The last month has once again unwrapped an old and wellknown myth. However, this is a myth, which is certainly not a lie. I will gladly try to repeat it, just to see if the world opinion is ready to tip over, even if it has to take another 2000 years. The myth, that you are not allowed as a westener to aim any kind of criticism at the state of Israel™ and all of it´s related brands, IDF™, Gods Chosen People™ and the Old Testament™. I could easily fill in with a few other trademarks, but hopefully it should not be necessary. They are all to be heavily defended by a huge army of unconscious guiltfeeling autopilots, who are willing to take whatever it takes to derail any necessary debate regarding Israels role on the world scene. And the debate is necessary. Not only have we seen Mel Gibson and the norwegian author Joostein Gaarder get public spank galore during these weeks, but many of us non-celebrities have reached a puke point too.

Let us fearlessly take the fight on words and opinions, and leave the weapons behind, but it will take some people, who dare to talk up against Israel and their trademarks, without beeing afraid of the first accuse to come……..the ever repeated mantra and autoanswer: ANTISEMITIST!

Why is it so, that every time you take that right to aim criticism towards Israel, this is the autoanswer?. Without beeing an antisemitist at all, I want to defend my right simply because I cannot accept, that Israel pursued a goal, while they were killing civilians at a ratio of 10:1 for every holy warrior they laid to the ground, and that Lebanon was nothing more than a suitable battleground for a goal, that is much much wider than just a military answer to the capture of 2 soldiers by the Hezbollahmilitia, which started this completely unproportionate retaliation following this huge number of civil losses in Lebanon, besides the overwhelming devastations, we have seen to Lebanons infrastructure.

This is not a respectable behaviour. Respect is not just a thing you can call upon yourself. Respect is something you have to work hard to acheive. The israelis are no better than the extremist they are figthing. And fanatism doesn´t deserve respect in any way in a modern world.

This, however, is not written in sympathy for the holy warriors of Hezbollah. No way. If I can do anything at all, I can try to talk to a state, Israel, as a supposedly respectable partner of the world society of today, however she is not on my list anymore, but I still aknowledge her right to exist, and therefor it is everso important, that we can discuss the relevance of Israels behaviour to neighbours and other patners in the world.

My concern is solely circling about the fact, that Israel has done nothing more than heavily fueled and feeded their own enemy, the iranian backed Hezbollahmilitia for the last month with new ambitions, and without any scrubles at all caught Lebanon and its citizen in a completey unnecessary war. Leaving it at all up the rest of the world to clean up and calm down the middle east.

If you can agree to these 3 bullets, whereas the first seen to be fulfilled, at least for the time beeing, you might be interested in participate in my danish petition, at http://www.stopisraelnow.underskrifter.dk/

Israel has to stop the attacks immediately

Israel will be held responsible for the cost of it´s retaliation against Lebanon

Israel will be held responsible for crimes of war, according to international laws in the field

August 20, 1937 - June 29, 1939. During this period, the Zionists carried out a series of attacks against Arab buses, resulting in the death of 24 persons and wounding 25 others.

November 25, 1940. S.S.Patria was blown up by Jewish terrorists in Haifa harbour, killing 268 illegal Jewish immigrants (see below).

November 6, 1944. Zionist terrorists of the Stern Gang assassinated the British Minister Resident in the Middle East, Lord Moyne, in Cairo.

July 22, 1946. Zionist terrorists blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the central offices of the civilian administration of the government of Palestine, killing or injuring more than 200 persons. The Irgun officially claimed responsibility for the incident, but subsequent evidence indicated that both the Haganah and the Jewish Agency were involved.

October 1, 1946. The British Embassy in Rome was badly damaged by bomb explosions, for which Irgun claimed responsibility.

June 1947. Letters sent to British Cabinet Ministers were found to contain bombs.

September 3, 1947. A postal bomb addressed to the British War Office exploded in the post office sorting room in London, injuring 2 persons. It was attributed to Irgun or Stern Gangs. (The Sunday Times, Sept. 24, 1972, p.8)

December 11, 1947. Six Arabs were killed and 30 wounded when bombs were thrown from Jewish trucks at Arab buses in Haifa; 12 Arabs were killed and others injured in an attack by armed Zionists on an Arab coastal village near Haifa.

December 13,1947. Zionist terrorists, believed to be members of Irgun Zvai Leumi, killed 18 Arabs and wounded nearly 60 in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Lydda areas. In Jerusalem, bombs were thrown in an Arab market-place near the Damascus Gate; in Jaffa, bombs were thrown into an Arab cafe; in the Arab village of Al Abbasya, near Lydda, 12 Arabs were killed in an attack with mortars and automatic weapons.

December 19, 1947. Haganah terrorists attacked an Arab village near Safad, blowing up two houses, in the ruins of which were found the bodies of 10 Arabs, including 5 children. Haganah admitted responsibility for the attack.

December 29, 1947. Two British constables and 11 Arabs were killed and 32 Arabs injured, at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem when Irgun members threw a bomb from a taxi.

December 30,1947. A mixed force of the Zionist Palmach and the “Carmel Brigade” attacked the village of Balad al Sheikh, killing more than 60 Arabs.

1947 — 1948. Over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were uprooted from their homes and land, and forced to live in refugee camps on Israel’s borders. They have been denied the right to return to their homes. They have been refused compensation for their homes, orchards, farms and other property stolen from them by the Israeli government. After their expulsion, the “Israeli Forces” totally obliterated (usually by bulldozing) 385 Arab villages and towns, out of a total of 475. Commonly, Israeli villages were built on the remaining rubble.

January 1, 1948. Haganah terrorists attacked a village on the slopes of Mount Carmel; 17 Arabs were killed and 33 wounded.

January 4, 1948. Haganah terrorists wearing British Army uniforms penetrated into the center of Jaffa and blew up the Serai (the old Turkish Government House) which was used as a headquarters of the Arab National Committee, killing more than 40 persons and wounding 98 others.

January 5, 1948. The Arab-owned Semiramis Hotel in Jerusalem was blown up, killing 20 persons, among them Viscount de Tapia, the Spanish Consul. Haganah admitted responsibility for this crime.

January 7, 1948. Seventeen Arabs were killed by a bomb at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, 3 of them while trying to escape. Further casualties, including the murder of a British officer near Hebron, were reported from different parts of the country.

January 16, 1948. Zionists blew up three Arab buildings. In the first, 8 children between the ages of 18 months and 12 years, died.

December 13, 1947 — February 10, 1948. Seven incidents of bomb-tossing at innocent Arab civilians in cafes and markets, killing 138 and wounding 271 others, During this period, there were 9 attacks on Arab buses. Zionists mined passenger trains on at least 4 occasions, killing 93 persons and wounding 161 others.

February 15, 1948. Haganah terrorists attacked an Arab village near Safad, blew up several houses, killing 11 Arabs, including 4 children..

March 3, 1948. Heavy damage was done to the Arab-owned Salam building in Haifa (a 7 story block of apartments and shops) by Zionists who drove an army lorry ( truck) up to the building and escaped before the detonation of 400 Ib. of explosives; casualties numbered 11 Arabs and 3 Armenians killed and 23 injured. The Stern Gang claimed responsibility for the incident.

March 22, 1948. A housing block in Iraq Street in Haifa was blown up killing 17 and injuring 100 others. Four members of the Stern Gang drove two truck-loads of explosives into the street and abandoned the vehicles before the explosion.

March 31, 1948. The Cairo-Haifa Express was mined, for the second time in a month, by an electronically-detonated land mine near Benyamina, killing 40 persons and wounding 60 others.

April 9, 1948. A combined force of Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang, supported by the Palmach forces, captured the Arab village of Deir Yassin and killed more than 200 unarmed civilians, including countless women and children. Older men and young women were captured and paraded in chains in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem; 20 of the hostages were then shot in the quarry of Gevaat Shaul.

April 16, 1948. Zionists attacked the former British army camp at Tel Litvinsky, killing 90 Arabs there.

April 19, 1948. Fourteen Arabs were killed in a house in Tiberias, which was blown up by Zionist terrorists.

May 3, 1948. A book bomb addressed to a British Army officer, who had been stationed in Palestine exploded, killing his brother, Rex Farran.

May11, 1948. A letter bomb addressed to Sir Evelyn Barker, former Commanding Officer in Palestine, was detected in the nick of time by his wife.

April 25, 1948 — May 13, 1948. Wholesale looting of Jaffa was carried out following armed attacks by Irgun and Haganah terrorists. They stripped and carried away everything they could, destroying what they could not take with them

Here in America, there is a similar circumstance, in that, if a white person discusses the African American community in less than glowing terms, merely speaking the truth such as “African American culture doesn’t emphasize education as number one goal” one will be called a racist. One will be called a racist, even though statistics bear out the statement. It is obvious when what is considered is parent partcipation in school, children’s stated important goals etc. Yet pointing this out will be termed racist. If an African American points this out, they will be termed an Uncle Tom, a pawn of the white community. Isn’t this the same as the “self hating Jew” label given to those Jews who criticize Israel.

I also agree wholeheartedly with Gaarder’s statements that we can no longer take seriously or tolerate ANY society’s claim to be “God’s Chosen People”. What arrogance! That belief system is a set up for never ending conflict with one’s neighbors. The “God mandate” must end! It absolutely IS out of the Middle Ages and in this modern age must be scrutinized vigorously.

Where did this “chosen people” notion originate? From the mind of some Bronze age desert tribal prophet. He claimed that God spoke to him and the others believed him. THAT is the case. Would anyone in this modern day base political policy on such claims? What would happen if someone were to go to the Media and say “God has told me that such and such Real Estate belongs to me and my family/tribe/people, God speaks to me and tells me……” Would that person be taken seriously? Most likely that person would be recommended medication, not land reform!

I support Gaarder’s arguments, they are sane and cogent. Unlike the current US and Israeli “arguments” for the occupation of Palestine, for the bombardment of Lebanon and for any other Zionist claim.

Based on what, your sense of guilt as Europeans towars the Jews for what you have done to them, give you the right to promise them a home land, on our lands, and on our dead bodies, and forced migrations.

You said, you still support the 1948 land theft, as if you are their Yahweh who has the right to relocate people, or squeeze them in small areas to favour some illegal migrants and give them the land of the owners, may be this will make you feel better about your crimes against the illegal migrants, don’t you think that in a number of years, you will feel guilty as well towards the new victims you created by this decision

Why didn’t you promise them Norway, or Germany, England may be, or California or LA, why us, you still some how think of us as cheaper blood, but your conscience find it hard to make us that cheap to be targeted even in refugee camps, and on the escape road after bombing our houses,

You think that your (as Europeans or Americans or anybody else) recognition of Israel 1948 is enough, shouldn’t it be our decision that matters, or your conscience didn’t wake up that much to give equal credits to Arabs as yourself, they still the lower degree humans, who shouldn’t participate in the decisions taken concerning them and what they own, or you are satisfied with feeling bad about the massacres, and willing to give us some shelter, but not yet our land and full humanity

Juan Cole - At 9:11 PM, Sirocco said…

Joseph Campbell Foundation Forum with an interesting analysis and comment.

At first glance I didn’t notice the intro pointing out Gaarder was writing in the style of Amos, an eight-century B.C. prophet and the eponymous author of a book in the Hebrew scriptures …