There is another group, the Essenes, quite out of the mainstream but nonetheless influential, who gather themselves around the Dead Sea community at Qumran. They believe other Jewish groups had corrupted Jerusalem and the Temple and thus seek to isolate themselves in a more barren place conducive to spiritual seeking with strict dietary rules and a celibate lifestyle.
So, when activists in the BDS movement say they are critical not of Jews, but of Zionism, it would be fruitful to ask of just what form of Zionism are they critical. If they bother to answer at all, what they say will likely be superficial and have little to do with Zionism as it actually existed historically or exists today.
Israel is home to more than a million-and-a-half Arabs, a number of whom have been elected to the Knesset, Israel’s law-making legislature, and now an Arab Party has been elected to Israeli leadership. Nevertheless, those scary Jews are such a menace that here is how Israel’s surrounding states have practiced ethnic cleansing for decades.
As the Apostle Paul, at the beginning of Romans chapter 3 notes, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew…Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.” The oral, and eventually written Word of God is an amazing testimony of God’s existence, His presence, and His power.