The Free Gaza Flotilla

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Jun 1, 2010 at 08:09

The "Free Gaza" Flotilla was an act of psychological warfare intended to delegitimize Israel. Why this insidious warfare against the nation that gave mankind the Book of Books—the ultimate source of Western Civilization?

What underlies this attempt to delegitimize Israel? Precisely because the Bible refers to Israel as the "light of the nations," her enemies must make Israel appear as a veritable "black hole." Indeed, Israel's enemies make Israel look worse than all the nations, because that's the only way the nations can live with their own lies and viciousness made evident by the ethical monotheism. Israel is the perpetual gadfly of mankind; hence mankind's hatred of Jews.

N o wonder various Jew-haters call Israel an "apartheid state." No wonder Islam gets a free pass despite its apartheid religion—one that divides mankind into "infidels and "believers." Here is a case of inverse morality—calling good evil and evil good.

Let's be more precise. The criminals involved in the "Free Gaza" Flotilla are allies of Hamas, a despotic organization that represents authentic Islam. As a political-religious entity, Islam is diametrically opposed to what Israel strands for, namely, individual responsibility.

America was originally based on this Judaic concept. The preservation of individual responsibility requires the nation-state system. Indeed, the world-historical function of America is to prevent any nation from implementing an ideology that would undo the nation-state system—the system that enables a multiplicity of nations to pursue its own particularity consistent with international law or the Seven Noahide Laws of Universal Morality.

The one nation that most threatens the nation-state system is Islam. Islam is the nation — more than any other — that blames the "other" for its own failings. It is the one nation —more than any other — that rejects individual responsibility. This is why Islam hates the Jews more than another other people, for the Jew is the teacher of individual responsibility. Therein is THE heart of the so-called "clash of civilizations."

Individual responsibility is inescapably linked to the Judaic concept of man's creation in the image of God. Theologian George Weigel rightly says that Islam rejects this concept. But this suggests that what is ultimately at stake in the conflict between Islam and Israel is the "God issue." This is what "Free Gaza" Flotilla is really about: It's either the God of Israel or Allah.

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