-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html
Uri Avnery >>>See bottom<<<
28.9.02
Manufacturing Anti-Semites
The first Israeli victim of Saddam Hussein is a Zionist myth on which we were brought
up.
It stated that Israel is a haven for all the Jews in the world. In all the other
countries, Jews
live in perpetual fear that a cruel persecutor will arise, as happened in Germany.
Israel is
the safe haven, to which Jews can escape in times of danger. Indeed, this was the
purpose
of the Founding Fathers when they established the state.
Now Saddam comes along and proves the opposite. All over the world, Jews live in
safety,
and only in one place on the planet are they threatened by annihilation: Israel. Here
the
national parks are prepared for mass-graves, here (pathetic) measures against
biological
and chemical weapons are prepared. Many people are already planning to escape to the
communities in the Diaspora. End of a myth.
Another Zionist myth died even before that. The Diaspora, so we learned in our youth,
creates anti-Semitism. Everywhere the Jews are a minority, and a minority inevitably
attracts the hatred of the majority. Only when the Jews gather in the Land of their
Forefathers and constitute the majority there, will anti-Semitism disappear throughout
the
world. Thus spoke Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.
Nowadays this myth, too, is giving up its blessed soul. The very opposite is
happening: the
State of Israel is causing the resurrection of anti-Semitism all over the world,
threatening
Jews everywhere.
The Sharon government is a giant laboratory for the growing of the anti-Semitism
virus. It
exports it to the whole world. Anti-Semitic organizations, which for many years
vegetated
on the margins of society, rejected and despised, are suddenly growing and flowering.
Anti-
Semitism, which has hidden itself in shame since World War II, is now riding on a great
wave of opposition to Sharon's policy of oppression.
Sharon's propaganda agents are pouring oil on the flames. Accusing all critics of his
policy
of being anti-Semites, they brand large communities with this mark. Many good people,
who feel no hatred at all towards the Jews, but who detest the persecution of the
Palestinians, are now called anti-Semites. Thus the sting is taken out of this word,
giving it
something approaching respectability.
The practical upshot: not only does Israel not protect the Jews from anti-Semitism, but
quite on the contrary - Israel manufactures and exports the anti-Semitism that
threatens
Jews around the world.
For many years, Israel enjoyed the sympathy of most people. It was seen as the state of
the holocaust survivors, a small and courageous country defending itself against the
repeated assaults of murderous Arabs. Slowly, this image has been replaced by another:
a
cruel, brutal and colonizing state, oppressing a small and helpless people. The
persecuted
has become the persecutor, David has turned onto Goliath.
We Israelis, living in a bubble of self-brain-washing, find it hard to imagine how the
world
sees us. In many countries, television and newspapers publish daily pictures of
Palestinian
children throwing stones at monstrous tanks, soldiers harassing women at the
checkpoints,
despairing old men sitting on the ruins of their demolished homes, soldiers taking aim
and
shooting children. These soldiers do not look like human beings in uniform - "the
neighbor's
son" as they look to Israelis, but like robots without faces, armed to the teeth,
heads hidden
by helmets, bullet-proof vests changing their proportions. People who have seen these
photos dozens and hundreds of times start to see the Israel in this image.
For Jews, this creates a dangerous vicious circle. Sharon's actions create repulsion
and
opposition throughout the world. These reinforce anti-Semitism. Faced with this danger,
Jewish organizations are pushed into defending Israel and giving it unqualified
support. This
support enables the anti-Semites to attack not only the government of Israel, but the
local
Jews, too. And so on.
In Europe, Jews already feel the pressure. But in the United States, they still feel
supremely
self-confident. In Europe, Jews have learned over the centuries that it is not wise to
be too
conspicuous and to display their wealth and influence. But in America, the very
opposite is
happening: the Jewish establishment is practically straining to prove that it controls
the
country.
Every few years, the Jewish lobby "eliminates" an American politician who does not
support
the Israeli government unconditionally. This is not done secretly, behind the scenes,
but as
a public "execution". Just now this was done to the black Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney, a young, active, intelligent and very sympathetic woman. She has dared to
criticize the Sharon government, support Palestinians and (worst of all) Israeli and
Jewish
peace groups. The Jewish establishment found a counter- candidate, a practically
unknown
black woman, injected huge sums into the campaign and defeated Cynthia.
All this happened in the open, with fanfares, to make a public example - so that every
Senator and Congressperson would know that criticizing Sharon is tantamount to
political
suicide.
Now this is repeated in a big way. The pro-Israel lobby - which consists of Jews and
extreme right-wing Christian fundamentalists - is pushing the American administration
to
start a war. This, too, openly, in full view of the American public. Dozens of
articles in the
important newspapers point this out as a plain political fact.
What will happen if the war ends in failure? If it has unexpected negative results and
many
young Americans die? If the American public turns against it, as happened during the
Vietnam War? One can easily imagine a whispering campaign starting: "The Jews have
pushed us into this," "The Jews support Israel more than they support America," and,
finally, "The Jews control our country."
Furthermore, Sharon may sooner or later bring about a revolution in the Arab world.
This
will be a disaster for American interests. American Jews, now completely identified
with
Israel, will be blamed.
Anyhow, the conspicuousness of the Jews in the United States, especially in the media,
and
their disproportionate influence over the Congress and the White House, can backfire
one of
these days.
Of course, the special political culture of the United States encourages such
phenomena -
but that was also true in Spain of the "Golden Age" and the Weimar republic in Germany.
History does not have to repeat itself, but neither should one disregard its lessons.
There are people in Israel people who secretly wish for the victory of anti-Semitism
everywhere. That would confirm another Zionist myth on which we were brought up: that
Jews will not be able to live anywhere but in Israel, because anti-Semitism is bound to
triumph everywhere. But the United States is not France or Argentina, it plays a
critical role
in the Middle East. Israel's national security, as established by all Israeli
governments since
Ben-Gurion, is based on the total support of the United States - military, political
and
economic.
If I were asked for advice, I would counsel the Jewish communities throughout the
world as
follows: break out of the vicious circle. Disarm the anti-Semites. Break the habit of
automatic identification with everything our governments do. Let your conscience speak
out.
Return to the traditional Jewish values of "That which is altogether just shalt thou
follow!"
(Deuteronomy 16,20) and "Seek peace and pursue it!" (Psalms 34, 14). Identify
yourselves
with the Other Israel, which is struggling to uphold these values at home.
All over the world, new Jewish groups that follow this way are multiplying. They break
yet
another myth: the duty of Jews everywhere to subordinate themselves to the edicts of
our
government.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uri Avnery
JOURNALIST, WRITER, PEACE ACTIVIST.
1950-1990
Former Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, "Ha'olam Haze" newsmagazine.
1965-1969
1969-1973
1979-1981
3 Terms as member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).
1975
Founding member, Israeli council for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
1993 Founding member, "Gush Shalom" (Peace Bloc), Independent Peace Mevement.
Columnist, Ma'ariv Daily.
Born:
September 10, 1923, Beckum, Germany.
Immigration to palestine:
November 1933.
Underground:
Member of the Irgun, 1938-1942.
Army service:
Member of Samson's Foxes, commando unit, 1948
twice wounded in action.
Prizes:
Erich-Maria-Remarque peace prize (Germany) for the year 1995,
awarded 21/6/95.
Honorary citizenship of Abu-Ghosh near Jerusalem, for his part in preventing
the eviction of the village, awarded 12.12.53
Honorary citizenship of Kfar Kassem, Israel,
awarded 31.11.96, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the war crime, for his
principal role in exposing it.
Aachen peace prize for "Gush Shalom with Uri Avnery",
awarded 1/9/97.
Kreisky prize for human rights, Vienna, autumn 1997.
Lower Saxony prize for human rights, awarded 11.2.98
Palestinian award for human rights, awarded by "LAW", Palestinian Society for Human
Rights
Jerusalem 7.6.98
(Avnery has never received any prize from any official Israeli body.)
Since 1948 has advocated the setting up of a Palestinianstate alongside Israel.
In 1974, Uri Avnery was the first Israeli to establish contact with PLO leadership.
In 1982 he was the first Israeli ever to meet Yassir Arafat, after crossing the lines
in
besieged Beirut.
Books:
"Terrorism – The infantile disease of the Hebrew revolution"
(Booklet, 1945, HEBREW).
War or peace in the Semitic region (booklet, 1947, hebrew).
"In the fields of the Philistines"
(1949, Hebrew, translated into Spanish and Yiddish), best-selling combat diary (twelve
editions).
"The other side of the coin"
(1950,Hebrew), war experiences.(was boycotted because of description of atrocities).
"The Swastika"
(1961, Hebrew), analysis of growth of the Nazi movement in Germany.
"Israel without Zionists"
("the war of the seventh day") (1968, English - Macmillan us and Britain - translated
into
Hebrew, French, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Spanish), history of the Israeli-Arab
conflict, a plea for a Middle Eastern community.
"1 against 119"
(1969, Hebrew), speeches by Uri Avnery in the Knesset, edited by Amnon Zichroni.
"My friend, the enemy"
(1988, English, translated into Hebrew, French, German, Italian), a personal testimony
about contacts with the PLO since 1974. German edition with preface by Bruno Kreisky.
"Lenin doesn't live here anymore"
(1991, Hebrew), about the transformation in the former Sowiet Union and Eastern Europe.
"We wear the shirt of Nessos"
(1991, German), Israel after the Gulf war.
"Two peoples, Two states"
(1995, German), conversation with Uri Avnery,
preface by Rudolf Augstein.
"The Jerusalem question"
(1996, German), conversations of Uri Avnery and Azmi Bishara with Israeli and
Palestinian
personalities.
Uri Avnery - a detailed biographical note.
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/uri2.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A<>E<>R
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