WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT ISRAEL II

"The Jew is not a disturber of the peace of any country. Even his enemies will concede that. He is not a loafer, he is not a sot, he is not noisy, he is not a brawler nor a rioter, he is not quarrelsome. In the statistics of crime his presence is conspicuously rare — in all countries. With murder and other crimes of violence he has but little to do: he is a stranger to the hangman. In the police court's daily long roll of "assaults" and "drunk and disorderlies" his name seldom appears ..."
These are the words of Mark Twain who lived between 1835 and 1910. Twain goes further to say "These facts are all on the credit side of the proposition that the Jew is a good and orderly citizen. Summed up, they certify that he is quiet, peaceable, industrious, unaddicted to high crimes and brutal dispositions; that his family life is commendable; that he is not a burden upon public charities; that he is not a beggar; that in benevolence he is above the reach of competition. These are the very quint-essentials of good citizenship."
These quotes as a result of very independent and reliable analysis and have been proven by all standards of measure. Between AD70 to this day, the Jews have and continue to live as minorities in most of the prosperous nations of the world. The Jews are in most cases quiet, reserved, orderly and distinct. They follow their culture without the least breach, irrespective of the community they live in.
Inspite of all these attributes, Jews have been discriminated against consistently wherever they live. A critical view of the situation reveals that the root of the causes of discrimination against the Jews or antisemitism is that the Jews are too successful! That is not their fault, they prosper everywhere they go; they know what they are about and whatever you do to undermine them is just not good enough to stop them from reaching their often impossible goals. People who try to stop the Jews generally fail so the next common feeling is to hate them. In other places where antisemitism exists, when one Jew does something wrong, all Jews have to suffer for it together. This is also one of the manifestations of tribalism here in Africa. With the antisemitism however, hatred often ends up getting the Jews higher than they were.
Antisemitism or discrimination against the Jews could be compared with Aparthied in South Africa and Racial Segregation against Black people in America. The main evil of antisemitism is that, most at times it entails blocking persons with the skills and potentials from getting what they want and in most cases it maifests as nationalism. In some places, it is so ironic that many Christians blame the Jews for killing Jesus Christ. This justification of antisemitism is Anti-Christ rather than Christian because Jesus Christ had to refer to Peter (the first leader of all Christian) as Satan because he tried to prevent the Jews from the crucifiction. This connotes that Jesus Christ was in favour of the crucifiction!
Feeling hatred and discrimination in all aspects of life for many centuries, the Jews began to seek freedom from discrimination. They therefore formed a movement which became known as the Zionist Movement in 1890. As Zionism developed, the members began to advocate for a free Israeli nation where all Jews could live in peace. All fingers pointed at Israel, which had been renamed Palestine by the Romans.
Palestine around 1890 was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (currently, Turkey). These Ottomans collected rent from the local inhabitants who were mainly Arabs. The Ottomans were approach by certain Jewish groups for the purchase of land rights in Palestine. These Jews were wealthy and could pay for rent that would be collected from the local Arabs in 50 years in a single payment. Naturally, the Ottoman princes and land barons took the rent from the Jewish community in return for land rights. Initially, the local Arabs in Palestine protested but the princes of the Ottoman Empire continued to sell the lands to the Jews.
During the 1st World War between 1914 and 1919, the Germans who had an aggressive foreign policy led a war against many nations including Britain, France, USA and Japan. These nations went to war against a German led coalition indirectly because of the control of foreign markets. Due to the harsh nature of German foreign policy, most of the Jews in Europe joined hands with the British led allies in defeating Germany. One German soldier who suffered temporal blindness during the war regained his sight in the hospital only to hear the news of the defeat of Germany in the world war. He blamed the German loss on the Jews. His name was Adolf Hitler.
In 1918, the British defeated the Ottoman Empire with the help of some Arabs and Jews. The promise made to the Jews was the right to a Jewish state in Palestine. The Leage of Nations, the then equivalent of today’s United Nations gave the right to rule Palestine to the British. Around that time, the Zionists began to build institutions and structures for a future independent state. Albert Einstein played a major role in this.
Zionism was never taken serious in Europe and USA because the natives believed the Jews had citizenship and equal rights in the West so there was no need for a Jewish nation. In 1933, Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany on the ticket of the Nazi party. Due to his conviction that the Jews were a threat to the vision he had for Germany, he decided to kill them and anyone who was also a threat to his proposed German Empire that would last1000 years. This led to the Holocaust and the 2nd World War.
The Holocaust was an evil thing. By the end of the 2nd World War in 1945, 6 million Jews were killed in territories Germany controlled during the 2nd World War. At the time of the 2nd World War, Ghana had a population of just about 4million. Now there are 20 million Ghanaians. Logically, one can conclude that those 6 million Jews represent 30 million people who could have been living today!
After the 2nd World War, the Jews were reminded that Europe was not their home. It was at this point that the message of Zionism became clearer. The Jews were insecured and they began to move back to Palestine. The local Arabs in Palestine did not like the idea. There were threats and riots between the local Arabs and the Jewish immigrants (known as oleh). The British rulers of Palestine noticed that war was inevitable. The British were at the centre of the balance between an Arab people who provided fuel for all their military vehicles during their international wars and a Jewish people who led the elite institutions of Britain and its dependencies.
The British had to play a mediating role. They called the local Arabs and the Jews to the negotiation table on several occasions. Whereas the Jews said they wanted to build a modern nation where they could live as a people, the Arabs said they wanted all the Jews who are ‘invading their lands’ out of Palestine.
This confirmed the fears of a possible war. The British stayed neutral as hostilities went on for months. The British referred the matter to the United Nations who proposed that to prevent a war between Arabs and Jews, Palestine, a land that had been barren for centuries and had few people should be divided into two; an independent Jewish state and an independent Arab state. Within these two states, the UN also proposed an international zone that would be controlled by the United Nations. The proposal was endorsed by all nations under the sun at that time through a voting process. The Palestinian Arabs however rejected the proposal.
The Jewish leader at that time, David Ben Gurion however accepted the UN proposal and set a date for the declaration of independence for the Jewish State- Israel. The Arabs in Palestine and in large Arab nations described that as a catastrophe. They declared war on the Jews a few hours later. Days on, armies were dispatched and a war began. After tough times and battles, the Jews defeated the Arabs and declared independence on 14 May, 1948, the date set by David Ben Gurion.
This was how Israel was built. They moved on to attract more of their brethren in the Diaspora and encouraged them to resettle in Israel. Now the dream has come to pass. Israel is a nation that is considered as a world class prosperous state. Their goal of establishing a world class modern nation has been successful.
Most African nations became independent within 15 years after the indepence of Israel. Can we say we have been successful as a bloc of modern nations as Israel has? Are we more threatened than Israel? I think the answer to both questions is ‘no’.
Currently, there are enough Africans in the Diaspora as the Jews had before 1948. There are enough educated Africans who can move our nation forward but why are we not making it? I believe we can take a cue from Israel. I observing their history, five things become conspicuous;
Their belief in a Power above the physical; their trust in God
Their love for one another as a people.
The presence of a progressive culture
Their belief in punishment for evil deeds and reward for good deeds and
The crave to put the past behind them and look to create a beneficial future for everybody irrespective of the obstacles ahead of them.
Clearly, Africa does not have a single common culture. For years of hatred, disunity and foreign intrusion, we have evolved into a people who just survive. This is the chance of Africans to make it to the top. This is the chance for us to build a unified culture and attract our peoples in the Diaspora to resettle in Africa and also help with their expertise because this is what every successful nation did. This is the culture every great nation adopted. The time has come for Africa to take her turn. However, with the situation of Africa, the question is who should start? Who should pay the first price. I have decided to take this trip. If we are not ready to adopt the best culture for progess as a people, I am ready to do so as an individual, what about you?