ProMosaik e.V. interviews the Author William Hanna

 

 

 

I am not intellectually qualified to be regarded as a “thinker” in either politics or religion. My interest in both these subjects has always been limited to observing their negative effect on humanity. One does not have to be an Albert Einstein to recognise the hypocrisy of our Western diplomacy, or the current barbarity of the Zionist/Judaeo-inspired genocide of the Palestinian people. My honest view of both politics and religion — and the lowlife war criminals like Tony Blair who purvey them — has always been one of contempt without limit.

 

“Every war results from the struggle for markets and spheres of influence, and every war is sold to the public by professional liars and totally sincere religious maniacs, as a Holy Crusade to save God and Goodness from Satan and Evil.”

Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), American author and polymath.

 

The relationship between Judaism and Zionism is at best a tenuous one based on feelings of guilt. Zionism’s use of the Holocaust as a weapon is not restricted to non-Jews, it is also used with calculated cynicism to solicit support from Jews in diaspora. Reminders of the Holocaust accompanied by refrains of “by supporting Israel you will be helping to save Jewish lives,” are an emotive and powerful combination that hardly ever fail to tug at Jewish heartstrings. Zionism cannot claim and pretend to be representing Jews while simultaneously violating the core ethics and values of Judaism.

          To begin with, the Talmudic conception of mankind is one of unity acquiring its character from a common origin and destiny. The basic components of this doctrine are set out in the Bible which traces the origins of the human race to a single person who is formed in God’s own image. It is in the Talmud that this doctrine is further developed with the question of “why did the Creator form all life from a single ancestor?” To which the reply is “that the families of mankind shall not lord one over the other with the claim of being sprung from superior stock . . . that all men, saints and sinners alike, may recognize their common kinship in the collective human family.”

          While human behavior may vary infinitely, the underlying nature of humans is essentially the same. Man as an earthly creature is at the same time a child of God infused with a divine spirit. The appraisal of moral categories suggests that all people are endowed with tendencies to view in their own persons the ultimate conclusion of their seeking transcendence towards which they are but contributing instruments. From these two tendencies flow good and evil which in varying degrees exist within every individual as part of his or her inherent means for life. Furthermore, the Talmud advises that one will discover that “even the greatest of sinners” abounds in good deeds as does a pomegranate abound in seeds. Alternatively, even the greatest saints have their share of moral imperfections because all human beings are cut from the same cloth and there are no distinctions between them.

          The sanctity of life is intrinsic to the individual irrespective of national origin, religious affiliation, or social status, and as one Talmudist commented:“Heaven and earth I call to witness, whether it be an Israelite or pagan, man or woman, slave or maidservant, according to the work of every human being doth the Holy Spirit rest upon him.” It followed therefore that non-Jews living in Jewish communities were to enjoy all the same benefits as their Jewish counterparts. While Jews were, according to the rabbis, ordained to support their needy, visit their sick, and bury their dead, they were equally “obligated to feed non-Jews residing among us even as we feed Jews; we are obligated to visit their sick even as we visit the Jewish sick; we are obligated to attend to the burial of their dead, even as we attend to the burial of Jewish dead.” This rabbinic requirement was based on the premise that those were “the ways of peace.”

        From this it followed that the supreme sanctity of all human life is pertinent to man’s place in the universe: “He who destroys one person has dealt a blow at the entire universe, and similarly, he who makes life livable for one person has sustained the whole world.” All law, civil and religious, has as its purpose the promotion of human life, and when it ceases to serve that end it becomes obsolete and is superseded. The question that all Jews must now honestly ask themselves is whether Judaism is becoming obsolete and being superseded by Zionism.

The current and long ongoing events in Gaza are the result of a marriage of convenience between paranoid Zionist political leaders and a settler movement driven by extremist religious parties. Together they want (even though it is not theirs to have) an Apartheid “Greater” Israeli state devoid of Palestinians and the fulfilment of a Biblical prophecy calling for the building of a Third Jewish Temple on Temple Mount — the site where the Islamic Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque have stood since 691 and 705 respectively. If you visit the Temple Institute website you will be astonished at the extent of the preparations that have already been carried out in anticipation of this great event. You will also be horrified by the realisation that pursuance of this Judaic dream would probably lead to a regional or even global conflict with weapons of mass destruction culminating in a nuclear holocaust. But what does that matter so long as this marriage of convenience can drive out the Palestinians and fulfil some mythical commandment from the realms of Biblical fantasy. But in order for the barbaric Zionists and the deranged religious extremists to achieve their goal, the land must first be cleared of all Palestinian buildings and their inhabitants who are after all— at least according to Israelis — not human beings, but beasts. If these are“God’s Chosen People,” then who in hell is going to save humanity?

 

Jews in diaspora (especially in America), who are very resourceful and have access to vast worldwide financial resources, could, if they wished, bring about peace in Palestine within a matter of days. All they have to do is to say “enough, already” and make it categorically clear to Israel’s savage and deranged Zionists that all Jewish support — financial and otherwise — will cease unless Israel immediately begins to respect international law; begins to abide by the Declaration of Human Rights; and begins to enforce all UN Resolutions starting with the November 1947 Resolution 181 calling for the creation of independent Arab and Israeli states, and ending with the March 2012 Resolution 66/225 relating to Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources. Zionism can (with iniquitous U.S. support) contemptuously ignore condemnation by the rest of the world, but it could not ignore the the universal condemnation of the Jewish people it claims to represent.

 

The  Mark Twain quote of “we have the best government that money can buy”was true then and is even truer now as witnessed by several events starting with the Republican Jewish Conference in Las Vegas in late March of this year where hopefuls for the 2016 presidential campaign such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Gov. Chris Christie, Gov. John Kasich, and Gov. Scott Walker turned up to court big spenders including Jewish casino owner Sheldon Adelson who in the 2012 election spent $100 million of which $20 million was wasted on the losing Republican primary candidate Newt “and I think that we’ve invented the Palestinian people” Gingrich.

          A few days later at the beginning of April, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down limits on individual campaign contributions, ruling that federal caps on combined donations to candidates, parties and political action committees are an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. In other words, the very rich like Adelson (who to date had donated $180 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation) and the Kock brothers (sons of Fred C. Kock, founder of Kock industries, the second largest privately held company in the U.S.) can go shopping for political candidates over whom they will subsequently have complete control. That is what should, but never will change in U.S. politics.

 

After having observed and been a rather inept member of mankind for many decades — I won’t admit to how inept or for how long — I sincerely regret having to say that I see no future for humanity unless people everywhere wake up from their religiopolitical-induced slumber and realise that their wellbeing (and that of their children in the future) cannot be entrusted to either church or state. People must take a weekly timeout from their mundane and selfish lives in the rat race to reflect on the purpose and quality of their existence; to reflect on their lack of participation in the democratic process that affects the extent of their freedom as citizens; to reflect on their failure to remain alert and knowledgeable so as to make their leaders accountable for unaccountable conduct in the affairs of state; and to reflect on the morality of their indifference to the suffering of others as is the case with the current genocide of the Palestinian people. It is only by ensuring human rights for others that we can guarantee human rights for ourselves.

 

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) African-American Civil Rights leader.

 

 

This is a tricky one to answer because as an atheist I can only point out that apart from the concept of monotheism, these three invented religions have throughout history had only one other thing in common — an intense and often murderous hate for each other. Consequently if they fervently believe that their version of God is the one and only true one, then there can be no common ground or principle on which to base genuine inter-religious dialogue.

 

“Man cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen.”

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), influential French Renaissance writer.