Put Away your Sword or…
Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place: for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
Mathew 26: 51-52
The authorities “laid hands” on Jesus and arrested him. And the natural response was to strike back with a sword. The disciples were unable to understand Jesus' call to nonviolence, ”Lord, shall we strike with a sword?” This is our response too, is it not? Some want to strike back with rocks, others with water canons, pepper spray and tear gas canisters to the head. Most of us would rather cut off an ear or more if we could then heal and seek reconciliation. Others would rather drop a few well placed drone bombs. Some would even like “to disappear” a whole group of people by forcing them out of their homes, one by one. Some would simply insist that the people never existed-- are “invented."
Swords were flying the night Jesus was arrested in the garden. And they are flying now, though we call them bombs or weapons of mass destruction. Some feel that the nonviolent revolution of the Arab Spring has run its course and now a violent overthrow is necessary.
Certainly it would seem that the United States has taken the path of violent solutions as it continues to fund the occupation of Israel’s military to the tune of over three billion a year or 30 million over 10 years.
Certainly it would seem that the United States has taken the path of violent solutions as it continues to fund the occupation of Israel’s military to the tune of over three billion a year or 30 million over 10 years.
These funds will continue to be used to commit human rights violations, build illegal Israeli-only colonies on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
These funds will also continue to be used to kill or injure thousands of Palestinian civilians and destroy billions of dollars of infrastructure including homes, schools, factories, farms and even hospitals all over the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
These funds come from our tax dollars. They come out of our pockets. To put away our sword means to hold Israel accountable for the way it uses these dollars to commit human right violations.
Instead of injuring Palestinian civilians or bombing their hospitals, we could provide primary health care to millions of Americans. Instead of building apartheid walls, we could provide housing for needy families here.
So I invite you this Holy Week, this tax season, to follow Jesus and put back your sword by learning more about where our tax dollars go by going to Aid to Israel at www.aidtoisrael.org. You can also go to the US Campaign to End the Occupation to sign their petition at www.endtheoccupation.org.In addition, I call us all to stop the sable rattling or drum beating about going to war with Iran. To go to war with Iran means to open up the entire volatile region, including Palestine, to a possible global war. A war with Iran or the threat of a war with Iran also shifts our focus from the continued dispossession of Palestinians from their lands and rights. Finally, the sable rattling also drowns out the calls for other nonviolent ways. It constricts the political space for diplomatic solutions.
The diplomacy agenda must not be replaced by the war agenda. We must put away our swords, especially our talk of what kinds of swords would work best. So even though there are thousands pushing for a war with Iran, most forcefully the APIAC lobby on behalf of Israel, there are also thousands of others who believe we must not close the door to diplomacy.
At this moment our State Department is forbidden from making direct contact with Iranian government officials without authorization from the State Department. This “no contact policy” is under control of the Administration and they can reverse this policy. This is our opening.
What is needed is a critical mass of people demanding the reversal of this “no contact policy” to allow real dialogue and diplomacy to take place. There are two interrelated ways we can do this. One is through the legislative channels of supporting Barbara Lee’s bill to reverse the “no Contact” policy and the other is through a mass movement to resist war.
Robert Naiman from Just Foreign Policy believes we don’t need to win 217 votes but we do need to show that we, the people, want to call into question this removal of the diplomatic option.
In addition, Naiman and others are calling for a new Pledge of Resistance Movement, like the one that was called during the civil wars in Central America and right before the Iraq War. He and others believe that we need to stop this slow crawl toward war and that we need more tools than public demonstrations up our sleeves.
To read more about this issue and approach see:
Contact your representative at Just Foreign Policy’s website at You can join us here.
Watch and spread our video about the importance of engaging with Congress to avoid war with Iran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Watch and spread our video about the importance of engaging with Congress to avoid war with Iran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Signing a Pledge of Resistance means committing oneself to work for the preventing such a war from happening through a variety of means including advocacy and education and civil disobedience if necessary.
To TAKE ACTION, Take the Pledge of Resistance Go to iranpledge.org or http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/peopletopeople/2012/04/03/the-pledge-of-resistance-could-change-the-game-against-a-war-with-iran/
In March of this year Israeli graphic designer and teacher Ronny Edri posted a picture of himself and his daughter to facebook with the message: Iranians we love you. We will never bomb your country, Within hour Iranians sent beautiful images back and messages have now been sent all over the world .
You can join this movement by adding your picture and signing a petition. You will be in the company of such famous women as Alice Walker and Gloria Steinem. To learn more go to www.weloveiran.org.
Putting away our swords, withdrawing our financial support for war making and supporting nonviolent efforts like diplomacy are yet other ways we can put our faith into action this Holy Week. We cannot wash each others feet if our fingers are on the trigger, we cannot love each other if we are stuck on contemplating the best way to destroy them and we cannot follow him if we continue to strike out in violence against each other. Peace. Shalom. Salam. صلØ
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