Wars and Rumors of Wars

By Mark Glenn

‘Israel on high alert as end of Mughniyeh mourning period draws near…’

‘Rabbis call on Jews to avenge yeshiva killings…’

‘Israeli attack on Syria possible…’

‘Israel threatens Lebanon with war…’

‘Israel, U.S. commanders test ‘extreme’ scenarios in joint drill…’

‘Israel to hold massive emergency drill…’

‘Israeli warship violates Lebanese waters…’

‘Israeli fighters violate Lebanese airspace…’

To any average person, the above headlines seem like business as usual in the Middle East, as there has never been a period since 1948 where the once Holy Land was not a cauldron of violence and conflict. To those who understand the deeper reasons behind the recent (and not so recent) bloody history however–meaning Israel’s seeming addiction to the shedding of blood–what it indicates is that there’s more to all of this recent business than merely noise. The fact is, Israel’s war party is planning a hell of a bash, big enough to die for, and not just in the thousands but possibly in the millions.

No one should be particularly surprised, as war, theft and conquest have always been inextricably woven into the fabric of Israel’s character. And not just since the 20^th century when former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said ‘…Above all, let us hope for a new war with the Arab countries, so that we may finally get rid of our troubles and acquire space…” but indeed going ‘all the way back to the beginning,’ as they say. One first encounters this fact when reading in the Old Testament where Jacob (‘the deceiver’ who defrauded his brother Esau out of his inheritance) is renamed ‘Israel,’ the meaning of which given in the book of Genesis is ‘He who fights against God and man.’ Not long afterwards are the plagues and the slaughter of the first-born in Egypt, followed by the Israelite invasion of the Levant and the destruction of the various indigenous peoples there, including (but not limited to) the Amalekites, Canaanites and Philistines. It is also most likely not mere coincidence (based upon which particular spelling used–Israil, Izrael or Azrail) that it is also happens to be the name given to the angel of death.

More practical and down to earth though there is the history of the last 60 years proving beyond any reasonable doubt that Israel cannot exist without war. Her entire 20^th (and now 21^st) century history–rather than revolving around plowshares, peace and productivity has instead been wrapped up in her old bad habits of conflict, conquest and theft. Theodore Herzl, considered the founding father of the Jewish state remarked gloatingly on the issue of strife between Jew and gentile when he wrote in his diary “The anti-Semites will become our most loyal friends…the anti-Semitic nations will become our allies.”

(more…)