INTRODUCTION:
If there is one thing that the Jewish people who survivied WW2 have learned, it is that if we are not all for ourselves, who will be?
After 2 millenia of being the butt of every religious and political fanatic leadership in Europe and in Moslem lands as scapegoated minorities, Jews have finally returned to become masters of their own destinies in their ancient homeland,- a homeland of which the dispossessed Jews only dreamed of and the pious prayed for, ever since the Roman conquest of Jerusalem.
The concept of Zionism was born out of necessity in the 19th Century and finally was realized in the 20th, with the birth of Israel in a minute portion of the ME.
But oh no,- the Arabs and Islamists could not bear to part with an inch of their deserts and swamps. They could not bear the thought that Judaism would be more successful in the world than Islam,- they could not bear that vast world of Christianity should be so successful,- let alone that the tiny minority of Jews should show them up for what they are,- a repressed people remaining back in the Dark Ages!
So they set themselves the task to destroy the Jewish people once again,- their nation of Israel, first of all, then in the company of the Western Anti-Semites once again,- against Jews everywhere.
But most of us thinking people have long memories and "Never Again"is firmly ingrained in our memories. Some Jews ( an others) choose the easier way out,- they try to pacify the enemy. Can any of the Arabs and Islamists be pacified? Has anyone succeeded yet in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon,- let alone the Palestinians who are used as pawns and scapegoats by their brethren?
Former Australian Jewish leader, Isi Leibler wrote about the "Jews against Zion" below.
There are plenty of Israeli Jews who are against Zionism, because they have neither experienced nor been imbued with the Jewish ethos and pathos. There are many Israelis who don't understand how to build bridges with the Jewish people in the diaspora and are somewhat estranged from the Zionist communities abroad. They are simply not interested in communicating with us,- making us wonder if our efforts ( which are considerable within our own countries) are worth the trouble!
Israel is a new new country in an ancient land within an ancient people in a hostile environment. It is made up of many peoples from various lands. It has yet to find its common ground with the Jewish people around the world and imbue her citizens with the Zionism and idealism of its pioneer recent past, as well as its ancient Biblical history.
Miriam.
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Mar. 20, 2007
Jews against Zion
By ISI LEIBLER
Throughout the Diaspora there are alienated Jews on the fringe whose primary involvement in Jewish life is centered on undermining the Jewish state.
Now they are seeking to establish themselves as a respectable alternative Jewish voice. This is the price we are paying for having long buried our heads in the sand, failing to isolate from the mainstream Jews who dedicate themselves to delegitimizing and demonizing Israel.
The potential damage they are capable of inflicting upon us cannot be underestimated.Jews defaming their own people is hardly a new phenomenon. Their presence is evident throughout history from the age of antiquity on. In the Middle Ages, the most virulent promoters of anti-Semitism were Jewish converts. During the Emancipation period, Jews committed to universalism, socialism and other "isms" were inciting hatred against their kinsmen, as exemplified in the anti-Semitic outbursts of Karl Marx and the late 19th-century Russian Jewish social revolutionaries, who justified pogroms as a necessary lubricant to create a revolutionary climate.
Jewish self-haters were silent during the Holocaust era because the Nazis targeted all Jews.After the war, Jewish communists and their "progressive" fellow travelers reemerged as the most fervent apologists of Stalinist crimes. During the campaign to liberate Soviet Jewry, they denied Soviet anti-Semitism and defended - even applauded - state-sponsored anti-Semitic show-trials and executions of their kinsmen.
Like their contemporary successors, their effectiveness as spokesmen for our enemies was linked to the fact that they paraded their Jewish origins. However in contrast to today's Jews who demonize Zion, they were considered pariahs by mainstream Jews and clearly perceived by non-Jews as outcasts from their own people.
TODAY THOSE delegitimizing the Jewish state are frequently indulged in respectable Jewish circles. Some Jewish leaders have even suggested that a "pluralistic" community should not discriminate against anti-Israel "dissidents."
Much of the responsibility for misplaced tolerance of those promoting our destruction originates inside Israel. The vilest anti-Israeli propaganda has for years been emanating from tenured academics at Israeli universities.
Now the problem has begun mushrooming out of control. In view of the fact that demonstrating hatred of Israel has become a key prerequisite for eligibility to membership of the "progressive" camp, one finds Jews at the forefront of the vicious campaigns demonizing Israel in virtually every country.
Yet to accuse these renegades of indulging in self-hatred is considered as a cardinal sin in many circles. It is thus legitimate for Jews to defame Israel as an "apartheid state," accuse their kinsmen of behaving like Nazis, apply double-standards to Israeli behavior, accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, even genocide; it's even acceptable to call for dismantling Israel and replacing it with a binational state, or to support the "right of return" for Arab refugees - all in the name of communal tolerance.
Yet to stand up and brand such views as extremist is deemed an expression of "Zionist McCarthyism."IT IS A pathetic reflection of our times that people such as Tony Judt, Marc Ellis, Norman Finkelstein, Jacqueline Rose and Tony Kushner are considered martyrs, and tolerance of their malicious efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state has become confused with freedom of expression.
What a red herring. Insisting that Jewish demonizers of Israel comprise an extremist fringe and speak only for themselves does not represent suppression of free speech.
Our enemies allege that condemnation of those delegitimizing Israel is designed to cover up and deflect legitimate criticism. Never mind that genuine friends of Israel - indeed, Israelis themselves - are often vociferous critics of this or that Israeli policy. But there's a difference between being critical of a policy and delegitimizing the Jewish state.
Regrettably, efforts to obfuscate these polar opposites have increasingly been endorsed by much of the media.
When American academic Alvin Rosenfeld wrote an essay for the American Jewish Committee exposing the double standards and deviousness of Jews challenging Israel's right of existence, he unleashed a storm and was accused of playing foul for supposedly branding all criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic. That he deliberately avoided using expressions like anti-Semitism and self-hatred was ignored. Yet once so-called liberals misrepresented his views, even mainstream New York Jewish trendies began to join the pack attacking Rosenfeld.
At a time when Israel faces genuine existential threats, the audacity of the Jewish anti-Israeli camp has reached alarming levels. For example, a purportedly "Zionist" body demanded the right to introduce Israeli "refusenik" draftees to American campus students, describing their initiative as a "Zionist act of love," leaving mainstream Jewish campus groups divided whether to support such a bizarre proposal. Elsewhere a number of Jewish organizations which identify themselves as "pro-Israel" have been lobbying Congress to reject the community's mainstream positions, urging instead that Israel be pressured into pursuing policies contrary to its interests.
MEANWHILE, in London the head of the only Anglo Jewish think tank cannot comprehend why his publicly stated belief that the Jewish state was a mistake and should be transformed into a binational state makes him ineligible to hold such a position. And the chair of this institute, who is also chair of Anglo Jewry's most important newspaper, has accused those calling for his director's resignation of behaving like McCarthyites.
I recommend that our recently-appointed minister for Diaspora Affairs, Isaac Herzog, place the issue of legitimate versus illegitimate criticism of Israel high on his agenda, and convene a world conference of mainstream Jewish organizations who cherish the name of Israel and all it represents. They should adopt a united stand to expose as a sham the obscene pretensions of Jews who carry out diabolical campaigns to delegitimize Israel - and have the gall to claim that they do it out of a sense of Jewish values and justice!
The writer chairs the Diaspora-Israel Relations Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and is a veteran international Jewish leader.
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