By: Mazim Qumsiyeh
( for original: http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2011/11/is-hypocrisy-sanctified.html)
Is hypocrisy ignored?
As children of lesser gods cleansed!
While colonial settlers from Europe enriched
and 7 million Palestinian refugees created
dozens of massacres committed
And 540 villages and towns depopulated
putting us here them there as planned!
While speaking of security not for the colonized
And Safety not for the occupied
Is hypocrisy sanctified?
When big brown eyes teared
As Mother was gunned
And Americans mourned
for Rachel bulldozed
While soldiers celebrated
a mission accomplished
and we, who were not chosen or selected
our dead we buried
our wound we licked
or in our drinks we drowned
even shopped while silenced
or behind closed doors muttered
or news on TV cursed
to the world as it is adapted
Is hypocrisy unquestioned?
When rich Abe Foxman "feels" discriminated
and the new Goebles called Regev worried
and Friedman in his column squeaked
Netanyahu hugging racists demanded
and a bar bouncer minister bellowed
and they all told us to be silenced
for only Jewish suffering was allowed
and apathy on today's atrocities encouraged
as the altered school curricula deemed
a whole history manufactured
bible myths promoted
while archeology ignored
and conflicts promoted
to fulfill prophecies
Hope diminished
Love massacred
Is hypocrisy worshipped?
When some Palestinian politicians adapted?
Their revolutionary spirit long quenched
And with VIP cards in 5 star hotels dined?
And their European-funded studies accumulated
While even prayers in churches and mosques were stopped
and a thousand year old tree was uprooted
And an old man became partially blind
for his olives behind the fence withered
and after a second stroke he was buried
But not in his land….
his neighbor said "with no choice I worked"
So that "with shekels from occupiers I was paid"
But others in suits in front of cameras their mouth opened
And to the dry hot dusty air contributed!
Is hypocrisy normalized?
When, not Bahrain but Syria sanctioned!
And not Yemen, but Libya attacked!
Belligerent Israel with its nukes supported
While Iran, attacking no one, is bullied
And so what if western politicians lied?
After they took the paid junkets and were bribed?
Isn't it normal for prostitutes to be sold?
And keep millions in apartheid?
While to millions the truth denied?
And poor Americans lose their homes?
While billionaires get more enriched?
Is hypocrisy easily digested?
When 20 racist laws are codified
In an apartheid country supposedly democratized
Or when an Israeli soldier's life is venerated?
While Thousands of Palestinian chained…
A hundred thousand Injured…
With high walls Surrounded….
In Bantustans warehoused….
Millions ghettoized…
And graves of hundreds of children overflowed…
And as collateral damage justified
an army with a state is called moralized!
Is hypocrisy elevated?
When on Yom Kippur they pledged
Sins and lies to be purified
And their US made F-16s bombed
refugee camps with explosives obliterated
While an old woman in Silwan evicted
And humanitarian ships pirated
Peace Activists on the deck executed
As the dreaded word "bitachon" regurgitated
And again and again Al-Araqib demolished
Is hypocrisy deified?
When monotheistic religions distorted:
Jacob with Elohim/El-lah struggled
And in triumph Isra-El renamed!
When idols like Zionism worshiped
and can't be challenged
by inferior gentiles who can't understand
and by us the native "roaches drugged"
Yahweh gave the deed to the land
to those who can create gods from Gold
and gold from hasbara as they lobbied
for yet another war and got readied
Is hypocrisy venerated?
When myths are believed
Jewishness and Zionism worshipped
And ashes of murdered Jews used
Even as living survivors screamed:
not in our name can history be politicized
and "never again" must not be Judaicized
Is hypocrisy exalted?
Or a global intifada launched
London to San Francisco echoed
Wall Street to Sidney "occupied"
our unity in humanity finally emerged
hypocrisy exposed!
Humanity reclaimed!
Love ascertained
Mazim Qumsiyeh: Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and is coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour. He is author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle" and “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment”