Weeping over Jerusalem, speaking over Gaza
'I don't know of another 'conflict' which has had so many international ramifications,' blogged the BBC's Jeremy Bowen on Tuesday, 'one that has the same capacity to enrage people all over the world, even if they have never been to this small patch of the planet.'
Here in the UK, the social impact of the unfolding crisis in Gaza has been intense. Last weekend saw clashes between pro and anti-Israeli demonstrators. The Community Security Trust says there have been more than 150 anti-Semitic incidents reported in the UK since December 27, including an arson attack on a London synagogue. Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne claims that 'the Israeli invasion of Gaza is being used as a pretext for threats against the Jewish community in Britain.'
Interestingly, the theme of anti-Semitism is prominent in a number of current films: Defiance attempts to rewrite the 'weak victim' cliché of Jews under the Nazi occupation, whilst The Reader deals with refusal to speak out against the atrocity. And on the small screen, the BBC is presenting viewers with a new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. All this in the run-up to Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), an event designed to address the fact that, as a nation, we have repeatedly ignored the plight of persecuted people groups in our own backyard. Indeed, it was partly in response to the atrocities of the Holocaust that the modern agenda was set for the re-establishment of a Jewish state.
There is no question that the current situation in Gaza is a devastating and tragic one. And there is no question that Israel, like any other modern state, should be internationally accountable for its actions. However, we must be sure that justified outrage over Israel's behaviour does not turn to vilification, and to a creeping blindness in regard to anti-Jewish feeling. There is a long, tragic and two-edged history to this conflict.
The heartfelt response provoked by the horrific pictures through which the conflict is mediated to us via our TV screens is a strong one; however, it tends also to be a very short-term one. Jesus wept with longing for the people of Jerusalem, knowing that a short time later they would be shouting, 'crucify, crucify'. The images from Gaza that provoke some to violence should provoke us to long-term weeping and longing and praying for peace for the people of Palestine, and for the people of Israel. And as we respond to the appalling scenes on our screens, we should to do so with great wisdom and sensitivity.
Christina Winn
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