ZGram - 5/15/2002 - "The Left has been getting the shaft"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Thu, 16 May 2002 00:14:39 -0400
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Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny
May 15. 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
First, let me say that I have repeated complaints that my Zgrams are
too small and faint. I am now giving them a larger font size.
Please let me know if that works out.
One plus has accrued to our turbulent times: We get quality writing
as never before - writing that has substance and zing. I am sending
you a two-part Zgram today in one swoop - the second part meant for
tomorrow. I loved both articles and learned from both. (I said
"bless you" a couple of times if you know what I mean...) It is a
truism in writing that what is being left out will shine through. In
these two articles, you can really read between the lines.
The first article was written for the Guardian, May 9, 2002, authored
by Seumas Milne. The second article is Israel Shamirís reply.
Milne first:
[START]
This slur of anti-semitism is used to defend repression
Ending Israel's occupation will benefit Jews and Muslims in Europe
The Guardian
Since the French revolution, the fates of the Jewish people and the
left have been closely intertwined. The left's appeal to social
justice and universal rights created a natural bond with a people
long persecuted and excluded by the Christian European establishment.
From the time of Marx, Jews played a central role across all shades
of the left. They were heavily represented among the leaders of the
Russian revolution - hence Hitler's denunciation of communism as a
"Judaeo-Bolshevik conspiracy" - and the left-led underground
resistance to the Nazis. It was the Red Army which liberated the
Auschwitz death camp. In Britain, it was the left which fought to
defend the Jewish East End of London from fascists in the 1930s. In
the Arab world, Jews were crucial to the building of political
parties of the left. And despite the changed class balance of many
Jewish communities, Jews remain disproportionately active in
progressive political movements - including Palestinian solidarity
groups - throughout the world.
But now the left stands accused of anti-semitism because of its
opposition to Israel's military occupation and continuing
dispossession of the Palestinians. As the Palestinian intifada and
Israeli repression rage on, rightwing commentators and religious
leaders have claimed the left is guilty of "anti-Jewish prejudice",
double standards towards Israel and even apeing the anti-semitic
"blood libels" of the Middle Ages with the ferocity of its charges of
Israeli massacres. Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, has widened
the attack to the media and equated any questioning of Israel's
legitimacy with "calling into question the Jewish people's right to
exist collectively". In the US, the denunciation of the left over
Israel has been extended to include the whole mainstream European
political system.
There is little question that there has been a growth of overt
anti-semitism in Europe, especially since the collapse of European
communism more than a decade ago. That trend has quickened since the
start of the second intifada and Ariel Sharon's election as Israel's
prime minister. In Britain, physical attacks on Jews have increased
significantly - even if they remain far fewer than assaults on black,
Asian and Muslim people - and now a London synagogue has been
desecrated. With the far right on the march across the continent, it
is hardly surprising that a community barely a couple of generations
away from the most devastating genocide in human history feels
beleaguered - a perception heightened by atrocities against civilians
in Israel, such as Tuesday's suicide attack in Rishon Letzion.
No doubt some on the left have wrongly taken the comparative wealth
and position of Britain's Jewish community as a sign that the social
cancer of anti-semitism is somehow less dangerous than other forms of
racism. The graveyards of Europe are a permanent reminder that it is
not. The left is certainly not immune from racist currents in
society; and it needs aggressively to police the line between
anti-Zionism and anti-semitism, taking into account Jewish
sensitivities in the way it campaigns for justice in the Middle East.
But none of that excuses the smear that left or liberal support for
Palestinian rights is somehow connected to resurgent anti-Jewish
racism - an absurd slur which is itself being used as an apologia for
Israel's brutal war of subjugation in the occupied territories. All
the evidence is that it is the far right, the traditional fount of
anti-semitic poison, which has been overwhelmingly responsible for
attacks on both Muslim and Jewish targets in Europe. Violence from
the Islamist fringe no doubt also poses a threat, but not even in the
wildest rantings of Israel's cheerleaders has it been suggested that
any group on the left could have had anything to do with, say, the
trashing of the Finsbury Park synagogue. Nor is it hostile media
coverage that is fuelling criticism of Israel, but what is actually
taking place on the ground in Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah.
The reality is that, contrary to the claims of the supporters of
Israel's 35-year-old occupation, its existence as a state is not
remotely in danger. Nor by any stretch of the imagination does it
"stand alone", as some have insisted. Its security is guaranteed by
the most powerful state in the world.
There is, however, a very real and present threat to the
Palestinians, their national rights and even their very presence in
what is left to them of Palestine. Evidence of serious Israeli
breaches of the Geneva convention - war crimes - across the West Bank
has been collected by human rights organisations in recent weeks. But
Israel has been able to swat away the Jenin investigation team,
ordered in by the UN security council, with impunity. To refuse to
acknowledge these brute facts of power and injustice is itself a
reflection of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, both currently more
violently represented on Europe's streets and more acceptable in its
polite society than anti-semitism. For the left to ignore such
oppression would be a betrayal. As the Zapatista leader Marcos has
it, he is "a Jew in Germany, a Palestinian in Israel".
Last week, Dick Armey, the Republican leader in the US House of
Representatives and a key Bush ally, called for Israel to annex the
occupied territories and expel the Palestinian inhabitants. In other
words, he was proposing the ethnic cleansing of the Arab population.
His remarks aroused little comment, but coming at a time when 40% of
the Israeli public, as well as cabinet ministers, openly support such
a "transfer", it can only be taken as encouragement by the most
extreme elements in the Israeli establishment. Ethnic cleansing is
not of course a new departure for Israel, whose forces twice
organised large-scale expulsions of Palestinians, in 1948 and 1967 -
as documented in the records and memoirs of Israeli leaders of the
time - to secure a commanding Jewish majority in the territory under
its control. But the refugees created in the process remain at the
heart of the conflict. It was the tragedy of the Zionist project that
Jewish self-determination could only be achieved at another people's
expense.
A two-state settlement is now the only possible way to secure peace
in the forseeable future. But for such a settlement to stick there
will have to be some reversal of that historic ethnic cleansing.
Those who insist there can be no questioning of the legitimacy of the
state in its current form - with discriminatory laws giving a "right
of return" to Jews from anywhere in the world, while denying it to
Palestinians expelled by force - are scarcely taking a stand against
racism, but rather the opposite. They are also doing no favours to
Israelis. The latest suicide bombings have demonstrated the failure
of Sharon's strategy for dismantling the infrastructure of terror.
What is needed instead is a strategy to dismantle the infrastructure
of occupation. Not only would that open the way to peace in the
Middle East. It could also create the conditions for Muslims and Jews
in Europe to realise their common interests.
=====
TOMORROW: ISRAEL SHAMIRíS ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE.
Thought for the Day:
ìTruth is generally the best vindication against slander.î
(Abraham Lincoln)
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--></style><title>ZGram - 5/15/2002 - "The Left has been getting
the sha</title></head><body>
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></span> Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny<br>
<br>
May 15. 2002<br>
<br>
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:<br>
<br>
First, let me say that I have repeated complaints that my Zgrams are
too small and faint. I am now giving them a larger font size.
Please let me know if that works out.<br>
<br>
One plus has accrued to our turbulent times: We get quality
writing as never before - writing that has substance and zing. I
am sending you a two-part Zgram today in one swoop - the second part
meant for tomorrow. I loved both articles and learned from both.
(I said "bless you" a couple of times if you know what I
mean...) It is a truism in writing that what is being left out
will shine through. In these two articles, you can really read
between the lines. <br>
<br>
The first article was written for the Guardian, May 9, 2002, authored
by Seumas Milne. The second article is Israel Shamirís
reply.<br>
<br>
Milne first:<br>
<br>
[START]<br>
<br>
This slur of anti-semitism is used to defend repression<br>
<br>
Ending Israel's occupation will benefit Jews and Muslims in
Europe<br>
<br>
The Guardian<br>
<br>
Since the French revolution, the fates of the Jewish people and
the left have been closely intertwined. The left's appeal to social
justice and universal rights created a natural bond with a people long
persecuted and excluded by the Christian European establishment. From
the time of Marx, Jews played a central role across all shades of the
left. They were heavily represented among the leaders of the Russian
revolution - hence Hitler's denunciation of communism as a
"Judaeo-Bolshevik conspiracy" - and the left-led underground
resistance to the Nazis. It was the Red Army which liberated the
Auschwitz death camp. In Britain, it was the left which fought to
defend the Jewish East End of London from fascists in the 1930s. In
the Arab world, Jews were crucial to the building of political parties
of the left. And despite the changed class balance of many Jewish
communities, Jews remain disproportionately active in progressive
political movements - including Palestinian solidarity groups -
throughout the world.<br>
<br>
But now the left stands accused of anti-semitism because of its
opposition to Israel's military occupation and continuing
dispossession of the Palestinians. As the Palestinian intifada and
Israeli repression rage on, rightwing commentators and religious
leaders have claimed the left is guilty of "anti-Jewish
prejudice", double standards towards Israel and even apeing the
anti-semitic "blood libels" of the Middle Ages with the
ferocity of its charges of Israeli massacres. Britain's chief rabbi,
Jonathan Sacks, has widened the attack to the media and equated any
questioning of Israel's legitimacy with "calling into question
the Jewish people's right to exist collectively". In the US, the
denunciation of the left over Israel has been extended to include the
whole mainstream European political system.<br>
<br>
There is little question that there has been a growth of overt
anti-semitism in Europe, especially since the collapse of European
communism more than a decade ago. That trend has quickened since the
start of the second intifada and Ariel Sharon's election as Israel's
prime minister. In Britain, physical attacks on Jews have increased
significantly - even if they remain far fewer than assaults on black,
Asian and Muslim people - and now a London synagogue has been
desecrated. With the far right on the march across the continent, it
is hardly surprising that a community barely a couple of generations
away from the most devastating genocide in human history feels
beleaguered - a perception heightened by atrocities against civilians
in Israel, such as Tuesday's suicide attack in Rishon
Letzion.</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-4" color="#000000"><b><br>
No doubt some on the left have wrongly taken the comparative
wealth and position of Britain's Jewish community as a sign that the
social cancer of anti-semitism is somehow less dangerous than other
forms of racism. The graveyards of Europe are a permanent reminder
that it is not. The left is certainly not immune from racist currents
in society; and it needs aggressively to police the line between
anti-Zionism and anti-semitism, taking into account Jewish
sensitivities in the way it campaigns for justice in the Middle
East.<br>
<br>
But none of that excuses the smear that left or liberal support
for Palestinian rights is somehow connected to resurgent anti-Jewish
racism - an absurd slur which is itself being used as an apologia for
Israel's brutal war of subjugation in the occupied territories. All
the evidence is that it is the far right, the traditional fount of
anti-semitic poison, which has been overwhelmingly responsible for
attacks on both Muslim and Jewish targets in Europe. Violence from the
Islamist fringe no doubt also poses a threat, but not even in the
wildest rantings of Israel's cheerleaders has it been suggested that
any group on the left could have had anything to do with, say, the
trashing of the Finsbury Park synagogue. Nor is it hostile media
coverage that is fuelling criticism of Israel, but what is actually
taking place on the ground in Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah.<br>
<br>
The reality is that, contrary to the claims of the supporters of
Israel's 35-year-old occupation, its existence as a state is not
remotely in danger. Nor by any stretch of the imagination does it
"stand alone", as some have insisted. Its security is
guaranteed by the most powerful state in the world.<br>
<br>
There is, however, a very real and present threat to the
Palestinians, their national rights and even their very presence in
what is left to them of Palestine. Evidence of serious Israeli
breaches of the Geneva convention - war crimes - across the West Bank
has been collected by human rights organisations in recent weeks. But
Israel has been able to swat away the Jenin investigation team,
ordered in by the UN security council, with impunity. To refuse to
acknowledge these brute facts of power and injustice is itself a
reflection of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, both currently more
violently represented on Europe's streets and more acceptable in its
polite society than anti-semitism. For the left to ignore such
oppression would be a betrayal. As the Zapatista leader Marcos has it,
he is "a Jew in Germany, a Palestinian in Israel".<br>
<br>
Last week, Dick Armey, the Republican leader in the US House of
Representatives and a key Bush ally, called for Israel to annex the
occupied territories and expel the Palestinian inhabitants. In other
words, he was proposing the ethnic cleansing of the Arab population.
His remarks aroused little comment, but coming at a time when 40% of
the Israeli public, as well as cabinet ministers, openly support such
a "transfer", it can only be taken as encouragement by the
most extreme elements in the Israeli establishment. Ethnic cleansing
is not of course a new departure for Israel, whose forces twice
organised large-scale expulsions of Palestinians, in 1948 and 1967 -
as documented in the records and memoirs of Israeli leaders of the
time - to secure a commanding Jewish majority in the territory under
its control. But the refugees created in the process remain at the
heart of the conflict. It was the tragedy of the Zionist project that
Jewish self-determination could only be achieved at another people's
expense.<br>
<br>
A two-state settlement is now the only possible way to secure
peace in the forseeable future. But for such a settlement to stick
there will have to be some reversal of that historic ethnic cleansing.
Those who insist there can be no questioning of the legitimacy of the
state in its current form - with discriminatory laws giving a
"right of return" to Jews from anywhere in the world, while
denying it to Palestinians expelled by force - are scarcely taking a
stand against racism, but rather the opposite. They are also doing no
favours to Israelis. The latest suicide bombings have demonstrated the
failure of Sharon's strategy for dismantling the infrastructure of
terror. What is needed instead is a strategy to dismantle the
infrastructure of occupation. Not only would that open the way to
peace in the Middle East. It could also create the conditions for
Muslims and Jews in Europe to realise their common
interests.</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-4" color="#000000"><b><br>
=====<br>
<br>
TOMORROW: ISRAEL SHAMIRíS ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE.<br>
<br>
<br>
Thought for the Day:<br>
<br>
ìTruth is generally the best vindication against slander.î<br>
<br>
(Abraham Lincoln)<br>
<span
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