De Israelische Terreur 227

'Equality, Not Zionism, Will Save Israel

On the same day that we learn that Norman Finkelstein has been denied tenure at De Paul University largely because of an aggressive campaign by Israel supporters to silence the (to them) menacing figure of a Jew, son of a Holocaust survivor, as combatively anti-Zionist as Finkelstein is, it is with great pleasure that I welcome Antony Loewenstein as a guest contributor. Antony is a generation younger than me, but he’s further evidence of the fact that the efforts of the nationalists to police Jewish identity in a way that enforces a narrow Zionism are failing — despite their victory over Finkelstein. The sweet smell of Jewish dissent is suddenly everywhere in the air, most recently last week when Avram Burg released his new book, renouncing Zionism and warning of its dangerous consequences for his Judaism and his humanity — it’s not exactly every day that a former Speaker of the Knesset turns around and rejects the very principle of a “Jewish State.” I have a long posting of my own on this in the works. In the mean time, please give Antony Loewenstein a resounding Rootless Cosmopolitan welcome!

Guest post:
Equality, Not Zionism, Will Save Israel
By Anthony Loewenstein

As an Australian anti-Zionist Jew writing about Israel/Palestine, the rules of the game are made clear to me on an almost daily basis. All Jews must support the “Jewish State,” no matter what. Any action carried out by the state is defensible, justified and moral. Any public criticism of Israel will be assumed to be anti-Semitic; if Israel is to be criticized at all, it should only be in hushed tones and in private. Dare to challenge these rules, and you can expect to be bombarded with hate-mail, death-threats and public abuse, invariably from fellow Jews.
The email I received this week from “Steve” in Australia is typical:

You are one of the largest distorters of facts about the Arab - Israeli conflict. The only larger liars about this sensitive issue are the terrorist organisations, Palestinian Authority, Iranian Government and some Arab media.
By portraying Israel in such a negative light, which is completely unwarranted, you cause people to be anti-Israel, which more often that not spills over into anti-Semitism. The attacks on Jewish buildings, graves and people would occur less often if the ignorant pricks such as yourself did not write all the shit that you do.
Sometimes I wonder whether you have a learning disability, because you are completely ignorant of the facts. Go talk to the traumatized residents of Sderot, with Qassam rockets falling around them all the time. Go talk to all the Israelis who have lost relatives and friends. Go to Beit Halochem in Israel and talk to the people who have been disabled, often permanently, because of the gutless actions of Palestinian terrorists.
You disgust me, Antony. Stop betraying your own people and do some proper research instead of spreading propaganda.
Sincerely,
Steve

It’s hard to respond seriously to such incoherent screeds, but I recognize where they come from.
As a Jew growing up in Melbourne, Australia, it was simply expected that I would show solidarity with Israel in good times and bad. I didn’t know any better in my early years and it wasn’t until my teens that a sense of inner conflict developed. Why were most Jews able to defend the firing of Israeli rockets into Palestinian refugee camps? How did some Jews not think twice when they heard of systematic abuse by IDF soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza? By time I turned 20, I was no longer the same kind of Jew. I wasn’t able to properly articulate my feelings, perhaps, but I now know that too many Jews used the same excuse that Germans articulated after the Second World War; pleading ignorance or condoning brutal violence against the “other.”
In Australia, the Jewish community is primarily parochial, strongly Zionist and highly insecure. They love Israel, but fear it’s only one step away from annihilation. They detest Palestinians who dare to articulate their own narrative. And they offer platitudes towards a two-state solution and rights for all, but in fact never speak out against the ever-expanding occupation that has negated any prospect for realizing such a solution. Indeed, such positions are the default position of most Diaspora Jewish communities, and those among them who dare to dissent are greeted with ridicule or hysterical howls of treachery. My parents have paid a social price for the fact that I have publicly expressed my views, which they share. They found themselves shunned by old friends, for whom those views were so despicable that those who declined to condemn them had to be excommunicated.'

Lees verder:
http://tonykaron.com/2007/06/11/loewenstein-equality-not-zionism-will-save-israel/
Zie ook: http://antonyloewenstein.blogspot.com/ En
http://antonyloewenstein.com/