We at KWM have hosted Jonathan Kuttab and have used his work on Christian Zionism. He is a civil rights lawyer from Jerusalem. Please see an explanation of his one state vision in this fine article from Mondoweiss.

 

Some Americans might remember the bruhaha when Brooklyn Dodger Baseball Owner Branch Rickey decided to put Jackie Robinson, an African American player on the team. It was April of 1947!

 

Read about it here.

The same thing is now happening in Israel. Last year, Beitar Jerusalem, a major Israeli soccer team hired Ali Mohamed, a Muslim from Niger to the team. It was controversial to say the least.

The Holland Sentinel carried the story in its Wednesday, December 30, 2020, edition. Josef Federman, Associated Press article Here

 

Moshe Hogeg is the owner of Beitar. Now, because of the “normalization” between Israel and the UAE, Hogeg has sold half of the team to Sheikh Hamad Al-Nahyan, the wealthy Arab leader from the UAE.

 

They want to show “everyone that Muslims and Jews can work together and build beautiful things together.” Hogeg and Al-Nahyan intend to recruit A-class Arab players to “upgrade the level of our team.”

 

Hard-core supporters are aghast. They include Likud Prime Minister Netanyahu and the working-class fans that champion the purity of the Jewish nation. Jews like Avigail Sharabi, wonder how an Arab player can wear the team’s Jewish logo and sing the Israeli national anthem yearning for a Jewish homeland. Will those who object be out-shouted by those who support multi-ethnic players?

 

Will “normalization” with surrounding Arab nations lead to a change of attitude and behavior toward Israel’s Arab neighbors? Will Arab Israelis (20% of the population), seek greater integration and greater “rights” in the Israeli State?

 

There was a brief period when African-Americans were being elected to Congress following the Civil war. In 1871, Joseph Rainey was the first person of African descent to be elected to the House of Representatives, from South Carolina. In a speech on the House floor in February of 1875, Mr. Rainey said, “We do not intend to be driven to the frontier as you have driven the Indian. Our purpose is to remain in your midst as an integral part of the body-politic” (Smithsonian magazine, January/February, p. 64 and 65).

 

Arab Israelis have representation in the Israeli Knesset (the ruling body). Some seek greater integration into Israeli society. Others still seek recognition in a State of their own.

 

Will sport provide an example for Israelis and Palestinians to change its ways? The times they are a-changing!

John Kleinheksel, KWM Board Member

 

Join us for this hour-long conversation with Rich Forer.

(The recording of a  November 18 conversation on the psycho-spiritual roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict)

KWM’s founder, Rev. John Kleinheksel, ThM, is an acknowledged spokesperson to explain “Christian Zionism”, how it has influenced U.S. Middle East policies and why people of faith should be opposed to it, on biblical grounds.

• Pastor Kleinheksel uses a summary of Dr. Burge’s book, Jesus and the Land, his own research paper and the PowerPoint presentation of Rev. Alex Awad shown to the KWM community in March, 2020. Here is the link to that presentation.
• Earlier, the editors of the anti-Christian Zionism website <christianzionism.org> asked him to write an essay on “Why I Am Not a Christian Zionist.”   That short essay is now posted HERE on their fine site.
• After only three weeks on the <academia.edu> site, 107 persons from 21 countries have viewed his 6,000-word research paper on the subject. There has been vigorous discussion in the sidebar at the site with pro- and anti-Christian Zionists weighing in. That site can be reached HERE.

Jewish, Christian and Muslim activists are hopeful the Biden administration will assertively move away from President Trump’s embrace of Christian Zionism. A growing, global grassroots movement is advocating extending equality and human rights to the indigenous natives of the land that the major religions call “Holy.”

KWM will be offering an immersion trip to our region in March, 2022. Plan on it!

John Kleinheksel

“You read that right: An attempt – one in many – to enshrine equality in Israeli law was shot down, and was not even brought to a vote. ”

Read the entire “re-post” at this link.

The One Democratic State Campaign, a coalition of Palestinian and Israeli thinkers from around the world, offers the vision found below and at this link (Mondoweiss)

 

One Democratic State Campaign

Manifesto

Preamble

In recent years, the idea of a one democratic state in all of historic Palestine as the best solution to the conflict has re-emerged. It started gaining increased support in the public domain. It is not a new idea. The Palestinian liberation movement, before the catastrophe of 1948 (the Nakba) and after it, had adopted this vision, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The PLO abandoned this idea in the framework of the diplomatic negotiations at the late eighties that led to the Oslo agreement of 1993. The Palestinian leadership hoped that this agreement would enable the building of an independent Palestinian state on the territories that Israel occupied in 1967. But on the ground Israel has strengthened its colonial control, fragmenting the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza into isolated cantons, separated from one another by settlements, checkpoints, military bases and fences.

The two-state solution, which is basically an unfair solution, is clearly dead. Israel buried it deep under its colonial settlement policies in the territories that were supposed to become the independent Palestinian state. Israel has imposed a single repressive regime that extends over all the Palestinians who live in historic Palestine, including those with Israeli citizenship.

In view of these dangerous developments, and, more important, based on the values of justice, freedom and democracy, we contend that the only way to achieve justice and permanent peace is dismantling the colonial apartheid regime in historic Palestine and the establishment of a new political system based on full civil equality, and on full implementation of the Palestinian refugees’ Right of Return, and the building of the required mechanisms to correct the historical grievances of the Palestinian people as a result of the Zionist colonialist project.

On this background, many activists and groups, Palestinians and Israelis, have recently initiated the revival of the one-state idea, proposing differing models of such a state, such as a bi-national state, a liberal democratic state and a socialist state. They are all united, however, in their commitment to the establishment of a single democratic state in all of historic Palestine, as an alternative to the colonial apartheid regime that Israel has imposed over the country from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. A similar regime was toppled by the joint struggle of black and white South Africans under the leadership of the ANC in 1994.

The goal of this political program, as formulated by the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC), is to widen the support for this solution among the local populations, Palestinian and Israeli alike, as well as among the international public. We call on all those in the world who struggle for freedom and justice to join and support our struggle against this apartheid regime and for the establishment of a democratic state free of occupation and colonialism, based on justice and equality, which guarantees a better future for the next generations and real peace in all of historic Palestine.

The Political Program

1. A Single Constitutional Democracy. One Democratic State shall be established between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River as a state belonging to all its citizens, including the Palestinian refugees. All citizens will enjoy equal rights, freedom and security. The State shall be a constitutional democracy, the authority to govern and make laws emanating from the will of the people. All its citizens shall enjoy equal rights to vote, nominate candidates for any post and take part in the country’s governance.
2. Right of Return, of Restoration and of Reintegration into Society. The single democratic state will fully implement the Right of Return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants, those who were expelled in 1948 and thereafter, whether living in exile abroad or currently living in historic Palestine, including those with Israeli citizenship. The State will aid them in returning to their country and to the places from which they were expelled. It will help them rebuild their personal lives and to be fully reintegrated into the country’s society, economy and polity. The State will do everything in its power to restore to the refugees their private and communal property and/or compensate them.
3. Individual Rights. No State law, institution or practices shall discriminate among its citizens on the basis of ethnic identity, national or cultural belonging, or on the basis of color, gender, language, religion, political opinion, property or sexual orientation. The state will grant all its citizens the right to freedom of movement and the right to reside anywhere in the country. The state will guarantee to all the citizens equal rights in all levels and institutions and will guarantee free thought and freedom of opinion. Alongside religious marriage the State will provide civil marriage.
4. Collective Rights. Within the framework of a single democratic state, the Constitution will also protect collective rights and the freedom of association, whether national, ethnic, religious, class or gender. Constitutional guarantees will ensure that all languages, arts and cultures can flourish and develop freely. No group or collectivity will have any privileges, nor will any group or collectivity have any control or domination over others. The Constitution will deny the Parliament the authority to enact any laws that discriminate against any community, be it ethnic, national, religious, cultural or class.
5. Immigration: Normal procedures of obtaining citizenship will be extended to those willing to immigrate to the country.
6. Constructing a Shared Civil Society. The Stateshall nurture a vital civil society comprised of common civil institutions, in particular educational, cultural and economic.
7. Economy and Economic Justice. Our vision seeks to achieve social and economic justice. Economic policy must address the decades of exploitation and discrimination which have sown deep socioeconomic gaps among the people living in the country. The income distribution in Israel/Palestine is more unequal than in any country in the world. A State seeking justice must develop a creative and long-term redistributive economic policy to ensure that all citizens have equal opportunity to attain education, productive employment, economic security and a dignified standard of living.
8. Commitment to Human Rights, Justice and Peace. The Stateshall uphold international law and seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts through negotiation and collective security in accordance with the United Nations Charter. The State will sign and ratify all international treaties on human rights and its people shall reject racism and promote social, cultural and political rights as set out in relevant United Nations covenants.
9. Our Role in the Region. The ODS Campaign will join with all progressive forces in the Arab world struggling for democracy, social justice and egalitarian societies free from tyranny and foreign domination. The State shall seek democracy and freedom in the Middle East, so that the rights of the region’s peoples and citizens will be guaranteed and its many communities, religions, traditions and ideologies shall be respected. That should include respect for the peoples’ right to struggle for equality and freedom of thought. Achieving justice in Palestine will contribute measurably toward these goals and the aspirations of the region’s peoples.
10. International responsibility. On a global level, the ODS Campaign views itself as a part of the democratic and progressive forces striving for an alternative global order that shall be pluralistic and sustainable, more just, egalitarian and humanistic and free of exploitation, racism, intolerance, oppression, wars, colonialism and imperialism. This new world order will be based on human dignity and respect for the people’s rights to freedom and just distribution of resources and will provide a healthy and sustainable environment.

In case you missed it, you can find Rep. McCollum’s speech at this link.

By John Kleinheksel

As a Jew, Richard Forer grew up as a partisan of the Israeli State, very sensitive to any criticism of his Jewish brothers and sisters. Like others, he “believed the cause of the I/P problem was the Arab world’s nonacceptance of a Jewish state in its midst” (p. 1). Then, he was led to investigate the Israeli narrative more closely.

 

He will be our guest at a Webinar on November 18 at 1:30. Please register to join us. You can do so by emailing Bart Den Boer at bdenboer@kairoswestmichigan.org before Sunday noon, November 15.

 

As a way of preparing for his appearance, I’m giving you a bit more background. He begins his new book with the story of his transformation to be fully human first, not just an Israeli, thus able to appreciate the Palestinian point of view.

 

Mr. Forer’s objective in writing Wake Up: Reclaim our Humanity, Essays on the Tragedy of Israel/Palestine is stated on p. 226: My objective in this book has been to clarify history and to explain the psychospiritual dynamics at the root of suffering, conflict and violence. He himself claims to have found his “humanity” taking precedence over his Jewish identity, and desires everyone to be so transformed. The need wanting to belong and the need for self-determination motivates each person and people group.

 

One of our main questions is: “Why are we so sensitive when people criticize us? What’s behind this and what can we do about it? Why do some people get stuck in their pain or want to pass it on to others? And why are others guided by their pain to suffer with those who suffer?

 

Why do Israelis insist that asking for full citizenship for the natives is tantamount to denying the legitimacy of the Israeli State?  Is it fear? Insecurity? Yes, they fear being destroyed (especially the Holocaust survivors and their children)!  And they fear no longer being a majority in their God-ordained land.  How will Israelis proceed? How can Israeli critics proceed?

 

How can we in the US sympathize with Israeli fears and still advocate for great equality for oppressed persons there, here in the US and in other places on the globe?

In his work, Mr. Forer demonstrates that when we are wounded and become victims (as in the Holocaust), we take out our hurt on others, making them the cause of our hurt.

Richard summarizes his heart-based insights on pages 227 and 228 of Wake Up: Reclaim our Humanity, Essays on the Tragedy of Israel/Palestine.

 

• “The cause of suffering is the attachment to a presumed, limited, and mortal identity and to the beliefs and images that emanate from and reinforce that presumption.
• “The unconscious motivation behind rejection of valid criticism is preoccupation with protecting one’s presumed identity. We must let go of idealistic images we project onto nations or groups. . .and be healed of the suffering our attitudes and policies have created.
• “The real enemy is not someone or something outside of us. The real enemy is the unexamined mind that unconsciously projects its suffering onto the other and then blames or scapegoats the other for its suffering. In truth, there are no enemies. There are only people who, while suffering the consequences of their unexamined beliefs, have forgotten their common humanity.
• “With regard to Israel/Palestine, the real conflict is not Israel versus the Palestinian people or Israel versus a hostile world. The real conflict is the inability to integrate the hard-to-believe but unmistakable reality of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with unquestioned loyalty to the Jewish state. One consideration recognizes Israel’s dark side. The other denies the dark side exists.”

 

People in the US who criticize the “Black Lives Matter” movement also fail to take account of the systemic racism that has oppressed people of color through the centuries.

 

Mr. Forer’s new book documents how the early settlers had NO INTENTION of sharing the land with the natives.  The indigenous people were not acknowledged or seen as obstacles to Israeli nation-building. It was “Israel First” from the very beginning, and the Arab population got that message loud and clear.  Jews wanted a “Jewish homeland” unencumbered by those they found there.

The Washington Report Here! calls the Israel State “a settler colonial project”, meant to displace the native inhabitants.  Here is a brief passage from the article cited: [University of Massachusetts Professor Emeritus] Sut Jhally noted pro-Israel propagandists have the gall to depict Israel as the victim of Palestinian violence and intransigence. “[They] flip reality on its head,” he said. “Rather than presenting Palestinians as the victim of this, [they] present the Israelis as the victim.

 

“As anyone who watches cable news or reads the mainstream press knows, this victimization narrative is often spread with ease and met with little critical opposition. Jhally cited the 2018-2019 Great March of Return as a recent example of the media propagating pro-Israel talking points. Israeli soldiers shot, killed and maimed Gazans, who gathered along the border every Friday to demand a return to the homes and land from which they were ethnically cleansed when Israel was created in 1948. Yet, countless headlines emphasized the savagery of Palestinians. “When you have one of the largest armies in the world going up against unarmed protesters who are [infrequently] using feeble weapons, it’s still presented as though Israel is under attack,” Jhally noted.

Americans disenfranchised African slaves, from the very beginning, which is our Original Sin.  We are still trying to atone for it.  I think the intersectionality of the US/African and Native American struggle and the Israeli/Arab Palestinian struggle is the lens through which we have to see this issue.  It has relevance to the US.  We sympathize with BOTH Israelis and Palestinians.  If the Israelis give legitimacy to Palestinian claims, they fear losing their own claim to legitimacy.  They insist it must be an Israeli Democracy, NOT pluralistic democracy for the 20% Arab “citizens” (to say nothing of the millions of descendants of the 700,000 driven from their land in 1948 by Israeli terror).

I like what Frederick Buechner says about “snobs.”   SNOBS ARE PEOPLE who look down on other people, but that does not justify our looking down on them. Who can say what dark fears of being inferior lurk behind their superior airs or what they suffer in private for the slights they dish out in public?

 

Don’t look down on them for looking down on us. Look at them, instead, as friends we don’t know yet and who don’t yet know what they are missing in not knowing us.

 

Richard Rohr’s meditation for November 7, 2020, gives the same argument of Mr. Forer, as seen in this link.

Is Criticism of Israel Antisemitic?

by John Kleinheksel

 

Remember when KWM hosted Robert Cohen, our Jewish colleague from the U.K?

It was several years ago when he presented at Third Reformed Church in Holland and at a church in Kalamazoo. He loves his fellow Jews, Judaism but disapproves of Zionism, if you recall. He wants to bring Palestinians into the conversation about what makes up the State of Israel.

Here is a report of a conversation I’ve had with him recently about an open letter he wrote to the Vice Chancellor at Lancaster University where he is now an M.A. student later in life.

In the letter, he cautions the University about adopting the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of Antisemitism. Here is the definition and examples.

Mr. Cohen affirms the need to “take into account the overall context” of references to the Israeli State. But he objects to the definition for giving “no guidance on how to evaluate any context or how to decide if a viewpoint . . . . is reasonable, proportionate or defensible.”

He takes one of the eleven illustrations to task: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (because it is a racist endeavor).” He asks, “Would it be wrong for a native American to describe the creation of America as a racist endeavor?”. . . .Understanding of Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel cannot be the exclusive right of the Jewish people. . . .You need to include Palestinian testimony [as well].” Here is his complete letter.

When I asked him to give us his more nuanced view of “antisemitism,” here is how he responded:

I think where all this gets so difficult, and the reason why it [criticism of Israel] can slip into antisemitism, is that Israel has become the global embodiment of Jews and Jewishness. It becomes very easy for age old anti-Jewish myths about Jewish global influence and power to shift to criticism of the State of Israel.

My take on this is that Israel is no different [than] other nation states and will look to further its political and economic interests in any way it can. That will include trying to influence important global corporations or supporting domestic lobby groups in other countries. Russia will do this, America, China and the UK will do this. This is all normal state actor behaviour.

But when you accuse Israel of doing these things, the discourse brings with it all of the long standing anti-Jewish tropes. So, you have to take great care in how you describe these things, and even if you do take care, pro-Israel advocates will be happy to accuse you of antisemitism.

The bottom line is that the creation of the State of Israel changed EVERYTHING for Jews and Judaism and indeed the understanding of antisemitism. Everyone, including Jews, is struggling to process this change and work through the implications.  Some genuine antisemites and some advocates for Israel are, however, perfectly happy to perpetuate the ambiguity and confusion that now exists (from correspondence with the author).

Notice important aspects of his response:

• The State of Israel embodies Jewry (as a nation-state and Judaism as their religion). Thus, it is an easy target for those who supposedly want to deny Jews the right of self-determination. Genuine antisemitism is a reality in today’s world and must be combated.

 

• The State of Israel is no different than other nation-states in wanting to advance their economic and political interests. (But, it is not above “the law”, as defined through international consensus. Each nation wants to be a law unto itself. Let’s admit it!)

 

• Advocates for the State of Israel recall long-standing anti-Jewish “tropes” (Jews wanting global influence and power). When someone criticizes the State of Israel, it is best to say, “I do not disparage the right of the Jewish people to form a State. The question is, What kind of a State is it and what kind of State does it aspire to be? Like the United States, no country is above criticism.”

A Review of Richard Forer’s Book: WAKE UP!

By John Kleinheksel

 

I have known Richard Forer for a number of years. We finally met in person at a conference in Estes Park, CO, a number of years ago, where conferees were discussing the Israeli/Palestinian stand-off.

His first book, Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion, details his life-changing encounter with a new humanity-affirming Conscious Reality.

In this new book, he invites his reader also to “Wake Up and Reclaim YOUR Humanity”. It is stark and jarring to Jews (and Christians) who are sold out to the prevailing Israeli narrative. It will be stunning and revealing to persons with open minds to learn of key characters in the drama, notable events in the unfolding history, with alarming trends to be seen in the present.

I was really impressed with Rich’s meticulous research, citing impeccable sources in hundreds of footnotes. He gives names, dates, events in their context that relentlessly drive his narrative forward.

Fellow Jews might declare him a “Self-hating Jew” but that charge simply won’t stick. The love for his fellow Jews is unmistakable.

I have been a student of the Middle East for over 50 years. This book of 29 essays is one of the most thorough, compelling, and convincing exposé I have ever read. He exposes Israel’s blindness to their prejudicial, destructive treatment of the native inhabitants. As he states in the Preface:

At the mercy of blind loyalty, I rejected any consideration my beliefs might be erroneous. Loyalty is an admirable quality, but when it masks fear confusion or prejudice, it makes a rational understanding of Israel/Palestine impossible.

With my journey as a guide, this book asserts that blind loyalty, false beliefs and enemy images do not have to dictate our destiny. Through hard work and commitment to the truth, we can undo their influence and achieve a just resolution to this tragedy. Because Israel/Palestine is an archetype, a just resolution could give birth to a global transformation in consciousness and a new destiny for humankind wherein Israel can be a ‘light to the nations’”.

When I wrote back to him, suggesting his book “is a bit off-putting to the true believers in the justness of the Israeli cause”, he replied:

John,

The reason I told my personal story at the beginning of the book was to make it more likely that readers would be open to the historical information or that if their resistance to what I had to say came up, they would at least consider my story, that I had been that way too but was willing to look at the facts and that by looking at the facts I was then no longer bound by prejudice and irrational thinking, not to mention encountering a relief that restored my humanity.  Yours, Rich

I dare anyone with an “open mind” to read this book. You might transcend any and all tribal boundaries and embrace the common humanity of us all.