"...and Zionism are daughters of the enlightenment" is very hard to believe. Zionism seems antithetical to the Enlightenment.
I just wrote you a full page response and lost it. If I wasn’t concerned about the terrible ignorance that permeates this world at present, I would not waste my time in a further response, but as a Jew, I am called to enlighten the world, and so I must.
The Enlightenment calls for “natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity, constitutional government and the formal separation of church and state.” Israel embodies all of that. Twenty percent of people living in Israel are Arabs, and they have full citizenship. They also have members in the Knesset. A full 70% of Israels are black, and the majority of Jews in Israel have lived under Muslim rule in the area for the past 2000 years. Only 30% of Jews in Israel are Ashkenazi Jews (from Europe).
We know this because scholars have checked the DNA.
What the west thinks of as Palestine today was created in 1967, the result of the 6 day war. Before that, if you check your old newspapers and your history books, Israel was known as Palestine. During the Ottoman Empire (defeated by the British in 1917), the entire area of Jordan, Israel, and (today’s version of Palestine) was known as Palestine. Going back 2000 years, it was Judea – the land of the Jews. The Romans called it Palestine.
With regard to apartheid, the fact that Israel has built a wall (as has Egypt) does not make Israel an apartheid state. As an ex South African who grew up in an anti-apartheid family, and whose father was a holocaust survivor, I know my politics. This is what apartheid is, and Israel is NOT an apartheid state.
https://medium.com/tessas-web-log/south-african-apartheid-vs-israeli-apartheid-0002501db55f
Jews are called to be a light to mankind. This they fulfil in their pursuit of knowledge and bringing good things to mankind. As a result, out of the 15 million Jews on earth, they have won 147 Nobel prizes – the highest of any ethnic group. In contrast, Muslims have won 3 Nobel prizes out of 1.5 billion of them.
Here’s where Jews have erred. They did not counter the propaganda of Palestine and Iran, so that most people have a totally erroneous idea of what is going on. It’s not mistake that the Middle East has contributed billions to learning institutions in the States, thereby having professors brainwash and misinform millions of students during the past 20 years. An example is that Israel is an apartheid state. It’s not.
Her next error was in allowing Jewish fundamentalist to skip military service and study Torah forever while getting welfare benefits. The result was that the Jewish fundamentalists have multiplied and now hold power in Israel. These are the idiots that want to grab the land taken in the 6 day war, and why there continue to be settlements in the West Bank. Gaza is completely free of Jews. This is changing now. Natayenu is a religious Jew and believes that God gave Israel the land. Complete bs. There is no god. Israel has, however, been associated with Jews for more than 3000 years, and, in total, they have had the longest occupation of the land, with Muslims having the least longest. Christians had the majority occupation for 700 years. So there is now a power struggle in Israel as the Knesset tries to remove power from the religious Jews (10% of Israel). Most Jews are secular or atheist. I am both atheist and secular.
The last error was in not giving the land won during the 6 day war back to the countries from which she won it – Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. None of these countries want the land (and the people) back.
In closing, what you and others think is going on in Gaza is completely the wrong end of the stick. At a certain point, it becomes pointless to explain to the world that the goal of Hamas and the other 300 million Jihadi on planet earth is to put the entire planet under Sharia Law. Their goal, they think, will be fulfilled by 2050. The UK, France, and Germany are quickly falling. China, India, and 18 countries in Africa are at war with Jihadi. Nothing is said about this. I cannot change your mind about anything, but when you prove me incorrect academically and factually, I will change my mind.
Until then, you must believe what you want to believe, and I will continue to hope that Israel wins the war. If not, humanity is screwed.
