The same sort of demoralization is taking place in America where a politically correct educational system and media have been guilting Americans into believing our history is fraught with evil and that we stole another peoples land. Whereas Columbus Day used to be a major holiday celebrating the discovery of America, today kids in school are taught that Columbus was evil. The very term “native American” in referring to Indians was coined for the purpose of creating the impression that those of us whose ancestors came from Europe don’t belong here, that we are usurpers. Well I was born in America, so that makes me a native American. When referring to Indians we must call them Indians and never use the term “native American”. We need to stop conforming to the left’s terminology and narrative of American history. Just as we must stop using terms they created with regard to Israel like “palestinians” in referring to the Arabs occupying Israel. We must never use the term “west bank” in referring to Judea and Samaria and we must no longer use the term “East Jerusalem” as Jerusalem is ONE city. Our side must also stop saying “occupation” or “occupied” territories in referring to the Jewish presence in part of the Jewish homeland of Judea and Samaria. And finally never again should we use the terms “settlements” or “settlers” in referring to Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Palestinian narrative is a falsification of historycontinue
If true peace is ever to reign among Israel and its Arab neighbors, it is important that the Arabs recognize that what they call the Nakba was a self-inflicted tragedy.
By Moshe Arens, Haaretz
The legendary TV sleuth Columbo used to question witnesses to a crime he was investigating by confronting them brusquely: “Just give me the facts,” he would say. He was not interested in hearing conflicting subjective accounts of the kind that appear in Akira Kurosawa’s famous film “Rashomon,” where each of the witnesses to a crime gave his subjective impression in mutually contradictory ways. The facts, that is all he wanted to hear. The facts, that is what is required of those who teach history to our children in school when they teach the history of Israel’s War of Independence.
Some years ago, the Ministry of Education instructed schools to teach our children the “Palestinian narrative” in addition to the Jewish (Israeli? ) narrative of the events of Israel’s War of Independence. Now that this instruction has been countermanded, a demand is voiced by some that the “Palestinian narrative” nevertheless continue to be taught in our schools. Are there really two narratives which our children should be taught? Is history no more than a collection of conflicting narratives?
The “narrative” mode of history is something of recent vintage, a fad not likely to persist. It is the facts that we want our children to be taught in history lessons. There may be different interpretations of certain events that may need to be elaborated, even when the events themselves have been established beyond doubt. It is only when the actual course of events has been difficult or impossible to ascertain that there is room for presenting different versions.
12 comments:
While it is true that our language must not reflect the Stockholm Syndrome of politicians like Ehud Barak, who himself believes the Jews are occupiers and has said so publicly, your anti-political correctness speak against calling the western hemisphere's indigenous peoples native Americans is amiss. No, they are not "native Americans." They are this continent's indigenous people.
They were here before the Vikings, Amerigo Vespucci, or Columbus and should be named by the distinct nations that they are, whether Lakota, Ute, Dine, etc.
Entire indigenous nations were wiped away by European and later American expansion.
What is my point? It is as you say, we are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel. That is how we should refer to ourselves. We were being slaughtered by Bavel, Greece, and Rome in our land long before Islam ever existed.
The indigenous nations of America have a rather identical story. Just as the Nazis put us in ghettos the United States created a reservation system in the American west after many indigenous nations, like we did under Bar Kochba, fought foreign encroachment and attempts at forced assimilation which included the banning of their religious practices, use of their language, and even the abducting of their children who were taken to boarding schools where they were to be cleansed of the their "savagery" and made into good little Christians.
This is not a leftist narrative. It is fact. It is well documented, and one need only go to Pine Ridge and ask people who live in third world poverty in America, with the highest infant mortality rate of any population on earth, about what is a leftist narrative and what is not.
Rather than dismiss this reality as leftist political correctness and attempt to claim you are native to this country, you should attempt to empathize because their story is our story.
We are not this nation's indigenous people. We are indigenous to Eretz Yisrael. That is our home. That is where we belong. That is where we should be directing ourselves...in preparation to leave this land that is not our real home.
We have found shelter and protection here in a way that we have not in any other place in our long exile, and we are able to be here because of the millions of indigenous people that died at the hands of those who built this nation, as great as it is. Jews in America owe a debt to that fact, and could never possibly repay it other than to advocate for them, and study their history. Just as Europe is a vast, bloody Jewish graveyard, America is the same for its indigenous people.
It is not enough for you to say not to say "settler" or "occupation." Remember who you are, why you are here, and where you are supposed to be. Jews in America are not Zionists and should stop calling themselves that. We are exiles and have two choices: stay in exile or figure out how to get home. When exiles return home then we can call ourselves Zionists.
I love America and am grateful that my family was able to escape Europe before the conflagration that consumed our people there. I am grateful for those who fought and died for America's independence, and who were thoughtful enough to establish a republic based on individual liberty and religious freedom, but that republic could not exist without the blood of millions who were here long before that. We are indebted to both, but should not be foolish enough to think we are "native" to this land. We are native to Eretz Yisrael. When we collectively embrace that it will no longer matter what Israeli leftists think.
I stand by my remarks. They are Indians who's ancestors probably migrated from Asia. They are not any more indigenous than I am. I am a native American since I was born in America.
Entire indigenous nations were wiped away by arab-muslims. From the Middle East to the Indian sub-continent to Africa and Europe, islam violently conquered, massacred and wiped out indigenous religions and cultures. Spare me your left-wing diatribe that only westerners have a history of colonialism. The arab-muslims are the most violent, ruthless colonialists and conquerors in history.
I AM a native to America because I was born here.
Oh and one more thing, Indian tribes fought and killed each other. That's why they were wiped out. The Indians were not peaceful.
Well, you've managed to draw a bunch of erroneous conclusions from my comment.
I didn't suggest that Indian nations were all peaceful, or weren't responsible for the conquest of their neighbors (The Lakota for instance were a sedentary people until they faced pressure from the Ojibwa. In response, the Lakota moved west, adopted the plains horse culture becoming the dominant plains nation in around 100 years.). But for you to claim that inter-tribal warfare is the dominant cause of the disappearance of millions of people is just plain ludicrous, as is your implying that because I accept the fact that the United States was actively engaged in a policy of genocide against American Indian nations, I think that "westerners are the only people with a history of colonialism." Indulging in moral relativism by saying that the Arabs were worse so western colonialism wasn't so bad is the same game played by Israel's detractors. It is most obviously seen in the use of the phrase "disproportionate response."
Having had the opportunity to read a great deal of the primary documents generated by members of the United States government, military, etc, as well as the accounts of both Indian and white witnesses, I can assure you that the American western expansion was brutal, genocidal, and assimilationist. Saying the Arabs are worse is a straw man here, regardless of whether it's true or not. The entire history of Islam is one of Jihad. That's why we know of Charles Martel, why Constantinople is Istanbul, and Austria fought with the Ottomans off and on for over a century.
As for your notion that American Indians are no more indigenous than yourself because of the land bridge theory, I have this to say. Avraham migrated to Eretz Yisrael from Haran. We just read this in the Torah 3 weeks ago. HaShem brought him there, promised the land to him and his descendants, etc. And yet there is no disputing the fact that 4000 years later the Jewish people are the only ones who can claim indigenous status. You claim it yourself, as do I.
Your seeming rejection of the notion that American Indian claims to this status are legitimate because of migration is hypocritical at best.
Let's apply your statement that American Indians are no more indigenous than you are to the situation in Eretz Yisrael, and take it to its logical conclusion.
The Jewish people are the only ones to ever exist in that land as a sovereign, independent nation, and have had a continuous presence there, despite exile, for some 3500 years. The Arabs are not from there, but Arabs are born there, live there, have Israeli citizenship, etc. Are you going to call them indigenous or "native-Israeli?" I would imagine not. Neither would I. But your defense of your native Americanism, your being no more or less indigenous than an American Indian, is the same argument that the Arab makes to great effect to deny our connection to the land, and our right to sovereignty in all of the land of Israel, whether it is Judea and Samaria, or the coastal plain. You need to think this stance of yours through. You are essentially making the same case to call yourself a "native American" that the Falacstinians use to claim the land of Israel is theirs. I don't think this is your intention, but an Arab, or bleeding heart Rachel Corrie wannabe doesn't care about your intentions. If you want to call Jews indigenous and the "west bank" Judea and Samaria, etc. then put a little more thought into what you call yourself. To do otherwise is a nullification of the point of your post.
A final thought. The Talmud tells us that while we are in exile we should support and advocate for our host nations, but we are not of them. We are a distinct nation, regardless of our citizenship status. I would suggest, as did Meir Kahane, (may G-d avenge his blood) that for a Jew to deny this by embracing oneself as a "native American" is an act of chilul HaShem, a desecration of G-d's Name.
Our home is Eretz Yisrael. It is where we are from, it is where we belong, and ultimately it is where we will fulfill our destiny as a people. Defending or declaring your status as being "native" to your exilic country of birth is the same attitude that led, in part, to the extermination of a third of world Jewry in the Shoah.
Support America. Love America. Defend America. But remember who you are, where you are really from, why you are here and that, when push comes to shove, our host nation will most likely turn on us, just as every single one has in the past 2000 years, with very few exceptions. Please, G-d it should never happen here, but history has been pretty consistent. Right now it seems unimaginable. It did in Germany too.
LEL, after davening the Rosh Chodesh musaf this morning it occurred to me that I need to rectify something here.
I believe that in challenging your supposition I stirred up a conflict with you which was not my intent. In reading your blog post I got the sense you were bogging yourself down in what I feel is in part a false identity, namely that you feel you are a "native American." Jews in America face an identity crisis that is difficult to reconcile because America is a brilliant place that has allowed us unprecedented freedom to be who we are, though we have had to suffer a number of injustices from quotas in academic institutions to immigration policies (particularly during the Shoah), as well as prejudice in civil society. I do not wish to see our people forgetting why we are here or who we are, as the final result is our fading away. If I, in conveying my thoughts, I contributed to an air of enmity, I apologize.
Chodesh tov.
I hold no animosity toward you, whatsoever. We are on the same side. But I stand by my statement that I am a native America because I WAS BORN IN AMERICA.
As to the nation turning on us. I don't see that happening unless there is a dramatic change in demographics where third world immigrants become the majority population. This is why we need to get a handle on immigration.
Israeli Arabs are indigenous to Israel because they were born in Israel. Their Rights are sancosanct and should be no less less than a Brooklyn born American Jew who recently immigrated to Israel. LEL, remember your comment, you are a native born American because you were born in ASmerica.
Most arabs are NOT LOYAL CITIZENS OF ISRAEL. So no, Israel doesn't belong to them. To the ones who are loyal, then they have the same rights.
And besides, arabs already have several states, the Jews have one. You don't like it, lump it.
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