CALL OFF YOUR GODS

THE IDEA THAT JEWS HAVE A GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO THE LAND IS RIDICULED BY PEOPLE WHO ACCEPT THAT MUSLIMS HAVE A GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO IT.

Sorry, I was looking for the Pride parade. Is this the wrong street?

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One of the schisms in the global anti-Israel, or “pro-Palestinian,” movement is the theological division. In the Middle East and North Africa (and in Muslim communities in Europe, North America and elsewhere), the movement is overwhelmingly one of Islamic fundamentalism. In the West (outside of Muslim communities), it is overwhelmingly a movement of atheists, agnostics, liberal Christians and other progressives who reject religious falderal.

Obviously, this is an alliance made in hell. The relationship between Islamic fundamentalists and fun-loving, tattoo-covered, craft cocktail quaffing Western tentifada activists can exist only on the basis that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And, as it has ever been for diverse communities across time and space, Enemy = Jew.

One of the simplest of the many forms antisemitism takes is straightforwardly treating Jews differently than we treat any other group. Sometimes, this takes the form of condemning Jews for exhibiting universal traits. For example, we accuse Jews of being “clannish,” which is perhaps the definitive human characteristic, but antisemitism is, again among many other things, the projection of what we dislike about ourselves ricocheted onto a Jewish scapegoat.

Sometimes things are so ridiculously obvious we don’t notice them. This is the case around the idea of Israel as the “Promised Land.”

I’m not saying there are not Jews, Christians, Israelis and other Zionists who believe God gave Israel to the Jewish people. I mean, it’s right there in the book. And if you believe the book, well, there it is in black and white.

I don’t believe in the book. It’s a great book, I just don’t believe God wrote it. The thing that bugs me, though, is that other people who don’t believe that God wrote the book use the idea that Jews believe that God wrote the book to ridicule the very basis for the existence of the State of Israel.

The theological argument for Israel is a way for people who don’t believe the theological argument to mock those who do — and to discount the very idea of Israel as based on a silly superstitious myth. You would be surprised how often this mindless argument comes up in online (and IRL) discussions. By creating the straw man that Jews think God gave them the land, those who don’t believe in the book conclude therefore that Jews, ipso facto, don’t have a right to it. (Do you follow? This is not my idiotic argument. It’s theirs. I’m just illuminating it.)

I’m not going to waste a lot of time right now explaining to the obstinately stupid the real reasons for Israel’s existence. In fact, it is offensive that we who believe Israel has a right to exist are expected to come up with rationalizations for that fact. No other country is expected to justify why it exists. As I said, when you treat Jews (or the Jewish state) differently than you treat every other people (or country), there’s a word for that.

Another core trait of antisemitism is hypocrisy. This is core because, in innumerable instances, antisemitism is a vehicle through which people exorcize what they hate in themselves by projecting it onto a Jewish scapegoat. (See also: “holy communion,” “history.”)

And here’s my point: Opposition to Israel has its genesis (pun intended, obvs) in theology. Western activists are overwhelmingly so ignorant of the historical facts that they think Zionism is founded on (Jewish) theological premises — even as they remain belligerently ignorant about how anti-Zionism is founded on (Muslim) theological principles.

As I keep prattling on about, the ostensible arguments of anti-Zionists (the occupation, settlements, oppression, refugees, yada yada yada) are red herrings. Opposition to Israel is premised, first and foremost, on the fact that it is a Jewish state. That is why the Arab and Muslim world unanimously opposed Israel’s creation before any of those red herrings existed. All the rest is window-dressing to obfuscate this racist fact.

“Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism”? Bahahahahaha.

But here’s my point. Western atheist activists who hate the idea of God-given rights buy into the idea 100% — just on the other side.

At the heart of classical Islamic jurisprudence is the concept that the world is divided into Dar al-Islam, the “abode of Islam” and Dar al-Harb, the “abode of war,” lands outside Islamic rule. I’m out of my depth here, I’ll admit — but not as out of depth as those who misuse Jewish theology to ridicule Israel.

Some Islamic jurists have, for centuries, contended rather vociferously that once a territory becomes part of Dar al-Islam, it should not revert to non-Muslim governance, as it is believed to belong permanently within the Islamic sphere.

That is to say, once it is subjected to Muslim conquest, as the Holy Land was under the Ottomans, it should never again fall into “infidel” hands.

That’s the basis of anti-Zionism.

OK, OK. Not every Muslim adheres to this idea. Just as not every Jew (or Zionist) accepts the idea that God gave the land to the Jews. But it is absolutely at the intellectual, theological and political core of opposition to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.

So overseas radicals who ridicule presumed Jewish booga-booga magumbo on this subject unknowingly swallow Muslim booga-booga magumbo. Just because you didn’t plant the seed doesn’t mean you can’t eat the fruit.

Isn’t it funny, though, that no one recognizes this obvious hypocrisy? Maybe that’s because ridiculing Jewish theology is less likely to separate your head from your shoulders than ridiculing Muslim theology. Or maybe it is, more simply, because anti-Israel activists are generally profoundly ignorant on the topics they wade into.

Funny, too, that it’s all about Israel. Why not devote the level of global energies into reconquest of Iberia?

Because Jews. Obviously.

But sure, if it helps you sleep at night, keep telling yourself: “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.”