Israel and the Arabs

He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.  And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.  And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. (Leviticus 24)

New Testament

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also....  Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 5)

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  (Matthew 22)

New Testament vs. Old Testament in Foreign Policy

Throughout most of history, international relations have been governed by the Old Testament maxim of "an eye for an eye."  A major exception was the Marshall Plan at the end of World War II, in which the United States assisted both the victors and the vanquished.  In part, this was because the settlement of World War I, based on the old "eye for an eye" rule in which the victors tried to suck everything they could out of defeated Germany, resulted so quickly in the horrors of World War II.

In light of the success of the World War II peace, why would the United States embrace so closely a country totally dedicated to the old "eye for an eye" principle -- Israel?  I am at a loss to understtand why so many self-proclaimed Christians in the United States reject Christian principles in foreign affairs.  Christian principles worked after World War II, and brought us generations of peace. 

Israel - A Terrorist Nation

Many Americans forget that Israel was founded by terrorism.  Jews introduced terrorism into the Middle East early in the 20th century, primarily against the British, who then controlled Palestine.  Jews used many techniques, political and diplomatic, in their efforts to create the state of Israel, but terrorism was an important element in their campaign.  It was their success in creating Israel, in significant part by terrorism, that pointed the Arabs toward the use of terrorism in opposing the taking of formerly Arab lands by Jews. 

Menachim Begin took part in terrorist acts in the 1940s, including the attack on the King David Hotel which killed 91 people.  Yitzhak Shamir was a leader of the Stern Gang, a terrorist group which was responsible for a string of political assassinations.  Ariel Sharon was involved in Sabra-Shatila massacre in which between 1000 and 3000 people (mostly Palestinians) were murdered by Phalangists.  Sharon is currently the defendant before a Belgian court in a case accusing him of genocide in that massacre.  

Although Israel was created by the UN, in 1948 Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, who had been appointed by the UN Security Council to mediate the Israel-Palestine dispute, was assassinated by Jewish extremists because of his proposal that Arab refugees be allowed to return to their homes in what had become the nation of Israel.  

Nonproliferation

The United States has an overtly two-faced policy on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  It opposes the possession of such weapons by virtually every country that did not possess nuclear weapons prior to the negotiation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, except Israel.  Israel's nuclear weapons stockpile may well surpass India's or Pakistan's, two newly nuclear countries that have declared that they have have nuclear weapons.  While the U.S. pressures India and Pakistan, and invaded Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. looks the other way at Israel's nuclear weapons stockpile, as well as its chemical and biological weapons, and its medium range delivery systems. 

Oppression of the Palestinians

There is more than enough fault to go around on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.  Israel was no sooner created than the Arabs declared war on it, a war the Arabs prosecuted about as well as Saddam Hussein's defense of Iraq.  On the other hand, the Palestinians had been living in Palestine for generations; the Israelis could have tried to make the transition easier for the Palestinians, rather than expelling them and sending them to refugee camps or as refugees to other countries.