‘Never
Again’ Does Not Mean
‘An Eye For An Eye’
By Lucinda Marshall
18 August,2006
Countercurrents.org
My
family is Jewish. When I was growing up, we were taught to love mercy,
do justice and walk humbly. The lessons of the Holocaust and Israel’s
right to exist were drummed into us. Never again, we said.
Today however, we seem paralyzed
by an eye-for-an-eye mentality between Israel and its neighbors. The
other day I received a very slick multi-media presentation that explained
that the deaths of 123 Israeli kids between October, 2000 and January,
2005 as justification for Israel’s current military campaign.
Yet more than 300 children have been killed in Lebanon in recent days
and 31 children were killed in Gaza during the month of July alone.
This line of reasoning bears an uncomfortable similarity to the Bush
Administration’s use of the deaths on September 11 as justification
for the killing of tens of thousands in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Yet the American Jewish community,
which provides substantial financial support to Israel, doggedly continues
to buy off on Israel’s foreign policy. In a letter to the editor
of the Louisville (KY) Courier Journal, David Kaplan, the Chair of the
Community Relations Council of the Jewish Community Federation of Louisville
writes,
“Israel is simply acting
as a moral, democratic nation should act when faced with the most difficult
wartime circumstances.”
Mercy, justice and “Thou
Shalt Not Kill” have sadly become empty platitudes in the Judaism
of might makes right that Mr. Kaplan represents.
Let me be very clear about
this, I do not support or condone terrorism or human rights violations
by any party, and certainly not the killing of innocent civilians, especially
children. Nor do I believe that all the blame for the current situation
lies with Israel, it does not.
Yet whenever I have the temerity
to speak out against violence as a solution in the Middle East, it is
patiently explained to me that I do not understand the history behind
the current situation. Thousands of years of history that have brought
us to the current situation, a history that includes the Holocaust.
Surely the genocide committed against our own people should be enough
to make us understand?
But none of this is actually
to the point. Continuing to rehash a debate that has gone on for this
long is not going to lead to peace. What the Jewish community, particularly
American Jews who donate so generously to Israel, must do is to acknowledge
the reality of the current situation, and that is this:
--As of August 4, 3000 people
have been wounded in Lebanon and 900 are dead according to the BBC.
One third of those are children. During the same period, 62 Israelis
have died, 4 of them civilians.
--Bombing of roads and bridges
in Lebanon has made evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid almost
impossible. Bombs have landed on a UN post, an ambulance and a refugee
convoy holding white flags.
--As many as 1,000,000 have
been displaced from their homes, mostly women and children.
--The Mount Naftali Forest
in northern Israel has been destroyed by Hezbollah rocket strikes and
more than 110,000 barrels of oil have spilled into the Mediterranean
in the aftermath of the Israeli bombing of a coastal power plant. The
oil slick has covered 1/3 of the Lebanese coast and contains cancer-causing
chemicals such as benzene. The magnitude of the spill may rival the
Exxon Valdez spill, according to UN experts. Assessment of the damage
and cleanup is impossible with continued Israeli bombing, jeopardizing
ocean life with damage that may extend to the shores of Greece and Cyprus
if immediate action is not taken.
--Human Rights Watch reports
that the Israelis are using cluster bombs and there have been numerous
reports of phosphorous munitions being used. Both are illegal under
international law. More frighteningly, depleted uranium expert Dr. Doug
Rokke has confirmed Israel’s use of bunker busters obtained from
the United States that have uranium warheads. As Dr. Rokke points out,
"We've got all the Lebanese
being effected, all the women and children being affected, all the Israelis
being effected, and the areas over there are so small you're going to
have the whole region effected and contaminated."
--The hostilities between
Israel and Lebanon have not lessened the violence in Gaza where things
grow increasingly more desperate. Since June 28, 164 Palestinians have
been killed, and over 600 wounded. During the same time period, 25 Israelis
have been killed. Palestinians have fired approximately 300 homemade
rockets, the Israelis have fired 3000 artillery shells in at least 217
bombings. The problems of malnutrition (affecting more than half of
Gaza’s children), limited healthcare access, electrical shortages
(affecting 1.5 million people), lack of essential medicines, contaminated
water and untreated sewage are unrelenting and growing problems in Gaza,
according to the United Nations.
There is nothing moral or
democratic about any of this. The Australian Section of the by Women’s
International League For Peace And Freedom (WILPF) points out that,
“…if past injustices are accepted as sufficient reason to
oppress and kill others, then there never can be an end to war and oppression.”
And as author and Holocaust survivor Silvia Tennenbaum writes,
“The time is long overdue
for Jews to return to their role as the world's conscience, who come
to the aid of the dispossessed, the wretched of the earth. Once again,
we must join those who demand the end to unjust wars - in Iraq as well
as Lebanon - and an unjust occupation in Gaza. We must honor the example
of American civil rights workers Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner,
not that of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein or Yigal Amir, killer
of Yitzhak Rabin.”
As Jews we must rethink the
meaning of Never Again and realize that it applies not only to our own
religion but to all people, even those we see as enemies. We must finally
accept that An Eye for an Eye has truly made us blind. Only then can
we begin the long road to real peace and security in the Middle East.
Lucinda Marshall is a feminist artist, writer and activist.
She is the Founder of the Feminist Peace Network, www.feministpeacenetwork.org.
Her work has been published in numerous publications in the U.S. and
abroad including, Counterpunch, Alternet, Dissident Voice, Off Our Backs,
The Progressive, Countercurrents, Z Magazine , Common Dreams and Information
Clearinghouse. She blogs at WIMN Online.