Last Bullet In The Chamber

(A Bridge Too Far series)
(PLUCK series)

(Every Word Has The Power To Wound)

No matter how well I articulate my position on Palestine and Israel I will always be seen as a "Zionist". Of this much I'm certain.

Religion is a vile and despicable construct that has served no other purpose but to divide those G-d created so much alike. Poison from the lips of imams and scholars has taken it's toll upon the moderates' minds. Venom that drips like honey, so as to hide it's bitter ends, flows from those who claim to preach peace in the name of a G-d that has apparently turned His gaze away. Their decorated temples and houses of thieves bring in the sheep to the slaughter. Yet a devout mass makes no attempt to question their masters as they raise the axe above their bowed heads.

Yes, I will always be considered a vile and ill-mannered "Zionist". But not because I hold organized religion in such contempt. No, I am "the enemy" because of my lack of apologies for supposed sins I have never once committed.

For it is not Islam that I hate. It is not Judaism which I hold such abhorrent views of. It is the perverse twisting, the manipulating, of faith in the name of politicized religion. This placement of an imagined devotion to a religion rather than the G-d it allegedly is supposed to serve. This is the source of my discontent.

On the battlefield for the survival of Israel or the "reconquista" of Palestine the main line of battle forms along religion. It is across this barrier that the two sides use the propaganda they have been fed as they release volley after volley of hate filled rhetoric. Yet both claim to be after peace? Both sides claim to be hanging their hats beneath the banners of religions that preach love and yet this is where they decide to mount their attacks from?

All my life my faith has been at war with the religion to which it is supposed to belong. Under the mislead guidance of "men of G-d" I have had to bow my head. Years of internal combat finally broke the shell and released my repulsion with every pit of snakes we so elegantly call houses of G-d. No longer could I tolerate the manipulation of holy words to serve the desires of a few. No more could I tolerate the lies that come with crosses, crescents, or stars.

For years now I my faith has been signified by the kippa atop my head. My only temple to which I retreat is that of the shadows beneath the cover of my tallit. For my faith does not need a scholar, a rabbi, an imam, or a preacher. My G-d does not need a church, a temple, or a mosque in which to confine me. My brother, my akhi... my sister, my ahoti... these are not confined by those who pray to G-d by the same name as I. The world is my alter and the persistent service of my fellow man my religion.

This is faith.

Faith cannot be used to strike at another with hollow attempts at advancing ourselves. It leaves us defenseless before the world. It places us in a state of servitude to those who most need it. In faith we step out onto a battle field where everyone carries loaded guns. Yet faith offers us nothing with which to fire back.

When we use religion to attack one another we are void of the faith to which we supposedly cling. Religion provides us a series of ritualistic defenses to hide our vulnerability. It shelters us amongst a multitude so that we become faceless... nameless. We become Muslims... Jews... we however do not become unique.

Unique talents of the individual are only highlighted in organized religion if they serve the desires of those pulling the strings. These talents that would otherwise be valuable contributions to mankind as a whole are hoarded for the selfish advancement of a few. Thus creating in situations like that in Israel an arm race of sorts that utilizes man as ammunition rather than valuing us for who we are.

The most damning part of religion playing a role in Palestine and Israel's conflict is just how effective it really is.

Through the application of "the Jews" as a blanket statement a political statement implicates not just Israel but an entire religion as a whole. The interchangeable use of Zionist with that of Jew or Jewish makes this connection between politics and faith that much more difficult to break. By utilizing these words, this ammunition, the words of a few place an entire people within the cross hairs.

No matter how moderate or rebellious the individual might be these few words can trigger a reaction based on religious devotion rather than one that might arise out of faith alone. For my faith would guide me to look beyond the words alone and toward the pain from which they originate. And yet the sting of being implicated with the masses instead of being taken as an individual brings forward only hostility. And this is from where a person will draw their reaction to such blanket statements.

For every time that I take up the position to defend Palestinians' most basic of human rights there will always be this familiar sting. As long as there are those who would defend their religion in spite of those who might otherwise align with them... I'm nothing more than a supposed "Zionist". It is this familiar sting that drives many back to the trenches their religion has dug for them and off the position their faith has guided them to hold.

This is the miserable reality of religious perversion on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Entire masses so eager to die for a flag designed for them not by G-d but by the hands of perverse leaders. This is what breaks the heart of a G-d who lives not in Jerusalem but rather in the soul of every man.

Another Brick In The Wall

Breaking Through The Noise... Violently
(A Bridge Too Far Series)

In the 1930's the German people were sucked into a political ideology that knew no boundaries. Religion that they thought they knew was abolished and replaced with a rabid form of Christianity that the world was far from prepared for. It was so vile, so perverted, that even those who first thought they knew what they were buying weren't ready for what came next. They were sold a bill of lies that was prepared for them by a man, by his cronies, with no discernible faith of his own. In affect, it was the abolition of faith. It was the creation of a new world to which my family did not belong.

From the mid 20's Hitler had begun leaking his hate filled propaganda into the mainstream of German society. Rejected at first, Hitler didn't back down. With a relentless perseverance the architect of the Holocaust began to lay the foundation for his master plan. With every drop of his poison the well from which the German people drank became even more bitter. Yet the taste of taste of the antisemitic taint wasn't stopping the Germans from lapping it up.

The end result was a German society that was not just complacent in the Holocaust but a society which fought tooth and nail to defend the destruction of European Jews. When faced with the opportunity to abandon the Nazi's ranks the German people routinely decided to take up their rifle and fight to maintain the status quo. It took decades of dealing with their sins before the majority of German citizens would even admit that what they helped Hitler accomplish was wrong.

 

"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."

~ Adolf Hitler

This path to power is a well traveled one. A dictator doesn't take control through force that often. It is most often accomplished through coercion and feeding the poison with some honey. In the case of the Germans the honey was a long standing strain of antisemitism that had predated Hitler. The long history of Europeans scapegoating Jews was a strong cornerstone for Hitler's propaganda. It wasn't a far leap from England's 13th century expulsion of the Jews to Spain's Inquisition. All Hitler had to do was follow the cobblestones upon which his predecessors had built. 

Today the long history of European antisemitism is clearly visible in the Middle East. Where Hitler had made progress with a German audience the dictators of Arab societies find inspiration. When Goebbels depicted Jews as rats the world ignored it. When Arab cartoonist depict Jews as rats the world once again ignores it. When the Nazis spread the image above depicting Jews as a giant spider drinking the blood of "non-Jews" the world looked the other way. When Arab artist depict Jews as spiders in the scarfs of Hamas guerrillas and make cartoons depicting blood libel... well the world once again looks the other way. 

The cartoons are often childish and make no distinct argument when standing on their own. But that is the reason Hitler liked this form of propaganda. It allowed the viewer to cast their own bias upon an image that was characteristic of party policy. It allowed a bond to be formed through playing to the emotions of the audience rather than encouraging intellectual debate. This was the method of Nazi propaganda because it doesn't permit the viewer to think for them self. Instead it desires to replace the thoughts of the individual with the suggestions of the masses. 

Over time the hatred for a targeted group (either ethnic, religious, or political... ext) can be built up by allowing the viewer to assume that they have control. Yet over time the control of the audience's thoughts and emotions is handed over to the regime. Through the power of suggestion the party is able to replace the citizen. Through the power of playing to the least common denominator the group commits it's first murder... the death of the individual. 

Goebbels was a master at murdering the senses of the individual. Portraying small crowds as giants in the minds of the onlookers he was able to make the individual believe that their life would be made meaningful if only they succumbed to the influences of the masses. When Goebbels finally did have enormous audiences to film he turned the tables and began to depict the minority. Switching the bait, Goebbels knew that the individual was already dead to their own senses. All Goebbels had to do was mold the bricks so that they would fit into Hitler's plans. 

Once the bill of lies was sold there was no turning back. Hitler could build up his empire with a nation of useful idiots. What had once been a nation of individuals was now a country of numb (scared) masses. They would act as one. They would kill as a group. This was Hitler's pack of wolves now. Those who would not fall in line were subjected to cannibalism. Like dogs, the weak were made to roll over so that their throats could be gashed. Nazism is a brutal ideology in this light. 

Both Israel and Palestine have toyed with the art of recreating the sins committed by Goebbels. Neither can hide where they have played the role of propagandist. While Israel attempts to erase the individualism of the Palestinian the Palestinian Authority attempts to dehumanize the Israeli all together. Settlers, occupiers, invaders... Terrorist, jihadist... the hate between the two states is more than just a war of words. It is a vile contempt for the existence of the other.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin

In Israel the state is more open about it's propagandizing. Painting the settlements as vital to the security of the state the creators of this propaganda play to the fear of losing security... the lack of control. While here in America we are often prompt to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin we too get sold that same lie time and time again. For Israel however the fear of insecurity is rather real and palpable. It is highlighted every time a rocket comes over the border. And it is for this reason the propaganda that is created to capitalize on this fear is so effective. 

As long as Israel is capable of being manipulated into selling it's morality and liberties for the belief that tyranny will somehow bring security they will have to live with insecurity. There is not a population of people on the planet that would tolerate the police state like presence that has been imposed upon the people of the West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem, or Gaza. Barbed wire, concrete walls, landmines, and trenches don't make good neighbors. In the case of Gaza, fences don't make good ones either. 

If Israel is to find safety in the face of a foe that has threatened it for so long they will ironically have to soften their appearance. A human being is not designed to trust another when they have to look at them through barbed wire. It is just that simple. 

Yet at the same time Palestine has to break with it's long history of propaganda against the "Jew". If it is to exist in any form it will have to distance itself from groups that would paint the descendants of Holocaust victims as modern day Nazis. This slur, above all others, is the quickest way to bring back up the bricks and build back up the walls. There is simply no rationalizing with a people that would pick at old wounds till they can draw fresh blood. 

However cantankerous these past few paragraphs may have come across they are just the tip of the iceberg. The decades of propaganda must be deconstructed. The lies that have been woven into the fabric of Israel and Palestine must be pulled apart thread by thread. If they are not there will never be a lasting peace. We are not designed to forget what has not been banished from the present. As long as one of the two is ready to rehash past offenses there will be no moving forward. The grudge can't be our building block for a common future. 

In future post these lies will be picked apart without relent. For these are issues that have created some of the most heinous crimes of our time. These are the lies that have pitted brother against brother. These are the lies that have led us to kill Abel over and over again. For this reason we will painfully rip them apart and uncover that which they were designed to hide. We will explore why the history of two peoples has been slandered to the point that most can't recognize their own past. We will discuss why the state and the stateless are at war with one another. And we will take a brutally honest look at the resulting atrocities of this conflict. 

We ask that you stick with us. We ask that you leave your bias behind and join us as we attempt to walk through this field of landmines. We ask you to do what our predecessors have failed at... leaving the partisan ranks and walking out under a white flag. 

Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis... those titles don't matter to us here. We will not be just more bricks in the wall that divides us. Are you ready to stop being lied to?