We Won't Get Fooled Again
In 1944, one of Anne Franks' neighbors betrayed her and her family in Amsterdam, just a couple of miles from where we were staying.
I've taught history for decades, but until being in Amsterdam last week I had never walked the streets of a city that was occupied by the Nazis. It was ghastly to think of those streets full of sadistic and fanatical Germans with their swastika flags and banners flying, announcing their cruel and brutal dominance.
Anne and her family were gathered up and sent to a prison camp. She died in that camp in 1945. Her only crime was being Jewish.
Today, there are Americans who hate Jews but love Israel. They believe in a version of the “end times” Christian interpretation that supports Israel as a state because it fits their narrative of the return of Christ. They believe the state of Israel must flourish and survive in order to bring about The Second Coming.
But they have a different view of Jewish people. The chant of the tiki torch Christian nationalists in Charlottesville, VA in 2017, “The Jews will not replace us!” is part of their ideology.
Not all conservative evangelical Christians feel that way, of course, but the "pro-Israel, anti-Jew" sentiment is quite real. I know this from personal experience. I was a conservative evangelical for over 25 years. (But I never thought of myself as an antisemite.)
I'm not smart enough to understand all of the issues and perspectives surrounding this current war between Israel and Gaza/Palestinians/Hamas/Arabs. The children of Isaac and Ishmael have been waging war on one another for thousands of years.
I do know this much: There are innocent people on both sides of this conflict—like Anne and her family—caught up in geopolitical/religious ideologies completely outside their power to control. They want nothing more than to live in peace but find themselves in the crossfire.
Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel from 1969-1974, said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” Hamas currently uses their children as human shields. Must Israel kill Arab children to get to Hamas?
It’s an ancient quagmire of hate and superstition inherited by every new generation.
As compassionate and caring people, our support must always be for those innocent people, irrespective of race, creed, or color. It doesn’t matter where they were born. Supporting Israel doesn’t mean supporting the actions of their politicians, and supporting Palestinians doesn’t mean supporting Hamas any more than supporting America means supporting Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, or George W. Bush.
In 1995, while I was living in Japan, three American servicemen stationed in Okinawa abducted, beat, and raped a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl. It was absolutely horrific. I felt sick to my stomach from shame. Two of those men were Marines. A Japanese man in my neighborhood, a man I had only seen a few times, came to my house after that and railed at me at my front door. He blamed ME for what happened! His anger was palpable. He knew I was an American and maybe even knew I was former military.
I can still feel that man’s rage and disgust. That year, 1995, was a horrible time for me personally, and even though I was completely innocent, the shame and guilt I felt just added to my overall misery and sadness. That man painted all American men with the same wide incriminating brush.
What Hamas did on October 7, 2023, is beyond unforgivable. It was monstrous, depraved, and inhumane. Retaliation against other innocents on the other side of the fence is too. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.
When innocent people are attacked and killed it doesn’t matter which side of a border they live on. Condemning all Palestinians or all Israelis for the heinous acts of their leaders or the fanatics among them is as wrong as the Japanese man who blamed me for a crime I had nothing to do with.
Most of us struggle to find our way in the world, provide for those who depend on us, be as happy and healthy as possible, and be at peace with ourselves and others. I tend to think that most of us are more alike than different and that we want the same things. But many of our political and religious leaders seem to prefer us angry—or righteously indignant, as they would boast—and divided. They want people engaged and enraged.
Rage, they say, is all the rage in America today.
The sin of Christian nationalism spreads like cancer, demanding its own self-centered brand of bastardized religion forced upon everyone. The “fruits of the Spirit” are completely absent in this nonsense. It’s an abomination, a twisted jigsaw puzzle of disconnected Bible verses taken out of context and cobbled together as a pretext for unchristian behavior. They’re aggressive, loud, and angry. And they are absolutely convinced they are right and equally sure they’re being persecuted for it. And they demand acquiescence.
Mark them well, those politicians, television talking heads, religious pulpiteers, and public figures who use inflammatory labels and name-calling to dehumanize our neighbors and divide us with terms like leftists, MAGA terrorists, radical liberals, right-wing whack jobs, and any number of other immature playground antics. Political leaders, and all others in the public eye, who do this are not worthy of any public trust and no public office. They are provocateurs, propagandists, and opportunists. They instigate chaos, anger, and hate while lining their pockets and increasing their power and influence. They don’t care if we hate our neighbor. In fact, they secretly want us to hate our neighbor. But they deserve nothing from us except our constant ridicule, scorn, and criticism. Along with extremist media, they’re responsible for our division.
They want us angry and vengeful because triggered people vote, contented people tend not to. They will tell you the country is under attack—knowing full well there is no attack—and then label their political opponents as the attackers, enemies of the state. Currently, the GOP is using this moment to ridicule any effort on the part of this administration to navigate through this tangled mess in the Middle East.
Both major political parties do this. But one party is guilty of Class A misdemeanors, the other is guilty of high crimes and felonies. One should get 5 to 10 years in prison; the other should get life without the possibility of parole.
A wise philosopher came to this country in the early 1830s and said this about us: "America will be great if America is good. If not, her greatness will vanish away like a morning cloud."
We cannot be great unless we are good.