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7 may 2015
Op. Anti-semitism and Israel's moral imperative
2 sept 2013
Federal investigation finds no merit in claims of 'anti-Semitism' at California universities
4 july 2013
'Anti-Semitic' drawing in German paper: Israel a 'voracious Moloch'
9 mrt 2013
Samira Ibrahim denied State Department award for "anti-Semitic" tweets
The Obama administration is postponing the International Women of Courage Award for Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim because of tweets discovered on her Twitter account. The U.S State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage Award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S First Lady Michelle Obama.
The State Department decided on Friday to hold off on awarding the Egyptian human rights activist because of tweets published on her Twitter account over the past months and described as "anti-U.S." and "support violence against Jews".
An American weekly newspaper had earlier published a report entitled "Michelle Obama and John Kerry to Honor Anti-Semite", after tweet on Ibrahim's Twitter account had welcomed the news about a bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis last July.
In other posts, Samira Ibrahim disseminated Hitler's quote saying that "I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it."
Ibrahim is one of the real leaders in her country in trying to address gender-based violence and other human rights abuses.
4 juli 2012
County Democratic official Garcia resigns after emails critical of Israel surface
Evelyn Garcia
By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Evelyn Garcia, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Palm Beach County, resigned the post Monday after emails surfaced in which she sharply criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Garcia, a candidate for the State House of Representatives from District 88, which includes parts of West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach, said she would continue to campaign for that seat. She apologized for her remarks and called them “ugly” and “hurtful.”
The emails were provided anonymously to local Democratic Party leaders late last week, those leaders said. In each case, the recipient’s name was blacked out. Some of them appear to have been written to a South Florida Congressional aide.
“The continued Israeli occupation of Palestine is ugly on moral, ethical, religious and legal grounds,” Garcia said in an email dated July 26, 2011. “Palestinians had nothing to do with the holocaust and it is time that this guilt trip was taken off their backs…. And I deeply resent U.S. taxpayer funds being used to continue Israeli aggression.”
In that same email, Garcia accused Israel of confiscating land and building illegal settlements in occupied territories, as well as “incursions that kill people, destroy civilian homes and infrastructure all over; mass concentration prison camps, etc.”
In A May 24, 2011 message, Garcia wrote: “Slavery was ended, apartheid was ended and so this occupation must end.”
County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alan Siegel accepted Garcia’s resignation Monday afternoon. He called the emails “grossly inappropriate.”
“I was shocked by her choice of words,” Siegel said.
He said he was surprised because Garcia “had never shown any animus toward Jews she encountered in her work for the party. “This wasn’t the Evelyn we knew,” he said.
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson was angered by the emails.
Burt Aaronson
“She can say what she wants but not as an executive of the Democratic Party,” Aaronson said. “The party, locally, statewide and nationally, supports the state of Israel. I am personally offended as a Jew, as a Democrat and as a supporter of the state of Israel. The Democratic Party is better off without her.”
Garcia, a Haitian-American, was elected to the Democratic National Committee in 2008, after serving as a delegate to the party’s national convention in Denver earlier that year.
She issued a resignation statement Friday afternoon, saying that’s she wrote it “with great sadness and a heavy heart.” She said the private emails had been released “by someone I believed was my friend.”
“In passionately advocating my position supporting the rights of people I felt were being harmed, I used language that I now regret,” she wrote. “The gist of the conversation had to do with my concern for innocent people being oppressed, but such support for the oppressed does not diminish my support for the good people of Israel.”
In a separate statement emailed later Friday to The Palm Beach Post, Garcia said: “My comments were not only inappropriate and hurtful, they are exactly the kind of ugly rhetoric that is not conducive to the overall atmosphere needed to create a prosperous peace and security for both parties. I apologize to anyone I offended and to my friends in the Democratic Party, in particular, members of the Jewish faith whom I have worked with for years.
“My continued presence would merely serve as a distraction to the good work of Democrats and it is for this reason I have submitted my resignation,” she wrote.
Garcia is up against three other Democrats – Charles Bantel, Bobby Powell and Nikasha Wells — for the District 88 House seat. The GOP has no candidate in the race, so the winner of the primary will win the seat. All registered voters can vote in that primary Aug. 14.
http://fwd4.me/14ir
Op. Anti-semitism and Israel's moral imperative
2 sept 2013
Federal investigation finds no merit in claims of 'anti-Semitism' at California universities
4 july 2013
'Anti-Semitic' drawing in German paper: Israel a 'voracious Moloch'
9 mrt 2013
Samira Ibrahim denied State Department award for "anti-Semitic" tweets
The Obama administration is postponing the International Women of Courage Award for Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim because of tweets discovered on her Twitter account. The U.S State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage Award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S First Lady Michelle Obama.
The State Department decided on Friday to hold off on awarding the Egyptian human rights activist because of tweets published on her Twitter account over the past months and described as "anti-U.S." and "support violence against Jews".
An American weekly newspaper had earlier published a report entitled "Michelle Obama and John Kerry to Honor Anti-Semite", after tweet on Ibrahim's Twitter account had welcomed the news about a bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis last July.
In other posts, Samira Ibrahim disseminated Hitler's quote saying that "I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it."
Ibrahim is one of the real leaders in her country in trying to address gender-based violence and other human rights abuses.
4 juli 2012
County Democratic official Garcia resigns after emails critical of Israel surface
Evelyn Garcia
By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Evelyn Garcia, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Palm Beach County, resigned the post Monday after emails surfaced in which she sharply criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Garcia, a candidate for the State House of Representatives from District 88, which includes parts of West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach, said she would continue to campaign for that seat. She apologized for her remarks and called them “ugly” and “hurtful.”
The emails were provided anonymously to local Democratic Party leaders late last week, those leaders said. In each case, the recipient’s name was blacked out. Some of them appear to have been written to a South Florida Congressional aide.
“The continued Israeli occupation of Palestine is ugly on moral, ethical, religious and legal grounds,” Garcia said in an email dated July 26, 2011. “Palestinians had nothing to do with the holocaust and it is time that this guilt trip was taken off their backs…. And I deeply resent U.S. taxpayer funds being used to continue Israeli aggression.”
In that same email, Garcia accused Israel of confiscating land and building illegal settlements in occupied territories, as well as “incursions that kill people, destroy civilian homes and infrastructure all over; mass concentration prison camps, etc.”
In A May 24, 2011 message, Garcia wrote: “Slavery was ended, apartheid was ended and so this occupation must end.”
County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alan Siegel accepted Garcia’s resignation Monday afternoon. He called the emails “grossly inappropriate.”
“I was shocked by her choice of words,” Siegel said.
He said he was surprised because Garcia “had never shown any animus toward Jews she encountered in her work for the party. “This wasn’t the Evelyn we knew,” he said.
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson was angered by the emails.
Burt Aaronson
“She can say what she wants but not as an executive of the Democratic Party,” Aaronson said. “The party, locally, statewide and nationally, supports the state of Israel. I am personally offended as a Jew, as a Democrat and as a supporter of the state of Israel. The Democratic Party is better off without her.”
Garcia, a Haitian-American, was elected to the Democratic National Committee in 2008, after serving as a delegate to the party’s national convention in Denver earlier that year.
She issued a resignation statement Friday afternoon, saying that’s she wrote it “with great sadness and a heavy heart.” She said the private emails had been released “by someone I believed was my friend.”
“In passionately advocating my position supporting the rights of people I felt were being harmed, I used language that I now regret,” she wrote. “The gist of the conversation had to do with my concern for innocent people being oppressed, but such support for the oppressed does not diminish my support for the good people of Israel.”
In a separate statement emailed later Friday to The Palm Beach Post, Garcia said: “My comments were not only inappropriate and hurtful, they are exactly the kind of ugly rhetoric that is not conducive to the overall atmosphere needed to create a prosperous peace and security for both parties. I apologize to anyone I offended and to my friends in the Democratic Party, in particular, members of the Jewish faith whom I have worked with for years.
“My continued presence would merely serve as a distraction to the good work of Democrats and it is for this reason I have submitted my resignation,” she wrote.
Garcia is up against three other Democrats – Charles Bantel, Bobby Powell and Nikasha Wells — for the District 88 House seat. The GOP has no candidate in the race, so the winner of the primary will win the seat. All registered voters can vote in that primary Aug. 14.
http://fwd4.me/14ir
- 3 juli 2011
US lawmaker regrets 'Hitler' remark
ID badges plan likened to concentration camp tatoos
Democrat John Binienda of Massachusetts apologizes for comparing Republican proposal that would require lobbyists to wear ID badges to Nazi tattooing of Jews during Holocaust.
A Massachusetts state lawmaker apologized on Thursday for a remark comparing a Republican proposal that would require lobbyists to wear ID badges to the Nazi tattooing of Jews during the Holocaust.
House Republicans last week proposed a set of ethics reforms in response to the recent corruption conviction of former Massachusetts Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and an associate.
Among the proposals was a plan for lobbyists to wear visible identification badges to seek access to House members or staff.
John Binienda, a Democrat from Worcester, told the State House News Service on Wednesday that the ID badges plan was "revolting," and compared it to Adolf Hitler having Jewish people tattooed in concentration camps.
The lawmaker, chairman of the Massachusetts House Rules Committee, recanted after his comments sparked outrage.
"Yesterday, I made an inappropriate analogy regarding a proposed change to the House Rules," Binienda said in a statement. "No comparison can be made between the Nazi regime and a rules proposal made by members in good faith."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4090092,00.html
26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 6 juli 2011
Ackerman says effort to hold Israel to int’l law is ‘anti-Semitism’
Here's Gary Ackerman, congressman from Long Island, in the Jerusalem Post, professing his Zionism. http://fwd4.me/05qJ A lot of excerpts because this is so crazy. The Jews are a "separate" people, Jewish legislators from around the world must represent Israel, Palestinian statehood initiative is devastating...
While many differences exist among Jewish parliamentarians, the concept of ahavat Yisrael – literally, “love of Israel” – is common to us all. It is for this reason that 55 Jewish parliamentarians from 22 countries have assembled in Jerusalem under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress....
I don’t believe that increasing attacks on Israel’s right to exist and efforts to label its acts of self-defense “war-crimes” or even “crimes against humanity” are actually rooted in a belief in international law, or a principled evaluation of Israeli military operations.
What I believe is really driving most of these claims is a deep-seated and stubborn refusal to see Jews as a people. This conceptual failure – whether rooted in anti-Semitism (which it is) or ignorance (which it is) – leads to a refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state, or to accept that it, like every state, has a fundamental right to self-defense.
Only Israel, the one and only Jewish state, is subjected to the humiliation of having its right to exist routinely questioned, and the right of its people to be free from violence openly rejected. Only Israel is the permanent whipping boy of the United Nations.
So we are faced with a paradox: While the anti-Semitism and discrimination Jews have historically faced (and in some places rightfully continue to fear) are based on the view of Jews as a people apart, the ongoing assault on Israel’s legitimacy is built upon the idea that the Jews are not a separate people at all, and are thus not entitled to self-determination...
THE PALESTINIAN plan to take their case for statehood to the UN General Assembly poses great danger for Israel. If this initiative were to succeed– or worse, to slip out of control, – the results could be devastating. Israel could be exposed to sanctions and pressures beyond the wildest hopes of its worst enemies.
But in addition to these external challenges, we face a more intimate one that we share with the entire Jewish people. How do those of us who are representatives from all over the world and every part of the political spectrum come together to protect and advance our common interests?
http://fwd4.me/05qK
...Read more 26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 7 juli 2011
Rabbi Meir Hirsh: The idea of Sheikh Raed Salah being charged in the United Kingdom with anti-Semitism is astounding
The good Shaykh has consistently expressed his friendship and brotherhood for the Jewish People and publicly embraced myself and my Jewish brethren countless times.
Rabbi Meir Hirsh, Jerusalem – Arrest of Shaykh Raed Salah in London
There are very few people in Jerusalem who have not heard of or do not know Shaykh Raed Salah and I am no exception. He actively been at the forefront of every Arab-Israeli issue face to face with the Israeli authorities. I have personally known him for over 9 years and it is this acquaintance which prompts me to pen this press release.
The idea of Shaykh Raed Salahbeing charged in the United Kingdom with anti-Semitism is astounding. The accusations in Israel are not new and in the past the Israeli authorities have often made such accusations but when it came to evidence, they had none and so despite their best endeavours were unable to press charges.
That these accusations are baseless is no surprise to me. From my personal dealings with Shaykh Raed I have never found him to be anything but gentle mannered, cordial, understanding and concerned for the welfare of everybody in Jerusalem. While he is relentless in his efforts to preserve Palestinian Christian and Muslim heritage within Jerusalem, he has never blamed the Jewish people or Judaic faith for the actions of the political entity that is referred to as the state of Israel. On the contrary he has always made it his personal goal and responsibility to distinguish between Judaism-the religion and its practitioners and the political establishment – the Zionist state.
The good Shaykh has consistently expressed his friendship and brotherhood for the Jewish People and publicly embraced myself and my Jewish brethren countless times.
In the face of the real and distinct possibility of being accused of being a traitor to his own people, the Shaykh has shown the courage and self sacrifice, in the name of truth and peace, to take this righteous and courageous stand.
It therefore appals and deeply pains me to see how Britain is dealing with Shaykh Raed Salah, a man who has been hounded in Israel for simply wanting to preserve the identity and heritage of his people and nevertheless strives to uphold and save our holy and peaceful coexistence.
On behalf of my fellow Orthodox Jews, I humbly appeal to the British government and authorities to release Shaykh Raed Salah and to return to him his freedom of movement and freedom of speech. Only through dialogue and actions of such good and courageous men can we all hope to have peace in Jerusalem.
To repay his efforts with detention, arrest and vilification, makes a mockery and destroys this most critical attempt at reuniting and repairing our age-old society of Muslims, Christians and Jews.
This simply plays into the hands of those who wish to solidify and perpetuate the impression that there is an ingrained hate and irreparable rift between Jews and Muslims.
This arrest will sadly only accomplish to convey the message that efforts at reaching out one to the other is futile.
This arrest, may the Almighty protect us, can most certainly bring to the exacerbation of anti-Semitism.
This arrest, may the Almighty protect us, will only advance the vicious cycle of continuous mistrust, animosity, and ultimately what follows.
We call upon on all peace loving friends of Jews and Muslims to appeal to the good government of Britain to expedite and immediately free Shaykh Raed Salah and vindicate those who seek world unity, peace and harmonious coexistence.
Rabbi Meir Hirsh
Leader of Neturei Karta, Palestine
http://fwd4.me/060J
...Read more 26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 10 juli 2011
Jewish groups urge UN investigator to quit
Richard Falk
Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur for Palestinian territories, slammed over 'overtly anti-Semitic' cartoon published on his blog.
The Obama Administration and several American Jewish groups have called for the resignation of UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, after he posted an “overtly anti-Semitic” cartoon on his blog.
The aforementioned cartoon depicts a dog clad in a yarmulke marked with a Star of David, and a body-warmer emblazoned with USA, urinating on Lady Justice whilst she obliviously holds its leash.
The cartoon was apparently in response to the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Muammar Gaddafi for crimes against humanity.
"I am deeply disturbed that once again UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has used his personal blog to publish abhorrent material. His shameful and outrageous behavior is an embarrassment to the United Nations. Someone who publishes such vicious images has no place in the UN system.
"His shameful and outrageous behavior is an embarrassment to the United Nations. Someone who publishes such vicious images has no place in the UN system. We reiterate our call for him to step down,” stated Joseph Torsella, the US representative for management and reform to the United Nations.
'Message of hatred'
The Anti-Defamation League called on the UN top human rights official to publicly condemn Falk.
“This cartoon is blatantly anti-Semitic and conveys the message that Jews and Americans care little about what is just and moral,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. “While Mr. Falk writes on this blog in his personal and not professional capacity, the message of hatred in this cartoon nonetheless directly contravenes the principles of the Human Rights Council and of the United Nations itself.”
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the League said Falk’s decision to feature an anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog is only the latest in a pattern of unacceptable and inappropriate politicization of his position.
Falk, a quondam professor at Princeton University who is Jewish, has been extremely critical of Israel’s behavior in the Palestinian territories and Gaza, and likewise, ardently opposed to American support of Israel.
On July 6, Falk removed the cartoon and posted an apology http://fwd4.me/06Ev on his blog stating that it ““had strongly anti-Semitic symbolism that I had not detected before it was pointed out to me.”
There has been no indication whether Falk will be relieved of his position, or at the very least condemned for his actions.
http://fwd4.me/06Er
26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 17 juli 2011
Prominent Belgian Jewish figure resigned from Brussels University Board to denounce anti-Semitic incidents
Jacques Brotchi, internationally renowned neurosurgeon and a member of the Belgian Senate: “I asked if the university of free-examination has not become the university of free anti-Semitism.”
BRUSSELS (EJP)---A prominent figure of the Jewish community of Belgium has resigned from the Board of Free University of Brussels (ULB) after denouncing several grave anti-Semitic incidents within the institution.
Jacques Brotchi, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and honorary professor at the ULB, told EJP: "I resigned from the Board of the University Foundation which collects funds for research because I deeply deplored the absence of a strong and appropriate reaction from the university authorities to a succession of anti-Semitic incidents."
In his letter of resignation addressed to the ULB Rector, he wrote: "I don’t feel at home anymore at ULB." He added, "I asked if the university of free-examination has not become the university of free anti-Semitism."
The incidents, which have been repeatedly denounced by the Union of Jewish Students of Belgium (UEJB), included the staging of an Israeli military checkpoint on the university campus, the invitation of anti-Semitic French comic Dieudonne to a conference and the absence of reaction to the comments he made, a Nazi-style student feast and the publication of an article in the magazine of Solvay, the economics and management school, in which the author used anti-Semitic stereotypes and prejudices comparable to those of the Protocols of Elders of Zion.
As one student put it, "the situation at the university has become particularly difficult for Jews."
The Union of Jewish Students urged the academic authorities to take measures against the "deteriorating climate" on the campus.
Brotchi, who is also a member of the Belgian Senate for the Liberal party, has met the university authorities to explain his decision but he didn’t had the impression they understood the gravity of the situation.
"I explained them that I know Jewish families who prefer to send their children study at UCL, the Catholic university," he told EJP.
In an interview published last month by the Belgian weekly Le Vif-L’Express, the Rector, Didier Viviers, flatly denied that his university has become anti-Semitic "because of several regrettable incidents", and spoke of a "smear campaign."
According to Brotchi the situation at Brussels University is not isolated. "It is comparable to what is happening in other universities in Europe and elsewhere with the academic boycott of Israel campaigns where anti-Zionism takes the form of anti-Semitism." "But this is no reason to stay without reaction," he added.
The Belgian Senate voted last week a resolution tabled by the Socialists urging the Belgian government to recognize a Palestinian state. Jacques Brotchi and two other Senators from the MR (Liberal) party abstained. "We abstained because the resolution doesn't condemn the political objective of Hamas which is to destroy the state of Israel", Brotchi explained.
http://www.ejpress.org/article/52125
...Read more 26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 24 juli 2011
Iceland Accused Of Anti-Semitism
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Iceland’s support for Palestinian statehood at the UN is part of a long history of anti-Semitism in the island nation, according to an Israeli-born political activist who heads a political think tank.
“Relations between the two countries under the present left-wing government of Iceland are plainly bad,” writes Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) Chairman, Manfred Gerstenfeld in a July 18 editorial published in Ynet News.
Gerstenfeld notes that when Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson announced his country’s support for a Palestinian state during the early part of July, he did so after a trip to Gaza that “studiously avoided any diplomatic contact with Israel.” During his trip, the FM also called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza. Adding to the insult, MP Birgitta Jonsdottir “was the first parliamentarian of any country to visit participants of the failed second Gaza flotilla” shortly before Skarphedinsson’s trip.
This is not the first diplomatic slight Skarphedinsson has given Israel, Gerstenfeld notes. “At the previous UN General Assembly, Iceland’s foreign minister spoke out against Israel,” he writes. “When FM Lieberman wrote to him on this issue, Skarphedinsson did not answer. He did not even confirm receipt of Lieberman’s letter.”
Ossur Skarphedinsson (L ) with Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir
Another example of diplomatic disrespect came when “Skarphedinsson also ordered Icelandic diplomats to remain in the hall while Iranian President Ahmadinejad spoke at the Durban review conference in Geneva in 2009. Diplomats from almost all other European countries left,” claims Gerstenfeld.
The Jewish activist claims Iceland’s current political attitude towards Israel falls in line with what he says is an “unimpressive history” the country has towards Jews.
“Few Jews live in the country,” Gerstenfeld writes, adding that “in the past, there have only been Jewish communities established at times when there were either British or American troops stationed in Iceland with a substantial number of Jewish soldiers among them.”
Gerstenfeld goes on to say that “Iceland’s anti-Semitic history” includes clergyman Hallgrimur Pétursson, whose hyms he wrote in 1625 mention Jews more than 50 times, “yet only for their ‘perfidy, falseness, wickedness and other malice’”; rejection of Jewish refugees during the 1930s; granting refugee status to Estonian war criminal Evald Mikson, who changed his name to Eðvalds Hinrikssonar, in the 1980s; and granting citizenship to “the rabid anti-Semite of Jewish ancestry,” chess champion Bobby Fischer in 2005.
Katharina Hauptmann
The op-ed has opened a soul-searching discussion about the issue of anti-Semitism in Iceland. “What makes me angry is the arrogance and condescension he [Gerstenfeld]‘s displaying towards the Icelandic nation,” Katharina Hauptmann wrote in a rebuttal written on the Iceland Review website this Sunday. “In his little pamphlet he discredits and belittles my adopted home in a patronizing and mean way.”
Hauptmann goes on to give the right perspective on Gerstenfeld’s tainted view – first by mocking his “smug comment” about Iceland “gaining major publicity” with the economic crash of 2008 and volcano erruption of 2010, then knocking down his argument that because “few Jews live in Iceland” and that “there is only one ‘expert on the country’s attitude toward Jews’ in Iceland” that the country as a whole is anti-Semitic.
“Iceland is a nation of 320 000 people – just to remind you – how many experts on Jews and Anti-Semitism must one have?,” Hauptmann asks in her piece.
While noting that “many Icelanders are quite xenophobic and there is quite a lot of room for improvement” based on her own personal experiences as a foreigner living there, Hauptmann notes that “ot almost seems as if he [Gerstenfeld] wants people to be anti-Semitic. What a pity.”
“To conclude, Mr. Gerstenfeld’s so called “opinion piece” is nothing but a patronizing, paranoid and polemic piece of propaganda that is unfair and offensive to the people of Iceland.
“The fact that the Icelandic government may have issues with Israel’s treatment of Palestine has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism.”
http://fwd4.me/07Wq
26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 24 juli 2011
Anti-Nonsense (KH)
Katharina Hauptmann
The people of Iceland are being accused of being anti-Semitic.
Nonsense.
Yesterday, an article on the website of the Reykjavík Grapevine about Icelandic- Israeli relations caught my attention and filled me with deep concern.
The Grapevine reports on another article calling Iceland and its people anti-Semitic.
Wait, what did just happen? Iceland? Anti-Semitic?
During his recent visit to the Palestinian region, the Foreign Minister of Iceland, Össur Skarphédinsson, expressed his support for a potential Palestinian state and thereby offended certain people.
By Monday, 18th July, Mr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, who is a political activist and Chairman of the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, published an opinion piece on the Israel based news website Ynetnews (the internet site of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's most read newspaper), titled “Iceland against Israel”.
In this article Mr. Gerstenfeld slams the Icelandic government for showing “considerable arrogance towards Israel” and says Foreign Minister Össur Skarphédinsson was well- known for his “plain egotism”.
Ok, I understand the conflict of Israel and Palestine is debatable and Mr. Gerstenfeld is of course entitled to his own opinion.
What makes me angry is the arrogance and condescension he's displaying towards the Icelandic nation.
In his little pamphlet he discredits and belittles my adopted home in a patronizing and mean way.
I am obliged to set a few things straight.
Mr. Gerstenfeld, whose main occupation is being an environmental expert and business consultant, begins his lampoon with a smug comment about Iceland gaining “major publicity” with the collapse of its banks in 2008 and “when ash clouds from an eruption (…) caused major disturbances in European air traffic”.
Alright, I admit it: the financial meltdown and the volcanic eruption were all part of a well-planned, genius publicity stunt.
Also, Iceland is “a country that caused huge financial damage abroad”.
Yes, Mr. Gerstenfeld, we know that as well.
Have you ever thought about who is suffering most from the financial crisis?
I bet you haven't wasted a single thought about the Icelandic people.
Do you think the Icelanders are enjoying living in bankruptcy?
Furthermore, Mr. Gerstenfeld tries to paint Iceland as anti-Semitic country simply based on the fact that only very few Jews live there.True, only very few people in Iceland are Jews.
Does that mean the country is anti-Semitic?
Do we measure the worth of a country by the number of its Jewish inhabitants?
The Icelandic Nation = 320 000 people!
Thereof not even 2% are of Roman Catholic belief, so do you call Iceland anti-Catholic?
Also, Mr. Gerstenfeld criticizes that there is only one “expert on the country's attitude toward Jews” in Iceland.
What kind of an argument is that? Is that supposed to be evidence of Iceland's anti-Semitism?
Iceland is a nation of 320 000 people- just to remind you- how many experts on Jews and Anti-Semitism must one have?
Reading Mr. Gerstenfeld's article over and over again made me really mad. One should think the Chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs would write a witty, well-balanced article on a higher level and not something so terribly biased and lacking in strong and substantial reasoning.
It almost seems as if he wants people to be anti-Semitic.
What a pity.
By all means, not everything is peachy in the country of fire and ice.
In the past, Iceland certainly didn't cover itself in glory regarding its behavior towards Jews.
But that's the past, and what's done is done.
Many Icelanders are quite xenophobic and there is quite a lot of room for improvement.
I know what I'm talking about; I'm a foreigner living in Iceland.
Despite all suspicion, fear and ignorance towards útlendingar (“Foreigners”) Icelanders are curious, up for discussion and open to being convinced otherwise.
To me it doesn't seem like there was an anti-Semitic climate in Iceland, people uttering Nazi comments in public are usually considered to be idiots and don't get any approval.
There is just no presence of Jewish culture in Iceland at all and that's only due to the small number of Jews.
Dr. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson, archaeologist and curator at the National Museum of Iceland and researcher at the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, wrote an interesting online publication with the topic “Iceland, the Jews and Anti-Semitism, 1625-2004.”
To conclude, Mr. Gerstenfeld's so called “opinion piece” is nothing but a patronizing, paranoid and polemic piece of propaganda that is unfair and offensive to the people of Iceland.
The fact that the Icelandic government may have issues with Israel's treatment of Palestine has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism.
Katharina Hauptmann – [email protected]
http://fwd4.me/07Wu...Read more 26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria
15 aug 2011
Pat Condell gegen die Wahrheit - Ich bin kein Antisemit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrexw2qCMp0
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2011
A Surprising Source of Filth
Carlos Latuff
Various and sundry people have complained about the antisemite and anti-American cartoons floating around the newspapers, magazines, and websites of the Islamic nations in the Middle-East. The cartoons, which alternately depict Jews as Nazis and glorify in the killing and maiming of US Soldiers, are used as evidence of the pervasive evil of the Islamic peoples of the world.
Surprisingly though, the source for these pernicious illustrations is not the Middle-East; it’s Brazil in the person of Carlos Latuff.
Carlos Latuff is a freelance political cartoonist, born in November 30, 1968, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He makes his living by creating images that fuel the Muslim world’s hatred of Jews and Americans.
In addition to creating various hate-filled images for a number Middle-Eastern newspapers and magazines, Latuff has penned several comics about Middle-East crises such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq War, mainly highly critical towards Israel and the United States of America while sympathizing with the Islamist terrorists such as Al-Qaeda, Sadr’s Mahdi Army, and Hamas.
He’s a real “piece of work.”
During an interview with the Jewish-American weekly newspaper The Forward in December 2008, Latuff responded to charges of antisemitism:
My cartoons have no focus on the Jews or on Judaism. My focus is Israel as a political entity, as a government, their armed forces being a satellite of U.S. interests in the Middle East, and especially Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It happens to be Israeli Jews that are the oppressors of Palestinians. ……My detractors say that the use of the Magen David in my Israel-related cartoons is irrefutable proof of antisemitism; however, it’s not my fault if Israel chose sacred religious motifs as national symbols, such as the Knesset Menorah or the Star of David = in killing-machines like F-16 jets
For myself, I say Latuff’s mouthings – while they well ape reasoned speech well enough – serve little purpose beyond self-apologetics. Since Latuff has some pretensions as an artist, let us have his works speak for him.
Here are 87 of Latuff’s cartoons, in 10 gallery pages. Be warned, most of them are grossly offensive in one fashion or another:
You can often tell a great deal about an artist by his works; it’s a graphic view into the artist’s views, thoughts, and emotions. If I were to develop a profile of Latuff based upon his cartoons, I would describe him as a hate-filled antisemite, White or Anglo hating racist, and a violent Socialist who hates Capitalism and Democracy with a black passion that knows and accepts no limits of common decency. Also, judging by his works, I would hazard the guess that Latuff is not a Muslim, but an Atheist. These are just my opinion though; review his works and develop your own.
But please remember that he’s not Arab or Persian, he’s Brazilian. Not all of the hate filling the Muslim world originates from within it. Those Muslims are as susceptible to propaganda as anyone else and a lot of the evil cartoons floating around the Middle-East were not created there. Those cartoons were created elsewhere by vile people with their own agendas.
http://blog.jonolan.net/politics/a-surprising-source/
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 9 oct 2011
ADL: Arab press promotes anti-Semitism
Anti-Defamation League says editorial cartoons in mainstream daily newspapers focusing on US intention to veto Palestinian UN statehood bid are rife with vicious anti-Jewish stereotypes.
The Palestinian effort to seek full membership in the United Nations was big news in the Arab media – and the focus of a number of editorial cartoons in Muslim and Arab newspapers across the Middle East.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, many of those caricatures, which focused on the declared intention of the United States to veto the membership bid should it come to a vote in the Security Council, were rife with vicious anti-Semitic caricatures and stereotypes.
On Thursday the Jewish group released a compilation of selected cartoons on this theme appearing in recent weeks in mainstream daily newspapers across the Middle East.
According to ADL, the images illustrate how the Arab media continues to promote anti-Semitic imagery and conspiracy theories about Jewish and Israeli “control” of international forums and the US government, depicting President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using grotesque imagery and anti-Jewish themes.
“Anti-Semitism is once again the leitmotif for cartoon commentary Muslim and Arab newspapers since the Palestinians took their statehood bid at the United Nations,” says ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman.
“Rearing its ugly head in the visual depiction of stereotypical hook-nosed or black-hatted images of Jews plotting to control the United States government and the world is a theme lifted right out of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’
"Arab newspaper cartoonists have been engaging in this type of anti-Semitic incitement for decades, and yet it is especially troubling in the current context, the very antithesis of encouraging peacemaking.”
In the run-up to the Palestinian statehood bid, editorial cartoons on the subject appeared in newspapers in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, the Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the region. Many called up traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Some cartoonists demonized American and Israeli opposition to the Palestinian appeal by playing on themes of Jewish and Israeli domination and control of the United States, President Barack Obama or the UN.
A cartoon appearing on September 30 in the Qatari daily newspaper Al-Watan typifies that sentiment: A caricature of a bearded Orthodox Jew with hook nose and black hat is shown in the driver’s seat of an automobile, his hand resting on a stick-shift representing President Barack Obama’s head, and the steering wheel in the shape of the UN symbol.
Other recent examples of this theme include:
-- A smiling President Obama and an American flag stick out of the suit-pocket pocket of a fat-cat Jew with a Star of David emblazoned on his tie (Ad-Dustur, Jordan, September 23).
-- Netanyahu and Obama as serpents entwined around the globe with a caption that reads, “American foreign policy in the Middle East” (As-Sabil, Jordan September 25).
-- A Palestinian Arab man wearing a shirt that reads “The Palestinian State” is shown being crucified on the letter “T” in the word “VETO” (Tishrin, Syria, September 22).
http://fwd4.me/0DNt
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 5 nov 2011
US lawmaker apologizes for anti-Semitic remark
Texas Republican rep. Larry Taylor uses phrase 'don't Jew them down' to describe insurance companies' bargaining with claimants; later issues apology stating: 'I regret my poor choice of words, sincerely apologize for any harm they may have caused'.
A US lawmaker from Texas has apologized after making anti-Semitic comments at a hearing of the Joint Legislative Committee on Windstorm Insurance.
According to reports, Republican state representative Larry Taylor used the phrase "don’t try to Jew them down," in reference to insurance payments for victims of the Katrina Hurricane. Immediately after making the comment, Taylor said "that’s probably a bad term." He later apologized publicly.
In a letter written shortly after his remarks, Taylor wrote: "At a legislative oversight committee hearing today, I inadvertently used a phrase that many people find offensive. I corrected myself immediately when I realized what I had said. I regret my poor choice of words and sincerely apologize for any harm they may have caused."
'Age-old anti-Semitic stereotype'
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) slammed Taylor's remarks, and sent him a stern letter in which it denounced the act.
Shortly after, Taylor issued another apology letter addressed to the pro-Israel organization, in which he stated: "Anti-Semitism and intolerance have no place in our society and in our government. I understand the impact of my comments and am deeply sorry for the message that was sent. I have a deep respect for the Jewish people and their history, and hope to work to strengthen that relationship in the future."
ADL Southwest Region Associate Director Dena Marks responded to Taylor's apology, noting that "Representative Taylor called us this morning and told us he made a mistake yesterday and did not mean to offend anyone. He also sent us a letter so that we would have his apology in writing.
"After our conversation with Representative Taylor, we believe he understands that the phrase 'Jew them down' comes from an age-old anti-Semitic stereotype, that he realizes it offends people, that he won't use it again. We recognize and appreciate he took quick action to correct himself and apologize."
http://fwd4.me/0gG1
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 2 dec 2011
UK lawmaker criticized for 'Zionist bias' comments
Ambassador Matthew Gould
Paul Flynn said constituents complained Ambassador Gould 'serving the interest of the Israeli government'.
A British lawmaker has been criticized after suggesting the country's ambassador to Israel may be biased because he is Jewish.
Labour legislator Paul Flynn told a parliamentary committee that two constituents had complained that ambassador Matthew Gould "was serving the interest of the Israeli government."
Flynn added: "I do not normally fall for conspiracy theories, but the ambassador has proclaimed himself to be a Zionist."
The Jewish Chronicle newspaper later quoted Flynn as saying the ambassador to Israel should be someone who "can't be accused of having Jewish loyalty."
Fellow lawmakers condemned the remarks, but Flynn called allegations of anti-Semitism "ludicrous."
On his blog Thursday, he said he was "a lifelong friend of Israel and Jewish causes."
http://fwd4.me/0huk
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 6 dec 2011
US backs envoy after 'anti-Semitism' remarks
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Barack Obama's administration rejected Republican calls to fire the US ambassador to Belgium after he said that the Middle East conflict was partly to blame for anti-Semitism.
Ambassador Howard Gutman, who is Jewish and the son of a Holocaust survivor, said in a speech that a new type of anti-Semitism has emerged in Europe that is not "classic bigotry" but instead linked to the conflict and hence resolvable.
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, the front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination, both called on Obama to dismiss Gutman and renewed charges that his administration was not supportive enough of Israel.
"We have full confidence in him," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. He said that Gutman, a political appointee and longtime fundraiser for Obama's Democratic Party, was expressing his personal opinion.
White House spokesman Jay Carney separately defended the administration's record, saying it has opposed "one-sided" condemnation of Israel at the UN Human Rights Council and spoken out against incitement in the Arab world.
"This administration has consistently stood up against anti-Semitism and efforts to delegitimize Israel, and we will continue to do so," Carney said.
Gutman, who was addressing a conference last week on anti-Semitism in Europe, opened his speech by apologizing for not "saying what you would expect me to say."
Pointing to his own experience, Gutman said he has been warmly received in Europe including by Muslims and did not believe that anti-Semitism "for the sake of hating" was on the rise in the continent that produced the Holocaust.
But Gutman said a new, more complex form of anti-Semitism was growing, in which Jews are targeted because of resentment over the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"It is the area where every new settlement announced in Israel, every rocket shot over a border or suicide bomber on a bus, and every retaliatory military strike exacerbates the problem and provides a setback here in Europe for those fighting hatred and bigotry," he said.
"Were a lasting peace in the Middle East to be reached, were joint and cooperative Israeli-Arab attentions turned to focus instead on such serious, common threats such as Iran, this second type of ethnic tension and bigotry here in Europe -- which is clearly growing today -- would clearly abate," he said.
Gutman later issued a statement to stress that that he condemns all forms of anti-Semitism, adding: "I deeply regret if my comments were taken the wrong way."
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, accused Gutman of "rationalizing and downplaying anti-Semitism."
"The ambassador's comments demonstrate the Obama administration's failure to understand the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel and its appalling penchant for undermining our close ally," Romney said.
Former Texas governor Rick Perry called Gutman's statement "part of a pattern of hostility" toward Israel, saying: "The long and ugly history of anti-Semitism has seen all too many episodes of apologists justifying hatred of the Jews."
But Senator John Kerry, a key Obama ally who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused the Republicans of "making everything up."
"The president has been as supportive, if not more supportive, than any president in American history," Kerry told AFP.
Republicans have seized on Obama's calls for Israel to cease settlements and his rocky relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking to increase their standing among Jewish voters and supporters of Israel in general.
Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta demanded that Israel "get to the damn table" for peace talks and Israeli ministers reacted angrily after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted expressing concern over the future of democracy in Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=442435
26 mar 2012, 12:36 , Respect -
Maria 3 febr 2012
Analysis: Anti-Semitism and Israel's inherent contradictions
By Ramzy Baroud
In a recent article, columnist Yaniv Halili described British author Ben White as 'anti-Semitic'. He also denounced Arab Knesset member Hanin Zoabi for writing a forward to White's latest book, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy.
Those of us who can see through such distorted thinking know that White is a principled writer who has never displayed a shred of racism in his work. Zoabi is very well-known civil rights leader with a long-standing reputation of courage and poise.
How could anti-racist endeavors themselves become the subject of accusation by Halili and others like him?
It goes without saying there should be no room for any racist discourse -- Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, or any other -- in the Palestine solidarity movement, which aims at achieving long-denied justice and rights for the Palestinian people.
A racist discourse is predicated on racial supremacy, which is exactly what Palestinians are resisting in Israel and the occupied territories.
But the "Jewish and democratic state" of Israel is riddled with so many contradictions, the kind that no straightforward narrative can possibly capture.
Many scholars and rights groups have discussed the way in which irreconcilable values defined the very character of Israel from the onset.
According to Adalah (meaning 'justice' in Arabic), the legal center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel: "Israel's Declaration of Independence (1948) states two principles important for understanding the legal status of Palestinian citizens of Israel. First, the Declaration refers specifically to Israel as a 'Jewish state' committed to the 'ingathering of the exiles.' (Second)…it contains only one reference to the maintenance of complete equality of political and social rights for all its citizens, irrespective of race, religion, or sex."
Adalah further asserts that there is a tension between the two principles. Perhaps this is the case, intellectually, but in practice the Israeli political establishment has resolved the seeming quandary whereby the Jewishness of the state prevails above every other humanitarian, democratic or legal consideration.
Racially discriminatory legislation is being churned out in the Israeli Knesset at an alarming speed, and new laws are constantly being proposed.
These include "one that would end the status of Arabic as one of Israel's official languages and another that would punish Israeli citizens, including Arab Israelis, for refusing to pledge their allegiance to 'Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,'" according to columnist Linda Heard.
As for Palestinians living in the occupied territories, their legally enshrined political inferiority has been felt in much harsher and often bloodier ways than their brethren living in Israel.
For nearly four and a half decades, the Palestinians living in these territories have been losing their land, livelihood, freedom of movement and even their very lives in the name of the racial superiority of their occupiers.
Jewish settlements are illegally constructed on Palestinian land to host Jewish settlers, who use Jewish-only roads to travel between their heavily fortified colonies and the "Jewish state."
While numerous intellectuals, activists and ordinary members of Jewish communities around the world have strongly protested Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, as well as Israel’s misuse of the Jewish religion to attain political goals, Israel relies greatly on the support of Jewish communities, organizations and individuals for vital funds, political support and lobbying.
While many Jews identify with Israel as a 'Jewish state', "younger American Jews are more likely than their parents to be acquainted with the Palestinians and their story," TIME magazine reported on Sept. 29.
The TIME story references one such youth, Benjamin Resnick, 27, who decries the fact that Jewish state and American liberal democracy represent two views that are 'irreconcilable'.
On the other hand, he "continues to consider himself a Zionist... (who) quotes the Torah in support of his view that American Jews should press Israel to end settlement expansion and help facilitate a Palestinian state."
Even Resnick’s political dissent is riddled with inconsistencies, where national identity (as an American) clashes with ideology (Zionism) and religion (the Torah) is referenced as a means to resolve the discord.
The Torah is put to good use repeatedly among mainstream and ardent Israeli rabbis, whose edicts to kill Arabs are commonplace in Israeli media (although rarely discussed in US media).
The so-called King’s Torah -- which is endorsed by some prominent Israeli rabbis -- has made it permissible to kill Palestinians of all ages, including those who don’t pose a threat.
"You can kill those who are not supporting or encouraging murder in order to save the lives of Jews," it states in the fifth chapter, entitled "Murder of non-Jews in a time of war." The BBC elaborates: “At one point it suggests that babies can justifiably be killed if it is clear they will grow up to pose a threat."
This becomes particularly problematic when the lines between politics, ideology and religion become so conveniently blurred. Israeli and Jewish leaders borrow from the corresponding text as they find suitable to achieve policies to further occupation, war and illegal settlement.
Alan Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, came to represent the latter model. His style lacks diplomacy and logic; however, it is effective in some circles because it centers around the idea of smearing anyone who dares to criticize Israel.
The greater tragedy is that Dershowitz is provided with platforms in mainstream and rightwing Israeli media, thus giving his smear campaign the means to turn any genuine discussion of Israel into a controversial hate speech.
While critical non-Jews are often smeared as 'anti-Semites', jurist Richard Goldstone, who lead the UN investigation into the Israeli war on Gaza, was not a mere anti-Semite for concluding that Israel and Hamas had both potentially committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Dershowitz told Israeli Army Radio that Goldstone is a "traitor to the Jewish people." "The Goldstone report is a defamation written by an evil, evil man," Dershowitz said, according to a Haaretz report.
While the case for Palestinian rights and statehood can be clear-cut -- not many true-to-self intellectuals could justify ethnic cleansing, defend Apartheid and rationalize murder -- delving into the political identity of Israel and its ideological and religious supporters becomes immediately controversial.
The controversy is embedded in the purposeful intellectual and political elasticity by which Israel defines, or refuses to define itself. It claims to be Jewish as well as democratic. It claims to embody religious ideals but also to be secular. It claims to be liberal, while it is militarily oppressive. It claims to uphold 'equality' for all, while it is racially exclusive.
And if you dare to challenge these irreconcilable contradictions, you are termed an anti-Semite or a traitor -- or both.
Ramzy Baroud is an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=457405 6 apr 2012, 17:06 , Respect -
Maria 13 mei 2012
The absurdity of equating opposition to Israel with anti-Semitism
By Khalid Amayreh
In a shameless effort to criminalize criticisms of Israel, pro-Israeli circles in some western countries have been trying to equate criticisms of Israeli policies and actions with anti-Semitism. The brazen effort is ostensibly intended to intimidate and silence the increasing awareness, especially among younger generations on college campuses, that Israel is in fact a racist country par excellance that is disguised as a democracy.
In recent weeks, Israel firsters organized letter-writing campaigns and published advertisements in leading newspapers in North America lumping criticisms of Israel and anti-Semitism. The letters, targeting college administrations, demanded a stringent action against students and professors "bad mouthing Israel."
Unfortunately, some pusillanimous officials readily caved in to Zionist intimidation, an intimidation amounting to intellectual terrorism. Only those willing to confront the Zionist golem display steadfastness and refuse to budge.
I believe writers and intellectuals around the world have a moral responsibility to destroy, once and for all, the taboo of criticizing Israel in western countries, especially the United States, Canada, France and Germany. The recent criticisms of Israel by the German poet Gunter Grass are undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
Israel is a nation-state and ought to be treated like any other nation-state. That is to say, Israel must not be treated as above the laws and norms of humanity and should therefore be severely condemned when it indulged in actions and behavior deemed by the rest of mankind as criminal and nefarious. Needless to say, constant aggression, bellicosity and recalcitrance have always constituted Israel modus operandi.
Pro-Israeli circles often try to invent an anti-Semitic element behind every legitimate criticism of Israel.
But this is a cheap and increasingly exposed exploitation and manipulation of true anti-Semitism, a morbid form of racism that ought to be denounced.
However, the behaviors of the shipyard dogs of Zionism would have us believe that true anti-Semites are no longer those who hate Jews for being Jewish, but rather those Zionist fanatics criticize for criticizing Israel for being criminal, murderous and evil.
Well, we are supposed to be living in a moral universe where no people should have more rights than the rest of mankind.
Proceeding from this timeless basic logic, if criticizing Israel, including questioning the moral legitimacy of Israel's very existence, amounts to anti-Semitism, then humanity has a moral obligation to be anti-Semitic.
Opponents of Israel, it must be proclaimed loudly, don't hate Israel because Israel is Jewish; they hate Israel because Israel happens to be a gigantic crime against humanity, a virulent practitioner of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, which is committed to the national destruction of another people, the Palestinian people.
Yes, anti-Judaism is wrong and should be rejected. However, if Judaism, especially Jewishness, can not maintain a decent and peaceful existence outside the realm of racism, apartheid, and genocidal supremacy, then people will have second thoughts about Judaism.
More to the point, some of the most ardent critics of Zionism and Israel happen to be Jews, people such as Israel Shahak, Gilaad Atzmon, Norman Finkelstein and Alfred Lillienthal.
This alone should make us dismiss the claim that one can't be anti-Israeli without being anti-Semitic with the contempt it deserves.
Again, we live in a moral universe, and no people should be above the laws and norms of humanity.
Hence, if Jews think, behave and act like the Nazis thought, behaved and acted, then these Jews must be rejected with the same vigor and same determination employed against the Nazis.
This is so because there is no such a thing as a kosher genocide, or kosher lebensraum or kosher racism.
Israel may not yet be the full-fledged Nazi-Germany of the Middle East. However, with the Jewish state armed to the teeth and acquiring nuclear submarines, in addition to its formidable nuclear arsenal, expecting the unthinkable is not far-fetched.
The Israeli Jewish society continues to move, rather phenomenally and decidedly, toward a form of Jewish fascism and jingoism that is strikingly similar to the situation that prevailed in Germany in the late 1920s and 1930s. We should remember that Hitler, too, came through elections.
As was the case in Germany several decades ago, when anti-Jewish laws were enacted, anti-Palestinian laws are being enacted in Israel with brazen indifference to human and civil rights.
More to the point, Israeli religious leaders are routinely invoking biblical genocides and morbid Talmudic edicts every time Israel's helpless victims cry out for freedom and justice. In short, Israeli violent racism stinks to the seventh heaven.
Indeed, with the gurus of Talmudic barbarianism now occupying the main centers of power in Israel, and with the Israeli army effectively becoming a Jewish version of the Wehrmacht, it would be somewhat reasonable to expect the worse in years to come especially as Israel continues to pursue a policy based on lebensraum, mass terror and ethnic cleansing.
Moreover, we have to keep in mind that the holocaust didn't begin with Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Treblinka or Mauthausen, for these things happened much later.
In fact, these concentration camps were ultimate "effects" of "causes" that happened years earlier, such as the Nuremberg laws of 1935. I am talking more or less about the venomous anti-Gentile racism that the entire Israeli society is now spewing against the unprotected Palestinian community.
Just take the daily thuggish acts against the Palestinians, carried out by genocidal Jewish settlers and compare these acts with the anti-Jewish activities carried out by the Hitler youth gangs.
Yes, the scope may not be identical in both cases. However, the maliciousness, the nefariousness and mental willingness to commit senseless murder are more or less the same.
But the more pressing question is whether we should or shouldn't learn from history.
Indeed, one might ask: Must Israel if allowed, thanks to international indifference, powerlessness and probably acquiescence, to annihilate millions of Palestinians so that the world would wake up to the liquidation by Israel of the national existence of the Palestinian people? Such a holocaust, which is no longer unthinkable, must be prevented at all costs.
In 1948, President Harry Truman was infuriated by Jewish terrorism, which was nothing in comparison to Israel's terror these days, angrily wrote in a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt: "I fear very much that the Jews are being like all underdogs. When they get on top, they are just as intolerant and cruel as the people were to them when they were underneath."
Well, I am afraid Truman's prophecy has come true.
http://fwd4.me/10d7
5 apr 2012
Netanyahu slams German writer's comments on Israel
File photo of novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Guenter Grass smoking his pipe before the opening of an exhibition with paintings of Grass in Hamburg October 18, 2007
By Ori Lewis
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday it was no surprise that German writer Guenter Grass, who for decades had hidden his membership of the Nazi Waffen SS, had described Israel as a threat to world peace.
In a poem published earlier this week, the Nobel Prize-winning writer criticized Israel and said it must not be allowed to launch military strikes against Iran.
"Guenter Grass's shameful moral equivalence between Israel and Iran, a regime that denies the Holocaust and threatens to annihilate Israel, says little about Israel and much about Mr. Grass," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Grass, 84, a seasoned campaigner for left-wing causes and a critic of Western military interventions, such as in Iraq, also condemned German arms sales to Israel in his poem "What must be said", that was published on Wednesday.
"For six decades, Mr. Grass hid the fact that he had been a member of the Waffen SS. So for him to cast the one and only Jewish state as the greatest threat to world peace and to oppose giving Israel the means to defend itself is perhaps not surprising," Netanyahu added.
Grass's words were also criticized in Germany, where any strong condemnation of Israel is taboo because of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust. Grass's own moral authority has never fully recovered from his 2006 admission that he once served in Hitler's SS.
"Why do I say only now ... that the nuclear power Israel endangers an already fragile world peace? Because that must be said which may already be too late to say tomorrow," Grass wrote in the German-language poem.
"Also because we - as Germans burdened enough - may become a subcontractor to a crime that is foreseeable," he wrote, adding that Germany's Nazi past and the Holocaust were no excuse for remaining silent now about Israel's nuclear capability.
"I will not remain silent because I am weary of the West's hypocrisy," wrote Grass, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999 for novels such as "The Tin Drum" chronicling the horrors of 20th century German history.
Israel is widely assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed nation, which it neither confirms nor denies. These could be carried by Dolphin submarines that it has bought, at a sharp discount, from Germany.
Action against Iran
The Jewish state has threatened to take military action, with or without US support, to halt what it sees as a nuclear threat from Iran. Tehran says it is developing nuclear technology for purely peaceful purposes.
"It is Iran, not Israel, that is a threat to the peace and security of the world. It is Iran, not Israel, that threatens other states with annihilation ... decent people everywhere should strongly condemn these ignorant and reprehensible statements," Netanyahu added.
Germany said recently it would sell Israel a sixth Dolphin submarine and shoulder part of the cost, although it also cautioned its ally that any military escalation with Iran could bring incalculable risks.
One of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany, the SS was first an elite force of volunteers that played a key role in the Holocaust, operating the death camps in which millions died. But by the war's end, most were drafted and many under 18 years old.
Grass said he was called up to join the SS as a teenager and insisted that he never fired a shot. But some critics inside and outside Germany said this explanation had come too late.
Grass made the confession shortly before publishing his autobiography "Peeling Onions" which details his war service.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=474368