Hatred Among Brothers

The speeding legs of a gazelle, the panic in its eyes as it runs for its life from a deadly lion that is hot on its heels. Death is quickly approaching. The thrill of the kill pulses through the lion's veins. Fear has overcome the gazelle causing it to act solely on instinct. The gazelle has no idea how to escape the lion's terrible jaws, so it runs. The lion begins to fatigue, but the constant gnaw of starvation wills it to keep pursuing. After two days of running, the lion finally gives up, its muscles unable to continue. The gazelle has escaped, but not without a price. After it is a safe distance from its hunter, it collapses into a deep slumber to try and revive its body. The battle between these two foes has waged since the beginning of time, and both sides have had many losses, but for some reason this struggles keeps going. Is it the lion's desire to attack the weak just to be superior over the small animals, or is it simply its instinct to survive? Why is it that the lion is called the "king of all beasts"? To be "king" implies having power over everything in the kingdom, so then what gives the lion the right to assume this title? Why not give the title to the gazelle? Its speed and instinct have allowed it to avoid death by the lion.

This type of life and death conflict not only happens in the animal world, but in the human world as well. One of the longest running conflicts in history has been between the Arabs and the Jews. These two peoples have fought so much that war is an everyday occurrence between them. The Arabs absolutely despise the Jews while the Jews have the same disdain for the Arabs. So what started this seemingly endless war? And who assumes the role of lion and gazelle?

The roots to this ancient battle can be traced back to Biblical times with the story of Isaac and Ishmael. These two men were both sons of Abraham. Isaac was Abraham's son by his wife, Sarah, and Ishmael was Abraham's son by Sarah's handmaid, Hagar. Ishmael was Abraham's first born and therefore would inherit everything that Abraham had, in this case the entire line of descendants that G-d promised Abraham. Isaac was the second born and was very loved by his father and even more so by his mother, Sarah. Because Hagar, Ishmael's mother, was only a maidservant, she did not have the same rights as Sarah. The law of the time stated that any children born to Abraham's maidservants were to be the children of Abraham and Sarah.(Tanach: Genesis 16:2) Hagar understood this but wanted the child for herself, so she fled into the desert where an angel came to her and said that she must return to Abraham. The angel also told her that G-d would increase her descendants through a son whose name would be Ishmael, but he would be "a wild donkey of a man, who would be in constant struggle with others." (Tanach: Genesis 16) Hagar returned to Abraham, but eventually Abraham exiled Ishmael. Ishmael's offspring would later become the Arab nations of Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. These two brothers were destined to be the fathers of the two out of three major religions in the world: Judaism and Islam. Both of these religions have their own opinions about who is the true descendant to Abraham (each claim they are). The arise of the struggle between nations assumes its throne.

It is taught in Islam that every man should treat his fellow better than himself. Many practitioners of Islam say that they are supportive of all Jews because they are their brothers. Throughout history the relationship between the Jews and Arabs has been more of a struggle between strangers than an intertwined conflict among brethren, and because of this, many Jews who were under Islamic rule during the medieval times were subjected to less persecution than if they were under Christian rule. The reason the Islamic people treated the Jews very well during this time was because the Koran, Islam's holiest book, said that the Jews were "The People of the Book," (Koran 29:46). This would give the illusion that there was peace between the two peoples, but not more than one hundred years ago war broke out again between these two groups. This time it was not about whom Abraham's true heir is or which god is the True God, it was about who is entitled to a small piece of land in the middle of the Arabian Desert.

The Land of Palestine was a desolate, dry, and uninhabitable place. Many centuries ago, Nomadic Arab tribes settled in Palestine and set up their own nation. In the early 19^th century a group of Jews called the Zionists came together to try and form a Jewish homeland. They chose Palestine based on the fact that it was the site of the Davidic kingdom that is described in the book of Chronicles and also because they were promised this land by G-d. (Tanach: Genesis 15:18-21) This would also be a land where the Jews could be returned to their roots and to once again become a nation. According to Hebraic prophecy it is said, "Blessed be You, God, who gathers in the dispersed of His nation Israel."(Artscroll page 222)

The Arabs accepted the Zionist proposal saying, "It is absolutely necessary that an agreement be made between the Zionists and Arabs, because the war of words can only do evil. The Zionists are necessary for the country: The money which they will bring, their knowledge and intelligence, and the industriousness which characterizes them will contribute without doubt to the regeneration of the country."(Jewish virtual library) "Palestine" has thrived under Jewish rule. The deserts have bloomed, and Israel has become "a land flowing with milk and honey". Another reason Zionism was accepted was, in part, due to the speech that Theodore Hertzl, the founder of Zionism, gave saying: "There is still one problem with racial misfortune unsolved. The depths of that problem only a Jew can comprehend. I refer to the problem of the Blacks. Just to call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade, of human beings who merely because they were black were stolen like cattle, taken prisoner, captured and sold just because of the color of their skin. I am not ashamed to say that once I have witnessed the redemption of Israel, my people, I wish to assist the redemption of the Black people."(Anti-Semitism 51). The Arabs took this to mean that they were going to be helped also because they were being persecuted in many Christian nations.

The Zionist movement avowed, "We are striving to create a democracy of the highest ideals and to establish justice for all its inhabitants so that Jew and Arab can live together in peace." (Anti-Semitism 51). Israel's Declaration of Independence stated, "It will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all of its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race and gender." These stated words guaranteed that the Jews and Arabs would live side by side without fear of conflict. But unfortunately, the Arabs later came to disagree with the Zionists by saying that the Zionist were stealing the land from them and forcing them to leave. The seed of this distaste of the Zionist ideal was earlier planted in April 1920, when the British force occupying southern Syria carved out a Jewish state, "Palestine." Muslims reacted very suspiciously, seeing this designation as a victory for Zionism. No prominent Muslim leaders endorsed the creation of Palestine in 1920; all were against it. The Muslims knew that the Jews would bring great prosperity to the Land, but still they rejected the offer of creating a Jewish State. And yet, under Israeli rule since 1948, Arab Israelis have been treated as equal citizens and been granted the same rights as Jewish Israelis. So then why did the Muslims declare war on the Jews and why do they continue to fight?

Islam has had a large influence on the rejection of the Zionist proposal. Radical Islam teaches that Jews are not friends, and Muslims are forbidden to associate with them. Even though Islam is a religion of strict moral concepts, unyielding faithfulness, and unwillingness to accept other religions; it claims to be a peaceful religion with no intention to harm anyone. In the Koran, in chapter 5:41, it says "Believers, take neither Jew nor Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their numbers. God does not guide the wrongdoers." But then the Koran contradicts itself by saying that "all people of the Book are accepted by Islam. So then what does Islam believe? Hopefully, Chapter 9:29 of the Koran can help solidify Islam's position on the Jews, "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book (the Jews), until they pay the acknowledgment of superiority with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Koran 9:29) The Koran also states that Allah has commanded that no word or mark in the Koran shall be changed and every word should be taken literally. Based on this specific commandment, it is impossible for Islam to be peaceful.

Another Muslim attitude toward Jews is reflected in the verse "They, the Children of Israel, were consigned to humiliation and wretchedness. They brought the wrath of God upon themselves, and this because they used to deny God's signs and kill His Prophets unjustly and because they disobeyed and were transgressors" (Sura 2:61). According to the Koran, the Jews try to introduce corruption (5:64), have always been disobedient (5:78), and are enemies of Allah, the Prophet and the angels (2:97­98).

Another question that arises from these Koranic verses; do these verses prove that Islam is Anti-Semitic? Many Arab writers have refuted anti-Semitic statements on the grounds that they are false and inhuman, while others have rejected anti-Semitism for practical reasons, realizing that promoting anti-Jewish stereotypes only harms the image of the Arabs in the eyes of the rest of the world." So if some Arabs are not anti-Semitic, what about the other Arabs who are? Are they really anti-Semitic?

The term Anti-Semitism is a word thought to mean "People who hate those who are in the Middle East or those who are Islamic or Jewish," so why say that the Islamic people are anti-Semitic? According to the above definition they would hate themselves in addition to the Jews. The popular belief that Arabs are Semites is wrong. In 1879 Wilhelm Marih came up with the term, "anti-Semitic," after he sought to find a better name for the anti-Jew demonstrations that were going on at the time. Webster's dictionary states that the definition of "anti-Semitic" is, "a person who discriminates against or is prejudiced or is hostile towards Jews." So just by the definition of the word, Arabs can be anti-Semitic. The Arab world is the last supporter of unbridled, unashamed anti-Semitism.

Many Arab leaders have made public their hatred towards the Jews. On November 23, 1937, Saudi Arabia's king told the British Colonel H.R.P Dickson: "Our hatred for the Jews dates back from God's condemnation of them for their persecution and rejection of Jesus and their subsequent rejection of His chosen Prophet, Mohammed," and he later said "for a Muslim to kill a Jew, or for him to be killed by a Jew ensures him an immediate entry into Heaven and into the august presence of God Almighty." The Islamic world's orientation to genocide against the Jews has not been limited to just mere words. Even before modern day Israel came into existence in 1948, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin, met in Berlin with Adolph Hitler on November 28, 1941. The subject of their meeting was "the final solution of the Jewish Question." (Mein Kampf ) This meeting, which followed Haj Amin's active organization of Muslim SS troops in Bosnia, included the Mufti's promise to aid German victory in the war. Twenty years later, after Israel's trial and punishment of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann, Iranian and Arab newspapers treated the mass murderer as a "martyr," and congratulated him for having "conferred a real blessing on humanity" by exterminating six million Jews.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler introduced the Nuremberg racial laws, which stated that it was prohibited for a German to marry a Jew because this would be defiling the pure German blood, and it also stated that all Jews were to be stripped of their German citizenship. This act was applauded throughout the Arab world, and again the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was among the strong supporters of Hitler's racial laws. "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human." Hitler used this phrase to fuel the Nazi propaganda machine that led millions of people to believe that the Jews really were sub-human and should be treated as such.Some of the Jews had their skin flayed off their bodies and their flesh flung to the dogs. Their hands and feet were cut off and flung onto the roadway, and many were even buried alive. Children were torn apart like fish. They ripped up the bellies of pregnant women, took out the unborn child and flung it in the mother's face. They tore open the bellies of some women and placed a living cat in the belly and left them alive, but first they would cut off the hands of the woman so that she would not be able to take the cat out of her belly. Unfortunately many Muslim leaders have denied that a Jewish Holocaust ever happened. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said as recently as last summer (2007) that the Holocaust never happened and that it was a story that the Jews made up to gain sympathy from the world.

The conflict continues. The lion pursues the gazelle. And the gazelle outwits its opponent only to replay the game another day. Will it ever end? Will the lion ever give up or will his thirst for blood overcome him? What, then, is left for the gazelle? Its very life is in constant danger. Will the gazelle ever win, or will it just keep outwitting the lion for survival? The Muslims have proclaimed themselves to play the role of the lion as "king" over Israel; they have vowed to drive the Jews into the sea and claim what is "rightfully" theirs. Will this struggle ever be resolved? Or will there forever be hatred among brothers?