We Are All Shemites

We are All Shemites
10/29/04

On DemocracyNow! on Friday, the portrayal of a silent kaleidoscopic view of Iraq from the viewpoint of an Iraqi was sublime. It was a human side of the war unseen anywhere else in America. What a nightmare!

At one point, seeing families carting home the dead bodies of their children and loved ones, I didn't know if I was looking at Israel, or Palestine, or any other place where inflexible, militaristic powers strive to dominate another people.

In Genesis 17, G-d came to Abraham and promised him the land of Canaan. That covenant was marked by the practice of circumcision. Ishmael was 13 years old, Abram, now Abraham, was 99. It was 3 years before the birth of Isaac. G-d told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and gave the land of Canaan to ALL of the seed of Abraham.

When Joshua crossed the Jordan River and invaded Canaan, the Bible says that they slaughtered all the Canaanites except for the family of the harlot. Save the possibility that the Palestinians might be her descendants, we will assume that the Palestinians are descendants of Ishmael. The Canaanites are gone.

Standing on the platform that G-d gave this land to us, the Israelis feel righteous in taking the land. But they forget that G-d gave this land to our cousins, the Palestinians, also. Ishmael received G-d's blessing 3 years before Isaac did, and again by Hagar's well. The Muslims worship the One G-d, they circumcise their males, they even daven when they pray.

In Genesis 6, the Nefillim walked the Earth and found the daughters of men to be lovely, and they fathered the heroes of old. It is unknown who or what the Nefillim were, but they were not humans but had genetic material that could mate with the aboriginal humans. The first great hero was Noah. Muslims and Jews are descendants of Noah's son Shem. We are all Shemites. We all carry that piece of genetic material from the Nefillin.

The children of Israel were chosen to promote the worship of the One G-d, and to be examples of righteousness to the people. Being chosen does NOT mean exclusive right of possession of the land of Canaan.

The Earth is rapidly shrinking. We are all together on this one lifeboat of a planet. Its the only one we have. We need to find a way to live together in Peace.