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Mohammad Said Kalash, "Offering Reconciliation" exhibit (photo: Ilan Amihai)

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Posts Tagged ‘jews’

Breivik’s Neo-Nazi Manifesto, Latter-Day Mein Kampf

Sunday, July 24th, 2011
2083   a European Declaration of Independence

Title page of Breivik's manifesto

Hitler had his Jewish problem. Anders Breivik, his Muslim problem. The more I read of Breivik’s manifesto, A European Declaration of Independence, the more it appears to me a latter-day version of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Remember that when the dictator-to-be wrote his magnum opus he had not yet devised the formula for the Final Solution. He knew what the problem was (Jews) and had some ideas about how to deal with it, but he hadn’t come up with the policy of genocide adopted at the 1942 Wansee Conference. So Breivik sees clearly that the problem for Europe is Muslims (rather than Jews). They are the common “foreign” body infecting the pure western European gene pool. But Breivik hasn’t yet developed a genocidal policy to accompany this realization. He only states that Muslims must be removed from Europe (and the western world, including Israel), not that they must be exterminated.

But given that Breivik forecast that his right-wing revolution would not succeed till 2083, we can only wonder at what sort of Final Solution there would be for the Muslim problem in Europe by then.

While Breivik’s views in one major particular diverge from those of Hitler, in many other ways they mirror each other precisely. As for the difference, Breivik only sees SOME Jews as the problem. Those are the Marxist Jews in the Diaspora and Israel, the ones embracing multiculturalism. They are the enemy. But the Norwegian neo-Nazi views Zionist Israel, as represented by anti-jihadis like Avigdor Lieberman, as what he calls “cultural cousins.” Israel is the far-right’s friend in this view because this is a nation that hates Islam and will expel the Muslims living within it.

Interestingly, John Hagee’s views of Jews and Israel are very similar.  Hagee too believes that secular Jews and Jewish political leftists are the enemies of Christianity and the ones who will die in the End Times.  Israel, that is Zionist Israel living out the Biblical dream, will survive in his world view.  They will be the saving remnant, and of course the group that will eventually turn to accept Jesus as Christ.  Hagee’s best friends in Israel, the settlers and political leaders like Avigdor Lieberman, are precisely the ones admired most by Breivik.

Hitler too railed against Jewish Bolsheviks and saw them as the heart of all evil. Perhaps had Hitler lived to see the creation of the State of Israel he too might’ve modified his views about Jews (or conversely, had Hitler lived there might never have been a State of Israel). At any rate, Muslims play the same role Jews did for Hitler in the Breivik universe. They are the irredeemably evil.

But interestingly, while Hitler chose to attack Jews unmercifully almost from the beginning of his political career, Breivik chose not to attack Muslims physically at all. Instead, he chose to attack the heart of the ‘Marxist multicultural’ beast, Norway’s ruling party and institutions of state. To his mind, the rightist revolution would resonate most with an attack on the soft underbelly of the state, rather than on the nation’s Muslims.  For Breivik, Marxists like those of the Norwegian Labor Party and the hated European Union, are collaborators with the Muslim enemy.  The former are the ones who will enable to latter to overrun Europe.  And because these collaborators are white Christians like himself, they are race traitors.  All of which probably justifies attacking them, before going on to ‘getting the job done’ against Muslims.  Here is his underlying thinking on the subject:

Why armed resistance against the cultural Marxist/multiculturalist regimes of Western Europe is the only rational approach

Multiculturalism, like drugs, is an insidious weapon. Both destroy the heart and fabric of a people. All ties to family, community, and one’s people as a whole are destroyed by these two opiates of the human mind. Both are sponsored from the top down by one world elitists bent upon creating a world order who’s power is such that its subjects posses no potential for resistance.

…War or armed resistance has traditionally always been used as a last resort, when dialogue has proven to ineffective. The justification for use of armed resistance against the European cultural Marxist/multiculturalist systems is tied to the outlook for cultural conservative political success. You have to ask yourself; is it remotely possible under the current conditions that a conservative, monocultural political party will ever gain substantial political influence? An increasing number of Europeans are opening their eyes to the reality that the democratical struggle through dialogue has been lost. The cultural Marxists have institutionalised multiculturalism and have no intention of ever allowing us to exercise any political influence of significance. In theory we, the cultural conservatives of Europe, have become slaves under an oppressive, tyrannical, extreme left-wing system with absolutely no hope of reversing the damage they have caused. At least not democratically..

Breivik made common cause with other European far-rightist groups like the English Defense League (whose name may be a deliberate echo of the Jewish Defense League), Geert Wilders and others. One factor that they all share is pro-Israelism. For them, the enemy of my (Muslim) enemy is my friend. That’s precisely why Pam Geller, Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Bat Yeor and other Jewish anti- jihadis find the European far-right so attractive. And it’s a reason why all of them are so dangerous. Not in the way that Breivik is physically dangerous. But intellectually and politically dangerous.  Scott Shane wrote an interesting story about this today in the Times.

The Norwegian mass-murderer may’ve killed regardless of whether Geller et al. existed. But his certitude in his cause and the intellectual underpinnings of it come from them. Without them, he may’ve just been a malcontent searching for a cause. With them, he had a cause to live and die–and kill others–for.

Yesterday, I identified a number of interesting quotations from the Breivik manifesto and excerpted them in a post.  I’ve continued my review and there are several more quotations I’d like to offer.  This deals with the issue of expulsion of Muslims from Europe with a clear parallel to the policy of transfer advocated by Israeli nationalist rightists (including Lieberman, though in a slightly more refined articulation).  The call to action that concludes it is chilling and reveals that all that separates Breivik from Geller, Spencer et al. is the former’s willingness to take up arms, while the the latter do everything but:

Future deportations of Muslims from Europe

“It’s difficult to discuss deportation of Muslims openly in a society where it is not even allowed to discuss Islam…”

The reason why authors on the Eurabia related issues/Islamisation of Europe – Fjordman, Spencer, Ye’or, Bostom etc. aren’t actively discussing deportation is because the method is considered too extreme (and thus would damage their reputational shields). This would un-doubtfully undermine their work and probably disallowing them to publish any future books. However, the warning about Islam has been repeated for more than two decades and it is apparent that 40 more years of dialogue, without action, would have a devastating effect on Europe. If these authors are to scared to propagate a conservative revolution and armed resistance then other authors will have to.

Here Breivik outlines the need to rid oneself of the human impulse for mercy in this Christian conservative revolutionary jihad.  This passage distills his method to its pure essence:

The process of destroying and replacing the current cultural Marxist/ multiculturalist regimes of Western Europe will not be easy or painless….

As a Justiciar Knight you are operating as a jury, judge and executioner on behalf of all free Europeans. Never forget that it is not only your right to act against the tyranny of the cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites of Europe, it is your duty to do so.  There are situations in which cruelty is necessary, and refusing to apply necessary cruelty is a betrayal of the people whom you wish to protect.

The preferred method is to attack in a violent and deceptive form (shock attack), usually with limited forces (1-2 individuals).  Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike. Explain what you have done (in an announcement distributed prior to operation) and make certain that everyone understands that we, the free peoples of Europe, are going to strike again and again. Do not apologise, make excuses or express regret for you are acting in self-defence or in a preëmptive manner. In many ways, morality has lost its meaning in our struggle. The question of good and evil is reduced to one simple choice. For every free patriotic European, only one choice remains: Survive or perish. Some innocent will die in our operations as they are simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Get used the idea. The needs of the many will always surpass the needs of the few.

In a subsequent passage, Breivik notes that the number of acceptable dead in this revolutionary coup d’état would be 45,000 (with 1-million wounded), which corresponds, in his delusional mind, to the numbers that the Marxist political élite have killed in their drive for continental dominance.  He notes that some conservatives also include in the number of those killed aborted fetuses, which raises the number to 2-million.

In this terrorist’s universe, the goal of overturning the Eurabian regime justifies use of weapons of mass destruction including chemical and biological weapons, which he goes to great lengths to specify.  He even speculates on the possibility of negotiating with Israel (noting that Israeli nationalists would be most likely to be sympathetic to his cause) for access to nuclear weapons though he concedes that Israel is unlikely to do so until it sees clear signs that his revolution is nearing success.

Annals of Israeli Judicial Racism

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
uri shtruzman

Judge Uri Shtruzman, portrait of judge as old racist

James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  Tonight I’m writing a portrait of a judge as an old racist.

Some readers develop an allergic reaction when I write posts like the one I’m about to.  All I can say is if Israel’s highest professional leadership didn’t believe these things and Israeli journalists didn’t think they were worth publishing then I wouldn’t have a story to write myself.  So rather than complain that I always write about such stories, I’d suggest that Israel’s judiciary develop an ethics code that disciplines judges who so clearly disqualify themselves from sitting on the bench and deciding cases fairly.  While the judge in this case is retired you can be sure that the views expressed informed his attitudes and decisions when he was on the bench.  He is still a respected public figure who served as chief judge of the military court of appeals and as a judge for the chief of staff.  He also serves on the advisory committee of a far right wing Zionist “think tank,” the Institute for Zionist Strategies.  Another key leader of the Institute is Max Singer, co-founder of the Hudson Institute, who I’ve written about here.

A website called Patriotic Israel, which appears to be a settler-supported media outlet profiles Judge Uri Shtruzman, who wants readers of this august publication to understand “the truth” as he sees it (doesn’t it remind you of Jack Nicholson in , when he says: “The truth?  You want the truth?  You can’t HANDLE the truth!”).  I do so love it when right wing Israeli nationalists say emphatically that they want us to know “the truth” about Arabs or about the Israeli-Arab conflict.  It’s always of course the truth as THEY see it.  Which of course is their opinion, their reading of history and an amalgation of facts mixed with opinion–but definitely not the truth.

Judge Shtruzman, a Likud loyalist who, in a 2005 Haaretz article, called for IDF soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements (imagine a judge in the military court system approves of behavior that in any other society would be called mutiny), inveighs in this interview against the “dangerous naivete” of some Israelis and recommends that Israel speak “the truth” to the nations of the world.  That truth means among other things rejecting the notion that it is possible to make possible with the Arab nations.  This notion is naive in the extreme, since the truth is that no peace can be made in “this generation or the next” because the Arab nation is “not ready to accept us.”  That’s because the values of Muslims lag behind those of the rest of the peoples of the world.  Apparently the good judge missed the memo about the Saudi peace initiative, now ten years old, which called for precisely what Shturzman says is impossible.  What he really means is that peace is not possible on settlers’ terms, and therefore it’s not possible at all.

Part of the reason for this Arab intransigence lies in the fact that the Arab world is mired in “the same situation that held sway in Europe hundreds of years ago” in which religious wars were the rule of the day.  Now, Europe has come to the point that it upholds the values of nationalism alongside other values [than religious fanaticism].  Today, Shturzman says:

Israel is destroying itself for the sake of European values of human rights the aspiration to democracy for all.  According to such ideas, equality for all human beings is the order of the day, including a demand that we embrace even those seeking to prey upon us, because they too have a right to life and to eat [!].

The judge finds there are essential differences between Jews and Muslims.  While Jews attempted to integrate into the societies in which they settled in the Diaspora (he seems to have missed the whole Zionism thing, which rejected precisely this notion that Jews could integrate as minorities within Diaspora lands), Muslims in the non-Muslim Diaspora seek to have their culture, laws and religion dominate [the societies in which they live].  He sees the same phenomenon occuring in the Knesset, with Muslim MKs acting in the interests of themeselves and against the interests of the State and the Jewish people.

The Muslim MKs are members of a people which seeks to destroy the State of Israel, and the idea that they seek the best for Israel because it seeks to do well by them is a dangerous notion that we must recognize as such.  If we do not, Judge Shtruzman says, our end will be like that of Yugoslavia after Tito died.  In other words, someone has to impose some order on this mess otherwise the ‘uppity niggers’ will get the notion that they’re equal to us and will destroy this country just like the Muslims did, Yugoslavia.

Seattle Metro Bus Ad Controversy: King County Suspends Free Speech

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
seattle israel bus ad

Seattle's anti-war bus ads

Like a good general, I have a rule I try to follow about blogging: I try to choose the terrain on which I will fight.  I like the terrain to favor me.  If my opponent chooses to fight on their terrain, I prefer not to engage unless I think it’s favorable to me.  That’s why I’ve declined to enter into the local fracas-become international cause celebre involving a series of Seattle Metro Bus ads which decry U.S. military aid to Israel and accuse it of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead.

Before entering this political swamp, let me make something clear: I have no problem with any of the issues raised in the ads, which is why I strongly attack King County executive Dow Constantine’s decision to pull the plug on them after an outcry from a local Israel lobby coalition.  I strongly support the right of the group which organized them to display them.  The issue of U.S. military aid to Israel is an important one as is the even more important issue of possible war crimes committed by the IDF in Gaza during the last war.

But I do have problem with both sides of this debate: both the advertisers and the pro-Israel baying chorus trying to take them down.  First, my problem with the ad.  If you want to make a political point AND influence people you make your argument coherent and plausible.  You don’t flaunt rhetoric.  You don’t score points.  You don’t shout when a calm voice will do.  There are thousands of different iterations of this ad which would’ve worked as effectively and made it harder for the pro-Israel crowd to get the ads taken down.

But the ad organizers went for the jugular.  They made their choice and undoubtedly are happy their ads were banned since it will play well to their constituency.  The other side will think it has won a victory and feel pleased with itself.  What it won’t realize is that any time you have to win a victory at the expense of fundamental constitutional principles of free speech and fairness, you’ve lost in the long run.  Meaning Israel has lost too.  And if your cause is Israel, then you’ve done your cause a disservice.

Now my much more serious problems with the smear campaign run by the local pro-Israel advocates including the Jewish federation, Aipac, American Jewish Committee and Stand With Us.  Here’s some of their rhetoric as mouthed by local King County Councilmember Jane Sprague, who’s dutifully repeating the Israel lobby talking points as all obedient U.S. politicians tend to do:

The ad reads “Israeli War Crimes Your tax dollars at work,” and has an image of a group of children staring at a destroyed building.  . Like many of you, I find the ad disturbing. Yesterday I sent a letter to the Executive and Metro officials demanding that they put a halt the ads…

We need to be mindful that inflammatory speech like this can affect many groups including our Jewish Community. I strongly believe in freedom of speech and our first amendment rights…Messages like these, that lack basic civility, can incite violence against minorities and various religious communities. We need to be able to protect those who can be hurt as a result.

What is “inflammatory” about this speech? That it accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza? Major Israeli newspapers run stories virtually every day recounting stories of Israeli atrocities during the war and using terms like “war crimes” to describe them. Yes, I’d prefer to use terms like “alleged” or “possible” since the war crimes haven’t been proven in a court of law yet. But I find absolutely nothing wrong with putting forward a political argument in such ads claiming that Israel committed war crimes.

Now, as to whether U.S. taxpayers financed those atrocities with U.S. military aid: that seems incontrovertible. Israel’s military has used American weaponry liberally and even flagrantly in situations such as the mass firing of U.S. cluster bombs during the concluding hours of the 2006 Lebanon war, leaving Lebanese civilians to suffer the tragic consequences after the war ended as they unintentionally exploded the ordinance on their property and roads.

As to the ads “lacking basic civility,” well, excuse me but a cluster bomb in your backyard or an F-16 levelling your Gaza apartment building is a pretty uncivil message sent from the American people to Palestinians courtesy of the Israeli Air Force. Do the American people deserve the right to know about such things in bus ads? You bet.

But there is another deeply disturbing notion put forward by pro-Israel advocates in this message: that Israel=American Jews. That Americans somehow blame their fellow Jewish citizens for the acts of Israel. This is not only an offensive concept, it simply isn’t true.  America is not a place in which Jews will be blamed for Israel’s alleged crimes.  I reject this notion.

The anti-ad coalition views Israel and world Jewry as being inseparable, as being joined at the hip. But the vast majority of Jews in the world don’t accept this equation. I am a Jew, not an Israeli. Israel doesn’t speak for me, nor I for Israel. When Israel acts badly, I am not at fault nor do my fellow Americans see as such.

But it is convenient for Stand With Us and the rest of the Israel advocates to claim there is “no daylight” between Israel and us because then they can argue that hostility to Israeli policy=anti-Israelism and even anti=Semitism. Let me point out as clearly as I can: this notion is noxious. It is offensive. I utterly reject it as should all Americans and American Jews who care about Israel.

Israel doesn’t need all Jews to identify with it unconditionally. Israel need to become a normal nation in the Middle East. To do so, it needs to come to terms with its Arab neighbors. Having world Jewry’s identity confused with Israel’s will not help this process. It will indeed poison it. If you want to be a friend to Israel tell it to make peace with its neighbors and not presume all the Jews in the world think everything it does is honky dory.

King County’s executive has done a grave disservice to free speech in suspending these ads. Not only this, he has handed a victory to those sponsoring the ads.  He has given them the high ground. I hope they sue the county and get a judge to rule on this situation. It is really a contract dispute. The County signed a contract and then violated it. Grounds for reneging are specious. Metro approved those ads then took the Mideast Awareness Campaign’s $3,000.  After signing on the dotted line, they want to back out.  I’d love to see this tested in court.

Dow Constantine is a craven political coward.  Read the bullshit that he’s published under the name of the King County government:

“I have consulted with federal and local law enforcement authorities who have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.”

…Given the dramatic escalation of debate in the past few days over these proposed ads, and the submission of inflammatory response ads, there is now an unacceptable risk of harm to or disruption of service to our customers should these ads run.”

Yes, ads that are political speech and counter-speech will cause terrorism.  That’s what he’s essentially claiming.  Thank God, this is a view fully rejected by our nation’s Founders.  Speech is speech.  It is not an act and certainly not an illegal act.  What utter nonsense.  To retreat behind the skirts of a nameless federal bureaucrat who supposeldy told him to can an ad.  I want to know: which federal official did he consult and what did he say?  In fact, I’d like to file a Freedom of Information Act petition with Country government for every piece of internal information regarding this ad.  So, Dow Constantine, I’d be careful what you say and make sure it’s the truth.  You wouldn’t want to look awfully stupid if you mouthed nonsense like this, and were caught afterward doing so.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if David Horowitz’s counter ads were deliberately formulated in the most vitriolic terms possible, knowing that by doing so they would virtually force Metro to cancel the original ad, which was their real purpose.  Really, who cares what the counter ads would say as long as they didn’t explicitly advocate illegality or violence?  I’d like to see fools like Horowitz and his ilk voice anti-Muslim views on Seattle buses so the entire city can laugh them out of town.  What’s the cure to bad speech?  More speech.  Not no speech.  What Metro is doing is saying Seattleites are delicate flowers who can’t withstand the furor of political debate.  Somehow they must be protected from opinions that are too hot.  Otherwise, what?  What would happen?  Would the Seattle explode in WTO type riots merely because of a few bus ads?  C’mon.  Who’re they kidding.

You’ve heard conservatives deride the “Nanny State.”  Well, here in Seattle we have the “Nanny County” protecting residents from the bad, bad man saying bad, bad things.  I say let 1,000 flowers bloom.  So what if some are weeds?  A weed here or there won’t kill us.  It’s the garden of debate that is important.

Israel’s Carmel Fire: Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Even in Tragedy

Saturday, December 4th, 2010
carmel fire bus

42 prison guards died when this bus was trapped in the flames (Jack Guez AFP/Getty)

The worst forest fires ever to have struck Israel are sweeping through the Carmel Mountains surrounding Haifa.  42 prison guard trainees died when their bus was blocked on a highway and burned, thus cutting off their escape.  It is the worst loss of life in a natural disaster in Israel’s history.  17,000 have been evacuated.  The University is threatened.

While it is natural for human beings facing such tragedy to look for villains and scapegoats, it’s unfortunate the direction that attention has turned.   Israeli Jews have gravitated to a nasty spate of rumors blaming Palestinian Israelis for deliberately setting the fires as an act of terror and protest.  This commenter in a comment thread here writes, linking to the Drudge-like Rotter internet news portal (and rumor-mill):

…According to Haifa radio today, Arab citizens in the town of Fureidis, were seen cheering the massive forrest [sic] fire occuring in the Carmel forrest [sic] that has taken the lives of at least 40

http://rotter.net/cgi-bin/forum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=18440&forum=scoops1

In fact, this Arab news source says that on Saturday, the residents of the town actually gathered in the soccer stadium to pray for rain.  Either the earlier rumor is wrong or Fureidis is massively schizoid.

Only a day earlier, the same individual wrote this:

…During wartime they’re [Israeli Palestinians] a security risk. Most Jewish Israelies [sic] believe that they’d join the enemy and try to join the war.

And a different commenter writes about the fires:

There are rumors of arson. The rumors blame the fires on Israeli Arabs, Heuzballa’s and even Iran’s agents…Reset Bet (Channel 2, the public news channel) – A wave of arson in the north, two suspects captured.

Rotter itself fuels the flames with this:

Shabak has been called into investigate the forest fires

Since the fires began spreading throughout the north, the national police have transferred the investigation to the Shabak.  Great concern that orders to set the fires originate in terror elements.

carmel fire

Air tanker fighting Carmel fire (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Funny thing that this alleged report hasn’t been confirmed anywhere else in the Israeli media.  But now that it’s circulating in the Israel right-wing underworld of rumor and hate, the notion will have a long shelf life.  All this reinforces a right-wing nationalist narrative that proclaims that the Palestinian minority is the enemy within, a force that can never be trusted.  One that will side with “the enemy” during war or security crisis.

There’s only one problem with this line of thinking: it’s wrong.  Dead wrong.  Except for a few minor exceptions and despite massive levels of hate, mistrust and discrimination, Israeli Palestinians have shown remarkable dedication to the State, which is, after all, their country.

Let’s examine the reputable Israeli media reporting on the fires.  True, one strain of reporting emanating from the National Police (who tend to follow the Shabak’s lead and be harshly anti-Arab in their views and prejudices) arouses suspicion of arson.  But if you read the following carefully you’ll see that the police chief is not claiming the original fires were Arab-inspired arson, but rather that future copy cat fires might be.  Also, note how bereft of evidence or proof the police “suspicion” is in the first paragraph and that the police don’t even seem to be basing these suspicions on field investigations:

Close to a dozen fires broke out across the Galilee in northern Israel on Friday, even as fire fighters from Israel and abroad fought to contain a massive wildfire which has swept across a huge swathe of the nearby Carmel region. Police suspect that the new blazes were set deliberately.

Police Commissioner David Cohen earlier Friday warned local police chiefs to prepare for a spate of fires that had been purposely started. Police fear that some would take advantage of the current crisis to start more fires in the region.

Further fueling the rumors were reports that two residents of a Druze village were arrested on suspicion of setting the fires.  But the suspects were quickly released:

Two male residents of Daliat al-Carmel were released on Friday after having earlier been arrested on the suspicion that they had attempted to ignite fires in the Carmel hills region.

After being questioned by police, it became clear that the two were not responsible for the acts they were suspected of.

The second strain of reporting seems to derive from fire department sources who are on the scene or in contact with those who are.  This strain rejects claims of arson completely:

The initial inquiry conducted by fire investigators has pointed to negligence, not arson, as the cause of the wildfire.

According to the investigation, the wildfire started at one location west of Ussifiya. It is believed that household trash and tires that had been discarded in the area caught on fire and the fire spread. Investigators are looking into what exactly caused the trash to ignite.

While it’s too early to know definitively what the final determination will be, I feel safe saying that it’s likely that Israeli racism fueled by great pain and suffering has induced Jews to level yet another form of blood libel against their fellow Palestinian citizens.

The wild exaggeration hasn’t been limited to blaming Israeli Palestinians either.  Ynetnews blares this headline:

Hezbollah Overjoyed by Fire

The body of the report says no such thing.  It quotes the following Hezbollah statement:

The great Carmel fire embarrassed Israel’s firefighting capabilities and proved its almost complete incompetence,” a report by Hezbollah’s al-Manar network said. The Lebanese station said the poor performance came despite Israeli claims regarding the IDF Home Front’s full readiness to cope with any emergency and face the implications of an all-out war.

Even most Israelis would agree with these sentiments.  So where’s the joy?

I might add that among the 42 Israelis who died during the fires were three Druze and one Ethiopian.  Instead of falling prey to ethnic division and scapegoating, why can’t Israelis focus on the fact they all (Jewish and Palestinian) have lost something deep and painful with this natural disaster?  Why not acknowledge that the PA sent its firefighters to battle the blaze and Turkey too offered help?  Instead of finger-pointing at the weakest link in society and blaming them, why don’t Israelis turn their wrath where it belongs–toward an inept government more attuned to building expensive high-tech walls, Iron Dome anti-missile defenses, and buying F-35 jets as toys for the IAF; when it could’ve bought or leased a single air tanker that could’ve attacked this fire when it was at its origins, instead of having to wait for nations like Cyprus and Greece to send their equipment after the conflagration went out of control.

I write this post in the context of a disturbing survey by the Israel Democracy Institute baring the deep racism inherent in Israel society toward the Palestinian minority.  In the ways in which Israeli Jews have contemplated this disaster, the bad news of this poll have been borne out.

UPDATE: An up to the minute report from an Israeli reader confirms that the police are now agreeing that the fire was caused by negligence.  What are the odds that any Israeli politician or police officer will ever apologize to Palestinian citizens for promoting these rumors?

Limits of Israeli Democracy

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
death to arabs graffiti

'Death to Arabs' graffiti on Jaffa mosque (Haaretz)

The Israel Democracy Institute has published its 2010 Democracy Index (abstract and full report).  It is a particularly comprehensive document and therefore especially interesting.   As always with such surveys of Israeli opinion, its reveals a deeply ambivalent, conflicted and confused society regarding what should be the nature of the Israeli state.  Israelis want democracy because they realize they should.  But they don’t want it so much that they would embrace all the awkward, conflicting values that go along with it.  Israelis clearly are Islamophobic, misogynist, and homophobic.  Yet these tendencies don’t seem to trouble them overly much.  They believe that somehow they’re entitled to their prejudices due to Israel’s status as unwanted interloper in the Middle East.  When you’re done reading this summary you’ll no doubt scratch your head and say: just what do Israelis want?  Even they don’t know.  I’d say a country whose citizens don’t know what they want their state to be are in trouble.

The following is a summary of key indices:

Israel’s high incarceration rate, combined with inadequacies in the rule of law, cause it to fall short of the accepted standard in Western countries.

Israel’s gender equality indicators have declined…

In the Political Stability Index, Israel ranks last among the democracies studied.

Israel scores low marks in the area of social cleavages; these divisions affect the country’s democratic quality and are not diminishing with time.

Here are some of the salient poll numbers:

60% of the population in Israel thinks that a few strong leaders would be better for Israel than all the democratic debates and legislation.

86% of the Jewish public (76% of the total population) thinks that critical decisions for the state should be made by the Jewish majority.

53% of the Jewish public also believe that the State is entitled to encourage the emigration of Arabs [ed., transfer].

81% of the population agrees with the assertion that “democracy is not a perfect regime, but it is better than any other form of government.” However, 55% of the public believes that Israel should put observing the law and public order before the ideals of democracy.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the highest, the Jewish public awards Israel’s democracy an average grade of 5.4…and the average grade awarded to it by the Arab public (5.1) is slightly lower.

Only 41% of respondents said that they have full or partial confidence in the police force.

72% of the population say that they do not trust the political parties…

43% of the general population feels that it is equally important for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic country, while 31% regards the Jewish component as being more important, and only 20% defines the democratic element as being more important.

…39% believe that human rights are not sufficiently implemented.

54% of the Jewish public opposes the view that legislation should be passed penalizing anyone who speaks out against Zionism.

50% of the Jewish respondents agree that it is important to allow non-Zionist political parties to participate in elections.

56% of veteran Israelis agree that people who have refused to serve in the IDF should not be allowed to vote or stand in elections

51% of the general public approves of equality of rights between Jews and Arabs. The more Orthodox the group, the greater the opposition to equal rights between Jews and Arabs: only 33.5% of secular Jews oppose this, compared with 51% of traditional Jews, 65% of Orthodox Jews and 72% of ultra-Orthodox Jews.

51.5% of the Jewish sample agrees that only immigrants who are Jewish as defined by Halakha should be entitled to receive Israeli citizenship automatically…

55% of the general public thinks that more resources should be allocated to Jewish municipalities than to Arab municipalities…

Within the Jewish public, 71% of right-wing supporters agree that more resources should be allocated to Jewish municipalities than to Arab municipalities, as compared to 46% of centrists and 38% of leftists [!]

39% of the general population supports equal funding of religious services [ed., for all religious groups]

46% of the Jewish public admitted to being most bothered by the possibility of having Arabs as neighbors. This was followed equally by people with mental illness being treated in the community and foreign workers (39% each). 25% would be bothered by same-sex couples, 23% by ultra-Orthodox Jews, 17% by Ethiopian immigrants…

Here are a few of the results that jumped out at me as especially contradictory and/or troubling.  While a vast majority of Israelis supported democracy as the best, though imperfect system, a smaller majority support rule by strongmen.  Figure that one out!  A majority of Israelis supports the notion of transfer, though in this poll it was euphemistically referred to as “encouraging emigration” of Arabs.  A bare majority support equal rights for Jews and Arabs (better known as Palestinians!).    A bare majority would offer citizenship (through Right of Return) only to those considered Jewish under Orthodox halachic srtictures.  A healthy majority favors a lower funding level for Arab municipalities (which has in fact been de facto policy since the founding of the State).

A result that troubles me as much or more than any other is that over 1/3 of those considering themselves “leftist” hold the racist notion that Arab municipalities should receive less government funding than Jews.  In fact, these people are not leftist and have no right to consider themselves so.  What they are is PEP: progressive except [for] Palestinians.  But that’s not truly progressive.  It’s bastardized progressivism.

A sharply divided respondent pool believes by a bare plurality that religious services for Jews, Muslims and Christians should be funded equally.

Israeli racism ranks its prejudices in the following order of intensity: Arabs, mentally ill and foreign workers, gays, and Ethiopians.  To be fair, Palestinian citizens also show prejudice but mainly against gays.

‘Imagining Heschel,’ New Play Features Richard Dreyfuss

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

imagining heschelRichard Dreyfuss is performing in a concert reading, Imagining Heschel, from an exchange of letters between America’s seminal Jewish theologian, Abraham Joshua Heschel and a Roman Catholic Cardinal.  Here’s how the website summarizes the production:

Imagining Heschel is a concert reading exploring the private conversations between Cardinal Augustin Bea and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from 1962 – 1973, when Heschel was asked to aid the Vatican Council in formally exonerating the Jews for the death of Christ – a crucial repudiation of anti-Semitism.

Colin Greer’s imagined discussions between these philosophical giants in the midst of the numerous struggles of the late 1960s – including the war in Vietnam which Heschel strenuously opposed, and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which he supported – lend enormous insight into contemporary issues of peaceful resolution in the Middle East. Imagining Heschel raises important questions about the justification of violence by any faith, and the limits of forgiveness.

What is especially interesting is that the story is ultimately not one of interfaith dialogue triumphing over religious differences, but rather of the increasing violence and evil of modern society turning both men away from each other.  Heschel grows increasingly disenchanted with the Pope’s unwilling to formally exonerate the Jews on the charge of deicide and Cardinal Bea is shocked by Heschel’s endorsement of the violence inherent in the Israeli triumph in the Six Day War.

As an undergraduate, I studied at Jewish Theological Seminary when Heschel taught there, but it was toward the end of his life and I was at the very beginning of my own Jewish college studies so I never heard him teach or even speak. One of my great regrets. Sometimes it takes getting older to realize the things one should’ve grasped in youth, but never did.

Heschel championed the incipient civil rights movement in America and became its strongest Jewish adherent. He joined Martin Luther King as well in opposing the Vietnam War. The theologian who derived from Hasidic royalty was one of the greatest humanists of the 20th century. Neither the century nor American Judaism would’ve been the same without him.

I have not seen the play, but if you live in or near New York it’s a treat you shouldn’t miss. If I had a chance to spend an evening with Heschel, even an actor playing him, I wouldn’t turn it down.

The video below is a long colloquy between the playwright and Heschel’s daughter, the inimitable Prof. Susannah Heschel.  She in fact captures so perfectly the term tikun olam that graces this blog, that it’s worth quoting:

In Hasidic thought, what we do has cosmic ramifications. That is, when I do an act that is kind or good…when I do a mitzvah I give strength to God. I help bring about redemption.

Now, in Hasidic thought the mitzvahs they’re talking about have to do with making Kiddush and prayers, which I say with the kavanah (“intention”) that I should bring about a redemption of the Kadosh Baruch Hu (“Holy One”) and the Shekhinah (“Spirit” or God’s “Indwelling Presence”) through the mitzvah.

My father broadened it [to include] the mitzvahs that you do beyn adam l’chavero that is, from one person to another. The social responsibility of one human being for another, that too gives strength to God.

He’s expanding that Hasidic theology in a broader direction to include all the commandments we have in Jewish law that are very much about the relations we have one with another in all dimensions–on a personal dimension and a business dimension. Everything. That too brings redemption, gives strength to God.

There you have it, a perfect definition of tikun olam in the context it’s used in the title of this blog.

Highly recommended:
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CNN’s Rick Sanchez: ‘White Liberal=Jew’

Friday, October 1st, 2010
rick sanchez hangs self

Rick Sanchez hangs self on air

In reading the melodrama of Rick Sanchez’ implosion in front of a national radio audience when he called Jon Stewart both a “white liberal,” “bigot,” and “Jew,” not necessarily in that order, I was reminded how racism is an equal opportunity employer.  Just because you’re a discriminated-against minority doesn’t mean that you too can’t be racist.  During a radio interview meant to plug his new book, Sanchez recounted his own history of being the victim of prejudice at the hands of a CNN boss who wouldn’t consider him as a news anchor.

Then he proved that despite suffering prejudice, he could dish it out as well:

Mr. Sanchez called Mr. Stewart a “bigot,” but later took the word back, calling the comedian “prejudicial” instead.

Prejudicial “against who?” Mr. Dominick asked.

Mr. Sanchez said, “Against anybody who doesn’t agree to his point of view, which is very much a white liberal establishment point of view.”

One of the co-hosts of the radio show brought up the fact that Mr. Stewart is a Jew, saying to Mr. Sanchez, he is a minority “as much as you are.”

Mr. Sanchez answered sarcastically, “Yeah. Yeah. Very powerless people.” He let out a high-pitched laugh.

Everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart,” Mr. Sanchez said. “And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.”

Of course, what’s ironic about all this is that Sanchez had his many detractors at CNN, but one of his supporters was Jonathan Klein, undoubtedly one of those white-liberal-Jew-Jon Stewart types he so despises.  Contemporary society pits all minorities against each other in a dog-eat-dog world.  It’s divide and conquer so The Man ends up always winning.  So if Rick Sanchez doesn’t get his promotion it must be because of all those white liberal Jew CNN editors like Jon Stewart who disparage him because he’s Hispanic.

I know who will snatch up his contract: FoxNews.  That’s a marriage made in heaven–or Republican National Committee headquarters.

AJC Survey and Jewish Schizophrenia Regarding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

The recently announced American Jewish Committee 2007 survey provided reassuring results about Jewish attitudes toward U.S. Middle East policy and troubling results about attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S. Jews are profoundly opposed to everything to do with the Iraq war and feel the same about potential conflict with Iran. So far so good.

Glenn Greenwald picked up on these results when he wrote his ridiculously optimistic account for Salon, New Poll Reveals How Unrepresentative Jewish Neocon Groups Are. I use that phrase advisedly because I respect Glenn Greenwald a great deal. But he simply refused to review ALL the results and cherry-picked the ones that suited him. A more nuanced account would’ve acknowledged that American Jews are profoundly liberal when it comes to general issues of war and peace. But when it comes to Israel, some atavistic Jewish impulse kicks in which closes down any possibility of understanding the Arab perspective on the conflict or what are Israel’s true long-term interests.

James Petras picks up on that in his profoundly mean-spirited piece in Dissident Voice, American Jews on War and Peace. Although I find his essay distressing it also contains many provocative arguments which we on the Jewish left must consider as we face results as troubling as those in the AJC survey.

The only comforting answer regarding the IP conflict was to the question of creating a Palestinian state. 46% approve and 43% disapprove of such a policy. But if you consider that this has been the policy of several U.S. presidents AND Israeli prime ministers it is surprising, and disturbing, that the result is as close as it is. The remaining answers are flat out unnerving and make me realize how much work remains to be done if there is ever to be a realistic understanding of the IP conflict among American Jews. As a group we have swallowed hook, line and sinker some of the worst prejudices and ignorant attitudes toward Palestinians and the Arab world as a whole.

Here are the results:

Do you think there will or will not come a time when Israel and its Arab neighbors will be able to settle their differences and live in peace?
Will 37
Will Not 55

Do you think that negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can or cannot lead to peace in the foreseeable future?
Can 36
Cannot 55

Do you think that Israel can or cannot achieve peace with a Hamas-led, Palestinian government?
Can 17
Cannot 74

In the current situation, do you favor or oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state?
Favor 46
Oppose 43

In the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction?
Yes 36
No 58

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.”
Agree 82
Disagree 12

After reading these answers you realize how far off Eric Alterman is in his characterization of these results in this International Herald Tribute article:

Jews are also impressively sensible [!] when it comes to Israel/Palestine, all things considered. Though barely more than a third think peace is likely anytime soon, and more than 80 percent believe the goal of the Muslim states is to destroy Israel, a 46-to-43 percent plurality continues to support the creation of a Palestinian state.

Petras’ response to these results is to blame American Jewish “progressives.” He uses the term disparagingly and indiscriminately to tar and feather every American Jew or Jewish group to the left of Israel lobby constellation of organizations:

How is it that a majority of US Jews who, according to the AJC poll (and several others going back over two decades) differ with the principal American Jewish organizations, have not or do not challenge the position of the dominant Jewish organization, have virtually no impact on the US Congress, the Executive and the mass media in comparison to the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations?

Petras has a grasp of the organized Jewish community but no grasp at all of unaffiliated Jews, who constitute just under half of the population. The AJC survey includes ALL Jews whether affiliated or unaffiliated. Unaffiliated Jews are much more likely to have views to the left of the “dominant Jewish organizations.” The reason that unaffiliated Jews do not challenge the prevailing wisdom in the mainstream community is that doing so does not interest them. That’s why they’re unaffiliated. It’s a vicious circle really. So to blame those who have essentially opted out of the program for the perpetuation of noxious attitudes among those who are still with the program misses the point entirely.

Blaming Jewish peace groups for not moving the Jewish agenda toward the left is wrong-headed. These groups attempt to work with both affiliated and unaffiliated Jews to move the prevailing consensus in a leftward direction. There are many reasons why they have not had more success (lack of funds and powerful leaders, lack of strategic vision, strength of their opponents). And I think that most members and staff of these organizations realize they need to do more. But to denounce them for this lack of success and blame the troubling AJC results on them is mean-spirited and just flat out wrong.

Despite the disparaging tone of Petras’ analysis, he raises important points that should be grappled with by all Jewish progressives:

…It is clear that both the ‘progressive’, majority of Jews and the reactionary minority who head up all the major American Jewish organizations have a fundamental point of agreement and convergence: Support and identity with Israel and its anti-Arab prejudices, its expansion and the dispossession of Palestine. This overriding convergence allows the reactionary Presidents of the Major Jewish Organizations in America to speak for the Jewish community with virtually no opposition from the progressive majority either within or without their organizations. By raising the Israeli flag, repeating clichés about the ‘existential threat’ to Israel at each and every convenient moment, the majority of Jews have bowed their heads and acquiesced or, worst, subordinated their other ‘progressive’ opinions to actively backing the leaders ‘identity’ with Israel.

I think Petras is on to something here and I mentioned this earlier in this post. When it come to Israel many American Jews simply leave their high-minded ideas at the door and betray a sort of political schizophrenia.

It is the mission of the Jewish peace groups to educate and persuade these Jews that you don’t have to abandon your principles to support Israel; that liberal principles supporting peace and justice can go hand in hand with supporting Israeli-Arab peace. This is an extremely difficult task. But I think our movement is having some success and will have more in the future especially as events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict move in a general direction toward an eventual peace settlement (though clearly in fits and starts).

Here again Petras betrays both churlishness and imprecision:

Progressive Jewish organizations are on the fringe of the organizational map, with virtually no influence in the Congress or Presidency and backers of a pro-war Democratic Party and Congress.

I would say that these progressive groups are in a nascent stage in terms of realizing their political potential. But being in a nascent stage doesn’t mean that they are “fringe” or have “virtually no influence in Congress. To say this means Petras has absented himself from the results of the last Congressional session in which a liberal coalition fought AIPAC to a standstill on two different proposals regarding U.S. Israel policy.

This passage is simply “out there” in terms of its connection with any Jewish reality as I know it:

The apparent paradox of progressive anti-war Jews contributing big bucks to pro-war Democrats is based on the latter’s unconditional support for Israel which trumps any ‘dissonance’ that might exist in the head of progressive Jewish political activists.

I’d like to know precisely which “progressive anti-war Jews” are contributing big bucks to Hillary Clinton based on her unconditional support for Israel. George Soros? I doubt it. Who else? Or does Petras lump Obama in with all the other “pro-war” Democrats? I find this type of statement to be terribly reductionist and unhelpful.

Perhaps part of the problem is Petras’ abuse of the term progressive as one of his commenters notes in the comment thread. A donor who gives big bucks to a Democratic candidate because he or she supports Israel unconditionally is NOT progressive. They may consider themselves progressive, but that doesn’t make it so.

Petras continues going off the rails here:

With the American Pro-Israel Power Configuration leading the way to savaging the National Intelligence Estimate study, released in December 2007, on the absence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, progressive Jewish opinion is silent or complicit.

I might agree with the first half of his statement, but where does he get off saying progressive Jews are silent in the face of the attack on the NIE? I’m certain that the vast majority of American Jews are overjoyed with the NIE because it means there will be no war against Iran. To claim that such Jews are “silent” on this subject is downright odd. AIPAC may want the U.S. to go to war against Iran, but that doesn’t mean that American Jews want this.

Here Petras creates a progressive Jewish chimera which inhibits criticism of Israel within the anti-war movement:

…Progressive liberal and radical Jewish peace activists have acted as gate-keepers in the anti-war movement — prohibiting any criticism of Israel and labeling individuals or citizen activists critical of the pro-war Zionist lobby as ‘anti-Semites’.

It’s hard to know precisely what the author is talking about here since he doesn’t provide either evidence or context to prove his point. But clearly Petras doesn’t accept that there may be some criticism of Israel on the left that crosses the line and that is where I would differ from him.

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