Is Israel Selling Weapons to Myanmar Military Enabling Persecution of Rohingya?
My inner feeling: Will arming regimes to defeat Muslims solve the Palestinian problem in Israel or fuel further conflict and loss of life on all sides? Gandhi comes to mind, ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’. I was sharing with another about my teaching of peace and in particular the blind spot test. What I get kids to do is cover one eye whilst looking at two dots on a card. One of the dots disappears as we have a blind spot in our eyes. Hence, when you think you are right you cannot see the other side (dot), you are blind to the other. So you can never see the full picture. That is why those who are blind to equality cannot see their own blindness. Indeed, it was Lao Tzu who said ‘it is the responsibility of those who know to tell the blind horseman on the blind horse that he is heading towards the abyss’. This was inspired 700BC.
I am feeling more inspiration … the sermon on the mount … (I don’t even know what it is, so looking now)
Refer: https://www.gotquestions.org/sermon-on-the-mount.html
If we were to summarize the Sermon on the Mount in a single sentence, it would be something like this: How to live a life that is dedicated to and pleasing to God, free from hypocrisy, full of love and grace, full of wisdom and discernment. (I feel to send this question to those profiting from arms not alms).
This is the message for the Israeli Defence Industry to contemplate.
Matthew 5:38–42
Retaliation
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,8 let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
It is very clear to not resist what you perceive as evil, hence using weapons to fight what you perceive as the evil other. It is to offer non-resistance, this is a formula as old as time itself, the Jains come to my mind (re: Gandhi quote). When you do not resist and you give more to the other it de-escalates the violence and begins to respect you. That is my feeling on what that means. Clearly defence will never end war it will only expand it, this serves only one industrial group, defence manufacturers. The real safety is in nonresistence and nonviolence. Jesus (Jeshua) is clear.
I contemplate the Australian governments recent visit to Israel and arms announcement today. I ponder wisdom and wonder at foolishness. Unfortunately those who challenge the military mindset are also regarded as the enemy (other) yet in truth life is sending a message. Always the ‘other’ is a teacher. There is no enemy only judgement make it so.
Below is an article about the Israel Military Industrial Complex selling arms to Myanmar’s military junta who are responsible for the murder of the Rohingya. It speaks of genocide. Why? An Israeli Human Rights Lawyer and activists are seeking to stop the selling of arms used in killing innocent people. This is very brave as what he is saying is to ‘turn the other cheek’ disarm. I feel a deep love for the Israeli, Palestinian, Burmese and Rohingya people (inclusive of all ethnic groups in Myanmar). Only love is expansive of true security in the awareness that only love is real.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/09/06/534249/Israel-Myanmar-arms-sales
Report: Israel engaged in arms sales to Myanmar’s military junta
Israel continues to sell weapons to Myanmar’s military junta despite the ongoing persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the state of Rakhine.
The arms sold to the junta reportedly include over 100 tanks and boats as well as other sorts of weapon.
Israeli arms companies such as TAR Ideal Concepts have also been involved in training Myanmar’s special forces, who are currently in Rakhine, where most of the violence against the Rohingya Muslims has taken place. Images posted on the company’s website showed its staff instructing members of Myanmar’s forces on combat tactics and how to use specific weapons.
The Israeli High Court of Justice is expected to hear a petition launched by activists, urging the Tel Aviv regime to stop arms exports to Myanmar. Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer presenting the petition, said, referring to Myanmar, “Israel has no control of what’s happening with its weapons once it sends its weapons to Burma.” “But from TAR Ideal’s website, we know that they are arming and training Burmese special forces who are operating in the Rakhine state right now.” The petition was submitted in January, following visits by Israeli authorities to Myanmar to discuss arms deals. Reacting to the petition, the Israeli ministry of military affairs in March said the court had no jurisdiction over the issue and claimed that arms sales to Myanmar were “clearly diplomatic.”
The Israeli regime has shared a strong relationship with Myanmar and maintained trade ties over the years. In September 2015, one of the heads of the junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, visited Israel on a “shopping trip” of Israeli military manufacturers. His delegation met with President Reuven Rivlin as well as military officials, including the army’s chief of staff.
In the summer of 2015, Michel Ben-Baruch, the head of the Israeli ministry of military affairs’ International Defense Cooperation Directorate, better known by its Hebrew acronym SIBAT, went to Myanmar. In the course of the visit, the heads of the junta disclosed that they had purchased Super Dvora patrol boats from Israel, and there was talk of additional purchases.
Penny Green, the director of the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University, recently said many governments “have lent their support to the current genocide” in Myanmar. “It’s not at all surprising that the latest escalation in Myanmar’s genocide of the Rohingya has not moved Israel to cease its supply of weapons to Myanmar’s military,” said Green, an academic who has documented alleged war crimes against the Rohingya.
Commenting on the Israeli weapons sales to Myanmar, Green said Israel’s “own record of violence and terror against the Palestinian people of Gaza is clear enough evidence” that Tel Aviv “is unmoved by ethical concerns and human rights.”
Ofer Neiman, an Israeli human rights activist, said Israeli cabinets “have been selling arms to the military dictatorship in Burma for years.”
“This policy is strongly related to Israel’s oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Weapons used against the Palestinians are being sold as ‘field-tested’ to some of the worst regimes on the planet.”
The latest round of violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine has killed more than 400 people and triggered an exodus of the Rohingya to Bangladesh.
The UN believes the government of Myanmar might have committed ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in its crackdown.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar were facing a risk of ethnic cleansing.
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Myanmar’s government brands more than one million Rohingya Muslims in the country as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims, however, have had roots in the country that go back centuries. They are considered by the UN as the “most persecuted minority group in the world.”