The Myth of Modern Zionism - Part I

In order to clearly understand the legitimacy, or lack thereof, that Israel claims over the land of Palestine, we have to go back in time to 135 AD, to the final days of ancient Israel, when it ceased to exist as a political entity.

The chief narrative that European Jews promote, to legitimize their claims of ownership of Palestine, is that the Jews were kicked out of their land by the oppression and persecution of Romans, Christians and Muslims between the 1st and 7th centuries AD. This, however, is not entirely accurate.

The ancient Israelites were in an enviable position under the administration and occupation of the Roman Empire. They were protected from the Ptolemaic Egyptians to the south, and the Seleucid Syrians to the north. Without Roman protection, either or both of these empires would have invaded and conquered the region. Rome needed Israel as a buffer state to prevent the Ptolemies and the Seleucids from coming together and forming an alliance against them.

In addition, the eastern hub of the Mediterranean was a necessity for strategic purposes. Geographically, the Palestine region is the gateway to Africa to the south, and Europe to the north. It is the crossroads of the entire region. Ancient Israel was also the western-most terminus of the Silk Roads, the trade route that originated in Han China in the East. It is for these very same reasons that the British Empire brokered a deal with the European Jewish aristocracy in 1917.

We will return to this later.

The Romans, under Augustus, had cleared the seas of pirates and built a vast network of roads that were protected by numerous fortified camps called castrum, that were scattered across the Empire. The exact number of Roman forts during the Roman Empire is unknown due to the vast extent of the empire and the varying degrees of archaeological evidence. However, it is estimated that there were several thousand forts and fortifications spread across the Roman Empire at its height.

The distribution of these forts was strategic, often located along frontiers (like Hadrian's Wall in Britain or the Limes Germanicus in Germany), near important roads, rivers, and trade routes, and in newly conquered territories to maintain control and facilitate rapid military response.

The Pax Romana (Roman peace) that Augustus initiated during his reign from 27 BC to 14 AD, continued until 180 AD and created the Golden Age of the empire—one of the most prosperous and open periods in history. Trade and travel flourished—silks, gems, onyx and spices were transported over the seas—the Roman network of paved roads meant that armies, as well as goods, could be moved efficiently and cheaply throughout the Empire.

Roman road network

The Roman foreign policy necessitated a shrewd balance of military might, careful diplomacy and efficient management of the trade routes. The Empire’s tolerance of other religions provided a relatively free society for its time. The Romans were remarkably cosmopolitan and tolerant of other religions, as long as the religion did not threaten the Empire.

The Pax Romana occurred simultaneously with the Pax Sinica of the Han Dynasty in China, that opened up trade through the Parthian Empire (Persia). Emperor Augustus had negotiated a peace deal with Parthian King Phraates IV, by returning Phraates’ kidnapped son in exchange for the return of a captured gold eagle and some additional prisoners-of-war. This greatly opened up the Eastern route for trade.

Lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain. The Western exports included horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. This trade generated substantial wealth for an emerging mercantile class that continued on into the Middle Ages.

During the time of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish client-king Herod built a massive port at Caesarea on behalf of his Roman masters, to accommodate this influx of trade from the East. Caesarea was the capital of the province of Judea, and although the Jews loathed the Roman occupation of their lands—they hated worse the Jewish conspirators who partnered with the Romans, such as Herod the Great.

Two main groups of Jews, hostile to Roman rule emerged—the Zealots and the Sicarii. The Zealots were a nationalist political party, that advocated military rebellion to overthrow what they imagined was a tyrannical occupation. They branded themselves the “Fourth Philosophy,” a reference to the other three Israelite religio-political groups: the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Zealots were largely responsible for the first Jewish Revolt that led to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.

The Talmud authors were not impressed, and the Zealots are called “biryonim” meaning thugs. “The biryonim were then in the city. The rabbis said to them: ‘Let us go out and make peace with the Romans’ – but the zealots would not let them, and instead said, ‘Let us fight them.’ The rabbis said: ‘You will not succeed.’ The zealots then rose up and burnt the stores of wheat and barley so that a famine ensued.”

The Sicarri (literally dagger men) were on offshoot of the Zealots. They were a terrorist organization that got their name from their practice of surrounding Jewish conspirators who worked for Rome, and stabbing them to death in public.

One of the leaders of the Zealots, John of Giscala, is mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, in his book, The Jewish Wars:

“But for John, he was very little concerned for those whom he had left behind him, but went about among all the people, and persuaded them to go to war, by the hopes he gave them. He affirmed that the affairs of the Romans were in a weak condition, and extolled his own power. He also jested upon the ignorance of the unskillful, as if those Romans, although they should take to themselves wings, could never fly over the wall of Jerusalem, who found such great difficulties in taking the villages of Galilee, and had broken their engines of war against their walls. These harangues of John’s corrupted a great part of the young men, and puffed them up for the war.”

Sha’ul Ha’Tarsi

The Jewish nation was motivated by one overwhelming idea—that they were the chosen people, a race favoured by God, that was destined to rule the world. This idea has never faltered in the minds of Jews for 3000 years. To add fuel to this theological fire, Christianity has fully embraced this racial exceptionalism. Christians consider themselves the “adopted sons of Israel grafted onto the branch” through the teachings of Sha’ul Ha’Tarsi, otherwise known as the apostle Paul of Tarsus.

It was Paul, the domineering organizer of the early Christian church who boldly proclaimed this messianic concept of Jewish exceptionalism. Christianity originated as a Jewish cult with headquarters in Asia Minor (Turkey), organized by Paul who combined elements of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with Judaism, Mithraism and Greek philosophy to create what is now known as Judeo-Christianity.

Paul taught that Israel was the “true branch” and the Gentile converts were the “wild olive shoots” that existed only as “adopted sons”—the true sons were the Jews.

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

— Romans 9:4

This is in distinct contrast to the egalitarian teachings of Jesus of Nazareth who taught that HE was the vine and we are the branches. By “we” he meant all of humanity, not just a preferred club of religious elites.

What does this all have to do with the Gaza War? The answer is everything.

The Jewish Revolts and the Fall of Jerusalem

The ancient Israelites, led by a series of self-proclaimed messiahs, conducted several doomed revolts against the Roman Empire. It was Jesus of Nazareth who foretold that many false messiahs would come and soon thereafter the temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed. He warned his followers to “flee to the mountains” when they saw the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem.

History records that Jesus was soon proven correct, and in 70 AD, the Roman general Titus surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege to the city for almost five months, after a protracted period of four years of civil unrest that began in Caesarea.

This was not the end of the Jewish rebellions against the Romans. A series of false messiahs attempted further insurrections, with the final one led by Simeon bar Kokhba in 132 AD. His real name was Simeon bar Kosevah, but during the revolt, the Jewish sage Rabbi Akiva, who regarded Simeon as the Jewish messiah, renamed him Simeon bar Kokhba (Simeon, Son of the Star) after the messianic prophecy from Numbers 24:17: “There shall come a star out of Jacob.”

After the failed revolt, the Talmud refers to Bar Kokhba as “Bar Koziva,” (Son of Deception), placing him among the list of false Messiahs.

The Romans murdered the Jewish ruling class at the last battle of the Bar Kokhba Revolt at Betar in 135 AD. Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death along with 9 other rabbis, who were the last remaining leaders of the Sanhedrin. Their deaths signified the end of ancient Israel.

According to 4th century Christian translator and historian, Jerome:

“In Hadrian's reign, when Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the Jewish nation was massacred in large groups at a time, with the result that they were even expelled from the borders of Judaea.”

— Jerome, Commentary on Daniel (translated by Gleason L. Archer), III, ix, 24

Jews were expelled from the area of Jerusalem but, according to Menaham Mor, Professor of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, Jews were not driven entirely from Judea:

“Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.”

Roman policy in Israel/Palestine shifted from indirect rule through client kings to direct administration, often marked by repression and cultural imposition. The destruction of the Temple and the suppression of the Jewish revolts were pivotal events that reshaped the region's identity and its role within the Empire.

The Roman emperor Hadrian banned Jews from entering Jerusalem, except for once a year on Tisha B’Av, in July or August, when the Jews would enter the holy city and commence to lament and wail at the ruins of the Temple Mount—hence the name “Wailing Wall.” It cannot be overstated, that the Jews continued an unabated period of mourning for the loss of their kingdom.

Lamenting the loss of their home is a central theme in Judaism. There is, in fact, an entire book in the Old Testament, called Lamentations, that consists of five poems, mourning the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The psalmist described the event of the Babylonian captivity:

We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?

Collective angst expressed in defeat, the modern Israelis now worship the dead stone wall of their past, having forsaken the God of Abraham and Isaac long ago. The Jews, along with their Christian accomplices, are shivering in anticipation, awaiting the right opportunity to rebuild Solomon’s Temple, and return the Levitical priesthood to ritual sacrifices, and proclaim the Throne of David as the government seat of the entire planet.

These unfulfilled longings are leading the entire world to another global war, aided and abetted by the Christian West. Christians and Jews have concluded that their mortal enemy, Islam, is standing in the way of the fulfilment of these dreams. This is a recipe for disaster and World War III is on the menu

Part II

Part III