It’s time to heed MLK’s words and work together toward peace in Israel | Commentary

We are starting a new year, and it is about time we clarify a few terms regarding the Hamas-Israel war. First we speak about the meaning of Zionism and, second, antisemitism.

Arab ideologues say, “We don’t have anything against Jews. It’s the Zionists we reject.” From a Jewish perspective, both roads lead to the same destination: Hate.

Zionism began as a political movement whose ideological and theological roots go back to the Bible itself. In the 19th century, Zionism, meaning the return to Zion, offered a vision of hope to Jews in Europe and throughout the world fighting against antisemitism in their respective societies.

Zionism was a response to a deeply embedded hate toward Jews around the world. Zionism’s message was that the Jewish people could return to the ancient homeland that they had dreamed and prayed about for over 2,000 years. Zionism proclaimed that the Jewish people had the right to resettle their ancient homeland in what was then called Palestine and is now Israel.

Zionism was not about expelling the indigenous Arab population. Instead, it was about sharing the land. Clearly that goal has had mixed success.

Secular or non-religious Jews and Orthodox Jews from around the world gradually began to sail to Palestine, which was then under the control of the declining Ottoman Empire from Turkey. After World War I, the British occupied Palestine, and the Balfour declaration affirmed that Palestine was the legitimate home for the Jewish people. As the Jewish population swelled in Palestine, it became clear that the Arab nations in the region would not tolerate a Jewish state.

When the Jewish people declared themselves the state of Israel in 1948, Zionism became more than a dream. Zionism, particularly after the Holocaust and the death of six million Jewish people, became the concrete symbol that united the Jewish people around the world. Israel’s adversaries, however, succeeded in 1975 by passing resolution 3379 in the UN which stated that Zionism was a “form of racism and racial discrimination.”

Thus the movement to discredit Israel in the UN and any other international body began decades ago. The dream to destroy Israel and to use the word Zionism to portray Israel as racist ultimately reached its peak with the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement and most recently with South Africa’s decision to charge Israel in the International Court of Justice at The Hague with genocide as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.

It is incredulous for any Israeli or Jew to be labeled a racist, especially given the fact that there are 168,000 Ethiopian Jews who are Black. Jews are from all races and ethnic groups, including Arab lands.

Israel’s adversaries use the term Zionist as a different kind of antisemitism. Anti-Zionist and antisemite refer to different emphasis on a deep-seated dislike of the Jewish people around the world and, more specifically, to the state of Israel. Yet, at the end of the day, hate is hate no matter how one frames the terms of the ideological conflict. Hate a Jew because they are Jewish or because they are Israeli. That is the tragedy of how hate spreads like a cancer.

I believe that the ability to find peace between Israel and the Palestinians depends on both sides working for the same goal. There is hurt and pain in the hearts and souls of the innocents on all sides of this conflict. If there is to be healing and peace, it might take generations or it could happen quickly. The record shows that the peace between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states as well as Morocco has held. Saudi Arabia is waiting and willing to establish relations. We are close to a new future.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, and I hear nowhere a call to support them. People want justice for Palestinians and for Israel. So this is the reason why I support Israel to not only to be victorious in destroying Hamas but in eventually winning the peace. So many lives depend on peace working and, if it does, it should be a blessing to Palestinians and to Israelis whenever it may come.

This weekend the United States honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who taught us about how to find peace without violence. He understood many cultures and, even with his vision of a better world without violence, he grasped the issues that afflicted Israel in its fight to survive a hostile Middle East filled with hate. He embraced Israel and its right to exist.

King attended a dinner at Harvard in October 1967 to listen to Harry Belafonte. This was after the Six-Day War. The intellectuals discussed the same kinds of issues accusing Israel of crimes against the Arab Palestinians back then as they do today. Even the members of King’s own Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee in their periodicals accused the so-called “Zionists” of war crimes.

King quipped, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking antisemitism!” He understood the problems in this conflict from both perspectives and knew how hatred against the Jew or the Israeli went hand in hand.

It’s time to talk, and it’s time to heed King’s words to remember how hard it is to make peace and how easy it is to hate. That has to stop.