The Unified, Indigenous Tribes of Israel
The Unified Indigenous Tribes of Israel A Proclamation by Mark “Menachem” Blacknell, Son of Abraham
Common sense dictates that the Jewish people should be long extinct, pummeled to dust by some of the most powerful empires ever known to humanity but you need a whole lot more than common sense to explore the essence of our ancient tribe. Despite what billionaire celebrities, revisionist historians and impressionable university students believe, we are the lone surviving indigenous peoples of the original Land of Canaan and we are also the only tribe of the modern age to ever successfully regain sovereignty over our ancestral homelands. We have achieved what the mighty Aztec and Maya, Aboriginals of Australia, Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Tupi, Javanese and the great North American tribes can only dream of. Our successful homecoming after millennium of forced exile is unprecedented in the annals of human history and therefore, nearly seven decades later, the rest of the world still doesn’t know what to make of us. Israel’s existence defies rational probability and like all miracles throughout time, the “miracle” of the modern Jewish-state is only acknowledged and appreciated by an enlightened minority.
The social implications of our independence are far more important than any economic strides we may have made over the last six (+) decades. We are a tribe of uncompromisingly free, ethical and technologically advanced peoples surrounded by warrior cults more concerned with settling long-held blood-feuds and maintaining family honor than peace, prosperity and equality for all. Well meaning, socially conscious, modern citizens who support our neighbors while necessarily overlooking their violent propensities, may have sincere intentions but we live in a place where tribal “might still makes right,” and compromise is viewed as weakness reserved for children, women and old men. Anecdotal experiences, information from the media and web and research on idyllic college campuses are inadequate means of examining the political and philosophical ramifications of one of the most complex and emotionally-charged set of circumstances the world has ever known. As it pertains to the historical subjugation of our people, facts and figures have never mattered much and therefore we can’t afford to focus on baseless trends and rumors that come and go with the times.
We are the original freedom-fighters, a rag-tag band of scrappers that refused to give up on our ancient home; a stiff-necked people who challenged the greatest tyrants of history and lived to tell about it. The Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Egyptians, Greek Hellenists, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and National Socialist Germans (to name a few) are all distant memories but, we, the rarely appreciated but always hopeful tribes of Israel, remain free and strong in our own nation. We ruled Israel from the 9th century BCE to the time of the Babylonian exile and destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE. We reestablished sovereignty over our sacred home from the 2nd century BCE to 63 BCE when the Roman Empire destroyed the Temple again. Over the course of several millennium, tens of thousands of Jews risked everything to remain in our beloved homeland, while millions more were forced into exile. Searching for somewhere, anywhere to maintain our identity, the tribes scattered in all four directions. We were free in various places, for various periods of time but we were never free for long. As the powerful came and went and historical circumstances fluctuated, those that appreciated our societal contributions were inevitably seceded by others that resented our influence. Throughout human history, we have been relentlessly robbed, imprisoned, raped, tortured and murdered in the most despicable and culturally repulsive ways imaginable by an endless sequence of intolerant aggressors all over the world.
We assimilated into progressive societies like Spain, England, Germany and France (often for centuries) but each and every one of these assimilations resulted in tragedy. We lived segregated lives in Eastern Europe, Russia and throughout the Middle East in constant fear of mob rules. No matter where we sought refuge or how significant our contributions to a particular society, the typical anti-Semitic myths, libels and accusations eventually rose to the surface. While today’s modern citizens are generally more influenced by economics, gossip and pop-psychology than reality, each of us, the fourteen million Jews of the Unified Indigenous Tribes of Israel, has an equal obligation to re-discover and apply the lessons of our tribal past. Our history is clear; when we fully assimilate into contemporary societies, without maintaining our unique sense of ethical clarity, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the whims of our purposeless hosts. The trends of today are keenly similar to the trends of yesterday but as a result of the tireless sacrifices of our tribal ancestors, this is the first time in thousands of years that we have the capacity to defend ourselves.
G-d bless the IDF.
Our sacred Israel is not a luxury to be bargained away at the behest of those self-centered power-brokers (either at home or abroad) that view land and other living organisms as commodities to be bought, sold and exploited. We will always be the defenders of living-kind’s epic struggle for freedom and therefore we will always be targeted by the unfree. Israel exists today because we embody a singular struggle against oppression that has inspired all enlightened peoples throughout the ages and therefore the best way to ensure a bright future for our people is to continue our march toward freedom. The Belfour Declaration and the UN did not create the modern state of Israel, the faith, blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors did. Now and forever, we cannot afford to forget the sacrifices of our ancestors.
Jews in Europe are presently being subjected to the highest levels of violence since the rise of the German National Socialist Party in the early 1930’s. Institutionalized hatred of Jews is the daily norm in the schools, press outlets and cafés of the repressive Muslim world. Worse yet, this plague of anti-Semitic activity is seen by many in the west (including some disillusioned members of our own tribe) as a justified reaction to the so-called “repressive policies of the State of Israel.” They claim, “I’m not anti-Semitic, I’m anti-Zionist.” What does this mean exactly? It means that the Jewish people have no historical rights to their indigenous homeland. “Go back to Europe,” we are told by those who lack any semblance of history. Europe? We aren’t from Europe. For better or for worse, we are a people of the Middle East, for the Middle East and with the Middle East until “death do- each and every Jew-part.”
It hurts us deeply when otherwise educated people support the cause of intolerant cultures that devalue life, oppress women, promote violence and live in closed societies where none of the freedoms that we enjoy exist. With that said, however, we appreciate all forms of free speech, even speech that endorses our enemies because free speech is one of the many inalienable rights that distinguish us from each and every one of our tribal neighbors.
We are often an arrogant and insensitive lot, far from ethically superior, yet since the days of our first Great Chief Abraham (in what is now modern day Iraq), we have been instructed not to harm, attack or imprison others without legitimate cause. And this sense of justice extends far beyond our relationships with our fellow humans. Our kashrut traditions also pertain to the treatment of non-human beings and systems. We are a people “for life,” the whole diversity of life, because we have always connected to natural forces far greater than our own. We are a people committed to tolerance and diversity; so much so in fact that our G-d has no name, form or defining physical characteristics whatsoever; it’s an inexplicable energy that embodies the totality of the universe in all times and places. Our tradition emphasizes that there are no perfect messengers of G-d and that even our greatest chiefs and medicine-men were flawed human beings that loved, lost, lived and died.
Despite the fact that every meditation, holy book and law in our tradition warns against divisiveness, Israel has transformed into an ideological battleground between secular and religious Jew. To the secular person that lacks any sense of history, those that devote their lives to Torah are an ignorant, antiquated bunch of maniacs that do nothing but burden society. As a secular person, however I would be a fool not to realize that without the heroism and vision of our wise sages and rabbis, there would be no Jewish people. The role of the Torah scholar in our remarkable journey of survival cannot be minimized but this does not excuse those that pit Jew against Jew under the guise of moral superiority. A tribal spiritualist that viciously turns on his brothers and sisters and feels justified is far more “treif” than a secularist that mixes meat with milk or drives all over Petach Tikvah on the Sabbath.
The beauty of our history is not found in killing chickens on Sukkot or spitting on women who sit in the wrong place on the bus, it’s not about the color of our clothes or the way we wear our hair; it’s about our appreciation for one another and the role each and every Jew plays in the fulfillment of our nation and world. Regardless of our religious or political affiliations or lack thereof, the size of our bank accounts or the high cost of “toot” yogurt in Israel, at this very moment billions of eyes all over the world are fixated on us. If there is peace in Israel, more than 50% of the world’s population will realize, without a shadow of a doubt, that peace is possible.
The peace that I dream about pertains to inner peace in an ever-changing, ever-hostile world and this means never again allowing our people to be subject to the violent whims of intolerant adversaries. For the sake of past, present and future generations, please put personal politics, biases and preferences aside and join me now as I reaffirm my commitment to the Unified Indigenous Tribes of Israel.
“Shema O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One!”