David Zeit, UWI’s executive director, explains why the Jewish Nation should no longer tolerate an Islam-inspired ‘Identity Holocaust’.
David Zeit, Executive Director of United with Israel
Car intifadas, stabbings, murder, acid spraying and all brutal forms of terror.
The wave of violence that has recently brushed across Israel like wildfire is a calculated link in a very carefully planned chain that began decades ago and is linked to an even longer chain that spans centuries. In trying to determine the cause of this recent wave, international media outlets and government officials have attributed the violence to a wide array of causes. From “lone wolf” acts to the “decentralization” of terror empires such as Al Qaeda, no one has really been able to put their finger on the smoking gun. The truth is, the smoke has long evaporated and its molecules are already embedded in the oxygen of Radical Islam in general and the Palestinian Authority in particular.
Terrorists are not created overnight. It takes years and years of education and indoctrination. Look no further than the Palestinian Authority’s school curriculum, their children’s television shows, even the “moderate” Fatah Facebook page. They are outwardly and brazenly demonizing Israel, calling for the murder of Jews and indoctrinating their children with hate and pride in murder. They are infusing xenophobia into the collective minds of the next generation.
One of the stated objectives of the Palestinian Authority, which started years ago with Yasser Arafat and continues today with Mahmoud Abbas, is to write a Palestinian history that will not allow (historically) for the existence of any other people in the Land of Israel. This process began immediately after the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Conference of Palestinian Historians. They audaciously deny that a Temple had ever existed on the Temple Mount or that Jews are indigenous to the Land of Israel.
Revisionist History Doesn’t End with the Jews
Muslim revisionist history doesn’t end with Jews and Judaism. It extends to the rest of the world as well. Whether it be a Muslim discovering America or Jesus being a Palestinian, the motives are only one brush stroke of a larger and broader painting that depicts a world caliphate. Radical Islam’s ultimate masterpiece is a world united under the banner of Islam. And it’s time to call a spade a spade. The easel is standing erect. The palette is in hand. The portrait has already taken shape.
We can no longer sacrifice our identity on the altar of political correctness for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. What about our own sensibilities? What about our own identity?
I cannot speak for others and certainly not for other religions. However, I personally believe that the Jewish answer to this Identity Holocaust is to stand up in the face of this attempted historical genocide and to declare the truth.
Eleventh-century scholar Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (known as Rashi) is perhaps the most prolific commentator on classical Jewish texts, most notably the Bible and the Talmud. In his opening commentary on the Bible, Rashi plays the role of advocate for the State of Israel and the Jewish People. Rashi quotes a Midrash (Classical Jewish lore) which describes the Jewish response to the claim by the nations of the world that the Jewish People have “stolen” the Land of Israel and offers the following reply:
“…The strength of His deeds He has declared to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations (Psalms 111:6). If the nations of the world say to the Jews, ‘You are thieves, for you conquered the lands of the seven nations,’ the Jews can respond: ‘the entire world belongs to the Holy One Blessed be he. He created it and gave it whom He saw fit. He willingly gave it to them, and He willingly took it away from them and gave it to us.”
Stand Up for the Truth
When analyzing this text, one can discuss a variety of topics. I personally would like to focus not on a singular topic, but on a singular word (in the original Hebrew, even though it is two words in English). When writing Psalms, King David chose his words prophetically, if not carefully. He did not write: “The strength of His deeds He has declared to the nations.” He wrote: “The strength of His deeds He has declared to His People.”
If we, the Jewish People, are not convinced that the Land of Israel belongs to us;
If we, the Jewish People, do not stand in the face of all our delegitimizers and openly declare – without apologizing, without hesitation and without a sense of insecurity – that we are the only nation that is indigenous to this land;
If we, the Jewish People, do not believe it ourselves, then how can we expect the nations of the world believe it?
An Identity Holocaust is taking place in Israel today. Yet not for the first time, the victims either deny it or believe they are too weak to stand in defiance. But there is nothing to fear. To stand in defiance of the rewriting of Jewish history is a victory for truth and the resurrection of our identity.
Written by David Zeit
Executive Director, United with Israel