Midlands Voices: Historic Jewish claim to Israel ‘requires no apologies’

The writer, of Beth Israel Synagogue, lives in Omaha.

Mark Braverman’s Dec. 17 essay, “Rededicating the Temple appropriate for Hanukkah,” is misinformed, historically inaccurate and deliberately deceptive.

That the Jewish people have a just and historic claim to the land of Israel is widely known and requires no apologies. Mr. Braverman’s reference to “Jewish-only” settlements is a blatant misrepresentation that seeks to label Israel as a racist country that discriminates against non-Jews.

Every statement and action by Israel since the establishment of the state in 1948 have been overt invitations to the Arabs to build the state of Israel together with the Jewish inhabitants. This principle is written explicitly in Israel’s declaration of independence, and today there are almost 2 million Arab Israeli citizens.

The proposed state of Palestine, however, insists on being free of any Jewish citizens. Many “moderate” Palestinian groups call for the complete destruction of Israel, while others call for the murder of all Jews — not only Israelis, Jews, including Mr. Braverman — wherever they are in the world. Israel’s war of independence in 1948 was a war of defense waged not by Israel but by the surrounding Arab armies to wipe Israel out of existence and drive all the Jews into the sea.

Braverman appeals on Christians to cease their support for Israel, but the fact is that only when the holy sites of Israel are under Israeli control are people of all faiths welcome to visit them in security.

In the 1920s and 1930s, before there was a state of Israel, the Arabs rioted throughout the country, killing hundreds and wounding thousands of Jews, and expelling Jews from cities like Hevron that contain Jewish holy sites. In 1948, Jews were expelled and barred entry to Jerusalem, and Jewish holy sites and tombstones were desecrated and used as latrines.

Today, the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, is under Muslim control. Recently, a young Jewish woman who visited the Temple Mount on her wedding day was arrested by Muslim police for moving her lips in what appeared to be a prayer.

Braverman invites Christians to go and walk where Jesus walked. Today, Christian Arabs are being persecuted and forced to flee from Muslim-controlled cities like Nazareth and Bethlehem that contain Christian holy sites, and many of their homes and holy sites have been taken over by terrorists.

Mr. Braverman continually seeks to legitimize his anti-Israel stance by reminding readers that he is of Jewish descent. If Mr. Braverman truly understood the Hanukkah story, he would know that the Hanukkah candles commemorate the victory of Jewish people over fellow Jews who, in an attempt to completely assimilate into the predominant Greek culture, abandoned their Judaism and tried to demonstrate their loyalty to the Greeks by waging a vigilant and violent campaign against their own brothers in an attempt to eradicate the practice of Judaism.

Freudian attempts to destroy one’s own people and heritage are alive and well in modern Hellenists like Mr. Braverman. But like the miracle of Hanukkah, Israel will once again triumph over her adversaries and continue to bring truth, justice and light to the world.

Midlands Voices essays reflect the views of the writer and not necessarily the editorial position of The World-Herald.

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