I’m an incredibly proud New Zealander. I relish the fact that I was born and grew up in the most beautiful place in the world. I love the fact that, while we have a long way to go when it comes to righting the colonial wrongs, we embrace our indigenous population. I like to use the little Maori language I have since it honours the fact that Maori is one of our official languages. I’m stoked that the passport I hold is one of the most valuable on earth.
So, yes, I love my country and its people. But I am also Jewish. And like most Jews around the world, the events of a couple of weeks ago got me thinking about my place in the world.
It probably helps to give a bit of context. The Jewish people have existed for thousands of years. For most of that time, they had no country of their own and hence have lived across the four corners of the earth. Every year during the Passover festival, Jews for thousands of years have been saying “Next year in Jerusalem” with no real hope or expectation of that being possible.
And so, we have overwhelmingly been “an other.” Guests in other countries at the mercy of our hosts and neighbours. Maybe tolerated, maybe assimilated, maybe the butt of jokes but still, at some level, an other. Now I absolutely get that this sounds dramatic – I’m a relatively successful individual and have been lucky enough to achieve a bunch of things here in New Zealand. But there is something that non-Jews find hard to understand, and that is that, given the arc of time, our welcome wherever we are has historically always run out.
From the Neo-Babylonian Empire in which the First Jewish temple was destroyed, to the Roman Empire which effectively destroyed the Second. From the Black Death Persecutions to the 1066 Granada Massacre and on to the Massacre of 1391 in Spain. From the many Pogroms in the Russian Empire to the tenets of Nazism prior to and during World War II, there has always been an event that breaks our comfortable co-habitation.
Jews have a shared memory, engrained into our DNA, that comes from the collective trauma of thousands of years of persecution. Quite literally, Jews are painfully aware that, for us, a significant proportion of the world wants to kill us. For sure, here in New Zealand I’m lucky that no one is actually trying to do it to me. But every few generations, some group or others decide that the world would be better off without us.
Every year at Passover we remind ourselves and each other of this fact, reciting the words that:
In every generation, they rise up against us to annihilate us
For us, this isn’t just a religious tradition, it is an articulation of the fact that we have lived as a people.
So every Holocaust Memorial Day, when we (and others) say “Never Again,” we don’t say it as a matter of fact, but rather as a matter of hope. A hope that truly feels a little naive. October 7th showed us that our paranoia isn’t naivete, but rather a reaction to our shared reality.
We have all grown up hearing the jokes (and non-jokes) about the Elders of Zion, the mythical half dozen or so Jews who run the world’s financial systems. We’ve laughed along as people use the literal name of our religion as shorthand for someone who is miserly. We’ve even tried not to grimace when people make jokes about the Holocaust (yes, that one about Hitler sending us the Gas bill hurts viscerally.)
October 7th, while sad and shocking, is the millennia-long reality for us. And it is because of this shared trauma that the pain we all feel about what happened that day isn’t some kind of dissociated and intellectual pain about suffering from distant people, rather it is the pain about suffering that our own family faced.
There are only 15 million Jews in the world and so most of us know someone whose family member or neighbour was killed or taken hostage. But even for those who don’t have this direct connection, these are our own family members we’re talking about. Jews have always felt a part of a tribe. A tribe that has huge variances within it and pretty existential differences of opinion, but a tribe nonetheless. The old saying goes that three Jews will have five opinions – it’s largely true. I might get angry about the arrogant Israeli bus driver who is rude and obnoxious, but he’s still my brother.
And so it’s important for readers who don’t know much about the Middle Eastern conflict and what has led to it, to understand our reality outside of the current situation. It is absolutely right and appropriate for people to show concern about the plight of the Palestinians, and hope for peace in the region. But to do so without a parallel empathy for how we, as Jews, are suffering is ignorant at best, and cruel at worst.
We hear random liberal commentators opining that the Hamas terrorist attacks were simply an act of de-colonisation and an attempt to regain autonomy. We hear that and very quickly remember that the very first line of the Hamas charter suggests that until all Israel is annihilated, its job will not be done. For Jews, that isn’t simply a charter, it is a clear message that a group wishes every single one of us dead.
And that is a wish that we’ve been facing as a people since the dawn of time.
So sad and so true.
Hi Ben,
A great post. Thank you.
Phil McKendry
You have very neatly skipped over the reason Hamas exists, the reason israel commabds the biggest open air orison in the world. You very neatly turn your face from the atrocities committed by the apartheid govt of Israel over the last seventy years. I have read Fisk, I have read Leibowitz and I remember Rachel Corrie bulldozed to death and the subsequent outrage from the west. Which was ironic given that on the same day 9 Palestinians were killed by idf one of whom was 4 years old, another 90. No one would have noticed if not for Rachel’s death.
And now we have the ‘moral’ Israeli govt invoking the Hanibal clause. We marched here against the Botha govt. You probably did to. Why is half this country at least not marching against Netanyahu and his troika of fascists?
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return. Auden.
Sincerely, Sam Mahon
Sam – you’re a smart guy. Way too smart to be this ignorant.
Hamas exists because, despite being offered two-state solutions several times over the past 70 years, the Arab world finds it far more useful to have a downtrodden Palestinian population to use as leverage and “proof” that Israel is the bad actor in all of this. You seem to be comfortable critiquing Israel’s treatment of Arab’s yet show no parallel opprobrium for Syria gassing its own population, Iran murdering women who chose not to wear Hijab or Homosexuals being thrown off tall buildings in Gaza.
I note that you show no criticism for Egypt whose border with Gaza has been far more tightly controlled than Israel’s, nor an acknowledgement that many Gazans have, over the years, travelled into Israel to work, for medical treatment and for education.
Now there’s a proportionality conversation that is worth having…
And it’s worth having. I have already asked you to find time, at your convenience, to sit down with Alison and with me and put the case for Israel in the form of a respectful conversation rather than in the usual adversarial ping-pong match of social media. I’m not looking to win points here Ben, I’m too old for contests. I want to understand.
Thank you for sharing this very important reminder.
The Hebrew Bible is an account of how God called the descendants of Abraham to be his covenant people to bring the knowledge of Yahweh to all nations. From Moses they received moral commands to guide their behaviour, a sacrificial system to atone for violations of God’s laws. This is a demanding and fearful God. Many times they were exiled for practicing idolatry like surrounding nations. Read the prophets and psalmists to comprehend the consequences of the repeated fracturing of this relationship – and its restoration. The calling of the Jewish people is to be a light to the gentiles. The Hebrew people were disciplined to be God’s people for us. Yes, the treatment by European nations of Jews was contemptible and unforgivable – the failure of the Christian Church globally to end this persecution is the shameful history which we have to bear. However there is no evidence to support a claim that people around the world want to kill all Jews. Since the terrible times of Nazi Germany when genocide of all Jews in Europe was planned on an industrial scale – there have been huge advances in understanding and legalising of the human rights of all people. African people no longer fear the arrival of slave trading ships. Given the many millions of Jews around the globe (full participants in the social and economic culture of their countries as here in NZ) it is impossible to accept that each one of them is personally acquainted with someone killed or made hostage by the Hamas breakout of their Gaza prison camp. When you say Never Again after the Holocaust this is what every right thinking and justice loving person is saying applies universally. Never Again for any group of people or any nation anywhere. Peace seeking Jews are also saying this – just as they are saying Not in My Name when they see the horror of genocide being planned by Israel for two million Palestinian civilians – by continuous bombing, destruction of their homes, denial of water and food and hospital resources and power – for revenge. This is against international law – laws originating in the genocide planned for Jews by Hitler.
The Palestinians have lived since 1948 under Zionist Occupation in cruel, brutal controlling punitive conditions – supported by the U.S. Under international law they have a right to seek their freedom. The killing of civilians by Hamas of Jews or the Israel administration killing of Palestinians – and the West Bank is in lockdown now with 100 Palestinians killed in recent days – is not condoned. But setting aside a fraught history the one compelling issue right now is will the world stand by and watch the slaughter of millions of civilians – half of them children – by Israel.
“The slaughter of millions of civilians” What the actual?
Have you considered part of the problem is the Jewish religion being so elitist? You believe you are god’s chosen people and that only descendants of the original 14 tribes are favoured by god and will ascend to heaven – this brings around a few problems not least of which is your inability to truly assimilate into any other culture, and the worst of which is your belief lands shared for almost 6,000 years belong exclusively to you.
Here’s an abridged version of your history;
* Semitic tribes live nomadically for about 2,500 years trading, sharing, peacefully co-existing
* 3,125 years ago 14 tribes adopt monotheistic Judaism based off Zoroastrianism and Canaanite beliefs and stories, and eventually start permanent settlements (while other tribes remained nomadic around you, but eventually settle down mostly)
* About 2,000 years ago, Christianity springs up as Judaism for gentiles, and is eventually adopted by the Roman empire as your lands (including those of other Semites) are taken over
* About 1,300 years ago Islam, based off Judeo-Christian beliefs, springs up and now the area is fragmented by multiple cultures and beliefs
* About 130 years ago Zionism, the belief in ownership of lands traditionally shared, becomes a political movement attempting to create Israel
* After WWII, with no lands of your own and blatant persecution in Europe, the former British protectorate is divided (extremely badly) between expatriated Zionists and the existing residents, and Israel and Palestine are created in 1948
* rather than assimilate with the people who had been living on the new Israel, the Zionists evict them creating a refugee crisis of around 700,000 people
* we all know the recent history where Israel, backed by Christian USA who believe Israel must exist for Jesus to return, repel the other Semitic countries attempting to take the land back, are beaten, and force now Palestinians into a guerrilla war and ever-decreasing pockets of land as Israel systematically expands, settles, and expands
Israel hides behind it’s persecution and uses it to justify the persecution they are committing.
You missed the part about the Arabs being offered a two state solution many times and instead opting to attempt to destroy Israel and Judaism…
Yeah, nah – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/06/peace-israel-palestinians-joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-two-state-solution?ref=upstract.com
I have already written a comment. It was thoughtful and respectful. I do not see it published here. This makes me wonder if the writer of this post is a genuine person or not.
I read it Lynne. It was, as you say, thoughtful and unusually for social media respectful. My partner Alison Erickson and I are grateful for your wider view. Sam Mahon
Extremist ideologies whether secular or religious will never bring peace to the earth. too many on all sides harness a deity to their wagon and consider their god fights for them and with them against the ‘enemies’ who are defined as all who think differently from them. Politically the world needs to be taken from extremists and placed in the care of moderate leaders who seek a solution of justice and equity that will lead to peace. Revenge is the world’s rottenest cause and civilised humanity needs to reject it for ever. What about a one-sate solution to Israel/Palestine with a moderate partnership of both peoples managing one country. Palestinians have for too long been pawns not only in Israel but also among other Arab nations in the Middle-east. If both peoples lived in one nation committed to equality and mutual development peace has a real chance of breaking out. There will be no place in governance for either Hamas or the ultra-orthodox Jews both of whom seem unable to accept the right to existence of the other.
Nothing here about how Hamas was supported by both Israel and the U.S, to undermine Fatah. Context is everything. Now more than ever, Israeli’s should be protesting against Netanyahu’s fascist regime. A regime that ironically garners increasing support from evangelical Christian’s and Republicans. Free Palestine.