Debating ancient Middle East history is a distraction from the death and human suffering now ravaging Palestine | Opinion in my local newspaper

Palestinians search for survivors of the Israeli bombing in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)AP

 By The Rev. Sandra R.Mackie

As the massacre in Gaza continues and good people around the globe are demanding an end to the US sponsored genocide, efforts to distract us ramp up.

In Gaza, Israel is bombing homes and killing entire families, blowing up neighborhoods, destroying libraries and Palestinian history, bombing hospitals, destroying houses of worship, razing schools, blowing up universities, destroying essential infrastructure, and poisoning farmland. Meanwhile, apologists work to distract the U.S. public.

Paula Fredriksen’s Opinion piece (March 31), is obviously an effort to distract. In the middle of the global discussion of “plausible” genocide in Gaza, Fredriksen’s concern lies in the past; Americans who have understood Jesus to be “a Palestinian Jew.” As a Catholic who converted to Judaism, she may have a different interpretation of ancient Christianity than Middle East historians and seminary professors with whom I have studied.

Her premise seems disingenuous, an effort to distract from the important issues of the day. I tire of such word games, natural outgrowths of the Palestinian “deniers.” (“No such thing as Palestinians,” etc.)

Viewing history from a 21st-century perspective, Fredriksen intentionally overlooks the fact that people of the ancient world were subjects of empires and members of tribes. is obviously an effort to distract. In the middle of the global discussion of “plausible” genocide in Gaza, Fredriksen’s concern lies in the past; Americans who have understood Jesus to be “a Palestinian Jew.” As a Catholic who converted to Judaism, she may have a different interpretation of ancient Christianity than Middle East historians and seminary professors with whom I have studied.

Her premise seems disingenuous, an effort to distract from the important issues of the day. I tire of such word games, natural outgrowths of the Palestinian “deniers.” (“No such thing as Palestinians,” etc.)

Viewing history from a 21st-century perspective, Fredriksen intentionally overlooks the fact that people of the ancient world were subjects of empires and members of tribes... READ MORE     https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/04/debating-ancient-middle-east-history-is-a-distraction-from-the-death-and-human-suffering-now-ravaging-palestine-opinion.html

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]