In the Torah portion Haazinu, Moses teaches the Children of Israel a poem that they are to memorize. This poem is to serve as a witness that the troubles that befall Israel are a direct result of their forsaking G-d and His covenant with Israel.
Though written in the past tense, the poem speaks of events yet to happen. Though the entire poem is worthy of analysis, several lines stand out.
The poem tells us that G-d's ways are true and uncorrupted, but Israel acts corruptly, because it is an "am naval v'lo chacham" ? a foolish and unwise people. The poem continues that it is G-d who decides the inheritance and borders of all nations, and His starting point is His chosen people, Israel.
It is not difficult to connect the dots. Only a foolish and unwise Israel would reject its own inheritance and accept diminished borders. And such a corrupt and perverse act is an affront to G-d.
The poem goes on to describe in beautiful terms how G-d has carried, nurtured and protected Israel and given Israel of the best of the earth, and how Israel nevertheless rejects and provokes G-d. In what I think is the poem's most intriguing statement, G-d says, "They have moved me to jealousy with a non-god, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with a non-people, I will provoke them to anger with a vile nation."
"A non-people" ? what a remarkable description. People who share a common identity and culture can be called "a people" or "a nation." People without a common identity are simply called "people" as in the plural of persons. But an entity called "a non-people"? This contradictory construct suggests a collective of people whose unifying, defining characteristic is that they are not a people. The term seems absurd, except that it precisely describes the so-called Palestinians.
A critical look at history prior to the time that the world media and Europe signed on to the PLO agenda clearly shows that the Palestinians are a non-people, a fabrication foisted upon a willing world.
Through an effective public relations campaign, the Palestine Liberation Organization convinced the world that it is a grassroots liberation movement dedicated to creating a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people on the "Israeli-occupied" West Bank. Yet, there is not one word of truth in any part of their claim.
First, in the pre-State days of the British Mandate, the term "Palestinian" was used by Jews and Arabs alike only to refer to the Jews living in mandatory Palestine. All Arabs, including those in mandatory Palestine, rejected use of the term Palestinian to describe Arabs. For them, the Arabs of mandatory Palestine were part of the greater Arab nation, and mandatory Palestine was part of Syria. There was just no such thing as a Palestinian nation or a Palestinian Arab.
Second, the PLO was established in 1964, three years before the 1967 Six-Day War that put the West Bank in Israeli hands. Thus, its purpose could never have been liberation of the "Israeli-occupied" West Bank.
Third, the PLO is not a grassroots organization. It was created in Cairo by the Arab League, a confederation of Arab countries that included the frontline nations at war with Israel (Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon).
Fourth, even the PLO's first leader, Ahmed Shukairy (yes, Virginia, the PLO had a leader before the Cairo-born Arafat), denied the existence of Palestine as a nation. Appearing before the United Nations Security Council in 1954 to discuss the refugee problem, Shukairy made the following statement that the world prefers to ignore: "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria."
Fifth, Article 24 of the original Palestinian National Covenant (the PLO charter) states clearly that the PLO has no claims to Gaza and the West Bank: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, [or] on the Gaza Strip..."
Now, if there is no Palestinian people, and Palestine is really southern Syria, and the PLO makes no claims to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, what then is the purpose of the PLO?
Surprise! The purpose of the PLO, enshrined in almost every article in its charter, is the complete destruction of the State of Israel.
Clearly, if there was ever a group to which the term "non-people" applies, it is the so-called Palestinians.
And what of the vile nation about which the poem speaks? This seems to be none other than the nation to which the non-people belongs, the nation of Islam, a collective united against the infidels that constitute the rest of the world. Shunt aside the distortions created by multicultural political correctness, and a most self-evident fact emerges ? that the ruthless, savage, brutal terrorism of today is totally and uniquely Muslim. Whether sawing off the heads infidels, or blowing up families in pizza shops and buses, or starving and massacring schoolchildren, the terrorists are invariably Muslim, and they are no small, lunatic fringe; they are mainstream. And they revel in these atrocities. Is anything or anyone more vile?
Israeli governments have not been noted for exhibiting a deep faith in G-d. If they had faith, they most certainly would have done things differently, and the situation in Israel would today be much better. But even a secular Israeli government, if it is wise, would find something eerie in the Torah's unusual but correct reference to a non-people and a vile nation. And if this government was wise, instead of rejecting the G-d-given inheritance of the Jewish people, it would reject the Palestinian mythology that was created for the sole purpose of removing Jews from their land. Alas, the Torah was also correct when it described Israel as a foolish and unwise nation.
Though written in the past tense, the poem speaks of events yet to happen. Though the entire poem is worthy of analysis, several lines stand out.
The poem tells us that G-d's ways are true and uncorrupted, but Israel acts corruptly, because it is an "am naval v'lo chacham" ? a foolish and unwise people. The poem continues that it is G-d who decides the inheritance and borders of all nations, and His starting point is His chosen people, Israel.
It is not difficult to connect the dots. Only a foolish and unwise Israel would reject its own inheritance and accept diminished borders. And such a corrupt and perverse act is an affront to G-d.
The poem goes on to describe in beautiful terms how G-d has carried, nurtured and protected Israel and given Israel of the best of the earth, and how Israel nevertheless rejects and provokes G-d. In what I think is the poem's most intriguing statement, G-d says, "They have moved me to jealousy with a non-god, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with a non-people, I will provoke them to anger with a vile nation."
"A non-people" ? what a remarkable description. People who share a common identity and culture can be called "a people" or "a nation." People without a common identity are simply called "people" as in the plural of persons. But an entity called "a non-people"? This contradictory construct suggests a collective of people whose unifying, defining characteristic is that they are not a people. The term seems absurd, except that it precisely describes the so-called Palestinians.
A critical look at history prior to the time that the world media and Europe signed on to the PLO agenda clearly shows that the Palestinians are a non-people, a fabrication foisted upon a willing world.
Through an effective public relations campaign, the Palestine Liberation Organization convinced the world that it is a grassroots liberation movement dedicated to creating a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people on the "Israeli-occupied" West Bank. Yet, there is not one word of truth in any part of their claim.
First, in the pre-State days of the British Mandate, the term "Palestinian" was used by Jews and Arabs alike only to refer to the Jews living in mandatory Palestine. All Arabs, including those in mandatory Palestine, rejected use of the term Palestinian to describe Arabs. For them, the Arabs of mandatory Palestine were part of the greater Arab nation, and mandatory Palestine was part of Syria. There was just no such thing as a Palestinian nation or a Palestinian Arab.
Second, the PLO was established in 1964, three years before the 1967 Six-Day War that put the West Bank in Israeli hands. Thus, its purpose could never have been liberation of the "Israeli-occupied" West Bank.
Third, the PLO is not a grassroots organization. It was created in Cairo by the Arab League, a confederation of Arab countries that included the frontline nations at war with Israel (Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon).
Fourth, even the PLO's first leader, Ahmed Shukairy (yes, Virginia, the PLO had a leader before the Cairo-born Arafat), denied the existence of Palestine as a nation. Appearing before the United Nations Security Council in 1954 to discuss the refugee problem, Shukairy made the following statement that the world prefers to ignore: "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria."
Fifth, Article 24 of the original Palestinian National Covenant (the PLO charter) states clearly that the PLO has no claims to Gaza and the West Bank: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, [or] on the Gaza Strip..."
Now, if there is no Palestinian people, and Palestine is really southern Syria, and the PLO makes no claims to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, what then is the purpose of the PLO?
Surprise! The purpose of the PLO, enshrined in almost every article in its charter, is the complete destruction of the State of Israel.
Clearly, if there was ever a group to which the term "non-people" applies, it is the so-called Palestinians.
And what of the vile nation about which the poem speaks? This seems to be none other than the nation to which the non-people belongs, the nation of Islam, a collective united against the infidels that constitute the rest of the world. Shunt aside the distortions created by multicultural political correctness, and a most self-evident fact emerges ? that the ruthless, savage, brutal terrorism of today is totally and uniquely Muslim. Whether sawing off the heads infidels, or blowing up families in pizza shops and buses, or starving and massacring schoolchildren, the terrorists are invariably Muslim, and they are no small, lunatic fringe; they are mainstream. And they revel in these atrocities. Is anything or anyone more vile?
Israeli governments have not been noted for exhibiting a deep faith in G-d. If they had faith, they most certainly would have done things differently, and the situation in Israel would today be much better. But even a secular Israeli government, if it is wise, would find something eerie in the Torah's unusual but correct reference to a non-people and a vile nation. And if this government was wise, instead of rejecting the G-d-given inheritance of the Jewish people, it would reject the Palestinian mythology that was created for the sole purpose of removing Jews from their land. Alas, the Torah was also correct when it described Israel as a foolish and unwise nation.