Sean Major-Campbell | Justice, Jews, and Palestine

HAILE SELASSIE’S message to the United Nations in 1963 was immortalised in song by Bob Marley who passionately maintained also, “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained ... now everywhere is war.”

Wisdom calls us to move away from tribal thinking in matters of nationality, ethnicity, race, colour, religion, and any ism that we may conceive. I saw a meme doing the social media rounds. It seeks to depict the ‘evolution of a human being’ as it juxtaposes three pictures supposedly representing the years 1910, 1960, and 2020. On the right side is seen a buggy for 1910; then an airplane for 1960; and then astronauts in 2020. However, the three pics consistently depict the same angry Arabs from 1910 to 2020.

The meme in the usual classic approach of stigma and discrimination, dehumanises the Arabs, informed by racism of course. In doing so, it legitimises in the mind of the racist, any condemnation and other action done against them. This is how stigma and discrimination work. The potential victim is first labelled/mischaracterised (stigmatised) to excuse stigma in action, which is what discrimination is all about.

A reader has asked, “When did the Hebrews become known as Jews?” One may ask, what’s in a name? However, history does shed light on such matters. To be clear, Abraham and his offspring were known as Hebrews. Bible readers will, however, recall that by the time of Genesis 32, Jacob, son of Abraham, was renamed Israel. The term caught on as Jacob’s children were identified as “Children of Israel” or “Israelites”.

In 2 Kings 17:18-20, we read, “So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. Therefore, the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.” Here we see a distinction between Israel which refers to the 10 tribes in the north; and Judah in the south which had the other two tribes.

Those in Judah were known as ‘Yehudi’ or as we say in English, ‘Jew’. Those taken by the Assyrians and those scattered in surrounding nations were the Israelites. Some of the ‘Israelites’, however, ran to Judah. Eventually, anyone in the Kingdom of Judah got referenced as ‘Jews’. From around 600 BC, the Israelites or Hebrews were therefore being called ‘Jews’.

It is to be noted that as exiles returned and settled in Judah, they were automatically called ‘Jews’ without any emphasis placed on their tribe of origin. Maybe one of the realities of war and colonialism is that of lost identities. Not surprisingly, the New Testament also uses the terms ‘Israelite’ and ‘Jew’ interchangeably.

Jews have a long history in Jamaica from the 1500s when they migrated as they sought to escape persecution under the Spanish Inquisition. After English Occupation, Jews constituted as much as 18 per cent of the Jamaican population by 1720. Interestingly, their route via Spain and Portugal is to be remembered as that of many black Africans who also constituted the Yehudi who migrated to Spain from Judah and eventually through Portugal, and reached West Africa where they were sold into slavery. Slavery in Africa was, however, nothing compared to the brutality of the transatlantic context of slavery.

Maybe it should not be surprising that a good number of Jamaicans have a propensity for following Jewish traditions inclusive of not eating pork. Might there be some ancestral memory at work in this regard? Many Yehudis only converted to Christianity conveniently to escape persecution.

People who have suffered an oppressive history re the genocide and holocaust of slavery, racism, prejudice, colonial hegemony among other crimes against humanity, should beware of becoming agents of these crimes when they have overcome this cruel past.

May we stand with Jews and Palestinians for a just social order. A new social order. Two states. Not one or three! Terrorists should not be allowed to hold Palestine hostage to being mischaracterised. Similarly, power hungry politicians should not be allowed to hold Israel hostage to being mischaracterised. The world should lift its voice for justice.

Another of our Jamaican prophets, Peter Tosh, is instructive in his lyrical commentary, “Everyone is crying out for peace, yes. None is crying out for justice. I don’t want no peace. I need equal rights and justice. I need equal rights and justice.”

Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest, and advocate for human dignity and human rights. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com