On a BBC special in the 1980s about science and religion, Rabbi
David Revson was invited to debate a well-known British astronomer.
The scientist went first, and he began with this: “I don’t know
much about religion, but I think it can be summed up by saying ‘Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you’, and couldn’t we
work that out for ourselves?” Revson countered: “I don’t know much
about astronomy, but I think it can be summed up by saying
‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’!”
His riposte underscores a rampant malady of recent times, the
tendency for people to pontificate on matters whereof they know
nary a thing. Having a pulpit handy, they proceed to pronounce
about all and sundry. Clearly, this is a case of putting Descartes
before the horse: “I talk, therefore I am.” Although this is to a
degree widespread, one fellow seems to have lately become the
poster boy for foot-in-mouth disease. He keeps loosing
distemper.
So when I heard that some genius in British local government had
accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and labeled Ariel Sharon a war
criminal who should be in prison and not in office, I immediately
said: “Mayor Livingstone, I presume.” This is the selfsame mayor of
London who asseverated in November of 2003 that President Bush was
“the greatest threat to life on the planet that we’ve most probably
ever seen.” A bit of a hyper bully, eh?
Sad to say, such statements gain too much currency in Europe to
be ignored. So we will pretend that this is a considered opinion
from a temperate intellectual and engage it on substance. Rather
than focus on its being a little insane and very inane, not to
mention mean-spirited and fraught with base animus, we will confine
ourselves to arguing that it is just downright… wrong.
The charge that Israel is doing ethnic cleansing can only be
premised on whatever arrests or deportations or killings of
individual Palestinians might be effected over time by military or
civilian arms of government. As if to say that those things, when
done, reflect a broader policy of eliminating a population.
However, this is simply not true. No Palestinian town or settlement
has ever experienced forced evacuation at Israeli hands. Any death
or deportation is an isolated result of conflict, usually initiated
by Palestinian terrorism.
In fact, the opposite is the case. If anyone is engaged in
ethnic cleansing, it is the Palestinians. I recall back in 1988
that syndicated columnist and Boston Herald editorialist
Don Feder was sent to Jerusalem to report on the various parties
that comprise Israel’s political spectrum. He asked me to introduce
him to Mr. Abraham Ravitz, who had just been elected to Knesset for
his first term, and I sat in on the interview.
Ravitz, a former Lehi member (the Lehi worked alongside the
Irgun pre-1948 but tended to be more violent) with scarred features
that bespeak a thousand secret skirmishes, challenged Feder with a
simple question: “Aren’t there Jews in America, in Canada? So if
they want Palestine to be a normal state, why can’t they
accommodate some Jewish citizens? If we have a million Arabs living
peacefully in Israel, shouldn’t there be Jews living in Palestine
too?” He went on to use a loaded phrase from the Nazi era,
maintaining that the Palestinians want a judenrein territory.
When I was having an apartment refurbished outside Jerusalem in
1992, a number of Palestinian craftsmen were involved in the
project. Ahmad was supervising the work crew, Mahmoud was
fashioning magnificent cabinets from mahogany to my specifications,
and Daoud was soldering the wrought-iron fences to encircle the
balcony. One day, Daoud asked me to drive him back to his village
after work. Steering my Mitsubishi down the narrow road, I was
suddenly confronted by a Mitsubishi trying to pass me in the
opposite direction. The bodies of the vehicles squeaked past each
other, but the two rear-view mirrors crashed and fell off.
The young Palestinian driver got out and suddenly a large mob of
his compatriots materialized around me with tempers beginning to
flare. Over the years, some Jews have been killed in those
situations. In my case, Daoud got out from the passenger’s side and
began to pepper the other driver with staccato Arabic. After a
minute or two, the young man grinned sheepishly and drove off; the
crowd quickly dissipated. Later, I asked Daoud what magic words he
had uttered. “I said that he better hurry and get it fixed before I
tell his father that he borrowed the car without permission.”
Israel has consistently worked to be welcoming to Palestinians
and allowed them to rise in the work force to their level of
competence. Even General Sharon, a pugnacious brawler who has often
picked fights with Palestinians, has never advocated any
large-scale brutalization or deportation. (Other generals have, not
he.) There is some question whether as Prime Minister he is in over
his head. But one thing is clear: the Peter Principle is working
overtime in London, where the Mayor’s potty cracks reveal his
incompetence.
