For reasons best known to itself, the editorial board of the Advertiser-News North decided to publish in its Dec. 25, Christmas day edition a letter from a leading local cleric of a religion that explicitly rejects the fundamental premise of Christianity – that Jesus Christ is the very Messiah promised by the prophets of old. One wonders if no area Christian clergy was available this year to opine on the meaning of Christmas.
Nevertheless, having no reason to doubt the writer’s sincerity, I take the good rabbi at his word, and applaud his lofty sentiments about bringing God into “the most broken and desperate of places.”
Yes, “the most broken and desperate of places.” If that doesn’t perfectly describe the current condition of the Gaza Strip, I don’t know what does.
Among other things, the writer entreats us to bring “a moral voice to a place of depravity.” Fine words, but that moral voice would have much greater authority were it to be directed toward the genocidal ethno-supremacist state of Israel, which since 1948 has been openly ethnically cleansing Palestinians and which since 2023 has brought historic levels of depravity, cruelty, and atrocity to bear on its victims in Gaza, the West Bank, and other occupied territories.
Of course, merely pointing out any such fact invariably results in the reliable “anti-Semite” smear, which works as intended to immediately shut down discussion, stifle debate, and quash opposition. To these ends, the powerful Israel lobby has been working hard to marginalize if not outright criminalize any reasoned criticism of murderous Israeli policies. This suppression of free speech is justified by falsely conflating Judaism with Zionism, despite the former being one of the world’s great religions and the latter being an odious political movement.
So let us fearlessly join with the good rabbi and “bring hope to places of despair.” Let us start with Palestine, the land that birthed the true Messiah.
Frank Brinca
Wantage
