As clergy and people of deep faith and conscience, we do not know a God
that ignores or justifies the suffering of one group of people for the
security and comfort of others.
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. ... And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will
not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. ... Thou shalt be blessed above all people ... . And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of
the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay
them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall
deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou
serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. ... Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they
that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. ... And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy
their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand
before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
-- Deuteronomy 7:6, 10, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24
On Jewish Chosenness and Israeli Chauvinism:
A survey of the “Beliefs, Observance and Values among Israeli Jews”
conducted in 2009 found that 70 percent of Israeli Jews believe that
Jews are the chosen people. Since 46 percent of Israeli Jews define
themselves as secular according to the survey, the numbers indicate that
even within the secular minority, at least one-third maintains a belief
in Jewish chosenness, and that the concept has taken on shades of
simple ethnic chauvinism beyond any original theological significance.
This is reminiscent of the quip about secular Zionists who don’t believe
in God but do believe that God gave them the land. ... Half of Israeli Jews (48 percent) believe Arabs should be transferred or expelled from Israel.
