This series is about Israel’s policies in Gaza. I think they’re so unconscionable that I can’t believe they’re up for debate even among Jews — and yet they are. Instead of criticising Israel, I invite you to explore the basis and consequences of a pro-Israel’s-policy view. I’m not naive about changing minds but gotta try. This is for you if you: (1) support Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank (2) consider Palestinians and Israelis to be equally human, their lives equally valuable and (3) don’t consider Jews to be a superior race.
Part 1|Part 2|Part 3|Part 4|Part 5|Part 6|Part 7|Part 8|Part 9
The idea of Jewish supremacy has been an ever-present part of Jewish history. It’s been the battle cry accompanying pretty much all anti-Semitism (whether systemic and individual). The Jews think they’re a master race; they think they’re better than everyone; they want to take over the world; they control the world. It’s been the cause of a lot of conspiracy theories and it’s influence lot of actual people in committing atrocities.
It’s also true that there’s a historic undercurrent of Jewish supremacy in Jewish culture (not that anti-Semites accurately report on it). Orthodox Jews still thank YHWH daily for not making them a goy. The famous Talmudic quote that “whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved the whole world” actually has “a life in Israel” in the original. The testimony of non-Jews is not accepted. And much of the bible consists of YHWH saying how he loves Israel more than any other nation, how they’re the chosen nation, a light unto nations and so on. (When he’s not smiting them.)
I’d say most thoughtful Jews recognise this as a problem. Some of these ring hollow to me, like the insistence many Orthodox have on reconciling everything. But many other Jews are simply willing to reject those parts of the tradition and work towards something a little more inclusive.
Even those Jews tend to rarely apply the same filters to Israel. Which makes sense based on the context described in the previous post: the idea of loving Israel is taught at an early age. Perhaps it’s stronger than religious instruction because religiosity is often viewed as a burden imposed from outside. Whereas Israel is this place you go to as a child to have experiences in and then as a young adult to have a good time in Tel Aviv nightclubs and whatnot.
You can see the ideological exceptionalism in most talking points about Israel, but the one that I find most telling is that it’s “the only democracy in the Middle East”. Firstly it’s just not true — what about Turkey and Iraq? And if the response is that they’re flawed democracies, that’s putting the cart before the horse. Since if the two-state solution is in fact inequitable then this means that there’s never been a democratic election in Israel, just like the first elections in Australia that could come close to being called democratic started in the 60s.
But it’s the underlying premise that’s particularly offensive. It’s suggesting that Israel needs to be thought of as special because it’s apparently surrounded by such horrible countries. “At least we’re not like those savages!” Why would that be the reference class except as one chosen specifically to make Israel look better, to set up really low expectations and then “exceed” them?
The only way to get to a soundbyte like that is if you start with the absolutely unshakeable conclusion that “Israel is right no matter what” and work backwards from there. To truly commit to the idea that Jews aren’t an intrinsically superior race, you have to apply this all the way down. Your prior probability of (say) an IDF spokesman giving an accurate portrayal of what happened during Protective Edge should be no different to a Sri Lankan Armed Forces spokesman giving an accurate portrayal of the LTTE’s last few days.
There are many actions that both the IDF and Hamas are accused of (eg. targeting civilians) where the argument defending the IDF ultimately boils down to: The IDF is justified because it is just/intrinsically moral (because Jewishness) and since Hamas is intrinsically evil, they are in the wrong. Of course this is Jewish supremacy. Without it, I think the interpretation of all the events changes drastically.
Next post, we’ll see what that means when looking at racism in Israel
Part 1|Part 2|Part 3|More to come
Yep, comments are closed. There are plenty of other venues to respond that don’t involve me paying to host pro-IDF rhetoric. I must be a coward and an enemy of Freeze PeachTM. What am I afraid of???
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