In the last week I wrote two articles about the situation in Gaza. It has been quite an experience for me in part due to the comments I have received from people. The main focus of the two articles was not to admonish either side, or put blame on either faction, but to urge the government of Israel to curb the use of force in the Gaza strip. I also urged the United States, of which I am a citizen, to reconsider their total support of Israel whether their policies are right or wrong.

Many people that read these two articles attacked me for not “knowing” the “history” of the Jewish State. In my humble opinion, I do have knowledge of Israel. What happened in biblical history does not concern me in the least, mainly because I consider the Bible a book of quaint folklore. I don’t believe in resurrecting ancient rivalries and thrusting them into the 21st Century, we have enough trouble in the world now without throwing ancient texts around as if they happened yesterday.

I do not propose that there should not be a Jewish State in Israel. I do believe that there should be rational Jewish State in Israel. This should be a State that is tolerant of their surroundings and tries to reach an accord with their neighbors. Constantly invading and occupying the Gaza Strip does not make for amicable relations between neighbors. In the same light, shooting off rockets into Israel is also nor conducive for peace. Restraint should be the catchword for both sides.

What disturbs me the most however, are the comments I have received from people that either castigated me for writing about the situation in Gaza, and those that supported me and were glad that someone reported the truth. To those that disagreed with me, you might find it surprising that many citizens living in Israel supported my articles. The ratio was about half and half. Most of the comments disagreeing with me came from Jewish people living in the United States. This leads me to ask the question of motive. Why did so many Israeli’s support me and so many American Jews castigate me? I would like to reprint some comments.

A Sane Voice From Israel

Tim:

Thanks for an excellent article, one which fully deserved the attention it received. Keep up the good work.

I found the excerpt that follows on the Juan Cole website, and will share it here.

It is refreshing to get affirmation that many, and, I think most, Israelis are people of common sense and good will, just as most Americans, and, I believe, most Palestinians are, as well.

Small, but highly motivated elites, in government, the media and religious establishments as well as other institutions, in Israel, the U.S. and Palestinian areas, exercise disproportionate power, and lead the great mass of their people into conflict that they don't really want, and is certainly not in their best interest.

Here are the words of Rabbi Lerner, for your consideration:

'Murders at a Yeshiva in Jerusalem
by Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun

Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives unequivocally condemn the killings of students at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem today. Just as last week we prayed for a speedy recovery of Israelis and Palestinians wounded in the fighting in Gaza and the bombings of Sderot, so today we pray for a speedy recovery for those who were injured in this ghastly attack. The wounds of two thousand years of exile and the holocaust are inevitably re-stimulated by this kind of attack, and tragically the price will likely be paid by Palestinian civilians, who in turn will fight back and then the price will be paid by other Israelis. Thus the seemingly endless cycle of violence will continue.

We at Tikkun feel equally grieving for the people killed by vicious and immoral terrorists at the Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav (the ultra-nationalist religious center that developed the ideology which inspired religious Zionists to believe that they had a God-given right to settle and hold on to the territories without regard to the consequences for the Palestinian people already living there) as we do for the victims of Israeli terror (which in the past week killed 120 people, many of them children, many of them sitting in their homes when Israeli troops randomly fire-bombed and murdered them, as documented by the same international human rights organizations that today condemned the attack in Jerusalem by terrorists). We understand that these killings can only be understood in the context of the 60 year old struggle between these two communities, and that nothing short of a full peace accord that will require a new open-heartedness on both sides can possibly break this horrible cycle of violence.

We similarly mourn the people in Sderot and Ashkelon terrorized by bombs from Hamas, as we did for those people who die in the Gaza and West Bank areas because the check points prevent them from getting to the doctors they need, and the many children suffering from malnutrition because of Israel's slow starvation of the country and cutting off of supplies. Of course there is no "moral equivalency" here, because as Talmud and other religious and spiritual traditions teach, every single life lost is a unique tragedy, and no life lost can be compared to or the loss justified in terms of the life lost of others. '

Submitted on March 8, 2008 (name withheld)

Here is an American comment;

KNOW YOUR JEWISH HISTORY
A Brief Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict It takes less than 2 minutes of your time to read. Here are some conveniently overlooked facts in the current Middle East situation. These were compiled and written by an American Christian university professor. It's important information to know since we don't get fair and accurate reporting from the media and facts tend to get lost in the jumble of dailyevents. It makes sense and it's not slanted. Jew and non- Jew it doesn't matter. Thank You. .............................................................
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E. the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
9. Arab and Jewish Refugees In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict; The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with weapons.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
16. The U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990,429 were directed against Israel.
18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

There can be no peace until Hamas
recognizes the state of Israel and stops attacking the Jewish homeland. Until then there will be continued bloodshed on both sides. (Name withheld)

These were long comments, I received shorter, terser comments as you can well imagine. What I am trying to do is to bring a different light on this terrible set of circumstances and allow for public discourse. I am a writer and as a writer my primary objective is to get people to think. I believe that I have done my job on this subject. My articles were picked up on Reuters and I know have an e-mail account that is just about at maximum. Just writing about the problems between Israel and their neighbors could turn into a full-time job. That, I am quite unprepared to do; my focus was on why the US continues to support a regime that uses force instead of mediation and why we do Story” on the mainstream media here in America.

If constant war is the goal of both sides in the Middle East, well let them have it. Our constant support of Israel without strong pressure to bring them to negotiate is nothing more than waging a “proxy war” against those we consider our enemies. Hamas nor Hezbollah are threats to the US. Maybe it’s time we began to mind our own business.

That’s the way I see it.