Like everyone else, my email inbox is constantly plagued by waves of
junk mail. Lately I seem to have a new addition - I’ve somehow ended up on the
mailing list of Christians United for Israel, the most militant and widespread
of Christian Zionist groups. Their regular newsletters are the latest debris to
be washed up in my inbox. The few I've read are full of deliberate doublethink and startling mistruths, all the more worrying for their posing as biblical facts.
I tend not to read these newsletters before I delete them because they
make my blood boil, but today I decided to give it a cursory glance. Today’s
cutesy Zionist project: “Show that your house stands with Israel! Place a beautiful
CUFI mezuzah on your doorpost!” For the bargain price of $36, you can not only further the work of CUFI, but stamp Israel's sovereignty on your home as well. Whilst this would be easy to dismiss as the usual eye-roll inducing
nonsense, I can’t help but feel that this is more damaging than it first
appears.
Firstly, the mezuzah is a Jewish tradition, not a Christian one.
Christian Zionists in general, and CUFI in particular, often step beyond a
genuine love for the Jewish people and into a misappropriation of Jewish
culture to further their political aims.
In Judaism, the mezuzah is a symbol of
the sovereignty of G-d, a declaration of His scripture being literally
‘inscribed on the doorposts’, of first and utmost importance in hearts and
homes. For CUFI, however, the mezuzah is morphed into a political symbol of
affiliation with the Zionist state, a way to “Show that your house
stands with Israel”, rather than under the authority of God.
“Every symbol on
this unique mezuzah has special meaning,” the newsletter declares. “Since CUFI
members are watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, the top of the mezuzah displays
the Eastern Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. The American and Israeli flags
symbolize the importance of the US-Israel
alliance.”
Again, whilst
mezuzahs would traditionally be decorated with religious or artistic symbolism,
CUFI has draped theirs in nationalist imagery, mutating its meaning to send a distinctly political,
rather than spiritual message.
Mezuzah aside, there are further problems with the thinking behind this message. Like most Christian Zionist literature, this
particular letter is full of the usual Orientalist rhetoric of Israel as a
bastion of goodness in a sea of hostility, painting the Arab people as a homogenous,
dangerous and inherently evil entity, and Israel as a helpless victim. “From
Cairo to Beirut, from Gaza to Damascus, and from Ramallah to Tehran, the Jewish
people are surrounded by enemies who seek to destroy them,” CUFI declares. “These are truly
dark and dangerous days for our ally Israel.”
This sort of language is not unusual amongst Christian Zionists. They would paint the occupying, US-backed Zionist state as endangered and helpless, and the occupied, stateless, disenfranchised Palestinians as an aggressive and terminal threat.
The
final blow, however, came in the form a cheery post-script
denouncing the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement and offering a alternative to Israel’s staunch
supporters:
“P.S. Israel's enemies
are mounting an aggressive campaign to harm Israel's economy by organizing
boycotts of Israeli made goods. We are proud that our CUFI
mezuzahs are made in Israel! So when you give your
gift and receive your mezuzah, you not only help us defend Israel here at home
you are directly contributing to Israel's economy. What a wonderful way to
stand with Israel against those seeking to boycott her!"
Whilst it is potentially encouraging that the vastly powerful Christian Zionist base feels at least a little threatened by the BDS movement, I find this sort of rhetoric incredibly disturbing. Here, anyone who struggles for justice for Palestinians are 'aggressive' enemies of Israel and, by proxy, God himself. The very people aiming to demonstrate godly justice and bring an end to the suffering of Palestinians are demonized as aggressors.
The influence of CUFI is not to be sniffed at - they are the self-declared "largest pro-Israel organization in the United States", serving 1.3 million members and conducting hundreds of pro-Israel events each year. CUFI has a vast empire of support and a significant platform with which to infiltrate public opinion with hatred towards the peoples of the Middle East. Their web of influence contributes hugely to the entrenched pro-Israel discourse in the US; newsletters like these are dropping into hundreds of thousands of mailboxes, both real and virtual, on a regular basis.
Whether slighting those seeking justice or morphing a religious symbol like a mezuzah into little more than a politically-charged bumper sticker, CUFI has a worrying knack for morphing meanings and turning truths on their head. Once again they prove their deftness at turning the oppressed into oppressors and victimisers into victims, invoking the name of a God of peace whilst banging the drums of war.
