Chief Rabbi Goldstein: Israel is the Victim

South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein has written a powerful and savvy article in this week's Sunday Times: Look again: Israel is the victim, not the root of all evil

Rabbi Goldstein asks readers to stop and think before blaming Israel for all the problems in the Middle East.

In today’s world, any attempt to explain the Arab- Israeli conflict in terms other than “Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land” and the “denial of Palestinian nationalist aspiration” is often regarded like a declaration that the earth is flat and the centre of the universe. But what if this view is wrong? What if, in terms of understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict, we are living in pre-Copernican times? What if the Jewish state that is considered to be the root of all evil in the Middle East were instead the victim? What if the apartheid of the Middle East is really one directed against the Jews? And what if Israel is the ANC of the Middle East? ... For the 19 years that Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip, the Arab world had the opportunity of establishing another Palestinian state in those territories, and chose not to. Why not? If the conflict is about Palestinian statehood, then why was there no talk whatever of a Palestinian state for all those 19 years?

Make sure to read the full article.

Comments

[Mike]

I think the Chief Rabbi deserves praise for that article. Its not often that you see the leadership of our community taking such a strong position. It is important for people of his stature to be explaining, not excusing, our narrative.

I am going to write him a letter of praise and I call on everyone else to do the same. I am the first to criticize and you all know. But when someone does good it is as important to be the first to praise.

[Gary]

I'm sure next week that fat communist pig will get double the space, to curse and spit venom at Israel, and at Rabbi Goldstein!

[Jak]

Glad to see an article that says things in such a straightforward manner, without trying to make any apologies for who we are.

Interested to see the hateful rhetoric that will come in response next week though.