By Zinovi Krapivensky
Many people asking themselves questions: “who is governing Israel, how did it happen that the Government, the High Court and the Media are conducting a policy intended to hand over the country to their enemies?” “Is this total madness, or a well-considered strategy directed at the destruction of Israel?” How does one answer these questions?
Since creation of the State of Israel more than 60 years ago, the world’s initiatives have been concentrated on the elimination of that state, as well as the Jewish nation in its entirety. These activities are considered to be significant steps toward solving the problems of humanity such as terrorism, poverty, inequity and providing world peace.
These activities are performed by two distinct forces – internal and external. The latter represented by the UN, the Quartet, the Arab League, Hamas, the PA etc, and this is more or less understandable; however, the essence and dynamics of the internal destructive forces, which tarred Israeli society require some explanation.
Indeed, the irrational behavior of the Israeli establishment is hard to explain, as the history of mankind has not known cases in which the government systematically and consciously preoccupied itself with the destruction of its own country.
It would be somewhat inaccurate to think that the governments of Israel, and its intellectual elite represented by left-wing secular liberals, does not fully comprehend the magnitude of its actions. In fact, its ideologies and policies have strong roots in history, and date back thousands of years.
About 4000 years ago on the territory of Mesopotamia (between the Tiger and Euphrates rivers) there existed several Semitic tribes called the Habiru, who are identified now with modern-day Jews.
One day, a clan member of one of these tribes, named Abraham came to the idea of a single God, who is the creator of the entire world.
God responded to Abraham with a suggestion to take his family and go to the Land of Canaan. Abraham followed God’s advice, took his nephew Lot, brother Nahor, their families and herds and went to Canaan (modern Israel).
Thus the one family of one clan of many Habiru tribes ended up in Canaan. After some time we find Jacob (also known by the name: Israel), grandson of Abraham, and his 12 sons with their multiplied families, in Egypt, from where they were brought back to the land of Canaan by Moses.
On the way from Egypt to Canaan, the Israelites (descendants of Jacob/Israel) were joined by a significant number of gentiles and were granted God’s blessings upon accepting the Torah at Mt Sinai. They were named the “chosen people” with the promise from God to give them the land of Canaan.
So was created a new nation, the nation of the chosen people.
Land of Canaan was promised and later given explicitly to the chosen (holy) people to perform specific tasks – to serve God, to follow the Torah and commandments and to be God’s priests for the rest of the world. Thus, the holy people, and mainly them, were to live in the holy land.
Israel is a unique land, the only land in the world which has a written document (title) confirming the name of the owner, its borders, and the caveats: the land cannot be sold, or transferred to anybody. That document is the Bible.
An important fact, and one which is often overlooked, is that God chose people not because they were Habiru (Jews) but because they accepted monotheism. To belong to the chosen people one has to satisfy two conditions: to be circumcised and to believe in the God.
The new nation was created on the basis of common spiritual belief in one God, contrary to all others nations in the World which developed due to common land, the need to fight enemies, habitual language and customs, or in other words, on a material basis. This is the fundamental difference between nation of chosen people and other world nations.
During the course of history the chosen people fought and died for God, for the Torah, and for its commandments. They fought for the holy land of Israel with countless numbers of conquerors, they built the temples, died at Masada, were exiled from their land but always returned back to Israel.
It is they who later participated in the resurrection of Israel. It is they who fought and won military battles against their enemies over the past 60 years and built settlements all across Israel.
The period (about 900 years) from the beginning of the conquering of Canaan and until the destruction of the First Temple in 587 BCE was marred by internal wars, the establishment and destruction of kingdoms, as well as political and military fighting with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and the Philistines.
These internal wars were not only against local Aboriginal tribes, but against the Habiru (an ethnical brothers of the Israelites) themselves, who settled and lived here from the time of Abraham. They included the descendants of Esau (Jacob’s brother), the descendants of Lot (Abraham’s nephew), the descendants of Nahor (Abraham’s brother) and other Habiru tribes which also migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan.
The Israelites were 12 tribes united by their belief in a single God. Yet the other people who inhabited Canaan, including the many Habiru, were Pagans.
The relationship between the Israelites and Habiru was complicated. This is encapsulated by David Rohl, in his book “The Lost Testament.”
“…The Israelites and the Habiru were not the same peoples. The Israelites considered themselves different, as they were the chosen people…In reality, they are Habiru, and however, due to religious affiliation they separated themselves from other Habiru.
On the other hand, the Philistines and the Egyptians still considered all of them as original Habiru… Thus, since the time of the first King of Israel – Saul, there lived two groups of people: the Israelites and the Jews…”
With time some Jews/Habiru accepted the religion of the chosen ones, recognised God and the Torah, and established a relatively united nation which populated two kingdoms – North (Israel) with the capital Samaria, and South (Judea) with the capital Jerusalem. But it did not last for long.
The Northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyrians in 732 BCE – yet Assyrians were invited by the King of Israel to help in the battle against the Southern brothers. The Assyrians forgot to leave Israel after arriving. Instead, they destroyed the capital Samaria, and deported 10 tribes of Israel (the so-called “10 lost tribes”) to Mesopotamia, from where their predecessors originated.
The majority population of Judea was made up of the two remaining tribes of Israel- Judah and Simeon, the chosen people, believers in the God of Israelites. They were called the Judeans, from where the name of the “Judaism” religion stems.
Judeans are the people practicing Judaism. To be a Jew, it is not enough to be considered a Judean and belong to the chosen people. To join the rank of chosen people every Jew has to be circumcised and believe in God, which is not always the case.
Today’s Israel is populated by different nationalities and religions including the Judeans, secular Jews, Christians, Muslims, as well as ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Turks, Chinese etc… The current internal dissent is between the Judeans (Israelites), who wish to see Israel as the Holy Land given to them by God, and the rest of the inhabitants, who want to turn Israel into a “normal”, secular state. The fighting is between the holy people, and those who want to live “like everyone.”
No wonder,
– Ancient Jews asked for a King in order to be “like everyone else.”
– A large percentage of Jews wanted to accept Hellenism to be “like everyone else.”
– Later, Jews wanted to accept the Roman culture to be “like everyone else.”
– Over the past 2000 years, many Jews attempted to assimilate within other nationalities, just to be “like everyone else.”
And now the same motif repeats itself – “we want to have a state like everyone else…”
The results of all previous attempts for assimilation and desire to be “like everyone else” are known: expulsions, inquisition, pogroms, Holocaust.
The difference between right and left ideologies is in acceptance supremacy of divine power, or opposite -man’s superiority.
And fundamentally, in the acceptance or rejection of God, and particularly God who gave birth to the three monotheistic religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The war is waged now by secular left liberals against God’s chosen people with the aim to destroy Israel as a symbol of holiness, and in that way to prove man’s absolute power.
One of the non-believers explained: “We are creating a New World Order; society of equal members and opportunities, but these old fashioned and for long outdated bigots (believers), continued to confuse people with ideas of freedom of chose, personal responsibilities, ethics and morale, justice, etc…It will be better to get rid of them together with they God, 10 commandments and Bible now.”
The goal is to strip people of all that makes them individual and human: dignity, pride, respect, heroism, patriotism etc. No more white, black and yellow – that’s racism. No more nobleman, aristocrats and good manners. Everyone is equal. No more states. Otherwise, it’s nationalism. The world is a global village. The global village which developed in the global cave for all equal people (mob) and will end up in a global grave. To facilitate this we already have global culture (sex, sport, food and thrillers), and the liberal elite which manages all these processes.
The left liberal Jews think along these lines: because of you (religious), we were persecuted, beaten and killed. We want to live as all people, we want to assimilate, we completely reject God, the Torah and the commandments, yet we are still identified with the chosen people – the Judeans. We do not agree. We are ready to give up all of Israel together with its Judaism believers. And not withstanding this, because of those Judeans, no one trusts us. Life will only be easier when they will be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth.
If this trend continues and the enemy of Israel will progress in the course, then the gates will be wide open for total globalization, and the organization of the New World Order similar to the scenario written 70 years ago by George Orwell in his classical social satire “Animal Farm”.
But the Judeans resist. They build cities (wrongly called settlements) on their God-given homeland in Judea and Samaria; they break the laws made by the governments to restrict them, run religious education etc. They are squashed by horses, beaten by policemen, fought by those specially-trained in the art of fighting Judeans (military squadrons), and have essentially become refugees in they own land, yet none of this slows them.
The internal battle in Israel between left elite and right Judean continues and chosen people will win with God help.
Well stated Krapivensky.
The Jews’ status as chosen people is politically incorrect. The concept is not racist: unlike the black/white skin-color distinction, anyone can join the chosen people by converting properly. It is of no sense to fool Gentiles with the “we’re chosen but not better than you” tune. Of course, it’s better to be chosen than not. Chosen-ness means the greatest imaginable advantage in the most valuable sphere of all, in the transcendental realm. The Torah is explicit: Jews were chosen in order to raise us up (Exodus 20:17). In our prayers, we thank G-d for having chosen us from among all nations and exalting us above all towns. It’s great to be chosen by the biggest authority in the universe.
Despite the reality that some number of individual Jews are, in fact, evildoers — the Jews are nonetheless G-d’s Chosen People in their collective relationship with G-d. Accordingly, G-d has said of and to the Jewish people: “… So said HaShem: My first-born Son is Israel.” (Ex. 4:22); and: “… My Legions — My People — the Children of Israel …” (Ex. 7:4); and: “For you are a holy people to HaShem, your G-d; HaShem, your G-d, has chosen you to be for Him a treasured people above all peoples that are on the face of the Earth. Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did HaShem desire you and choose you, for you are the fewest of all the peoples. Rather, because of HaShem’s love for you and because He observes the oath that He swore to your forefathers did He take you out with a strong hand and redeem you from the house of slavery — from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” (Deut. 7:6-8); and: “For you are a holy people to HaShem, your G-d, and HaShem has chosen you for Himself to be a treasured people from among all the peoples on the face of the Earth.” (Deut. 14:2); and: “And HaShem has distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people, as He spoke to you, and to observe all His Commandments, and to make you supreme over all the nations that He made, for praise, for renown, and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to HaShem, your G-d, as He spoke.” (Deut. 26:18-19).
oATMEAL SAYS
“Krapivensky’s history is fractured on many, many counts, which I will not elaborate here (supper is almost ready). The most important fallacy, which he seems to rely on as his main argument, is that the Philistines and Egyptians were Habiru”.
i ADVISE YOU TO FINISH YOUR SUPPER AND THEN READ THE ARTICLE THOUROUGLY. iF YOU HAD READ THE ARTICLE YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE IS NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST TRACE OF “THE MOST IMPORTANT FALLACY”. IT SAYS NOW WHERE IN THE ARTICLE THAT ” the Philistines and Egyptians were Habiru”. IN FACT i AM SAYING THAT BOTH PHILISTINES AND EGYPTIANS DEEMED THE ISAELITES AS HABIRU. i THINK THAT WHAT YOU WROTE WAS A DEMONSTRATION OF YOU KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY ARTICLE. SO NOW, TO RETORT, LET ME FINISH MY BREAKFAST.
Oops. Sorry (I was in a hurry to eat). It wasn’t the Execration Texts but the Amarna Letters. The Apiru were also mentioned on a stele at Beth-shean, erected by Seti I, as living on Mount Yarmuta in Galilee in 1303 BCE. In all likelihood, they were Israelites.
Ted,
Krapivensky’s history is fractured on many, many counts, which I will not elaborate here (supper is almost ready). The most important fallacy, which he seems to rely on as his main argument, is that the Philistines and Egyptians were Habiru.
The Philistines were called “Peleset” by their neighbors and “Pelsgians”, or “Sea Peoples” by the Greeks. The Bible explicitly states that they came from Crete. The Habiru were everywhere described as native SW Asians.
The Egyptians are descendants of Mizraim, a son of Ham; whereas Abraham was descended of Ham’t brother Shem. This is from Torah; I am not making it up.
The Habiru were called “Apiru” in the Execration Texts, and mentioned in connection with a “Labayu” (Levi?) who was king of Sh’chem. According to Torah, Levi and Shimon slaughtered the men of Sh’chem; and when the Israelites returned from captivity in Egypt, Sh’chem was inhabited. No battle was waged for the city, yet it became part of Israel. Those were very interesting connections, which my Modern Orthodox Jewish History instructor pointed out. For my own part, I notice that Jacob’s sons were marriagable young men when they widowed the women of Sh’chem, and it is very possible that the Jewish people are to a considerable extent descended from them on the female line. That is the only Jewish-Habiru connection I know of from archealogy, other than the obvious connection between the words “Habiru” and “Hebrew”. Even so, we know that the word “Hebrew” is derived from the man “Eber”, whereas many scholars have connected the name “Habiru” with the word for “dust” (Abraham was a very dusty donkey caravaneer, as many of his kinsmen may also have been). I believe the word for dust was “afr”, though I may be mistaken.
Off the main point, I also disagree with the notion that Abraham “thought up” the notion of monotheism. The Bible account is that God REVEALED Himself to Abraham, not that Abraham invented God in his mind. The latter is in line with the world view of philosophers, not of the Judeo-Christian religion.