Sometimes stories in the news comment indirectly on other stories in the news. The report of Mel Gibson’s drunken, anti-semitic outburst after being stopped for speeding in Malibu over the weekend seemed to silently encourage and support the violence perpetrated by the Israeli government and military with US made killing machines.
Of course, the ‘war’ between Israel and Lebanon is in the news and was on Gibson’s mind. He’s not the only one frustrated by the behavior of a country with superior fire power. In Seattle, Mr. Haq opened fire at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and killed one woman and wounded five others. It is reported that Mr. Haq told a 911 operator why he was doing what he was doing.
“He said he wanted the United States to leave Iraq, that his people were being mistreated and that the United States was harming his people,” Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske of the Seattle Police said Saturday at a news conference. “And he pointedly blamed the Jewish people for all of these problems. He stated he didn’t care if he lived.”
Many people feel frustrated by the situation in the Middle East. Is there no end to the violence and murder perpetrated on civilians in the countries where this conflict plays itself out, over and over again. To many, the ratio of Israeli dead to Lebanese dead seems lopsided. If one is really living truth, aren’t we supposed to take the higher path. Everyone knows that violence breeds violence. If the so-called free and democratic nations believe their vision for the world is worth exporting by violent means what does that say about their vision? If they are superior, chosen, or whatever, would they not show compassion to those who are their enemies? That is the role of these ‘democratic’ and ‘free’ nations. But this is old news.
It is the way the papers report that take advantage of stories like the Gibson and Seattle incident to foster support for a specific side of a conflict. Both incidents ‘prove’ that Israel and the Jews are still being persecuted. Therefore, Israel’s violence is justified: there are people like Gibson and Haq in the world, we must defend ourselves.
In the material universe we are encouraged to live in, a universe where numbers are so important, wouldn’t the numbers of dead reveal the truth of these conflicts? Israel has avenged it’s dead several times over, unless they want a life for every Jew that died in the Holocaust. If that’s the case, they’ve got a ways to go. If not, even by Hammurabi’s code, things are even.
I send prayers to all who have died in these wars. May their spirits find a peace denied them on earth.
shalom
salaam
god bless
the sky is empty
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