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SHABBAT, DECEMBER 26, 2003
delivered by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp
Temple Emanuel, Davenport, Iowa
"Israel Emails"
December 26, 2003

Tonight I had a very different sermon planned. It’s title was “The Rabbi Loves Christmas Movies.” And it promised to be a good one, if I do say so myself. It was all about the dual nature of the Christmas season; about how this is the time of year during which we Jews feel most apart from our Christian neighbors, yet how, when we watch those movies, we feel so strongly that which bonds us to them; those shared values of promoting human dignity and living a life of faith. O yes, it was to be a warm and wonderful sermon.

However, something happened today which redirected me to what I have decided to share with you instead. This morning, Jeff Weindruch sent me the following email:

This was not the first time I received this email, but today it seemed to grab me, so I forwarded it to those on my Israel Issues mailing list. Included on that list are the members of my Progressive Clergy Group. Much to my chagrin, I received the following reply for one of my Christian colleagues, a United Church of Christ minister, serving a congregation in rural Iowa:

“Just because the US maintains a stupid, unjust border which does not please God since we are especially adjured to welcome the exile etc... does not mean that the other stupid, unjust border ought not be criticized - the same folk who decry one, descry the other; the same folk who minimize the mercilessness of one, minimize the mercilessness of the other. There is NO inconsistency so far as I have seen- which would you promote - open or closed borders to keep out the poor, the powerless, the ‘aliens’, Henry.”

Well, needless to say, this response bothered me. But I was in the midst of my Shabbat preparations and did not have a lot of time to respond, so I knocked off the following reply:

“I can only give you a short answer right now.

“This is not a situation of equals but rather what the rabbis of the Talmud would refer to as al echat cama ve'cama, which loosely translates means, ‘if one is the case, then how much the more so the other.’

“The US fence has been established to keep out poor people looking for a better opportunity, while the Israeli fence is being erected to keep out terrorists who intentionally target and murder civilians, such as those killed yesterday at the bus stop in Petah Tikveh.

“If the U.S. feels it has the right to erect a fence to keep out those poor Mexicans looking for economic opportunity, then al echat cama ve'cama the Israelis have the right to erect a fence to keep out those who are looking to blow up our men, women, children and elderly as they attempt to go about the daily business of simply living their lives, by engaging in such activities as riding on buses, dining in restaurants, and shopping in markets.”

I continued with my preparations. But her email haunted me, for it so clearly represented that one-sided anti-Israel bias that we have had to contend with in the press, all over Europe, and from so many of those “liberals” with whom we have partnered on so many tikkun olam issues in the past. By the time I returned from lunch, I knew I had to say more, and I also knew that I had to share this interchange with you, for as Jews we cannot keep silent in the face of such attacks.

Here is the text of my extended reply:

“I just came back from lunch - and still pressed for time - but I have been mulling over your email, and I have to tell you how deeply disturbing I find it.

“You referred to the Israeli security fence as ‘that other stupid, unjust border’ and further stated ‘the same folk who decry one, descry the other; the same folk who minimize the mercilessness of one, minimize the mercilessness of the other.’

“When people speak of anti-Israelism as being the latest form of antisemitism, and they point to certain criticisms of Israel as examples, this is precisely what they are talking about. Tom Friedman said: ‘Criticizing Israel is not antisemitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction - out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East - is antisemitic, and not saying so is dishonest.’ I agree with him wholeheartedly, and your statement is a case in point.

“Why is it that when it comes to Israel and the Jews, there are those that think that when we take steps to protect ourselves from terrorists, our actions are ‘stupid, unjust, and merciless’? Is it stupid to want to be safe from having your family blown up? Is it unjust not to keep the doors wide open for these murderers to come into your communities and perform their foul deeds? Is erecting a physical barrier truly more merciless than just sending the Israeli military into the Palestinian territories with orders to do whatever is necessary to destroy the terrorist organizations and not come out until those organizations are completely obliterated, no matter what the cost in Palestinian civilian causalities? After all, if forced to make a choice, what responsible government would not choose the price of ‘enemy’ civilian casualties over civilian casualties among their own people? Yes, there are some Palestinians who have been inconvenienced, and even dispossessed by the fence, but is that not a more merciful fate than being maimed or killed - as might very well be their plight if Israel chose a military solution as its alternative? But then perhaps when it comes to the Israelis and the Jews, there are those who feel that Jewish lives are so cheaply held that actions such as erecting this fence, which save Jewish lives, are not worth the cost of inconveniencing the Palestinians who are put out by it. Perhaps Israel should just let those terrorists waltz into their homes and butcher their families rather than put out a few Palestinian farmers. Jews dying - That seems to be the most merciful and desired solution for the Middle East, at least in the sight of those who offer such criticisms as yours.

“Does it not disturb you that while you are ready to criticize Israel for doing what she needs to do to protect her citizens, you are not ready to offer any effective alternative solutions?

“Sure, you will tell me - The Israelis should dismantle that fence, abandon all those settlements, pull out of the West Bank and Gaza, and permit the Palestinians to have a state of their own, with its borders based upon the pre-1967 boundaries. Well, guess what? Israel has offered to do almost all of that on several occasions. And what has been the Palestinian response? More terrorism. Whenever peace has ‘threatened’, groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have massacred Israeli civilians as an essential part of their mission to derail any impending peace process, for the only peace that they seek is a peace WITHOUT Israel. That is not hyperbole. That is not exaggeration or an oversimplification. That is part of their very charter. That is their ‘sacred’ mission - the utter destruction of Israel.

“Then you might say - Those terrorist groups do not represent the Palestinian people, and therefore the Palestinian people should not have to suffer for the misdeeds of these radicals. However, whenever those groups commit their crimes, it is the Palestinian people who celebrate in their streets, just as they did in Shechem following the recent attack in Petah Tikveh. It is the Palestinian people who permit these terrorists to hide among them, giving them shelter and support of all kinds. It is the Palestinian people who have never taken to the streets to voice their protest against these acts of terrorism; who have never taken to the streets to proclaim that they are eager for peace with Israel and an independent state of their own and that these terrorists are not only keeping them from that goal but are the root cause of the suffering they are experiencing at the hands of the Israelis; who have never taken to the streets to call for an end to bloodshed on both sides. Indeed, it is the Palestinian people who brand as traitors and collaborators, and often murder - though they call it ‘execute’ - any Palestinians who speaks out against these terrorist groups and who advocates for a non-violent resolution to this conflict. It is the ‘elected’ leadership of the Palestinian people - the Palestinian Authority (whose very existence as an official political body was made possible by the Israelis after the Oslo Accords, in the hopes of moving the Palestinians toward statehood) - who lionize these murderers; whose schools teach children to look up to terrorists as martyrs and role models; who run summer camps in which children are indoctrinated with a hatred of Israel, Jews, and Americans, and are trained in weaponry, demolition, and in all the strategies of terrorism; whose official radio and television stations continually broadcast songs of praises for homicide bombers; who literally finance terrorist operations, as Israel discovered from Palestinian Authority official documents which were discovered in Yasser Arafat’s Ramallah compound. And it is the same Palestinian Authority which has consistently failed to declare as criminals and bring to justice those who are responsible for the promoting and perpetrating acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians.

“Therefore, do I endorse the suffering of the Palestinian people? NO. I think that their suffering is one of the great tragedies of our time. I do not know about you, but I have been to the Middle East. I have held many a conversation with Palestinians there. I have sat in their shops, drank their coffee, laughed and joked with them. I know first hand that they can be warm human beings; people I would be proud to call ‘friends.’ But I also know that a certain amount of their suffering is of their own doing, for if they arose en masse and embraced a non-violent path to Middle East peace instead of pouring out into the streets in honor of every dead murderer, this conflict would very quickly be resolved. I know that Ariel Sharon is not, nor will he ever be, a friend to the Palestinians, but as much as it was the Israelis who put him into power, it was the Palestinians who did so by their seemingly wholehearted endorsement of the terrorists among them. And I equally know that when the Palestinians demonstrate themselves to be eager for peace and willing to reject those terrorists and their agenda of violence, that the days of Ariel Sharon will draw to a close as the Israeli people will eagerly support those leaders whose vision is one of Palestinian independence and of a strong and productive Palestinian-Israeli friendship. But until that time arrives, the Israeli government not only has the right but has the absolute responsibility to do whatever it takes to protect its people from those who would do them great harm. To deny Israel that right is to deny the Israelis, and the Jews, the right to live. That is antisemitism.

“This does not mean that I give my blanket endorsement to all the policies of the current Israeli government, for I DO NOT. I mourn the fact that Ariel Sharon is the elected leader of Israel, for he is leading her down a road which injures her soul as well as her chances for peace. Indeed, I oppose the policy house demolitions. I feel that it is cruel and counterproductive. It is contrary to Jewish ethics to punish the relatives of criminals. Not having committed the crime themselves, they are therefore innocent, and to punish the innocent is a crime in itself. Besides, such actions, rather than diminish support for terrorists only serve to increase that support, as they only serve to increase pain and anger. Likewise, I oppose the policy of targeted assassinations. While it is fully within the logic of war to eliminate your enemy's leadership - and let's face it, Israel and the terrorists are at war with each other for there is no question but that the terrorists intentionally have waged a ruthless war against Israeli civilians - still, Israel has not proven itself capable of conducting this policy in such a manner as to eliminate casualties among bystanders. Every time a Palestinian civilian dies in such attacks, Israel has lost more than it has gained. As long as Israel attempts to justify the death of children with such terms as ‘collateral damage’ rather than mourn such tragedies and seek better ways to avoid their occurrence in the future, they are only blurring the lines between themselves and the terrorists they are attacking. And I know for a fact, the last thing the Israeli people want to become, and want their children serving in the military to become, is the Jewish equivalent of Hamas. And as far as the settlements are concerned, I believe that in the end, they must go. When they were started by Menahem Begin, they were a gambit intended to force the Arabs to the peace table. That gambit failed and now they have become a barrier to peace. As such, in exchange for a true peace, Israel must be prepared to give them up.

“All this having been said, you must come to understand that the Israeli-Palestinian situation is not something so simple, so black and white, as to permit a truly honest broker and observer to paint it with the broad brush strokes of ‘stupid’ and ‘smart’, ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’, ‘mercy’ and ‘mercilessness.’ As with all major conflicts, it exists in the realm of varying shades of gray, with enough guilt to go around on all sides. However, in the end, the truly honest broker must ask some very difficult questions - questions about what each side has done to bring an end to the conflict; questions about how each side has approached the value of human life; questions about their own prejudices and whether or not they apply equal standards when judging each side.

“Personally, I pray for the day when that fence can come down; a day when two states - Israel and Palestine - exist side by side in friendship and partnership; a day when Israelis will no longer have to fear for their lives every time they stand at a bus stop, or ride on a bus, or dine in a restaurant, or go to a market to do some shopping; a day when Palestinians can live in dignity in a land of their own, with a flourishing economy and a truly representative government. I know that I am not alone in this prayer; that among those who share this prayer with me you will find, not only most Jews, but also most Israelis. But until that day arrives, concerning all the things I desire about it, I know I must prioritize them. And in prioritizing them, first and foremost must come the value of human life; safety from the physical destruction wrought by a bomb or a bullet. This must come before property and before economy. And that is why I must support the erection by the Israelis of this security fence - just as I support their need for all those checkpoints between the Palestinian territories and Israel proper. In doing so, I strongly believe that I am supporting an imperfect but viable solution to the issue of terrorism which saves lives on both sides of the fence. For the alternative is the military alternative. And that alternative, if carried through to its intended end, will be bloody beyond words, especially for the Palestinians.

"’Stupid - Unjust - Merciless.’ Those are the words you have used to describe the security fence. As a Jew, those are exactly the terms I would use to describe such a response as yours. Maybe I simply see things differently than you do, for when the press reports as it did today that a homicide bomber murdered four people and injured sixteen others, you may only be seeing statistics while I am seeing friends and family. And for me, when it comes to protecting my friends and family, anyone who opposes such protection because it will economically injure others is either stating so out of stupidity or refuses to see the injustice of the of murdering my relatives, or is so concerned for the integrity of a farm that they have no mercy when it comes to the integrity of a life.

“I expect that this will upset you, and it some ways I am sorry for that for I have no desire to bring harm, emotional or otherwise, to you. But you must realize that when you advocate a position which denies my people the right to protect themselves from those who would gladly murder them, you are indeed bringing harm - emotional and physical - to them. And that I cannot silently accept.”

I wish this minister where alone in her opinions, but I know that she is not. I pray that I am not alone in my response.

AMEN

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