An Eye For an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind
Israel has always said that while scripture calls for “an eye for an eye”, Israel has always taken two eyes for an eye. Sooner or later the belief has been, the eye-takers will learn their lesson.
The difficulty lies in identifying just who the “eyetakers” are exactly.
Palestinian refugees believe that they were the first to lose an eye, when they lost their homes. That would also be the view of Noam Chomsky and others who are often described as “self-hating” Jews.
Israel’s leaders contend that the Palestinians and their sympathizers are wrong…it was Jewish eyes which were taken first..by the Germans.
Palestinians respond that they had nothing to do with German eyetaking.
This has been the germ at the heart of the Middle East and Palestine/Israel now, for more than half a century.
It seems that taking “an eye for an eye” or even two eyes for an eye hasn’t worked in the past and it’s unlikely to work this time.
Half the problem with this approach to things is that in the game of eyetaking, the takers often cannot distinguish between those eyes which are guilty and those which are innocent.
The other half is that there can be unintended consequences to the eye-taking business. It was Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982…when Ariel Sharon was after Arafat’s eyes…that the Shi’ites of Lebanon gave birth to Hezbollah.
The eye-taking philosophy has, for the past half century- on both sides of the divide-shed what must amount to metric tonnes of blood, produced stacks of lost limbs and enormous piles of corpses…and for what?
To bring the satisfaction of vengeance?
To “teach a lesson”?
To bludgeon the recalcitrant into submission?
To be a deterrent?
I fear that once again, as in so many conflicts throughout the history of humankind, religious exclusivity is at the core of what’s happening now.
Hezbollah, which claims to be acting in sympathy with the Palestinians, calls itself “the Party of God” and the government of Israel bases its actions and finds justification for its approach to Defence in scripture.
Meantime the innocents are losing their sight, the ranks of the disaffected are growing, and those who might be in a position to help- are- as liberal catnip points out in herr blog- laughing.
I’d say God help us, but at present I’m well on my way to becoming an agnostic.
Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536) wrote “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. He also wrote – Oration of Peace and Discord – A plea for peace.
Nothing is more agreeable than peace, nothing is more frightful than war.The fields are rich with harvests, the meadows with cattle, the sea with fish. Why does this not suffice us? Tears start as one views the calamities of our time. Harvests are burned, women are abused, virgins violated, wives abducted, no one is safe from this tiger of violence.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Sam
I certainly give more of a toss about this situation then I claimed at Red Tory, but frustration at this never ending situation is defeating. I rally with the Palestinians in this conflict and despise the extremists on both sides that make any workable solution a remote dream. I also despise being labeled anti-Semitic when criticizing Israel and her policies. Such offhanded rhetoric smacks of convenience and nothing more. Answers? Who knows? It would seem to me that Israel’s Settlement policies were a provocation that could have been avoided.
Jim
It wouldn’t be right for you and I to reject the message of Christ, Buddha and Mohammed because of what’s going on in the Middle East, it would be a mistake.
When I read about them I am renewed.
I can draw nothing but good from the example of their lives, which tells me people should never have their backs to the wall in fear and desperation, there should always be room for respect, compassion and understanding no matter how great our differences, our divine nature tells us how it should be, but we don’t always follow through.
the murderous arrogance of cowards who use scripture to bomb, pistol-whip and torture in a charade of religious or nationalistic responsibility is the expression of human Evil, a very unfashionable concept these days, except for Damien-movies.
The Vatican has already condemned Israel’s abuse of Lebanon, but there’s one more thing it could do.
It could provide on moral grounds an index of Rogue States existing today.(They used to do it with evil books, maybe they still do…..)
I think we both know who the first two on the list would be…..
Lord Anthony
Yesterday, from a popular right-wing American blog that I just can’t stomach any longer:
“You wanted open war. We are going to open war,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a call to Hizbollah’s television.
“Look at it burn,” he urged listeners, announcing an attack which set ablaze an Israeli warship that had earlier hit Beirut.”
OPEN WAR??? Yes, you scum sucking bottom feeder. It’s a lot better than Israelis getting butchered by your ex-Saddam sponsored homicide bombers.
I want Israel to open up a huge ass can of FATAH (thanks Wit) on these murdering sons of goats so bad I can feels it in my toes. I want them to scour this filthy refuse from the face of the earth.
To quote Charlie Watts — “What do you say to something like that?”
It wouldn’t be right for you and I to reject the message of Christ, Buddha and Mohammed because of what’s going on in the Middle East, it would be a mistake.
When I read about them I am renewed.
Groan….
I hear Charlie once again.
When criticizing Israel, it’s always wise to remember the example of U.S. Representative Paul Findlay, and also the example of Senator Charles Percy…both Republicans and hardly extreme in the critiques.
Then there’s Senator William Fullbright the former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee…you know the “FullBright Scholarship” in history and political science? He critiqued Israeli policy and it lead to his downfall. Fullbright could hardly be classed as extreme in any way.
There are many others…all good decent people who like most people, simply want a rational approach to policy.
In any case after people like that were made examples of…U.S. politicians stopped criticizing Israeli policies…such as the illegal settlements, extrajudicial assassinations, collective punishment, targeting civilians- including children, and general humiliation of the civilian Palestinian population…and when one Israeli politician was at the point of making peace, he was murdered by a Jewish religious student.
Those who give Israel a completely free ride in this business need to inform themselves a bit more about the history and background of this conflict.
It aint as simple as it looks, even though our Prime Minister would like it to be so.
Here’s what you say to that, Omar.
Keep murder and hatred out of your heart and your language, that would be a start. It’s called being civilised. I think Charlie Watts would agree.
lord anthony has a point, you missed it. Billions of moderate people on our planet are guided by faith and what they consider sacred.
Crapping on them is just plain ignorant.
If you think power coming out of the barrel of a big gun is the answer, you’re part of the Middle East problem no matter where you live.