Masei, 33: 50-53, 55-56: God spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, at Jericho, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the Land before you; and you shall destroy all their prostration stones; all their molton images shall you destroy; and all their high places shall you demolish. You shall possess the Land and you shall settle in it, for to you have I given the Land to possess it ... But, if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land before you, those of you whom you leave shall be pins in your eyes and throns in your sides, and they will harass you upon the Land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you.
Unfortunately, the cowardice and betrayal shown by PM Levi Eshkol and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan regarding the arabs set the stage for the leftist, suicidal demise Israel is drowning under to this very day.
MZ
You think it was only the Israeli government's fault? LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe UN maintains UNRWA for the expressed purpose of ENSURING that there WILL NEVER VE PEACE.
The Arab refugees are NEVER assimilated by the Arab nations. They are put into CAMPS and trained to go BACK TO ISRAEL, terrorize and FIGHT until they win their land BACK.
Making MORE refugee's back in '67 was NOT an option for peace. The "solution" would have been to either exterminate the Palestinians or "concentrate" the Arabs into Israeli run camps. But the Jews are TOO TIMID to do what "needs to be done" for fear of being accused of using the same methods once used against them.
You must make your enemy feel pain. Until he feels the pain, he will not respect you OR deal with you fairly.
Israel must force her neighbors into "assimilating" the refugees (not putting them in UNWRA camps) if she dreams of EVER one day achieving a non-pyhrric peace deal.
You need to turn Palestinian resentment and WORLD Opinion against the non-assimilating states... instead, you let the non-assimilating states turn them and it against YOU.
Screw world opinion. I'd rather have every country in the world hate us for driving out the enemy than love us for being driven into the sea. The world loves persecuted Jews, hates Jews who fight back, and because of that I say bring on the world hate.
ReplyDeleteWhere in parsha Masei does it mention "Arabs"? I agree that it sets precedent for transfer/ethnic cleansing(whatever you want to call it). The Hebrews fought numerous enemies. Were the Arabs included?
ReplyDeleteEitan, Torah says the "inhabitants" must be driven out, which are the "Arabs" in modern terminolgy.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that the Torah doesn't say a thing about the Arabs per se.
ReplyDeleteNot following you, Eitan. Could you clarify your point for me?
ReplyDeleteThe Torah, when it says to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan is not talking about the Arabs but their ancestors.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't going to comment on this post because we'll never agree on anything on this subject. But I will say this: interpreting very old texts in a modern context risks seriously to lead to completely wrong and certainly highly biased conclusions.
ReplyDeleteNot so long ago over at BEAJ's, a commenter, Torah in hand (with quotes, I mean), claimed that in the text can be found a justification for the Holocaust as a form of divine retribution for alleged past Jewish collective wrongdoing. At first I really though the guy was just another anti-Semite, this one of a particularly idiotic variety. But no, our intrepid commenter turned out to be an observant Jew. These old texts can easily be misconstrued.
In the Old Testament, as well as the Qu'ran, one finds many, many references to multiple conflicts, battles etc, very often without clarification at all of who the exact combatants were supposed to be. A creative interpreter would fill in these blanks as he or she sees fit...
Gert, opinions about what the Torah may or may not mean are abundant, but opinions as outlined in the Talmud and subsequent authoritative sources, are the only interperetations that are legally binding. The reason you sited, i.e. anyone can read anything into anything, is a perfect example of how Judaism would be impossible without such a system. Thus, the "Holocaust is divine retribution" theory is one man's thoughts, not a legally binding ruling.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the laws on driving out the enemy strangers before they kill you is indeed a binding Torah law, a mitzvah. Tragically ignored, yes, but real and binding in Judaism.
If it's legally binding it must also legally enforceable. Clearly in modern Israel this is not the case. Driving out the Arabs from Israel would make you a criminal under common Israeli law.
ReplyDeleteIs this perhaps one of the reasons why you haven't moved to Israel yet?