Every Palestinian is made in the divine image.

(Every Jew too.) Sure, there are many among the Palestinians who have made awful decisions and chosen to follow a path of violence. Because of these people, we have the security barrier—the one so reviled by local Palestinian communities and their international supporters. But, each of these Palestinians who pose dangers to the state of Israel once could have taken a different path— to pursue a good life, and to treat other human beings, of all kinds, with respect and dignity.

Many other Palestinians have chosen this path. And yet, they suffer from the living conditions in the West Bank.

Ought the security barrier be taken down? Absolutely not. It saves lives, and Israel is obliged to protect its citizens. This does not mean, however, that we abandon all concern for those good people caught in a conflict larger than them.

 

 

 

 
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When Pope Francis suddenly chooses to stop and pray at a segment of this wall in Bethlehem covered with graffiti expressing Palestinian anger at their condition, perhaps, just maybe, he was not pointing a symbolic finger at the ‘occupation,’ but was praying for healing for those who suffer.

Frank Diamant, the CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, sent out a reaction to the Pope’s surprise stop earlier this week. He wrote,

Pope Francis’s dramatic gesture at the security barrier was a paparazzi delight. It created an instant iconic photo that will be used by Islamists around the world. The Pope, dressed in his splendid white robe, accorded this security barrier the same status as the holy Western Wall of the Temple.

His hand and head were gently placed next to the anti-Semitic graffiti comparing the security wall, which has protected Israeli civilians from Islamist terrorists, as a wall that symbolized the Warsaw Ghetto wall. The Pope could not have chosen to insult the Jewish people with any greater gesture. What an insult to the victims of Nazism. What a mockery of history (http://unitedwithisrael.org/opinion-a-slap-in-the-face/)

Why must everything be about us? I would hate to think that the Pope’s journey through Jordan and the Palestinian territories before coming to Israel was really just an expensive slight against the Jews.

Maybe, we ought to sometimes be a little less sensitive to things that may or may not be against us, and be a little more cognizant of those on all sides of disagreement and conflicts, who, whether we agree with them or not, are still children of God.

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davidzvaisberg Written by:

David Vaisberg, originally from Montreal and Mississauga, Canada, serves as Senior Rabbi at Temple B'nai Abraham in Livingston, NJ and lives in Maplewood, NJ with his family.

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