THIS is with reference to the article ‘The aging empire’ (April 22), which, among other things, narrated the incident in which United States Representative Rick Allen chided Columbia University chairperson by quoting Bible verses from Genesis 12:3. According to Allen, God says: “If you bless Israel, I will bless you. If you curse Israel, I will curse you.”

This quote itself is a blatant lie, but everyone seems to have taken Allen’s word for it, and no one has cared to check the Bible itself. Genesis 12:1-4 (King James Version, which is the English translation most commonly referred to) has God addressing Abram (later re-named Abraham), not Israel. It does not even mention Israel at all.

Genesis 12:4 says the words were spoken when Abram was 75 years of age, while Isaac, the father of Jacob (later called Israel), was only born when Abraham was 100. Jacob obviously came decades later, after Isaac reached adulthood and was married. And the name Israel was applied to Jacob after he himself attained manhood.

In subsequent verses, the land shown to Abraham (Canaan, which came to be known as Palestine) was promised to his seed, which certainly included the Arabs; Abraham’s seed from his firstborn Ishmael (Ismail in Arabic).

The entire case of Zionists, both of the Jewish and Christian varieties, is thus based on a complete fallacy. Rep. Rick Allen resorted to a blatant lie to buttress his argument for continued US support for Israel and against pro-Palestine protests on campuses across the US. The worst part is no one dared to call him out.

S.A. Malik
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024