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"Because We Are Jews"

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 11 December 2004
15 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International


by Rabbi Mordechi Weberman

There are those who ask us why we march with the Palestinians. Why do we raise
the Palestinian flag? Why do we support the Palestinian cause?

“You are Jews!” they tell us. "What are you doing?"

And our response is very simple:

It is precisely because we are Jews that we march with the
Palestinians and raise their flag!

It is precisely because we are Jews that we demand that the Palestinian peoples be returned to their homes and properties!

Yes, in our Torah we are commanded to be fair. We are called upon to pursue justice. And, what could be more unjust then the century old attempt of the Zionist movement to invade an other people’s land, to drive them out and steal their property?

The early Zionists proclaimed that they were a people without a land going to a land without a people.

Innocent sounding words.

But utterly and totally untrue.

Palestine was a land with a people. A people that were developing a national consciousness.

We have no doubt that would Jewish refugees, have come to Palestine not with the intention of dominating, not with the intention of making a Jewish state, not with the intention of dispossessing, not with the intention of depriving the Palestinians of their basic rights, that they would have been welcomed by the Palestinians, with the same hospitality that Islamic peoples have shown Jews throughout history. And we would have lived together as Jews and Muslims lived before in Palestine in peace and harmony.

To our Islamic and Palestinian friends around the world, please hear our message —

There are Jews around the world who support your cause. And when we support your cause we do not mean some partition scheme proposed in 1947 by a UN that had no right to offer it.

When we say support your cause we do not mean the cut off and cut up pieces of the West Bank offered by Barak at Camp David together with justice for less than 10 % of the refugees.

We do not mean anything other than returning the entire land, including to Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty!

At that point justice demands that the Palestinian people should decide if and how many Jews should remain in the Land.

This is the only path to true reconciliation.

But we demand yet more. WE demand that in returning the land back to its rightful owners we have not yet done enough. There should be an apology to the Palestinian people which is clear and precise. Zionism did you wrong. Zionism stole your homes. Zionism stole your land.

By so proclaiming we proclaim before the world that we are the people of the Torah, that our faith demands that we be honest and fair and good and kind.

We have attended hundreds of pro Palestinian rallies over the years and everywhere we go the leaders and audience greet us with the warmth of Middle Eastern hospitality. What a lie it is to say that Palestinians in particular or Muslims in general hate Jews. You hate injustice. Not Jews.

Fear not my friends. Evil cannot long triumph. The Zionist nightmare is at its end. It is exhausted. Its latest brutalities are the death rattle of the terminally ill.

We will yet both live to see the day when Jew and Palestinian will embrace in peace under the Palestinian flag in Jerusalem.

And ultimately when mankind’s Redeemer will come the sufferings of the present will long be forgotten in the blessings of the future.

http://www.marchforjustice.com/Becausewearejews.php

Forum posts

  • I suppose zionists and palistiniaphobes would call Rabbi Weberman an "anti-semite" and a "self-hating" jew. American and Iraqi men, women and children are being slaughtered and maimed in the furtherance of the zionist plan, aided and abetted by the Bush regime, to weaken and balkanize the middle east in order to pave the way for a "greater israel." The zionists will not succeed with this nefarious plan that has been in the making for over one hundred years.

    • Sure, its all about "greater israel." Conspiracy theories sure are great aren’t they?

    • Especially when they happen to be true.

    • If you were to read history as it was, prior to modern-day Israel, Palestine was a British Mandate. There was NEVER a Palestinian leader until the 2nd half of the 20th century.

      In fact, prior to 1948, we read about Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews.

      Israel is a mere anchovy when you hold it up to the vast Arab / Muslim world. Enough of this Greater Israel propoganda!

      Why can there be Muslim countries & Catholic countries, but one little sliver of a Jewish state and the world cries foul!

      It’s enough already!!!

    • If all jews would go live in israel i would support it, but they dont go there. They just use it as a "plan B" escape route for the next time they get caught doing their dirty deeds. They "need" a place to go when humanity finds out the truth of jewish behavior.

    • "If you were to read history,"

      There never was a "Palestinian leader," you say? Here’s one who said, "Take courage and behave like men, ye Philistines; lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you. Take courage and fight. So the Philistines fought: and Israel was overthrown...And there was an exceeding great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen." 1 Kings, Chapter 4, 9-10

      Delenda Est Mendicium!

    • If half of all conspiracy theories are ture given the 50 50 rule, then the governemnts of the world are 100% corrupt and therefore, we can safely all stop believing in the tooth fairy, santa clause, the Bible, and Bush. And start to deal with some of the terrible things that are happening today by not believing everything that the propaganda ministry of our governemnts pumps out for us to all reassure us that they are honest and doing a good job. And start to believe what most of us already know they rarely tell it like it is.

  • Yes, and people who keep themselves informed or have contacts accross the nations know that
    there are differences between the Jewish community living abroad and the Jewish community
    living in Israel.
    Israels youngster are taught wrongly about Palestines - we try to avoid the word hate. A small
    extremist group in Israel obviously controls the political power.
    Israels soldiers are out of control like American/Britain soldiers.

    The land which belonged to palestines should be returned!

    • Finally, finally, finally......a Jew who actually sees reality. And brother/sister thank you for having the sense to say " our government is out of control, and Palestinian lands should be returned to them. Now we have so much in common....I’ve been saying this about my government too, and I can relate to you. I have been disliking the Jews because it seems they defend their indefensible government almost like robots never questioning what they do, at last I have heard meaningful words from of all people, a Jew.

    • I believe that Rabbi Weberman is an anti-Zionist, or a "True Torah Jew". These are Orthodox
      Jews who believe that the re-establishment of Israel is forbidden by the Torah, and therefore
      the Zionists have no right to impose an Israeli government upon the Palestinians. Ironically,
      this religious zealotry gives them a clearer moral compass on the issue than many liberal Jews
      who try to excuse Israeli excesses for one reason or another. For a True Torah Jew, as the
      Rabbi so eloquently expressed it, there can be no Zionism-lite, because Zionism is a problem
      for both Palestinians and Jews. Israel has never even promulgated a Constitution, because of
      the contradiction of being both a Jewish State and democratic—the only way to square the circle
      is to have no Constitution at all. Israel has betrayed even its own lofty principles and has
      become not the Paris of Jewish Culture, but an intellectual backwater with only an insatiable
      hunger for land to sustain it. I believe that the humanistic message of the True Torah Jews
      will, in the fullness of time, be proven to be correct because Israel has become unsustainable
      in its present form.

    • The Rabbi should be commended and he is not alone -there are various groups and websites that proclaim Jews against Zionism.

  • Well thats changed some of my opinions on Jews maybe they are not all bad after all. Pete in the UK.

    • A precise articulation of the character of the terms we use always helps to crystalize the idea in one’s mind. There are two concepts at work here: Zionism and Judaism. They are not synonymous. Not one and the same thing. Zionism is a political movement primarily whose proponents are mostly Jews. Judaism is a religion. It has a code of ethics and morality—something that might be missing in a political movement such as Zionism. Jews who identify themselves with the State of Israel first, Judaism after that are Zionists. Jews who identify with the moral and ethical values in the Torah and Talmud—are religious jews who may or may not be Zionists.

      What we see here is a split in the thinking of Jews about what’s more important—the State of Israel, or their ’Jewishness’. Rabbi Weberman expresses the highest consciousness Judaism has evolved into. With his attitude, there would be peace on the planet. But alas, his attitude is not the one that prevails in Israel. The world should take notice that Jews are split on this issue. This is one of the drawbacks of not separating state and religion. Hmmmm.... sounds like a problem that’s already developed in the USA. Don’t forget about half of Americans didn’t vote for GWBush—in the blue states. Do you think if all the Jews in the world could vote in Israeli elections that Sharon would be PM?

      Ghandi
      Dallas

    • Americans have always been TERRORISTS - a nation born into crime - they fueled the cold war and have a history of using foreign blood to fight their wars for them (CIA employed Afgans to fight Russians now the CIA employ them to blow up western buildings so it looks like terrorism when the real terrorists our our governments) - 1967 USA (Jews) invade Israel and steal Palestinians land then continue to steal more land and to threaten them peace will be at stake if they do not give more land up all of this is fueled by the USA because they want Global Domination (look who’s weapons are being used here - America’s just like Bin Laden Bush’s friend uses and Saddam Hussein used when he was told which country to attack by the USA) - always have had they want a one worl dgovernment so they can enslave us all there will be no nations divided all will be ruled by the Nazi elite.

      To stop all of this we have to take action - take back our countries and make sure the guilty are held accountable this time - or history repeats!

  • To Rabbi Mordechi,

    A question?
    Do you, as a believer in the Torah, also support the more secretive Talmud?
    I ask because, as you know, these two are diametrically opposed to each other.

    Thankyou.