Friday, November 10, 2006

Zionist fascists vs. Gay Pride

An article on DesertPeace’s blog has inspired me to write something beyond a reply. What started as a short comment, well, as you can see, an article was born and it all began with a Gay march scheduled to be taking place in Jerusalem this day. This will be the third year in a row for the parade in the Jerusalem, and, as in the history of the parade in many cities around the world, there has been a tremendous amount of acrimony from the community. Public demonstrations have been numerous and nearly convinced the local government to cancel the parade, but it seems to have survived the religious fanatics best attempts at thwarting their efforts to kill it.

DesertPeace posted an article by Efrat Weiss discussing the actions being taken by followers of the late Meir Kahane (referred to by some as a Rabbi). You may read the Weiss article, and DesertPeace’s full post (a post well worth perusing) here. Weiss wrote another article that pointed out the true insanity of the hatred being spread by some people in the name of God: they have gone so far as to say that the police who will be guarding the parade are being sinful.

After the Kahaneites celebrating the actions of Yishai Schlissel, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail after stabbing a man at the gay pride parade in Jerusalem last year, of course they don’t want the police at the parade, it will stop them from being able to attack anyone else with impunity.

Once again, this is the bastardisation of religion; the attempt at the usurpation of power through intimidation and what should be considered a reckless misinterpretation of scripture. To read without comprehending is a mirror of the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.” (Isaiah, 6:9b, NKJV)

The followers of Kahane (I will not defile the honorific “Rabbi” by attaching it to a man who stood for hatred and everything contrary to the beauty of the teaching of YHWH) have demonstrated why Israel has been experiencing the issues that they have been since the nation was reborn (unjustly) in 1947: disobedience breeds contempt. Contempt for the law, both of man and of God has shaped every aspect of the society that has been built in that land. You cannot reconcile your nation to the “laws of God” through the violence that was proscribed centuries ago – millennia ago. Those instructions were, as the Word says, for a time, or, more precisely, a season. That season has passed.

The opportunity to cleanse the Promised Land of all the inhabitants that were considered undesirable came and went when the Israelites decided to disobey the command of YHWH to do so before taking possession of the land that they had been lead to after their time in the desert. That decision may be seen as some as a decision that should be lauded as merciful: the Israelites showed mercy on the inhabitants of the land that were there before them and decided to live amongst them instead of committing an act of genocide.

Now it is too late to go back and change their minds. Genocide is no longer an option. Cleansing the land of the “unwanted”, the “unclean”, or the “undesirables” is no longer something that any true Rabbi would ever support. An enlightened student of the teachings of YHWH should recognize that there was a time, and is now a time, and the two are far from being the same.

Zionist fascism has become the oppression mirroring the experience that was visited upon the Jews barely a few generations ago. I have met survivors of the holocaust, have seen the tattoos on arms that have been wrinkled with old age and have heard stories from those who managed – above all odds – to escape with their lives (and nothing else) from such places as Dachau, Treblinka and, once, even Auschwitz.

Not one of these survivors, I believe, would have been able to stomach the violence that is being perpetrated against another innocent civilian population. Before you cry about “self defence” and the “terrorists” firing their rockets I will concede that there is a problem with terrorists, but not ALL Palestinians are terrorists harbouring portable missile sites in their dwellings (as seen when the rubble is dug out and, as in Iraq, no weapons – or WMD’s – are found … big surprise).

There is one sure fire way to guarantee that there will be more Palestinian terrorists in a few years: if Israel keeps on their present course of attacking and killing innocents, the resentment that this foments amongst the young people who are seeing their family and friends being slaughtered around them will make them far more vulnerable to the seductive call of terrorists recruiting new members. Remember, when these terrorists recruit the young and indoctrinate them into their organization it is the kids who are used (by kids I mean younger members of the organization) for the suicide missions.

As usual, the young are expendable.

Kahane was neither a Rabbi, nor was he a Jew. If being born of a Jewish mother is what makes one Jewish is what qualifies you, sure, he was Jewish, but what of the heart? What of the compassion for one’s neighbour and community that the Torah teaches we are supposed to show?
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus, 19:18, NKJV)
Of course, that must have caused much confusion as it came immediately after, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him.” (Leviticus, 19:17, NKJV)

To understand where the Kahaneites have taken their warped theology from it is critical to understand where they make their error. The first thing that they do is they only read the first of the two verses that I have presented (the second one quoted, verse seventeen). The second thing they do is haul out the two scriptures relating to homosexuality in the entire Torah. It is written: “you shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” (Lev. 18:22, NKJV) This is repeated, slightly elaborated, in verse 13 of the twentieth chapter of Leviticus, the book in which the law was given. I find it fascinating that the most significant portion of the Law, that part “written in stone” does not include this most grievous abomination, yet it does include adultery (comes in at #7, right after murder), bearing false witness – otherwise known as perjury – and, of all things, coveting your neighbours wife, or their property (neighbours again … I’m sensing a pattern here …).

Could this mean that the Lord God Almighty places more emphasis on us living together, in peace, without judging but rather loving our neighbours, and focusing on our own problems instead of worrying about what our neighbours are doing when we go to bed at night? In the end, if someone is going to experience the wrath of the Lord for their actions, I don’t want it to be me because I turned my heart into a piece of hardened stone as a result of my judgements of others. Is it not better to try to live in peace with others now and worry about such things as the ultimate judgement for the time when it is really relevant (that would be a few milliseconds after your last heartbeat)? If not, prepare for another generation of war, and many, many more dead … and the cycle will continue.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please get your facts straight. The people who opposed the Gay Pride Parade were
1) Ultra Orthodox Hassidic Sect called Naturie Carta.
2) Muslim Arabs
3) Christians (including vatican)

So where do the Kahaneites come into this whole story? Your imagination? Or Desert Peace giving you false information?

Also why do you just target the Jews, why not the Muslims who sad they would send human bombs if the parade took place and the Christians who were also opposed to it.

If you want to boycott Israel, I'll give you food for thought. Much of the software that you use comes from Israel. The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer is Jewish, and has been to Israel recently and encourages software development over there. The CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz is also Jewish and has the same ideas, and also the CEO of Oracle, Lawrence J. Ellison is also Jewish and has the same views and has been to Israel to promote Oracle Israel. Many of the employees of these three companies are Israeli's even in the HQ's in the U.S. However none of the companies including IBM have anything in Gaza. So it's time you boycott these companies and stop using the computer and the internet. The internet will be a much productive place without hate mongers like you speaking through their asses.

Unknown said...

The facts that I presented are more than “straight” enough, DF, thank you very much. You ask where I get the connection to Kahane and his hateful followers to the objection to the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem and you reference the blog of DesertPeace, yet it is obvious that you did not read the article that I said inspired what I wrote: In his article, DesertPeace referenced an another writer, one Efrat Weiss, who published an article on 11.09.06. It was THIS article that discussed the pride with which the followers of Kahane were revelling in their part in disrupting the organization of the parade.

I don’t mind criticism, but if you are just going to launch meaningless attacks you may as well surrender: you are no match for anything that awaits you on this side of the ether … which brings me to the other part of your comment and the boycott of Israel.

Simply because someone is Jewish doth not an Israeli make. Now, think about this very hard: I was born in Canada, but both of my parents (and grand parents, and great-grandparents) are Jewish. I am Canadian and I am Jewish. I have a citizenship card that says that I am Canadian. I am NOT an Israeli. I do not desire to be an Israeli, and I shall NOT become an Israeli unless or until the laws regarding the right of return is changed to allow Palestinians to return to their homes.

Jews living in the diaspora are, by definition, NOT Israeli. Your entire statement is riddled with the anti-Semitic rhetoric that has been heard for generations. Quite frankly, given the anonymous name with which you cower behind, I am not surprised that ad hominem attacks and racism are the best that you are able to achieve.

Anonymous said...

Is Efrat Weiss an authority. Why not ask the Israeli Police as to who was actually threatened the gay pride parade. Where it was Kahane people or a combination of Naturei Carta (Anti Zionist), Muslim Arabs and Christians. You will get your answer soon. And don't depend on your father only, do some research on your own. Not everything your father says is true. Hasn't your father been through various avatars in this lifetime and now being Anti Zionist is his latest, before that he used to hate Anti Zionist. If your question is going to be - Do you know my father? My answer:- Yes I know your father for a very long time, so yes, you father makes up a lot of stuff to suit his needs or is very selective, in his previous reincarnation your father was a Religious Right Wing Zionist and used to shun Haaretz and BTselem, and only used Jerusalem Post as is source for knowledge on Israeli Politics, whether or not everything in it was true, for the sole reason that it was right wing.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3268273,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3266361,00.html


I know not everyone who is Jewish is not Israeli, duh, I am not dumb but I am telling you because I know, I work in this industry and there are "ISRAELI NATIONALS" carrying "ISRAELI PASSPORT" working in these companies, besides which much of the software development is done in "ISRAEL". So think twice before you use your computer. Oh yes and challenge me on this - an ex-Oracle employee :-) Maybe you still know better than me.

Anonymous said...

I am not cowering behind a name, I am sure your father has an idea who I am. I prefer not to have an account. If that is such a problem for you, do make your blog space for bloggers only, and not for people who might want to criticize you without wanting to register an account.

Unknown said...

Whether or not Efrat Weiss is an authority or not is an issue for those who read his articles. That, DF, is one of the great powers of journalism: a writer’s credibility is based on how their works are perceived by their reader. If you do not like what they write, or disagree with what they write, you are completely free to disagree with what they write … that is the very definition of a “free press”. Of course the Christians were opposed to the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem: Christians, or those who call themselves by that name, are amongst the narrowest minded people in the world – but don’t ever presume to believe that the Vatican “represents” true Christendom. Just as Kahane and his nut-case followers are not true representatives of Judaism, the Vatican is not a true representation of Christianity.

As for “depending on my father” for things, don’t presume to presume anything. As I said, it was the Weiss article that I read – not the rest of his blog – that made me decide to write what I did. My father would not come out in defence in the same tone that I did because our opinions on this topic differ, not because either of us happens to be gay, but because of reasons that have to do with other things entirely.

As for your claim to knowing my father, all I have to say is maazel tov. However, your claim that he was once a “religious right wing Zionist” is something that holds no water. Remember, I have known him for thirty-eight years: from the days where he was a staunch anti-Zionist to the days … no, wait a second – he has always been an anti-Zionist, even when I was a child and we would visit his uncle (his mother’s sister’s husband) who had worked in Israel, before the partition. Uncle Phil would go on and on for hours about the glorious things that he had done, building roads and buildings and my father would be silent. When we would leave he would say the same thing every time, when I asked him why he seemed so angry, “because uncle Phil is a ***–damn Zionist and I can’t stand listening to his stories all the time.”

There has never been a time when human rights has not been at the forefront of my father’s personal agenda, so if you want to attack him go right ahead, but if you want to accuse him of being a Zionist your claim of “knowing him” proves to be hollow.

As for the “Zionist” connection to all things computer, et al, (especially Oracle), I cannot really address past what I have experienced: the computer that I have came with pre-installed software that was not purchased separately (purchased with the beast, you would say, but not as an extra). I have, of course, added other software, but none of it was (to my knowledge) developed by Oracle or MicroSloth … and I’m not about to rip the Intel chipset out of my motherboard either.

I do believe in the boycott of Israel, just as I try not to purchase articles manufactured in China, but in this day and age that is virtually impossible. However, when I am given the opportunity to make a choice between two products and I know that one is not made in China, I purchase that one.

As for blocking comments from people without accounts, that is not something I’m even considering. So long as people aren’t using their comments as forums to spout hatred or other nonsense, I’m prepared to leave this open to a free exchange of ideas, but … if you want to attack DesertPeace, don’t bother doing it here. Yes, he is my father – that has been well established – but I’m not interested in spending anymore time defending things that do not need to be defended … I have boxes to pack (I’m moving!).

Anonymous said...

I do have to agree with DF that I fail to understand where you get the Kahanites reference from. I just went through the whole blog that you posted, and DesertPeace's blog and the article by Efrat Weiss. No where in Efrat Weiss' article do I find the term Kahanites, or Kahanists. The article talks about a group of people calling themselves the Sanhedrin and not Kahnites or Kahanists. Please confirm if this is the right link to the article that inspired you: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325758,00.html

Anonymous said...

Here's the link you should be giving on your blog. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3326400,00.html

Next time be more careful when linking to news sites. ;-)

Unknown said...

Thank you, observer, it was that second article - I had found that while reading the first article as I do not read the articles on the blog, I go to the original page where possible. It was my mistake in posting the incorrect link. Your second comment, posting this link (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3326400,00.html) indicates the article to which I was writing about.

As for the previous DF comments, no, I am not moving to Palestine ... ever. I am quite content living in Canada and am moving across town ... not as dramatic as across the ocean, but it will have to suffice for now.

As a final word about my father - for many years he and I did not see eye to eye about several issues. Why did he move to Israel? I have no idea ... nor do I really care. As the saying goes, he was over 21, so he was free to make his own decisions.

Was it a reflection on his political views? Considering the fact that he had been a candidate for both provincial and federal office for a very left-wing party in Sudbury, it is not very likely that your impression is anything more than spurious.

If you heard him say the things you contend, all I have to say is what the context was in which it was said, and, as I said again, I'm not here to play HUAC for my father. If you have an issue with him, go to his blog.

Anonymous said...

No worries pal, as long as we get it right in the end.

I just want to add that I am a close friend of DF and so I was the observer. He's a nice guy, doesn't usually come across as nasty, but he has had some serious issues with you father, and he doesn't see eye to eye with him either.
I know, it's wrong that he came up with all those things about your father with you, but try to understand him as well, he has been through things which you wouldn't want to think about and has always been moderate, never believed in hate. DP used to come up with these hate talks about arabs and christians and anyone he disliked. Then years later he comes across DP's blog and finds that he is now Mr. Peace and Mr. Pro Palestine.

Keep well pal and have a pleasant move across town or across the ocean. DF wouldn't care, and if you ever came across him, you'd be glad to know a person like him