>From: Amadu Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list              <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Fw: A crude attempt to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism >Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 02:28:33 -0500 > >A crude attempt to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism > >http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/zion-d22.shtml > >By Jean Shaoul > >22 December 2003 > >A recent article in the British newspaper, the Guardian, provides a >noxious example of the concerted effort being orchestrated by the Zionist >political establishment to rubbish all criticism of its murderous policy >towards the Palestinian people. > >In an op-ed piece headlined Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism: behind much >criticism of Israel is a thinly veiled hatred of the Jews, Emanuele >Ottolenghi attempts to equate any opposition to Zionism and the colonial >policies of the Israeli state with hatred of the Jewish people in general >and the infamous and reactionary anti-Semitism of the Nazis in particular. > >Ottolenghi holds an unpaid post at the privately endowed Oxford Centre for >Hebrew and Jewish Studies and the Middle East Centre at St Anthony’s >College, Oxford. But by no stretch of the imagination can his article be >described as a scholarly piece of work. His is an attempt on behalf of >Israel’s international backers to silence opposition to Ariel Sharon’s >regime and to legitimise its Greater Israel policy and brutality towards a >people who bear absolutely no responsibility for the Holocaust, which is >evoked by Ottolenghi as a bludgeon against Zionism’s opponents. > >His article offers total indemnity for Israel’s crimes against the >Palestinians and a carte blanche for Sharon to do whatever he likes. Using >the politics of amalgam, Ottolenghi links anyone who criticises the >Israeli state with anti-Semitism, irrespective of their political views. >As far as Ottolenghi is concerned it is impermissible to note that >Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians are reminiscent of those >employed by the Nazis. Such an equation between victims and murderers, he >says, denies the Holocaust. “Worse still, it provides its retroactive >justification for the Holocaust: if Jews turned out to be so evil, perhaps >they deserved what they got,” he continued. > >This argument is made up from whole cloth. One does not have to deny the >extermination of European Jewry in the Nazi gas chambers to say that >Israel’s dispossession, subjugation and enclosure of the Palestinian >people bears a striking resemblance to the policies of the Nazis towards >the Jews, Poles, gypsies, other ethnic minorities and political opponents. >To acknowledge this is not to equate the criminal actions of the Zionists >against the Palestinians with the Holocaust, which was on a far greater >scale of barbarism. But it legitimately identifies what is a tragic irony >of history—that the Jewish people, so long associated with the struggle >for social progress and against all forms of discrimination, racism and >oppression, should themselves be perpetrating gross human rights >violations against an oppressed people. Indeed such comments are often >framed as an appeal to the Jews’ sense of history and social conscience— >something that will be lost on political criminals such as Sharon and his >apologists. > >The Sharon government and the Zionist establishment routinely utilise the >lie that their opponents are anti-Semitic. Ottolenghi runs with this by >inventing a “counter-argument” from an imaginary accused that reeks of >racism. > >“Jewish defenders of Israel are then depicted by their critics as seeking >an excuse to justify Israel, projecting Jewish paranoia and displaying >a ‘typical’ Jewish trait of ‘sticking together’, even in defending the >morally indefensible.” > >Later he lists what he claims are anti-Semitic themes used repeatedly by >anti-Zionists—“the Jewish conspiracy to rule the world, linking Jews with >money and media, the hooked-nose stingy Jew, the blood libel, disparaging >use of Jewish symbols, or traditional Christian anti-Jewish imagery—are >used to describe Israel’s actions”. > >Who says this? Ottolenghi never quotes a single concrete example, except >for reference to an Italian cartoon and to Labour MP Tam Dalyell’s >reference to a “Jewish cabal” having influence on British foreign policy. >This author cannot vouch for the Italian cartoon he cites, but the World >Socialist Web Site has written on the attack made on Dalyell >(See “Britain: Labour extends antiwar witch-hunt to Tam Dalyell”). But the >essential message is that all anti-Zionists “repeatedly” resort to crude >anti-Semitic attacks. And he can find no proof of this at all. > >Ottolenghi’s claims are fundamentally dishonest and are contradicted by >the fact that many of those critical of Sharon’s brutal treatment of the >Palestinians are themselves both Israelis and Jews. To cite but one >example, more than 100,000 Israeli Jews, appalled by Sharon’s actions, >attended a rally in November to commemorate the eighth anniversary of >Israeli Prime Minister Yitzakh Rabin’s assassination by a right-wing >zealot. Demonstrators carried banners opposing the occupation and >demanding peace. > >He responds to Jewish critics of Zionism in typical fashion, with the >claim that they are essentially traitors who are praised by the anti- >Zionist/anti-Semitic lobby precisely because they have sold out: “Jews >condemning Israel and rejecting Zionism earn their praise. Denouncing >Israel becomes a passport to full integration. Noam Chomsky and his >imitators are the new heroes, their Jewish pride and identity expressed >solely through their shame for Israel’s existence.” > > >The Holocaust and the Zionist state > >Here is the hub of Ottolenghi’s argument. To be Jewish is ipso facto to be >Zionist. His assertion that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism rests on this >identification between the actions of the Israeli state and the interests >of the Jewish people as a whole. Such an equation is historically and >factually incorrect. > >The Holocaust was a seminal historical experience not just for the Jews, >but for working people all over the world. It was the single most >grotesque example of fascist barbarism during World War II. > >Against the background of the economic ruination of Germany that followed >World War I, Hitler set about building a mass social base for his party >among petty bourgeois layers and lumpen workers by scapegoating the Jews >for the decline in their living standards. Hitler certainly utilised >populist attacks on Jewish “usurers” and businessmen, but his hatred of >the Jews was bound up with his fear of Marxism and Germany’s powerful >socialist workers’ movement in which Jewish workers and intellectuals >played such a prominent role. > >The defeat of fascism and the struggle against anti-Semitism was, >therefore, bound up with a unified political offensive by the working >class not just against fascism but the entire bourgeois order. But this >was prevented from happening by the combined betrayals of Stalinism and >social democracy that disoriented the millions of workers opposed to the >Nazis and had allowed Hitler to come to power. > >The Zionists had a very different perspective. They insisted that the anti- >Semitism that gave rise to the Holocaust could only be answered by the >removal of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland and the >establishment of their own state. For the Zionists, the solution offered >to the Jewish proletariat and intelligentsia lay in establishing a new >capitalist state, not in joining their class brothers and sisters in the >struggle to put an end to capitalism. > >The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 rested upon the decisions >and machinations of the major powers at the United Nations. It was viewed >with sympathy by millions of people around the world appalled at the >catastrophe that had befallen the Jews and was accompanied by rhetoric >that attempted to identify Zionism with the labour movement, equality and >socialism as a way of legitimising it in the eyes of class conscious Jews. >The horrors of the concentration camps thus played a crucial role in >Israel’s birth. > > >Israel’s historical and political record > >But what is at issue now, 55 years later, is the historical and political >record of Zionism, an examination of which Ottolenghi attempts to rule out >of bounds. For him any objective appraisal of what the Israeli state has >done constitutes rampant anti-Semitism. This serves a very definite >purpose. The inability to examine Israel’s history without the Zionists >raising the spectre of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust is not only a slur >on the motives of their critics. It makes it impossible to understand >anything politically. > >Ottolenghi claims that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic because it >singles out Israel to be judged by an “impossibly high standard” not >applied elsewhere. This is a diversion. People have every right to “single >out” a country that illegally occupies Palestinian land and brutally >oppresses its inhabitants, particularly when this is only possibly because >it has the financial, political and military backing of the United States— >which itself constitutes one of the many crimes of the world’s major >imperialist power. > >For him, “Israel errs like all other nations: it is normal”. He >says, “Israel deserves to be judged by the same standards adopted for >others, not by the standards of utopia”. The World Socialist Web Site >agrees with his last point. Let us examine the record. > >Israel’s founding was carried out through the forcible expulsion of the >indigenous Palestinian people. This was not just the result of a war that >led people to flee their homes, but the explicit policy of the political >progenitors of the present Likud government—the Zionist terror groups—that >was given the nod by Israel’s founding fathers and first Prime Minister >David Ben Gurion, as Israeli historians have acknowledged. > >Since then Israel has fought numerous wars, including unprovoked wars of >aggression against other countries: Egypt in 1956 and Lebanon in 1978 and >1982. Israel has openly defied numerous United Nations resolutions. It has >repeatedly breached international law in relation to the West Bank and >Gaza, which it has illegally occupied since 1967. It has appropriated >territory to itself, including East Jerusalem and the land and villages >for more than 200 settlements. > >Israeli armed forces have carried out repeated incursions into Palestinian >cities. They and Zionist settlers have killed more than 2,500 >Palestinians, the great majority of which were unarmed civilians and many >of them children, since the start of the Intifada in September 2000. > >As one of the most violent governments in the world, Israel has demolished >people’s homes, destroyed farms and uprooted olive groves, closed roads >and instituted curfews, crippling the Palestinian economy and bringing >people to the brink of starvation. It regularly detains people without >trial. Torture and inhumane treatment of detainees is routine. Israel has >exiled people. It has a declared policy of political assassination of its >opponents. > >Israel’s policy of closing roads not only to and from but also within the >West Bank and Gaza, combined with its infamous security wall that >separates the West Bank from Israel, has created a ghetto for the >Palestinians. The conditions for the vast majority of those who live in >the Gaza Strip, separated off from Israel by means an electrified barbed >wire fence and denied any means of earning a living, resemble those of a >giant concentration camp. > >Israel is a nuclear state that refuses to sign the nuclear non- >proliferation treaty or let international inspectors examine its >facilities. Yet everyone knows that Israel has developed more than 200 >such weapons and has an extensive biological and chemical weapons >programme. If Israel’s nuclear weapons have gone unpublicised thus far it >is because Israel serves as the custodian of US interests in the Middle >East. It has even said that it will take pre-emptive strike action against >Iran, which it claims has begun to develop nuclear weapons in violation of >its international obligations to destroy its nuclear facilities as it did >against Iraq in 1981. > >The US has bankrolled Israel to the tune of billions of dollars a year for >decades in the form of military aid, most of which must be spent in the US. > >Israel is the only country in the world led by a man that its own judicial >commission found was personally responsible for failing to protect the >Palestinians in Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps from the murderous >Phalangist thugs in 1982 and judged him to be unfit to serve as a minister >of state. Sharon heads a government which rests upon ultra-nationalist >parties that openly call for ethnic cleansing under the euphemism >of “population transfer”. > >Within Israel itself, the government operates a policy towards the >Palestinian Israelis reminiscent of the infamous apartheid regime in South >Africa. It discriminates against its Arab citizens, curtails their >political rights and denies them a fair share of economic resources and >social welfare. It has recently passed legislation denying Israeli >citizens who marry Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza the right to >live with their partners in Israel. > >The Sharon government does not represent the interests of the majority of >the Jewish people who live in Israel, let alone the Jewish people all over >the world. It is the political representative of a section of Israel’s >financial elite and a proxy of the Bush administration in the US. > >More than 10 percent of the Israeli workforce is unemployed. Many more are >impoverished. The Sharon government is pursuing a relentless attack on >jobs, living standards and the social safety net in an attempt to shift >the burden of Israel’s precipitous economic decline in the wake of the >world recession and the impact of the Palestinian Intifada onto the backs >of workers and their families. Finance Minister Benyamin Netanyahu >recently announced the introduction of legislation curbing the right to >strike by public sector workers and the gutting of social welfare. > >What the record shows is that Israel deserves international condemnation >for its flagrant breech of international law and its brutal and repressive >policies. > > >The Zionist state and the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe > >Ottolenghi does make one correct point when he admits, “There is no doubt >that recent anti-Semitism is linked to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” > >He quickly retreats from this admission, however, when he goes on to >insists that anyone who draws any political conclusions as to what this >says about the character and viability of the Zionist project or does not >still lend unconditional support to Israel is an anti-Semite: “The >argument that it is Israel’s behaviour, and Jewish support for it, that >invite prejudice sounds hollow at best and sinister at worst. That >argument means that sympathy for Jews is conditional on the political >views they espouse. This is hardly an expression of tolerance. It singles >Jews out. It is anti-semitism.” > >Unquestionably one of the most potent factors re-igniting anti-Semitism >today is the brutal methods adopted by the Israeli government under >Sharon. A leaked European Union report shows a rise in the number of >attacks on Jews by European Muslim youth. The report, compiled by the >European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, links a rise in >attacks on Jews with events in the Middle East, particularly since the >start of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000 and Israel’s attack on >Jenin in the West Bank in April last year. > >To recognise this fact is not to endorse anti-Semitic views or to defend >those who hold them. But the political basis for a dangerous emergence of >anti-Semitism amongst often politically uneducated second generation Arab >and African immigrants cannot be ignored. One can only combat such a >noxious development by advancing a principled opposition to both the >Zionist state and to those, such as the Islamic fundamentalists and Arab >bourgeois leaders, who employ populist anti-Semitism to manipulate >political discontent. Silence on Sharon’s crimes or, worst still an >apologia for them as provided by Ottolenghi, only fosters anti-Semitism. > >It also strengthens right-wing forces on a world scale. > >The Sharon government rests upon two fascistic parties, one based on right >wing hooligans and thugs that inhabit the settlements in the Occupied >Territories and another that openly promotes the “transfer” of the >Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Its survival is entirely >dependent upon the Bush administration and billions of dollars of military >aid and loans. > >There is a growing alliance between the right-wing Zionists and the >extreme-right Christian fundamentalists in the US. The Zionist right has >aligned itself—on the basis of anti-Arab chauvinism and military >aggression against Iraq—with groups in the US and also Europe that have a >long history of anti-Semitism. Only a few weeks ago Sharon was being >entertained by one of his most ardent supporters in Europe, Silvio >Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy who made headlines and sparked >outrage recently when he came to the defence of Mussolini, the fascist >dictator, when he claimed, “Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used >to send people on vacation in internal exile.” On November 25 Sharon went >one better, playing host to Italy’s deputy prime minister, Gianfranco >Fini, the leader of the National Alliance, the political heir of >Mussolini’s fascist party. > >In the mid-1990s Fini was still describing Mussolini as “the greatest >statesman of the 20th century.” He now condemns what he calls “the >shameful chapters in the history of our people”. But what really endears >him to Sharon is Fini’s support for Israel’s repression of the >Palestinians and the construction of the fence. As far as Sharon is >concerned, support for Israel today erases any whiff of anti-Semitism, >even for supporters of fascists that sought the extermination of European >Jewry. > >That the Zionist state should seek such allies and become one of the major >factors spawning anti-Semitism is indeed another of history’s tragic >ironies. Such reactionary outcomes are a far cry from the safe haven, free >from oppression and discrimination, that the creation of Israel appeared >to offer Jews in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust. But they >are the inevitable product of the Zionist project of establishing a >capitalist state created through the dispossession of another people and >maintained by war and repression abroad and social exploitation and >inequality at home. It is impossible for such a state to provide the >foundations for establishing social justice and equality, even for its own >citizens. > >The failure of the Zionist project is not the result of any inadequacies >on the part of the Jewish people but an expression of the failure of all >movements in the Middle East, Africa and Asia that have based themselves >upon the perspective of nationalism to resolve the fundamental social, >economic and political problems confronting the mass of working people. > >It is time to recognise that Zionism has been a terrible and failed >experiment. Its continuation promises only further oppression for both >Palestinians and Israelis and the most bitter war. > >The only way out of the current impasse is the development of a political >movement to unite Arab and Jewish workers and intellectuals in a common >struggle against capitalism and for the building of a socialist society. >This provides the only way of redressing the historic injustices suffered >by the Palestinian workers and peasants, and ending the twin evils of >oppression and war that are fuelled by the profit drive of both >international capital and both the Israeli and Arab national ruling >cliques. The creation of a United Socialist States of the Middle East >would remove the artificial borders imposed by imperialist intrigues that >presently divide the peoples and economies of the region so as to utilise >the resources to fulfil the social, economic and political aspirations of >all. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~