The Yoke of Zion 

By Israel Shamir 

A small band of determined warriors takes on and fights off the
mightiest army of the region: this is the stuff history is made of.
Thermopylae, move over, Bint Jbeil is coming in! Bishop Philip of
Antioch compared the levelling of this small Lebanese town with the
destruction of Stalingrad, but these cities are also comparable by
courage of their defenders. Seldom is a generation able to witness such
a shining example of valour: for three long weeks a handful of Hezbollah
warriors – two thousand by the most optimistic count – fought to
standstill ten, twenty, thirty times more numerous Israeli troops. Forty
years ago, Israelis defeated three armies in one week, but now the
invader’s charm has worn off, or it has passed over to the vanquished.
In today’s somewhat feminine victim-centred narrative, suffering
attracts more attention than masculine gallantry. Thus Qana massacre has
overshadowed a greater going-on, and that is the steadfast resistance of
the Lebanese fighters. But Andromache’s sorrow should not obscure
Hector’s courage: Hezbollah’s deeds deserve to be immortalised by poets.

Why the war? Leave small details to a future Plutarch; this is another
round of battle for Palestine. Supported and supplied by their captive
empire, the US, the Jews had all the weapons, all the ammunition, all
the diplomatic support, when hubris-drunk they drove into disarmed and
starved Gaza to kill off its last resisters and impose the Yoke of Zion.
Their invasion was prepared by a year-long siege and incessant shelling;
they were cock-sure they could devour Gaza at will. And indeed, everyone
kept mum: the Egyptians traded the glory of the Ramadan War for
greenbacks, sons of Hejaz and Nejd were too busy serving oil at the
pump, and the princes of the Gulf cared only for their falcons. The Jews
felt secure as they stooped to finish off Gaza: who would disturb the
lion of Judah roaring at his prey? And a tiny force from the Mount
Lebanon said: we will. They attacked the all-powerful Jews; the hobbit
pierced the sinew of Nazgul as he stooped to kill. The Israeli army
roused from its prey turned north and lashed with all its might at the
Hezbollah fighters. But they stood fast. 

This was most unexpected. The Israelis were used to killing – or
dispersing - weaponless untrained Palestinians. Instead, the fighters of
Sayyed Nasrallah dug their heels into the bare hills of Bint Jbeil and
gave battle. If they were destroyed quickly, Israeli generals would lead
their victorious troops to Damascus and Teheran before turning back and
despoiling Palestine of its priceless jewel, Haram al Sharif. It still
could happen, but the chances were diminished by the steadfastness of
Hezbollah. 

More importantly, Hezbollah refused to cease fire as long as Israel
occupies the land of Lebanon. This daring step undermined the whole
strategy of Zionists. They planned to occupy the South and wait there
until an international (or NATO) force entered to do their job for them.
Hezbollah’s decision lacks one detail: any cease fire must extend to
Palestine, as well. It is inconceivable that Lebanon will lay down its
arms, while Gaza is besieged and Nablus is ravished. 

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said: “We have changed the Middle East”. I do not
know whether all the Middle East has changed, but in Israel we witness a
great change. Until now, only a few just men and women of Israel called
their government to desist in their aggression against Gaza and Lebanon.
But the Katyusha rain changed minds of many. At first carried away by
the arrogance of their generals, Israelis have now discovered the heavy
price of war. Early complaints about the army’s failure to deliver have
given place to critique of the policy itself. They have begun to
understand that time is not on their side. 

The now-subservient regimes of neighbouring countries can fall any
minute or remove the Yoke of Zion. Their rulers were led to believe in
Jewish superiority, and that is why they chose to condemn ‘imprudent
Hezbollah’. But now that their people see that even a small force of
determined fighters can beat the enemy, they find no justification for
the cowardly behaviour of their rulers. It can lead to revolution, for
King Faruk was removed by young officers of Falujah fame disappointed by
his weakness in 1948. 

Neil MacFarquhar reports in the NYT (28.7.06): “At the onset of the
Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed
Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United
States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight. 

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against
the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public
opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization,
transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a
folk hero and forcing a change in official statements. The Saudi royal
family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried
about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are
scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.” 

The report sees the popular opinion, “the Arab street” as the vehicle
for change; but the change can come from above, too. The cruel
bombardment of Beirut and of all Lebanon was supposed to frighten the
Arab nations into obedience; instead, it convinced the rich and powerful
Arabs that as long as the Jews run the writ in the Middle East, their
own riches and power can be taken from them anytime by will of a Jewish
general. Beirut was peaceful, Beirut agreed to expel Syrians, Beirut was
the capital of the most pro-Western state, and yet it did not save the
city from Jewish – not even vengeance for there was nothing to avenge –
but arbitrary heavy-handedness. The Arabs in power ask, whether the
Jewish state can be a peaceful neighbour at all, or whether (as the
Iranian President Ahmadinejad says) it is bellicose by its nature and
must be dealt with as the Crusader Kingdom once was. 

Indeed, the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem existed longer than the Jewish
state, and probably would have lasted for centuries, but for its innate
aggressiveness and its preparedness to serve as bridgehead for European
invasions. The turning point in the Crusaders’ fortunes took place some
850 years ago during the Second Crusade, which bore an uncanny
resemblance to the Second Lebanese War. By that time, the Arab nations
were inured to the invincibility of the Crusaders; sheer arrogance of
power led the Crusaders to march on Damascus, their peaceful, complacent
and hedonist neighbour, the least belligerent among small independent
and much-divided Arab states, a “Lebanon of 12th century”. At first, the
Crusaders ran into guerrilla resistance of the then-Hezbollah, and lost
a lot of soldiers. When they besieged the city, the ruler of Damascus
was forced to ask for help of his neighbour Nureddin, “the Ahmadinejad
of his day”; an army of Nureddin drew close and the Franks had to
retreat in haste. 

The Arab neighbours learned two things: (1) submission and complacency
can’t guarantee their peace - for the Crusader state is a Damocles’ Sword
forever hanging above their heads; and (2) Crusaders can be defeated.
Out of the Second Crusade, came Saladin, a nephew of Nureddin, who
united Syria and Egypt and eventually defeated the Crusaders at Qurn
Hittin. Now the same two lessons have been delivered to the Arabs,
courtesy of the IDF. Is a new Saladin on the way? 

II 

But the Jews may yet face another danger caused by their assertiveness.
They relate to themselves the fiery prophesy of Rev. 19: 15 “Out of his
mouth goes a sharp sword, with it he should smite the goyim, and he
shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; and he is crushing with his feet
the grapes of God’s wrath”. They take it so seriously that their
massacre of Qana (120 butchered refugees) was named “the Grapes of
Wrath”. These features are not the most endearing; and not only Arabs
object to being shepherded by an iron rod. 

The US pays heavily for this Jewish fun. A poor American may hate to
think about the fact that while he has no medical insurance, his
government has to pay tribute to rich Israel. The average American
filling his average car may dislike paying for support of the Jewish
state since before the Neo-Cohns got into power in the Administration,
gas was much, much cheaper. A wealthy and worldly American may feel
vexed that he is not welcome wherever he goes – from Paris to Istanbul -
as he was before the Yoke of Zion. 

An easy-going American may dislike the fact that he can’t cuss a Jewish
cop without reading about it in the New York Times. A believing American
may be upset that he can’t mention Christ unless he is ready to be
summoned to a court hearing. An honest American – or European – may be
annoyed by their hypocrisy. It is not enough that they push for war,
they also blame others for it. It is not enough that they kill children
in droves, they also preach about immense value of human life. 

A religious Bible-thumping American may remember the prophecy of
Ezekiel, 22 who said to the leaders of Israel in the name of the Lord:
“You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed; everyone among
you, putting out his full force to shed blood” – that is the blood of
innocent Palestinians and Lebanese; Ezekiel also prophesied the Zionist
Gathering of Jews, and that it will lead to a major disaster to
Zionists: “the house of Israel has become dross to me; therefore I will
gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, and blow upon you in the fire of
my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst, and you shall know that
I, the Lord, have poured out my fury upon you. The Israelis have used
oppression, and committed robbery, and have wronged the poor and needy;
indeed, they have oppressed the gentiles wrongfully, and therefore I
have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; their own way have I
rewarded upon their heads, said the Lord God.” 

An American politician, maybe even an American president may get tired
by the Jewish Lobby’s endless need to demand sympathy or to protest an
outrage; by necessity to watch out, by ideological censorship and party
discipline, by their blackmailing habits, by their fat pockets and grip
on media, by the Damocles Sword they hanged above his head. 

Moreover, an American or a European who today calls himself “a Jew” may
wonder whether he has much in common with the people whose poets call
upon their soldiers to: “Storm on Lebanon and Gaza, and plow it and sow
it with salt, raze it down, let no human being remain alive/ Turn them
into a desert, rubble, a valley of mess, unpopulated/ Save your nation
and drop bombs / On villages and cities, their collapsing houses do
shell / Kill them, shed their blood, turn their lives into living hell
/”. 

He may give a thought as to whether he wishes to be a secret weapon of
Israel in words of Prime Minister Olmert who said: “Arab weapons, even
when they hurt us, are nothing like the powerful, secret weapon we
possess: The Jewish people… across the world, and the special feeling of
love and mutual commitment that prevails between all Jews, regardless of
where they are”. Instead, he might just stop considering himself a Jew
and melt into the general populace, as millions have done before him. 

A Jewish friend of mine wrote: “I have asked a number of my friends in
the US whether they think the Zionist mantra retains its power, and they
agree it does not. The lobby does not, I think, have a bright future -
that is why its agents have faced prosecution. Even if their lock on
Congress persists for some time, their hold on American opinion must now
diminish. I believe Lenny Brenner when he argues that young Jews are
deserting Judaism and Zionism in droves.” 

Israelis, i.e. dwellers of Palestine who consider themselves Jewish, may
also contemplate whether they want to fight and support the ideological
Yoke of Zion which brings them only hatred outside and poverty within.
Instead of living in economic prosperity and in harmony with our
neighbours, the Yoke of Zion turns us into impoverished cannon fodder. 

And after all, Americans and Europeans may just get bored with the guys
that endlessly preach to others and are never willing to hearken to
others’ views. Even Germans may one day kick their masochist habit of
endless repentance. The Yoke of Zion will be gone, for this Yoke is
nothing but shared belief in Jewish superiority. And the perfectly
harmless Jews will have to learn and be ordinary citizens of their
countries, without special access to presidents, bank coffers and TV
screens.