{"id":12997,"date":"2017-01-04T11:07:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T10:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=12772"},"modified":"2017-01-26T13:40:18","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T12:40:18","slug":"harinam-in-gaza-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=12997","title":{"rendered":"Harinam in Gaza? Not!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAbove: Harinam in Tel Aviv. You won’t be seeing this in Gaza City anytime soon.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nrisimhananda Dasa: I’m born Jewish. Let’s get that out of the way. I have identified as a Vaisnava three times longer than as a Jew in my life. I identify as a devotee of Krishna,not as a Jewish devotee. I’ve been to Israel three times; Gaza once (when it was open to everyone while being administrated by Israel in 1979). I drove all over the tiny country, and I jogged in and amongst Israeli and West Bank Arab Tal villages. I have limited, but tactile experience of the people in the Old City, including Palestinians, sabra’s (Israeli’s born there), and others from everywhere. Israeli society is cosmopolitan. I’ve chanted in the streets and beaches there.<\/p>\n

But I can’t dance and chant in Gaza even if it were open. I can’t do it in the West Bank either. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PA (Palestinian Authority) won’t allow Hare Krishna’s to propagate their religion in public, and they make severe restrictions even in private. It’s that way all over the Middle East. Except Israel. Israel is the ONLY Middle Eastern country where we as Hare Krishna’s are free to practice and promote our spirituality tp our heart’s content. If any of the administrators of the Palestinians have their way, Israel will be destroyed. In their version of Palestine, Hare Krishna’s will be silenced. What does that tell you?<\/p>\n

Certainly a Vaisnava cries for the suffering of our brothers and sisters wherever they are in anxiety, danger, or oppression. However, like Duryodhana, the leaders of these Arab organizations are dedicated not to let the Israeli’s, even those born in Palestine, have a head of a pin to stand on. And when these fascist organizations take power, so many other restrictions on women, education, etc. will swiftly follow. Just look at the brutality of the ISIS army of fanatics. Just what the world needs, another group of extremists severing heads, fingers, and lives so they can rule by fear. Their brand of Islam (not to be confused with other interpretations of Islam) is a creed of retribution and hate, not forgiveness and love, There are noble and pure Muslims amongst the Palestinians; unfortunately, they are not in charge.<\/p>\n

Srila Prabhupada was the emblem of love of God; he literally wouldn’t hurt a fly. So when you think of the unfortunate Palestinians in Gaza, remember what is at stake in this flashpoint of civilizations. On one side of the border, you can preach the “peace formula” from a podium in a public park, in a college class, or at Harinam in the busiest of intersections. On the other, you will be prohibited and persecuted. If you doubt it, go there and try to preach. You’ll be lucky to survive with your tongue still in your mouth.
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Nrisimhananda Dasa: I’m born Jewish. Let’s get that out of the way. I have identified as a Vaisnava three times longer than as a Jew in my life. I identify as a devotee of Krishna, not as a Jewish devotee. I’ve been to Israel three times; Gaza once (when it was open to everyone while being administrated by Israel in 1979).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12997"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35979,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997\/revisions\/35979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}