Naomi Wolf Read The Bible & It "Blew Her Mind" - But Not For The Usual Stated Reasons...
Okay, so I was challenged below: "Read the Bible! God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people."
So....I may get crucified for this but I have started to say it -- most recently (terrified, trembling) to warm welcome in a synagogue in LA: Actually if you read Genesis Exodus and Deuteronomy in Hebrew -- as I do -- you see that God did not "give" Israel to the Jews/Israelites. We as Jews are raised with the creed that "God gave us the land of Israel" in Genesis -- and that ethnically 'we are the chosen people." But actually -- and I could not believe my eyes when I saw this, I checked my reading with major scholars and they confirmed it -- actually God's "covenant" in Genesis, exodus and Deuteronomy with the Jewish people is NOT ABOUT AN ETHNICITY AND NOT ABOUT A CONTRACT. IT IS ABOUT A WAY OF BEHAVING.
Again and again in the "covenant" language He never says: "I will give you, ethnic Israelites, the land of Israel." Rather He says something far more radical - far more subversive -- far more Godlike in my view. He says: IF you visit those imprisoned...act mercifully to the widow and the orphan...welcome the stranger in your midst...tend the sick...do justice and love mercy ....and perform various other tasks...THEN YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE AND THIS LAND WILL BE YOUR LAND. So "my people" is not ethnic -- it is transactional. We are God's people not by birth but by a way of behaving, that is ethical, kind and just. And we STOP being "God's people" when we are not ethical, kind and just. And ANYONE who is ethical, kind and just is, according to God in Genesis, "God's people." And the "contract" to "give" us Israel is conditional -- we can live in God's land IF we are "God's people" in this way -- just, merciful, compassionate. AND -- it never ever says, it is ONLY your land. Even when passages spell out geographical "boundaries" as if God does such a thing, it never says this is exclusively your land. It never says I will give this land JUST to you. Remember these were homeless nomads who had left slavery in Egypt and were wandering around in the desert; at most these passages say, settle here, but they do not say, settle here exclusively. Indeed again and again it talks about welcoming "zarim" -- translated as "strangers" but can also be translated as "people/tribes who are not you" -- in your midst. Blew my mind, hope it blows yours.
https://www.facebook.com/naomi.wolf.author/posts/10152548360004476?fref=nf
= new reply since forum marked as read
Especially to those "People of the Way" who follow that Rabbi with the Greek name . . .
"I feel like I cherish my life even more since arriving at this point."
I don't feel "watched" anymore. That was creeping me out. 
Seriously. If you're going to use the bible to make a point, you shouldn't ignore relevant passages like this one. Now maybe she's arguing that god didn't give the Israelites the promised land in Genesis and I'll happily agree, but he sure does in Deuteronomy. It is, indeed, right there, and you can believe it or not. But don't try to point out all the nice things god tells the Israelites to do and then say that god doesn't also want them to do nasty thing to protect the land god (according to that bible) promises them. Because if you read on, god tells his chosen people to slaughter all the Canaanites, men, women, children and take that land which he says belongs to them.
So, really, if you want to argue that Israelis are in the wrong being where they are and killing men, women and children to keep what they've got, you're using the wrong book to prove it. As for all the nice rules, ten commandments included, I'm afraid they only apply to other Israelites. They were given to them, not to everyone because, like it or not, the god of the old testament is only god of the hebrew tribes. His rules are for his chosen people only. Meaning, you treat tribal widows nicely, and welcome those stranger from another tribe, etc. But these rules don't have to be applied to those outside of the tribe. Outsiders are still outsiders and can be killed. Men, women, children, infants. God commands such at least twice (read up on King Saul, where god commands that Sol wipe out not only every man, woman and child of an enemy people, but all their animals, too).
Which is all to say, if such rules were not meant to be applied by Israelites towards only other Israelites, then "thou shalt not kill" and "thou shalt not steal" would be good enough to prove Israel in the wrong according to the bible. No need to mention any other rules at all.
Sorry, Naomi, you're not getting any praise from me. This is a bad argument as it's very easily countered, and just makes you look like you didn't read very far or very well.
1. I agree, modern diplomatic, military and geopolitical decisions should not be made based on religious text.
2. You quote the Joshua passage out of context without the parts leading up to it. In general, the groups that the supposed deity orders the Israelites to kill fall in one of two categories. Either they were 'exceedingly wicked', particularly to the Israelites, or in general disobeyed the deity to get out of the way of the Israelites having the land promised to them. The original point you made that the Israelites were free to wantonly kill strangers is not borne out by biblical text.
You mentioned the Amalekites. This is a good description of them. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Amalek.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalek
in particular:
In the Pentateuch, the Amalekites are nomads who attacked the Hebrews at Rephidim (Exodus 17:8-10) in the desert of Sinai during their exodus from Egypt: "smiting the hindmost, all that were feeble behind," (Deuteronomy 25:18). The Tanakh recognizes the Amalekites as indigenous tribesmen, "the first of the nations" (Numbers 24:20). In the southern lowlands too, perhaps the dry grazing lands that are now the Negev, there were aboriginal Amalekites who were daunting adversaries of the Hebrews in the earliest times. "They dwelt in the land of the south...from Havilah until thou comest to Shur" (Numbers 13:29; 1 Samuel 15). At times said to be allied with the Moabites (Judg. 3:13) and the Midianites (Judges 6:3). One may consider the hypothesis that each of their kings bore the hereditary name of Agag (Num. 24
and
The Biblical relationship between the Hebrew and Amalekite tribes was that the Amalekite tribes without provocation pounced on the Hebrews when they were weak. The Amalekites became associated with ruthlessness and trickery and tyranny, even more so than Pharaoh or the Philistines, and required a ruthless response:
