Jews are the “chosen people”.
One of the key problems with this delusion, of course, is that it gives Jews the justification to commit crimes against the Palestinians and defend them because Jews are “chosen” and therefore God will support whatever they do.
Take this from the Jerusalem Post:
Until our own day, the clannishness of the Jews is a frequent theme of anti-Semites (even as others attack us for our attempts to penetrate every area of gentile society. Anti-Semites of a Hegelian bent synthesize the two claims: Jews attempt to enter everywhere to advance their group interests). Those who accuse Israel of war crimes often attribute those “crimes” to the Jews’ belief that only their lives are of value and gentile blood may be freely shed. (In reality, no army in history has shed so much of its own blood to preserve that of enemy civilians as the IDF.)
Such perverted logic is apparent in so many Jewish justifications for behaviour in Palestine. This letter in last week’s Australian Jewish News continues the trend:
The overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews everywhere continue to be guided by decency, humanity and a desire for a territorial settlement and peace with Israel’s neighbours… [and Israel] truly remains a light unto the nations.
The repeating of such dogma year and year, when the evidence points overwhelmingly to a corrupted Israel, is a defining failure of contemporary Judaism. “We” are merely defending our country. “We” are chosen. But how to defend ever-expanding settlements? How to defend the carnage in Gaza?
One can always rationalise things in some way or another. But Israel is becoming a fortress, loathed by most of the world. Maybe time to change its behaviour?
Quite a success story.