Israel and the Parable of the Good Palestinian

        In the 1930s and '40s Jews were horribly persecuted. Anti-Semitism of course thrived in Nazi Germany. But it was also alive, in (usually) less extreme forms, in the rest of Europe, in the United States, and yes, in Canada.
        In the aftermath of World War II, much of the world recognized Jews as an oppressed people, marginalized, victimized, and hounded almost to extinction. And when, through their own fierce determination, they began to gather in Palestine and press for recognition as the legitimate state of Israel, the United Nations gave it to them. At the same time, the U. N. also envisioned a Palestinian state.
        Perhaps other reasons for the recognition of Israel determined that outcome. Historians have pointed out that the U. S. wanted an ally in the Middle East, in order to, among other things, encircle the post war threat of the then communist Soviet Union.
        Nevertheless, widespread sympathy for Jews no doubt was a key factor. Some have argued that the moral failure of the West to honour Jews over the centuries has lead, not only to its little-questioned approval of Israeli statehood. It has also made it impossible for Western countries to seriously challenge the way Israel has forced non-Israelis to either accept Israeli political authority or leave.
        Twenty centuries ago, a young Jew told a story, the "Parable of the Good Samaritan." In the story, Jesus told of a Samaritan man who stops to give first aid, and then transportation and housing, to a Jew who had been robbed and left to die on a dangerous stretch of road.
        In those days, Jews living in the south of Israel looked down on their Samaritan neighbours to the north. They saw Samaritans as religiously unclean and a threat to the proper life Jews were to live. Samaritans were the "other", outcasts who did not deserve compassion from well-established and respectable Jews of that time. And yet, in the story, this "good Samaritan" had compassion on a Jew.
        The Parable of the Good Samaritan forced upon many of the Jewish leaders of the day disturbing questions - questions about their own righteousness, and their inability to see the Samaritan people as human beings who could also respond appropriately to God, as people who could be compassionate, and who would, in turn, deserve recognition and compassion from Jews.
        In an online CNN post, Carl Madearis suggests that if Jesus were alive today and living in Israel, he would not tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He would tell the Parable of the Good Palestinian. Thinking about this I wonder if he would be crucified for it. Likely. While countless Jews of Jesus' time embraced him and began the Christian movement, some crucified him for telling a story that questioned their treatment of their neighbours.