The United Church of Canada has been working to mend fences with the Canadian Jewish Congress after that organization accused us of anti-semitism. The UCC has been critical of Israel to varying degrees at different times for what often appear to be unjust actions toward the Palestinians around them, including the impoverished and virtually incarcerated residents of Gaza.
I have always supported the right of the state Israel to exist and I have no illusions about the difficult realities for Israelis who often feel that they live in a state of seige from hostile neighbours. At the same time the sometimes draconian measures taken to keep those neighbours under control lead to great hardship for Palestinians.
The recent incident during which nine people were killed by Israeli commandos on their way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has raised the ire of the international community. While Israel has argued that the commandos were acting in self defense, the government hasn't explained why they had to board a ship which was in international waters with obvious readiness to use lethal force. Nor do they really want to address the circumstances which led to this convoy of relief ships in the first place.
I'm glad that the United Church has moved to heal the damaged relationship with the Jewish community in Canada, but I hope that it doesn't stop us from offering a measured and honest response to this situation.
What has your reaction been to this story?
Such a tricky situation. I do believe it was an over-reaction to storm those boats. A UN resolution last year to end the Gaza blockade and to allow unimpeded aid to the region has not been followed.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the coin, you have Israel who is surrounded mostly by countries that are hostile towards it. You can understand how it must be constantly defending itself.
One of the biggest fallouts of this is that one of Israel's biggest allies in the muslim world - Turkey - has come out strongly against Israel's actions. Other than Jordan and Morocco, there are few allies of Israel in that neck of the woods. This could affect the flow of money and arms between Turkey and Israel...especially if Israel repeats its actions against the next flotilla.
The media is also in a tizzy about Netanyahu cancelling his visit with Obama. Well, one does not cancel out an important visit like this when they receive 3 billion dollars a year from the US. I'm thinking Obama wants this meeting delayed for political reasons.
I think Obama can do a lot towards achieving a resolution that is satisfactory to both Palestinians and Israelis - no easy feat. However, the initial enthusiasm the muslim world had for Obama has quelled. He has so far not lived up to his word. So far, most muslims probably think the biggest difference between George Dubya and Obama is that the latter can actually correctly pronounce Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thanks for firing up the grey matter on this one Johnny. I know there are times when all of you are thinking "who knows?" in response to the questions I pose, and I appreciate every effort to work through the challenges.
ReplyDeleteYour comments, Johnny, certainly expand well on this tough situation.
I think that it can be politically incorrect nowadays to be against Israeli policy. Proposals at General Council in Kelowna, which were against Israeli policy and the oppression of the Palestinians, were accused of being anti-Semitic. I believe that it was recognized that some of the language was harsh and bordered on anti-semitism, but these accusations led to more talk about the image of the U.C. and Jewish relations with this church than about the real issues that these proposals were addressing.
ReplyDeleteThese conversations need to happen. I think we always need to be careful in how we begin these conversations and what words we use, but we cannot be afraid to start these coversations when there is so much suffering, on all sides.