MAURICE SACKSTEIN
He was not yet born when, before we had the State of Israel, we had pogroms in the 1920s and 1930s, where hundreds of Jews were murdered, because they were Jews.
He was not yet around when the Jewish refugees, trying to escape the Holocaust, were turned away from every country (there was no Israel then), only to be sent back to Europe to be murdered by the Nazis.
He did not have to undergo the anti-Semitism of the old days where we were called bloody Jew every day at school. Nor did he have the pleasure and joy and pride of seeing the Israeli army drive back the armies of five Arab countries attacking it, nor the pride of having our Israel win one war after another against impossible odds.
He did not see the complete change of attitude after the State of Israel was declared.
He obviously feels that Israel has “usurped” land from the Palestinians; there were no Palestinians before 1948.
Even if he does not believe in the story of Abraham in which G-d promised this land to the Jews, can he deny that this whole land, Judea and Samaria, was settled by the Jews thousands of years ago?
Can he deny that King David built his capital city in Jerusalem and that Solomon built his Temple in Jerusalem? Jerusalem has always been the Jewish capital. Why then should Israel have to ask Obama and the United Nations for permission to build houses there?
Every country has at one time or another been occupied. Australia stole the land from the Aborigines, South Africa from the Koi, America from the indigenous peoples, and so on. How far must we go back for the Jews to own this land. It was fought for and won in a legitimate war thrust upon it by the Arabs.
When it comes to the children killed during the Gaza war, also thrust upon Israel by Hamas, who should be blamed for this terrible tragedy? Did Hamas not send thousands of rockets into Israel before she retaliated?
It’s very admirable for these anti-Israel activists to sympathise with the tragic loss of Arab life, but do they mourn for the hundreds of children and babies murdered by the Palestinian suicide bombers?
These BDS supporters are so indoctrinated with Palestinian propaganda and lies that they are prepared to give up their heritage and turn against their brothers and sisters.
BDS supporters are entitled to their opinion, but let them not expect the Jewish community to respect them or accept them.
Melrose, Johannesburg
