The Anniversary

Today is November 29^th, 2014. It is the 67^th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's approval of “Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine.” Included in that resolution was provision for the establishment of “[i]ndependent Arab and Jewish States.” It called for a “Jewish” state. The United Nations General Assembly authorized the formation of a Jewish state.

The Jewish government-in-formation accepted the plan, although there were some who felt that by doing so they gave away some land that should have been part of a new state, since it had been ordained by G-d to be theirs. The “Arab” statesⁱ unanimously rejected any division, with the view that any Jewish state in their region was unacceptable.

For its entire historyⁱⁱ the State of Israel has been under attack by its neighbors, and by the world at large. In 1947 a majority of the UN may have approved the formation of a Jewish state, and in 1949, based in part on a recommendation of the Security Council, it may have admitted Israel to membership,ⁱⁱⁱ but the Arab nations have taught their children that Israel and the Jews are their enemy and that it is their^iv obligation to give their lives to destroy “the sons of pigs and monkeys.” And, benefiting from their numbers and from their oil, they have launched an extensive campaign^v to isolate and destroy Israel. The world has funded this effort with its contribution of billions of dollars, ostensibly for the improvement of the lives of the Palestinian people, but somehow not finding its way into that work.^vi The work the Palestinian officials do is far more important.

It is of interest that there is much concern among the nations that Israel may define itself as what the United Nations sought to form: a Jewish State. According to Wikipedia, “A state religion (also called an established religion, state church, established church, or official religion) is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state.” It lists twenty-one countries as Islamic.^vii There are also several with one variety or other of Christianity defining them or with Buddhism as the state religion, and this doesn't seem to trouble anyone. But Israel's claim is racist and a cause for outrage around the world. One Jewish state is too many.

It doesn't seem likely that there will be resolution of the problem in the near future – if ever. A few million people in a tiny land, however dominant they may be militarily at this time, cannot hope to prevail forever. Even if Israel were to find a substitute for oil^viii it would still have only one vote against dozens of Islamic states, and those states would be courted by the world's nations; and even if Israel could mount an informational campaign to illustrate the falsity of the accusations against it, there would be countless people who would continue to believe and spread the libels. It would take Israel's demise, and that of all Jews, with the world's problems continuing, to make it clear that in reality there are other causes which they are ignoring. But by that time it will be too late, and they will still believe that somehow or other the Jews were the cause of the troubles. Unfortunately, there is no obvious answer. Unless ...

Billions support them. All we need is One.

I        For the most part they are led and peopled by Muslims, but there are a few others as well.

ii       And before. Of course prior to 1948, when the state was declared, the aim of annihilation was directed at the Jews in general – by the Christians and the Muslims. That aim has, since the Holocaust, and since overt anti-Semitism has gone out of fashion, been directed against Israel. At least nominally.

iii      “Admission of Israel to the United Nations, General Assembly Resolution 273 (III), 11 May 1949”

iv       Primarily Muslims.

v        In the media, in public and political fora, on college campuses (including both faculty and students), among church leadership, and in those in whom they recognize the existence or potential for anti-Semitism.

vi       Much of it seems to have disappeared, so Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are seeking additional funding from nations around the world.

vii     The Organisation [sic] of Islamic Cooperation, which considers itself "the collective voice of the Muslim world,” comprises 57 member states. Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, and Pakistan are officially “Islamic Republics,” and others limit participation in any substantive aspect of public life of any but Muslims.

viii    And I suspect it will. Israel is a modern technological island in the middle of an area focused on the medieval era and its practices.