________________________________ De: Rich Forer <[email protected]> Objet: Opinion Pieces for the Boulder Daily Camera
Friends,
Attached to this email are three short articles on Zionism and the logic of
Zionism. The first two were published on November 19 and 20 by the Boulder
Daily Camera. I did not expect the Camera to publish the third article, which
was written by me. I was right, and I explain why towards the end of this
email. Together, these articles provide a good summary of the hostility and
different worlds Israel’s critics and defenders live in. Some of the points I
make in this email and in my article are not discussed by any commentators on
the Israel-Palestine debate, so please share this with your contacts.
The first article in the attachment is an opinion piece by Guy Benintendi
that is critical of Zionism and its effect on the US population. The next day,
the Camera published a letter from Boulder rabbi Fred Greene disputing Guy’s
reasoning. A self-described Zionist, Greene said, “Zionism is simply the belief
that Jewish people have the right to self-determination in our ancestral
homeland — a right granted to all peoples.” Is Greene in such denial that he
doesn’t realize that for generations the Zionist state of Israel has viciously
denied the right to self-determination to the indigenous people in their
ancestral homeland, that from its inception the Zionist project was determined
to “spirit the penniless across the border (Herzl, 1897),” to “support
compulsory transfer (Ben Gurion, 1930s)”? Zionists were unequivocal that “there
is no room in this country for both peoples. . . . If the Arabs leave it, the
country will become wide and spacious for us. . . . The only solution is a land
of Israel, without Arabs. . . There is no room here for compromises. . . . Not
one village must be left, not one [bedouin] tribe. (Josef Weitz, director of
the Jewish National Fund’s Lands Department,
1940).”[1]<https://d.docs.live.net/85A0E2F31FB19424/Israel%20Palestine%20Notes.docx#_ftn1>
When confronted with the consequences of Zionism’s destructive legacy upon
the Middle East, not to mention the US and Europe, virtually every defender of
Israel is compelled, though they are unaware of their compulsion, to fabricate
a story that preserves their cherished beliefs and images of Israel as a
country wanting to live in peace that is continually forced to defend itself
against the murderous intentions of antisemites. It’s important to understand
that their accusations of bigotry are a strategy to deny their own bigotry.
Moreover, just as they are in denial of Israel’s crimes against humanity, they
cannot comprehend that the moral support Zionists provide Israel makes those
crimes, which they call self-defense, possible.
Greene’s need to maintain his childish beliefs is the singular reason he
misinterpreted Guy’s words and accused him of wanting to deny and erase “Jewish
rights." He had no conscious choice but to make that accusation because to
maintain his unexamined and idealistic images of himself and Israel as fair and
humane, his only option was to lie to himself and deny the truth of Israel’s
policies and behavior. Additionally, he has to slander Israel’s critics as
antisemites. Real antisemitism exists in the US, mainly among Israel’s friends,
such as the Republican party and its white nationalist base, but on nowhere
near the scale Zionists would have us believe. [“The anti-Semites will become
our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.” – The
Complete Diaries of Theodore Herzl, Volume One]. In any case, that is not what
I am talking about. I am talking about legitimate criticism of Israel. If
critics are antisemites, then rather than being founded upon fact, their
criticism can be dismissed as nothing more than scurrilous attempts to
dehumanize Jews. From years before its establishment, Zionists were determined
to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. As the very dovish former foreign
minister Abba Eban once said, “One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the
Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and
anti-Zionism [generally understood as criticism of policies of the Israeli
state] is not a distinction at all.”
Greene's tropes emanate from his and other Zionists' collective
imagination. The tropes have no basis in objective reality. They are
self-serving and indicative of Zionists' refusal to contemplate anything that
challenges their presumed identities as "Jews" and/or "Zionists," including the
beliefs and images that constitute such identities. The tropes are confessions
of their self-deceit and are essential for them to maintain their presumed
identities. Inevitably, they are passed on to anyone they speak to on the
subject. The Jewish community is in deep trouble if its leaders are as
willfully ignorant as Fred Green—and Greene is a moderate compared to many.
Greene also posted his article on his Facebook page with these words:
"Yesterday, it was a very ugly piece in the Daily Camera newspaper, the local
paper for Boulder, Colorado. . . I felt compelled to write a response. I hope
it will be helpful."
After reading the above, I wrote to Greene, mentioned I'd read his and
Guy's articles, acknowledged that I was a severe critic of Zionism, and
suggested it could be useful for the two of us to engage in a public debate at
his synagogue (Har Hashem), the Boulder JCC, or any other venue he liked. He
ignored my challenge which I expected, but which, however, may have forced him
to consider—though only for an instant—and reflexively reject the reality that
despite his strong convictions he has never investigated this issue and may be
on the side of horrific injustice.
Despite my near certainty the Camera would not publish any further response
to Guy’s article, the day after the Camera published Green's rebuke, I
submitted my own article. My near certainty is because it's become increasingly
clear to me that the Camera is averse to taking a side on the Israel-Palestine
tragedy. It treats the opinions of both sides as equally relevant despite one
group's observations being rooted in documented fact and an aspiration to end
genocide, and the other's being rooted in denial and a self-serving and
fictitious version of history that supports, rationalizes, and justifies
genocide—and even denies there is a genocide.
Put simply, the Camera's possible bias in the direction of Greene—and the
supremacists on the Boulder City Council—eclipses its duty to serve the public
with accurate reporting. While I acknowledge these are "opinion" pieces, I
believe that American journalism has a duty to stand up for the oppressed and
to stand against the lies and deceptions of their oppressors. How else can it
enlighten and educate the public? Why won't the Camera denounce Jewish
supremacy and Zionist ideology, the latter being the engine that powers the
dispossession, torture, false imprisonment, occupation, character
assassination, and genocide of an entire people because they are guilty of the
“crime” of not being "Jewish"?
Guy's, Greene's, and my articles are attached to this email in a single
Word document in the order in which they were written. My 719 word article,
titled "Amalek and AIPAC: The Ideology That Incites Antisemitism," stands on
its own so you can bypass Guy's or Greene's pieces, though, at 650 and 300
words respectively, they are worth reading. Yours, Rich
________________________________
[1]<https://d.docs.live.net/85A0E2F31FB19424/Israel%20Palestine%20Notes.docx#_ftnref1>
. Also, “Land is the most necessary thing for our establishing roots in
Palestine. Since there are hardly any more arable unsettled lands in Palestine,
we are bound in each case of the purchase of land and its settlements to remove
the peasants who cultivated the land so far, both owners of the land and
tenants.” – Arthur Ruppin, 1930. Known as the father of Zionist settlement and
the father of Jewish sociology, Ruppin (1876–1943) was a founder of the city of
Tel Aviv.
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Benintendi Greene Forer.docx
Description: Benintendi Greene Forer.docx
