ISRAEL * QUESTIONS ABOUT ZIONISM

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.

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Sunday Israel's air raids killed 34 civilian children and 26 civilian adults. Satellite imagery of the Haret Hreik quarter of Beirut, before and after Israeli bombing, just shows that Israel is bombing without regard or a care in the world for civilian life. They flattened entire city blocks to take out a few terrorists.

THE FIRST CRIME on OUR PART WAS our INVASION OF IRAQ. We tried to push democracy on others at the point of a gun. OTHER NATIONS THINK THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO INVADE AND BOMB EACH OTHER TOO. Of course Hezbollah is wrong; they are terrorists. But that doesn't excuse more terrorism. ISRAEL SHOULD HANG ITS HEAD IN SHAME and if they truly love God, they will CEASE FIRE for good and really trust God this time.

And by the way Zionism may be the cause of modern anti-Semitism. Zionism is not true Judaism, as I heard a Rabbi say the other day. It is a political land-grab that may not have been the best choice for the nation of Israel. The Israelis should not be defined by land; they are a great nation with or without that piece of land. Life is more than material or geographical position.

** Obsession with land is idolatry: and the Ten Commandments say: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." Is Israel's obsession with their land getting in the way of God's true purpose for them? It seems that they can't see the forest for the trees.

Who would want to be in a arid land surrounded by enemies, when one's birthright is a spiritually powerful nation?

If they would spiritually "let go" and let God, meaning cease fighting everyone and everything, they would start a chain reaction, they would begin to find peace and a great sigh of relief. People would react differently to them. The meek shall inherit the earth. No one seems to get the spiritual significance of biblical parables and language.

This does not mean Israel must leave the land. It means "let go" metaphysically and surrender the fight. Whenever I surrender my fighting, my pent-up resentment, my whole life changes for the better.

The serenity prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

The world stops fighting you when you stop fighting it.

The best uniter of all is divine Love, for when Love is present, hatred has no choice but to be absent from the field. Let’s pray with love in our hearts for all people, no matter what side of the conflict they are on, no matter who began the fighting or who continues to provoke whom. Each one, in truth, is precious to the Creator; each one has a love-inspired role to fill, and death is no part of that inspiration. Let’s also take time to love the peoples of these nations and territories, each one striving for the peace and stability everyone longs for.

It is possible to leave conflicts of the past behind and move forward into a permanent and peaceful future. The Lord can lift the thinking and affections of everyone up to a higher place, one where Truth, Life, and Love fill their hearts—and ours—and where hatred and war will be found no more.

Every spiritual leader and every great world leader throughout history knows better than to do what Israel is doing and what George Bush is doing. Are we really going to continue to be led by people who do not remember history?

Lay down arms, both spiritually and physically, and actually use the Great Peacemaker's teachings. There's a reason Christ was born right there, in the center of all the conflict. No one will listen to him. There is no "wiggle room" in these miraculously powerful words: "Bless those who persecute you; love your enemies." Return love for hate. It's easy to love those who love you. Miracles happen when we actually stop fighting everyone and everything, regardless of who started it or how badly we've been wounded.

The most spiritual growth happens with your enemies.
There's a reason the Arabs and Israelis are next door to each other; they just don't get it yet.

Personally, no matter how safe I feel at home or in a bomb shelter (!), the mere fact that others are suffering makes me feel incomplete and sad. WE should all feel overwhelming compassion for others or we are not fully alive and human.

We must ask ourselves: is the point of our self-centered, air-conditioned, homogenized, shopping-club lives just for accumulating and hoarding all the goodies for ourselves? Are we here on earth just to cushion our fat bellies and feel artificially "safe" while the result of the world to bleeds to death?

Can you really enjoy life when you know others are suffering in the world? I can't. And no evolved, enlightened soul can. This is not freedom, to know your country has the power to lead the downtrodden sufferers to peace, but instead chooses selfishness, greed, violence and bloodshed. Do we really think this is the way to convince others of the "greatness" of our democracy. We have very screwed up values.

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm