One should only wade into the mine-infested waters of political Zionism with the greatest trepidation, for fear of being instantly tarred as ‘anti-semitic.’ Still, I feel compelled to take note of a savagely brutal war being waged by Israeli Semites on their fellow Semites whether of Christian or Muslim persuasion, namely the Palestinian people. The issue involves much more than a simplistic appraisal of whoever is claiming to be wearing white hats v. black hats if we are to arrive at even a modicum of actual truth.

In the first place a bit of context to a very complicated historical situation is needed. That involves drawing a distinction between the Jewish religion and the Nation of Israel. The confusion lies in the fact that in the Old Testament a theocratic state existed combining the two and which lasted shortly beyond the time of Christ. The Jewish religion was liturgical, revolving around the Aaronic priesthood and Temple sacrifice. But with Jesus, a new high priesthood in the person of Christ himself fulfilled the “promise” and the former rites of sacrifice were enfolded into the new rite which Christ instituted at the Last Supper and consummated on the cross. Thus the old religious liturgy was renewed and restored in the form of the Catholic Mass, Christ himself being the New Temple not made by human hands. He founded a new priesthood based not on a bloodline but on the twelve men chosen by Christ, as eternal high priest, to be his apostles and heirs, all of them Jewish.

But the leaders of the ‘Nation’ of Israel whose responsibility had been to welcome the Messiah when he arrived did the opposite. They rejected Christ because His stated messianic objective was not to elevate the nation to geopolitical supremacy as they had anticipated. They were more interested in being liberated from the Romans than being liberated from the ancient curse of sin. So the tree which should have had one strong trunk branched out into two competing trunks, both coming from the same shoot. But only one thrived even as the other withered. The Jewish ‘nation’ followed its own path, even persecuting Jewish followers of Christ, until the year 70 AD when, in a suicidal rebellion against Rome, it was utterly destroyed. The Temple was smashed and the survivors scattered to the winds. Even today one can read the Jewish historian Josephus’ tragic account of Jerusalem’s destruction in his History of the Jews, it is a truly heart rending account.