anti-Zionists stop kowtowing to the Zionists by using Zionist rhetoric -- anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism
- From: "Jason P" <jaspetr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 24 Nov 2005 10:25:25 -0800
Anti-Jew vs. Anti-Zionism or Both
(and by the way, disregard the word
"anti-Semitism" altogether)
By Wendy Campbell
I have been thinking about writing an article defining the above words
for a few days now, and low and behold, Uri Avnery, an Israeli writer
and "post-Zionist" (whatever that is supposed to mean) peace activist
with Gush Shalom beat me to the punch. Perhaps it is just as well,
because I can now counter his claims point by point, and perhaps then
some.
I welcome the opportunity as the time has certainly arrived to clarify
the peace and justice movement's strategy for achieving peace in the
Middle East, most specifically finding a just peace in the
Palestine-Israel conflict, for the sake of the world, which is no
exaggeration.
First of all, I implore all anti-Zionists to stop kowtowing to the
Zionists by using their rhetoric, which includes the deliberately murky
word anti-Semitism, a word, which by the way, was apparently invented
by the Nazis. Since we want to delegitimize Nazism, and Zionism for
that matter, why use their word? On top of that, the indigenous
non-Jewish Palestinians are themselves Semites. Most importantly, it is
such an ambiguous word and lacking in clear meaning, that it is a
completely useless word. It is far better to use the words "anti-Jew"
and /or "anti-Zionism", rather than ever use the word deliberately
ambiguous word "anti-Semitism".
So, here we go, point for point (and then some) with regards to Uri
Avnery's article which appeared at
http://www.counterpunch.org/averny01192004.html, entitled
"Anti-Semitism vs. Anti-Zionism".
Please note, I refuse to use the word "anti-Semitism" and have replaced
it with either "anti-Jewish" and/or "anti-Semitism".
Is everybody who criticizes Israel "anti-Jewish"?
Absolutely not. However, one can be completely against an ethnocentric
Jewish state that persecutes non-Jews, and wish to see the Jewish state
of Israel (since it is in The Holy Land, a land holy to many people of
many religions) transform from the racist, apartheid state that it is
into a true secular democracy with completely equal rights for all
regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender, and that must also
include the right to return for all the Palestinian refugees to their
ancestral homeland of Palestine-Israel. This is their inalienable right
according to UN Resolutions, International Law and world opinion. If
someone dislikes someone who is Jewish just because they are Jewish,
even if he / she is anti-Zionism and a very nice person, then that
person is most definitely anti-Jewish. Personally, I even like some
Zionist Jews on a personal level, but I don't like the fact that they
are Zionists. Just like I can like anyone who's nice, but still not
care for their politics.
Can a person be an anti-Zionist without being anti-Jewish?
Absolutely yes. Zionism is a racist ideology that all people who
believe in equality for all regardless of religion, race or gender,
normally and rightfully deplore. Judaism is a religion that is
completely opposite to Zionism, according to the Ultra Orthodox Jews of
the Neturei Karta. Their website is www.nkusa.org for more information.
These Torah-true Jews fully believe in The Golden Rule and obeying the
Ten Commandments. They are so opposed to the Jewish state of Israel
that they even burn the Israeli flag at large demonstrations that they
hold every year on the Jewish holiday of Purim in New York and London.
Many other Jews, including non-religious Jews, are also completely
opposed to Zionism and Israel as a racist, apartheid state.
One can certainly be anti-Zionism but not anti-Jews, as one can be
anti-Nazism but not anti-Germans, or anti-apartheid but not
anti-Whites. Since it can be sometimes hard to tell the difference
between an anti-Zionist and an anti-Jew, Jews themselves should work
hard to eliminate the racist ideology of Zionism so as not to provide
any excuses to give rise to anti-Jewish sentiments. Many Whites have
championed for the end of apartheid in South Africa, as well as the end
of segregation in the US. For example, former President John F. Kennedy
and his brother Robert Kennedy both took bold steps to end segregation
in the United States. As a White person, although I was a little too
young to be involved with the Civil Rights Movement here in the US, I
was completely for ending apartheid in South Africa.
Can a person be both anti-Jewish and a Zionist?
Indeed yes. In fact, there are numerous well-documented accounts of
Nazis collaborating with the Zionists to help maneuver European Jews to
Israel. In fact, the famous British politician Lord Balfour who penned
the seemingly innocuous Balfour Agreement saying the Jews should have a
homeland in Palestine was himself supposedly known to be anti-Jew,
which was perhaps one reason he was glad to help the Jews move
"somewhere else" like Palestine, somebody else's backyard. And of
course, the Christian Zionists are eager to help the Jewish Zionists
rebuild the temple in Jerusalem to hasten the day that Jesus will come
for the Second Coming and everyone will be converted to Christianity or
else. That's what they believe, believe it or not.
Can a Jew be anti-Jew?
Not as strange as it sounds. Obviously there are even Whites today who
are anti-White (maybe Michael Moore, for example?) and there are
Christians who have denounced Christianity or just abandoned it. There
are Blacks who are anti-Black (maybe Condoleeza Rice?) So of course,
there are Jews who have abandoned Judaism, as a religion, just as
others have abandoned their religion. Those who might believe that
Judaism is more of a race than a religion, can also feel free not to
claim to be Jewish as their race, since Jews are from countries such as
Russia, Hungary, Morocco and so on. At the same time, there are many
Jews who are proud to be Jewish who are also proud to be anti-Zionism,
such as, for example, the Jews of the Neturei Karta, as mentioned
above. And perhaps most obviously these days, an American can be
anti-American government but still hold true to the original American
ideals, hoping to reclaim them.
If a person criticizes Israel more than other countries which do the
same (apartheid, ethnic cleansing, state-sponsored terror against
essentially defenseless civilians because they are not Jewish), is he
an anti-Jew?
This is a ridiculous assumption for anyone to make no matter what way
you look at it. In case anyone has not noticed, Israel is numero uno to
peace & justice activists for many reasons. Israel receives far more US
tax dollars than any other country in the world, even though tiny
Israel is already at least the 17th wealthiest country per capita.
Israel has defied more UN Resolutions and International Laws than any
other country by far. Israel uses US aid, both financial and military,
to commit ethnic cleansing against the essentially defenseless
Palestinian people in order to steal more and more of their land. In
fact, Israel is committing ethnicide and slow-motion genocide that has
been going on over 50 years now. The crimes against humanity that
Israel has been committing against the Palestinian people is
encyclopedic in length and variety so it cannot be elaborated in detail
in this article. I will just refer people who are interested to the
websites www.cactus48.com and www.stopthewall.org for now.
Israel has been lying to the American people by claiming to be a
democracy and sharing American values of justice for all. Israel is
most definitely a "racist, apartheid, anti-democratic regime" as in the
words of a courageous Israeli refusenik who is featured in my
documentary "Truth: Exposing Israeli Apartheid". For more information,
please visit my website at www.exposingisraeliapartheid.com . Why is it
that when everyone was against apartheid South Africa, there wasn¹t a
big smear campaign against them as anti-White or self-hating Whites?
It's absurd to even ponder whether or not a person is anti-Jewish or a
self-hating Jew because they are concentrating on finding a just
solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. A just solution will indeed
benefit everyone, even if the Zionists don¹t think so.
And by the way, doesn't almost everyone recognize by now the fact that
the war on Iraq and the sanctions on Syria are at the behest of the
pro-Israel lobby first and foremost? Doesn¹t almost everyone realize
by now that 9-11 happened mainly because of US support for racist,
apartheid Israel's constant aggression towards Arabs and Muslims? In
fact, many even believe that the pro-Israel forces here in America and
in Israel orchestrated the whole hellish catastrophe of 9-11 directly
to get Americans to think that Israel's enemies are America¹s enemies
whom we must fight. It¹s not really such a big stretch given
treacherous Israeli actions in the past, such as the incident of the
USS Liberty and the Lavon Affair, to name two prominent examples of
Israelis turning on the US and trying to get it blamed on the
Egyptians, not to mention "the dancing Israeli spies" as the WTC
collapsed on 9-11, which is very suspect.
If people don't put Israel at the top of the list of countries to
criticize and pressure to reform then I believe they are seriously
apathetic or misinformed or in denial, or else perhaps they are in
collusion with the racist evil that is Zionism. As far as I'm
concerned, except for the truly ignorant, they all have innocent
Palestinian blood on their hands. And innocent Iraqi blood. And
innocent Americans for that matter, as in 9-11. As the saying goes,
silence is complicity. With the internet, there is really no excuse for
ignorance in general.
Has Europe become anti-Jew again?
No, they have become anti-Zionists and anti-Israel because it is a
hateful, ethnocentric, war-mongering terrorist rogue state with a big
chip on its shoulder that has massive weapons of mass destruction.
Israeli military historian-professor Martin van Crevald has said
publicly that Israel has nuclear warheads aimed at every major European
capital and that Israel will take everyone down with her if need be. Do
a Google search on him and read it for yourself. This is the kind of
information you can only find on the Internet in the USA. You won't
find it in the US corporate media anywhere. Not surprisingly, the
Muslim youth of countries like France, for example, who identify with
the Palestinians, have vented their frustration in some random acts of
violence against synagogues, which pales in comparison to the
deliberate, methodic, systematic, state-sponsored acts of violence that
that the Israeli army commits daily in the Occupied Territories against
the non-Jewish Palestinians, which is often not reported at all in the
US mainstream media. And what about the random acts of violence by some
Americans, both Jewish and Christian, against Muslims in this country?
Where is the outcry about that by the ADL? Obviously they are quite
selective about what kind of hate-crimes to complain about.
What about the anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish manifestations in the Arab
world?
If people are still clueless about this one, they are hopelessly
ignorant and in denial. I cannot waste my time on them. Again, if you
really want to know, just read "Origin of the Palestine-Israel
Conflict" at http://www.cactus48.com and also check out
http://www.stopthewall.org for starters.
What about the Prime Minister of Malaysia's comments about Jews
controlling the world?
I think with regards to fact that the Neoconservatives, who are mostly
Zionist Jews, control the US foreign policy at this time, especially in
the Middle East, that he is right on the money. Just check out the
Neoconservative website http://www.newamericancentury.org and see what
YOU think. Even the Neturei Karta think the Zionists are pretty much in
control of the US government and definitely the US media now. They are
the Torah-true Jews who believe that Zionism is the exact opposite of
true Judaism. They believe that Judaism is a religion not nationalism.
So should we ignore anti-Jewish sentiment?
No, of course not. Jews who have not done so already need to be honest
about the racist ideology of Zionism and abandon it. That is their duty
in the interest of world peace. It is also the duty of all people,
Americans in particular, to learn about Zionism, to realize that it is
separate from Judaism, and demand that our government to stop allowing
Zionism to dominate our US foreign policy. We must demand that our
government stop all manner of aid to Israel, in order to pressure
Israel to transform into a true democracy with equal rights for all
regardless of religion, ethnicity, race or gender. It can be
accomplished along the same lines that apartheid South Africa was
transformed into a true democracy. There must be no double standards
for Israel and Zionist Jews.
Finally, I will cease to refer to Uri Avnery and other such left-wing
Zionists as "so-called peace activists" when they demand without
compromise the one-democratic-state solution of Palestine-Israel, where
Israel is to be transformed into a true, secular democracy with
completely equal rights for all regardless of religion, ethnicity, race
or gender, as well as for the right to return of all the Palestinian
refugees to their ancestral homeland of Palestine-Israel as it is their
right according to UN Resolutions, International Law and world opinion.
For more information on this most progressive, humane, just solution,
please visit the website http://www.one-democratic-state.org .
Posted March 12, 2004
Wendy Campbell is an American documentary film-maker based in
California.
Her documentaries include "Truth: Exposing Israeli Apartheid" and the
recently released "Neturei Karta: Jews Against Zionism". For more
information, please visit the website
http://www.exposingisraeliapartheid.com .
Also by Wendy Campbell:
Miami, Florida: Zionist Occupied Territory? http://tinyurl.com/753uo
.
- Prev by Date: Re: The Jewish War on Freedom of Speech
- Next by Date: Re: Only 40 genes separate dogs from wolves
- Previous by thread: "[...] Modern Jewish identity is layered with rings of myth and self-delusion...."
- Next by thread: GB to B a TV with Tony
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
