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Recently, at a border crossing in Huwara, a large town South of Nablus, a Palestinian terrorist was shot dead by an Israeli border police officer during a struggle after the terrorist tried to steal the officer’s weapon. The event was filmed, distributed on social media and presented as the execution of a Palestinian. Israel was condemned for the act by the United Nations, America and others, and it once again awakened the question as to whether others will see Israel’s side of the story. That is, the officer acted in order to protect his own life and the life of others, and it is also written in the Torah that if a person comes to kill you, you need to kill them first.
That others will see Israel’s side of this story depends solely on whether we Jews act out of a common unification toward each other, above our differences. The world will then shift its attitude toward Israel from negative to positive, i.e. to a people who bring peace and love to humanity. As much as we behave as a divided people, then the world will likewise feel that we bring sorrow and torment to the world—and they will continue viewing us in a negative light.
Israel is held to completely different standards than any other nation because there is more of a demand upon Israel than on any other nation. We initially became the people of Israel when we followed Abraham’s guidance and reached a state of “love your neighbor as yourself.” Attaining a state of a common love toward each other is a law that we need to abide by in order to realize what we need to do in the world. After we implement this law among our own connections, we will then be able to love others too, and then they will also love us in return.
It acts like a chain, and the first link of that chain is love for our fellow people here—among the people of Israel. If we reach a state where we positively connect to each other above our differences, we will then positively influence the rest of the world. Other nations will then gain an ability to positively connect, and then they will understand that Israel grants them this ability. We will then become treated contrarily to how we are treated today: as bringers of peace. Humanity’s good or bad future rests in how the people of Israel will attune their attitudes toward each other.
Photo Caption:
A Palestinian man wrapped in the Palestinian flag walks past buring tires during a protest over tensions in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, at Huwara checkpoint, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank May 29, 2022. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
Posted on LinkedIn Newsletter, The Times of Israel, Facebook