Did God Give the Land to the Jews?

Israel's most basic pretext for its colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine is that God gave the land to the ancient Hebrews, therefore today's Jews have exclusive right to it. Israel apologists often cite scripture to support this claim: in Genesis 17:8 God tells Abraham, "As an everlasting possession I will give you and your descendants...the land in which you now are aliens, all the land of Canaan." (For clarity, all citations are from The New English Bible). Conveniently, Zionists omit the next verse, in which God tells Abraham, "For your part, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you..." 

 

Thus, the land grant was conditional, based on the Hebrews keeping God's commandments such as "Administer true justice, show loyalty and compassion to one another, do not oppress the orphan and the widow, the alien and the poor, do not contrive any evil, one against another." (Zechariah 7:9-11). Nevertheless, the Hebrews incessantly violated God's conditions, so God punished them: "An enemy shall surround the land; your stronghold shall be thrown down and your palaces sacked" (Amos 3:11). "...and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus." (Amos 5:27). 

 

The result was foreign invasions resulting in permanent loss of the land through the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in 63 B.C. The claim, therefore, that God gave the land to the Jews is a half-truth omitting the conditions of the land grant and the Hebrews' violations thereof. Nevertheless, many of today's Zionists claim divine right to the land while continuing to break God’s commandments by stealing ever more Palestinian land, destroying Palestinian homes and livelihoods, and crushing Palestinian resistance.


By Gregory De Sylva

Singing, speaking, chanting

Dear ones,
Today, New Paltz Women In Black stood peacefully  in solidarity with the people of Palestine.  Standing in the cold with snowflakes drifting by, we spoke our truth and witnessed for the unspeakable atrocities being perpetrated upon an  innocent civilian population.  Israel has lost militarily (to Hamas,  to Hezbollah, and to the Houthis), economically (42,000 business closures & Israelis with means fleeing the country to places like Thailand), and lost morally and spiritually (the utter depravity, racism, and arrogance on full display).  

 

The Zionist entity is bankrupt on every front and the entire world can see it live-streamed.  Literally,  the only option left to Israel is to continue to slaughter defenseless civilians in Gaza and the West Bank with funds and weaponry from the US.  The State of Israel is doomed.  It’s only a matter of time before it collapses.  Unfortunately, many innocents will die gruesome deaths and endure heartbreaking suffering as Israel implodes.  There are very powerful forces in the US who are trying to suppress these truths and inhibit free speech that criticizes Israel,  but they will not succeed in silencing those who speak the truth.  Hope you are all well and hope to see you on the streets. 

 

Today’s gathering  included singing, speaking, chanting, and connecting with other peace loving members of the community.  This  WIB event was a heart warming reminder of what it means to be human.  Much love and gratitude to all who attended.  
With  peace and love always,
Eli

From Robb--

I write this during a pause in the massive destruction, during the second temporary (quasi) ceasefire imposed on Israel. The pause gives some time to reflect on what the last 15 months have created; for Palestine, for me, for us as a group Identifying as Women in Black pro-Palestinian vigilers.

I count myself fortunate to have been living in the New Paltz area in October of 2023, fortunate because of Women in Black. At that time I had just recently been dispossessed of my home, my cabinetry work shop, my gardens, all of which I had created from nothing only to have it seized by the duplicitous property-owner. When Israel Initiated its assault to destroy Gaza, I as a long-suffering friend of dispossessed Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank began feeling demoralized, as if I were alone in the world with my despair. It was a tremendous relief and joy to join with all of you, to be with people whose hearts were open to pursue justice, peace, compassion, love. Through these months and months of unfolding destruction and dehumanizing cruelty being leveled on Gaza, I have been buoyed by the unwavering faithfulness of our group here on the sidewalk. I am very grateful for the many Jewish persons among us who stand in opposition to the defiling of their faith as perpetrated by the State of Israel. I see the willingness to seek truth and love, regardless of the consequences, that permeates our ranks. I am grateful to be part of this. I look upon us as prophets, or at least emissaries of prophecy. As such we are perceived as out of the norm: strange, different, queer. But we have persisted.

Now, In Gaza, after fifteen months withstanding assaults, Palestinians by the hundreds of thousands, mostly traveling by foot, are allowed to pass through the Netsayim corridor. They return home, past razed earth and destroyed building rubble to their homes of destroyed rubble, to their schools and hospitals and water treatment plants and sanitation plants and mosques of destroyed rubble. They go in jubilant resistance, returning to set up tents of survival. But how will survival be possible when they are still the sacrificial lambs of both Israel and the U.S.?

During these 15 months of mass destruction the Biden Administration and now Trump have paved the way for enormous weapons sales to Israel. Illegal Israelisettlement through displacement of Palestinians skyrocketed in the West Bank under cover of the Gaza genocide. Donald Trump has the 100 million dollar contribution from Miriam Adelson to pay back with his pledge of allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. He also seems intent to keep on his side the powerful American Christian Nationalists who support the Greater Israel concept. Everything seems stacked against a free, liberated Palestine.

Only the world’s outrage at Israel’s brutality seems to impose any resistance. We will continue to stand in support of Palestinians' right to return to their homes; their right to freedom of movement and equal rights, whether they live in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Israel; and their human rights to food, shelter, medical care, and education as a free and proud people.

Will we be able to see clearly, what one amongst us (Alejandro, as I recall) said as he addressed us after a vigil: “that the liberation of these people is a liberation of all of us”?
Salaam alaikum.

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The Self Awareness Of Empire

The holocaust of the Palestinians is upon us. The ongoing eradication of two million people isn't really hidden, nor is the fact that the US is the major driver for the butchery. We supply the bombs and the planes to make it happen. We send billions upon billions to Israel just in case they run out of money while pulverizing hospitals, schools and apartment buildings. And we defend Israel's crimes against humanity at the UN, making sure that the killing can go on without international interference.

But what has this genocide taught us about our own society? We don't have two political parties when it come to supporting this carnage; we have only one. They can demonize each other, but would never question the slaughter in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon.

We have such congeniality within our religious community that our ministers, priests and rabbis would never mention this holocaust amongst themselves or to their congregations. That wouldn't be the sensitive thing to do, so they all agree to avoid ever bringing it up.

We have a national media that continually defends Israel's wholesale war crimes. New York Times reporters were instructed not to use the words "genocide," "ethnic cleansing" or "occupied territory" when writing about Israel's massacrers. A similar directive must have been issued for the word "slaughter" which only gets applied to Hamas and not to the Israeli army.

We have have college and university presidents who fall all over themselves not to appear critical of Israel. They fire teachers who speak or write about this holocaust. They send in the cops to physically break up student groups that are demanding an end to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

We have police departments that are more than willing to crack a few heads when students complain about free speech rights on campus. Chances are that at least some of their senior officials have been sent to Israel for "counterterrorism training." At least 1,000 top brass have taken part in such indoctrination, while thousands more have participated in US conferences run by Israeli security officials.

We have a political structure that is awash in large political donations. They are bribes, of course, like Sheldon Adelson's $20 million gift to the Republican Party that resulted in Trump moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In legal terms this is called "quid-pro-quo," the oxygen of our completely corrupted two party system. Take a peek at how much the Israel Lobby is able to give to almost every member of Congress by looking at OpenSecrets.org. So many of our representatives are paid hundreds of thousands to look the other way while children are purposely starved to death in Gaza.

Our children or grandchildren will be asking about all this someday. How is it that you let our country commit a genocide? Didn't you know that millions of women and children were being slaughtered by Israel? Were you aware? How in God's name could you have done nothing?

Fred Nagel

God gave the land to the ancient Hebrews?

Zionist Israel's most basic rationale for its colonization of Palestine is that God gave the land to the ancient Hebrews, therefore today's Jews have the right to it.  Israel apologists frequently cite scripture to support this claim. (For clarity, all citations from The New English Bible). For example, in Genesis 17:8 God tells Abraham, "As an everlasting possession I will give you and your descendants...the land in which you now are aliens, all the land of Canaan." 

Conveniently, Zionists omit the next verse, in which God tells Abraham, "For your part, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you..." Thus, the land grant was conditional, based on the Hebrews keeping God's commandments such as "Administer true justice show loyalty and compassion to one another, do not oppress the orphan and the widow, the alien and the poor, do not contrive any evil, one against another." (Zechariah 7:9-11). 

Nevertheless, the Hebrews incessantly violated God's conditions, so God punished them: "An enemy shall surround the land; your stronghold shall be thrown down and your palaces sacked (Amos 3:11)...and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus. (Amos 5:27).  The result was foreign invasions resulting in permanent loss of the land with the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in 63 B.C. The claim, therefore, that God gave the land to the Jews is a half-truth omitting the conditions of the land grant and the Hebrews' violations thereof. Nevertheless, today's Zionists presume to have divine right to the land, stealing more and more Palestinian land and crushing Palestinian resistance.         

 

Gregory De Sylva

Benefit of the Doubt

As a U.S. veteran, I have always given the benefit of the doubt to my country. The millions killed in Korea and Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s just could have been the fault of US weapons makers, eager to trade body counts for corporate profits.

And then there were the millions slaughtered in the misguided U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the previous conflicts, the invasions were all based on dirty little lies about defending our country or spreading freedom to the Third World.

But America's unrelenting butchery in Gaza has nothing left to cover its war crimes. The Palestinian children are dying with no food, no water and no shelter from the storm. The empire has decided it needs these human sacrifices for some arcane geopolitical advantage. And the savagery is now going into its second year.

We are finally coming to realize that the empire and its grubby, bloodstained ally, Israel, are the true impediments to world peace. Most countries already know this, judging by the huge numbers of UN member states that castigate the US and Israel for their ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Only the American people stand in the way of the worst genocide since the Third Reich. It is a simple choice: demand an end to our country's mass murdering of children or become part of it. Insist that our venal Congress stop accepting millions in Israeli bribes, blood money that supports this most grotesque of all apartheid colonies.

Fred Nagel

Never Again for Anyone

 

From Marcy--

The Washington Post lost the plot early in the week by writing about the hopes of Palestinians returning to the north, in Gaza.  In one video, a young man is beaming as he strides, "I can feel the breeze of the North" he says, profusely thanking god for returning him to his home. Further along a woman sits on her belongings, children clustered around her. Why is she waiting? She doesn't know. They've closed the checkpoint. No one knows why. Exhaustion and resignation etch her face, as she waits. Waits to return to her demolished home. Waits to find human remains of her loved ones.

These are human beings, that we've bombed and starved with our tax dollars. Human beings we've driven from homes and killed and terrorized with our tax dollars. And for once, one of the great "newspapers of record" dares us to see the human beings we have done this to, and know the truth. Their human lives are not worth less than the human lives of those who open and close the checkpoints. Their lives are the lives we are fighting for, in protesting Israel's ongoing apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

There is a ceasefire in Gaza, and a ramping up of Israeli state terrorism and killings in the West Bank. Armed thugs (some settlers, some in uniform) seek to drive more human beings from their homes and livelihood. 

This week marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In memory of the Nazi Holocaust I'd like to propose the following: Never Again for anyone. Never Again the dehumanization, the ethnic cleansing, the starving, the bombing, the slaughter, the terrorizing of human beings whose only crime, it seems, is existing. A persistent, breathtaking accomplishment of existing, existing despite the best efforts of the nuclear armed military superpower we fund.

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