Catholicism.org readers should be aware of an article by Dr. Edward Feser on the site of the National Catholic Register, “Trump’s Gaza Proposal Is Gravely Immoral.” In it, the respected Catholic philosopher gives six reasons to justify the conclusion bluntly stated in his headline.
Apparently, Dr. Feser’s article was published to balance to an earlier Register piece supportive of Trump by EWTN contributor and former Bush appointee Alberto Fernandez.
The general readership of the Register, what might be called a “conservative” Catholic publication, is clearly on the neo-con, Zionist side of Fernandez, rather than on the traditional, just-war side of Dr. Feser. Of the 321 comments now posted, the majority are hostile to Feser, castigating his article as “near hysterical,” “so much nonsense,” and “unfair,” with Feser himself being tarred as an impractical academic who dwells in an “ivory tower.”
Informed, patriotic Americans, including the Register’s readership, are no doubt aware that Thomas Jefferson wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Now, if a Register reader believes this applies to himself but not to Gazans, then there is a problem: hypocrisy. President Trump’s proposal would deny the principle of self determination to the Palestinians of Gaza, just as Israel has denied it to them for the last 58 years.
It used to be said of American Catholics that they were Protestants who went to Mass. Whatever truth lurks in that clearly exaggerated statement is due to the heresy of Americanism. This heresy has corrupted American Catholics so that many of us have imbibed the WASP values that allowed for the excessive cruelties of British colonialism in Africa and Asia, and those of the Anglo-Americans against North-American natives. (It was Catholic missionaries like Father de Smet who defended the rights of the Indians against the treaty-breaking, Protestant-led federal Government.)
It now seems clear that the majority of “conservative,” Novus Ordo Catholics in America — as indicated by the majority of the Register’s commentariat — are conservative Republicans and committed Zionists who happen to be Catholic. They are uninformed when it comes to just war ethics, and, like the so-called Evangelicals, they have no loyalty to their fellow Christians in the Middle East (like Bishop William Shomali).
No sensible commentator believes the Trump proposal will actually take place. Clearly, it will not. It is obviously a typically bombastic Trumpian maneuver to “shake things up.” But, it can only serve to shake things up in favor of the apartheid regime of Bibi Netanyahu, giving the Israelis cover for further war crimes while the world stands agape over Trump’s bold and reckless utterance.
Those who think that this is some sort of genius-level 3-D chess should consider Dr. Feser’s last point:
Sixth, while some suggest that the president’s bizarre proposal is best understood as a negotiating tactic, that is no defense. As Catholic moral theologians often point out, if it is immoral to carry out a certain action, then it is also immoral even to threaten to carry it out. Since, as I’ve argued, it would be immoral to implement the president’s Gaza proposal, it is immoral to threaten to do so, even as a negotiating tactic. “Agree to a deal or we’ll steal your land and drive you out of it” is the method of a gangster, not a statesman.
Please read the whole piece here. It’s short and to the point.
