Jesus was innocent, yet his blood was shed by those driven by greed and corruption. The story of Jesus Christ’s life and crucifixion is a tale of the timeless struggle between innocence and corruption, between truth and falsehood. It is a story where deceptive forces attempt to distort reality, portraying the victim as the oppressor and the oppressor as the victim. Two thousand years later, a similar tragedy unfolds in the very land where Jesus lived and died: Palestine. Palestine is innocent, yet it has been crucified daily for the last 80 years.
Who was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus? It was not the Jews who crucified him. Jesus himself was a Jew, as were his followers. The ones who crucified him were part of the religious establishment of his time, those whom Jesus referred to as the ‘hypocrites.’ These were the people who manipulated religion for their own political and material gains. They were the ones who prayed publicly for all to see, to project an image of righteousness, while in truth, they were far from virtuous. Jesus addressed them saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)
Who are the hypocrites of today? One group stands out above all others: the Israeli Zionists. Not the Jews, but the Zionists. Zionism cloaks itself under the mantle of Judaism and manipulates religion for its own political ends. When it began in the 19th century, Zionism was not a religious movement, but a secular one. The early Zionists were mostly atheists and had very little to do with Judaism. Yet, they chose to present their cause under a religious guise to rally the Jewish masses. When it came to deciding on a geographical location for the establishment of the Israeli state, several options were put on the table. The choice fell on Palestine because it provided them with a religious justification, which they exploited for their own non-religious goals.
But the most striking hypocrisy of the Zionist movement is how it took advantage of the Holocaust tragedy to promote the establishment of the state of Israel. Three years after the Holocaust, in 1948, the state of Israel was declared, and following this, the Zionists swiftly and systematically carried out a massive act of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. To Palestinians, this is known as the “Nakba,” which means catastrophe. During the Nakba, 70 massacres were committed, 530 villages were destroyed, and 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes. Thus, Israel, in the name of the Holocaust victims, committed the same kind of crime that was perpetrated against the Holocaust victims themselves. Israel’s “victimhood” narrative continues to this day and is evident in how it portrays itself to the world: it never murders innocent people, but is always “defending itself.”
Since the Nakba of 1948, the immensity of Palestinian suffering has been a tragic reality, staring the whole world in the eye. The countless deaths. The brutal arrests. The racist laws. The restriction of movement. The constant humiliation by military occupation forces. The demolition of homes. The widespread poverty. The limited access to food and clean water. All those Palestinian children growing up with no promise of a future. Meanwhile, the Israeli population is reaping the benefits from the land that was forcibly taken in 1948. The sheer scale of this injustice cannot but leave one speechless.
But out of this suffering, a beautiful culture of resistance has sprung forth. Palestinians have never been ones to remain silent. They have bravely and persistently fought back, in so many ways, and continue to do so today. They have been steadfast in their resistance, to the point where, for countless individuals across the world, the word ‘Palestine’ has become synonymous with ‘freedom’ and ‘struggle against oppression.’
The path of Jesus Christ is that of bearing the cross of your suffering, to confront the challenges of life with courage, and to stand tall in the face of oppression. And even in the darkest moments of your despair, you remain strong because you understand that after the night ends, the sun rises, and from your despair, you will ultimately be resurrected.
Likewise, the path of the Palestinian is that of enduring suffering, persevering through the struggles of life, and never surrendering. Even in the face of catastrophic bombardment raining down from above, even in the moments when death and destruction seem imminent, we never surrender, with the certainty that one day, we as a people will be resurrected to see the light of a new dawn.
Saleh Vallander
December 3rd, 2023
