An obituary for Sheldon Adelson by a former Israeli
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Avigail Abarbanel writes on Mondoweiss:
“I am a terrible Jew because I refuse to apply my value system selectively and submit it to the requirements or scrutiny of the tribe….
“I am a bad Jew but hopefully, a reasonably decent human being. Sheldon Adelson was a very good Jew indeed, a loyal, faithful member of his group but an ugly human being. May his soul find peace.”
This article was originally published by Mondoweiss on Thu 14 Jan 2021. Read the original here.
An obituary for Sheldon Adelson by a former Israeli
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It’s incumbent on all priests of all religions to inculcate in the infants of the ‘flock’ the belief that their tribe alone is the favourite of the all-powerful sky fairy.
Without such indoctrination reason would have replaced dogma millennia ago.
All the evils of all religions stem from that one despicable practice of propagandising defenceless innocent minds.
It is an absolute duty of those who agree with the sentiments expressed above — those who are considered by supporters of Israel right or wrong to be ‘bad jews’ — to protest openly against the denial of Palestinian rights by successive governments of Israel who claim to speak for the body of Jews worldwide. We can’t agree, even if only by implication, to be made complicit in Israel’s abuses of human rights; we can’t allow the people who share our heritage to be tarnished by this dishonorable regime as if we were a single bloc with a single mind.
In every part of the world, not least of all in Israel, there are Jews who disagree with what Israel is doing. Our voices must be added to theirs, and to the voices of people of good conscience of every nation and heritage. If the choice is to be between being a ‘good’ jew who supports Israel and a ‘bad’ one who supports human rights, then I must unapologetically choose the latter, even if it means abandoning my tribal identity altogether.
Not good enough for Heaven, too Bad for the other place.
Thank you Avigail – it took a lot of courage for you to say this
Thank you, JVL for this welcome introduction to Avigail Abarbanel. I hadn’t previously come across her and her work. Especially the collection of pieces she edited: “Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists” (2010).
Had I come across this earlier I might have better understood the torrent of anger and irrational fears – with some deliberate lying – which split the Labour Party after Corbyn became leader.
Though for me, and perhaps many others, there was a small but positive consequence of the spurious claims of institutional antisemitism. That was making the acquaintance and then reading and viewing a long list of writers, bloggers, podcasters and YouTube speakers from Avigail Abarbanel to Idith Zertal and an entire alphabet in between.
To everyone who commented,
It was kind of JVL to include my Mondoweiss piece on their site and I am grateful to all those who commented. I appreciate your support for justice and for what I wrote!
I have long thought that it is a sad statement on our society and the state of the world that it requires courage to speak up, especially when it concerns standing up for our fellow human beings. Courage is needed where there is fear. Why should any of us be afraid to speak out when it is the right thing to do and when others depend on us seeing their plight and doing something about it? I used to be afraid, two decades ago or more, but that’s long in the past now. I think it is important to say that no amount of fear I might have experienced comes close to what every Palestinian living in Israel and in the colonised WB or the Gaza strip has to live with every moment. Imagine living every day knowing that the country in charge really wants you out and that your life is not worth much. As a psychotherapist I despair at the knowledge that every child in Gaza suffers from Post Traumatic Stress. There is no excuse for this. So speak out we must. Please do!
In solidarity & gratitude, Avigail x
By no means you are a bad jew…you are a decent jew!. The problem is that you can not be a decent jew and a Zionist, or at least a Zionist that could care about the Palestinians. To a Zionist Palestinians are invisible…Adelson should be tried in the USA only because he stated that he regretted wearing the USA uniform and not the Israeli one…Anybody else would face a heavy condemnation only because of what this person said!.