Murder, Israel the depraved, eternal punishment

Twenty-five days ago, three Jewish boys were kidnapped and—we now know—murdered within minutes. Then, within days of those boys’ burial, a 16-year old Arab boy was beaten and—we now know—set afire while still alive. He died a horrible death.

Jews were shocked when police suspected Jews of this Arab murder. Arabs rioted.

Now, six Jews have been arrested for this murder. The police call it a ‘revenge’ crime, to avenge the death of the three Jewish teens.

All of Jewish Israel is shocked. We are horrified that Jews could do such a thing.

Within hours of an announcement of arrests (Sunday morning, July 6, 2014), new Arab rioting exploded (“Attacks on Israelis, Jews in the Jerusalem Area Escalate”, Arutz Sheva, July 6, 2014). But the announcement that preceded the new riots wasn’t about Jews being arrested for killing the Arab boy. It was about Arabs being arrested for killing the three Jewish boys.

By the time, that same day, police had declared that the six Jews had been arrested, Israel—once the victim in these latest incidents—had become the aggressor. During one Arab riot, Israeli police appeared to have been caught on tape beating an Arab 15-year old (who, it turned out, held a US passport). The US reaction was lightning-fast: within hours of the tape’s appearance, the US came out with a strong statement against Israel (“US 'profoundly troubled' by American's beating in Israeli custody,” PLO news, July 6, 2014).

By contrast, when the three Jewish boys (one of whom also held a US passport) were kidnapped, the US waited days before commenting. When it did comment, it made no ‘strong statement against Hamas-Fatah’.

Nothing in Israel happens randomly. Everything we have seen during the last few weeks is connected. These connections have the potential to create a ‘moment of truth’ for Jews everywhere. That moment of truth could force Jews to choose between morality and Israel. It could prompt many to turn against the Jewish state.

Here’s why: when the world condemned the murder of the three Jewish boys, its condemnation was sterile. It simply condemned ‘murder’. It demanded nothing of Hamas-Fatah. It didn’t demand an investigation. It didn’t demand that Hamas-Fatah work to find the boys or their killers.

But when an Arab boy was found murdered, the world did not simply condemn ‘murder’. It demanded action from Israel. It demanded a full accounting for what had happened.

The world held Israel accountable for Arab blood. The world did not hold Hamas-Fatah accountable for Jewish blood.

Jewish blood is worthless. There is a Christianized reason for that worthlessness, one that influences world opinion towards Israel. That reason has to do with ‘morality’—and sin.

After the Arab boy’s murder, Caroline Glick wrote about sin. She wrote about an Israeli Leftist whose new book is being praised by the leaders of the American Jewish community. The book is My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit. It is being hailed as ‘epic history’. It claims to be a factual account of Israel and Zionism. But Ms Glick terms it ‘fiction’.  She describes Shavit as calling Israel a country born in sin, with a subsequent history that has been immiserated [sic] by tribalism, fanaticism, displacement, and war crimes (“Ari Shavit and American Jewry”, Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post, July 3, 2014).

Shavit, using the kind of misrepresentation and ‘fact’-creation that has become a hallmark of Israel’s Left, condemns Israel as ‘morally deficient’. He appears to call Israel a land conceived in sin and governed in sin.

That’s the key to understanding what’s happening to Israel—sin. For too many, Israel commits war crimes against Arabs because it was born in (anti-Arab) sin. This is why Israeli police beat Arab children.  It’s why Jewish ‘settlers’ commit heinous anti-Arab crimes.

In Calvinist Protestantism, immorality leads to a moral depravity. That depravity makes one morally worthless. Worthless, one comes to deserve eternal punishment (see Phil Cox, “Total Depravity”, philcox.org, no date).

 This is the view of Israel that the Arab sells to the Christian West: Israel’s immorality (it was born in sin) makes it morally depraved (look at the police; look at Israel’s atrocities). That’s why the Arabs riot—to destroy depravity.

The Arab declares that Israel deserves a political eternal punishment. What’s a political eternal punishment? Remove Israel from the world’s map.

America’s leading Jews believe much of this Arab-inspired Christianized characterization. That’s why they love Shavit’s thesis.

So it is that American Jewry is now positioned to join the Arab and the Christianized West to de-legitimize Israel. They prepare spiritually to make sure the ‘depraved Israel’ receives its proper eternal punishment. 

July, 2014 could become a moment of truth for Jews. Soon, Jews could be asked to prove their morality. They might be told to prove their morality by abandoning the Jewish state.