Daniel Juster, Th. D. Restoration from Zion of Tikkun International
I want to write more on the foolishness of the anti-Western civilization orientation from the radical left. For some of these folks the basic problem with the world stems form white Europeans who foisted themselves on other more benign peoples and oppressed them. Israel then is demonized as a colonial imposition upon the native, innocent and peaceful Palestinian population. This completely misses the complexity of how Israel came into being, and the general opposition of the colonial powers after 1925. I mentioned in the last post that this claim of colonialism as something unique to white Europeans proves the ignorance of those who assert it.
The basic nature of colonialism is that a nation that is more powerful can take over and dominate a weaker nation and enrich themselves to the detriment to the weaker nation. Eventually their power grows to the point of dominating many peoples. Sometimes the colonial power does good for the subjected people and even civilizes them, but generally human selfishness brings much injustice.
Ignorance, self hatred or denial is the root of claiming that white Europeans are somehow and uniquely more evil than other cultures. A study of history shows that most peoples who became powerful and capable sought to control and dominate others. In ancient cultures, genocide was common. We see this in the history of the Middle East, India and China. The extent genocide, atrocity, torture to attain domination astonishes modern sensibilities. Yet some of these cultures produced great gains in art and science. China was formed form the dominant tribe subjugating all others. It was ruthless. The warfare in India with the goal of dominating the other tribes is an amazing and painful story. So also is the story of the conquering the colonialism of the Mongol hordes who came to power and ruled India for centuries. Japan was certainly a colonial power when they were able to be such a power and dominated Korea and East Asia. Korea was sometimes dominated by China and sometimes by Japan. Africa as well developed Kingdoms that were formed by a strong tribe dominating and controlling other tribes to their detriment. Africans sold other Africans into slavery as part of their war strategy. It is all a very sordid picture. Even today, we see China trying to take over the South China Sea and militarize it to their benefit and to the detriment of the nations surrounding their illegitimate territorial claims. Arab peoples conquered and dominated others forbidding their indigenous languages and cultures. Turkey was a major colonial power for centuries and subjected many peoples.
However, there is one nation that is an exception to this, at least in the original conception of this nation. Israel was formed to be the non-colonial nation. They were formed from the seed of Abraham to bless all nations. They were given a particular territory. Though they were to be an instrument of punishing the corrupt peoples of Canaan, they were told to not seek to conquer the nations around them, but to seek to live in peace with them. God would protect them without compromising alliances or becoming a colonial power. The goal and vision of Israel is that the nations would come into a place of peace under the rule of the Messiah. Isaiah 2 gives us the picture of all nations coming to Zion to learn the law of God and the Torah going forth form Jerusalem. The picture is that war has been ended and all nations are valued and able to find their own cultural affirmation in peace with other people. It is a picture where nations do not dominate one another. Though a great disappointment, the United Nations does reflect something of this biblical ideal in its charter, and even quotes the ideal of Isaiah 2 in the New York center, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”
Israel does seek to bless the nations. They do not seek to be a colonial power. Yes, we have to deal with the difficult issue of the destiny of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, who are not citizens; one state, two states, autonomy, linkage of the Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt. But the colonial accusation leveled against the only nation ever formed to be an anti colonial blessing to all peoples is a bogus accusation and it always has been.