A Brief Introduction to the Problems with Zionism

I am a Christian, and as such, quite familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament. Therefore, I am well-acquainted with God's calls to Abraham and his descendants, and the covenants and promises he made to them. The most important of these are that God would make of Abraham's descendants a great people and that he would give them the area of land we sometimes refer to as The Holy Land as their home. He would make them a light and a blessing to the nations and because of them all nations would be blessed. This seems to be where many Christians in the last century or so stop in their understanding of the Jewish people and their place in history. This has thus become a particularly thorny and sometimes divisive issue between some Christians and between  some Christians and Jews, particularly in the last 125 years or so.

This is because it has been during this time that certain individuals gained influence for their belief that Jews should still be in the lands now known as Israel and Palestine, a belief that came to be known as Zionism, as Jerusalem, the putative capital, is seen by some as being on Mt. Zion. This was initially a political agenda but when its proponents got some of the Christians on board, thanks to a contemporaneous reinterpretation of Scripture to support their beliefs, Zionism was augmented by Christian Zionism.  

This relatively recent understanding of the history of God's people within certain more conservative  or fundamentalistic branches of the Christian church sees Israel's living in this land as a necessary prerequisite for the end of history as we know it and the dawning of God's new heaven and earth. This led people of this persuasion to promote and support Israel's becoming a nation. When this happened in 1948, almost 2000 years after Israel's defeat by the Romans around AD 70, these Christian Zionists, as they have come to be called, were elated. The passage of time and some subsequent aspects of history such as what the early Israeli settlers and their Army did to the Palestinian occupants of the land at the time dampened the enthusiasm for this cause somewhat. However, when Arab nations attacked Israel in 1967 to support the Palestinian cause, and Israel handily won the famous so-called “Six-Day War” against them,” Zionism received a great boost. This thinking has continued to be fueled ever since, particularly with the ongoing and recently increasing hostilities of increasingly radicalized Muslims and the predominantly Muslim nations around Israel in the last 30 years or so.

There are a couple of points that we need to remember at this time. The first is that these promises of God to Abraham's descendants, the covenant, were always conditional. That is, there is an ‘if’ attached. This is not spelled out in every instance in which some of these promises are mentioned in the Bible and those texts are then often then misused in such a way as to make the reader forget the conditions. The condition was acceptance and belief in the one God and obedience to God's commands. We know even from their own Scriptures how many times the Jews were punished by the God the true Jews worship for their disobedience to God and the conditions of the covenant from the time they left Egypt, known as The Exodus, when the first Passover was instituted, until the great exile of 587 BC to Babylon. The Old Testament Scriptures were closed shortly after that time, so there is no such accepted and canonical authoritative source to evaluate subsequent historical events that have affected the Jewish people, e.g. the Roman defeat mentioned above, the Holocaust of World War II and even the current events mentioned above.

However, if we apply the same expectations with respect to the covenant that were repeated over and over again in the Old Testament, I think it is quite clear to see that they are certainly not being kept today. As a Christian, who believes in the same God and shares part of the same Scriptures as the Jewish people, from whence comes our Lord and Savior, I love the Jewish people. One has to look at their successes in spite of the odds against them over time and see how successful in many ways they are, as the world judges it. This makes one still wonder about their status as Chosen People, given their stature in the world. But given what follows, I think we have to leave that to God at this point and not to this detailed time-framed understanding of history that has come out of some branches of The Church since the late 19th century, known to some as ‘dispensationalism.’

The point that I want to remind some readers of, which I know is very contentious for many, is that the Christian church, by and large, and officially, seems to have taken the view spelled out by New Testament writers such as The Apostle Paul in Romans. This understanding was that, based on the teachings of Jesus and New Testament writers, Abraham's status and being the recipient of the covenant with all of its promises, including conditions, was because of his faith and that all of those who have the same faith in God, are also equally part of God's people. Essentially, the view was that The Church, whether Jew or Gentile, to use the New Testament Language, now embodied The People of God and the same promises that were given to the Jews in the Old Testament are given to The Church.

Indeed, The Apostle Paul, being a devout Jew, anguished greatly over this whole affair, as we can see especially in chapters 9-11 of Romans. However, even though he appeared to be unable to let go of the idea that God still had a special affinity for the Jews and a special place for them in the outcome of history, he settled with that on “the back burner,” as it were. This is a question that to some extent though has continued to challenge many in the church ever since. Of course, for those who espoused Zionism in the late 19th century and subsequently, there is no trouble for them. This is because they would appear to interpret the Old Testament as being equally applicable in all of its "inerrant and literal" presentation, as they would say, as to what the New Testament says. This is not how The Church over most of its history and in most of its branches understood the Bible and certainly not how Anabaptists/Mennonites have historically understood the Bible. We believe that Jesus was the ultimate representation of God and transmitter of his teachings and values and therefore try to look at the Old Testament as it appears that Jesus did. As I suggested above, this has historically been taken to mean that the promises of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants may no longer be as literally applicable as they were prior to Jesus' coming. It is not as clear at all, based on the New Testament, what the place of the Jews now is in God’s plans, if they are not Christian, as it appears to be to the Zionists, if you still interpret the Old Testament with equal weight to the new.

The Zionists like to criticize the Christians who do not espouse their views as being anti-Jew, anti-Semitic. They accuse them of being guilty of ‘replacement theology.’ Actually, the accused are just continuing to believe what the Church has understood the Bible as a whole to say since the time of Jesus. They have not adopted any new theology. The Zionists have just given traditional orthodox beliefs a new name to look as though the non-Zionists are erring and have adopted something new. This is not necessarily the case. We non-Zionist Christians are just opposed to the injustices and propaganda they perpetrate and how they let themselves be used by the Israeli state for its own purposes. We should remember that not all of the Jews in Israel even support their own government's anti-Palestinian policies. We non-Zionist Christians are just trying to  point out to our brothers and sisters that they err, often unknowingly, in being drawn into a propaganda war against Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, in the name of their interpretation of Scripture, or for their political ends. That leads me to another blog instalment about the importance of names and words used in this area. Come back for that another day.

Lament for Lifta

It was a bright sunny morning in May of this year when our tour bus left the Gloria Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem. We were climbing the hill to the west of the city on Ben Gurion Boulevard, seeing a number of stone houses on the sun-drenched hillside to our right when our bus pulled off the road at the top of the scene and came to a stop overlooking the valley with these houses on the near side.

When we got out, our tour guide explained that the houses that we were seeing below were the remnants of the abandoned village of Lifta.¹ These are the remaining homes of families who were expelled or who fled in April 1948 after the village of Deir Yassin at the top of the hill was massacred.² Interestingly, our tour guide informed us that villagers whose names began with “Deir” indicated it was originally a Christian as opposed to a Muslim village. In a bitterly ironic twist of history, the last big building left standing from the village of Deir Yassin eventually became a mental hospital.

Massacres carried out in this and other villages, even as far north as the Galilee and areas around Haifa, was enough to scare many Palestinians out of their villages, which was the desired effect of the terrorists who were active at the time of the establishment of the Jewish state. The terrorists who carried out this act had even dragged the bodies of their victims behind cars through Jerusalem to further scare Palestinians. In fact, one of their members, Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister, has stated that this massacre and evacuation of this village was a pivotal event in being able to move forward to establish the state of Israel.

It can be no wonder that Israel still faces problems with its own feelings of security when it began with such bloodshed. Indeed, as we learned even more of during our tour, keeping their people in a state of fear with the propaganda that they put out is a constant operation of the Israeli government. A Hebrew inscription on a rock at the site was pointed out, expressing the extremist ethnic cleansing views of a certain Rabbi Kahannah (?), stating "They must go," referring of course to the Palestinians.

This area is also one of the few sites of remaining clean springwater within the city. We could also see Jewish homes at the top of the hill. They often announce themselves prominently by numbers of Jewish flags and banners of all types flying from or draped from their buildings. I am not sure whether there was more of this at this time because we were actually visiting during the week when Israel was celebrating Holocaust Day, Memorial Day, when they remember fallen soldiers, and Independence Day. This area, on the peak of the hill, is now referred to as Giv’at Sha’ul.

The government has long wanted to destroy the homes, particularly now as a group of wealthy Jews from Manhattan want to turn the hillside into a housing complex with a shopping center. However, there are a number of forces opposed to this including:

1. Pro-Palestinian Jews who still seek justice for the Palestinians.

2. The Palestinian refugees themselves who now mostly live in areas of the city to the west.

3. A local architectural college which wants the buildings to be preserved because they are such good examples of unique and strong Palestinian architecture from the past.

4. Drug-users (!) who are the only individuals who now actually squat on the land because they feel it is more removed and somewhat of a safer haven than other areas of the city. We did see signs of life around some of the homes, such as more modern attachments and even a vehicle or two.

5. Orthodox Jews who believe they maintain part of their purity by bathing in naturally clean spring water once a week, so some of them like to come here to do that, at least the males.

With respect to point number one above, a Jewish historian at Haifa University wrote "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", which resulted in death threats for him and his family, with the result that they had to flee to England, where he became a professor at Exeter University. With respect to point number two above, it is encouraging to know that young Palestinians who have had enough of nearly 60 years of occupation and harassment are turning their fear into anger and speaking up for justice.

1.     Googling the words “Lifta Palestinian village” netted the writer 16,700 results in 43 seconds. The interested reader can read more at sites such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifta , http://www.haaretz.com/israel-s-last-remaining-abandoned-arab-village-lifta-gets-reprieve-as-judge-voids-development-plans-1.411447 , http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/29/ruined-palestinian-village-lifta-development ,

2.     You can read more about Deir Yassin at http://www.deiryassin.org

The writer was moved enough by the sight of this village and the hearing of similar stories throughout Israel-Palestine, that the following poem was penned a few days later:

Lament from Lifta

It sits

solidly and suitably built

centuries ago

The fruit trees bloom

and bear fruit in their season.

The birds sing and nest

and fly away in their time,

but the homes are empty; the doors are locked.

The owners share none of this

from where they languish under occupation

mere kilometres away,

or in refugee camp or foreign land

key in hand

waiting their return.

Lorne Brandt, 2016-5-16

10 Things about the Holy Land You Probably Did Not Know

Having just returned from an extensive 8-day learning tour of The Holy Land, I thought I would share with you the following:

1.    The Holy Land is comprised of two nations: Israel and Palestine. To be sure, Israel and its number one ally, the US, do not recognize Palestine as a state, but almost every other nation in the world does.

2.     The Christian Church has been present in The Holy Land since the time of The New Testament and is still very much alive there. And some of you thought it was all Jewish or Muslim.

3.   We have The Christian Church to thank for sparing the so-called holy sites, some of which are in Israel (e.g. Jerusalem and in Nazareth) and some of which are in Palestine (e.g., Bethlehem).

4.  Ramallah, the seat of government in, and Bethlehem, also in The West Bank of Palestine, have Christian mayors by law, as established by former PLO leader, Yassir Arafat.

5.     Buildings in Palestine or Palestinian areas of Israel can be distinguished by large black water tanks on their roof. This is because Israel controls the water in The Holy Land and only turns it on for Palestinians several hours a day, often beginning at 4 AM. This causes sleep problems for many Palestinian mothers who get up at that hour to do the laundry before the workday begins.

6.    The Palestinians, Jews and Christians who lived in The Holy Land since the time of Jesus coexisted peaceably for the most part until the formation of the nation of Israel in 1948.

7.     The Christian churches you see in The Holy Land today only date back to the fourth century AD/CE at the earliest.

8.   Against the wishes of Britain, who was in control of The Holy Land at the time, and the United Nations, Israeli terrorists at the time of the founding of the state of Israel, evicted the residents of over 500 Palestinian towns and villages from their homes, often at gunpoint. Despite promises given at the time, none have been allowed back home since then - 1948.

9.    There are still a number of refugee camps to house these Palestinians, e.g., in Jerusalem itself, and Bethlehem (three in that area), with all the limitations that refugee camps have with infrastructure and resources (i.e., not connected to the hydroelectric or water and sewer networks that surround them), run by the United Nations in The Holy Land, in which Palestinians have lived since 1948 when they were expelled from their homes by Israel. Some are large enough to qualify as cities in their own right.

10.  On the other hand, since 1967, when Israel took over control, i.e. “occupied” Palestinian territory, over 500 Jewish communities have been established illegally, according to international law, on these occupied territories. These are often referred to as "settlements," which for many may suggest small pioneer-type communities, when in fact many qualify size-wise as cities in their own right and have all the infrastructure and benefits of any modern city, including a network of obviously illegally built highways connecting them, which are often entirely off-limits to Palestinians, or at least only open with severe restrictions, as in “checkpoints.”