The last thing Palestine needed was biased Biblical scholars!

The last thing Palestine needed was biased Biblical scholars! "Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." (Matthew 13:52) Nicolas Abou Mrad Wounded and desolate due to the impact of Israeli atrocities, the last thing Palestine needed were some of the Old Testament scholars who would bring forth statements condemning the aggression against “Israel and the Jews”. These statements are deeply rooted in a fallacy that some European archaeologists propagated in the early nineteenth century in the context of archaeological excavations in Palestine, seeking to verify the authenticity and factuality of events narrated in the Old Testament. Contemporary historians of the same era followed their lead, using the text of the Old Testament to reconstruct what they claimed was the history of ancient Israel. The fallacy, in its various versions and divergent paths, asserts that the state of Israel, established in 1948 on the usurped land of Palestine, is a continuation of ancient Israel spoken of in the Bible. It claims that the promise of the land given to Abraham remains in effect for those alleged to be "children of Abraham" in the flesh, in a twisted understanding of the texts and a distortion of their contexts. What is even more astonishing is that these assertions have come from Western Christian scholars who are supposed to have read in both the Old and New Testaments that the promise of the land has a salvific dimension, and that the Promised Land’s significance transcends its materiality. In Scriptures, it is portrayed as an image of the entire earth where people live in harmony and peace, despite their 1 differences and diverse backgrounds. For this reason, the Land is not explicitly mentioned by name in the New Testament, where the writers speak of the Kingdom of God / of Heaven. This Kingdom is the word of God present and active in people, for them to be on this part of the earth, and everywhere, reflecting the inherent goodness that was established by God from the very beginning and shall persist, in hope, until the culmination of all things. The atrocities committed against innocent Jews by the Nazis and fascists during the Second World War represented, undoubtedly, a dark chapter in modern European history. Yet, in efforts to reconcile this dark past, biblical scholars, particularly some of those specializing in Old Testament studies, adopted a narrative approach that blurred the line between meticulous interpretive research and solid hermeneutics on one hand, and an ideological interpretation of history aimed at justifying personal historical struggles. Rather than merely responding to these atrocities with repentance, compassion for others, and a commitment to upholding diversity and the right to freedom and dignified living for every human being, drawing on the principles of the Holy Scriptures and the universal message of compassion embodied by Jesus' Cross, they concocted an interpretive ideology that classified Jews as a people of God and Christians as another people of God, with differing biblical standards and two separate justified paths. This perspective gained traction particularly in the American context in what is known as Christian Zionism. Its adherents argue for Israel's divine entitlement to Palestine, justifying its actions against the Palestinians as not only permissible but necessary under this perceived divine right and on the basis of Biblical texts! The danger of these claims is that they have found their way into US public policy towards Israel and the Middle East. 2 This distorted reading has led these individuals to believe that this particular “Jewish” interpretation of Scriptures, no matter what, is not only justified and correct, but the only interpretation. The only acceptable Christian interpretation would then be the one that adopts their ideological construal. Anything else is accused of anti-Semitism, even if it came from non-Zionist or anti-Zionist Jewish scholars. In this context, the International Organization for Old Testament Studies (IOSOT) was established after World War II "to promote international and multidenominational studies and research of the Old Testament." In principle, the establishment of this organization is undoubtedly noble. The encounter with those whom the Nazis attempted their annihilation, in order to study with them the meanings of the scripture, and to come together on common ground to study the word of God, is a matter of great righteousness. Inviting your community, despite having been consumed by the shadows of brutal nationalism and racial supremacy, to embrace diversity and accept the others as partners in life, with equal rights to existence, dignity, and freedom, regardless of cultural and ethnic differences, represents a divine mandate within Scriptures. However, issuing a statement on behalf of this organization, condemning the "terrorist attack on Jews and Israel," while cautioning "the Jews and biblical scholars" of the spread of anti-Semitism in the Middle East, and reassuring them that the International Organization for Old Testament Studies is their safe haven, as if the Middle East and its peoples are searching for them in every corner to throw them into prisons, is, in my opinion, a major falsehood. This action seems to stem from your historical perspective, guilt complexes, and the tragedies caused by your forebears, projected onto a matter that is disconnected from your own context and ideology. It appears that you have embraced this stance due to these particular 3 contexts and ideologies, and now seek to impose it on others. The fact that this organization is primarily concerned with the events in Palestine, issuing this statement, while it has never condemned any injustices elsewhere in the world, raises suspicion. The most annoying thing in the statement lies in mentioning the killing of Jews in Israel while disregarding the killing of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli people, or worse, justifying such acts. Additionally, when asserting that it was Hamas that brought “this suffering upon Israel and the civilian population in Gaza and the region as a whole”, you inadvertently ignore a crucial principle of the divine book, often referenced as the "Golden Rule," which advocates "Love your neighbor as yourself." This tenet holds utmost significance within scripture, prompting reflection on whether one's definition of 'neighbor' is exclusive to the Jewish community, oblivious to the lessons of empathy conveyed through the parable of the compassionate Samaritan by the Lord. When you claim that Hamas has caused misfortunes for both Israel and the people of Gaza and the surrounding region, you are essentially endorsing the Israeli's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, the tragic killing of thousands of children, mothers, and innocent individuals, the obliteration of hospitals, and the bombing of mosques and churches that provided refuge to desperate civilians. Your God says, “You shall not kill”. But then again, such a stance implies that you perceive your God's directive against killing as not applicable to "Israel." By taking this position, you reveal yourself more as a political amateur, in line with the powers that endorse the brutal acts committed against Gaza, than an impartial scholar, interpreter, or herald of the divine Word. My fellow IOSOT scholars, the ongoing tragedies in the Middle East, and the suffering of the Palestinian people, are rooted in the ramifications of the policies of 4 ruthless colonization policies, the ambitions of Zionism, and the occupation of Palestinian land and parts of Lebanon and Syria. This has resulted in the slaughter of civilians, their displacement, in hunger, and confinement in small and large prisons. Moreover, policies of discrimination, racial segregation, blunt apartheid, and fascist nationalism that Europe bequeathed to its offspring, Israel, were inflicted on them. The root cause of these tragic circumstances lies in Israel's persistent evasion of international justice, in its impunity, in blatant violation of fundamental principles of democratic governance and international laws. The actions of the dominant powers - referred to in Scriptures as "adulterous"! - continue to endorse the aggressive actions of the state, which you, in your recent statement, describe as democratic; while its whole narrative is based on lies and lies and lies (read Jeremiah 7)… and you want to believe those lies. Your understanding of the Middle East appears limited. The convolution of its contexts must be beyond your ability to visualize it apart from your narrow understanding of Scriptures. It is not the Holocaust, my dear ones, but rather the broader impact of policies aimed at safeguarding Israel. These policies, often serving the interests of major powers and their regional ambitions, have resulted in the imposition of totalitarian and oppressive regimes in the Arab world, suppression of freedoms, and a multitude of burdens for the affected populations including displacement, killing, destruction, emigration, spread of ignorance, the darkness of extremism and its consequences. Those afflictions, which no other people have suffered in the name of false democracy, have been perpetuated with the assistance of proponents of misguided ideologies. Notably, the statement issued by the IOSOT has received strong support from some Israeli archaeologists working on the Tel Safi archaeological project, for example, the so-called "Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical 5 Times." Meanwhile, criticism and “shame” imbued with hatred were directed towards the two statements issued by the World Archaeological Council (WAC) and by the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) on the same day. Both balanced statements condemned the violence occurring in Palestine against civilians, the disproportionate Israeli retaliation, the killing of civilians, and the destruction of Palestinian heritage. The statement of the Society of Biblical Literature held Israel responsible for the violence and the killing of innocents, crossing all red lines. Furthermore, the organization pledged to take measures to call against the misuse of Scriptures to rationalize any atrocious acts or assaults on Palestinian residents, debunking any baseless allegations. Apparently, these two statements have stirred the fervor of Zionist extremists in Israel, who criticized and accused the prominent professional and prudent associations of losing their moral compass and failing to understand the "Nazi-like behavior of Hamas", urging the scientific community to cut ties with them. The statement of the IOSOT came immediately after these two statements. It seemingly aimed to advance the Israeli narrative about the unfolding events in Palestine, invoking the Nazi massacres and Israel's right to the land. This claim rests on a distorted interpretation of the Holy Scripture and other unsubstantiated allegations, except in the minds of individuals grappling with the weight of history and guilt, and boundless narcissism, with which they defend the genocide of Palestinians, the trampling down of the most valuable Scriptural values, i.e. peace justice and righteousness, at the hand of the most belligerent, oppressive and immoral state in the world, which, on top of everything, possesses one of the biggest arsenals and deadly weapons; where is the “eternal peace” called for in Scriptures? 6 Still, this state is supported by architects of unspeakable horror in the name of democary, and by the upholders of sadistic cruelty in the name of “rights”!!! To those people, we want to emphasize that we recognize the difference between Jews and Israel even if you wish to refer to Israel as Jewish, in violation of all modern principles of freedom and democracy. Judaism is a noble religion, great in heritage, with which we share the same divine Scripture, with devout adherents spanning across the globe. As for Israel, it is a state like any other in this world; it fights, kills, has ambitions, occupies, oppresses, and violates international laws. If Hamas has committed crimes in killing Israeli civilians - and there is no doubt that it has - Israel has also committed crimes, by killing Palestinian civilians, "seventy-seven-fold", reminiscent of the biblical reference of Lemech, son of Cain - You know his story, don't you? Every individual who takes the life of another is a criminal, spilling blood on the Adamah, whether he is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, of any other faith or of no faith at all. Likewise, every innocent life lost at the hands of such criminals becomes one of God's people, irrespective of their faith or lack thereof. The identity of the people of God is not for anyone to decide… Only God knows who is with Him and who is against Him... At the end, I wish for the veil to lift from your sight and the fog to clear from your vision, enabling you to discover in the Scripture the elements that serve the interests of all humanity in their pursuit of peace, justice, and truth. 7