Israellycool

Do yourselves a favor and read this fantastic op-ed by Salim Mansur, a Muslim associate professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario.

The 60th anniversary of Israel’s birth is a milestone as was every other such anniversary going back to that defining moment for Jews and non-Jews alike when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed independence of the Jewish state in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948.

After nearly two millenniums of wandering in strange lands — following destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem by the Romans and forced exile from the land of their prophets — the birth of Israel has offered Jews a secure home where they may prosper without any fear or apology.

Israel’s birth was assisted by Britain, joined by France, which carved Arab states in lands that were provinces of the Ottoman Empire. If Israel had been born 10 years earlier then a great many Jews who perished in Hitler’s death camps likely would have survived and Britain’s eventual withdrawal from the region probably would have been less acrimonious.

For Ben-Gurion’s generation Israel’s birth was a small promise made even smaller by the UN partitioning British-mandated Palestine, and then arriving so terribly late, even as smoke from the ruins of war-devastated Europe hid the full disclosure of the Jewish devastation in the Holocaust.

There is no parallel in modern history to the story of Israel defying the rancour of old and new enemies of Jews.

This is the story of a people about whom it can truly be said are indestructible despite whatever their enemies have thrown at them.

INSIGNIFICANT FRACTION

The present world population is over six and a half billion people, and Jews are an insignificant fraction of this number, estimated somewhere around 14 million, or a mere 0.2% of the total.

Yet Jewish contributions in the making of the modern world tower above that of any other people in relative terms and the immense odds of survival as a people given the level of hostility directed at them.

From imagining the fundamentals of monotheism to conceiving the fundamentals of space-time relativity of modern physics, Jews have been an immensely creative people through nearly four millenniums of human history.

Their achievements have earned them admiration, envy and implacable enmity of non-Jews.

But Jews have survived through the ages. They first entered recorded history in pagan times while their contemporaries — the ancient Hittites, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Philistines and the Phoenicians — have vanished totally.

Of the ancient peoples from the age of Moses only the Egyptians, the Hindus and the Chinese survive, but their culturally dynamic moment as civilizations lie in the past. And of these three people from ancient times, Egyptians became Arabized as most of them converted to Islam and disowned their pre-Islamic culture.

Israel is a tiny sliver of land in a vast tempest-ridden sea of the Arab-Muslim world, and yet it is here the ancient world’s most enduring story is made fresh again by Jews to live God’s covenant with Abraham as told in their sacred literature.

Jewish survival as a people maybe providential, but turning a desert into one of the rich economies of the world few imagined six decades ago is a minor proof of how much more could be achieved if those fighting Jews joined with them instead by turning their swords into plowshares.

Happy anniversary, Israel.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper mounted a vigorous defence on Wednesday of his government’s Middle East policy.

 

Speaking to a B’nai Brith dinner, Harper made no apologies for his government siding with the Jewish state during this summer’s fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas.

 

“When it comes to dealing with a war between Israel and a terrorist organization, this country and this government cannot and will never be neutral,” Harper said in a speech to the Jewish human rights group.

 

“This position is rooted in what we have long stood for as a country.”

 

The prime minister said he was not deterred by criticism from the opposition parties, who called the Conservative government’s unqualified support for Israel a repudiation of Canada’s traditional role in the region.

 

‚ÄúThat is simply not accurate,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúRather than charting a new (policy) course, we are restoring Canada to its traditional and true role: Principled leadership in world affairs … a Canada that knows where it stands.‚Äù

 

And Harper said it is ultimately in Canada’s best interests to support Israel.

 

‚ÄúThose who attacked Israel and those who sponsor such attacks … seek what they and those like them have always sought ‚Äî the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish people,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúThose who seek to destroy the Jews … will for the same reason ultimately seek to destroy us all and that my friends is why Canada‚Äôs new government has reacted with speed and spoken with clarity on recent events in the Middle East.‚Äù

On Monday the Ontario division of Canada’s largest union voted to support an international campaign to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on its website this weekend.

 

The decision to join the campaign, until Israel recognizes the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, was supported by an overwhelming majority of the delegates to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) at the Ontario convention in Ottawa this Saturday. The Ontario body represents more than 200,000 workers.

 

The global anti-Israel campaign, which started last July, has received support from many North American churches and some 20 Quebec organizations, the CBC reported.

 

According to the report, CUPE also condemned what they called Israel’s “apartheid wall,” saying it is illegal under international law.

 

“Boycott, divestment and sanction worked to end apartheid in South Africa,” Katherine Nastovski, chairwoman of the CUPE Ontario international solidarity committee, said.

 

“We believe the same strategy will work to enforce the rights of Palestinian people, including the right of refugees to return to their homes and properties,” she added.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has apologized for calling some members of the Ontario Association of Optometrists ”terrorists” after a party fundraiser last week.

 

Association president Shirley Ha wrote a letter to members quoting Smitherman as saying optometrists are ”a bunch of terrorists, and I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

 

Ha said it appeared to be a reaction to the association’s Preserve Your Sight Grassroots Advocacy Campaign, which is appealing for funding for primary vision care.

 

”The minister regrets his remarks,” David Spencer, a spokesman for Smitherman, said Sunday. ”He’s already conveyed his apologies to the association for his poor choice of words. He recognizes his comments were not helpful in the overall approach to this issue.”