A reader Brendon, from Australia, asked my opinion about a Jewish website, which brought evidence that the Palestinians are indocrinating their children in a cult of death and martyrdom. There are many Jewish sites like these, and they are obviously being used as propaganda tools .
I have covered this topic in the past. However, what follows is my response to Brendon.
Although much of what is portrayed on these sites is exaggerated for propagnda purposes, I have no doubt that martyrdom and resistance are being stressed in Palestinian society and children are being indocrinated in those values. But the identical process is happening on the Israeli side.
From a young age, Israeli children are indocrinated about the army service. Army service is seen as the highest value in Israeli society. We have a whole memorial day which praises the heroic acts of soldiers who died defending their land and killing the enemy. These Jewish “shahids” are held up as an example to youth to be emulated. The language might be different, but it it is the identical message.
As for the use of youth as part of the resistance, in the pre-1948 period, the Jewish resistance groups used children as couriers, thereby risking their lives. Very young teenagers volunteered to be part of the underground and were seen as heroes.
Much Israeli children literature, including the best-selling Hasamba series (which was Asaf’s favorite as a young boy), are about groups of Israeli children fighting and defeating the stupid and cruel Arabs. These books are filled with values such as dying for your homeland, killing the enemy. They also include many hateful stereotypes about Arabs.
As I have written elsewhere, martydom is as much a Jewish as a Muslim and Christian value, and young Orthodox Jewish tots are being indocrinated in this value, no less than their Islamic counterparts.
Finally, what Jews see as attacks on innocent civilians, Palestinians see as acts of resistance against a cruel, inhumane and all powerful occupier who has more fire power than they do. One man’s terrorist, is another man’s freedom fighter.
By pointing out that Israelis are guilty of the same sins, I am not justifying what the Palestinians do. On the contrary, I find it all appalling, no matter who does it. I have often said I don’t understand why people are willing to die and kill for rag and rock (flag and land).
This cult of death and violence is not specific to Palestinian society or Zionism, but seems to accompany all nationalistic movements. Ghandi and perhaps Desmond Tutu, are the only leaders I am aware of who tried to build a non-violent nationalistic movement. And Ghandi was not so much fighting for national liberation, as for human freedom and self-determination. Those are basic human rights tied to the essense of our humanity and core value. They have nothing to do with rag and rock. Ghandi’s argument is: if you are going to die anyway under the boot of the occupier or tyrant, you should be willing to risk your life to overthrow the tyrrany. But, this only gives you the moral right to risk your own life, not take the lives of others, even the agents of the tyrant.
Certainly the Palestinians have the right to resist the violent repression of the Israeli occupation. We would all prefer they chose a path of non-violence resistance in doing so. But by making a different choice, they are no different than other national liberation movements, including Zionism. It is most hypocritical for Israeli nationalists to criticize them on that score.
Tags: Nationalism, Propaganda