Ethnic Cleansing and the Bible: A Moral Critique

Abstract

Even for secular Zionists, Jewish claims to exclusive title to ‘the land of Israel’ rest on the Bible. Although Political Zionism was an assault on Judaism, its settlement policy today has no more ardent supporters than Religious Zionists. The Bible salves whatever pangs of conscience they might have about the expulsion of the Palestinians: normal rules of morality are suspended, and ethnic cleansing is applauded. However, the Bible's land traditions pose fundamental moral questions, relating both to their content—they mandate the ethnic cleansing of Canaan—and to the ways they have been deployed in favour of various colonial enterprises, including Zionism. Nevertheless, neither has been sufficient to bother the biblical academy to the point of critical opposition. Academics have an ethical responsibility, and are accountable to a wider public. This essay proposes that a moral exegesis of the Bible and an ethical evaluation of its interpretation, not least as it refers to the Holy Land, is indispensable today.