Conghaileach
13th May 2002, 22:48
Hey all,
I've been gone for quite a well, but now I'm back, though it may not be for long. Tests start in three days, plus the internet's getting pretty depressing. Every time I come online I always seem to be getting messages about the everyday victories of the court-appointed Bush administration's war of terror. Thank the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that the coup d'etat against Chavez was overthrown anyway.
Anyway, I've been hearing a lot about how this place seems to have had a problem with Jew-hating. I've also seen it first hand (I'm not Jewish, but some people I know seem to have turned really anti-semitic within the last few weeks). So I just wanted to post these two articles...
The following is the written text of a speech
delivered by Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman of Neturei Karta
International at the Manhattan rally of the
Metropolitan Muslim Coalition on April 12, 2002
Torah Jews Denounce Israeli State
With God’s help may the words that we speak here today
sanctify God’s name and may it bring peace and
brotherhood amongst His creations.
A – salaam aleikum
There are some people who may ask, why a Jew is
speaking at this Palestinian demonstration?
But in truth, the question should be totally
different. The question should be, how is it that the
Jewish people, which have been known as a
compassionate, God fearing, peaceful peope and have
lived side by side for over a thousand years, in peace
and brotherhood with their Arab and Muslim cousins,
how is it possible that this Jewish nation, can be one
and the same as this Zionist state, this Israeli state
and its arrogant militia, with their flag unfurled
with a Star of David at its center?
This question, thank God, I am humbly able to answer.
The answer is, my friends, that your question is
really the answer.
What you are seeing today, as representative of
Judaism is truly the antithesis of Judaism.
Not only is Zionism not one and the same with Judaism,
but on the contrary, Zionism is the true nemesis of
Judaism. The transformation of Godliness into a work
of Satan.
Tragically some people in the Holy Land and elsewhere,
as part of a mistaken reaction to the Holocaust, have
seen the Zionist entity as their savior and somehow
representative of world Jewry.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Judaism, true Judaism, totally rejects, in fact, it
abhors the philosophy of Zionism.
Zionism is a philosophy originated by non believers,
by Jews long since estranged from their faith.
It is a philosophy that denies God and His constant
supervision and does not accept His Torah as their
law.
It is a philosophy based upon the systematic
dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian
people.
As such it is the antithesis of Judaism.
My brothers, pay careful note, around the world from
Durban, South Africa to London, from New York to
Jerusalem, Orthodox Jews have demonstrated in the
streets against the Israeli state and the horrors of
Zionist actions.
In New York City, in Manhattan, a few weeks back, over
twenty thousand anti Zionist Jews marched against –
not simply the occupation of Gaza and the West bank –
rather against the very notion of the Israeli state
itself.
This march was completely ignored by the mainstream
media.
Do you know that just this week at a religious
anti-Zionist march in Jerusalem, God fearing orthodox
Jews were beaten mercilessly and some were thrown into
prisons, where they are still today. Have you seen one
word of this in any of the media outlets?
Members of the press here today – please, do not be
intimidated. Tell the world the truth. Tell them that
Zionism was opposed by almost all believing Jews from
its inception. And till today the opposition stands
strong.
We posit that metaphysically there can never be real
peace in the Middle East as long as the state of
Israel exists, because its very existence and all its
consequential actions is a rebellion against God.
We proclaim that the tremendous upsurge of
anti-Semitism throughout the world is a direct result
of Zionism, and that is exactly what the Zionists
want, so that the Jewish people will feel forced to
run to them for their supposed protection. We point a
finger at Zionism and its state as the core reason for
the colossal tragedy that has been perpetrated in the
holy land, against Arab and Jew alike, from the
inception of Zionism until today.
We want to stress our paid and embarrassment in regard
to the last tragedies and deaths which have accured in
Jenin, Nablus, Bais Lechem, the list goes on and on.
But you should know that Zionism is a greater tragedy
for Jews than for the Palestinians.
From the Palestinians, Zionism and its state, took
their land and their bodies, but from the Jews the
Zionists and its state took their souls, their belief
in God and in fact they have transformed the hole
concept of Judaism.
Our task as Jews in the world is a very basic one. It
is to serve the Creator as we have been commanded and
to seek peace and promote respect towards all men.
We yearn for the day when world Jewry having abandoned
Zionism will live in peace and harmony with their Arab
and Muslim cousins throughout the world.
As we all know everybody would want that the rights
and freedom of the Palestinians, be achieved without
any loss of life, as this is the normal human beings
wish. And so we pray that this objective should be
achieved speedily and immediately without any more
pain and suffering, be it Palestinian or be it Jewish.
This is the prayer of all decent man.
May we live to see the day, speedily in the very near
future, when the One God will be recognized through
out His universe and all will serve Him together in
peace and joy. AMAN
A – salaam aleikum
Old Hates Fueled By Fear
by Naomi Klein
I knew from e-mail reports that something new was going on in
Washington last weekend. A demonstration against the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund was joined by an antiwar march, as well as
a demonstration against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territory. In the end, all the marches joined together in what
organizers described as the largest Palestinian solidarity
demonstration in U.S. history, 75,000 people by police estimates.
On Sunday night, I turned on my television in the hope of catching a
glimpse of this historic protest. I saw something else, instead:
triumphant Jean-Marie Le Pen celebrating his newfound status as the
second-most popular political leader in France. Ever since, I've been
wondering whether the new alliance displayed on the streets can also
deal with this latest threat.
As a critic both of the Israeli occupation and of corporate-dictated
globalization, it seems to me that the convergence that took place in
Washington last weekend was long overdue. Despite easy labels like
"antiglobalization," the trade-related protests of the past three years
have all been about self-determination: the right of people everywhere
to decide how best to organize their societies and economies, whether
that means introducing land reform in Brazil, or producing generic AIDS
drugs in India, or, indeed, resisting an occupying force in Palestine.
When hundreds of globalization activists began flocking to Ramallah to
act as "human shields" between Israeli tanks and Palestinians, the
theory that has been developing outside trade summits was put into
concrete action. Bringing that courageous spirit back to Washington,
where so much Middle Eastern policy is made, was the next logical step.
But when I saw Mr. Le Pen beaming on TV, arms raised in triumph, some
of my enthusiasm drained away. There is no connection whatsoever
between French fascism and the "free Palestine" marchers in Washington
(indeed, the only people Mr. Le Pen's supporters seem to dislike more
than Jews are Arabs). And yet, I couldn't help thinking about all the
recent events I've been to where anti-Muslim violence was rightly
condemned, Ariel Sharon deservedly blasted, but no mention was made of
attacks on Jewish synagogues, cemeteries and community centers. Or
about the fact that every time I log onto activist news sites such as
Indymedia.org, which practice"open publishing," I'm confronted with a
string of Jewish conspiracy theories about 9-11 and excerpts from the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The globalization movement isn't anti-Semitic, it just hasn't fully
confronted the implications of diving into the Middle East conflict.
Most people on the left are simply choosing sides and in the Middle
East, where one side is under occupation and the other has the U.S.
military behind it, the choice seems clear. But it is possible to
criticize Israel while forcefully condemning the rise of anti-Semitism.
And it is equally possible to be pro-Palestinian independence without
adopting a simplistic "pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel" dichotomy, a mirror
image of the good-versus-evil equations so beloved by President George
W. Bush.
Why bother with such subtleties while bodies are still being pulled out
of the rubble in Jenin? Because anyone interested in fighting Le Pen-
style fascism or Sharon-style brutality has to deal with the reality of
anti-Semitism head-on.
The hatred of Jews is a potent political tool in the hands of the right
in Europe and in Israel. For Mr. Le Pen, anti-Semitism is a windfall,
helping spike his support from 10 per cent to 17 per cent in a week.
For Ariel Sharon, it is the fear of anti-Semitism, both real and
imagined, that is the weapon. Mr. Sharon likes to say that he stands up
to terrorists to show he is not afraid. In fact, his policies are
driven by fear. His great talent is that he fully understands the
depths of Jewish fear of another Holocaust. He knows how to draw
parallels between Jewish anxieties about anti-Semitism and American
fears of terrorism.
And he is an expert at harnessing all of it for his political ends. The
primary, and familiar, fear that Mr. Sharon draws on, the one that
allows him to claim all aggressive actions as defensive ones, is the
fear that Israel's neighbors want to drive the Jews into the sea. The
secondary fear Mr. Sharon manipulates is the fear among Jews in the
Diaspora that they will eventually be driven to seek safe haven in
Israel. This fear leads millions of Jews around the world, many of them
sickened by Israeli aggression, to shut up and send their checks, a
down payment on future sanctuary.
The equation is simple: The more fearful Jews are, the more powerful
Mr. Sharon is. Elected on a platform of "peace through security," his
administration could barely hide its delight at Mr. Le Pen's
ascendancy, immediately calling on French Jews to pack their bags and
come to the promised land.
For Mr. Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power will go
unchecked, granting him the impunity needed to do the unthinkable: send
troops into the Palestinian Authority's education ministry to steal and
destroy records; bury children alive in their homes; block ambulances
from getting to the dying.
Jews outside Israel now find themselves in
a tightening vise: The actions of the country that was supposed to
ensure their future safety are making them less safe right now. Mr.
Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions between the terms "Jew" and
"Israeli," claiming he is fighting not for Israeli territory but for
the survival of the Jewish people. And when anti-Semitism rises at
least partly as a result of his actions, it is Mr. Sharon who is
positioned once again to collect the political dividends.
And it works. Most Jews are so frightened that they are now willing to
do anything to defend Israeli policies. So at my neighborhood
synagogue, where the humble façade was just badly scarred by a
suspicious fire, the sign on the door doesn't say, "Thanks for nothing,
Sharon." It says, "Support Israel . . . Now more than ever."
There is a way out. Nothing is going to erase anti-Semitism, but Jews
outside and inside Israel might be a little safer if there was a
campaign to distinguish between diverse Jewish positions and the
actions of the Israeli state. This is where an international movement
can play a crucial role. Already, alliances are being made between
globalization activists and Israeli "refuseniks," soldiers who refuse
to serve their mandatory duty in the occupied territories. And the most
powerful images from Saturday's protests were rabbis walking alongside
Palestinians. But more needs to be done. It's easy for social-justice
activists to tell themselves that since Jews already have such powerful
defenders in Washington and Jerusalem, anti-Semitism is one battle they
don't need to fight.
This is a deadly error.
It is precisely because anti-Semitism is used by the likes of Mr.
Sharon that the fight against it must be reclaimed.
When anti-Semitism is no longer treated as Jewish business, to be taken
care of by Israel and the Zionist lobby, Mr. Sharon is robbed of his
most effective weapon in the indefensible and increasingly brutal
occupation. And as a bonus, whenever hatred of Jews diminishes, the
likes of Jean-Marie Le Pen shrink right down with it.
I've been gone for quite a well, but now I'm back, though it may not be for long. Tests start in three days, plus the internet's getting pretty depressing. Every time I come online I always seem to be getting messages about the everyday victories of the court-appointed Bush administration's war of terror. Thank the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that the coup d'etat against Chavez was overthrown anyway.
Anyway, I've been hearing a lot about how this place seems to have had a problem with Jew-hating. I've also seen it first hand (I'm not Jewish, but some people I know seem to have turned really anti-semitic within the last few weeks). So I just wanted to post these two articles...
The following is the written text of a speech
delivered by Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman of Neturei Karta
International at the Manhattan rally of the
Metropolitan Muslim Coalition on April 12, 2002
Torah Jews Denounce Israeli State
With God’s help may the words that we speak here today
sanctify God’s name and may it bring peace and
brotherhood amongst His creations.
A – salaam aleikum
There are some people who may ask, why a Jew is
speaking at this Palestinian demonstration?
But in truth, the question should be totally
different. The question should be, how is it that the
Jewish people, which have been known as a
compassionate, God fearing, peaceful peope and have
lived side by side for over a thousand years, in peace
and brotherhood with their Arab and Muslim cousins,
how is it possible that this Jewish nation, can be one
and the same as this Zionist state, this Israeli state
and its arrogant militia, with their flag unfurled
with a Star of David at its center?
This question, thank God, I am humbly able to answer.
The answer is, my friends, that your question is
really the answer.
What you are seeing today, as representative of
Judaism is truly the antithesis of Judaism.
Not only is Zionism not one and the same with Judaism,
but on the contrary, Zionism is the true nemesis of
Judaism. The transformation of Godliness into a work
of Satan.
Tragically some people in the Holy Land and elsewhere,
as part of a mistaken reaction to the Holocaust, have
seen the Zionist entity as their savior and somehow
representative of world Jewry.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Judaism, true Judaism, totally rejects, in fact, it
abhors the philosophy of Zionism.
Zionism is a philosophy originated by non believers,
by Jews long since estranged from their faith.
It is a philosophy that denies God and His constant
supervision and does not accept His Torah as their
law.
It is a philosophy based upon the systematic
dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian
people.
As such it is the antithesis of Judaism.
My brothers, pay careful note, around the world from
Durban, South Africa to London, from New York to
Jerusalem, Orthodox Jews have demonstrated in the
streets against the Israeli state and the horrors of
Zionist actions.
In New York City, in Manhattan, a few weeks back, over
twenty thousand anti Zionist Jews marched against –
not simply the occupation of Gaza and the West bank –
rather against the very notion of the Israeli state
itself.
This march was completely ignored by the mainstream
media.
Do you know that just this week at a religious
anti-Zionist march in Jerusalem, God fearing orthodox
Jews were beaten mercilessly and some were thrown into
prisons, where they are still today. Have you seen one
word of this in any of the media outlets?
Members of the press here today – please, do not be
intimidated. Tell the world the truth. Tell them that
Zionism was opposed by almost all believing Jews from
its inception. And till today the opposition stands
strong.
We posit that metaphysically there can never be real
peace in the Middle East as long as the state of
Israel exists, because its very existence and all its
consequential actions is a rebellion against God.
We proclaim that the tremendous upsurge of
anti-Semitism throughout the world is a direct result
of Zionism, and that is exactly what the Zionists
want, so that the Jewish people will feel forced to
run to them for their supposed protection. We point a
finger at Zionism and its state as the core reason for
the colossal tragedy that has been perpetrated in the
holy land, against Arab and Jew alike, from the
inception of Zionism until today.
We want to stress our paid and embarrassment in regard
to the last tragedies and deaths which have accured in
Jenin, Nablus, Bais Lechem, the list goes on and on.
But you should know that Zionism is a greater tragedy
for Jews than for the Palestinians.
From the Palestinians, Zionism and its state, took
their land and their bodies, but from the Jews the
Zionists and its state took their souls, their belief
in God and in fact they have transformed the hole
concept of Judaism.
Our task as Jews in the world is a very basic one. It
is to serve the Creator as we have been commanded and
to seek peace and promote respect towards all men.
We yearn for the day when world Jewry having abandoned
Zionism will live in peace and harmony with their Arab
and Muslim cousins throughout the world.
As we all know everybody would want that the rights
and freedom of the Palestinians, be achieved without
any loss of life, as this is the normal human beings
wish. And so we pray that this objective should be
achieved speedily and immediately without any more
pain and suffering, be it Palestinian or be it Jewish.
This is the prayer of all decent man.
May we live to see the day, speedily in the very near
future, when the One God will be recognized through
out His universe and all will serve Him together in
peace and joy. AMAN
A – salaam aleikum
Old Hates Fueled By Fear
by Naomi Klein
I knew from e-mail reports that something new was going on in
Washington last weekend. A demonstration against the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund was joined by an antiwar march, as well as
a demonstration against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territory. In the end, all the marches joined together in what
organizers described as the largest Palestinian solidarity
demonstration in U.S. history, 75,000 people by police estimates.
On Sunday night, I turned on my television in the hope of catching a
glimpse of this historic protest. I saw something else, instead:
triumphant Jean-Marie Le Pen celebrating his newfound status as the
second-most popular political leader in France. Ever since, I've been
wondering whether the new alliance displayed on the streets can also
deal with this latest threat.
As a critic both of the Israeli occupation and of corporate-dictated
globalization, it seems to me that the convergence that took place in
Washington last weekend was long overdue. Despite easy labels like
"antiglobalization," the trade-related protests of the past three years
have all been about self-determination: the right of people everywhere
to decide how best to organize their societies and economies, whether
that means introducing land reform in Brazil, or producing generic AIDS
drugs in India, or, indeed, resisting an occupying force in Palestine.
When hundreds of globalization activists began flocking to Ramallah to
act as "human shields" between Israeli tanks and Palestinians, the
theory that has been developing outside trade summits was put into
concrete action. Bringing that courageous spirit back to Washington,
where so much Middle Eastern policy is made, was the next logical step.
But when I saw Mr. Le Pen beaming on TV, arms raised in triumph, some
of my enthusiasm drained away. There is no connection whatsoever
between French fascism and the "free Palestine" marchers in Washington
(indeed, the only people Mr. Le Pen's supporters seem to dislike more
than Jews are Arabs). And yet, I couldn't help thinking about all the
recent events I've been to where anti-Muslim violence was rightly
condemned, Ariel Sharon deservedly blasted, but no mention was made of
attacks on Jewish synagogues, cemeteries and community centers. Or
about the fact that every time I log onto activist news sites such as
Indymedia.org, which practice"open publishing," I'm confronted with a
string of Jewish conspiracy theories about 9-11 and excerpts from the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The globalization movement isn't anti-Semitic, it just hasn't fully
confronted the implications of diving into the Middle East conflict.
Most people on the left are simply choosing sides and in the Middle
East, where one side is under occupation and the other has the U.S.
military behind it, the choice seems clear. But it is possible to
criticize Israel while forcefully condemning the rise of anti-Semitism.
And it is equally possible to be pro-Palestinian independence without
adopting a simplistic "pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel" dichotomy, a mirror
image of the good-versus-evil equations so beloved by President George
W. Bush.
Why bother with such subtleties while bodies are still being pulled out
of the rubble in Jenin? Because anyone interested in fighting Le Pen-
style fascism or Sharon-style brutality has to deal with the reality of
anti-Semitism head-on.
The hatred of Jews is a potent political tool in the hands of the right
in Europe and in Israel. For Mr. Le Pen, anti-Semitism is a windfall,
helping spike his support from 10 per cent to 17 per cent in a week.
For Ariel Sharon, it is the fear of anti-Semitism, both real and
imagined, that is the weapon. Mr. Sharon likes to say that he stands up
to terrorists to show he is not afraid. In fact, his policies are
driven by fear. His great talent is that he fully understands the
depths of Jewish fear of another Holocaust. He knows how to draw
parallels between Jewish anxieties about anti-Semitism and American
fears of terrorism.
And he is an expert at harnessing all of it for his political ends. The
primary, and familiar, fear that Mr. Sharon draws on, the one that
allows him to claim all aggressive actions as defensive ones, is the
fear that Israel's neighbors want to drive the Jews into the sea. The
secondary fear Mr. Sharon manipulates is the fear among Jews in the
Diaspora that they will eventually be driven to seek safe haven in
Israel. This fear leads millions of Jews around the world, many of them
sickened by Israeli aggression, to shut up and send their checks, a
down payment on future sanctuary.
The equation is simple: The more fearful Jews are, the more powerful
Mr. Sharon is. Elected on a platform of "peace through security," his
administration could barely hide its delight at Mr. Le Pen's
ascendancy, immediately calling on French Jews to pack their bags and
come to the promised land.
For Mr. Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power will go
unchecked, granting him the impunity needed to do the unthinkable: send
troops into the Palestinian Authority's education ministry to steal and
destroy records; bury children alive in their homes; block ambulances
from getting to the dying.
Jews outside Israel now find themselves in
a tightening vise: The actions of the country that was supposed to
ensure their future safety are making them less safe right now. Mr.
Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions between the terms "Jew" and
"Israeli," claiming he is fighting not for Israeli territory but for
the survival of the Jewish people. And when anti-Semitism rises at
least partly as a result of his actions, it is Mr. Sharon who is
positioned once again to collect the political dividends.
And it works. Most Jews are so frightened that they are now willing to
do anything to defend Israeli policies. So at my neighborhood
synagogue, where the humble façade was just badly scarred by a
suspicious fire, the sign on the door doesn't say, "Thanks for nothing,
Sharon." It says, "Support Israel . . . Now more than ever."
There is a way out. Nothing is going to erase anti-Semitism, but Jews
outside and inside Israel might be a little safer if there was a
campaign to distinguish between diverse Jewish positions and the
actions of the Israeli state. This is where an international movement
can play a crucial role. Already, alliances are being made between
globalization activists and Israeli "refuseniks," soldiers who refuse
to serve their mandatory duty in the occupied territories. And the most
powerful images from Saturday's protests were rabbis walking alongside
Palestinians. But more needs to be done. It's easy for social-justice
activists to tell themselves that since Jews already have such powerful
defenders in Washington and Jerusalem, anti-Semitism is one battle they
don't need to fight.
This is a deadly error.
It is precisely because anti-Semitism is used by the likes of Mr.
Sharon that the fight against it must be reclaimed.
When anti-Semitism is no longer treated as Jewish business, to be taken
care of by Israel and the Zionist lobby, Mr. Sharon is robbed of his
most effective weapon in the indefensible and increasingly brutal
occupation. And as a bonus, whenever hatred of Jews diminishes, the
likes of Jean-Marie Le Pen shrink right down with it.