We are sure that Zionists, brought up in the US, will understand irony…
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Sam bahour, Ohio-born and raised Palestinian-American business consultant and a frequent commentator on Palestinian affairs, is tired of being Mr Nice.
So he asks his Jewish friends, cousins even, to indulge him and read this rant.
This article was originally published by Medium on Thu 30 Dec 2021. Read the original here.
Jews of the world, disunite…in Israel!
Stop loving Israel to death.
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Brilliant!
I can not comment on much of what Sam Bahour has to say as he knows more than I on the subject. But I have always wondered why The Balfour Declaration insisted that Jews had a God given right to the piece of land now called Israel. The argument was, I believe, that something in the Bible stated that the Jews had an ancient claim on the land then called Palestine.
If it is the case that a part of the Bible, written many centuries ago, justifies Jewish occupation of Palestine then the American Indians and Australian Aborigines have a much stronger claim on the lands stolen from them in more recent history. What happened to Lord Balfour`s “humanity” towards them?
I have heard it argued that the Jewish right to Israel is “special” that it is decreed by God but when does God involve himself in real estate?
I do not “begrudge” the Jews in their occupation of what is now Israel. If Jews want their own country why not?
What cannot be evaded or denied is that it was someone else`s country!
I can feel the pain that Sam is in writing this. He is brave, honest and prophetic Hope he has his barefoot walk soon.
In reply to Jay Henderson .
it can be proved by reading the Bible that the Jews have always had a claim to Israel !
do you remember the story of The Exodus from Egypt ?
Jay, I’m afraid that your comment errs in misquoting history: “a land called Palestine” in the bible? “Balfour declaration insisted ..” huh? “someone else’s country” whose?
And Sebastian, I doubt that one can “prove” anything by reading the Bible, however Jews’ attachment and longing for a return to Israel-Judea from which they were exiled by the Romans is undeniable. And Jay, it was the Romans that then renamed it Palestine, after the Jews’ extinct enemy the Philistines, to rub salt into Jewish wounds. That is a fact, that is history.
To Sebastian De Villiers I feel you are missing my point. How can we take everything in the bible and apply it to the present day? You claim it can be proved by reading the Bible that the Jews have always had a claim to a piece of land now called Israel. If that is the case then it can be “proved” by reading the Bible that Eve was made from Adams rib, that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. I do not wish to denigrate the Bible but so much of what is written is parable and open to interpretation! Also there is no way to deny that IF the Jews have a right to that piece of land after (thousands?) of years and claim the right to remove the indigenous population (Palestinians) then after only a few hundred years Native Americans and Australian Aborigines have the right to remove
those settlers who now occupy their traditional homelands.
If anyone were to read carefully through the bible how many hundreds of things could be “proved” by it and yes, so much of the Bible is not MEANT to be taken literally that it not a reliable guide to the secular business of land ownership. God does still not do real estate!
Also I have fully documented “proof” that my ancestors came from Norway many years ago does that mean I can walk back in and claim ancestral rights to be there and remove the present inhabitants? No! So if I cant do that why are the Jews allowed to?
Jaye I think that archaeology in the Middle East has proved that the biblical narrative was not a pie in the sky fiction.
This was evident when I watched a fascinating TV documentary, amongst others, which showed a group of eminent Egyptian scholars uncovering remarkable ancient sites.
Also read the works of famous archeologists who have spent painstaking hours uncovering the biblical narrative
Jaye I commend you to read articles published by eminent archeologists on the following website which will support what Sebastian has said.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Famous archeologists such as William.F.Allbright,William G.Dever,Phil R.Davies and E.Ernest Wright amongst many others would challenge your reply to Sebastian .
Robin, Sean, and Sebastian .. my apologies. As a practising (Orthodox) Jew and Zionist I have great faith in the Bible and am aware of how much archaeological proof there is of places and events. I was more concerned by Jay’s assertions and my comment to Sebastian was a little pedantic perhaps, saying that you can’t “prove by reading”.
Jay, the lands of the Aborigines and Indians were invaded by colonialists.
Jews are native to Israel from Biblical times and always had a resident population living there under different powers.
Jesus was a Jewish Palestinian as were his apostles, living in Bethlehem and Hebron, and walked on the shores of Tiberius.
Jews are not invaders, except for The West Bank, and have a right to the land not only because of their birthright and continual residence there, but also because of a United Nations resolution.
Jews always had a population living in Palestine so they are not foreign to that land.
What can be argued is that the settlements in the West Bank violate international law.
Thanks to Sam Bahour, who clearly knows Jews (or, at least, American Jews) so well. Made me laugh till I nearly cried.