Reflected in the Bitter Mirror : In Honour of the Palestinians of Gaza
Ian Buckley
Quite a few years before its expensive fripperies became popular with various light-minded celebrities, I had an interest in the Cabbala. The sole reason was a youthful fascination with the Irish poet Yeats - http://ebooks. gutenberg. us/DjVu_Collecti on/DJEDS/ YEATS/POEMS/ Download. pdf - because the Cabbala aids the understanding of his early work.
In very basic terms, the great secret that distinguishes the Cabbala from other mystical and philosophical tradition is its linking of divine and the diabolical. God dishes out both good and evil; indeed Satan is the inverted reflection of God. Demon ist Deus Inversus. Likewise the holy Tree of Life can suddenly be mirrored into the dread Qlippoth.
Claptrap, some might say. But intriguingly enough, in chemistry there are compounds known as mirror isomers, that can be beneficial or harmful according to their orientation. And whether nonsense or not, such mystical thought patterns can have considerable power when used as a basis for action, as arguably has happened in the Zionist state. These are surely the 'deep and ancient forces' that Oren Ben-Dor referred to in his recent article, 'The Self-Defense of Suicide' : http://www.counterp unch.org/ dor01012009. html. At the very deepest level there is QBL, the Cabbala, emerged from the formless void.
My own countrymen were ruthless enough when they bombarded the Irish of Dublin in 1916, but there were certain limits they didn't go beyond. Now ruthlessness is raised to the nth degree. Today, the 17th day of the onslaught, we had a Christian Aid mother and baby clinic levelled by a jet attack; plus a 'ceasefire' that witnessed more shell fire than usual. Ha, we fooled you! This suggests not so much a defective moral compass as one that is completely reversed.
Let's consider some comments from Paul Eidelberg, an enthusiastic supporter of the Gaza slaughter : 'It is of capital importance that Israel’s ruling elites pursue the war in Gaza as a war between good and evil...show no mercy to them. These terrorists must be killed even if this results in civilian casualties.'
Eidelberg's view is plainly eschatological. He brooks no compromise, but isn't he standing on the wrong side of the Cabbalistic mirror? Trapped behind the bitter glass, with all the normal values of the civilised world inscribed in reverse. Just as the streets of Gaza were etched with fire, a rain of white phosphorous streaking in the darkened sky, a flaming sword from above.
A war of good versus evil, he says; are we entitled to ask a few questions about this?
Can timing the initial swarm of F-16 attacks so that they coincide with the passing out parades of cadets, and the exit of children from school be considered 'good' and 'just'?
http://danieltowsey .livejournal. com/16980. html.. warning wrath of 'God' alert..
Is attacking clearly marked ambulances an example of 'kindness and mercy'?
Is bombing hospitals, schools, mosques and a university a sign of divine benevolence? Or of diabolical evil?
Is sealing off 1.5 million people - as in the wine-cellar of Poe - depriving them of food, fuel, medicines, while subjecting them to random assassinations an example of a noble act? Or is it comparable with the behaviour of a psychopath who jumps up and down on top of a sick man's bed?
The Palestinians have endured so much, not for one year, two years or three, but for sixty years. They have endured like the brave hobbits of 'Lord of the Rings' while their 'betters' have turned and sold themselves body and soul like Saruman. Middle East Peace Envoy Tony Blair might have had a photo-opportunity meeting with his fellow Catholic, young Christine Turok, however this would now be a little difficult :
http://blog. christianitytoda y.com/ctliveblog /archives/ 2009/01/three_ christian_ 1.html
But Anglo-American forces also indulged in prolonged and often unreported bouts of bombing mayhem, such as the attacks on Iraq during 'quiet' periods of supposed non-conflict. Once military valour was conceived as a fight against overwhelming odds as at the Alamo or Thermopylae, but now 'courage' is equated with dropping missiles and bombs on innocent civilians. One perhaps unintended consequence of the Anglo-American victory ( I except the Soviet Union from this criticism) in World War II was that area bombing of civilian urban areas was not classed as a war crime, as it obviously should have been.
Gaza feels the full force of the sharp red wedge that's reserved for open non-compliance; but is there not a more diffuse, less tangible means of oppression exerted throughout the Western world? There the 'bombs' on the doorstep are insolvency decrees, redundancy notices or repossession orders. Millions of Americans go hungry. Millions more are illiterate. Millions are in jail. The US is a shadow of its former self, Britain touches the bottom of the European prosperity league. There's no luck about the allies of the Gaza slaughter.
Viva Palestina! Palestine Shall Live.
