Messianism

It is generally understood that Religious Zionism  (at least the kind espoused by Rav Kook, and which has dominant since at least 1967) is messianic at its roots and acts as such.

What is less clear is the role messianism has (and is) playing in mainstream secular Zionism. Witness the letter below. It was written by then Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to then Housing Minister Mordechai Bentov. The date is June 24 1967 -  3 days before the Israeli Government formally annexed East Jerusalem (and 70 sq km of surrounding territory.) We don't have Bentov's communication to which Eshkol is responding, but one can fairly imagine that Bentov is dragging his feet on having his ministry draw up the technical maps and additional documents that would be needed for the formal annexation. (Bentov is from the left wing Mapam party, so it would not surprise that he might have qualms about the annexation - though in the end Bentov and Mapam voted for it.) Clearly, Eshkol is impatient with Bentov's deliberate foot dragging and/or excessive care in preparing the needed paperwork.

To: The Minister of Housing
From: The Prime Minister 

You can imagine that I know a bit about creating new townships, and the distinction between founding a town and baking bread is clear to me. Yet even bread rolls need to be baked properly, but sometimes they're baked hurriedly as our fathers baked on their way out of Egypt. ...

History will forgive us if we miss by a centimeter or two, and it won't be important. I took umbrage at the complacence in your words when you said that there's no hurry, ... The reality is that the ground is burning under our feet and any delay could cause us to miss the footsteps of the Messiah. 

Sincerely 

Levi Eshkol

(source: here) 

"... the footsteps of the Messiah" !!  Eshkol is a secular social democrat - the crusty head of Mapai - who, as he has alludes to, has spent the past decades founding new moshavim, kibbutzim and development towns first as Minister of Agriculture, then Minister of Finance, and finally as Prime Minister (a position he had held for 4 years when this letter was written.) He opposes religious legislation and shows few signs of religious observance in his personal life. What does he mean when he says "any delay could cause us to miss the footsteps of the Messiah."

I offer four theories:

1. Its just a fanciful literary allusion to Jewish tropes. Like the reference to bread "baked hurriedly as our fathers baked on their way out of Egypt."
2. He really believes in the Messiah - or at least the classical Jewish Messianic era. At some level he remains a religious Jew.
3. He believes - not in a religious messiah - but "the arc of history" in which the Jews, and their return to sovereignty in the Land of Israel - plays a significant role. In this sense he is in the tradition of Hegel and Marx, who also believed in "the arc of history" and the special role of various groups and/or ideas. (Christianity in the case of Hegal, and the Proletariat in the case of Marx.) This is also not far removed from the theology of the Reform Movement.
4. Messianism is a useful metaphor in Zionist polemics, and Eshkol has gotten so used to using it, that it just flows out of him - even in a letter to an avowedly hard core socialist political colleague.

I personally believe that 3 and 4 are closest to the truth here.

Two additional thoughts in this regard:

Modecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, also believed in "the arc of history" - or at least the inevitable march of human civilization towards "progress". But he emphatically rejected any special status or pre-determined role for Jews. Whatever role we play is strictly based on our own choices he believed, and Jews are just as capable of playing a role for good as for bad.

Margaret Thatcher once said (and I paraphrase): All politicians must use metaphors to explain and persuade. The danger is when they start to believe in them.

Interesting Stats

Here are some interesting statistics.

There are approximately 14 million Jews in the world. That's just 0.2% of the world population. Moreover the average age of Jews (36) is 8 years higher than the world average age, so Jews are less likely to experience as much natural population growth as the general world population. (Message to young Jews - adopt non-Jewish children !)

Only 41% of Jews live in Israel.  (Not "just over half" as has been generally reported for a while now.)

27% of the world Muslims live in a country where they are a minority: this as opposed to 13% of Christians and 3% of Hindus. (So how is it that the common trope is that Muslims don't know how to live as a minority, and insists on ruling everywhere they live?)

(Source: Pew as reported on Ynet)

There's No Business Like Shoah Business

Indeed, the Shoah Business has been very lucrative for Marvin Heir, founder and "dean" of The Simon Weisenthal Center. His annual salary of $721,000  (not counting benefits) is 2.5% of the entire budget of his organization. It is also the 2nd highest salary of any "Jewish professional" anywhere.  (Only Yeshiva University president Richard Joel makes more. But then he oversees and budget of nearly $1 billion and a staff of over 6000. The SWC by contrast has a mere $27 million budget, and 120 employees.)

Not far behind Heir, is Abe Foxman of the ADL, pulling down $625,000.

Good to see some folks have made out well from all this. Max Bialystock would be proud.

(Source here.)

The Israeli Legal System Is Crumbling

Five settlers who were convicted as part of a plea bargain of running a "war room" to track IDF movements and block any potential action to demolish illegal outposts will be given light sentences: three to five month in prison for two, and fines for the others. (See JP here.) The accused were charged with providing to others military information about the IDF, conspiracy to commit a felony, disturbing law enforcement. This, in relation to an attack against the Efraim Brigade base in December 2011. During that attack, 50 activists shocked the country by storming the IDF base, assaulting the deputy brigade commander, burning tires, spreading nails on a road and throwing stones and paint bottles at vehicles.

Five months! For planning an attack on an IDF base!

In Tel Aviv, a person charged with throwing fire bombs into 8 residences housing African migrants, took a plea bargain to merely being an accomplice to the fire-bombings. He will serve six months of community service. (See Haaretz here.)

Community service for a fire-bombing!!

Meanwhile, Anat Kamm, who leaked IDF documents to Haaretz showing that senior commanders authorized targeted killings - in direct contradiction to Israeli Supreme Court rulings - is currently serving 4 and a half years in prison.

The Israeli courts are bowing more and more to rightist pressure. The vaunted liberal Israeli legal system is crumbling before our eyes.

Lets Say It Again: Israel's Settlement Project is Illegal

An important reminder of exactly why Israel's settlement project in the West Bank is - in addition to everything else, also -  illegal, appeared in Ynet today

In brief, because:

The West Bank was never annexed to Israel's sovereign territory ... it is under Israeli military rule. Military rule means that the state holds the territory only as a trustee.International law clearly determines that Israel can use the territory only to provide for the needs of the local population or to serve its military and security-related needs.

International law clearly states that the occupier must manage state resources (land, water, mineral rights, etc) within occupied territories for the sole benefit of the occupied population.

Of course if Israel wanted to annex the territories (and give the Palestinians residents living there Israeli citizenship) than it would be a different story. But it doesn't.

Read the full story here.

Just So We Don't Lose Track

Just so we don't lose track by the next time Gaza heats up enough to make it into the main stream media,  here is a list of 15 ceasefire violations committed by Israel forces since the Nov 21 ceasefire.

11/22/2012

"Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late Thursday after he approached a fence on the border, medics said." (Read more)

11/25/2012

“Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, lightly injuring one man, a Gaza medical official said.” (Read more)

11/26/2012

“Two people were shot by Israeli forces east of Rafah on Monday, a health ministry spokesman said, in the second consecutive day of shooting along Gaza's border.” (Read more)

11/28/2012

“Israeli forces detained nine fishermen off Gaza's north coast on Wednesday, a local official said. As part of a ceasefire to end Israel's recent eight-day war on Gaza, Israel agreed to allow fishermen to sail six nautical miles off the coast of Gaza instead of three, which had been the limit under Israel's siege” (Read more)

11/29/2012

“Israeli military vehicles crossed near the al-Qarara town northeast of Khan Younis on Thursday in a new breach of the Gaza ceasefire, a Ma’an reporter said.” (Read more)

“On Wednesday Israeli forces shot and injured seven Palestinians near the border in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. Seven people were shot at east of al-Maghazi and al-Bureij refugee camps and transferred to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. One man sustained serious injuries, medical officials told Ma'an.” (Read more)

"Earlier, 27-year-old Hassan Ahmad Nseir was shot by Israeli forces near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip while collecting iron and gravel, medics told Ma'an." (Read more)

11/30/2012

“On Friday, 11 Palestinians sustained wounds by Israeli fire along the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel." (Read more) 

12/01/2012

“The Israeli navy on Saturday stopped 13 Palestinian fishermen and detained them off the coast, a Gaza official said." (Read more)  

12/02/2012

“An unexplained explosion in the central Gaza Strip injured three people on Sunday morning, a medical official said.” (Read more)  

“A young Palestinian man died late Friday of wounds he sustained hours earlier by Israeli gunfire east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” (Read more)  

12/03/2012

"Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian teenager on Monday near a border fence area of central Gaza, medics said." (Read more)

12/10/2012

"Witnesses said Israeli military vehicles crossed the border into the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis on Monday morning." (Read more)

12/14/2012

"A young Palestinian man was shot and injured Friday evening by Israeli soldiers east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials said." (Read more)

12/16/2012

"A Palestinian man was shot in the chest by Israeli forces near the Gaza border on Sunday, witnesses said." (Read more)

12/17/2012

"Israeli naval forces shot and wounded a Palestinian fisherman in waters off the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, sources on both sides said." (Read more)

12/18/2012

"On Tuesday morning, a number of Israeli military vehicles invaded the eastern part of Khan Younis to the south of the Gaza Strip." (Read more)

12/21/2012

"Israeli forces shot and injured five Palestinians on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip, a health ministry spokesman said. Ashraf al-Qidra said five Palestinians were hospitalized with moderate wounds after being shot near the border with Israel. " (Read more)

(source: here)

Gone From Among Us

"Then, among the obituaries, one that stuns you"  - Ran Cohen

(original here.)

Israel's Military Doctrine Remains "Massive Damage"

No one should be surprised when Israel is accused of "disproportionality" in its military operations. Though international law may require that defensive wars be "proportional", Israel has never accepted this principle. Starting in the 1950's (see examples here and  here) Israel's military doctrine has been to cause massive damage to the enemy, both to bring a quick end to immediate hostilities, but more importantly to make the enemy think three times before "starting up" again. Already in the 1950's, Ben Gurion was very clear that this is the essence of Israeli strategy when he said,

"We do not have power to ensure that the water pipe lines won't be exploded or ... to prevent the murders of families while they are asleep, but we have the power to set a high price for our blood, a price which would be too high for the Arab communities, the Arab armies and the Arab governments to bear."

An article in the Jerusalem Post shows that nothing has changed in this regard.

... the IAF is sticking to the Ben Gurionesque doctrine of causing massive damage to the enemy and bringing the conflict to an end rapidly. Unfortunately, Ben Gurion's principle of taking the fight to enemy territory can only be partially achieved these days, with the Israeli home front under a heavy rocket threat. 

But short spells of fighting can be achieved, through hitting the other side hard - far harder than the damage Hamas absorbed in November. "The ...[next Lebanese war] will be very different," the source said. "It will be far more intensive." The source warned that the era of 'knockout victories,' in which enemies raise a white flag and surrender, has long passed. In any future conflict, rockets will be fired into Israel until the last day of the conflict. But afterwards, Hezbollah will have to "get up in the morning and explain to their people why they brought destruction to Lebanon," the source said. 

That's what happened to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which, despite its many shortcomings, caused such damage to southern Lebanon that Nasrallah has still not been able to repair all of it, six and a half years on. In any future clash, the damage will likely be far more extensive.

This, in fact, may be an effective strategy in the short run. Shell shocked Arab populations may indeed insist that their leaders maintain a low military profile re Israel. But it also assure that those populations will only increase their hatred of Israel, and increase - rather than decrease - the long term prospects for conflict, and make it, when it comes, a more bloody conflict at that.

In addition, one also has to ask: What is the essential difference between this strategic doctrine and terrorism? Both aim to force positions on the political/military leadership by terrorizing the civilian population into forcing their leadership to "give up".