one cannot coexist with Nazis. Todays’ Nazis are the Arabs and Islam. One without the other is sufficient to foster Jew-hatred since both Arab nationalism and Islam are a powder keg of violence. Together, they are as volatile as dynamite.
Those Jews yet unsure about these indigenous rights groups, should dig a little deeper. The indigenous rights movement is bad enough without the baggage but it goes hand -in-hand with a lot of dangerous ideas, including those who would grant the same “native” rights to the enemy. Indeed, by the admission of some of the more honest activists (and some have been honest), this is the cause of disagreement in pro-Israel indigenous rights camps. In any event, the foundation is revealed rotten, crumbling if one looks carefully with a critical eye.
If you don’t believe my claims that these are essentially peace movements, check out some of the videos at LAVI’s webpage. LAVI is another Jewish organization arguing for Jewish indigeneity. Or feel free to watch the following video which represents a meeting with Arabs and Jews that was organized by several such groups. Despite the orchestrated nature of these videos, with their sound-tracks and “feel-good” vibe, the content is telling. for themselves. Do your research. Watch the videos and see if you agree with the degrading attempt to pander to those who would murder us. In the above referenced video, one Jewish representative mentioned the late notorious Rabbi Menachem Froman of Tekoa who at least on one occasion met with the Amalekite head of Hamas. (I don’t know how many times he met with Arafat.) Listen carefully, because nothing could be more repugnant, or more contrary to Halacha, than the exchange that reportedly ensured between this deranged rabbi and the modern day Agag.
“Itbach El Yahud” is an Arab/Islamic call to murder Jews. It’s not a political cry to kill ‘white Ashkenazim’ or ‘colonial Israelis.’ Acting western wasn’t the cause of their Jew-hatred and it is perversity to suggest that it is. They want to murder Jews. Like Poles, the Arabs imbibe Jew-hatred with their mother’s milk. (I believe Yitzchak Shamir noted that once upon a time.) Jews need to recognize Arab hatred and stop trying to humanize those who lack humanity.
The self-identifying grasshopper who insists he is not is no less dangerous than a classic peacenik. On the contrary. From such distorted notions did the Oz V’Shalom movement arise many years ago. And the danger of these movements cannot be calculated by the number of card-carrying members, or by those who pay dues to “alternative “peace movements. The acceptance of any of these perverse notions by Torah Jews, is something worth tearing kriyah over.
Those who wish to humanize and engage in dialogue with our Arab enemies, even if they call for a Greater Israel, are dangerous people. And the fact that some wear kippot only adds to the Chillul Hashem. It shows their ignorance of the most basic laws of Jewish warfare. Let them keep their warped ideas to themselves, or at least stop purporting to speak in the name of Torah. And let the word go out that Torah rejects their liberal morality.
JEWISH WAR 101
Empathy for the enemy?
“When you take the field against your enemies, and see horses and chariots-forces larger than yours-have no fear of them, for the L-rd your G-d, who brought you from the land of Egypt, is with you.”- (Deuteronomy 20:1). What is meant by your enemies? Said the Holy One, Blessed be He: Go against them as enemies, just as they do not have mercy upon you, have no mercy on them.” -(Midrash Tanhuma, Shoftim 15.)
Torah Definitions
Room for two narratives? Not according to Torah:
Parshat Mase’ei. “Vehorashtem”- “You shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land; you shall destroy all their figured objects; you shall destroy all their molten images, and you shall demolish all their cult places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land for you to possess.” (Numbers 33: 52-53)
The Torah’s message is clear. You cannot keep the land AND keep the conquered people. You cannot live and love your own people when the “indigenous natives” who hate you, are allowed to remain. Don’t be more moral than G-d. Once upon a time, King Saul tried that foolishness and look at the trouble he caused. Lessons of blood.
Throughout Jewish history, Jews have forgotten the Torah’s injunction: Have no pity upon the cruel. We should know to show NO tolerance for those who give pandering sermons about coexistence with the Mufti’s offspring. The price for forgetting this is always dreadful.
There is no room or possibility of coexistence with the Arabs. Many Jewish advocates hallucinate such madness, but they wouldn’t be the first people in history to march to a madman’s beat. Tragic but true. Yet sane people still have an obligation to scream, “STOP!“
