ARTICLE: Israel’s Violent Rule Increasingly Driving Liberal American Jews on to the Streets
A famous rabbi once taught that the heart of the life-giving Jewish Law was to love God and to love your neighbor. He went on to provocatively suggest that someone that acted out of compassion to relieve another’s suffering, at the cost of their own safety and resources, was being a true loving neighbor. At the time, he juxtaposed the actions of the religious against a Samaritan. If he told it today, for the same effect, it would be called the Parable of the Good Palestinian.
What we’ve realized is that on the one hand the American Jewish community teaches its people about the values of social justice, of looking out for your neighbor – and on the other hand there are large institutions that do a lot of work to support and uphold the occupation. And that’s a hypocrisy that we’re no longer willing to accept. We know that we have to put our values first.
Let’s also make explicit that American Evangelicals that are “pro-Israel” aren’t really supporters of the nation of Israel, the worldwide Jewish community, or Judaism as a religion. They believe Jewish people that don’t convert to Christianity are all going to Hell. Their support does not come from their morals nor faith. It is completely self-serving. They just want to be raptured away and they believe that the nation of Israel and Jerusalem being restored are real events (along with an actual red cow sacrifice) that needs to happen before Jesus comes to take them away. In the same “end times” interpretation of the Book of Revelations (or the fictional Left Behind Christian novels) it does not end well for Jewish people.
This is sadly totally consistent with the Trump-loving White Evangelicals who have an “as long as I got mine” attitude regarding everything, regardless of cost or collateral damage, whether they are talking about personal salvation or their tax cut.
The same person they are waiting for to come and rapture them away said to love your neighbor, and to love your enemy.
No Simple Answers 