Jews, Israel and the Palestinians
This article clarifies my position vis-a-vis these hot-button issues. As I have demonstrated in my work over the past couple of decades, there is always room for discussion of Jewish supremacy, as outlined in the Old Testament and Talmud. I have criticized this hegemony in my book The Christ Conspiracy as well. There are many other blogs and articles about Judaism on my various sites, including one about the Bible and Talmud.
That being said, a never-ending string of red herrings on these subjects posted in other threads here and on other sites is really quite tiresome. Practically EVERY issue raised receives comments about “the Jews” and then a distraction to the Palestinians. Heck, probably if I posted something about a puppy being lost, we’d start hearing ranting about how “the Jews did it.” Whatever it is, it’s always the fault of “the Jews” and then we must hear about the Palestinians.
What is happening is that, like Pavlov’s dog, people have been conditioned by “alternative media” over the past two decades to have this unthinking kneejerk reaction that apparently makes them feel as if they are doing important humanitarian work and beneficial activism.
I too was on this bandwagon 20 years ago when I started listening to Pacifica radio, which at that time was largely a stream of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian propaganda. I was very surprised that anyone was criticizing Jews, since we’d been raised to be very sensitive about perceived “anti-Semitism,” based on the suffering during WWII.
I also read Ralph Schoenman’s Hidden History of Zionism. Of course, I was infuriated and began complaining. But then this issue hit critical mass, and it seems like everyone is now harping about it. As far as I can tell, Israel has responded to the criticism and changed its policies to some extent, moving out of Gaza, for example. Meanwhile, the policies of Israel’s enemies haven’t softened – that’s for sure, and Israel has been bombarded by rocket strikes.
And there are many fine people within Israel – i.e., JEWS – who themselves have been “pro-Palestinian” activists for years. I met some of the biggest movers and shakers many years ago, supporters of the Jewish concentration-camp survivor and critic Israel Shahak. While I still resent the Jewish/Zionist supremacist mentality and the foolish but lucrative tourist trade in bogus Christian sites and artifacts, Israel simply isn’t as bad as it is being portrayed to be in the left-wing media, which is evidently heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic organizations. I personally don’t particularly want to fall into the trap of EITHER Abrahamic cultic brainwashing, whether it’s religious or political.
Indeed, we should be aware that, while the Saudis and other Arab countries are constantly harping about the “poor Palestinians,” this cause is being and has been used cynically by these groups in order to further their own agenda. From my understanding, the Saudi elite could not care less about the Palestinians, except to use them as pawns in getting rid of Israel. Indeed, it appears that the Saudis have an institutionalized policy of prejudice against the Palestinians in order to force them out of Saudi lands and “back to their homeland,” i.e., “occupied Israel”:
An estimated 500,000 Palestinians are living in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as of December 2004. They are not allowed to hold or even apply for Saudi citizenship, as the new law passed by Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers in October 2004 (which entitles expatriates of all nationalities who have resided in the kingdom for ten years to apply for citizenship, with priority being given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields) has one glaring exception: Palestinians will not be allowed to benefit from the new law because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship in order “to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland”.
Right now, it seems, Palestinian elite is thriving from all the aid money pouring into the area over the past decades, the poor people remain oppressed – and THIS inequity is what we are seeing now in significant part.
This situation is obviously very complicated, so I’m not interested in seeing or engaging in mindless ranting against Israel, “the Jews” and the “poor Palestinians” in every thread I post here or elsewhere. If you want to rant here, I suppose you may since it’s on topic. But before you do, be sure to look at the links I’ve included here, and let us not have a bunch of ad homs and inconsiderate speech – I have Jewish friends, including elderly ladies, who are very frightened by reading such remarks. These lovely folks not only don’t follow Jewish supremacist thinking, but they would also bend over backwards to help out their fellow man, whoever and wherever s/he is.
15 thoughts on “Jews, Israel and the Palestinians”
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Prepare to be called a racist, bigoted this-&-that by both sides of this issue for not uncritically supporting one side. Or a fence-sitter, for the same reason.
We like our issues clearly delineated into good & evil parties. None of this namby-pamby relativism for us. We have too many things to do to be bothered with looking into any issue too much. One could miss a whole season of “Dancing With The Stars” trying to sort all that out.
Much better to choose the most attractive of the competing party lines.
:dry: Bokertov….It would seem so ! Too much blame on the Jew for every little thing , but it ‘s to be expected of the GOY ! When we establish ourselves and finally the goy submit to our rules , that will change ! rules is what the christians can’t seem to decide on …while our laws are perfect and so forth ! lilatov and muzzletov . :s
after banging my head several times in Jerusalem on my last visit , i began to have a vision of the holy city in just a decade’s time ! THE HEAVENLY CITY WAS HERE AND i was init ! Dressed in black garb of the finest silk walking gold paved streets;everybody was a Rabbi and our women all dressed in potato sacks ! What an exciting time ! Just think what’s in store ….gold and silver everywhere, and no mini skirts anywhere ! bokertov ! and no more goy except outside the walls doing manual labor like in metropolis ! 😯
Hmmmm
“the left-wing media, which is evidently heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic organizations.” This is a huge statement that doesn’t make much sense to me. Can you post your sources?
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You didn’t mention anything about the SETTLEMENTS? Which in part can be viewed as a sort of “land grab” by Israel.
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This is from a Haaretz article in 2009: Nearly six of every 10 Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resist U.S. demands to completely freeze construction in Jewish West Bank settlements, according to a new poll released Friday.
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And Saudi Arabia is very close friends with the U.S. Why do you assume they would automatically be friendly towards Palestinians?
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Lastly, you make a good point about not demonizing all Israeli’s because, as you stated, some are actually pro-palistinian activists themselves.
This article is confused. There are people who are not on the left who do not agree with the current government of Israel. More people, like me, do not want our money to support the previous policies of the US and Israel, which has failed as things are worse, nor the current policy. I do not want my tax money going to this. Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon are racist and undemocratic. We need to support pro-democracy movement in all of these countries, and to make our money accountable and transparent in where it is spent. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because no country in the Middle East is democratic according to basic western values, doesn’t make any one of them better. We simply have more political and military interests in some more than others, and this governs our double-speak about that country. When one uses objective criteria, democracy in all those countries depends upon who you are in those countries. In the narrative in the US it is usually more the fault of the Palestinians or Arabs, only the fringe really obsessively blame the Jews. This needs to be separated from real criticism of Israel which is surfacing more as the US population becomes more educated about the Middle East.
Dan, we’re not allowed to criticize anything Israel does. Doing that automatically makes you a Naziwhowantstokill6millionjews. And if you criticise the Palistinians or Islam you’re an intolerant, bigoted western imperialist racist. No adult conversation to be had on the issue. Gotta love that PC theology.
totally agree, Jeff H. it’s an enormously complicated issue; there is nothing clear-cut about it, with the exception of the fact that palestinians were indeed forced out of their homes by force, and for the sake of a “jewish” state. i can’t deny that i find that entirely abhorrent. i think that very, very few people in the western world are familiar enough with the subtleties of the issue to form a thoroughly-reasoned opinion. we just don’t have enough information, and what we do have is often sourced from extremely lopsided, manipulated news outlets. beyond that, though.. i will say this: in recent years, i have met a lebanese graduate student studying in the US whose wife was killed during an unprovoked carpet bombing raid on a ferry pier in a completely civilian area. the man was on his way to his school’s financial aid office, to ask for an emergency loan to return home and attend his wife’s funeral. he said that many, possibly hundreds or thousands, of lebanese civilians were killed by the air strike. i find that utterly detestable, and therefore do lean slightly toward the anti-zionist persuasion.
I agree. Zionism is Jewish nationalism. When Germans has a similar ideology they dispossessed millions living in the area, terrorized them & put them in camps too. Nasty, murderous dogma. And then there’s good ole’ Islam lined up against them on all sides. ‘Nuff said. Two racist,sexist, supremacist, pseudo-religious ideologies going at it tooth & nail. Both willing to kill millions to get their way.
It’s like watching Hitler & Stalin’s regimes demonizing each other when neither ever had room to talk. Nothing good can come from that quagmire.
left wing criticism……………
of israel? I never hear any critricism of israel on any main stream media including pacifica radio which i consider mainstream.also owned by jewz.Israel does not stick the the agrrement under which it was created as to full and equal treatment of the indigenous people from whom they took the land from. ashkenazi jews have no inherent right to the land they basically stole with the balfour agreement which britain had no right ot give soemthing that was not theirs to give.. Israel is responsible for the existence of mossad probably the most criminal secret undercover navekl wool organzation alongside famous cia.to whitewash israel dont work. they are responsible for too much nastiness,extortion,murder,userping,generally criminal state asame as america’s federal gov’t is invading countries at their whim.most of the rot in amelikan govt is becuase of jews and traitors vile creatures who sell to the highest or any buyer.evry ad piece of legislation resticting and or policies that are ruining amelika are backed by jews and their stooges in govt.
Then you weren’t listening to the same Pacifica/KPFK that I listened to for years.
re: left wing criticism……………
[quote name=”tergium hulotov”]of israel? I never hear any critricism of israel on any main stream media including pacifica radio which i consider mainstream.also owned by jewz.Israel does not stick the the agrrement under which it was created as to full and equal treatment of the indigenous people from whom they took the land from. ashkenazi jews have no inherent right to the land they basically stole with the balfour agreement which britain had no right ot give soemthing that was not theirs to give.. blah…. blah….[/quote]
Love your post: the whole topsy-turvy history of the world is there! Bravo. And of course, damn the jews.
Well, I’m not one of them, but if friendly neighbouring Arab countries attacked my country 24 hours after the indenpendence, I would fight tooth and nail. When they did it again and I would fight harder… and be verrrry suspicious later.
I really do feel sorry for 99.9% of Palestinians where only 0.1% of priviledged got all the money that their Arab friends were sending in cash and that was personally given out by Arafat and Co. Fact is that Palestinians are not welcomed anywhere to settle by their neighbouring brethren. Lebanon is just not changing some laws to correct this and Saudis will never do it.
The Arab unwritten policy is: keep the Palestinian political issue alive by all means and especially by their continous suffering.
And of course: blame the Jews for everything.
Correcting error in my above post
[i]The near bottom sentence should read:[/i]
Lebanon is just now changing laws to correct this, while Saudis will never do it.
Thanks,
Bob
Since Acgarya S. invited comment here on this subject, I will make a comment.
The Holocaust, which was perpetrated by Nazi Germany, took place entirely in Europe and it ended sixty-five years ago. Since that time, most of the survivors of the Holocaust have died of natural causes.
During the Holocaust, most of the Islamic countries of the Middle East and North Africa were safe-havens for the Jews. The Moslem nations, in general, did not participate in the Holocaust and they should not be blamed or punished for it.
Contrary to the version told by the Israeli and US governments, there is considerable evidence which indicates that Israel aggressively started the several wars with its Arab neighbors in which Israel has claimed that they were attacked first.
While most nations upheld sanctions against racist South Africa during the years of Apartheid, Israel continued trading with South Africa, including providing weapons and military training. South Africa provided uranium for Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal, now estimated to be about 200 warheads.
During the 1970s and 80s Israel provided arms, military training, and computer services to the murderous dictatorship in Guatemala, where 200,000 peasants were killed and their land was given to US agribusiness corporations. Israeli and US military officers trained and led the famous ‘death squads’ in Guatemala.
Israel participated in the Iran-Contra scam, in which arms were sold to both sides in the Iran/Iraq War of the 1980s, in which more than a million people died.
Israel provided arms and military training to both sides during the Sri Lankan Civil War, in which about 80,000 people died.
Israeli arms were used and Israeli military trainers participated in Geogia’s aggression against South Osettia and the massacre of civilians there in 2008.
What did South African blacks, Guatemalan peasants, the people of Sri Lanka, or the people of South Ossetia ever do to threaten the security of Israel? The answer is: they did nothing to threaten Israel. Israel was simply profiting from supplying the tools and training for aggressive war and oppression.
Israel has become the fourth largest arms supplier in the world, and Israel cooperates closely with the USA in covert and overt military and intelligence operations throughout the world. In political and military affairs, the USA and Israel are ‘joined at the hip’.
Two thousand years ago it was the Romans, not the Arabs, who ordered the Jews out of Palestine. After World War Two, the European Jews came to Palestine as wealthy colonists with powerful international backing, intent on driving out the indigenous Arabs. US leaders have described Israel as the Western nations’ ‘beach-head in the Middle East’. That is an apt description of the situation.
During Israel’s 2008 ‘Operation Cast Lead’ massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza, thirteen Israelis died, four of them from rocket attacks. The rocket attacks began after the Israelis violated a truce by invading Gaza with tanks and bulldozers to destroy an alleged tunnel used by Hamas. During ‘Operation Cast Lead’ 1,400 Palestians were killed by the Israeli Defense Forces, who used White Phosphorus and Depleted Uranium munitions, which are illegal by international treaty.
Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’, with its 100/1 death ratio, was very heavy-handed, to say the least. Much like the US-led aggression against Iraq, where White Phosphorus and Depleted Uranium munitions were likewise used against the civilian population.
As a self-proclaimed ‘Jewish State’, the very idea of Israel (or any Theocracy) is anathema to the American ideal of secular democracy. The USA’s elitist rulers support Israel, but people of conscience should not.
Gregory Fegel
“The Moslem nations, in general, did not participate in the Holocaust and they should not be blamed or punished for it.”
The Muslims committed the original holocaust in the Middle East on all kufr religionists. Prior to Islam, most of the Middle East had been Pagan and Zoroastrian. The Muslims sought to genocide to exterminate those who did not bow down to the Jewish God and forced Arabization and cultural genocide upon as many peoples as they could from the Berbers to the Egyptians, to the Babylonians, etc.
Islamic nations continue to supply arms to Sudanese Islamist militants who are attempting to eliminate all forms of native Sudanese culture and religion and replace it with an Arab culture and Islamic religion in which all Sudanese will be forced to submit. Slavery in the Islamic world is still present to this day. In fact up to 20-30% of the population (the slaves being Black Africans and the Slave Masters being largely of Arab descent) of Mauritania is believed to be enslaved.
Most of the 200,000 villagers who were targeted by the Guatemalan regime were believed to have fled to other nations. One the other hand in Modern Iraq, the death toll of mostly intra-Islamic violence reaches up to one million. The Arabs also aided Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War.
Russia and Ukraine were also supply arms and training services to both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. It’s a business opportunity, nothing more, nothing less. The Russians had been occupying a portion of Osseta, and Georgia decided to act on establishing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as part of Georgia. A regional conflict, that is all. On the other hand the Arabs had been supporting Turkish endeavors in the region involving the massacre tens of thousands of Kurds. The Sunni Arab sponsored regime of Saddam massacred up to 100,000 Kurds.
The Arabs and the Muslims have benefited as much or more from the US, than Israel. The US government overall has been very pro-semitic. It was the the US which supported the Islamists against the Soviets. It was the US which supported the government of Pakistan in excusing the genocide of Hindus in Pakistan (see the demographic numbers). It was the US which bombed Serbia for defending its territorial integrity in Kosovo. The Kosovars themselves had been forced to convert to Islam starting in the 14th century by the Ottoman Turks.The Croat Catholics had also been involved in massacring Serbs, yet the US government sees no problems there. The US government has excused Turkish belligerence in Cyprus and so on and so forth. The US government has encouraged Islamic immigration to Europe and the West, etc. The US has actually been quite the patron of Islam.
Jews are Middle Eastern, not European. European Jews are genetically closest to Turks, Kurds, Cypriots and Lebanese. They are genetically closer to Iraqi semites than they are to Europeans. Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews are about as “european” as White South Africans are “african”.
The Arab thieves came to the Levant originally as wealthy marauding pirates, bandits and genocidal maniacs intent on Arabizing and Islamizing as many regions as possible. The Arabs stole loot from all the various peoples they conquered from the Berbers, to the Copts to the Nabateans,etc. Arabic is a central semitic language, having its origins in southern Arabia. The arabs are indigenous to that area. The original languages spoken in the Levant had been of the Northwest Semitic variant, i.e Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic. The Arabs are the colonizers in the region who forced the Palestinians to convert to Islam and robbed the inhabitants of the Levant of their earthly possessions. The ARABS ARE IMPERIALISTS. The original culture and language of Palestine was far more similar to that of the Hebrews and Jews than to the Arabs. The Arabs being the genocidal maniacs that they are exterminated indigenous Palestinian idenitity.
Compared to other nations in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, Israel is literally a garden in the Middle East from a relative standpoint. In Israel you are free to practice your religion, culture, speak your language and can leave that ethnic identity at any time. Whereas in the Arab Islamic nations, all non-Jewish religions are illegal, and Atheist Kafirs such as yourself are exterminated on a daily basis.
Cast lead is nothing compared to the Arab Islamic GENOCIDE in Sudan. Is Israel forcing the Palestinians to convert to Judaism and to abandon their imposed culture and ethnic identity? Not even that. On the other hand that is exactly what the Arabs did in the first place.
The deaths from White Phosphorous and Depleted Uranium in Iraq PALE IN COMPARISON compared to the death toll from Sunni-Shia violence and lethal Arab racism against the Kurds.
Israel, a theocracy? Compared to Saudi Arabia? A land mass over one hundred times the size of Israel and supported by the US? In the KSA, JUDAISM IS ILLEGAL. About 20% of the population of Israel on the other hand is Arab, their religion is of course primarily Islamic.
There’s no comparison in terms of degree of destruction, or degree of power, between Zionist extremism and Islamic extremism. Though there are extemists in the Muslim world, they have nowhere near the money, funding or support of their Jewish counterparts.
Having said that, I don’t include Hezbollah or Hamas or any Palestinian group in their because in these cases they are legitimate responses(under international law) to occupation and attack.
Even the Muslim Brotherhood you talk about is far from being an extremist organization. There are elements within it that are, but they don’t have an extremist agenda.
Zionists definitely have an extremist agenda. Zionism is an extremist ideology. Full stop. Just check out any popular definition of Zionism and think for a second or two about what that really means…