Sunday Times 2
Parallels from the Jewish scriptures
View(s):I feel really depressed these days when watching the news on TV about what is happening in various parts of the world.
In Palestine, the Israeli Defence Force seems to be hell bent on destroying the Palestinian people—and most of the rest of the world is just watching as cities are smashed, refugee camps bombed and hospitals destroyed. In fact, some countries seem to be thoroughly happy about the genocide that is now going on in Gaza because the weapons being used by the Israelis to destroy Palestine and slaughter the Palestinians are weapons that have been manufactured by those countries and sold to the Israelis. From the modern F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF) aircraft to tank ammunition and artillery shells, countries like the US, Germany and Italy have made a huge profit from their sales of weapons and munitions to Israel—and they stand to make even more profits when these bombs and bullets are used up and the Israelis need more!
This ruthless 21st century genocide that is being unleashed by the Israelis on their neighbours is nothing new for these who consider themselves to be The Chosen People. If one takes the time, as I did this month, to study the Jewish scriptures, one finds several instructions from Jewish religious leaders to slaughter their enemies.
In the book of Deuteronomy (the fifth book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament), the Jewish people are commanded to exterminate certain people such as the Amalekites and the Canaanites. The holy book commands ‘Do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them – the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites – as the Lord your God has commanded you.’
This is probably the first instance recorded in a religious text where the followers are commanded (by their priests in the name of their god) to commit genocide as a binding religious duty!
As has been said, there is nothing new in this world—and what Benjamin Netanyahu and his army are doing in Palestine today is not different from what their ancestors were doing about a thousand years before the Common Era began.
In studying the Jewish books of scriptures, however, I came across an interesting section called the Book of Amos.
Written by a Jewish prophet who lived about 800 years before the Common Era, the words of Amos (which he addressed to the Jewish rulers at the time) ring true even today. Amos could well have been describing our current times in Sri Lanka and our current politicians.
“There are those” he writes, “who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy taxes on the poor and impose taxes on their grain. Therefore, though you have built big mansions, you will not live in them. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. The prudent therefore keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.”
Unlike the Jewish people of that time, who were oppressed by evil rulers but had no opportunity of exercising their vote to get rid of them and replace them with new rulers, we the people of this country are entitled to vote at elections. We have the opportunity to get rid of the oppressors and bribe takers, the self-seeking opportunists and chilli-powder throwers who now occupy our parliament and have been behaving like the political elite that Amos described centuries ago. But will the current ruling establishment allow us to exercise our right to vote?
Palitha Range Bandara’s blithe statement this week that the UNP was considering postponing the elections and staging a referendum (a la J.R. Jayewardene in 1982) appears to be just a smoke screen, a flying of a kite to test the waters. After Range Bandara’s pronouncement which came totally out of left field, Ranil took the opportunity to categorically state that the presidential election will be held in October followed by parliamentary elections.
So was the general secretary of his one seat party just putting a loose ball so Ranil could righteously come out with a presidential statement to put those who are hankering for a parliamentary election in their place?
The presidential elections are said to be taking place in October–but even more important will be the parliamentary elections scheduled for a few months after that.
Will we the voters choose wisely or will we gullibly fall into the same trap, casting our vote for those who bamboozle us with promises of patronage – and once again select as our legislators those who, in the words of Amos, “….hate the upholding of justice in the courts, detest the ones who tells the truth, levy taxes on the poor and impose taxes on their food, oppress the innocent, take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”?