There can be no moral equivalence between the IDF and Hamas, the latter being a designated terrorist organisation that uses women and children as human shields and the former being acknowledged as the most humane army in the world by nonetheless than Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British Army in Afghanistan.
Paul Rose
Despite this, there are a sizable number of people living in the UK – including some very senior political figures, you know who you are– that, whilst stating their non-believing and non-practicing secular credentials, still self-identify as Jews and“friends” of Israel and at the same time, actively and publicly criticize Israel’s action in Gaza against an enemy sworn, not just to the destruction of Israel,but to the killing of all Jews, wherever they live in the world.
If you area non-believing,non-practicing, secular Jew living in the Diaspora- which I am– what is left, apart from accident of birth,to make you a Jew, if not an attachment to the land of Israel?
The entire diaspora narrative of the last two thousand years is based around lamenting the expulsion of the Jewish people from Judea by the Roman’s and a longing for return to our ancient home land. We have maintained all the attributes of a nation in exile, including the common language of Hebrew and a shared set of traditions centred around the seasons in the land of our ancestors.
By openly and publicly criticising the actions of the Israeli government in trying to destroy Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure,these people are giving succor to Israel’s enemies.
If Hamas and the other Islamist fanatics in the region get their way, then Israel will cease to exist. Will these self-identifying, non-believing Jews still feel safe in their comfortable diaspora lives, I wonder? History would suggest the reverse to be true.Assimilation has never worked in the past,it certainly didn’t satisfy Hitler and there is no reason to suppose that it will in the future.Apart from the myriad achievements of the renascent Jewish state,its existence as a safe haven for persecuted Jews everywhere is reason enough to offer support, rather than denigration.
You can’t have it both ways. Either publicly renounce any connection to the Jewish people,or if you haven’t got the moral courage to do that,do us all a favour and keep your mouths shut.
Paul Rose
Paul Rose
