Relativism Refutes Itself
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Monday, May 28, 2018
"What Is Truth?" or Does it Really Matter?
Dennis Edwards
Perhaps you might not recognize that the title above is a quotation from a famous man. He is famous for the compromise that he made. He is famous because he sacrifices the life of an innocent man. He is famous because he yields to influential political, financial and religious powers for fear of his position, for fear of not being found loyal to his party, for fear of unpopular public opinion.
Here we see his famous words, words that are so often repeated today by those claiming to be politically correct, neutral or open minded. “What is truth?” Or as often put today, “There are many truths.” Or, “You can’t be so dogmatic.” Or, “You need to be more open-minded.” Or, “Truth is relative.” Let us put these words in context so we can try to understand what was meant by them.
John 18:28-38
Then led they (the Jewish religious leaders) Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover. (What hypocrisy. Here the religious rulers stay outside of the judgment hall, a Roman building, because if they entered it, they would not be unable to eat the Passover meal as they would be considered unclean.)
Pilate then went out unto them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
They answered and said unto him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have delivered him up unto you.”
Then said Pilate unto them, “Take him, and judge him according to your law.”
The Jews therefore said unto him, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:” that the words of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke signifying what death he should die.
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you asking this of yourself, or did others tell it of me?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you unto me: what have you done?” (It sounds here that Pilate is a little annoyed at Jesus’ reply.)
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
Pilate therefore said unto him, “Are you a King then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.”
Pilate said unto him, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, “I find in him no fault at all.” [End of Bible quotation]
“What is truth?” The response of Pilate rings of today’s “open-minded” generation, a politically correct generation that denies that there is “a truth,” because there are many “truths” and one cannot be so narrow-minded to think his view is “the truth.”
It reminds me of what Allom Bloom wrote in his book, The Closing of the American Mind. "Openness used to be the virtue that permitted us to seek the good by using reason. It now means accepting everything and denying reason's power."
Some will tell us that as there are many colors in the rainbow, but all are part of what makes up “white” light, so the truth can have many colors. And I agree with that. Of course, there are often many different aspects of a question. Different sides may have different ways of looking at things. They see things differently and bring different “truths” to the equation and situation. That is all well and good.
But ultimately, we come to the question of Jesus. Was he the King of the Jews? Was he the expected Messiah for whom the Jewish people waited patiently for his coming in hope that he would free them from their servitude to the Romans and bring in a righteous government and world peace? Is he the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords?
What was Pilate saying when he says, “What is truth?” I propose that he was saying, like many do today, that the truth is relative, that there are many aspects of truth. “You cannot be so dogmatic, Jesus, or narrow minded. We, Romans, have our truths, also,” may have been the tone of Pilate’s response. Or maybe his tone was sarcastic and he was saying, “You want to get philosophical with me? Well, I know philosophy, also. I studied the Greek philosophers. What is truth? It’s all relative.”
C.S. Lewis made a famous statement about Jesus of Nazareth in his book Mere Christianity. He said,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Jesus has not given us the option to be neutral, politically correct, or “open-minded.” He is either the Son of God, or he is not. He either rose from the dead or he did not. It’s just that simple and it’s a question we all need to resolve because it could have eternal consequences.
Pilate missed his chance. Here he was in front of the very man who had performed amazing miracles which as Paul said later to one of the Jewish political leaders, “This thing was not done in a corner.”[1] In other words, everyone knew about it or had heard about it. Pilate even sends Jesus to Herod the Jewish ruler of Galilee who is visiting Jerusalem at the time of the Passover an important Jewish holiday. In Luke we find the data.
Luke 23:1-12 New International Version (NIV)
Then the whole assembly rose and led him (Jesus) off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a miracle or sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies. [End of Bible Quotation]
So we see that Pilate blew it. He was more interested in pleasing the local political and financial leaders who helped him in controlling and ruling the local people than he was in instituting just and righteous judgment. He was more interested in keeping their favor than in doing what was right. Perhaps he was afraid that word might get back to Tiberius Caesar that he had been too soft on a local criminal who had exalted himself to the rank of “King of the Jews.”
The Jewish leaders used this tactic when they saw that Pilate was set on releasing Jesus. They said, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend: whosoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”[2] Pilate also dismissed the warning message sent to him from his own wife, which said, “Have nothing with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day a dream because of him.”[3] Even though he knew that it was for envy that the Jewish leaders had delivered Jesus to him, he allowed an innocent man be condemned to death contrary to Roman law.[4]
Let us read from Matthew 27:12-25 New International Version (NIV)
When he (Jesus) was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
In Mark we find “And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”[5] [End of Bible quotation]
Let’s read the rest of the information in Luke.
Luke 23:13-25 New International Version (NIV)
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”
But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”
But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. [End of Bible quotation]
How did Pilate’s decision affect his life? Let’s look at the different historical accounts of the life of Pilate after the death of Jesus. Catholic tradition has it that Emperor Tiberius Caesar became serious ill. Having heard that in Jerusalem there was a physician named Jesus who could miraculously heal all infirmities, he sends a trusted friend Volusianus to Jerusalem to fetch him. On arriving in Jerusalem, Volusianus finds out the sad news that Jesus has been crucified. As he returns to the inn where he is staying, he meets Veronica a disciple of Jesus who has a cloth on which Jesus’ face has been miraculously imprinted. She travels with him to Rome with the cloth and Tiberius gets miraculously healed from gazing on the cloth. However, he learns how Pilate had incorrectly condemned Jesus to death and orders for Pilate to return to Rome.
On hearing that Pilate is in Rome Tiberius becomes increasingly angry, but when Pilate appears before him, he loses his anger and treats him kindly. When Pilate leaves his presence, Tiberius is again overcome with extreme anger against Pilate and cannot understand why he could not manifest the anger in Pilate’s presence. Pilate, knowing that his life was in Caesar’s hands, had come to Rome with Jesus’ seamless tunic which had already manifested miraculous powers. He wore it when he went in to see Caesar. Caesar does not understand what happened and calls Pilate back once again and again the same thing happens. Somehow he realizes that the tunic may have something to do with it and has it removed from Pilate. Pilate is condemned to a horrible death which he avoids by committing suicide.[6]
Some other accounts suggest that Caligula ordered Pontius Pilate to death by execution or suicide. Others say he was sent into exile and committed suicide of his own accord. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, they believe Pontus Pilate was converted to Christianity and he is considered a saint. Eusebius reported that Pontius Pilate committed suicide during the reign of Caius or Emperor Caligula. Eusebius records the following for us,
It is worthy of note that Pilate himself, who was governor in the time of our Savior, is reported to have fallen into such misfortunes under Caius, whose times we are recording, that he was forced to become his own murderer and executioner; and thus divine vengeance, as it seems, was not long in overtaking him. This is stated by those Greek historians who have recorded the Olympiads, together with the respective events which have taken place in each period.[7]
One thing we know for sure is that Pontus Pilate existed. In 1961 an archaeological dig led by Dr. Antonio Frova in Caesrea Maritiama found a piece of limestone with Pilate’s name inscribed in Latin, linking Pilate to Tiberius’s reign.[8]
Whichever account is the truth, we do not know. However, more accounts seem to indicate that Pilate committed suicide; a sad ending for a man of authority who because of the pressure of others misconstrued the importance of the judgment he was making against Christ.
Instead of having Godly convictions and following Roman law, Pilate compromised to please the local powers for fear of being reproved from the higher powers. Truth was relative and not that important, or so he thought. He let himself be influenced by others whom he knew to have alternative motives. In the end, even with a warning from his wife, he thought Jesus was not such an important issue and condemned him to death.
And what about each of us? Have we gone the way of modern man and decided that it’s all relative and Jesus is not that important? Yes, we used to believe in Jesus when we were young, but now we have decided He’s not that relative to our lives. As long as we live a good life and do not harm others, isn’t that enough?
Jesus said, “He that is not for me is against me and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.”[9] If we have accepted Jesus as our savior by asking Him into our hearts, we have our sins forgiven and have the hope of eternal life. In thanksgiving for the free gift we have received, we should be willing to confess Christ. Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”[10]
Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” [11]
There is something about declaring our faith in Christ that God blesses. No matter if we are working in fulltime service for God or in some other type of work, God expects us as Christians to let our light shine amongst men by sharing our faith with words and example whenever we have the chance. Let’s not be ashamed to share our faith in whatever way we can and share it as much as we can with our speech, our good conversation and our loving sample to others. Let's stand up for our convictions. We need to know what we believe and study to “be ready to give an answer to everyman that asks us of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear.”[12]
I’ll end here with a quote from Keith Ward professor of Philosophy at Biola University in California. He has made the following statement about modern relativism's truth claims. He says,
“It is a central heresy of our culture to say that all truth is relative; that one thing may be true for me and quite another may be true for you. This absurdity destroys the very notion of truth … and is the result of muddled thinking. No one can seriously believe that a belief which contradicts his or her own is just as true. The expression “It is true for me” is self-confuting. Either a thing is true or it is not. … Can we imagine saying, “Well, the earth is round to me; but it may be flat to you”? The earth is either round or flat; it cannot be both; and what you or I think about it is irrelevant. You may claim that religion and ethics is not a matter of truth at all. Very well, do not use the word “true”; but if you use it, do not render it unintelligible by adding that empty phrase, “for me.””[13]
So don’t tell me that “Jesus is true for you, Dennis, but not for me.” The question is whether Jesus is really who he said he was or not. Is he the Christ, the Son of the living God? Is Jesus the Truth, or is he false? That’s the question we all need to answer through open and honest enquiry.
[1] Acts 26:26
[2] John 19:12b
[3] Matthew 27:19
[4] Matthew 27:18
[5] Mark 15:15
[6] http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0812.htm
[7] http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/corner/read2/r00886.html
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate
[9] Matthew 12:30
[10] Romans 10:9,10
[11] Mark 8:36-38
[12] 1Peter3:15
[13] Ward, Keith; The Turn of the Tide, pg. 144. http://existenceofgod.org/relativism-the-redefining-of-tolerance/
Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Day of Shame
By Uri Avnery, CounterPunch, May 21, 2018
On Bloody Monday, when the number of Palestinian killed and wounded was rising by the hour, I asked myself: what would I have done if I had been a youngster of 15 in the Gaza Strip?
My answer was, without hesitation: I would have stood near the border fence and demonstrated, risking my life and limbs every minute.
How am I so sure?
Simple: I did the same when I was 15.
I was a member of the National Military Organization (the “Irgun”), an armed underground group labeled “terrorist”.
Palestine was at the time under British occupation (called “mandate”). In May 1939, the British enacted a law limiting the right of Jews to acquire land. I received an order to be at a certain time at a certain spot near the sea shore of Tel Aviv in order to take part in a demonstration. I was to wait for a trumpet signal.
The trumpet sounded and we started the march down Allenby Road, then the city’s main street. Near the main synagogue, somebody climbed the stairs and delivered an inflammatory speech. Then we marched on, to the end of the street, where the offices of the British administration were located. There we sang the national anthem, “Hatikvah”, while some adult members set fire to the offices.
Suddenly several lorries carrying British soldiers screeched to a halt, and a salvo of shots rang out. The British fired over our heads, and we ran away.
Remembering this event 79 years later, it crossed my mind that the boys of Gaza are greater heroes then we were then. They did not run away. They stood their ground for hours, while the death toll rose to 61 and the number of those wounded by live ammunition to some 1500, in addition to 1000 affected by gas.
On that day, most TV stations in Israel and abroad split their screen. On the right, the events in Gaza. On the left, the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
In the 136th year of the Zionist-Palestinian war, that split screen is the picture of reality: the celebration in Jerusalem and the bloodbath in Gaza. Not on two different planets, not in two different continents, but hardly an hour’s drive apart.
The celebration in Jerusalem started as a silly event. A bunch of suited males, inflated with self-importance, celebrating–what, exactly? The symbolic movement of an office from one town to another.
Jerusalem is a major bone of contention. Everybody knows that there will be no peace, not now, not ever, without a compromise there. For every Palestinian, every Arab, every Muslim throughout the world, it is unthinkable to give up Jerusalem. It is from there, according to Muslim tradition, that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, after tying his horse to the rock that is now the center of the holy places. After Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is the third holiest place of Islam.
For the Jews, of course, Jerusalem means the place where, some 2000 years ago, there stood the temple built by King Herod, a cruel half-Jew. A remnant of an outer wall still stands there and is revered as the “Western Wall”. It used to be called the “Wailing Wall”, and is the holiest place of the Jews.
Statesmen have tried to square the circle and find a solution. The 1947 United Nations committee that decreed the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state–a solution enthusiastically endorsed by the Jewish leadership–suggested separating Jerusalem from both states and constituting it as a separate unit within what was supposed to be in fact a kind of confederation.
The war of 1948 resulted in a divided city, the Eastern part was occupied by the Arab side (the Kingdom of Jordan) and the Western part became the capital of Israel. (My modest part was to fight in the battle for the road.)
No one liked the division of the city. So my friends and I devised a third solution, which by now has become a world consensus: keep the city united on the municipal level and divide it politically: the West as capital of the State of Israel, the East as capital of the State of Palestine. The leader of the local Palestinians, Faisal al-Husseini, the scion of a most distinguished local Palestinian family and the son of a national hero who was killed not far from my position in the same battle, endorsed this formula publicly. Yasser Arafat gave me his tacit consent.
If President Donald Trump had declared West Jerusalem the capital of Israel and moved his embassy there, almost nobody would have got excited. By omitting the word “West”, Trump ignited a fire. Perhaps without realizing what he was doing, and probably not giving a damn.
For me, the moving of the US embassy means nothing. It is a symbolic act that does not change reality. If and when peace does come, no one will care about some stupid act of a half-forgotten US president. Inshallah.
So there they were, this bunch of self-important nobodies, Israelis, Americans and those in-between, having their little festival, while rivers of blood were flowing in Gaza. Human beings were killed by the dozen and wounded by the thousand.
The ceremony started as a cynical meeting, which quickly became grotesque, and ended in being sinister. Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.
When the last hug was exchanged and the last compliment paid, Gaza remained what it was–a huge concentration camp with severely overcrowded hospitals, lacking medicines and food, drinkable water and electricity.
A ridiculous world-wide propaganda campaign was let loose to counter the world-wide condemnation. For example: the story that the terrorist Hamas had compelled the Gazans to go and demonstrate–as if anyone could be compelled to risk their life in a demonstration.
Or: the story that Hamas paid every demonstrator 50 dollars. Would you risk your life for 50 dollars? Would anybody?
Or: The soldiers had no choice but to kill them, because they were storming the border fence. Actually, no one did so–the huge concentration of Israeli army brigades would have easily prevented it without shooting.
Almost forgotten was a small news item from the days before: Hamas had discreetly offered a Hudna for ten years. A Hudna is a sacred armistice, never to be broken. The Crusaders, our remote predecessors, had many Hudnas with their Arab enemies during their 200-year stay here.
Israeli leaders immediately rejected the offer.
So why were the soldiers ordered to kill? It is the same logic that has animated countless occupation regimes throughout history: make the “natives” so afraid that they will give up. Alas, the results have almost always been the very opposite: the oppressed have become more hardened, more resolute. This is happening now.
Bloody Monday may well be seen in future as the day when the Palestinians regained their national pride, their will to stand up and fight for their independence.
Strangely, the next day–the main day of the planned protest, Naqba Day–only two demonstrators were killed. Israeli diplomats abroad, facing world-wide indignation, had probably sent home SOS messages. Clearly the Israeli army had changed its orders. Non-lethal means were used and sufficed.
My conscience does not allow me to conclude this without some self-criticism.
I would have expected that all of Israel’s renowned writers would publish a thundering joint condemnation while the shooting was still going on. It did not happen.
I would have expected that the dozens of our brave peace organizations would unite in a dramatic act of condemnation, an act that would arouse the world. It did not happen. Perhaps they were in a state of shock.
The next day, the excellent boys and girls of the peace groups demonstrated opposite the Likud office in Tel Aviv. Some 500 took part. Far, far from the hundreds of thousands who demonstrated some years ago against the price of cottage cheese.
In short: we did not do our duty. I accuse myself as much as I accuse everybody else.
But what topped everything was the huge machine of brain-washing that was set in motion. For many years I have not experienced anything like it.
Almost all the so-called “military correspondents” acted like army propaganda agents. Day by day they helped the army to spread lies and falsifications. The public had no alternative but to believe every word. Nobody told them otherwise.
The same is true for almost all other means of communication, program presenters, announcers and correspondents. They willingly became government liars. Probably many of them were ordered to do so by their bosses. Not a glorious chapter.
After the day of blood, when the army was faced with world condemnation and had to stop shooting (“only” killing two unarmed demonstrators) all Israeli media were united in declaring this a great Israeli victory.
Israel had to open the crossings and send food and medicines to Gaza. Egypt had to open its Gaza crossing and accept many hundreds of wounded for operations and other treatment.
The Day of Shame has passed. Until the next time.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
‘Zero. In fact, less than zero.’ Gazans say little gained in protests
By Declan Walsh & Isabel Kershner, Washington Post, 20 May 2018
Gaza City: After weeks of protest at the Israeli border fence peaked this week, Gazans returned to their daily lives of struggle, many wondering what, if anything, had been accomplished.
The cost was clear: More than 100 Palestinians killed by Israeli snipers, 60 of them on Monday alone, and more than 3500 wounded since the campaign began March 30, Gaza medical officials said.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that governs Gaza and organised the protests, did score a victory in international messaging, with Israel widely condemned for what critics said was disproportionate use of force against mostly unarmed protesters.
In Geneva on Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly to censure Israel and called for an inquiry.
But to many Gazans, the tangible benefits of so much bloodshed were hard to discern, with plenty of blame to go around–including for Hamas.
At a market near the main protest camp, Abdul Rahman, 59, a vegetable trader, called the effort a total waste. “Zero,” he said. “In fact, less than zero.”
He condemned the Israelis, the Arab allies who he said had betrayed the Palestinians, and the leadership of Gaza. “We didn’t open the fence, and the blockade has not been lifted. There was only killing.”
In his sermon at noon prayers on Friday, Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, put a positive spin on the protests, called “The Great Return March,” a reference to the goal of Palestinian refugees to return to lands lost to Israel in 1948.
“We are living in the throes of victory and the beginning of the end of the humanitarian tragedy,” he proclaimed.
Haniyeh hailed Egypt’s rare gesture of goodwill toward Gaza in opening its border crossing at Rafah, on the southern edge of the territory, for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began a day earlier. The opening would ease the 11-year-old blockade of Gaza, he said, adding that the border protests would continue until the blockade was entirely lifted.
But many Gazans, having lost friends or suffered grievous wounds in the protests, feel cheated by Hamas.
The strains of the blockade on Gaza, which Israel and Egypt imposed, citing security reasons, have been obscured in recent years by other crises in the Middle East. Now Hamas hopes to capitalize on the widespread outrage at images of Gazans being shot by Israeli soldiers to pressure Israel into making some concessions.
The effort seemed to make headway Friday with the vote by the U.N. council.
“Those responsible for violations must in the end be held accountable,” Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, the head of the council, said in a statement Friday. “What do you become when you shoot to kill someone who is unarmed, and not an immediate threat to you? You are neither brave, nor a hero.”
Israel, which considers the council biased, said in a statement by the Foreign Ministry that the council “once again has proved itself to be a body made up of a built-in, anti-Israel majority, guided by hypocrisy and absurdity.”
As the Gaza protests evolved, they had a series of shifting goals in addition to casting Israel in a negative light: breaching the fence to symbolize the return to the lost lands; challenging the blockade to ease economic distress; and, ultimately, expressing Palestinian rejection of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Israel said the protesters were being used as cover by militants who intended to attack its soldiers and nearby communities.
In any event, the “great return” did not pan out, given Israel’s determination to prevent any breach of the barrier. By the end of the week, the world’s attention had moved on to North Korea, the latest Trump administration scandal and Britain’s royal wedding.
And in the meantime, Hamas is no closer to improving the lives of increasingly restless Gazans. The group lacks money to even pay public employees’ salaries or other expenses of governing.
Its plight has been deepened by the faltering reconciliation efforts with its archrival, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority run by President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
“Overall Hamas is in the same corner it was a month or two ago,” said Nathan Thrall, director of the International Crisis Group’s Israeli-Palestinian project. “It simply doesn’t have an answer about how to get out of this predicament or even how to capitalize on these protests.”
With Gaza unemployment at 43 percent and tens of thousands of employee salaries slashed by the Palestinian Authority sanctions, Egypt is encouraging a step-by-step approach to reconciliation that would see the Western-backed authority gradually take over governance of the coastal enclave.
The U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said the most urgent need for Gaza was to start development projects that were already approved. That would create jobs, increase access to potable water and electricity and create a more conducive atmosphere for reconciliation.
“The economy has disappeared,” he said. “Effectively, we need to revive life in Gaza.”
But after three international donor meetings in the past three months, and years of stalled projects, Mladenov said people had a right to be skeptical.
At Gaza’s main Shifa hospital, where entire floors were packed with young men recovering from gunshot wounds, many insisted they were happy to have paid such a high price. But other former protesters expressed bitter recrimination, blaming their own leaders as much as Israel.
“Our future is lost because of the Jews, and because of Hamas,” said Mahmoud Abu Omar, a 26-year-old with one arm wrapped in bandages.
He’d been shot, he said, as he aimed his slingshot across the fence. He had hoped the protests would somehow ease the frustrations of his life–his impatience to marry, to earn some money, to travel outside Gaza. They did not.
