As we approach the two-year mark of Israel's genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the continued slaughter of Palestinians in general and Gazans in particular, despite all the attention we have brought to the genocide. Still, the signs of progress in raising awareness are everywhere. The increasing press attention given the flotilla, the shift of tone in traditionally blindly supportive rags like the New York Times, media personalities from New York to Hollywood finally speaking out, and many more.
Across almost every demographic, support for Israel is falling. Even older Republicans are shoring a noticeable decline in support for the apartheid state. Consistent with the overwhelming support for the Palestinian cause, the shift in younger Republicans is even more significant, despite the influence of Charlie Kirk both before and after his murder.
The demographic that has shown the least drop in support for Israel is, not surprisingly, Christian Zionists. My most recent guest column in my local paper is a commentary on the phenomenon.
Who would Jesus slaughter?
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-- 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—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.
