Ayoon Wa Azan (Israel is a pariah state)

In ancient India, there existed a caste called the Pariah, which was at the bottom of the social ladder. Today, there is a Pariah state in the world called Israel. Voting in favor of recognizing Palestine as an observer member of the United Nations reflected a near international consensus in favor of Palestine, pitted against the United States, Israel and some small island nations. Similarly, I wrote many times about the Christian churches’ boycott, divestment and sanctions targeting Israel. I have never worked too hard to collect negative material on Israel, as it usually piles up on my desk, by virtue of my profession, mostly from Western sources which I primarily rely on. In recent days, it caught my attention that the magazine Christianity Today, which represents evangelical Christians, published a list of suggested reading, titled “Top 5 Books on Israel & Palestine.” Most of the books are pro-Palestinian, and speak of this people’s suffering under occupation. Thus, Israel has no support left among the Christians in America except in the Bible belt, that is, the supporters of George W. Bush, a fact that is sufficient proof of their and his idiocy. At the same time, U.S. Likudnik websites were attacking the press for covering and commenting on the chants of the supporters of the Israeli football team Betar, against Muslim players from Chechnya. Perhaps the supporters of the team thought that the two players were Palestinian because they are Muslim, and this is why they chanted “go home.” Palestinians are in their home, and Israelis are impermanent colonists. All the above coincided with the Israel Apartheid Week event in U.S. university campuses, where many organizations, including Muslim student groups and others, call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and also for delegitimizing Israel – already an illegitimate pariah. Then there is the Interfaith Boycott Coalition, which aims to end Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The coalition comprises the Jewish Voice for Peace; the Presbyterian Church Israel-Palestine Mission Network; the Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine-Israel Network; the United Church for Christ’s Palestine-Israel Network; and the United Methodist Network – in addition to American Muslims for Palestine. Whom does Israel have left on its side? I don’t think even the pariahs of India were ever as undesirable as Israel these days. In the same vein as above, I have noticed that the extremists among the advocates of Israel, that is, the enemies of Arabs and Muslims everywhere, can no longer find anyone to defend Israel’s crimes; so now they quote one another. Commentary Magazine thus quoted the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as saying that BDS is tantamount to anti-Semitism. Both the magazine and the ADL are apologists for Israel’s crimes, and yet they quote one another though both their claims are dubious. Similarly, I often find Likudnik websites interviewing other American Likudniks, with questions like: Describe the threat we face in our Islamic enemy. But the real enemy, for all of humanity, is the Israeli occupation. I have in front of me an article published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which is specialized in defending Israel and covering up its crimes. The article brought together three supporters of Israel to accuse Hezbollah of terrorism and other groups, instead of accusing Israel as it should be. Incidentally, Commentary Magazine ran an article titled, “Anybody Listening? Netanyahu’s Not the Obstacle to Two-State Solution.” The article’s Likudnik author Jonathan Tobin quoted the terrorist prime minister of Israel, who said at a conference that Israel was still in favor of the two-state solution. In other words, one American Likudnik takes the words of an Israeli Likudnik war criminal Likud as divine revelation, and expects people to believe him. Finally, there is a daily campaign being waged against Islam, with a focus on Sharia, or Islamic law. Here, one crucial difference between me and Muslim TV preachers is that I know the Torah and the Jewish faith very well. Therefore, I say that the Torah is full of stories about genocide and harlots, while the Quran represents a moderate religion with no similar calls for genocide. I also say that Sharia is better than Deuteronomy in the Torah, which contains the majority of Jewish laws. Yet I do not challenge the Likudniks to a debate, because the maximum I can do against them is boycott them, as I refuse to sit with these modern-day pariahs. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.