“Judaism is to do justice and to have mercy and to walk humbly with God; and all the rest is commentary and of secondary importance”.
So wrote Rabbi Elmer Berger, a leading Jewish thinker of the 50’s and 60’s, who opposed what he called Israeli-style “Jewish nationalism”.
Another renowned Jewish thinker, Arthur Koestler, warned that Israel was becoming “a nasty little Sparta”.
This past week, much of the rest of the world, sickened by the mass slaughter and destruction in Gaza wrought by Israel, joined in calls for creation of a Palestinian state. This obvious solution to the agonies of five million stateless Palestinian refugees would be a start to making whole one of the world’s largest refugee problems. Over 147 nations have recognized the Palestinian state. But until now, the United States, France, Britain and Germany have refused to heed the cries of the savagely abused Palestinian refugees.
