With Israel’s popularity continuing to plummet in the wake of censorship, suppression and punishment of free speech over Israel while the genocide continues, one group continues to cheer the violence on. “Christian” Zionists. We need to confront them, which is why I wrote the following guest column for the Democrat-Herald/ Gazette Times. It will be published soon.
I’ve been with a group protesting Israel’s murderous assault on the population of Gaza for over a year now. With the release of the report by the investigative body of the International Court of Justice, there is little doubt that the Court will rule that Israel is committing genocide. However, it typically takes years for the Court to render an opinion. The children dying now of bombs, bullets and starvation cannot wait. We have a moral responsibility to do all we can to stop it.
It is gratifying to see support for our efforts increasing as the number of experts declaring Israel’s actions to be genocide grows. Still, while the honks and thumbs up are more frequent, the number of rude gestures and angry shouts has held steady, if not increased. I have experienced this when holding a sign that simply says, “Palestine lives matter.” Now, I get the same reactions to a sign reading “Stop the genocide.”
I refuse to believe that so many of my neighbors are enthusiasts of genocide. I am sure that most have simply never viewed images of the tens of thousands of mutilated and starving children available on the internet. Still, why are they angry at calls to save people being systematically slaughtered? That much is clear from the daily news. Is it the color of their skin, or their religion? If motivated by racism or religious bigotry, does it not matter that some are as fair skinned as any European, or that some are Christian?
A clue lies in the fact that occasionally, someone screams at us “Read your Bible!” While I have not, I know that in Deuteronomy Chapter 20, G-d commands the Israelites to murder every man in Canaan, but not to slaughter women or children, who were only to be enslaved. This inconvenient fact seems to escape Christian Zionists.
I was brought up to respect the religious beliefs of others, but I am astounded that anyone could read the statements attributed to Jesus and conclude that he would condone genocide. In the story of the Good Samaritan, he told the Jewish expert in religious law that he was correct in saying the greatest commandment is that we love G-d and our neighbor. He then added, “Do this, and you shall never know death.” When the lawyer asked, “who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the moral of which is that everyone is our neighbor, and we show our love for them by how we treat them.
An earnest pastor recently shared with me why, in his opinion, the current genocide pleases God: In order to save what would be left of humanity after the battle of Armageddon, all Jews have to return to the land where ancient Israel once stood so that G-d could consign to hell all who did not accept a genocidal version of Jesus as their personal savior, leaving only those who do.
I am reminded of the saying that even the Devil would quote scripture if it served his purpose.
If one claims to be a Christian and wants to understand scripture, they must start with the words attributed to Jesus. Anyone commenting on his teachings who contradicts what they believe he said is confused. If the author of John believed all you need do to be a good Christian is to believe Christ saved you, he did not understand what Jesus quite clearly taught.
If I believed in hell, I would argue that this kind of faith will not lead these folks in the direction they think they are going.