We are more than a little irate around here about the Israeli government.
When Lee and Joan and the four big kids went to Israel and Jordan a few years ago they came home in love with Israel, and appalled with government. The land, people, history - all wonderful. The treatment of the Palestinians - just dreadful.
So with the latest escapades (passports and aid flotillas) we jumped at the chance to be part of the protest and rally in Brisbane last night. Attendance was poor (though not as bad as the last one we went to) but passionate and the speeches were loud and laden with vitriol.
We met in town and I was first there with Peet, Louisa and Max - and nobody cared. But as soon as Jesse and Tom arrived they were all over us - apparently I don't have 'the look'. Neither did Joan - they ignored her too. One poor woman from Socialist Alliance engaged Jesse till Jesse finally told her that she would consider herself right wing and was here only to protest the human rights violations. And that ended that conversation.
Somehow we ended up at the very front of the rally. The loudspeaker was loud (surprisingly enough) and the people behind us were angry - all of which made Louisa a bit nervous.
Most of the speakers called us comrades and there was a lot of chanting of 'Free Free Palestine', 'Gaza Gaza don't you cry, We will never let you die' 'Shame Shame Israel' and a whole lot in Arabic that was clearly not for our ears!
My favourite moment was during the speech by the Amnesty rep. He read the Amnesty press release which several times referred to Israeli Commandos. After a while Max tugged on my sleeve and asked 'doesn't commando mean naked?' Now that's an hilarious image. (It's Peet's fault - when we were on the bus to Luang Prabang he was claiming that he would sleeping commando because he had his own cabin - and we'd better not come in without knocking.)
Louisa said it annoyed her because they were 'saying that everything about Israel was bad when it is just some things' - the Justice for Palestine group could learn a thing or two from her.
We did leave a bit before the end - it was cold and we were hungry - our political activism has bounds. Dinner was a picnic outside GoMA (where we saw Wayne Amos) then home to Roger who was working and missed out.
Roger says we'll never get into Israel now because Mossad will have us on a list - I thought he was joking but there were young men everywhere with their faces covered and professional looking photographers - so maybe he's right.
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6 comments:
Max is soooo wonderful!! Peet you are SUCH a boy. But when i told everyone Max's comment none of them knew what commando meant. Strange famly I have. Caitlin said she has never been to a protest. Dad told her that we have been on the recieving end of one or two from her.
Kim, this forum is probably not the best for a lengthy explanation but I am surprised and intrigued that you feel so strongly against the Israeli government.
I keep trying to understand what exactly is going on over there and the history of everything but it seems like you need to know something about it before you can understand anything about it - and that leaves me going around in a hopeless circle.
I guess I am curious as to your opinion because coming from an LDS perspective we know that in the last days the world will turn against Israel. Well there is no doubt that that has come to pass a long time ago and just seems to get worse and worse.
What do you make of it all from a biblical perspective?
Hi Melody,
I am, of course, not at all anti-Israel but am quite vehemently opposed to many of the actions of the current (and recent) Israeli governments. However this protest was about the human rights viloations against Gaza and against the aid flotilla. I would happily join another protest against the Egyptian governement obviously anti-semetic laws about inter-marriage with Israeli Jewish women.
As I mentioned my parents and children visited Israel a few years ago which led us to increase our study about Israel and about the Palestinian issue generally. Of course, the Palestinians are children of Abraham too and are also entitled to the blessing of that covenant should they turn to Christ also.
The conditions in both Gaza and the West Bank are dreadful - there is very little opportunity for education, and very little employment. Israel has diverted the Jordan River so that the Palestinians and the Jordanians (who are doing their best to keep out of the conflict) now have only a trickle left from what was a life giving river. The fence separating Israel from the West Bank looks like a suburban back yard fence from the Israel side but from the West Bank it is 14 feet high with razor wire - the Israeli government dug out and built up land on either side of the fence so that it serves different functions depending on which side you are standing. These sort of examples are rife throughout Israel.
I am of course tremendously symapthetic to Israel and it is true that the arab states want to literally drive them into the sea. I would actually even classify myself as a Zionist - but those things are no excuse for the Israeli governement to do to others what has been done to them.
I could go on and on - and already have to an extent - and I could reccomend many interesting books on the subject (anything by Norman Finklestein is interesting - but there are others including Abraham Divided from an LDS perspective).
And we are organising a trip for FHE to the Brisbane synagogue soon - we go every time we are studying the Old Testament - and we love going there. We love so many Jewish traditions and very much support Israel's right to exist - but we question the governments methods and commitment to human rights.
We try hard to look at the prophecy contained in scripture and seperate that from the political realm - so we view the return of the Jews to Israel as the fulfilment of prophecy, but don't believe that that necessairily means they are doing everything right or even that the return took place in the way God would have chosen had He been more fully consulted.
Hope that helps. (I gather you came here via Donna?)
Kim
Hi Kim,
Sorry I have taken so long to respond to your reply. When I first read it, I wanted time to try and digest it before replying...and then forgot again until recently. Oops!
Seeing Donna today prompted me to hurry up and do the right thing and Thank You for taking the time to share all that with me.
Truth be told, it still sounds confusing to me. Sometimes I feel like I understand the Israel thing and then other times I just feel all confused all over again. It seems like such a complicated issue with all it's political and religious history.
I will have to check out those books you mentioned because I really do want to understand it all especially as it pertains to last days prophecies.
Hopefully one day I will get the chance to meet you and we can discuss it a little more face to face.
Thanks again. :-)
Oh and and just in case you are feeling a little confused....Melody and Shanny are both ME! lol
I never feel like I understand the whole Middle East - it just gets more complex the more I read! But it is fascinating and inspiring so I love to read about it.
Hope you enjoy some of the books - Abraham Divided is great - quite introductory though if you have already read a bit - let me know what you think.
Kim
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