tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21324942935846883242024-03-08T05:20:28.073+02:00Solar PlexusThe union of mind, passion and soul.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-84898121760126949682010-02-14T14:24:00.003+02:002010-02-14T14:33:32.115+02:00Identity, anti-Zionism and antisemitismIn the last communique I enclosed an initial draft of my attempt to use the Roth novel "Plot against America" as a springboard to examine identity, anti-Zionism and antisemitism in the public outcry against Israel and, more specifically, in some of the public Jewish contribution to this phenomenon.<br /> <br />In this final draft I have cleaned up most of the grammar, tightened the language, sharpened the logical progression, added some more references and introduced a few new points which seemed to me important. It follows below and will be posted to the site http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com.<br /> <br />Mike Berger<br /> <br /> <br />This article has arisen from a previous blog on the resonances between modern anti-Zionism and the antisemitism explored in Philip Roth’s novel, “The plot against America”. But it is also personal, especially at the two ends, where I briefly explore my own reactions to the complex predicament facing Israel and its diaspora. I make no apology for introducing the personal element since I have never pretended to the status of dispassionate expert. On the contrary, I identify completely with what I see as the core idea of Zionism – that Jews are entitled to a a national identity and homeland in which they can embody their own history and evolving national personality in the same way as the other peoples of this increasingly globalised planet. This makes me the implacable opponent of those, Jewish or non-Jewish, who wish to destroy that possibility.<br /><br />I make no demands that others share this vision, though I know that it is widely shared, only that they desist from actively working for its demise. This ethnic identity must also share emotional and intellectual space with my other commitment to a universal humanity, not to mention my South African persona. Such sharing is not always comfortable since brothers may engage in murderous sibling rivalry and my universalist leanings at times must take temporary second place to my Zionist affiliations. But there are no simple formulae for such coexistance so I, and others in the same predicament, accommodate the conflicting demands as best we can in each situation.<br /><br />A fair amount of print space over the past few years has been devoted to examining the treatment of Israel in much of the Western media and, by extension, the role of prejudice (antisemitism and irrational anti-Zionism)1 in the kind of coverage Israel receives. In essence, along with many other commentators, I have argued that the media coverage of Israel is seriously prejudiced and distorted and this continues in the face of rational argument and fact. The historical roots of antisemitism run deep but it is clear that its modern manifestation is the result both of deliberate propaganda as a component of a conscious paramilitary strategy and as the expression of more random forces within the global – especially Western - left.<br /><br />Such developments have forced Jews who regard themselves as progressive, espousing universalist and humanist values, to confront their own relationship with Israel. Most, like myself, see no deep contradiction between their support for Israel and their broader ideological commitments, and any disquiet experienced with specific aspects of Israeli policy and society does not require a reorientation of their priorities. In fact, many find that their moral and political values impel them to support Israel especially strongly in the international arena in view of the manifestly unjust barrage of criticism it attracts and the retrograde and even fascist practices of the regimes and political groupings which confront Israel both in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, a significant and vociferous section of Jewry have taken up covert or openly antagonistic positions vis-à-vis Israel.<br /><br />In the following paragraphs I look at some issues determining attitudes towards Israel and the implications these have for the majority of Jews, and many non-Jews, who support Israel. My position is predicated on the view that political choice is a multi-dimensional process determined by both universal and personal psychological processes, by ideological (political) orientations, by intellectual disposition and by situational and interactional factors operating at the material, cultural, political and social levels2. These are all mutually interactive. Although such an analysis can slip easily into a rigidly determinist paradigm, I take the view that all individuals have freedom of choice and, along with Isaiah Berlin, that such freedom is extended by knowledge and self-reflection.3<br /><br />It is widely recognised that identification with an ethnic or religious group or with an ideological belief or some other collective ideal, plays an important role in determining political attitudes and choice – “Political identity emerges from a dynamic interplay between the psychological make-up of individuals, their embeddedness in particular political and social structures and institutions, and the major political experiences of their lives, which together influence their political ideologies and roles.”4 I can think of no better way of conveying the essence of identity, than through some quotes from Philip Roth’s extraordinary novel, “The plot against America”: “Their being Jews issued from being themselves…” “It was… as fundamental as having arteries and veins…” “(They) needed no profession of faith or doctrinal creed…”.5 He was referring to ordinary middle class Jews, mainly immigrants or the children of immigrants from the ghettoes of Eastern Europe, living in predominantly Jewish suburbs in mid-twentieth century USA. The quote captures the essence of deep identity in which the personal and the collective are indistinguishable and inseparable. <br /><br />In Roth’s fictionalised but eerily plausible account, the USA was stealthily led into pro-Nazi and insidiously antisemitic policies at the outbreak of World War 2 from which it was rescued only by the mysterious disappearance of Lindbergh, its shadowy and iconic President. What makes his book especially relevant to our time and theme is how closely current Western anti-Zionism mirrors the dynamics of the antisemitism of the mid-twentieth century as depicted by Roth. <br /><br />A leitmotif throughout the novel is the question: where does paranoia, fear and parochialism end and true antisemitism begin? Do the bland, seemingly innocuous and apparently reasonable criticisms of Jewish cultural difference, exclusivity and failure to assimilate more thoroughly into the predominantly white, Protestant host population disguise a deeper and more sinister threat or are they to be taken at their face value, as some more “enlightened” members of the Jewish community would have their compatriots believe? In essence, according to the “enlightened” argument , the Jewish community should not be immune to rational criticism and serious self-reflection. To claim that such negative comment disguises antisemitic prejudice and evil intentions is precisely the reason why Jews are disliked by their host populations: by using self-serving victimhood as camouflage, so runs the accusation, Jews license themselves to remain an exclusive, self-seeking community free to manipulate the good intentions and tolerance of their non-Jewish neighbours for their own ends. <br /><br />The resemblance of this line of argument to the debate around Israel is striking. Robert Fine characterises the currently fashionable Western discourse as follows, “…the accusation of antisemitism (by Israel’s defenders) is now used to trash anyone who is critical of the policies of the Israeli government. …(As a consequence) - The struggle against antisemitism, once seen as central to the construction of a new Europe after the war, is increasingly disavowed since the charge of antisemitism merely serves to deflect or devalue criticism of Israeli occupation, Israeli human rights abuses, Israeli racism toward Arabs, and Israeli military force in Lebanon and Gaza.”6 <br /><br />Fine goes on to demonstrate the hollowness of this argument and, while Roth’s answer is more indirect, it is also unequivocal. The ordinary American Jew, reacting with horror, confusion and indignation to Lindbergh’s plausibly rational and ambiguous pronouncements, is right on the money. They were largely accurate in their perception that the Jewish community was being singled out and stigmatised, and correctly perceived such unfair criticism would encourage antisemitism in the general population. <br /><br />Thus, according to Roth, the Jews were not the only ones who understood the coded messages behind the plausible words; antisemites within the American population took full advantage of the licence afforded by the new discourse to take out their prejudices on their fellow citizens. The DNA of racial stereotyping and exclusion from moral concern is universal and any individual (whether predator or prey) is alert to cues of ostracism and exclusion. It is important to note that Roth does not descend into a simplistic Manichean universe of innocent Jews surrounded by evil predatory foes. On the contrary, he invests his characters with the full gamut of human good and evil regardless of their religious and ethnic affiliations. <br /><br />Roth’s fictional narrative is acutely relevant to the issue of Israel. Just like the flawed Jews of America, Israel is imperfect despite its enormous successes. Corruption, especially within its political domain, is too frequent for comfort. Racism is prevalent amongst some sections of the population. Social and economic inequality has increased and education policy and funding, on which the future of Israel rests, is far from optimal. Fundamentalist religion exerts an unhealthy influence on Israel’s political and civil life and Israel needs to find ways of living more humanely and harmoniously with its unassimilated and often fractious minority populations. Above all, Israel hasn’t been able to disengage from its role as an occupying power, however reluctant and indirect, over an alien hostile population with all the consequences on its own social and moral fabric. <br /><br />None of this should occasion any surprise given the history of Israel and the region in which it is embedded and the multiple antagonistic agendas it has to deal with, both within and outside its borders. Some of these are solvable by Israel alone and others depend on the cooperation of others. None are easy and some may be utterly intractable, but they all provide a challenge to those who wish to make tangible contributions to the Zionist project.<br /><br />Israel’s imperfections and transgressions, however, cannot objectively explain the flood of obsessive and unbalanced criticism levelled at it. David Hirsh in his speech to the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism - Jerusalem, 25 Feb 08 – puts it this way, “Jews are involved in a real conflict in the Middle East ...When Jews are involved in conflicts there is a danger that the ways people think about those conflicts get mystified in the language of antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is not a reasonable response to the actual situation; it is a response to a narrative of the actual situation which has become mystified by antisemitism....Real human rights abuses are mystified as being genocidal like Nazism; institutional racism is mystified as being worse than apartheid; the occupation is mystified as being unique and as being a manifestation of a Zionist essence; Jewish power is mystified as an ‘Israel lobby’ capable of perverting the policy of the only super power on the planet against its own interest....contemporary antisemitism is not explicitly or obviously antisemitic. ... Antisemitism of this sort is not explicit, is not obvious, and is not self-aware. It is necessary to analyze and interpret a text to know whether it is antisemitic.”7 <br /><br />A vivid example is provided by a recent correspondence in the SA Jewish Report. Daniel Mackintosh8 claims that racism is prevalent amongst Israelis (specifically, in this context, Jewish Israelis) and contrasts this with the implied tolerance, except for a few extremists, displayed by Palestinians9. Yet Pew surveys ((http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/268.pdf) show an extremely high level (97%) of anti-Jewish sentiment amongst Palestinians, a finding repeated in many other largely Muslim communities and one that comes as no surprise to anyone with knowledge of the political structure, culture and educational practices in many such communities. Of course, surveys also show that anti-Arab and anti-Muslim feelings are significant amongst Israelis (see Chris McGreal at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/mar/24/israel), at the 40 to 50 percent level within the population. Without nitpicking over methodology and precise percntages it is clear that racism is high in both societies, but the ideological, anti-Zionist bias of the writer leads him to imply that racial prejudice is largely confined to Israelis.<br /><br />Besides the objective inaccuracy of Mackintosh’s claim it ignores the fact that Israeli society as a whole is legally and informally committed to non-racism, further reinforced by the proliferation of vociferous human rights groups and judicial institutions committed to combatting racist practices by individual Israelis or civil society10. Surprisingly, given the severity of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the provocations often faced by Israelis in their interactions with Palestinians11, serious racist actions by Israelis are relatively infrequent and examples of productive coexistence common12. It is legitimate to ask whether such restraint would be shown by many other Western societies with a similar history and on-going predicament? <br /><br />The problem encountered in analysis is that antisemitism can be used in two related but distinct ways. One refers to objectively irrational and selective criticism of - or behaviour towards - Jews as a whole or a significant and core sector of Jewish society, Israel for example. The other usage refers to the emotion, conscious or unconscious, of hostility towards Jews or Israel/Israelis specifically. It is widely assumed that the former implies the latter, but need that be the case? Is it possible that a dominantly biased discourse (perhaps itself derived from conventionally antisemitic sources) compounded by simple ignorance, other ideological loyalties, identification with the perceived underdog, conformity impulses or more serious situational pressures, can produce an objectively biased (antisemitic) belief and action pattern while free of conventional antisemitic prejudice? And is this important? Does it really matter, in practical terms, whether biased behaviour is caused by faulty information processing and situational factors or by internal disposition?<br /><br />In my view the short answer is that one cannot easily generalise about the sources of irrational anti-Zionism in individual cases and, secondly, it probably doesn’t much matter. Given the multi-dimensional processes whereby political choices are made, the individual pathway can vary from one individual to another. In many cases the mechanism may be obvious: some are clearly motivated by old-fashioned antisemitism revealed by the virulent tone and abusive content. This can infect Jews and non-Jews alike and is marked by the significant presence of the following cues: fixity of belief and resistance to contrary evidence, obsessiveness, a low trigger threshold to expression of hostility, excessively emotive language and choice of metaphor, stereotyping and essentialising, a tendency to select, exaggerate and misrepresent and, of course, unambiguous statements of hatred and threats of destruction. All these gradations are apparent in considerable portions of the Western media and on the Internet.<br /><br />In other cases the cause may include a mix, in varying proportions, of the other personal and social factors mentioned above. While of great interest to various academic disciplines, the individual motivations underlying irrational anti-Zionism is, arguably, of less importance than its prevalence (and hence potential for social spread) and its political and military impact. It must be remembered that the diplomatic and media campaigns are significantly driven by a deliberate strategy to use “public opinion” as an offensive weapon to undermine, psychologically, economically and diplomatically, the capacity of Israel to resist13. The provocations of Hamas and its approach to its military action are components of this strategic agenda. A prime example on the diplomatic-public opinion front is the Goldstone Report14 which, on a host of objective criteria15, is a plainly prejudicial and politicized document intended to stigmatise Israel. <br /><br />It would be perverse to believe that the flood of anti-Zionist comment, irrespective of motivation, pervading much of the Western media does not result in secondary antisemitism of the conventional variety. It would imply a compartmentalization of rational thought and emotion for which no evidence exists and which is contradicted by the very content and volume of the critical comment, by the mass meetings and inflammatory placards and slogans, by the spike in antisemitic acts in many Western countries and by the abusive and clearly antisemitic tone of large number of contributions to Internet threads. The reality is captured in the following quote “It has often been asserted by left authors (for example, Noam Chomsky) that the link between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is a tenuous one. Chomsky asserts that the linkage is a device used by Zionists to squash dissent. Yet the linkage would not be possible—or at least would be much more difficult—if there was no past or current demonstration of anti-Semitism among Israel’s opponents. Simply stated, while it is absolutely true that all anti-Zionists are not Jew hating bigots, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic in intent.”4 And, I would add, as an outcome.<br /><br />As shown in numerous studies, pervasive social prejudice is internalised by the exposed population and by the targets (specifically here, Jews and Israelis) themselves. The overt response to such an assault on self-image varies between individuals and according to situational factors. Not surprisingly, it has driven many Jews into an ultra-nationalist stance in which Israel figures as a paragon of virtue in a sea of evil and hostility. Many others have been impelled into a more moderate, but equally obdurate, resistance to the programme of stigmatisation and delegitimisation. At the very least, few Jews for whom the Zionist project represents something positive and admirable, are eager to add their tuppence worth of criticism to the malevolent chorus and thus keep their counsel when otherwise they may have been willing to publicly chastise their brethren.<br /><br />But for a significant minority the ideological assault on Israel has had a different effect. Simple observation attests to the fact that the individual may may succumb to such stereotyping. In this case we expect, and see, a spectrum of graduated responses ranging from disengagement to the role of actively hostile internal critic. Underlying much of the critical comment directed at Israel from within idealistic segments of Jewry, especially the younger generation, is the intrusion of middle class guilt, historically naïve and unrealistic ideals and decontextualised analysis into the historically and politically fraught territory of the Middle East. <br /><br />But personal psychology and temperament can also contribute. In Roth’s novel the character of Rabbi Bengelsdorf, Lindbergh’s tame Jewish apologist, is depicted in distinctly unflattering terms. Specifically, he and others like him have taken on board the antisemitic prejudices they encounter in popular society or in groups to which they wish to belong, and thus seek to distinguish themselves from the Jewish common man. Laura Miller, in a review of Roth’s novel, put it this way16 “Bengelsdorf is a marvelous creation, part object lesson in the perils of collaboration and part meticulous parody of self-important men everywhere…”. In extreme cases, we encounter Jews who strenuously compete with the most bitter antisemites in the unrestrained expression of hostility towards Zionism and Israel17. <br /><br />What lessons can be drawn? Public antisemitism and anti-Zionism constitute an existential threat to Israel through their multi-dimensional impact on Jews and non-Jews alike. This is now widely recognised, as is the importance of countering other paramilitary challenges of various kinds. The response cannot be predicated simply on answering prejudice with counter prejudice. Israel cannot afford the same retrogressive politics and racist stereotyping practiced by many of its enemies. It must appeal to its own highest ideals and those of the democratic world, not solely as.a public relations exercise or for some abstract ethical imperative, but also because its democratic and open culture provides Israel and Jewry with the creative edge and strategic flexibility to counter their numerically superior enemies.<br /><br />The challenge is to reconcile democratic freedoms with the immediacy of existential threats. Such tensions are unavoidable in a conflict-ridden world. It is through the resolution of these difficult dilemmas that democracies derive their competitive edge, and all of us will have our own idea on where lines should be drawn. As a broad principle such lines must not curtail criticsm, especially uncomfortable criticism. But where this strays systematically into betrayal and incitement constitutes a grey but important junction where democracies under threat need to erect barriers. More important is the constant ideological repair and maintenance of the Zionist project so that it retains its potential for renewal and sturdy growth. It is only in this way that Jewish youth will remain committed to Israel and to the idea of a Jewish people living as respected members of a globalised world. Our ability to adroitly navigate these stormy waters may the be key to the survival of Israel as a Jewish state for all its peoples. <br /><br />Mike Berger<br /><br /> <br />1. I use the words antisemitism and anti-Zionism in this article in different ways. Anti-Zionism is hostility towards Israel that goes beyond criticism of one or more specific acts, social features or policy decisions, but is a systematic and encompassing critique of the philosophy, the country and society. In some instances, this may arise from a variably rational view which sees the Zionist project as misguided or even partaking of colonial and imperialist characteristics. At some ill-defined point such anti-Zionism passes over into what I term, in places, “irrational anti-Zionism” in which Zionism is essentialised as an evil movement fascist in spirit and intent and comparable to other widely condemned movements like apartheid or Naziism. Antisemitism, as pointed out in this article may have, at least, two meanings. One is the conventional antisemitism expressed by significant sectors of Christian Europe and much of the Muslim world in which Jews as a people are depicted as inherently evil, treacherous, devious, cruel, cowardly, greedy and aesthetically repugnant. Clearly the intensity and virulence of such feelings vary. Antisemitism may also be applied to the excessive and selective criticism of Jews or prominent aspects of of the Jewish world, eg. Israel, which is relatively unaccompanied by pan-Jewish prejudice but derives from other sources, like ideology, conformity, ignorance and so forth. Much antisemitism, both conventional and unconventional, is expressed in the form of anti-Zionism, especially irrational anti-Zionism – but the two terms are not identical in meaning. Nevertheless, irrational anti-Zionism, irrespective of its origins, can be defined as objectively antisemitic even where its motivation does not arise from conventional antisemitic prejudice. Also see, for example, “England’s not so pleasant aspect” by Anthony Julius in The Jewish Chronicle, 4 Feb 2010 at http://www.thejc.com/print/26775. <br /><br />2. See for example: The new synthesis in moral psychology. Jonathan Haidt, et al.Science 316, 998 (2007); Collective psychological processes in anti-semitism. Avner Falk Jewish Political Studies Review 18:1-2 (Spring 2006); Spontaneous Inferences, Implicit Impressions, and Implicit Theories. James S. Uleman, S. Adil Saribay, and Celia M. Gonzalez In Annual Review of Psychology Vol. 59: 329-360 (2008); Political Psychology: Situations, Individuals, and Cases, by David P. Houghton. Publ. Routledge, December 2008, (ISBN: 978-0-415-99013-4).<br /><br />3. From hope and fear set free. Isaiah Berlin in The Proper Study of Mankind: an anthology of essays. Eds. Henry Hardy and Roger Hausheer, Publ. Farar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 2000. <br /><br />4. Leaving the Radical Left: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and Jewish Response (Part Three, Draft 1). From the New Centrist Blog at http://newcentrist.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/leaving-the-radical-left-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-and-jewish-response-part-three-draft-1/<br />5. The plot against Ameica: a novel. Philip Roth, Publ. by Vintage International, Sept 2005. <br /><br />6. Re-membering the Holocaust. Robert Fine at http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/robert-fines-talk-to-the-ucu-meeting-legacy-of-hope-anti-semitism-the-holocaust-and-resistance-yesterday-and-today/ .<br /><br />7. Speech at Global Forum for Combating Anti-semitism, Jerusalem 8 Feb 2008. David Hirsh see ENGAGE http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/printarticle.php?id=1683.<br /><br />8. SA Jewish Report, 22 Jan 2010: “I have met young Jewish people who are not proud of the racism that is so prevalent in Israel...”<br /><br />9. SA Jewish Report 4 Dec 2009: “South African Jewish youth have started to meet Palestinians, and although there are those violent, anti-Semitic extremists, many.... have found that the majority of Palestinians want to live in coexistence with their Jewish neighbours under a just peace.”<br /><br />10. Arab citizens of Israel. Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel; Coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel. The Israel Project. See http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=883997&ct=5667281; Israel at 61. The Israel Project. See http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.5118555/k.5CB4/Israel_at_61/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp. <br /><br />11. “Hello Police? Scew your sister!”. In The Jerusalem Post byYaacov Lappin, 12 Feb 2010. See http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=168520. <br /><br />12. The surprise of it all. In The Jerusalem Post by Daniel Doron, 10 Feb 2010. See at http://www.danieldoron.com/en/commentary/full/the-surprise-of-it-all/.<br /><br />13. See launch of International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) at http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/AntiZionism/internationalJewishAnti-ZionistNetworkerCharter.htm; Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/html/final/eng/sib/aic2_04/aic_hp.htm; NGO Monitor, 13 Oct 2008 at http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/ngo_lawfare_new_monograph_from_ngo_monitor; Manipulating the marketplace of ideas, Gerald M. Steinberg at Haaretz, 29 Nov. 2009; Viewpoint by Gerald Steinberg, Jerusalem Report, 17 Aug 2009.<br /><br /> <br /><br />14. HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES. Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf.<br /><br />15. Memorandum to the Human Rights Council re the Goldstone Report at http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id235.html; Open letter to Goldstone by Trevor Norwitz, see http://www.goldstonereport.org/open-letters-to-goldstone/428-open-letter-from-trevor-norwitz; The Goldstone Illusion, Moshe Halbertal in The New Republic 6 Nov 2009.<br /><br />16. Review of “The plot against America: a novel” (Philip Roth) by Laura Miller, 8 Oct 2004 at http://www.powells.com/review/2004_10_08.html.<br /><br />17. Jewish Anti-Zionism Unravelled: The Morality of Vanity (Part 1) by Anthony Julius in Z-word (blog), March 2008 at http://www.z-word.com/z-word-essays/jewish-anti-zionism-unravelled; Jewish Anti-Zionism Unravelled, Part Two: Questioning Antisemitism by Anthony Julius in Z-word (blog) at http://www.z-word.com/z-word-essays/jewish-anti-zionism-unravelled%253A- questioning-antisemitism-%2528part-2%2529.html.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-42673884151195332262010-02-07T16:25:00.005+02:002010-02-07T16:53:47.589+02:00Anti-Zionism and antisemitism reconsideredDavid Sacks has invited me to work up one of my recent posts, leaning on the Roth novel "The plot against America", into an article for the periodical Jewish Affairs. I enclose below a draft of the article for input - critical and otherwise. It goes over old ground of motivation and explanation for the unbalanced treatment of Israel in much of the Western media, but I hope it clarifies some points and maybe introduces a better understanding of the phenomenon. A couple more references will be added in due course and this draft will be posted on the site http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com/. <br /> <br />kind regards<br />Mike Berger<br /> <br /><br />I have occupied a fair amount of print space over the past few years examining the treatment of Israel in much of the Western media and, by extension, the role of prejudice (antisemitism and irrational anti-Zionism)1 in the kind of coverage Israel receives. In essence, I, along with many other commentators, have argued that the media coverage of Israel is seriously prejudiced and distorted and this continues in the face of rational argument and fact. The historical roots of antisemitism run deep but it is clear that its modern manifestation is the result both of deliberate propaganda as a component of a conscious strategy of stigmatization and delegitimisation and as the expression of more random forces within the global – especially Western - left.<br /><br />These developments have forced Jews, both within and outside Israel, who would regard themselves as progressive, espousing universalist and humanist values, to confront their own relationship with Israel. Most see no deep contradiction between their support for Israel and their broad ideological commitments, and their disquiet with some aspects of Israeli policy and society does not necessitate a reorientation of their priorities. In fact, many find that their moral and political values impel them to support Israel especially strongly in view of the manifestly unjust barrage of criticism it attracts and the retrograde and frankly fascist practices of the regimes and political groupings which confront Israel both in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, a significant and vociferous section of Jewry have taken up openly antagonistic positions vis-à-vis Israel.<br /><br />In this article I look at some issues around identity, social dynamics and prejudice in determining attitudes towards Israel. This is predicated on the view that political choice is a multi-dimensional process determined by both universal and personal psychological operations, by ideological (political) orientation, by intellectual disposition and by situational and interactional factors operating at the material, cultural, political and social levels2. These are all mutually interactive. Although such an analysis can slip easily into a rigidly determinist paradigm, I take the view that all individuals have freedom of choice and, along with Isaiah Berlin, that such freedom is extended by knowledge and self-reflection.3<br /><br />It is widely recognised that identity, whether to an ethnic or religious group or with an ideological belief or some other collective ideal, plays an important role in determining political attitudes and choice – “Political identity emerges from a dynamic interplay between the psychological make-up of individuals, their embeddedness in particular political and social structures and institutions, and the major political experiences of their lives, which together influence their political ideologies and roles.”4 Identity may be fluid and multiple or more limited and fixed. I can think of no better way of conveying the essence of identity, than through an abbreviated quote from Philip Roth’s extraordinary novel, “The plot against America”: “Their being Jews issued from being themselves…” “It was… as fundamental as having arteries and veins…” “(They) needed no profession of faith or doctrinal creed…”.5 He was referring to ordinary middle class Jews, mainly immigrants or the children of immigrants from the ghettoes of Eastern Europe, living in the Jewish suburbs in mid-twentieth century USA. The quote captures the essence of deep identity in which the personal and the collective are indistinguishable and inseparable. This subjectivity is given more substance in neurocognitive studies which show that personal and social identity are processed in the same parts of the brain.<br /><br />The quote is embedded in Roth’s fictionalised, but eerily plausible, account of the USA being stealthily led into pro-Nazi and insidiously antisemitic policies at the outbreak of World War 2 from which it was rescued only by the mysterious disappearance of Lindbergh, its shadowy and iconic President. What makes it relevant to our time and theme is how closely Western anti-Zionism mirrors the dynamics of the antisemitism of the mid-twentieth century as depicted by Roth. <br /><br />A leitmotif throughout the novel is the question: where does paranoia, fear and parochialism end and true antisemitism begin? Do the bland, seemingly innocuous and apparently reasonable criticisms of Jewish cultural difference, exclusivity and failure to assimilate more thoroughly into the predominantly white, Protestant host population disguise a deeper and more sinister threat or are they to be taken at their face value, as some more “enlightened” members of the Jewish community would have their compatriots believe? In essence, according to the “enlightened” argument, the Jewish community should not be immune to rational criticism and serious self-reflection. To claim that such negative comment disguises antisemitic prejudice and evil intentions is precisely the reason why Jews are disliked by their host populations: using self-serving victimhood as camouflage, Jews license themselves to remain an exclusive, self-seeking community free to manipulate the good intentions and tolerance of their non-Jewish neighbours for their own ends. <br /><br />The resemblance of this line of argument to the debate around Israel is striking. Robert Fine characterises the currently fashionable Western discourse as follows, “…the accusation of antisemitism (by Israel’s defenders) is now used to trash anyone who is critical of the policies of the Israeli government. …(As a consequence) - The struggle against antisemitism, once seen as central to the construction of a new Europe after the war, is increasingly disavowed since the charge of antisemitism merely serves to deflect or devalue criticism of Israeli occupation, Israeli human rights abuses, Israeli racism toward Arabs, and Israeli military force in Lebanon and Gaza.”6 <br /><br />Fine goes on to demonstrate the hollowness of this argument and, while Roth’s answer is more indirect, it is also unequivocal. The ordinary Jew, reacting with horror, confusion and indignation to Lindbergh’s plausibly rational and ambiguous pronouncements, is right on the money. Ordinary Jews were largely accurate in their perception that the Jewish community was being singled out and stigmatised, and correctly perceived such criticism would encourage antisemitism in the general population. More sinisterly, their suspicion of a larger agenda was probably correct.<br /><br />Thus, according to Roth, the Jews were not the only ones who understood the coded messages behind the plausible words; antisemites within the American population took full advantage of the licence afforded by the new discourse to take out their prejudices on their fellow citizens. The DNA of racial stereotyping and exclusion from moral concern is universal and any individual (whether predator or prey) is alert to cues of ostracism and exclusion. It is important to note that Roth does not descend into a simplistic Manichean universe of innocent Jews surrounded by evil predatory foes. On the contrary, he invests his characters with the full gamut of human good and evil irrespective of their religious and ethnic affiliations. <br /><br />Roth’s fictional narrative is acutely relevant to the issue of Israel. Just like the flawed Jews of America, Israel is imperfect despite its enormous successes. Corruption, especially within its political domain, is too frequent for comfort. Racism is prevalent amongst some sections of the population. Social and economic inequality has increased and education policy and funding, on which the future of Israel rests, is far from optimal. Fundamentalist religion exerts an unhealthy influence on Israel’s political and civil life and Israel needs to find ways of living more humanely and harmoniously with its unassimilated and often fractious minority populations. Above all, Israel hasn’t been able to disengage from its role as an occupying power, however reluctant and indirect, over an alien hostile population with all the consequences on its own social and moral fabric. <br /><br />None of this should occasion any surprise given the history of Israel and the region in which it is embedded and the multiple antagonistic agendas it has to deal with, both within and outside its borders. Some of these are solvable by Israel alone and others depend on the cooperation of others. None are easy and some are utterly intractable.<br /><br />But none of Israel’s failures, imperfections and transgressions can objectively explain the flood of obsessive and unbalanced criticism levelled at it. David Hirsh in his speech to the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism - Jerusalem, 25 Feb 08 – puts it this way, “Jews are involved in a real conflict in the Middle East ...When Jews are involved in conflicts there is a danger that the ways people think about those conflicts get mystified in the language of antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is not a reasonable response to the actual situation; it is a response to a narrative of the actual situation which has become mystified by antisemitism....Real human rights abuses are mystified as being genocidal like Nazism; institutional racism is mystified as being worse than apartheid; the occupation is mystified as being unique and as being a manifestation of a Zionist essence; Jewish power is mystified as an ‘Israel lobby’ capable of perverting the policy of the only super power on the planet against its own interest....contemporary antisemitism is not explicitly or obviously antisemitic. ... Antisemitism of this sort is not explicit, is not obvious, and is not self-aware. It is necessary to analyze and interpret a text to know whether it is antisemitic.”7 <br /><br />The problem is that antisemitism can be used in two related but distinct ways. One refers to objectively irrational and selective criticism of - or behaviour towards - Jews as a whole or a significant and core sector of Jewish society, Israel for example. The other usage refers to the emotion, conscious or unconscious, of outgroup hostility towards Jews or Israel/Israelis specifically. It is widely assumed that the former implies the latter, but need that be the case? Is it possible that a dominantly biased discourse (perhaps itself derived from conventionally antisemitic sources) compounded by simple ignorance, other ideological loyalties, identification with the perceived underdog, conformity impulses or more serious situational pressures, can produce an objectively biased (antisemitic) belief and action pattern while free of conventional antisemitic prejudice? And is this important? Does it really matter, in practical terms, whether biased behaviour is caused by faulty information processing and situational factors or by internal disposition?<br /><br />In my view the short answer is that one cannot easily generalise about the sources of irrational anti-Zionism in individual cases and, secondly, it probably doesn’t much matter. Given the multi-dimensional processes whereby political choices are made, the individual pathway can vary from one individual to another. In some cases the mechanism may be obvious: some are clearly motivated by old-fashioned antisemitism revealed by the virulent tone and abusive content. This can infect Jews and non-Jews alike and are marked by the significant presence of the following cues: fixity of belief and resistance to contrary evidence, obsessiveness, a low trigger threshold to expression of hostility, excessively emotive language and choice of metaphor, stereotyping and essentialising, a tendency to select, exaggerate and misrepresent and, of course, unambiguous statements of hatred and threats of destruction. All these gradations are apparent in considerable portions of the Western media and on the Internet.<br /><br />In other cases the cause may include a mix, in varying proportions, of “detribalisation”, ideological commitment, social pressures, personal ambition, idealistic identification with the perceived underdog, a contrarian streak or resistance to change, a search for relevance and meaning – or indeed simple arrogance and vanity. In Roth’s novel the character of Rabbi Bengelsdorf, Lindbergh’s tame Jewish apologist, is depicted in unflattering terms as ambitious, vain, arrogant and detached from the run-of-the-mill Jew. As summarised in Laura Miller’s excellent short review8 of the novel “Bengelsdorf is a marvelous creation, part object lesson in the perils of collaboration and part meticulous parody of self-important men everywhere…”.<br /><br />While of great interest to various academic disciplines, the individual motivations underlying objectively irrational anti-Zionism is, arguably, of less importance than its prevalence (and hence potential for social spread) and its political and military impact. It must be remembered that the diplomatic and media campaigns are partly driven by a deliberate strategy to use “public opinion” as an offensive weapon to undermine, psychologically, economically and diplomatically, the capacity of Israel to resist. The provocations of Hamas and its approach to its military action are components of this strategic agenda. A prime example on the diplomatic-public opinion front is the Goldstone Report which, on a host of objective criteria, is a plainly prejudicial and politicized document intended to stigmatise Israel. <br /><br />At the same time, it would be perverse to believe that the flood of anti-Zionist comment pervading much of the Western media does not result in secondary antisemitism of the conventional variety. It would imply a compartmentalization of rational thought and emotion for which no evidence exists and which is contradicted by the very content and volume of the critical comment, by the mass meetings and inflammatory placards and slogans, by the spike in antisemitic acts in many Western countries and by the abusive and clearly antisemitic tone of large number of contributions to Internet threads. This occurs despite still significant normative prohibitions on the public expression of antisemitism in the classical sense in most Western countries. The reality is captured in the following quote “It has often been asserted by left authors (for example, Noam Chomsky) that the link between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is a tenuous one. Chomsky asserts that the linkage is a device used by Zionists to squash dissent. Yet the linkage would not be possible—or at least would be much more difficult—if there was no past or current demonstration of anti-Semitism among Israel’s opponents. Simply stated, while it is absolutely true that all anti-Zionists are not Jew hating bigots, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic in intent.”4 And, I would add, as an outcome.<br /><br />As shown in numerous studies, pervasive social prejudice is internalised by the exposed population and by the targets (specifically here, Jews and Israelis) themselves. The overt response to such an assault on self-image varies between individuals and according to situational factors. Not surprisingly, it has driven many Jews into an ultra-nationalist stance in which Israel figures as a paragon of virtue in a sea of evil and hostility. Many others have been impelled into a more moderate, but equally obdurate, resistance to the programme of stigmatisation and delegitimisation. At the very least, few Jews for whom the Zionist project represents something positive and admirable, are eager to add their tuppence worth of criticism to the malevolent chorus and thus keep their counsel when otherwise they may have been willing to publicly chastise their brethren.<br /><br />But for a significant minority, for whom Rabbi Bengelsdorf of Roth’s novel stands as a partial representative, the ideological assault on Israel has had a different effect. Psychological and sociological research - and simple observation - attest to the fact that the individual may resist such stereotyping - or may succumb. In the latter case we expect, and see, a spectrum of graduated responses ranging from disengagement to the role of actively hostile internal critic. Underlying some of the critical comment directed at Israel from within idealistic segments of Jewry, especially the younger generation, is the inappropriate intrusion of middle class guilt, historically naïve and unrealistic ideals and decontextualised analysis into the historically and politically fraught territory of the Middle East. In extreme cases, we encounter Jews who strenuously compete with the most bitter antisemites in the unrestrained expression of hostility towards Zionism and Israel. <br /><br />For the majority of individuals, especially in democratic cultures, identity is fluid and multidimensional. It is thus possible to be simultaneously adamantly supportive of Israel while subscribing, perhaps more in hope than expectation, to the universalistic ideal of a community of peoples. Defenders of Israel need not descend into the traps of stereotyping and essentialising their opponents and should not close the doors to understanding, dialogue and incremental improvement. The common ground of universal global membership can be kept available for reconciliation and compromise when, and if, the context warrents it. Every situation requires balance between the stark (sometimes subtle) imperatives of reality and the ideal. Our ability to adroitly navigate these treacherous waters may the be key to the survival of Israel as a democratic, Jewish state for all its peoples and even to a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict.<br /><br />Mike Berger<br /> <br /><br />1. I use the words antisemitism and anti-Zionism in this article in different ways. Anti-Zionism is hostility towards Israel that goes beyond criticism of one or more specific acts, social features or policy decisions, but is a systematic and encompassing critique of the country and Israeli society. In some instances, this may arise from a variably rational view which sees the Zionist project as misguided or even partaking of colonial and imperialist characteristics. At some ill-defined point such anti-Zionism passes over into what I term, in places, “irrational anti-Zionism” in which Zionism is essentialised as an evil movement fascist in spirit and intent and comparable to other widely condemned movements like apartheid or Naziism. Antisemitism, as pointed out in this article may have, at least, two meanings. One is the conventional antisemitism expressed by significant sectors of Christian Europe and much of the Muslim world in which Jews as a people are depicted as inherently evil, treacherous, devious, cruel, cowardly, greedy and aesthetically repugnant. Clearly the intensity and virulence of such feelings vary. Antisemitism may also be applied to the excessive and selective criticism of Jews or prominent aspects of of the Jewish world, eg. Israel, which is relatively unaccompanied by pan-Jewish prejudice but derives from other sources, like ideology, conformity, ignorance and so forth. Much antisemitism, both conventional and unconventional, is expressed in the form of anti-Zionism, especially irrational anti-Zionism – but the two terms are not identical in meaning. Nevertheless, irrational anti-Zionism, irrespective of its origins, can be defined as objectively antisemitic even where its motivation does not arise from conventional antisemitic prejudice. <br /><br />2. See for example: The new synthesis in moral psychology. Jonathan Haidt, et al.Science 316, 998 (2007); Collective psychological processes in anti-semitism. Avner Falk Jewish Political Studies Review 18:1-2 (Spring 2006); Spontaneous Inferences, Implicit Impressions, and Implicit Theories. James S. Uleman, S. Adil Saribay, and Celia M. Gonzalez In Annual Review of Psychology Vol. 59: 329-360 (2008); Political Psychology: Situations, Individuals, and Cases, by David P. Houghton. Publ. Routledge, December 2008, (ISBN: 978-0-415-99013-4).<br /><br />3. From hope and fear set free. Isaiah Berlin in The Proper Study of Mankind: an anthology of essays. Eds. Henry Hardy and Roger Hausheer, Publ. Farar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 2000. <br /><br />4. Leaving the Radical Left: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and Jewish Response (Part Three, Draft 1). From the New Centrist Blog at http://newcentrist.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/leaving-the-radical-left-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-and-jewish-response-part-three-draft-1/<br /><br />5. The plot against Ameica: a novel. Philip Roth, Publ. Vintage Intnl. Sept 2005<br /><br />6. Re-membering the Holocaust. Robert Fine at http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/robert-fines-talk-to-the-ucu-meeting-legacy-of-hope-anti-semitism-the-holocaust-and-resistance-yesterday-and-today/ .<br /><br />7. Speech at Global Forum for Combating Anti-semitism, Jerusalem 8 Feb 2008. David Hirsh see ENGAGE http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/printarticle.php?id=1683.<br /><br />8. Review of “The plot against America: a novel” (Philip Roth) by Laura Miller, 8 Oct 2004 at http://www.powells.com/review/2004_10_08.html.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-50647795261322671332010-02-01T17:38:00.002+02:002010-02-01T17:41:14.657+02:00Fine on the uses and abuses of antisemitismIn my previous communique, I used Roth and Hirsh as models for a critique of antisemitism, its uses and abuses and its relationship to the anti-Zionism of sections of the Western left.<br /> <br />I have received another extremely thoughful and subtle article on the same subject - see below. I really cannot find anything with which I would be in serious disagreement. Despite its length and somewhat rarified tone I strongly suggest everyone reads it in full.<br /> <br />kind regards<br />Mike Berger<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Legacy of Hope: Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Resistance Yesterday and Today.<br /></span><br />27 January 2010<br /><br />Robert Fine, UCU member and Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick. <br /><br />Thanks to the UCU executive for organising this series of important meetings on antisemitism and for inviting me to speak on this occasion. <br /><br />Re-remembering the Holocaust <br /><br />When we remember the Holocaust, what is it that we try to keep in mind? Remembering the past is an act of investigation, study, selection, comparison, interpretation and reflection. The past is past but how we understand it has much to do with the present. <br /><br />When I teach my course on the Sociology of the Holocaust I often refer to passage from Hannah Arendt’s fine book on the Eichmann trial where she writes: <br /><br />‘the supreme crime it (the court) was confronted with, the physical extermination of the Jewish people, was a crime against humanity perpetrated on the body of the Jewish people, and … only the choice of victims, not the nature of the crime, could be derived from the long history of Jew-hatred and antisemitism’.<br />The passage is not simple to decode but its gist,as I understand it, is this: the physical extermination of around six million Jewish people was both a crime against Jews and a crime against humanity; it was derived from the long history of European antisemitism and it was an attack on human plurality as such; it had to do with Europe’s longest hatred and also with Europe’s capacity to dehumanise other people. It has a particular meaning for Jews and a universal meaning for humanity.<br /><br />Holocaust education has to do two things at once. It has to bring out the universal lessons of the Holocaust – about racism, ultra-nationalism, genocide, the role of ordinary men, etc. – and it must tell the story of what happened to Jews. These tasks are not remotely contradictory – any more than a focus on what happened to Armenians in Turkey or Moslems in Bosnia or indigenous peoples in South America lies in opposition to universal history. <br /><br />In the aftermath of the war the antisemitic dimension of the destruction of European Jews was largely subsumed to narratives concerning the struggles of European nations against the Nazis. In some instances this allowed for new antisemitic campaigns to be waged under the umbrella of anti-Nazism or antizionism. After the Eichmann trial the old biblical term ‘Holocaust’ was recovered to refer to the destruction of Jews and to bring to the fore the antisemitic dimension of this event. There followed a tendency to sacralise the Holocaust, or if we use the phrase of my late friend and colleague, Gillian Rose, to preach a kind of ‘Holocaust piety’. The difficulty we all face today is how to combine the specificity of the event with its universal resonance. <br /><br />Today we hear another yet more troubling refrain. It is that Holocaust memory has become exclusive: that it’s all about Jewish suffering; that it ignores the non-Jewish people who were also murdered by the Nazis; that Jews have become obsessed by their own suffering at the expense of others; that no longer is any universal meaning drawn from collective memory. It is said that today we suffer from a surfeit of Holocaust museums, films, histories and stories as if this were the only injustice we need to remember. It is said that it is inconsistent to make Holocaust-denial illegal but not genocide denial more generally. It is said that the Holocaust is now used instrumentally to protect Israel from criticism and justify the crimes Israel commits. At the extreme it is said that what Israel does to Palestinians is ‘like’ the Holocaust or that the victims of the Holocaust have now become the victimisers of the Palestinians. <br /><br />These criticisms are alluring because they appear universalistic. Most of us would agree that memory of the Holocaust ought not to privilege the suffering of Jews at the expense of other sufferings. The cry of ‘Never Again’ ought not to be converted into an injunction that ‘never again’ refers only to Jews. Memory of the Holocaust ought not to protect Israel from criticism. Concern over antisemitism ought not to blind us to other racisms. Collective memory of the Holocaust should not make us blind to the suffering of others. Emphasis on Jewish suffering should not subvert the universal meaning of the Holocaust. And to misquote W H Auden, those to whom evil is done should certainly not do evil in return.<br /><br />We may all agree that memory of the Holocaust should serve rather as a ‘fire alarm’ alerting us all human atrocities and our need to confront them. But who says otherwise? Who does not share this view? I hear some of my colleagues say: ‘they’ are sensitive only to the mass murder of Jews, ‘they’ turn the Holocaust into an excuse to ignore other crimes, ‘they’ shout antisemitism every time someone attacks Israel or defends Palestinians; ‘they’ instrumentalise the Holocaust for their own political purposes. Who are the ‘they’ in question? The amorphousness of the ‘they’ designation is part of the problem.<br /><br />There are, to be sure, certain Jewish ultra-nationalists who think only of Jewish suffering and ignore the suffering of others. Such blinkered views are generally true of how nationalists respond to racism against their own people. They do so in nationalistic ways. There is nothing I know that marks out Jewish nationalists here from the general phenomenon that opposition to racism against one’s own people can be nationalistic rather than antiracist, particularistic rather than universal. A critique of Jewish ultra-nationalism only makes sense alongside a critique of other forms of ultra-nationalisms in Europe and the Middle East. It must be distinguished from the notion that Jews or Israeli Jews think only of their own people and nothing of the suffering of others. This problem is not resolved by saying that the ‘they’ who ignore the suffering of others are ‘Zionists’ and ‘defenders of Israel’. We can of course defend the right of the state of Israel to exist and not be threatened by its neighbours without endorsing the views of Israeli ultra-nationalism. Slippage of this sort takes us from the realm of political argument into that of vilifying a whole nation. <br /><br />2. Denying antisemitism<br /><br />A now familiar refrain among ‘critics of Israel’ is that the question of antisemitism is only raised to devalue or deflect criticism of Israel. Within our own union I frequently hear this refrain. A UCU motion of 2007 on Israel included the words: ‘criticism of Israel cannot be construed as antisemitic’ and a motion of 2008 repeated that ‘criticism of Israel or Israeli policy is not, as such, antisemitic’. It seems fitting on this occasion that we reflect carefully about this refrain and what it means. <br /><br />One colleague I was reading the other day wrote that ‘antisemitism charges are just part of the deal for anyone who speaks out for Palestine’ and added that ‘the important point in all this is that we keep speaking out for Palestine’. Well, it is important to speak out for Palestinians. But in the eyes of this colleague at least it is clear that he should not worry about antisemitism since the charge of antisemitism functions in his view only or mainly to demonize opposition to Israel. <br /><br />Another colleague wrote that the term ‘antisemitism’ has become little more than a rhetoric used to translate what one is actually hearing, say a protest against the killing of children and civilians by the Israeli army, into hatred of Jews. Another laments that ‘by shouting antisemitism every time someone attacks Israel or defends the Palestinians’, defenders of Israel rob the word of its universal resonance. <br /><br />The feeling expressed in all these statements is that the accusation of antisemitism is now used to trash anyone who is critical of the policies of the Israeli government. It seems that the value of this coinage is undercut by its over-use. The struggle against antisemitism, once seen as central to the construction of a new Europe after the war, is increasingly disavowed since the charge of antisemitism merely serves to deflect or devalue criticism of Israeli occupation, Israeli human rights abuses, Israeli racism toward Arabs, and Israeli military force in Lebanon and Gaza. It would seem that the trouble with Europe is no longer antisemitism but talk of antisemitism. Sometimes we hear people speaking ‘as Jews’ and offering the authority of their Jewishness to confirm that criticism of Israel is not in fact antisemitic. <br /><br />This emphatic insistence that criticism of Israel is not antisemitic but is labelled antisemitic by ‘defenders of Israel’ seems to me hugely problematic. Let me offer three reasons why I think we should reflect very hard about what’s going on. <br /><br />First, emphatic denial that criticism of Israel is antisemitic is a way of saying that people only raise concerns and fears about antisemitism in bad faith. It insinuates that those who, rightly or wrongly, raise concerns over antisemitism, are not really concerned about antisemitism at all but only about defending Israel at all costs. It implies that since we cannot defend Israel overtly, we do so covertly and deceptively. The premise is that individuals and organisations which express a sense of alarm about the re-emergence of antisemitism in Europe are dishonest – especially when they connect antisemitism with ‘criticism of Israel’. Since there are a large number of bona fide bodies that have expressed alarm about the ties that bind criticism of Israel with antisemitism, it appears that they are conniving toward the same dishonest end. <br /><br />Second, emphatic denial that criticism of Israel is antisemitic represents a disturbing tendency in some quarters to wear the charge of antisemitism as almost a badge of honour. It appears as a sign that you are a true friend of the Palestinians, rather than as a stimulus to self-reflection. Refusal to take antisemitism seriously must be a problem for a movement committed to antiracism, that is to say, to opposition to all forms of racism and not only to some. It represents a real regression from the principle established by the McPherson Inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 that if people sees themselves as victims of racism, this does not mean that they are victims of racism but it does mean that there is a duty on institutions to take seriously what is alleged. Emphatic denial of antisemitism encourages institutions not to take allegations of antisemitism seriously whether or not they are directly to do with Israel. There is no doubt in my mind that this has been a major problem within our own union. <br /><br />Third, emphatic denial that criticism of Israel is antisemitic refuses to distinguish between legitimate and antisemitic criticism of Israel. Let me exemplify the problem by reference to the reports of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the British All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism and the OSCE. These reports have all accepted that criticism of Israel is not as such antisemitic but warn that criticism of Israel can and does sometimes overlap with antisemitism. No one who looks, for example, at David Duke’s website should need further persuasion on this issue. They say that criticism of Israel can become antisemitic if it takes the form, for example, of selecting Israel as uniquely evil or violent among nations, or holding Jews or Israeli Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel, or comparing the military occupation of Palestine with the Nazi extermination of Jews, or representing Israel through long established antisemitic myths of world conspiracy, control of the media, murder of non-Jewish children, etc. In such cases they maintain that the substitution of the word ‘Zionists’ for ‘Jews’ makes little substantial difference to the hostility in question. They also say, on an issue that is closer to home, that to campaign to boycott Israeli universities but no other overseas universities in the world is discriminatory and falls foul of anti-discrimination legislation.<br />These more or less official reports raise the issue of where legitimate political criticism of Israel stops and antisemitism kicks in. They may or may not have got it right; we may want to draw the line elsewhere; but let us not disavow the question itself. If we accept that some kinds of ‘criticism’ of Israel are manifestly antisemitic, for example, criticism based on the notion that Jews as such, by virtue of their Jewishness, are indifferent to the suffering of non-Jews, then the question is where we draw the line – not whether we draw one. <br /><br />The reduction ad Hitlerum that we find in recent representation of Israelis as blood-thirsty Nazis laughing at the misery of Palestinians is a way of wiping the Israeli Jew off the moral map. There is a worrying tendency either to ignore these inquiries altogether or to deny the message they bring by trashing the messenger. Within two radical Jewish organisations, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and Independent Jewish Voices, colleagues have argued that the commissions that produced these reports were influenced by the ‘Israel lobby’, that they grossly exaggerated the threat posed by antisemitism in Europe, and that they gave excessive weight to the subjective claims of Jews to suffer from antisemitism. The punch line of all these criticisms is that the reports are wrong because they give credence to the notion that criticism of Israel is antisemitic. <br /><br />If the outcome of these meetings is that we no longer hear the words: ‘criticism of Israel is not or is not as such antisemitic’, this would be hugely worthwhile. For at best such statements are glib and unserious. At worst, they sanction antisemitism in a way that we would never sanction racism. <br /><br />3. On European self-identity<br /><br />I never cease to be amazed at the ability of Europeans to recreate ourselves as the civilised continent, the ones who have learnt the universal lessons of the Holocaust, and to treat Jews as those who have failed to learn the lesson. European hubris sometimes takes the form of a constantly repeated narrative of progress which pays tribute to the success of the new Europe in transcending its longest hatred. It acknowledges that antisemitism was a monstrous feature of Europe’s past but insists that the conditions that gave rise to antisemitism have now come to an end with the defeat of Nazism, the rise of the European Union and the reunification of Europe. How often do we hear it said that in the new Europe antisemitism has been marginalised and delegitimised to such an extent that there is now no need to confront it. <br /><br />The more radical discourse I hear is one that resists this liberal faith in progress and is far more sensitive to the recurrence of racism in European societies. It may declare that antisemitism has been replaced by Islamophobia as the real racism of the moment but it shares the conviction that antisemitism itself has run its course. The race question, we are told, is no longer whether Jews can be good Germans or good Brits but whether Muslims can be good Europeans. Either in its liberal or radical forms, the factual claim that antisemitism is no longer a problem in Europe only serves to exclude antisemitism from the list of racisms Europe now has to confront if a new postnationalist Europe is to be built. This rewriting of history, based on the assumption that antisemitism has been well and truly overcome in the new Europe, leaves out the multiple ways in which the past weighs upon the present. <br /><br />Today we see the re-emergence of ultra-nationalist parties in Europe. We might think, for example, of the Tories’ new friends in the EU, the Conservatives and Reformists grouping, led by the Polish politician, Michal Kaminski, who began his political journey in a neo-Nazi organisation, wore fascist antisemitic symbols and continues to hold that Poles should not apologise for the 1941 pogrom at Jedwabne until Jews have apologised for the wrongs they inflicted on Poles. Or we might think of the Latvian affiliate to this grouping, the For Fatherland and Freedom party, which has been a prime mover behind annual parades celebrating the Latvian legion of the Waffen-SS. We know that Kaminski and the For Fatherland and Freedom party are but the tip of a large and ugly iceberg of a growing nationalist politics in Europe. <br /><br />It would be foolish to see the liberal establishment as exempt from antisemitic temptations. The new Europeans are quite capable of re-creating a moral division of the world between themselves and others that stigmatises others as ‘nationalist’ as much as it idealises themselves as ‘postnationalist’. It is not inevitable that the new Europe must be exclusionary in this way, witness the considerable efforts being made to monitor and combat racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, but the urge is internal to it. The representation of Israel in particular as the incarnation of the negative properties Europe has succeeded in overcoming is a case in point. ‘Israel’ and ‘Zionism’ serve as vessels into which the new European can project all that is bad in European history – its colonial past, ethnic divisions, institutionalised racisms, excesses of superfluous violence, etc. – and preserve the good for themselves. In European thought there has long existed a conviction that if we can only rid ourselves of some alien element – be it the bourgeoisie, parasites, terrorists or Jews – then all will be well with the world. Representation of Israel as a pariah state or even a pariah people can perform a similar mythic function for a European consciousness anxious to divest itself of the legacy not only of its own past but also its present. <br /><br />Antizionists ‘conspire’ just as Zionists do but the denial of antisemitism can no more be explained in terms of any conspiracy theory than can new antisemitism theory. Conspiracies exist but conspiracy theory explains nothing. The antisemitism denial of which I speak cannot be explained by any conspiracy to forge an anti-Israel alliance. Its roots are far more mundane and socially grounded. They lie in the experience most of us have that antisemitism have not been a day to day problem in much of Europe or the UK. They lie in the identity politics embraced by many radical Jews who are intent on absolving themselves, declaring they are not like the ‘Zionists’, making it clear that what the Jewish state does is not done in their name. They lie on the Left in a politics of anti-imperialism which divides the world between oppressor and oppressed nations without allowing any complication or indeed any intersubjective dynamics to enter this binary dichotomised picture of the world. They lie in the idealist philosophy of Rawlsian liberalism that measures the constitution and actions of a particular state against the ideal of what a rational state ought to be without comparing the justice and injustices of the Jewish state against the material practices of other states. They lie finally perhaps in the dynamics of political argument itself which tends to divide the world into opposing camps, leads the members of one camp to caricature the beliefs of the other, and to raise an essentially local struggle into the emblem or signifier of the camps themselves. Which side you are on is determined by your stance on Israel: ‘support’ it and you believe in racism and ethnic cleansing; ‘criticise’ it and you are on the side of progress. <br /><br />4. Antisemitism and criticism of Israel<br /><br />I have focused in this polemic on Europe but let me end on this note. The struggle for justice for Palestinians and the struggle against antisemitism often seem worlds apart but this is not so. They belong to one another and draw from the same sources. As far as justice for Palestinians is concerned, the antisemitism question is not a red herring. It is a key to breaking out of the current impasse. <br /><br />Antisemitism does no favours to the Palestinian cause. In Europe it diminishes support for Palestinian rights because until now at least most people, consciously or intuitively, won’t have anything to do with a movement that has a whiff of antisemitism around it. In Israel it reinforces the grip of ultra-nationalists and religious extremists who know very well how to exploit antisemitism for their own ends. In Palestine it reinforces the grip of fundamentalist leaderships that threaten the freedom of Palestinians from within as much or more than they threaten the existence of Israel from without. In surrounding Arab states it allows reactionary rulers to divert social and political opposition into hatred of Jews and somehow to receive little international criticism for so doing. In the world generally it allows people to blame Israel and Israel alone for the suffering of Palestinians as if the end of Israel and beginning of justice for Palestinians were one and the same thing. It diverts from the real responsibilities of power that Israel is failing to meet.<br /><br />We have to be careful not to invert the problem we are addressing. If ultra-nationalists in Israel racialise Arabs and turn them into a unitary category, the temptation is to respond with an act of reversal that turns ‘Zionists’ into an equally ‘otherised’ unitary category. We also have to be careful not to place Palestinians in a single identity script as victims and hear only the voice we want to hear. I am not suggesting that Palestinians are not victims but they are not only victims and not only victims of Israel. The problem we need to tackle is that our sense of injustice about the treatment of Palestinians can incline those who feel compassion for them to see this injustice as the formative experience in their lives and replace recognition of their agency with contempt for the people we charge with excluding and oppressing them. No human being is entirely ‘other’ than another, even where unequal social structures make this hard to see. No human being is entirely in solidarity with a whole people, however much he or she affords herself the right to speak on their behalf. <br /><br />In Europe and the Middle East we see the rise of ultra-nationalism taking many forms – all of which are deeply threatening to our own universal values. What we call ‘antizionism’ today is an anti-nationalism of fools. It casts all the sins of ultra-nationalism onto Zionists and Israel. It won’t see antisemitism because it breaks their world view. In the past antisemitism provided a unifying ideology for a very diverse array of social and political grievances. Today the danger is that ‘antizionism’ may provide a point of unification around which sections of the far right, the anti-imperialist left, radical Islam and even the liberal establishment might coalesce.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-48015681165201715052010-01-18T14:26:00.003+02:002010-01-18T14:53:34.485+02:00Roth, Hirsh and AntisemitismI have not posted to this blog since June last year. I'm not entirely sure it serves a purpose but producing the occasional bulletin for distribution at least helps me clarify my own thoughts. So my newsletter has been coming out at rather irregular intervals without actually being posted to this blog. From here on I will make a point of ensuring that the blog is updated whenever I actually get around to putting pen to paper.<br /><br /><br />In the meantime it accumulated a few comments - 6 from David Zinn who is so incorrigibly abusive and compulsively one-track that I will no longer bother with him. There is enough abysmal trash on the Internet without adding more garbage.<br /><br />There was a comment from Steven Robins which I will try to add here and address. If it does not appear it is because I cannot access it any longer. My apologies for that, but the post below actually addresses some of his issues - albeit indirectly.<br /><br />I will continue to publish comments - supportive, analytical or critical - where I deem them to have merit. I will also either answer them personally or publish worthwhile responses from others.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Roth, Hirsh and Antisemitism</span><br /><br />Those at the top of the celebrity food chain are painfully exposed to the fickleness of public opinion; Tiger Woods and Blair come to mind but the list is a long one. From hero to zero is not really a danger to those of us at the bottom of the celebrity ladder, but even we know that we get undeserved bouquets and brickbats at times. This is probably the reason Kipling called “success” and “failure” the two imposters.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Speaking from a personal perspective, the task of countering the persistent and insidious anti-Israel media bias, can lead to errors of fact, emphasis and judgement. Besides the failure of the media to provide a balanced treatment of the multi-faceted and convoluted conflicts which flourish within the Middle East hothouse, one needs to deal with more-or-less orchestrated campaigns from activists who for various reasons (psychological and ideological) and are committed to unending propaganda warfare against the state of Israel. Truly reliable facts are difficult to come by, space is immensely limited and the level of debate is generally polarised and abysmally low. Fatigue, the pressures of time and simple irritation compound the problem.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Thus I hope to occasionally use this newsletter/blog to bring to your attention some of the better articles and books pertaining to Israel or to Jewry more broadly and to raise issues which are neither suitable nor possible to deal with properly in the popular press. <br /><br /> <br /><br />It is important to frame this within the context of an Israel engaged in an existential war against those who like to destroy it altogether. Some of our co-religionists, who have arrogated to themselves the mantle of universal ethical spokespersons, would like to you to believe this assertion is paranoia or simply a device to silence criticism. It is neither. There is more than sufficient evidence ranging from the actual statements of those who make their ambitions quite plain all the way through to actions whose only consequence is in fact the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. The fact that in narrow military terms Israel is considerably stronger than her enemies, does not make their intentions any less sinister. Nor is the military battlefield the only arena in which this conflict is being fought. As important are the arenas of demography, geostrategic resources and public opinion – to mention only some. In all of these Israel’s enemies are equal or superior with extremely important implications for Israel’s’ security, and indeed for the security of global Jewry.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Nor does the fact that Israel is engaged in an existential struggle absolve it from criticism. But it does make it imperative that those who claim to support it take great care not to become the handmaidens of Israel’s enemies – a topic I have discussed previously and do not wish to revisit here. <br /><br /> <br /><br />The first theme of this issue is the question of anti-semitism arising, strangely enough, out of a novel, which many of you may have already read, and I have belatedly got around to finishing. I’m referring to Philip Roth’s “The plot against America”. I came away overwhelmed by its extraordinarily ambitious scope – a combination of an acutely observed socio-political treatise on an adolescent and still raw America, a polemic, a scrupulous and partly autobiographical examination of character, all embedded in an imaginative and complex narrative rich in incident and unexpected twists. Despite its polemical undertone at no stage did this undermine the honesty with which Roth parades his vast cast of Jewish and non-Jewish characters before us; nor does he rub our noses in the lessons to be drawn from them but allows the reader to form his own conclusions.<br /><br /> <br /><br />A leitmotif throughout the novel is the question: where does paranoia, fear and parochialism end and true anti-semitism begin? Do the bland, seemingly innocuous and apparently reasonable criticisms of Jewish cultural difference, exclusivity and failure to assimilate more thoroughly into the predominantly white, Protestant host population disguise a deeper and more sinister threat or are they to be taken at their face value, as some more “enlightened” members of the Jewish community would have their compatriots believe? <br /><br /> <br /><br />While Roth’s answer is indirect, it is also unequivocal. The ordinary Jew, reacting with horror, confusion and indignation to Lindbergh’s plausible and ambiguous pronouncements, is right on the money. In some way the ability to detect and decipher the true meaning lies within the Jewish psychological DNA, honed by centuries of uncertainty and oppression. Such gut recognition can be blocked by excessive education laced with ambition, vanity and arrogance, represented by the oleaginous and politically adroit, Rabbi Bengelsdorf - whose career of pandering and sycophancy comes to a satisfyingly nasty end by the end of the book.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Nor are the Jews the only ones who understand the code. The anti-semites and opportunists within the American population also understand the new licence to take out their prejudices on their fellow Jews. But Roth does not descend into a simplistic Manichean universe of innocent Jews surrounded by evil predatory foes. On the contrary, he invests his characters with the full gamut of human good and evil irrespective of their religious ethnic affiliations, none of which undermines the central insight: that anti-semitism can come cunningly disguised, perhaps especially to the anti-semite himself. This does not mitigate its profoundly sinister origins in the darker reaches of the human psyche or the dangers it holds for Jew and non-Jew alike. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Of course, this analysis is acutely relevant to the issue of Israel. Just like the Jews of America, Israel is an imperfect society despite its enormous successes. Corruption is rife especially within its political space. Racism is prevalent amongst some sections of the population. Social and economic inequality is becoming worse and education, on which the future of Israel rests, is far from optimal. Fundamentalist religion exerts an unhealthily excessive influence on Israel’s political and civil life and Israel needs to deal more humanely and effectively with its minority populations. Above all, Israel hasn’t solved the problem of ruling, however distantly and indirectly, over an alien hostile population with all the consequences on its own social and moral fabric.<br /><br /> <br /><br />None of this should occasion any surprise given Israel’s history, the neighbourhood in which it is embedded and the multiple antagonistic agendas it has to deal with, both within and outside its borders. Some of these are solvable by Israel alone and others depend on the cooperation of others. None are easy and some are utterly intractable.<br /><br /> <br /><br />But none of Israel’s failures, imperfections and transgressions remotely justify the obsessive and unbalanced criticism leveled at it. These, like the anti-semitism of Lindbergh’s America, reflect the psychological twists and political agendas of Israel’s critics rather than an objective view of Israel itself. The carefully calibrated and disguised criticisms of some of its more sophisticated enemies are clearly and correctly understood both by the ordinary Jew and by those who wish Israel harm as threats. Only those blinded by some combination of denialism, internalised and unexamined anti-semitism, free-floating guilt, vanity, ignorance or simple ambition and greed can believe otherwise.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Some of this is put extremely well by David Hirsh in his speech to the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism - Jerusalem, 25 Feb 08, and I quote extensively from it below..<br /><br /> <br /><br />“<span style="font-style:italic;">Jews are involved in a real conflict in the Middle East where not all the rights and wrongs are on one side, where neither nation has always acted wisely and where in the absence of peace, things can only get worse.<br /><br />When Jews are involved in conflicts there is a danger that the ways people think about those conflicts get mystified in the language of antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is not a reasonable response to the actual situation; it is a response to a <br />narrative of the actual situation which has become mystified by antisemitism.<br /><br />Real human rights abuses are mystified as being genocidal like Nazism; institutional racism is mystified as being worse than apartheid; the occupation is mystified as being unique and as being a manifestation of a Zionist essence; Jewish power is mystified as an ‘Israel lobby’ capable of perverting the policy of the only super power on the planet against its own interest. <br /><br />In Britain we have dealt a fairly heavy blow, for the moment, to the boycotters. In my view the main manifestation of antisemitism in the near future is going to be conspiracy theory.<br /><br />The kind of antisemitism which really worries me is the kind which is difficult to spot. Governments can imprison those who commit racist assaults and they can ban hate-speech. But we cannot shut down the Guardian newspaper or my <br />trade union or the Green Party.<br /><br />Why not? Because contemporary antisemitism is not explicitly or obviously antisemitic.<br /><br />We can respond that according to the EUMC working definition this or that piece in the Guardian is in fact antisemitic, irrespective of what people think. But the counter-response will be “of course, you wrote it”.<br /><br />I am not against bringing legal or bureaucratic power to bear against antisemitism when that is possible – interestingly the boycott in my own union was ended with the help of a combination of the two. But we have to lead with a political fight, by making and winning arguments.<br /><br />We should not base our strategy on the assumption that the powerful in the world - or in America - will be prepared to oppose antisemitism. We should not act as though the "lobby" rhetoric was true. It isn’t. Moshe Postone tells us that antisemitism can appear to be anti-hegemonic. But we shouldn’t act as though antisemitism was in fact anti-hegemonic.<br /><br />We don’t aim to change the mind of Ilan Pappe or Saumas Milne but we do aim to change the mind of those who may be influenced by them. Yesterday John Mann said that the boycotters are afraid of us. And I think they are. They’re not afraid of being denounced as wild-eyed leftists or as antisemites or as self-haters. They love that.<br /><br />But they are afraid of coming up against people who have a chance of influencing their own followers or of sewing (sic)doubt amongst those who they aim to influence. This is a difficult job. ... <br /><br />The contemporary way of doing antisemitic conspiracy theory was given a stamp of professorial legitimacy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in 2006. They created a vocabulary which one could use to express conspiracy theory and which did not seem to be antisemtic.<br /><br />Conspiracy theory is nearly always, today, articulated using the Livingstone Formulation, which claims that Jews play the antisemitism card in bad faith in order to de-legitimize criticism of Israeli human rights abuses. In this way, anyone who raises a worry about contemporary antisemitism already stands accused of doing so maliciously; and they stand accused of doing so as part of a common plan with others. Livingstone’s formulation also denies the distinction between criticism and demonization.<br /><br />Thursday’s Guardian had the rhetoric and the images of antisemitic conspiracy theory running through it, from the front page to the inside pages, to the leader. Antisemitism of this sort is not explicit, is not obvious, and is not self-aware. It is necessary to analyze and interpret a text to know whether it is antisemitic</span>.”<br /><br /> <br /><br />I will leave this theme here. The message is to all of us is that it is not necessary to believe Israel is perfect or wholly right to support or defend it. It is not necessary to believe or claim others are intrinsically evil or that they have no legitimacy in order to oppose them. The story of Israel and the Palestinians contains hurts suffered and wrongs committed by both sides. But until the Palestinians can free themselves from the narrative of endless victimhood, the ideologies and anti-semitism of the Western left and the Muslim world, the medieval visions of Jihadi Islamism and the corrupt gangsters ruling over them, their ability to find creative solutions to their existential problems will remain stillborn. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Israel, hopefully, will continue to avoid that trap as they have managed so far at least partially. They have a recent history of heroic achievement to provide them with the confidence to get beyond their own fears and prejudices and fulfill their destiny.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I would be interested in other people’s perceptions of the issues discussed in this post.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-87182883944037068312009-06-15T16:12:00.001+02:002009-06-15T16:43:12.424+02:00David Zinn in his own wordsDavid Zinn in his own words<br /> <br /><br />Ryan Rutherford, aka David Zinn, (for reasons unknown to me at least) challenged me to reproduce his immortal thoughts in my blog, in his normal courteous manner - which I reproduce here here for your edification “I wonder if you’ll be brave enough to publish my rebuttal on your blog, or is your site nothing but a one-way street where you slander people with impunity and provide them no recourse to correct the record and your deplorable distortions?”<br /><br /> <br /><br />Of course it requires little bravery from me since there are few things which better convict the fanatic than their own words. To be honest I have not read through it since I catch the drift fairly early on; perhaps some of you will be hardy enough. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Needless to say I will not be responding but this blog is open to anyone who wishes to respond, or indeed to support Zinny. I will not include any more of Zinny on my blog. He can be found in full torrent on IAS and probably elsewhere.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I am prepared to take considered input, critical or otherwise, minus undue ad hominem irrelevancies and preferably moderately brief.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Mike Berger (aka SOLAR PLEXUS www.froggyfarm.blogspot.com )<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Dear Mr Berger<br /><br /> <br /><br />Firstly, let me just say that I feel somewhat honoured that your blog reflects a newfound obsession with my words and what you presume to be my outlook. Your references to me as Zinny are too precious for words, so thanks for the smile that this nickname engendered when I first read it on your blog.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> I was also going to apologise profusely for implying that you were a liar, rather than sticking with just gullible, because we really are so poorly served by the mainstream media so it is often difficult, without a bit of work, to know what’s going on in the real world. However, after reading through your take on some of my comments I have begun to wonder whether dishonesty isn’t an integral part of your strategy, which is far from unknown among Zionists. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Let’s now deconstruct, or perhaps reconstruct, those quotations of mine that you referred to in the relevant blog entry.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> I wrote that “Israel is a colonialist, deeply racist and apartheid-style state is plainly obvious to anyone who knows anything about the country and isn't a rabid right wing pro-Israel apologist”, and I absolutely stand by this comment based on extensive and wide ranging research on the issue. You are also correct that I don’t need any conference or HSRC report to tell me about what sort of country Israel is. I’m glad that the HSRC has compiled such a report as now there is yet more ammunition against the pro-Israel apologists of this world though, true to form, they’ve gone on the hysterical defensive trying to slander the researchers. The only element of this comment that I admit was rather ill-judged was my reference to “rabid right wing pro-Israel apologists” because there are people who are quite liberal in their outlook who still defend Israel, usually because of their Jewish heritage, or because they are simply ignorant about Israel’s actions. So apologies for having smeared everyone who supports Israel as being ultra right wing extremists.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />You go on to quote me as having written “Ahmadienjad doesn’t really wish to eliminate Israel as ‘we know it’ – that is, as a Jewish State. His comments have been misrepresented”, which is a ridiculous distortion of what I actually wrote. In the relevant article on ‘It’s Almost Supernatural’ you are quoted as having written “Ahmadinejad's threat to reality, namely, the elimination of Israel as we know it”. Now this term, “as we know it”, is admittedly vague so I presumed you were referring to his misquoted statements that he wished to “wipe Israel off the map”. As I pointed out in my post, there is no such expression in Farsi and that Ahmadinejad was quoting the late Ayatollah Khomeini who once said that he hoped the “regime in Jerusalem would vanish from the pages of history”, a quotation carrying a very different meaning to the one generally ascribed to Ahmadinejad. I pointed out twice in the relevant thread that to refer to Ahmadinejad’s quote, even if we concede that he used the term “wipe out” or something similar, by not referring to the context is to perpetuate a falsehood. For the record here is my reference to the issue in its entirety:<br /><br /> <br /><br /> “…Ahmadinejad never ever proposed "the elimination of Israel as we know it". The mainstream media incorrectly reported that he had threatened to "wipe Israel off the map" which was a woefully inaccurate translation of the Farsi. In fact, this language has no such expression. Ahmadinejad was quoting the late Ayatollah Khomeini who once said that he hopes that "the Zionist regime in Israel vanishes from the pages of history". There's a massive difference between this and hoping for some genocidal elimination of all Jews. He was basically saying, and by extension so was Ahmadinejad, that the State of Israel as it is now constituted must change, a sentiment which I and all humane people throughout the world share. Just as calling for an end to Apartheid was not suggesting that white people be wiped out, so calling for Israel to no longer be a racist Zionist state is not wishing for the Jews to be vanquished from this earth”.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> You write that Ahmadinejad is “developing a nuclear weapon as fast as he can” though strangely you provide no proof of this. Have you heard of the NIE, aka the National Intelligence Estimate, which is an intelligence report compiled by 16 US intelligence agencies? In late 2007 they released a report that Iran stopped developing its nuclear weapons programme in 2003. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Considering how you’ve misrepresented me I find it altogether rather rich that I am accused of misrepresenting you. I will concede that I should have taken more care in noting the ambiguity in your original statement which referred to Ahmadinejad wishing to “eliminate Israel as ‘we know it’”. I just assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that you were trotting out that much circulated canard against the Iranian president. Your blithe reference to a “Jewish state” also needs some clarification, so perhaps you’d care to do so. I mean if Israel withdrew from the Occupied Territories tomorrow and worked actively to assist the Palestinians in setting up an independent state, Israel would still remain “Jewish” by virtue of the majority population being of this cultural/religious persuasion. As a result of this action I seriously doubt one would hear many pronouncements from Ahmadinejad, or any other major figures in the Middle East, about Israel being “wiped out”, or at least these figures would have their real agendas exposed as there would no longer be any real world ammunition to fuel the fire of people in the region. You see, Mr Berger, the question isn’t about Israel being “Jewish” so much as it is about being a brutal occupying power and terror state. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />You quote my statement that “I find it interesting that people like John Dugard are described as "ideologues" because they take "anti-Zionist positions", which suggests that to be pro-Zionist one would be free of ideology”, yet fail to tackle it in any meaningful sense, instead you just repeat that Dugard, like myself and Virginia Tilley evidently, are “ideologues”. Under that sweet photo of yourself on your blog you have written that the “blog subscribes to an inclusive Jewish identity and support for the right of Israel to exist in security and peace”. Elsewhere you express predictable sympathy for the “Zionist project”, which is by definition an ideological enterprise. I harbour no such allegiance to any state or political philosophy, except perhaps for universality, in other words applying to ourselves the same standard we apply to others. In Jesus and Confucius’ formulation this is known as the “golden rule” while Kant referred to it as the “categorical imperative”. So why don’t you point out what my ideology is, seeing as though you seem to be an expert on the issue. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I also don’t “hate Israel”, anymore than I “hated” South Africa because of the Apartheid government. I have a problem with many states around the world, but that doesn’t mean I hate the entire population. I have English heritage on my father’s side, and am still in regular contact with my family in England, but that doesn’t mean I somehow excuse that terrorist Tony Blair from illegally invading another country, nor do I ever make apologies for Britain’s horrific imperial history. The idea that one should either hate or love a particular state, without any nuance allowed, is a textbook case of ideological identification. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I did indeed write that “Just because Sudan has a horrendous human rights record does that magically exculpate Israel from any and all abuses against the Palestinians? Ditto for the question of ‘xenophobic hatred’ in South Africa, and on and on.” And you respond that “no-one said it did”. If you go back to the original thread you will notice that I was responding to the following comments from Sun:<br /><br /> <br /><br />“South Africa aint gonna spend no dollars on research into what makes the Sudanese Arabs hate, disposses and kill black (Muslim) Sudanese now will they?<br /><br /> <br /><br />Maybe even a proper funding of research into what lay behind the xenophobic hatred last year. No siree.” <br /><br /> <br /><br />So yes, someone, namely Sun, encouraged me to ask the quoted question as this was what he was seemingly implying. By referring to “Chechnia (sic), Tibet and Sri Lanka” you simply confirm the observation I implied in the above quotation and yet again fail to answer the question.<br /><br />Your last quote has me observing that “Instead of fixating on who wrote and funded the HSRC report, why not actually review the report and tackle it on the basis of facts, and not mere ad hominem attacks. Or is this just standard operating procedure for pro-Israel zealots who cannot address factual information and must constantly go on the offensive with smear campaigns against those who disagree with their perspective of Israel as a paragon of purity?” and once more you fail to address the issue and confirm what I wrote by contending that the report is “fruit of a poisoned tree”. You also seem to think I’m motivated by “negative obsessions” without specifying what these are, and even imply that I am akin to a Holocaust denier like David Irving. You really do appear to harbour a pathological hatred for me, and by extension I presume you exhibit similar hatred towards all critics of Israel. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I notice with some interest that your latest blog entry is entitled ‘Ideologues and Bigots’ which is a perfect description of yourself. You clearly hold to a rigidly doctrinaire belief system and don’t seem too upset by the treatment of the Palestinians, past or present. You have a lot to say about the HSRC and the likes of Virginia Tilley, but where is your outrage at some of the pronouncements of Avigdor Lieberman, surely one of the most repugnant individuals to ever be part of the Israeli government? He has said that if Arabs in Israel don’t give a loyalty oath to Israel they should be expelled, and has proposed dropping all Palestinian prisoners in the ocean to drown. Where’s the indignation, Mike? Or does bigotry only apply to statements that are critical of poor little old Israel?<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I’m not sure what’s more revolting, equating me to that despicable anti-Semite Irving or with those racist right wing rejects who Max Blumenthal interviewed in Jerusalem. The first thuggish lowlife he interviews says that Obama is a “f&*$head who should be shot” while others say that Obama should go and “f^$# himself”. The same fine gentleman who eagerly desires to see the President of the United States assassinated later says “white power…f*%^ the niggers”. An overweight and unattractive young woman says that Obama is “a Muslim for sure, and who even knows if he was born in the United States?…we haven’t seen his birth certificate…he’s like a terrorist”, thus revealing her ignorance and bigotry in one foul sweep. One clearly drunk buffoon called Obama a “p*#$y and faggot”, while another repeatedly said “f&$# Obama”. Yet another fine specimen of American Jewish youth said that he’d like to eat a watermelon with Obama who is “another nigger from the town”. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />When have I even remotely expressed such sentiments? You have repeatedly asked, in a highly arrogant manner, who I am as if I first have to pass some Mike Berger test before I can say anything about the Israel/Palestine conflict, so why not actually try and find out who I am and what values I hold before making such sick, disgusting, utterly egregious and deeply reprehensible comparisons between me and some asinine scumbags who don’t deserve to scrub my shoes or work in my garden, let alone have a conversation with me. People, furthermore, whose entire value system I loathe with all my being and who should make all decent people sick to the core of their stomach. You may quibble with my interpretation of your person based on what I assumed you wrote, but at least I took your words on, and didn’t begin spewing all manner of obscene insults based on no evidence whatsoever.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> On the “Guess who’s coming to SA” thread you write that you “don't really wish to get into the F(inkelstein) - Dershowitz or F(inkelstein) - anyone debate”. Could this be because you’re afraid that Finkelstein will be shown to have destroyed the likes of Dershowitz who is so loved by the Zionist brigade? It is actually very important to compare the work of Dershowitz and Finkelstein because then one will be able to see that the former is nothing but a liar, fabricator and outright propagandist. Dershowitz even relied largely on another hoax, namely Joan Peters’ From Time Immemorial, for his famous book The Case for Israel, which should suggest the kind of scholarship that the famous litigator is responsible for. He even made changes to his book for the paperback addition after Finkelstein had exposed some of his fraudulence. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Instead of hurling insult after insult, clearly something of a speciality with you, such as calling me and others “Hyde Park corner nutters” and “grade A paranoids”, perhaps you might like to provide a critical assessment of Finkelstein’s work and to show where he displays all this so-called “paranoia”. As Woody Allen once said, “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you”. In all seriousness, paranoia usually implies that someone holds a belief with virtually no correlation to the real world. Considering that Finkelstein has displayed a consummate scholarly skill in his work that has been lauded by many experts on the Israel/Palestine issue, while exposing others as frauds and fabricators, the charge of paranoia doesn’t fit all that well without clear substantiation. The US is a major terror state, and Israel’s international terrorism, while on a much smaller scale to that of its chief donor, is also very well-known. To acknowledge this point, whether one is Norman Finkelstein or David Zinn or Nigel Parry or Pete Sampras, isn’t to display paranoia but mere acknowledgement of the world as it actually is. Considering how you’ve displayed yourself to be the consummate ideologue and also a disgraceful smear merchant, I realise that reality rarely intrudes upon your warped brain and that for you those who live in the real world are to be reduced to objects of your vile scorn. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I can’t help but notice the irony that you accuse others of paranoia yet you are one of the chief contributors to a site devoted to “Exposing anti-Israel bias in the South African media and promoting a balanced South African foreign policy towards the Middle East”. If anything, the media in South Africa isn’t critical enough of Israel, nor is our government, at least not publicly among the top echelons. I am also rather curious as to what you could possibly mean by “balanced”, seeing as though you and most of those on ‘It’s Almost Supernatural’ appear to be uncritical adherents of everything Israel does and never utter so much as a peep about the sickening violations of Palestinian rights in the Occupied Territories or within Israel proper. It seems that “bias” and “balanced” have very different meanings for ideological extremists and those who hold to a higher standard of factual integrity. <br /><br /> <br />I wonder if you’ll be brave enough to publish my rebuttal on your blog, or is your site nothing but a one-way street where you slander people with impunity and provide them no recourse to correct the record and your deplorable distortions?<br /><br /> <br />I eagerly await your response.<br /><br />Regards<br />David ZinnSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-5653865341431556472009-06-12T15:36:00.000+02:002009-06-12T15:37:26.974+02:00Ideologues and BigotsIdeologues and Bigots.<br /><br />One of the things that time teaches, if we’re willing to learn, is that human affairs are conducted in a permanent mist of uncertainty and confusion. Such is the complexity of human motivation, the diversity and multiplicity of actors, the unavoidable uncertainty surrounding key psychological, sociological and even material factors and the inherent unpredictability of events, we inevitably operate behind an opaque veil of ignorance.<br /><br />Except for a relatively small number of genuine experts, such ignorance is compounded by our distance from the issues and personalities involved. Our information is second-hand and frequently distorted by the spin imparted by those responsible for processing the news and analysis. Our own perceptions are heavily skewed by unconscious or poorly understood emotional responses conditioned by our upbringing, our identity, our pervasive modes of cognition and belief systems and by self-interest and social dynamics.<br /><br />Yet, despite all this, we are compelled to make decisions and form opinions. Most “sensible” people do so with some degree of humility – by that I mean they are aware they may be wrong, that they are willing to learn and to change and that even people with whom one profoundly disagrees may have a point. In the cut and thrust of debate, that realisation may be lost at times, but it is a mark of balance and maturity that sooner rather than later one returns to a measure of humility.<br /><br />Of course, this can be a recipe for fence-sitting in situations in which such passivity or ambiguity is dangerous or wrong or both. In general, I believe that it important to form, and hold, hard-edged but not immutable opinions. Over the years I have moved from an instinctively leftwing position to a far more centrist and realistic perspective. <br /><br />It is informed by a belief in the moral values of truth, justice and long-term rationality insofar as humanly possible, but is also conditioned by other beliefs and identities. These include an identification with the broad Jewish community and its history, a secular cosmopolitan predisposition, a somewhat pessimistic view of human nature coupled, at the same time, to a cautiously optimistic belief (or is it hope?) in the possibility of progress. I believe that freedom and democracy is important to all human beings but also in the stabilizing influence of tradition. I have seen that power corrupts and so does powerlessness. I believe that all human beings deserve the dignity of respect unless by their actions they unequivocally forfeit that right. Finally, I believe that we have the duty to fight for our rights and for justice but that extremism and greed will ultimately bring disaster down on the heads of those who go beyond the limits of fairness and a decent respect for other human beings.<br /><br />All this corncob philosophy brings me to the issue of ideologues and bigots. Clearly, as I have described for myself, none of us come as blank slates to the political arena. But the hodge-podge of broad and often mutually contradictory principles and commonsense the “balanced” person brings to the table, is a far cry from the fixed, obsessive lens through which the true ideologue views the world. <br /><br />Like pornography it is a question of degree and one can make a mistake. But generally one recognises the ideologue by the utter predictability of their responses, their extremism, their compulsion to revile those who differ from them and their total resistance to contrary facts. Of course, the ideologue and the bigot are kissing cousins. By definition almost, the true ideologue is always a bigot since they dismiss any person or viewpoint which deviates slightly from their own. But bigotry, in my lexicon at least, tends to be prejudice without the support of an intellectualised (religious or secular) belief system which the ideologue uses to support their fixed views.<br /><br />In my experience, such people almost always respond to disagreement with personal abuse. The greater the public posture of moral sanctimony often the greater the degree of private intolerance and rudeness. It’s a kind of statistical law. I had always expected that from the rightwing and was shocked when I encountered it from the left – but no longer. <br /><br />In my Quote du Jour on Solar Plexus (http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com) I gave some publicity to comments by Ron Kampeas of the JTA because, though I have some reservations, in broad terms he articulated something which we need as a Jewish pro-Zionist community to get to grips with. Please go and read it and my previous post on the above link<br /><br />In short, I feel that something needs to be said about some “noisy” Zionists who by their words, and sometimes actions, do almost as much to discredit Zionism as the most fanatical of anti-Zionists. There is no reason to believe that miraculously the Jews, alone amongst the peoples of this world, will be free of stupidity, fanaticism and bigotry. But perhaps it is possible to persuade at least some of them to reconsider their behaviour if only to stop providing ammunition to those who would stigmatise a whole people and Israel itself because of the attitudes of some.<br /><br />As good a starting point as any is the Cairo speech by Obama. It reflects a major policy initiative and represents a decisive step away from the isolationist and confrontational policy of the Bush years. Every word was carefully calculated and, within the bounds of human capability, it accurately reflects the broad policy strategy to be pursued by the Obama government vis-à-vis the Muslim world.<br /><br />This has been summed up by Bicom in the following terms (shortened by author):<br />• It is remarkable that in a speech designed to recalibrate relations between the US and the Islamic world, Obama spent significant time challenging anti-Semitism, busting the myth of Holocaust denial, condemning terrorism and emphasising the unbreakable bonds between Israel and the US. <br />• There was no detailed policy plan, but the speech combined Obama's ideals with a hard-headed, realist view of the US interests. It was a direct challenge to the idea of a ‘clash of civilizations' between the West and Islam. <br />• The speech was directed at Muslim people, rather than their governments. The US went to considerable length, by flying in journalists, to ensure it was heard by Muslim people around the world. <br />I would add to that (see the speech in full, the BICOM article and many others) that Obama went to considerable lengths to reassure the global Muslim community of two things: firstly, that the USA both respects the Muslim world and has no desire to set the West up in opposition to Islam and, secondly, that the USA will act decisively against all forms of terrorism, including that coming from Islamic sources. <br /><br />Of course it included other themes, including specifically the interconnectedness of the global community, but I am mainly concerned with Israel. It was not intended as a detailed blueprint but as a call for imagination and for transcendence of religious, cultural and political differences through a common commitment to humanity.<br /><br />I thought it was brilliant. It is easy to dismiss this as mere rhetoric signifying nothing, but I would differ strongly. Words are terribly important for both good and ill, and the Obama speech called to the best of our common humanity. It was an attempt to undercut extremists of all stripes and to appeal to the commonsense and decency of the ordinary man in the street.<br /><br />Who knows whether it will succeed? There are those who are so ideologically wedded to their positions, that they are simply incapable of seeing a wider picture. They immediately focused on a small part of the speech in order to construct a narrative to take issue with. One commentator suggested that Obama drew moral equivalence between the Holocaust and Palestinian suffering. He did no such thing. <br /><br />Another suggested that Israel did not come into being as the result of centuries of European persecution (as Obama suggested) but because of its unbroken spiritual connection to the land. You could have fooled secular Herzl or the many religious Jews who for decades opposed the creation of a Jewish state…some still do.<br /><br />All this could be dismissed as plain silliness, except that it is designed to herd Jews into a obdurate fanatical camp who see the conflict in apocalyptic terms of good versus evil. In this they become the mirror image of some of their opponents. A plague on both their camps. <br /><br />It is, of course, quite reasonable to challenge parts of the Obama speech; for instance his strong stance on the settlements. There are some real inconsistencies in his position and it is difficult to see how Netanyahu can comply fully with the Obama demands without collapse of his fragile coalition. But already Mitchell is softening the harsh rhetoric and Netanyahu understands the symbolic importance of the settlements in undermining extremist positions on the Arab-Muslim-Palestinian and Western leftwing fronts. <br /><br />We need reciprocity on both sides and Obama is well aware of this and the legitimate Israeli fears over security. What he, and all those who understand the long-term need for accommodation, reject is the use of legitimate concerns to buttress extreme rejectionist attitudes. Unless of course you are one of those who believe that Jews can only survive as an embattled people fighting against enemies – real or created. So at varying levels of sophistication, they insist that the Jews (and/or the West) are engaged in an inevitable, apocalyptic battle against Islam or the latest incarnation of antisemitism. This is dangerous nonsense, but words and actions can make it a reality.<br /><br />All this is bad enough but there is a significant camp within the Zionist camp who adopt puerile, provocative and derogatory terms when referring to Obama or to Arabs or Muslims. We have them here and elsewhere. There is a truly repulsive video on YouTube (http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/06/05/1005678/best-take-so-far-on-blumen-journalism) which has apparently over 100 000 hits already. The bunch of noisy, bigoted, ignorant and profoundly stupid Jews depicted there are of course not representative. But they do exist and there are too many within the pro-Zionist camp, where I locate myself, to be ignored.<br /><br />We need to insist that Israel can and must be defended with honour and dignity and with the appreciation that we are all part of a common humanity. When members of our camp descend to the levels of the worst of our opponents, we do our cause a profound disservice and lend ammunition to the malicious forces who instigated the HSRC Symposium. <br /><br />Back to Obama for a moment. His fine words will need to be matched by an equally subtle but realistically toughminded appreciation of the obstacles to moving towards his dream of global peace based on mutual tolerance, accommodation and commitment to a universal humanity. Such an outcome is far too Utopian but genuine progress towards resolution of some of the conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere is possible. Let’s challenge and resist his strategy where appropriate but keep our hearts open to his intent and call to a common humanity. <br /><br />Let us also hope, for all our sakes, that Obama will succeed with our help.<br /><br />Mike Berger (SOLAR PLEXUS)Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-31730994577632928062009-06-11T20:06:00.005+02:002009-06-11T21:17:12.426+02:00Sinister SymposiumThis post is largely concerned with an upcoming HSRC Symposium on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is important to read through this post carefully since every South African Jew (and citizen) should be aware of the activities of anti-Zionist activists in South Africa. By the shrill and extremist nature of the South African dialogue we find ourselves in serious opposition to the pragmatic and conciliatory tone adopted by Obama. <br /><br />I also respond briefly at the end to some comments by David Zinn - whoever he may be. I don't usually respond to stupid negativity (in the course of a comment on <a href="http://supernatural.blogs.com/">It's Almost Supernatural</a> he called me a liar and/or a gullible fool) but there are a couple of assertions in his post which require some response. In passing, it is quite amazing how often self-styled moralists on the left resort to vicious ad hominim insults. Jung had it right when he talked about the "shadow". Give me an honest sinner any time.<br /><br />For those who don’t know, the HSRC (or Human Sciences Research Council) is a statutory body (that is, a Government sponsored and funded organisation) whose core function is, in its own words, “…is to conduct large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific projects for public-sector users, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies.”<br /><br />It is worth expanding on this briefly (again drawn from its website at - http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Corporate_Information-45.phtml) : “…<span style="font-style:italic;">Our commitment to cutting-edge research which supports development nationally, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in Africa…</span>”. “<span style="font-style:italic;">As the national social science council of South Africa, the HSRC wishes to serve as a knowledge hub to bridge the gap between research, policy and action; thus increasing the impact of research. This is achieved through collaboration with key constituencies, including government, other research organisations, multinational agencies, universities, non-government organisations, and donor and development organisations.</span>”<br />“Its four multi-disciplinary research programmes, two cross-cutting research units and three research centres are focused on user needs. The following units make up the HSRC. <br />Research programmes: <br />Child, Youth, Family and Social Development <br />Democracy and Governance <br />Education, Science and Skills Development <br />Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health (including the Africa-wide research network, SAHARA)<br />Cross-cutting units:<br />Policy Analysis and Capacity Enhancement Unit<br />Knowledge Systems <br />Centres:<br />Centre for Education Quality Improvement <br />Centre for Poverty, Employment and Growth<br />Centre for Service Delivery”<br /><br />It is clear from this self-description, that the HSRC is a research organisation supposedly devoted to issues pertaining to the social and political development of a newly emergent democracy with vast inequalities in the realms of wealth and social development, a contentious and divisive history and numerous challenges in the form of education and skills development, health, crime and corruption, substance abuse and the abuse of women and children and in strengthening and consolidating democracy in a volatile and underdeveloped region.<br />None of this would seem to have anything to do with the complex and historically rooted issues in the Middle East, but if we go to its webpage dealing with Democracy and Govenance (http://www.hsrc.ac.za/DG.phtml) we find advertised two new items, namely: <br />• Conference: Re-Envisioning Israel-Palestine, 12-14 June 2009 , Cape Town <br />• Report on Israeli Practices released: Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid.<br />Once again, we search the rest of the page in vain for any indication which suggests that the HSRC has a legitimate concern with such issues. Indeed it explicitly states the following: “<span style="font-style:italic;">...The Democracy and Governance (D&G) programme examines issues that contribute to and constrain democratisation in South Africa and around the African continent.</span>” <br />In short the mandate of the HSRC contains nothing to suggest it has a legitimate interest in Middle Easten issues. But the clue and the (fake) justification comes in the wording of the second item listed above “<span style="font-weight:bold;">Report on Israeli Practices released: Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid</span>”. I strongly recommend readers to visit the site for themselves. <br />Somehow its mandate to research and encourage democracy and good governance in South Africa, specifically, and Africa generally (a region in clear and desperate need of such attention), has now mutated into a obviously partisan polemic against Israel.<br />This conclusion is further buttressed by the following introduction to the report, “The project was suggested originally by the January 2007 report by eminent South African jurist John Dugard, in his capacity as Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, when he indicated that Israel practices had assumed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid.”<br />In short, it is clear not only that this entire exercise has nothing whatsoever to do with the core function of the HSRC but contary to its alleged status of a serious research institutions, has allowed itself to be hijacked to serve the objectives of known ideologues and activists with strongly held and openly voiced anti-Zionist positions – like Dugard himself. <br />In case one has any doubts the following statement from the same webpage in all its unctuous dishonesty clarifies the position: “<span style="font-style:italic;">... The Middle East Project of the HSRC is an independent two-year project to conduct analysis of Middle East politics relevant to South African foreign policy, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of South Africa. The analysis in this report is entirely independent of the views or foreign policy of the Government of South Africa and does not represent an official position of the HSRC. It is intended purely as a scholarly (my emphasis) resource for the South African government and civil society and the concerned international community.</span>” <br />In summary <br />• The project is funded by South African taxpayers, <br />• It is not scholarly as reflected in its clearly biased original terms of reference, its original motivation (by John Dugard), its selective and partisan sponsors (scholars and international lawyers based at the HSRC, the School for Oriental and African Studies (London), the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban), the Adalah/Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and al-Haq/West Bank Affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists.) and the equally selective and partisan composition of the research team, headed by Virginia Tilley, a well-known (more appropriately, notorious) shrill and adamant anti-Zionist activist. Her position was sponsored by Stephen Friedman and later by Ronnie Kasrils, both of whom are openly and vehemently hostile towards Israel. <br />• In no way does the report provide pragmatic and useful guidelines for a foreign policy stance by the South African, but is a pseudo-judicial, one-sided demonisation of Israel using terms deliberately designed to promote ostracism and punitive action by the international community. It has nothing whatsoever to do with impartial research and scholarly activity.<br />In the Symposium there are 4 theme chairmen/keynote speakers:<br />1. John Dugard whose anti-Israeli stance is well kn and needs no further explication here.<br />2. Prof Nadim Rouhana His views in a recent article (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/nadim-rouhana-this-suppression-is-symbolic-of-a-state-that-fears-its-past-1693156.html) are “<span style="font-style:italic;">For the Palestinian citizens of Israel, life is becoming a collective Kafkaesque experience. For years, their state has been determined to buttress its Jewish identity by legal, constitutional, cultural, and political means, in spite of the fact that one in five of its residents is an Arab. This latest series of bills is just another part of that effort</span>.”<br />3. Dr Leila Farsakh “I just say that the struggle of our people for achieving an independent state is over. We must start again by resisting the occupation and colonialism, while formulating a new strategy relying upon the concept of citizenship not being fastened any longer to the idea of historical Palestine’s partition. Do forty years of struggle ¬since the occupation of the Territories in 1967 ¬deserve perhaps a State which would be nothing but a set of Bantustans in Israeli territory without any territorial continuity?”<br />4. Dr Gerhard Mare He is Director, Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity, University of KwaZulu Natal (Durban, South Africa). As far as I know he has not expressed any views on the Middle East based on my superficial research.<br />But there is no need – the terms, the sponsors and the other particpants will ensure that Symposium will promote the theme of the Report on which it is based.<br />This brief review only scratches the surface. We need to ask the following information:<br />Who (or what group) motivated and promoted this project within the HSRC despite its irrelevance to the core mandate of that body?<br />Who selected the researchers? What are their credentials in this field and what are their prior positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Was any serious effort made to select researchers with views which ran contary to the apriori terms of reference of the Report?<br />If the project was an exercise to provide useful information to the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, why is it necessary to hold an open Conference (at considerable expense no doubt) to publicise its finding in an already biased South African media environment? While the Symposium is supposedly designed to promote fresh thinking, the Report is to provide the foundation on which it is structured and will thus frame the entire debate<br />Where in the report is there a serious attempt to provide the South African government with impartial, scholarly and pragmatically useful information concerning the history of the conflict, the positions of the protagonists and outside powers in the region to help guide the relevant ministry in its dealings with both Israel and the Palestinians?<br />This entire exercise by a supposedly scholarly, statutory body of the South African Government is nothing but a thinly disguised, pseudo-academic witchhunt, supported by taxpayers, designed to promote the agendas of known anti-Zionist activists. It deserves the widest possible exposure and unequivocal condemnation irrespective of one’s position on the issues in the Middle East.<br />Mike Berger (SOLAR PLEXUS)<br /><br /><br />The ink has hardly dried on my previous post but I feel it necessary to follow up with further brief comment. Firstly I would like to thank David Abel for drawing this entire sinister enterprise to my attention in the first place.<br /> <br />Secondly, it should not only be called "sinister" for its modus operandi and objectives, but also SMART. Let us be quite clear: this symposium is NOT some spontaneous cry of moral outrage but a carefully planned, costly, meticulously implemented strategy of demonsisation of Israel in pursuit of a clear political agenda. In case anyone should be in doubt what that is let me spell it out briefly. It is to set the stage for global ostracism and punitive action against Israel with the intention of bringing Ahmadinejad's threat to reality, namely, the elimination of Israel as we know it. This is to be accomplished not through nuclear weapons (Israel can respond effectively to such dangers) but by the cummulative impact of isolation, sanctions, boycotts and moral opprobrium.<br /> <br />It avoids the crudities of Durban I with its anti-semitic street theatre or the Ahmadinejads and Hugo Chavezs of this world. By enlisting the support of sympathetic academics, both individuals and organisations, and using the jargon and trappings of genuine scholarly discourse, it provides a thin but superficially effective cover for its sinster political agenda. It is, in a sense, the Cape Town I answer to the emasculation of Durban II under pressure from Western countries. There will be no Ahmadinejad to open the conference and thus give the game away (at least in Western eyes), but there will be a sympathetic Western press in the form of the Independent group, the M & G and others to ensure that its findings and conclusions receive a wide hearing.<br /> <br />This requires wide exposure and concentrated attention. While clever, the motivation and deceptive modus operandi is obvious to careful scrutiny. Equally, the content, despite their academic and quasi-judicial tone, is clearly partisan, selective and falls far short of genuine scholarly standards in order to find in favour of a predetermined verdict. <br /> <br />I trust that the influential academics and commentators amongst the recipients of this newspetter will ensure that this nasty and dishonest anti-semitic and anti-Zionist project is exposed and nullified. <br /> <br />Mike Berger<br /><br />PS Firstly, my thanks to Steve Magid of <a href="http://supernatural.blogs.com/">It's Almost Supernatural</a> for his own trenchant comments and for reproducing my Newsletter in its entirety.<br /><br />Now to Zinn. <br /><br />Zinn comment numero uno: “<span style="font-style:italic;">That Israel is a colonialist, deeply racist and apartheid-style state is plainly obvious to anyone who knows anything about the country and isn't a rabid right wing pro-Israel apologist</span>.” Goodness gracious why on earth do we need a Conference with so much intellectual firepower and at such expense, when our Zinn absolutely knows the truth without any shadow of a doubt? Please write to the HSRC and instruct them to call the whole thing off.<br /><br />Zinn comment number two: <span style="font-style:italic;">Ahmadienjad doesn’t really wish to eliminate Israel as “we know it” – that is, as a Jewish State. His comments have been misrepresented</span>. Yes folk, you read that right: that’s what the man said. Ahmadinejad supports Hamas, Hizbollah, and other anti-Israel terror groups. He runs a conference (strictly scholarly of course) questioning the Holocaust. He is developing a nuclear weapon as fast as he can. But no, he does not want to eliminate Israel as a Jewish State. But please go and read Zinn’s comment on “Supernatural” and watch how he misrepresents what I said in order to contradict me. And he calls me a liar. But it is too boring to to waste more energy on such rubbish.<br /><br />Zinn again “<span style="font-style:italic;">I find it interesting that people like John Dugard are described as "ideologues" because they take "anti-Zionist positions", which suggests that to be pro-Zionist one would be free of ideology. This really tells me all I need to know about the sort of mindset that underpins this website.</span>” John Dugard (like Zinn, Virginia Tilley et al) is an ideologue. That’s OK. I don’t really like ideologues with their fixed, selective and shrill opinions, whether of the left or the right. But my gripe is that the HSRC Conference and the Report on which it is based has been motivated for, framed and shaped by ideologues of a particular stripe designed to promote the agendas of those who, like Zinn, hate Israel That is not what the HSRC was designed to do, it is not good use of taxpayer’s money and it is grossly dishonest to represent it as scholarly, impartial exercise.<br /><br />Zinn weer: “<span style="font-style:italic;">Just because Sudan has a horrendous human rights record does that magically exculpate Israel from any and all abuses against the Palestinians? Ditto for the question of "xenophobic hatred" in South Africa, and on and on.</span>” No Zinny, no-one said it did. But is is a far more suitable subject for our HSRC than the Middle East. Oh, and by the way, Zinny, what about Chechnia, Tibet and Sri Lanka to name just a few spots which could do with a “scholarly conference” - not to mention mass marches, boycotts and threats of “to the gas”.? I do hope you write to the HSRC suggesting it expand its horizons further since Africa does not provide the scope it needs for its wide-ranging moral concerns. <br /><br />Last word from Zinn: “<span style="font-style:italic;">Instead of fixating on who wrote and funded the HSRC report, why not actually review the report and tackle it on the basis of facts, and not mere ad hominem attacks. Or is this just standard operating procedure for pro-Israel zealots who cannot address factual information and must constantly go on the offensive with smear campaigns against those who disagree with their perspective of Israel as a paragon of purity?</span>” If it were a genuine scholarly project and not one motivated by the same negative obsessions which so captivate Zinn, I would agree. But it is the “fruit of a poisoned tree” (I think that is the legal phrase) and as such does not deserve the attention of genuinely impartial and informed scholars. It is a bit like David Irving – he pushed his deeply anti-semitic treatment of Holocaust history to the point of a legal confrontation against genuine scholars – and came seriously unstuck. But, of course, that did not stop the Holocaust deniers, just as it will not stop the Zinns of this world. So I suppose it will be necessary for busy and intelligent, informed people to waste their time responding to the content, but it will have at most minimal impact. For the whole matter has little to do with external reality but with internal reality – that is, psychological obsessions on which facts have little influence.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-42246865056428965262009-04-23T22:49:00.001+02:002009-04-23T22:53:23.760+02:00A Cause for Optimism?I think the best news vis-a-vis Israel (and the world) is the walkout and boycott of the UN's repugnant anti-racism charade. It has always been my contention that in the end the excesses of Israel's enemies would be their undoing...and so it is coming to pass. It is another reason why Israel must base her own political behaviour on what might be called tough-minded moral realism. If only for pragmatic reasons, Israel simply cannot afford to imitate the racist intolerance and extremism of her totalitarian enemies, just as it cannot affort the moralistic posturing of her left-wing critics.<br /> <br />And, more subtly, the Obama presidency is potentially GOOD NEWS for Israel, despite the dire predictions of some. It takes the wind out of the sails of the chronic Israel-bashers when an icon of the liberal left shows some realism and common sense - not to mention common decency. He deserves our cautious respect and support for his efforts to breakthrough the wall of ideological extremism and irresponsibility emanating from certain Arab-Muslim quarters. Whether it will gain any purchase remains to be seen, but I suspect he may be tougher than some imagine. <br /> <br />On a different tack, I enclose a quote picked up from Daily Alert <br /> <br />"Robert D. Kaplan: The new Israeli government faithfully represents the Israeli electorate, which is in utter despair over the impossibility of finding credible partners on the Palestinian side with which to negotiate. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Abbas' Fatah movement may be willing to live in peace with Israel, but it has insufficient political legitimacy among Palestinians to negotiate such a deal. With Fatah and Hamas facing off against each other, the Palestinians are simply too divided to plausibly meet Israel across the table.<br /> But there is a deeper structural and philosophical reason why the Palestinians remain stateless, as best explained by associate Johns Hopkins professor Jakub Grygiel in "The Power of Statelessness." Statehood is no longer a goal, he writes. Many stateless groups "do not aspire to have a state," for they are more capable of achieving their objectives without one. Instead of actively seeking statehood to address their weakness, as Zionist Jews did in an earlier phase of history, groups like the Palestinians now embrace their statelessness as a source of power.<br /> A state entails responsibilities that limit a people's freedom of action. A group like Hizbullah in Lebanon could probably take over the Lebanese state today, but why would it want to? Statelessness offers a level of "impunity" from retaliation. The most tempting aspect of statelessness is that it permits a people to savor the pleasures of religious zeal, extremist ideologies, and moral absolutes, without having to make the kinds of messy, mundane compromises that accompany the work of looking after a geographical space. (Atlantic Monthly)"<br /> <br />So there is a way to go as yet, but we should be permitted a modicum of optimism.<br /> <br />Finally, I attach a letter to the Cape Times which has nothing whatsoever to do with israel...for a change. Hope you like it.<br />It is one of the many truisms surrounding South Africa that it is so unpredictable and paradoxical a country that almost anything one says will turn out to be wise or foolish with about equal probability. Optimists and pessimists alike can find plenty of evidence to support their views and, of course, South Africans can swing from one extreme to the other depending on the performance of their favourite sports team.<br /><br />Our politics has been almost uniformly bad whether one considers the white or black sections of our population. Taken for granted are the iniquities of European colonialism and apartheid, but Bantu internecine warfare and displacement of the indigenous San peoples of South Africa were hardly examples of enlightened political behaviour. Furthermore, the past decade of black government has fallen far short of what our liberal and socially progressive constitution portended and the prospect of a Zuma Presidency seems to fulfil dire predictions of yet another failed African state, long on rhetoric and spin but very short on performance and integrity.<br /><br />Yet we are still here and the centre has not fallen apart, even though worrying cracks are apparent. The DA, which still remains the single most principled and rational of our political parties, has gained significantly under the leadership of a singularly determined and able Zille. Parts of the economy are flourishing and, despite the abuse of affirmative action, a more self-assured and educated black middle class has emerged to counter the primitive populism of the Malema cult with its appeal to impoverished and disempowered young blacks excluded from the post-liberation gravy train. <br /><br />We still have our wonderful topography and climate, our intoxicating diversity of people, cultures and physical environment. We have our natural resources and a core of resourcefulness, common sense and hardiness which has seen us through many potentially catastrophic crises. <br /><br />But why do we still need to stray so close to the edge of the abyss? Surely it is about time we aimed for something higher. Forget about the Scandinavian or European models. They are beyond our abilities and are in any case not suitable for a still raw, energetic and heterogeneous country. And certainly the East (Far or Near) is totally alien to the South African temperament.<br /><br />But why not a United States of South Africa? - untidy and of sometimes questionable morals, but energetic, ambitious, diverse and pulsating with a raw commitment to democracy, opportunity and freedom.<br /><br />We have what it takes if only we have the imagination and will. But we must first get rid of our residual dependency yearnings for a “strong leader” who will provide for us and through whom we can feel empowered. Such leaders will provide only for themselves and their cronies and will strip us of our self-respect and, ultimately, of our economic prospects and independence. We must also free ourselves of a self-indulgent cynicism and apathy. Our future is in our hands. <br /><br /> The beginnings have been accomplished through the strength of the DA and the emergence of COPE. But besides these vital political developments we must have a strong civil society and insist on delivery whether in fighting crime, providing for the health of our population, stimulating small business and entrepreneurship, protecting our common environment and enhancing our physical and electronic infrastructure.<br /><br />Once again we are provided with the challenge and opportunity. Let’s start.<br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-12388785191809955742009-04-04T21:40:00.002+02:002009-04-04T21:45:55.457+02:00The Soft Challenges of a PR WarriorExtracts from a talk presented at the AGM of the Bnoth Zion Association WIZO, 17 Feb 2009.<br /><br />I have been engaged for about 10 years now in the defence of Israel in the context of an often shallow, biased, amoral and actively hostile media environment. Since it is this environment which shapes the views of the South African population, my task entails setting the record straight where it has been distorted, contextualising actions and pointing to lapses in logic or honesty of those who criticise Israel.<br /><br />Human history is, as we know only too well, littered with miscalculations, wishful thinking, unpredicted consequences and missed opportunities. Afterwards, with time, more information and insulation from the pressures and passions of the moment, it may be possible to point to the mistakes made and options missed. But even these are bitterly contested by scholars with irreconcilable views. <br /><br />Indeed politics is conducted under a veil of ignorance through which we desperately try to discern a path through an intractable reality.<br /><br />Few of these difficulties appear in the popular media. If the truth be told, politics is much more complex, subtle and unpredictable than “rocket science”, the supposed gold standard of high intellectual endeavor. The media, however, does not sell hard cognition; it sells emotion. <br /><br />At its not infrequent worst, it sells indignation, righteous rage, and a sanctimonious sense of self-righteousness. It sells prejudice. It sells softcore and, sometimes, even hardcore political pornography.<br /><br />I could give you many examples, but I’ll take a recent report from Damascus by a Harvard graduate student conducting research there:<br /><br />“This morning, while I made my coffee and eggs, I tuned in to the best show on television. ...<br />The show is the conflict in Gaza. On Al-Jazeera. <br /><br />Even if CNN could sneak a camera crew through the checkpoints, it's hard to imagine they would produce anything like what's on Al-Jazeera - an all-day, ever-shifting drama that throws war in your face with all its gruesome cruelty. ... Their broadcasts routinely feature mutilated corpses being pulled from the scene of an explosion, or hospital interviews with maimed children, who bemoan the loss of their siblings or their parents – often killed in front of their eyes. Al-Jazeera splices archival footage into the live shots, weaving interviews and expertly produced montages into a devastating narrative you can follow from the comfort of your own home.<br /><br />This is news without even the pretense of impartiality....”<br /><br />There is much more to this quote, and Calderwood contrasts it to the “bloodless coverage” in the West. I would challenge him on that. Much of the West’s coverage is softcore as distinct from Al-Jazeera’s hardcore material, but judging by the reaction just as effective. <br /><br />Of course, as we are only too painfully aware, the IPC receives attention disproportionate to the number of lives lost or damage caused by the struggle in the Middle East. While every life blighted or destroyed is worthy of regret, the painful truth is that any one of a number of African and other conflicts over the past half century have dwarfed the IPC on virtually any measure you may care to use. <br /><br />One reason is, of course, that the IPC has become both a proxy and a diversion for the wider struggle of fundamental Islam with the West, the “culture wars” within the West itself and the struggle of Islam to modernise and escape the centrifugal pull of the totalitarian Islamist movement. Within the West, the IPC has become the focal point of much progressive activism and is kept alive on campuses and in the media partly through targeted funding from Islamist organisations. <br /><br />Some indeed see this conflict as the focal point of a global struggle already in progress between opposing civilisations. While that may be a simplification, it is has sufficient truth to account in part for its disproportionate claim on the world’s attention.<br /><br />So let’s look at the war for public support in the West more closely. Here is an extract of an account from the supposedly hard-headed, objective magazine, The Economist. It is titled “The war of words and images”, and I quote: <br /><br />“Israel is now better prepared. The tactics it deploys on the media front are as cunning and punchy as those its army has been wielding against Hamas in Gaza”.<br /><br />In case you missed the subtext in that extract here is more “Yet wider support among the American public for Israel in this conflict appears to be less robust than usual. (“Surprise, surprise” – my comment)...And that was before the bloody attack on a UN school and other such incidents. Global public opinion has also probably shifted against the Jewish state. Even inside Israel, human-rights groups, concerned that much of the normally outspoken local press has turned largely jingoistic, have launched a website to expose the mounting tragedy inside Gaza.” And so the softcore expose continues.<br /><br />The Economist is not alone amongst the normally sober and balanced media in adopting the dark tools of the propagandist. The equally prestigious Financial Times saw fit to run an article by the Saudi Prince, Turki al-Faisal,entitled “Saudi patience is running out” January 22, 2009. This includes such comments as “In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk”. And this “Let us all pray that Mr Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime...”.<br /><br />In case you may have thought, “well this is just the exercise of free and impartial coverage of all perspectives” you would have sought in vain for countervailing comment putting Israel’s case with similar forthrightness. On the contrary, the editorial section simply reinforces the FT’s selectively pro-Palestinian stance. For example, in condemning the BBC’s decision not to run an advert for a Gazan charity, the FT has this to say “Ordinary people, informed not least by the BBC’s own coverage of the destruction of the lives and livelihoods of Gazans, can distinguish for themselves the difference between acute humanitarian need and propaganda”. <br /><br />Like hell they can and, of course, the FT knows it!<br /><br />In an article published by The Institute for Global Jewish Affarirs, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin documents on-going anti-Zionist activity on the University of California at Santa Cruz. This involves the intrusion of such material into lectures and courses with little ostensibly to do with the conflict in the Middle East, accompanied by such unreferenced statements as “Israeli massacres are often accompanied by sexual assault, particularly of pregnant women as a symbolic way of uprooting the children from the mother, or the Palestinian from the land.”<br /><br />A purportedly academic conference entitled “Alternative Histories Within and Beyond Zionism" was recently held which constituted a systematic delegitimization of Zionism. The number of Jewish participants was notably high.<br /><br />Of course, this material is the relatively polite side of propganda. It can be passed off as “democratic opprobrium”, legitimately evoked by Israeli policies. Who are we kidding? <br /><br />The mask comes off in many Muslim rallies or rallies in countries not afflicted with lingering guilt over the Holocaust. There chants of “Jews to the ovens” and “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas” are perfectly acceptable. That such slogans are screamed by people who at the same time deny that the Holocaust ever took place should surprise only the incurably naïve. That Israelis are regularly compared to the Nazis and the Gazan invasion evokes comparison to the Holocaust is the stock-in-trade of the more open antisemites. <br /><br />Prof. Frank Furedi carefully documents how anti-Zionism is increasingly becoming difficult to differentiate from open antisemitism: in his words “Anti-Israel sentiment is morphing into anti-Jewish sentiment, as more and more people project their disdain for the modern world on to ‘the Jew’.” Of course, this does not mean that every criticism or critic of Israel is antisemitic. But, increasingly, the sanctimonious and shallow left, the angry and bigoted right and the Islamic fundamentalist find themselves in bed together and prove amazingly accomodating to their new companions.<br /><br />This is no longer news to many of us but, understandably, it still elicts great distress and anger. <br /><br />But anger is not enough. Uncontrolled it leads to stupidity and to worse; becoming the narrow-minded, obsessed fanatic of our own worst nightmares and fulfilling the caricatures of our enemies. Not only would this seriously harm the best Jewish ideals of universality and tolerance, but it is the sure way to losing the battle for survival. <br /><br />To flourish, Israel will need to continue on the path of idealistic realism. At times this will demand harsh action - hopefully rarely and always tempered by a consideration for human life. Most of the time it will demand firmness and tenacity, clarity of thought and a readiness to grasp opportuniy while not sacrificing appropriate caution.<br /><br />Despite the sensationalism, I have faith that the universal human respect for honesty and fairness will win out over baser emotions. <br /><br />(A not added afterwards: <br /><br />It is my sense that such are the excesses of Israel’s enemies, that the tide is beginning to turn. There may well be a backlash in Europe and other countries against Islamic pressures, partly caused by sheer numbers and partly caused by violent Muslim behaviours both within the host country and elsewhere.<br /><br />If indeed this does occur, it would relieve the pressure on Israel which most of us would welcome. But it would be a pity to see xenophobic nationalist sentiment return to a part of the world (wider Europe) which has been at the forefront of post-modern cosmopolitanism.<br /><br />There are many ills in the world, including within the West and Israel itself, which need to be addressed. The atavistic extremism of the West’s enemies makes reform (or some sort of pragmatic justice in the Middle East) suicidal, thus encouraging the most intractable elements within our own societies.<br /><br />Well at my age, I am neither surprised or disappointed – just vaguely regretful. But first things first. Stop Arab-Muslim extremism and then try to move beyond towards a sustainable raprochement. Neither will be easy and neither seems to be on the cards for the foreseeable future.)<br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-75353662540457096882009-03-10T13:13:00.003+02:002009-03-10T13:23:40.043+02:00FACTSIf you find this worthwhile, please include in your distribution lists. Note the new Quote du Jour from Yvonne Green<br /> <br />It's been a bit of a break what with photography, kids and grandkids, renovations (slight) and the general inescapable trivia of life. <br /> <br />BUT I have been following the goings-on, local and general and have downloaded some of the more interesting stuff to my "archives" where they gather cobwebs till I delete in dispair. Nine downloads in the past week and 42 in the past month. But in a recent "delete frenzy" I accidently knocked off my accumulated Newsletter postings over the past year or so. Luckily most of these are preserved in my website at Solar Plexus (http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com). <br /> <br />I also submitted a couple of pieces to the Jewish Report, both of which were rejected - because of space and other considerations the editor assures me. We'll see! Here is the shorter of the two submissions entitled "Incredulity", for your consideration (but I want to expand on a couple of themes thereafter - so please keep reading): <br /> <br />"I read the letters in the previous few issues of the JR and elsewhere in this country with a mounting sense of incredulity. It seems that a significant proportion of the Jewish elite, including its legal luminaries, and non-Jews like Edwin Cameron, have entered a never-never world entirely disconnected from any discernable reality. <br /> <br />Concerned above all to maintain their self-perceived halo of moral rectitude they happily sign documents decrying Israel's "disproportionate" response in a world baying for Israel's blood using self-justifying terms like "slaughter", "murder", "massacre" and "Nazi" as a thin veneer to cover the hatred let loose by decades of systematic propaganda and Jewish complicity in its own demonisation.<br /> <br />Iran is making a mad dash for a nuclear weapon while acquiring air-defense systems from Russia to mitigate counter-measures. In the never-never land in which our luminaries and their hangers-on have taken refuge, Israel should treat annihilationist rhetoric, demonisation as "the sons of apes and pigs" (to repeat the more printable terms) and the constant flight of erratic but lethal rockets into its civilian population as "manageable irritants".<br /> <br />They find time to threaten critics with legal action and to write letters defending themselves and their accomplices in a nauseating ritual of self-sanctification, but not one moment to demand an end to the madness engulfing not only the extremist groups infesting the backward and dysfunctional Middle East but much of the rest of the world besides - including South Africa. They use words like "negotiation", "human rights" and "peace" as religious mantras without the slightest effort to provide credible contextualisations to such noble admonitions. <br /> <br />Indeed it is probably true that those whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad, but that requires the willing acquiescence of the fantasists themselves. For this they cannot be forgiven by the rest of us."<br /> <br />Strong language, but the propaganda trenches are not really conducive towards great nuance (a much abused word in any case which makes me reach for my verbal shotgun). Nevertheless, I stand by what I say in that submission. Direct speech is better than vague waffle designed to obscure dubious logic and even more dubious agendas.<br /> <br />But it is interesting to explore what constitutes "FACTS" in the Great Middle Eastern debate. The saying has it (roughly) that "comment/interpretation is personal but facts are sacred". Well be that as it may, but the way you FRAME "facts" has an enormous influence on how they are perceived. <br /> <br />Most people are aware of optical illusions in which perceived size and colour is a function of the context in which the object is presented. It is precisely the same with facts. The context or frame provides the cues to interpretation: "Man shoots 17year-old kid in the back" is interpreted differently to "man shoots 17 year-old youth caught raping his daughter, in the back".<br /> <br />So much is obvious, but usually forgotten. But even more basic, "is what are the facts?" <br /> <br />On the one hand we have Operation Cast Lead as a "disproportionate/indiscriminate", "slaughter/massacre/ bloodbath" in which hundreds of children died, the infrastructure of Gaza destroyed, white phosphorus was used as an instrument of war and schools/mosques/hospitals were flattened - all depicted in endless technicolour gore by Al-Jazeera or in more tasteful, aesthetic tableaux by our very own Times. <br /> <br />Here is a statement from a doughy warrior of the Left (MJ Rosenberg of the Israeli Policy Forum): "Much of Gaza was destroyed and now resembles Warsaw after World War II."<br /> <br />Yet on more information some of these "FACTS" melt away like summer snow. The wholesale destruction of infrastructure becomes essentially limited to pinpoint elimination of weapons storage depots and Hamas headquarters, while most of Gaza goes about its daily business - if not in great comfort then in relative safety. The wholesale massacre of civilians reduces to about a third of the total mortality - an extraordinarily low figure given the nature of the terrain and the Hamas policy of "human shields". The white phosphorus attacks beccome the normal military use for illumination purposes. The 40+ dead from an attack on a UN school becomes 12 dead (at most) in a strike outside the school which remained wholly intact. And so on...<br /> <br />Here is a couple of extracts from a report in the J Post 03-03-09 written by Yvonne Green (a poet, English Jew and frequent vistor to Israel - to use her words):<br /> <br />"From the mansions of the Abu Ayida family at Jebala Rayes to Tallel Howa (Gaza City's densest residential area), Gazans contradicted allegations that Israel had murderously attacked civilians. They told me again and again that both civilians and Hamas fighters had evacuated safely from areas of Hamas activity in response to Israeli telephone calls, leaflets and megaphone warnings."... "THE GAZA I saw was societally intact. There were no homeless, walking wounded, hungry or underdressed people. The streets were busy, shops were hung with embroidered dresses and gigantic cooking pots, the markets were full of fresh meat and beautiful produce - the red radishes were bigger than grapefruits. Mothers accompanied by a 13-year-old boy told me they were bored of leaving home to sit on rubble all day to tell the press how they'd survived. Women graduates I met in Shijaya spoke of education as power as old men watched over them."<br /> <br />So the question becomes "what are the facts"? And just as important: what conditions the unquestioning acceptance of the most extreme and bloody facts regarding Israeli actions by the media and some of the public (including parts of the Jewish community) when it is known that the "manufacture" of facts for propaganda purposes is a thriving cottage industry in the Middle East and amongst their Western allies? <br /> <br />Part of it is simply commercial. There are vast media profits in sensationalist reporting, and the Middle East is the mother of all "hot topics". It is the rare editor indeed who is likely to insist on "real" proof when there is the whiff of a juicy massacre in the air. <br /> <br />But much of the explanation lies in the psychology of prior expectation.<br /> <br />For considerable proportion of the anti-Zionist brigade, Israel is - by definition - an evil, brutal, colonial settler state, and thus any "fact" which reinforces this prior assumption is taken without question as additional confirmatory evidence . Few committed ideologues indeed are prepared to suffer the cognitive discomfort of seriously questioning such "evidence" unless compelled to do so. <br /> <br />Even those who claim to be "pro-Zionist", when pushed, reveal that buried within their readings of the creation of Israel, are strongly held beliefs about Zionist duplicity, brutality and territorial ambition. In short they have thoroughly internalised a whole set of ideas around Western (especially Zionist) evil along with a corresponding set of opposing ideas surrounding the "oppressed" and "victims" of colonialist aggression..<br /> <br />Now some of these ideas are true enough, but taken as a whole they create a mythic psychological frame in which even the most obviously atavistic, corrupt and violent movements take on the halo of sanctification. For this crowd too, "facts" depicting Israeli sins are simply grist to a perceptual mill already saturated with negative imagery. A good example of this mind-set can be found at Support Human Rights in Israel and Palestine (http://www.sashrip.org/). <br /> <br />Does this mean that no Israeli duplicity, insensitivity, brutality, sadism, simple stupidity or bigotry exists? It would be a ludicrous proposition and there is plenty of credible direct evidence for such Israeli culpability. Should such failings be ignored or glossed over? Given our expectations for Israel as an essentially moral and democratic state, we should (and I do) expect it to apply its laws fairly and impartially, to use the democratic mechanisms at its disposal to interrogate its conduct and to adopt remedial policies to rectify such deviations from its own ideals and those we hold for it.<br /> <br />BUT that does not entitle us to sit as a kind of Diasporean Jewsih Inquisition on our distant kin living under constant existential threat, minutely examining their conduct for deviations from perfection, ready to believe any and all incriminating evidence while ignoring, condoning or faintly damning the transgressions of its enemies. To do so smacks of deep hypocrisy. And, within the current context in which an overt propaganda war is being waged against Israel - within a larger context of a resurgent totalitarian Islamist doctrine within which the Jews are eminantly dispensible - such behaviour is understandably seen as betrayal.<br /> <br />If you want to play an active role in Israeli politics, get your butt over there; just don't sit here and moralise.<br /> <br />There is far too much sycophancy within our Jewish community. We suck up to our elites in the hope that some of their reflected glory will rub off on our humble selves. Let us respect their achievements in their own spheres without imagining for one instant that grants them greater wisdom, integrity or credibility in world affairs. We need to bear in mind Kipling's comment regarding "failure" and "success" as those two imposters.<br /> <br />Finally, what does the ordinary, warm-hearted, tolerant Western democrat make of all this? There is evidence, that under the deluge of selectively anti-Israeli commentary and the moral imperative of multi-culturalism, they are increasingly predisposed to see Israel as culpable of all the sins being attributed to her. Or, if not in the more extreme terms of the anti-semite, but at least as a kind of nationalistic anachronism in the brave new world of global tolerance - especially towards those non-Western elements busy painting themselves as the victims of Western cultural arrogance and domination. <br /> <br />Of course, this is not a one-way street. Such people are hardly blind to Islamist extremism or the hard facts of cultural invasion or to African dictators and disasters, but the need to explain these as aberrations within a natural response to Western (and Israeli) aggression, weakens their clarity of vision and firmness of purpose.<br /> <br />But I am not a prophet of doom and gloom. Many strong Jewish and non-Jewish voices are speaking out on behalf of the Jewish community and the excesses of those who wish to destroy Israel will in all likelihood be their own undoing - in much the same way as in all the great totalitarian movements of the past. But this will not happen without clear and determined resistence to the forces of violence, hatred and despotism and their apologists.<br /> <br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-55725546638252300402009-02-05T21:03:00.001+02:002009-02-05T21:08:06.507+02:00Why I am a ZionistDear Readers<br /> <br />Two letters appeared in the Cape Times this morning (5 Feb), criticising my last post entitled "Betrayal by any other name" which had previously been published in the same newspaper. The letter by Leonard Shapiro can be accessed on the Internet at <a href="http://www.monitoringsa.co.za/PDFS/2009/2/2009_02_05_655343.pdf">http://www.monitoringsa.co.za/PDFS/2009/2/2009_02_05_655343.pdf</a>. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with the URL for Rosemund Handler's letter which appeared in the same issue.<br /> <br />My response, written in some haste but which conveys the broad thrust of my position adequately, is reproduced below. It has also been submitted to the Cape Times with the request to publish in full. I would like to thank Steve Magid of "It's Almost Supernatural" for drawing attention to my blog since his readership is, deservedly, much greater than my own. He, together with Joel Pollock on "Guide to the Perplexed" keep up an informed critical commentary on on-going events which I cannot match. <br /> <br />They are not alone: the names David Saks and Cape Town's pithy letter writer, S Kaye, spring to mind. I hope this brief list is not invidious and apologise to the many other friends of Israel who have been outspoken in their support. We do not always see eye to eye on details but we are united in the belief that the broad Zionist project and Israel deserves the full support of the Jewish Diaspora.<br /> <br />And let me remind you, as I sometimes have to remind myself, don't forget to get a life. The world is bigger than the the endless conflicts which mankind is prey to. Don't get mired in despondency or anger or a sense of hopelessness. Such emotions solve nothing and often involvement in these controversies are ways of escaping from oneself or projecting one's own fears, disappointments and anger onto others. Jung sort of said it when referring to WW1: <br /> <br />"<span style="font-weight:bold;">The psychological concomitants of the present war- above all the incredible brutalization of public opinion, the mutual slanderings, the unprecedented fury of destruction, the monstrous flood of lies, and man’s incapacity to call a halt to the bloody demon- are uniquely fitted to force upon the attention of every thinking person the problem of the chaotic unconscious which slumbers uneasily beneath the ordered world of consciousness</span>.” <br /><br /> <br /><br />Letter submitted to Cape Times<br /><br /> <br />This is a brief response to Leonard Shapiro and Rosemund Handler (Cape Times, 5 Jan), and possibly other Jews who feel the same way or are simply confused:<br /><br /> With Isaiah Berlin I believe that culture, spirit and values are not abstractions but are embedded in the history and struggles of a people. The values that both these writers express, and which, in general terms, I share, are those of the Jewish people formed over millennia of dispersion and struggle.<br /><br /> If they would truly engage with the history of their own people, and not the spectres thrown up by virulent anti-Zionists, they would understand that much Jewish existence for most of the 2nd millennium was marginal and harsh and was coming to a cataclysmic end in Christian Europe in the 19th and 20th century.<br /><br /> It was apparent to Jewish thinkers like Herzl after witnessing the Dreyfuss case and other evidence of the collapse of Jewish emancipation, that the Jews desperately needed a physical space in which the diverse strands of their national identity could find expression and evolve in its own unique manner. In short, they needed a national home – the necessity for which become abundantly clear with the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust within my lifetime.<br /><br /> This was the essential foundation on which Israel was built. But reality and history rarely accommodate themselves to human needs and deepest yearnings and the fact is that the Zionists landed in the midst of another people’s own emergence into modernity and struggle for self-expression – namely the Arabs.<br /><br /> The result has been the messy and often ugly struggle which persists today and is tied up with the ambitions, agendas and ideologies of both regional and global participants. It is not pretty and is extremely difficult to resolve.<br /><br /> I fully identify with this heroic Jewish project which has brought the possibility of a decent and full human existence for the first time to millions of marginalised and brutalised Jews from around the world. I identify with its struggle for morality in the midst of a deadly struggle and sympathise with (not overlook) its transgressions and errors. I admire its remarkable achievements. None of this detracts from my belief in the common brotherhood of humanity.<br /><br /> Now it is possible that this history leaves Shapiro and Handler cold or that they have other ideological commitments. But that does not mean that they’re obliged to overtly or covertly lend ammunition to those who actively wish to bring an end to this extraordinary product of Jewish idealism and spirit. <br /><br /> Loyalty is not a specific Jewish value – it is a universal one – and loyalty and honesty dictates that those Jews who cannot identify with the Zionist project or are especially concerned with what they perceive as its failings, find ways to express this which do not involve acts of betrayal. <br /><br /> Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-36268468443424021822009-02-01T22:54:00.006+02:002009-02-01T23:23:45.175+02:00Betrayal by any other nameThere has been a vigorous campaign within the Jewish community, initiated by members of the South African Human Rights Delegation (SAHRD), to dissociate itself from the carefully worded and moderate statement by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, the South African Zionist Federation and the Chief Rabbi supporting Israel in its military response to years of rocket and mortar attacks from Hamas and other extremist groups in Gaza on civilian communities in Israel.<br /><br />After considerable effort, this group has managed to gather 300 signatories, out of a community of around 80 000, to a petition condemning Israel’s response to these attacks as inhumane and disproportionate. It is safe to say that the sentiments expressed by the signatories run contrary to the opinion of most South African Jews. Furthermore, at least some of those who signed are Jews in name rather than in substance or identity. <br /><br />At the same time, many of the petitioners have a well-deserved high profile in South African public life and a few are known to me personally as decent, intelligent people for whom I have a high regard.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I believe the action they have taken is morally and intellectually insupportable. In brief, the moral content of any action is ultimately determined by the context in which it takes place. To illustrate this in the simplest and crudest of terms let us take the murder of another human. <br /><br />The sanctity of human life is rightly regarded by modern civilised people as a basic intrinsic virtue. Yet we would equally recognise that the morality of shooting a man in the back would be significantly different were he a defenceless neighbour going about his own business or the same neighbour engaged in raping your wife.<br /><br />Loyalty, is equally regarded as a basic human virtue. Yet there are circumstances in which loyalty is recognised as wrong and inappropriate. For instance, in the years leading up to World War 2, when Nazi doctrines of Aryan superiority and Jewish evil were being actively promulgated by an increasingly totalitarian state bent on achieving world domination and the elimination of Jews and other “inferior” peoples, open opposition by fellow Germans can only be applauded.<br /><br />The common factor in both these examples is that extreme conditions are required to justify actions like murder and betrayal which go against a deep moral consensus. This is recognised by ordinary people, by moral philosophers and, I dare say, in law.<br /><br />The creation of Israel is a Jewish project (otherwise what would be the point of advertising one’s opposition as Jews?) supported by the majority of Jews worldwide. The act of publically condemning Israel for its self-defense nowhere remotely meets the standards required to justify an act of betrayal, which in context this petition undoubtedly represents.<br /><br />On the contrary, the petition is being widely disseminated in the context of a situation which has been deliberately engineered by Hamas and its allies as part of a long-term strategy for reversing the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East. This strategy includes a global campaign of demonisation and condemnation based on manipulated, selective and often downright false information. The result is a global outpouring of hatred and anti-Zionist rhetoric - and antisemitic sentiment last seen in the 1930s.<br /><br />The petition lends ammunition to those whose deepest desire is to see Israel destroyed and even to those who have bought into the notion of Jewish evil, a necessary prelude to genocide the world over. <br /><br />The signatories should think again and take the necessary corrective action. <br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-32102010496380458532009-01-21T08:26:00.001+02:002009-01-21T08:29:49.546+02:00Beyond the paleI attach below a letter I wrote late last night in response to one from Michael Kransdorff who, together with Steve Magid, is a co-author of that excellent blog, "It's almost supernatural". I've tidied my original up somewhat and slightly expanded it, but otherwise it is identical. Kransdorff's letter may be available on his blog or perhaps from him directly.<br /><br /> <br /><br />There is one issue which I have not examined here - that is the question of "loyalty" in a political context. What does it mean, what are its limits (if any) and what actions are appropriate or otherwise? I hope to take up this issue in a talk I have been invited to present to WIZO.<br /><br /> <br />Please read on...<br /><br /> <br /><br />Dear Michael<br /><br /> <br /><br />While I admire your commitment to civil discourse, I fear that in this instance the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) of your goodwill do not merit it.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Let us be clear: this is not some academic debate being conducted between scholars in which normative standards of mutual respect are in order. Geffen et al are "activists" in a context in which Israel (a tiny Jewish state of less that 6 m Jews) is under constant, potentially genocidal pressure from those who hate not only the "Zionist" (ie. Jewish) state but Jews in general. Part of the strategy of such groups, given the military superiority of Israel, is to mobilise world opinion against Israel.<br /><br /> <br /><br />This has a number of ends in view. One is to pressure countries and political leaders to adopt at worst neutral stances in this struggle but, even better, to adopt actively hostile policies towards Israel. So far it hasn't really worked to the full, but it has stopped the West from openly labelling a spectrum of groups mainly, though not exclusively, from within Islam as the atavistic, fanatical and genocidal movements that they are. The second is to demoralise and divide Jews both within Israel and outside so as to wring "concessions" and hopefully, eventually, see the disintegration of the entire Zionist enterprise - and in the even longer term who knows? Of course, such tactics include economic pressure as well as political and social pressure. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Thirdly, such tactics help mobilize the Arab street – and immobilize Arab leaders who might otherwise wish to see the wider threat posed by Hamas and its like brought under control. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Given the general backwardness of these groups (state and non-state), the strategy of demonisation is in fact a primary objective. This is why Hamas, as a matter of calculated policy, is prepared to continually compel Israel into measures which inevitably kill civilians. It is for this simple reason that a dead Palestinian (especially a child) is worth immeasurably more to Hamas than a live one.<br /><br /> <br /><br />To achieve this level of sacrifice in the host population it becomes necessary to create a culture of Jihad and martyrdom and also to inculcate an unquenchable sense of bitter grievance and hatred. It is also out of the inevitable images of death and destruction that world opinion can be mobilised against Israel and an apocalyptic climate of global fury can be constructed. Thus every miltary response by Israel brings with it this inevitable side-effect - a painful fact of which Israel and we are only too aware.<br /><br /> <br /><br />This strategy has been extremely successful. The mass rallies and the kind of threats and violent actions we have seen in the last couple of weeks bear ample witness to the mob reaction of righteous indignation which is a pre-condition for ALL genocidal behaviour.<br /><br /> <br /><br />It is in this context that the Geffen-Isaacs axis operates. They state their purpose quite clearly "Doron and I are trying to effect change in the Jewish community by strengthening the hand of progressives." They do this by openly, very publicly and repeatedly declaring their opposition to those Jews supporting Israel, by stigmatising us and by associating themselves with those who have labelled Israeli actions not only disproportionate but "worse than Apartheid", worse than the Nazis, diabolical and so on in an endless stream of invective. To give some flavour here are extracts from a letter published in that sober journal, the Financial Mail, on 16 Jan 2009: <br /><br /> <br /><br />"The unilateral granting of statehood by means of the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, the subsequent terrorising of the legitimate owners of the land, the savage butchering and ethnic cleansing are clearly recorded as historical fact...<br /><br />No less a Zionist butcher than Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel's chief of staff,...<br /><br />History is replete with the authentic history of Palestine and its brutal usurpation, which the recorded sayings and biographies of the very perpetrators of this Zionist plot later admitted to... Scripturally, historically and politically Israel's existence is illegitimate and Israel and Zionists will know no peace until they accept that reality... This belligerence has now exceeded all bounds, and the worst tragedy of our "civilised" world is staged in full view of an astounded humanity - barring, of course, Israel's illegitimate step parents."<br /><br /> <br /><br />Further useful evidence of just what kind of sentiment is being stirred up in the South African street (over an intractable and immensely complex dispute taking place thousands of miles from our shores and our interests), here are extracts from a report from David Saks: <br /><br /> <br /><br />“The dichotomy between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Jews came out very strongly during last week’s COSATU solidarity rally for Palestine in Lenasia. It also witnessed what might be the first instance of public Jew-baiting by a member of government in over half a century as Deputy Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig informed a deliriously cheering crowd that America, as well as other Western countries, was in the grip of Jewish money power. <br /><br /> <br /><br />What the Honorable FJ actually said was: “They in fact control [America]. No matter which government comes in to power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush. The control of America, just like the control of most Western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money and if Jewish money controls their country then you cannot expect anything else” <br /><br /> <br /><br />And “Another speaker praised “our Jewish brothers and sisters” who had come out against the Israel Defence Force, assuring them “there is a place in the world we are building in South Africa for you”. Those who had not done so, he warned, had “better watch out because the winds of change are blowing”.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Regarding local Jews allegedly serving in the IDF, another presenter shouted (again to rapturous and sustained applause): “We are going to become impimpis, We are going to become impimpis the business that we are going to carry out with the Jews, with these Zionist entities. We are going to talk to them, were going to find out if their sons have gone to fight our brothers and sisters in Palestine and then we’ll say to them come and fight us at home”.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Of course Geffen et al do not use such language; nor do they burn Israeli flags or scream "death to Israel and the Jews" or "send them to the ovens" - as recorded in a street demonstration in Fort Lauderdale in the good ole USA. But they pass the ammunition via measured phrases, via selective and decontextualised "facts" (now which famous right-wing politician used a similar strategy?) and via carefully calibrated spin to those who do, and to those who would destroy Israel and, if luck came their way, the Jews with it. They do this assiduously and quite successfully.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Such Jews, and they are neither insignificant in number or in influence, are beyond the pale of polite discourse. "Useful idiots" is too polite and they are, in one sense, not idiots. They are a 5th column within Jewry. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Let us be clear on this. It is not their views which are the primary issue. They are entitled to these (even where grievously mistaken) just as others are entitled to vigorously challenge them. Nor are the actions and attitudes of Israel immune from debate and even opprobrium (though I would recommend a measure of humility in the face of complexity and distance). <br /><br /> <br /><br />It is their actions - their public, persistent, insidious participation in the demonisation of Israel in the prevailing political context which renders them beyond the pale of our consideration. It is their political evangelism within the Jewish community and especially the youth which deserves unambiguous repudiation.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I do not believe Geffen et al should be provided with any legitimacy or platform whatsoever by the Jewish community and the community's desperate attempts to appear broadminded and even-handed are not commendable - they are misguided and weak.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I greatly admire your blog...don't dilute it out of a false sense of PC.<br /><br /> <br /><br />respectfully yours<br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-26494425310781707892009-01-12T17:39:00.001+02:002009-01-12T17:42:20.577+02:00DeplorableI attach a personal response below to the cartoon by Zapiro in the Sunday Times and the even more pathetic letter from the usual quarters in the Cape Times this morning. History will ultimately reveal the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of their stance.<br /><br />Mike Berger<br /><br /> <br /><br />“Of course, none of these arguments can penetrate the brains of the superannuated Stalinists, vicarious jihadists and attention-seeking actors and pop stars who think it’s cool to go on marches chanting, “We are all Hamas now”. Even if these luvvies might not be aware that on Christmas Eve Hamas legalised crucifixion as a punishment for those who “weaken the spirit of the people”, and have been shooting such political enemies in the head when they find them in hospitals conveniently injured by Israeli bombing raids, they still deserve to be dismissed as useful idiots for a depraved death cult.” Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times (UK), 11 Jan 2009<br /><br />That is perhaps a little stronger than I would normally put it, but it is sad when it takes clear-thinking and courageous non-Jews like Lawson (talking about the UK) to expose the useful idiots embedded in the South African Jewish community - so ably represented by Zapiro in the Sunday Times yesterday (11 Jan 2009) and the signators to the letter in the Cape Times today.<br /><br />The moral posturing of the Zapiro cartoon is sickening. Hamas has deliberately placed its soldiers and instruments of war specifically in civilian settings – in homes, in hospitals, in mosques, in schools. This vicious policy has been implemented with the clear goal of maximising Palestinian suffering should Israel respond to years of terror inflicted on its southern population centres. <br /><br />But on this crime, Zapiro, is tjoepstil!<br /><br />If anything, the Cape Times letter is even more devoid of anything approaching intellectual or moral substance. This little band manages, just, to deplore Hamas rockets and Israeli deaths (are we not grateful for such brave impartiality?), but much - oh so very much - more strongly deplores Israel’s “disproportionate” response and Palestinian suffering. <br /><br />Well they’re welcome to “deplore” away but we need to make a choice between hope and nihilism, between realism and fantasy, between democracy and totalitarianism and between our Jewish brethren and their bitter and implacable opponents. <br /><br />I have made my choice, and it is clear they have made theirs.<br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-33377300852120971982009-01-09T09:15:00.000+02:002009-01-09T09:16:37.119+02:00Hamas's Media PartnersThe following letter was published in the Cape Times today (Jan 2009). A letter from S. Kaye in like vein was also included and an article by the new Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, Steinberg. But the dominant comment in today's C Times - in terms of images, prominence, headlines and wordage - was anti-Israel. This is a reality which cannot be readily changed.<br /> <br />If public demonstrations against Israel mount, it will become necessary for the broader community - and not only Jewish - to publically demonstrate their support for Israel (and for peace and justice). I hope our communnal leadership is preparing themselves for such action.<br /> <br />All this will be found on my blog http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com/.<br /> <br />Mike Berger<br /> <br /> <br />To the Cape Times<br /> <br />I write briefly to correct serious defects in the treatment of the Gaza operation, Cast Lead, by our media. The uncritical approach adopted makes sections of our media partners in the Hamas strategy of using Palestinian civilians as propaganda fodder in its on-going war with Israel.<br /><br /> <br />The facts are well known to everyone. Hamas has deliberately embedded its on-going and extensive military operations deep within its civilian population with three strategic aims in mind:<br /><br /> <br />Firstly, it constrains the response of the Israeli military significantly - contrary to the outrageous claims of some commentators. Israel often takes the militarily costly step of forewarning the civilian population before it takes action. In some instances, Hamas operatives have rushed civilians to the site in order to forstall Israeli action. Not infrequently strikes have been aborted because of such considerations.<br /><br /> <br />When civilian deaths and injuries do inevitably occur, the well-oiled Hamas propaganda machine springs into action to disseminate images, real or faked, together with reports emphasising civilian suffering. The desired outcome is, of course, public damage to Israel’s reputation and enhanced diplomatic pressure on Israel to stop before its objectives have been reached.<br /> <br /><br />Thirdly, of course, Hamas hopes that civilian suffering will be converted into hatred for Israel and not into rejection of its own callous and bankrupt vision. Even here the media plays an important role by focussing attention on Israel rather than on the deliberate instigators of this conflict, Hamas.<br /><br /><br />Hamas is guilty of war crimes as much through the abuse of its own population as in its total disregard for Israeli civilians. Hamas is solely interested in power and in pursuing its war with Israel irrespective of the cost to its own society. Even if only out of self-interest, Israel only wishes for peace and calm on its borders. <br /> <br /><br />Hamas's brutal disregard for its own population is unmistakeably similar to Mugabe’s actions in Zimbabwe. But contrary to the case of the despot on our border, some sections of our media have become accomplices in the Hamas fiction that Israel is to blame for the Gazan conflict and suffering. <br /><br /> <br />It is about time that this shameful crusade came to an end and that some realism and proportion is applied to the complex Middle East political equation by the media. <br /><br /> <br /> Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-9756515165498355242009-01-05T15:38:00.001+02:002009-01-05T15:43:19.936+02:00Fallout from Operation Cast LeadI attach below 2 articles of my own in response to media comment following on operation Cast Lead. For all Jews especially (and, of course, for Muslims and others) these are trying times. In certain quarters(mainly leftist, far rightist and Arab-Muslim), the Israeli offensive has met with a storm of outrage and vituperation.<br /><br />The essential elements of this are the following: <br /><br />1. The Israeli response is disproportionate and brutal typifying the character of the Israelis State.<br />2. Cast Lead is an OTT response to minimal provocation by Hamas which in turn was driven by the Israeli blockade of Gaza.<br />3. All of this is the result of the original sin of Zionist (colonial-imperialist) occupation of Palestinian land and can only be solved by the elimination of the Zionist State.<br />4. This time is not far off due to the decline of the USA and the increasing resistence of the American population to Zionist-Jewish manipulation.<br /><br />Such comment is accompanied by moral outrage and a level of hatred and vituperation which needs to be read in the original. On one comment line, somebody called Jack Thomsen suggested that for every dead Palestinian baby or pregnant Palestinian woman, the Jewish equivalent living in the Diaspora should also be killed. <br /><br />The dominant emotion on such sites is not real sympathy for the suffering Gazan population, but hatred directed at Zionists and, by a very simple extension, Jews in general. I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that anti-Zionism has all the hallmarks of old-fashioned antisemitism and is but a short step away from the real thing. It is characterised by insult, conspiracy theory and attributions of evil straight out of the anti-semitic/racist handbook.<br /><br />A great deal of strength is required to remain steadfast in the face of such ignorance and malice, but at the same time to remain open to genuine issues and to seek ways of meeting legitimate demands. Whether this is possible remains to be seen but without courage, tenacity and insight all will be lost.<br /><br />We have done it before and can do it again.<br />Mike Berger<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Submitted to Sunday Times in response to editorial (Mondli Makhanya) and article (Gideon Levy) on 4 Jan 2009<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /><br />As they say “it’s a free country”, and the chief editor of the Sunday Times, Mondli Makhanya, is entitled to keep his head in the sand. But even so there are some basic professional standards to uphold.<br /><br />When he refers to the Israeli attack on Gaza as “indiscriminate” he is deliberately misleading his readers. Indiscriminate bombing in WW2 by the allies killed 20 000 to 50 000 German civilians in a single night – and this was repeated on many occasions.<br /><br />Given modern firepower, “indiscriminate” bombing in crowded Gaza would wipe out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Israeli fire has been targeted as precisely as possible to identified military targets despite every effort by Hamas to use civilians as human shields in contravention of international law and norms.<br /><br />Mr Makhanya uses the word “provocation” when referring to the 8 500 rockets and mortars directed at Israel from Gaza, nearly 6000 of them since Israel vacated the territory in 2005. Under “provocation” no doubt he also includes Hamas-sponsored suicide bombings, the constant smuggling and construction of more advanced weaponry, the open training of a militia accompanied by constant threats to destroy Israel and the mock public trial of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. <br /><br />Precisely how much of this kind of “provocation” does Mr Makhanya suggest any State should be prepared to accept? Israel has tolerated it for 3 years.<br /><br />Makhanya also refers to “collective punishment”. There are aspects of collective punishment that may be legitimately questioned on both pragmatic and humanitarian grounds. But the Gazans voted Hamas into power in the full knowledge of their totalitarian Islamist program, their proven brutality even against fellow Palestinians and their doctrine of intransigent violent opposition to Israel.<br /><br />They especially, but also Israel, are reaping the consequences of that choice. Some Jews no doubt rejoice at the punishment being inflicted on Gaza, but the vast majority wish only that the Gazans had the insight and courage to grasp the opportunity that Israeli withdrawal offered them. They gain no pleasure from the pain of Palestinian civilians.<br /><br />To reinforce his views, Makhanya prints an article in which Gideon Levy layers on the horrors of war from the Palestinian perspective only. Levy, an Israeli journalist with a regular column in Ha’aretz, unforgiveably omits mention of the thousands of innocent Israeli dead and maimed who also only wanted to live in peace and security. Equally unforgiveably, Makhanya omits to point out that a Palestinian “Levy” wouldn’t live longer than 10 minutes in Hamas-controlled Gaza.<br /><br />Until the Palestinians and their sponsors and allies accept that Israel is not going to disintegrate or vote itself out of existence, the same fruitless, destructive strategies will be pursued in the vain hope that some day total victory will miraculously be delivered to the pathetic remnants left to rejoice.<br /><br />If Mr Makhanya wishes to move beyond misplaced moral indignation, there are indeed some important tasks closer to home which deserve his attention. Can he please leave the Middle East to those directly affected and with the knowledge to make some useful contribution?<br /><br />Mike Berger<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Published in the Cape Times on 2 Jan 2009</span><br /><br />The Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, one of the founders of the Peace movement in Israel, got it exactly right: for Hamas the death of an innocent Israeli civilian is good news, and the death of an innocent Palestinian even better.<br /><br />The Hamas strategy is simple and diabolically cynical. Keep pounding Israeli civilian centres with rockets and mortars. Stage mock public shows of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, to taunt Israel with its impotence. Embed your military headquarters, rocket factories and launch sites amongst the Gazan population and dare Israel to retaliate. <br /><br />When Israel holds back, claim it is confused and powerless against Islamist militancy. This will attract new recruits to your cause from amongst the 300 million Arabs and 1.4 billion Muslims most of whom are trapped in backward and corrupt autocracies. Keep smuggling weapons into Gaza till it’s little more than an armed camp with more than 15 000 young well-trained men. <br /><br />In short, conduct low-key war against your neighbour while telling them quite clearly your goal is the destruction of Israel itself.<br /><br />When Israel, in full knowledge of the political and human costs, actually retaliates with surgical strikes immediately flood the world media with claims of disproportionality. Rely upon your proxies to ensure that images (carefully staged where necessary) of the wounded and the grief-stricken will be disseminated globally within minutes. Ensure that thousands of angry Arabs and others stage marches and protests world-wide secure in the knowledge that these will receive the publicity never accorded to Israeli targets or victims.<br /><br />So, either as strutting, gun-waving militant or pathetic victim of Israeli military might, you figure you cannot lose and the Israelis cannot win. But Hamas and their sponsors and those that have chosen the same path, are wrong. While their miserable populations have nothing to look forward to other than hatred, poverty and oppression, Israel is getting on with the business of creating a modern, prosperous state. That option is also open to the Palestinians, together with self-rule should they so choose.<br /><br />The Hamas dead-end strategy is no secret to the rest of the world. They will not get the support they hope for except from the predictable quarters. The question is where does South Africa stand? Our government appears to be trying out a new partisan role in the questionable hope it will buy some support from sections of our population. Tutu on this issue is simply wrong and out on a broken limb. It really falls to our media to provide the South African population with the serious information and analysis to allow them to draw informed opinions<br /><br />But the majority of thinking and informed South Africans of all persuasions are not fooled and know exactly what’s at stake – and not only for Israel. <br /> <br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-69551097144281895702008-12-12T15:40:00.001+02:002008-12-12T15:40:45.502+02:00Last Try on Settler Riots...Greetings<br /> <br />I have not had a reply to my response to Nathan Geffen's "open letter" addressed to me on 6 December. This raises the question of why he bothered to write in the first place. Here below is a second letter from me to Geffen raising just that point amongst others. Of course all this may just be a bizarre and absurd form of theatre of obscure motivation and even more obscure purpose...who knows.<br /> <br />I enclose a definitely tongue-in-cheek wish list of 12 items in my letter below, but on a more realistic note I wish everyone an enjoyable and safe holiday season and I hope that this has a far greater chance of realisation than my other 12. <br /> <br />I will end this Intro with a short list of recent articles which some of you may wish to read (Google them):<br /> <br />PASSING THE BATON: AN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TAKES ON THE CHALLENGE OF IRAQ. Kenneth M. Pollack<br /> <br />If this Isn't Terrorism, What Is? By TOM GROSS. From today's Wall Street Journal Europe December 2, 2008<br /><br /> <br /><br />Reflections of a Sometime Israel Lobbyist. By Leonard Fein in Dissent Magasine.<br /><br /> <br />Human rights & wrongs. Dec. 10, 2008, THE JERUSALEM POST<br />Security First. U.S. Priorities in Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking. by J. D. Crouch • Montgomery C. Meigs • Walter B. Slocombe, Ben Fishman, Rapporteur • Michael Eisenstadt, Advisor<br /><br />Mike (Aka SOLAR PLEXUS)<br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br />Dear Nathan<br /> <br />You first wrote (an "Open Letter") to me on 6 Dec challenging my position vis-a-vis the "settlers" and Israel, which you equated with the stance of "Official Jewry". I presumed at the time that an "open letter" has as its chief purpose the initiation of debate; otherwise it is difficult to see the point. A number of responses from, amongst others, Joel Pollak and Steve Magid were sent to you and I also replied on 8 December. In my letter I commended you for the polite tone of your original letter, but challenged you on a number of substantive issues.<br /> <br />Since then we've heard nothing, which is puzzling to say the least. If you do not respond, what was the point of the first letter? Do you feel aggrieved or despondent that we have not immediately reached some form of consensus? Do you feel that you have been misrepresented or maligned? Please explain.<br /> <br />I would also point out that although your letter was free of personal abuse you certainly made some comments to which I could legitimately take offence. <br /> <br />For example you say: "You, as well as the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and the SA Zionist Federation are a small part, but nevertheless a part, of this system. It is not only the settlers that have put the Zionist enterprise at risk; it is the unconditional support for Israel --irrespective of the crimes committed or sanctioned by the state-- by the dominant form of Zionism in the diaspora today. A crucial element of this system is its dehumanisation of Muslims and Arabs. That's what creates the environment for pogroms to take place. We learnt this from Jewish History."<br /><br />Besides the substantive errors in this comment, you strongly imply that I am guilty of the "dehumanisation of Muslims and Arabs". I strongly deny this imputation. I have absolutely zero animosity towards either Muslims or Arabs and anyone who knows me would also know this. What I do recognise is that major elements within both categories, are strongly anti-Israel and often anti-semitic for a variety of reasons. As such they pose a very real threat to Israel. This is not dehumanisation; it is simply reconition of a basic reality. Failure to acknowledge this is not admirable - it is simply denialism.<br /> <br />You also said, "You also compared Palestinians to Nazis (without even realising it)." This is a pretty ugly accusation wholly unsupported by any evidence in your letter. Yet you have failed to respond to my request for the precise statement on which you base this assertion. Do you think that contributes to trust or to dialogue?<br /> <br />On rereading your letter I am struck by the unfocussed and sweeping generalisations which inform your position. They range from accusations regarding Reform Jewry, to alleged support for Greater Israel to unconditional support for all Israeli actions - as though silence or conditional condemnation equates to support. In addition, you conflate a host of different entities (the two Jewish organisations, myself and unnamed others) into a some rightwing conspiracy which tacitly seeks a greater Israel and dehumanises Arabs and Muslims. <br /> <br />In failing to focus you seriously undermine your central alleged concern, settler violence and the "occupation", and perpetuate the polarisation of debate around labels and straw men.<br /> <br />In my own response I attempted to set this straight. In so doing I too may have used labels which are not productive. I used the word "shrill" for example. While parts of your writing are indeed "shrill", others have been balanced and deserving of consideration. I have myself written of the difficult issue of personal morality in the arena of political conflict. <br /> <br />I also used the words "moral crusade" which you may see as offensive labelling. But again I do so because of your emphasis on selected and uncritically accepted accusations against Israel and Israelis in the absence of realistic contextualisation. I attempted to remedy what I saw as a major defect in your position. This is related to your rote condemnation of violence and anti-semitism, which is not integrated into the position you actually adopt - namely, is intensely critical of Israel. <br /> <br />The whole SAHRD project reflected the failure to adequate conceptualise these dilemmas and conflicting realities - more specifically the hostile media environment and anti-Israel agitprop in certain South African circles. This immediately played itself out on the return of the delegation with a slew of critical articles and public comments in which Israel was cast as the central villian. In particular, I pointed out this is the context in which I operate and which conditions (to a significant extent) the public position I adopt. It does not allow the luxury of moral righteousness unrelated to hard existential realities.<br /> <br />I could go on, but once again, if your original letter was a genuine desire to engage in debate, I invite you to respond. Otherwise people will draw their own conclusions.<br /> <br />In the meantime this is my wish list for a better world:<br /> <br />1. I wish that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai did not find it necessary to specifically include the minute Jewish population in its list of targets or fund it necessary to torture them before killing tham.<br />2. I wish that the dangerous and hateful Jihadist philosophy together with its foundational Islamist doctrine would rapidly pass into the dustbin of history never to re-emerge. <br />3. I wish that no-one would resort to brutaility and violence to achieve their personal or ideological ends and that the conditions which encourage such responses could be eliminated.<br />4. I wish that instead of hurling bombs or abuse at one another that humans everywhere could discuss their differences over a pleasant glass of wine after showing each other pictures of their families and friends.<br /> 5. I wish that the politics always came second to debate over the best soccer, rugby or cricket team.<br />6. I wish that all people were rational, tolerant and wise and were free of the sins of pride, stupidity, cowardice, cupidity, sadism, envy, conformity and ignorance at all times and everywhere.<br />7. I wish that Islamists would stop persecuting Christian Arabs and that Palestinians who sold their land to Jews could do so without fearing death.<br />8. I wish that belligerant Jewish clerics would cease spitting on people with whom they differ, would stop defacing their graves or other religious or national symbols and turn away from extremist rhetoric which spills over into violent action.<br />9. I wish that the problems of the Middle East would be solved through rational discussion in such a way that the reasonable hopes and aspirations of all the people living there could be accommodated.<br />10. I wish that those not living there would demonstrate greater restraint and modesty and refrain from imposing their own ideologies, biases, ignorance and psychological obsessions on an arena remote from their legitimate interests and experience. <br />11. I wish that commentators would read beyond the inflammatory literature supporting their own position to more serious studies dealing with the complex, multi-dimensional realities which influence the flow of events.<br />12. I wish that people had deeper insight into the vast scientific literature which deals with the way people construct perceptions and make decisions in the political arena, since such knowledge could translate into greater rationality and less emotion. <br /> <br />And I've only started...<br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-19392452617016618502008-12-12T15:36:00.001+02:002008-12-12T15:39:11.035+02:00Responses to Settler Riots...Dear Nathan (from Joel Pollak)<br /><br />I received your recent letter on the violence in Hebron. There are some points I would agree with and others I would vigorously contest. <br /><br /><br />One point, however, strikes me as particularly objectionable.<br /><br />You suggest that Jewish organisations around the world, and individuals such as Mike Berger who disagree with your particular criticisms of Israel, bear guilt for the actions (and inactions) of the Israeli state, as well as for the "dehumanisation" of Muslims and Arabs.<br /><br />I find that quite extraordinary. <br /><br />It is, superficially at least, exactly what is said by antisemitic jihadists to justify their attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions (the Chabad House in Mumbai being only the most recent example) as proxies for Israel. <br /><br />Of course you would oppose such terrible violence--but according to your logic it would have been permissible, and even welcome, to protest peacefully outside the Chabad House in Mumbai as part of the "system", as marchers led by the Muslim Judicial Council tried to do at the Board of Deputies headquarters in Cape Town during an anti-Israel protest a few years ago.<br /><br />Have I misunderstood you? I invite you to clarify or explain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dear Mike and Nathan, (from Steve Magid)<br /><br />(1) I don't know why you (Mike) commended Nathan for writing a letter free of personal abuse. His letter included his correspondence with the SAJBD in which he labels you and David Saks "extremists". I think that is highly problematic. <br /><br />Nathan writes "Saks and Berger cannot merely be written off as "the extremists in our community", although extremist they certainly are."<br /><br />He also writes "You ignore the crux of the Haaretz piece, which is that the army stood by and let Jewish extremists terrorise Palestinians."<br /><br />Am I to conclude that Nathan views you and David in the same light as the thugs who attack Palestinians and the IDF? I think this inflammatory language, perhaps made behind your back (unless you were included on the SAJBD correspondence) needs to be challenged.<br /><br />And I know I am being flippant with the eqation of the two contexts with which the word can be used, still, I am amazed that he has labeled you an extremist!<br /><br />(2) I don't know what exactly happened with Farid Esack, I hope the Board replies. But I do wonder whether Nathan or Faried have ever questioned the decision made by Salim Valley to use threats of violence and personal abuse to prevent Benjamin Pogrund and Walid Salem from visiting South Africa on a peace tour. Did the Board threaten to abuse and embarrass Faried like Salim Vally did with Walid Saliem? How does Nathan reconcile this treatment of Walid Saliem by official representatives of the Muslim community with the view that the failures of the Jewish community are for worse than the Muslim community, as he wrote in the Cape Times? What about the way the Muslim community treated Hussein Solomon after he agreed to participate in a debate with the Zionist Federation?<br /><br />(3) Nathan, regarding support for a 2 state solution, it's something that upsets me as well. I think a large part of the religious sector of the community has failed to internalise the need for 2 states and the requirement that we relinquish territory. Still, I think its presumptious to say that official Jewry reject the notion. I am not sure if you have based your assertion on opinion polls. If not, I will divert to the sentiment that the Board plays to the community - support for 2 states. The Board saw it fit to advertise the fact that Zuma support a two state solution. They brought this to the community with a sense that it is a 'win', i.e. the community would be happy to hear the ANC supports 2 states. I don't believe they have misread the community so badly. Its also a silly label. Who is official Jewry? <br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Dear Nathan Geffen, (from Anthony Posner aka as the Blacklisted Dictator)<br /><br />As you are aware Farid Esack (SAHRD) is a signatory to the attached letter.<br /><br />Perhaps Farid Esack can bring a copy along to Habonim and hand out sweeties to the kids who sign?<br /><br />viva<br />blacklisted<br /><br />We fought apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now!<br />17 May 2008<br /><br />We, South Africans who faced the might of unjust and brutal apartheid machinery in South Africa and fought against it with all our strength, with the objective to live in a just, democratic society, refuse today to celebrate the existence of an Apartheid state in the Middle East. While Israel and its apologists around the world will, with pomp and ceremony, loudly proclaim the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel this month, we who have lived with and struggled against oppression and colonialism will, instead, remember 6 decades of catastrophe for the Palestinian people. 60 years ago, 750,000 Palestinians were brutally expelled from their homeland, suffering persecution, massacres, and torture. They and their descendants remain refugees. This is no reason to celebrate.<br /><br />When we think of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, we also remember the Deir Yassin massacre of 1948.<br /><br />When we think of South Africa’s Bantustan policy, we remember the bantustanisation of Palestine by the Israelis.<br /><br />When we think of our heroes who languished on Robben Island and elsewhere, we remember the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.<br /><br />When we think of the massive land theft perpetrated against the people of South Africa, we remember that the theft of Palestinian land continues with the building of illegal Israeli settlements and the Apartheid Wall.<br /><br />When we think of the Group Areas Act and other such apartheid legislation, we remember that 93% of the land in Israel is reserved for Jewish use only.<br /><br />When we think of Black people being systematically dispossessed in South Africa, we remember that Israel uses ethnic and racial dispossession to strike at the heart of Palestinian life.<br /><br />When we think of how the SADF troops persecuted our people in the townships, we remember that attacks from tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships are the daily experience of Palestinians in the Occupied Territory.<br /><br />When we think of the SADF attacks against our neighbouring states, we remember that Israel deliberately destabilises the Middle East region and threatens international peace and security, including with its 100s of nuclear warheads.<br /><br />We who have fought against Apartheid and vowed not to allow it to happen again can not allow Israel to continue perpetrating apartheid, colonialism and occupation against the indigenous people of Palestine.<br /><br />We dare not allow Israel to continue violating international law with impunity.<br /><br />We will not stand by while Israel continues to starve and bomb the people of Gaza.<br /><br />We who fought all our lives for South Africa to be a state for all its people demand that millions of Palestinian refugees must be accorded the right to return to the homes from where they were expelled.<br /><br />Apartheid was a gross violation of human rights. It was so in South Africa and it is so with regard to Israel’s persecution of the Palestinians!<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Sent to me by Gill K<br /><br />DAVID WILDER , THE JERUSALEM POST <br />Following the expulsion of families from Beit Hashalom in Hebron, during<br />a radio interview with the BBC, I was asked about our future plans. When<br />I responded that the community would continue to purchase property in<br />Hebron, the interviewer asked, "But won*t that just cause more<br />violence?" I answered, "If I bought a home in London and was told that a<br />Jew purchasing on *that side of the city* would cause a violent<br />reaction, how would that be viewed? Probably as anti-Semitism and<br />racism. Why then can*t a Jew buy property in Hebron, just as people<br />purchase homes all over the world?" <br />Another common question I*ve had to field from journalists is, "Don*t<br />you think this has all gotten out of control?" My response is quite<br />simple: "Of course it is totally out of control. That*s not the<br />question. The question is who is out of control?" Clearly, in my<br />opinion, those who have lost control are those democratic institutions<br />which are designed to protect citizens from despotic leadership.<br />FOLLOWING PURCHASE of Beit Hashalom for close to $1 million, the Hebron<br />community found itself under attack from numerous sources. Rapidly the<br />question of our legitimate presence in the building made its way to<br />court. The original court decision found enough evidence supporting our<br />claims to prevent immediate eviction. However, harsh restrictions were<br />imposed, including denial to install windows and to hook up to the<br />Hebron municipal electric grid. Only in the middle of a major snowstorm<br />did the defense minister allow installation of windows in the building<br />last winter. <br />Due to the political sensitivity of the case, we soon found ourselves<br />opposite a Supreme Court panel hearing the various issues involved. That<br />panel was composed of Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and<br />Justices Edmond Levy and Uzi Fogelman. Levy is religious. Following a<br />break in the court hearings, Beinisch changed the panel, removing Levy<br />and Fogelman and replacing them with Justices Ayala Procaccia, who is<br />known to be one of the most left-wing justices on the court, and Salim<br />Joubran, the only Arab on the court. Beinisch, it must be noted, is not<br />known for her right-wing ideological opinions. Two leftist justices and<br />an Arab were left to decide the fate of the Jews living in Beit<br />Hashalom. If that*s not a stacked deck, nothing is. So wrote retired<br />District Court judge Uzi Struzman, calling the court*s final decision<br />blatantly political. <br />In that decision, the court ruled that it would not examine the evidence<br />presented, including proof of authentication of the legal sales<br />documents, a video of the seller receiving and counting the money<br />received for the building, and an audio recording of his description of<br />the sale and receipt of the money. <br />Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz, when presented with new evidence in the<br />case, specifically the audio cassette, refused to meet with community<br />attorneys or examine the proof of purchase. Defense Minister Ehud Barak<br />announced only two weeks ago his intention to legalize all the illegal<br />Beduin construction in the South. Yet he gave the go-ahead to violently<br />expel all residents of the building in the midst of advanced high-level<br />negotiations which would have allowed him to forgo the brutal<br />confrontation. <br />These are examples of nothing less than terror - administrative terror,<br />utilized by the highest echelons of the country*s democratic<br />institutions to further their own political beliefs against loyal<br />citizens of the state, in this case, residents of the Hebron Jewish<br />community. <br />FOLLOWING VIOLENT reactions to the extremely harsh expulsion, which<br />included use of tear gas and stun grenades, I was asked about "red<br />lines" - and decisions to "cross those red lines." Unfortunately we are<br />presently facing situations where the government is crossing all the red<br />lines that previously existed. The transformation of the judicial<br />system, including the attorney-general and the Supreme Court, into an<br />extended arm of the political arena ends all notions of impartiality or<br />objectivity. <br />Hebron residents are often labeled extremists. However nothing could be<br />more extreme than the above-described actions of Mazuz and Beinisch. But<br />due to their positions and political ideologies, their extremism is<br />considered legitimate. <br />It should be clear. Hebron*s Jewish community opposes and rejects any<br />and all violence aimed at innocent people, be they Arabs, Jews or anyone<br />else. However it is unthinkable and intolerable that Israel*s top<br />leadership should change the rules in the middle of the game, expecting<br />the other side to play by the old ones, while they play by the new. Such<br />actions, as we have recently witnessed, quite literally push a large<br />segment of the population into a corner with no way out, creating a<br />dangerously volatile situation. Peace may breed peace but by the same<br />token, extremism breeds extremism. <br />The real danger to Israeli society is not a few dozen kids throwing<br />rocks while violently and illegitimately being thrown out of a home in<br />Hebron. The true threat to our country is the warping of the fundamental<br />institutions whose presence is supposed to protect the people rather<br />than terrorize them. The decisions made concerning Beit Hashalom were<br />not based upon justice, rather upon pure judicial terror. The writer is<br />spokesman of the Jewish community of Hebron. This article can also be<br />read at http://www.jpost. com<br />/servlet/Satellite? cid=122770246490 8&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticl e%2FShowFull<br />[ Back to the Article ] <br />Copyright 1995- 2008 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost. com/ <br />comments <br />The Jewish Community of Hebron <br />POB 105 , Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100 <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Dear Mike (from Gideon Shimoni)<br />In my view this is excellent. I fully agree with it.<br />Giddy<br /><br /><br /><br />from David Saks<br /><br />Doron's descent into personal abuse was disappointing, especially given his own issues about being victimised for his opinions. It is indicative of more than thin-skinnedness on his part, I believe, but of a more fundamental lack of tolerance for opposing views, certainly when those are strongly argued. I was rather shocked in this connection to read how, on Supernatural, he concluded that support John McCain precluded one from speaking with any authority on human rights issues. Apart from the sweeping dismissal of the moral credentials of nearly half the American electorate, it is further evidence of how some automatically assume that real commitment to human rights is exclusively a left-wing preserve. <br /><br /><br />That being said, Doron argued his case clearly and on the whole civilly in his exchange with Joel. It was a valuable exercise, and I was reassured that unlike Kasrils, he does have a genuine commitment to Israel's well-being. This is despite his being clearly shaky on a number of crucial points. He signally failed to answer, for example, Joel's question as to why equal rights for Jewish West Bank residents in a Palestinian state is not an option. This ties in with his unwillingness to acknowledge the extent of anti-Jewish racism amongst the Palestinians as an obstacle to peace. It leads in turn to his conclusion that Jewish 'settlers' are the real obstacle and that therefore, a peace deal necessitates their state-enforced mass removal. This seems to me to be an expedient caving in to Palestinian racism at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Jews who will lose their homes - homes that are in the heartland of ancient Israel.<br /><br /> Joel, as ever, was impressively cogent, moderate and well informed. Kol Hakavod to him.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-43789011956844129322008-12-12T15:32:00.001+02:002008-12-12T15:36:31.258+02:00Settler Riots are "Pogroms": an exhange of correspondenceI strongly recommend you read the attached correspondence and that you contribute. If you send me your comments I will publish a selected group to my distribution lists. <br />Mike<br /> <br />Dear Nathan<br /> <br />I'm really at something of a loss on how to respond to you (see Nathan's letter below). On the one hand I could launch into a detailed, and inevitably long-winded, explanation on where I actually come from as opposed to your speculations and assumptions. I could also point out that the settler issue serves for Israel's enemies the convenient instrumental purpose of invalidating the Zionist enterprise in addition to any genuine concern they have for the settler's themselves. <br /> <br />And so on and on. Since your letter was public so mine will be and I hope others will comment - some already have.<br /> <br />On the other hand I want to get beyond the kind of sniping and point scoring which masquerades as debate. I must also publicly congratulate you on writing a letter free of the personal abuse, with which others in your broad camp adorn their comments to me.<br /> <br />So in the hope that my partial answer will serve some useful purpose here goes. First let's deal with the contents of your letter:<br /> <br />1. You (and others in your camp) talk of a "particular system" leading to this "pogrom" and many other "atrocities". These are inflammatory words and accusations designed to promote a particular agenda. There is indeed reprehensible and sometimes criminal behaviour by a small segment of Israeli society in the context of longstanding interethnic conflict which for a host of reasons is extremely difficult to resolve. <br /> <br />I believe they do the Zionist enterprise harm in a number of ways, one of which is that they provide enemies of Israel with another stick to beat Israel with and to impugn the "Zionist" project. The entire field is extremely controversial and is the weak underbelly of Israel at which a great deal of attention is directed. Some of this is based (appropriately or inappropriately) on genuine concerns for human rights and the ethical foundation of Israel itself; much of it arises from a priori hostility to the Jewish State and is part of a campaign of invalidation and demonisation. It is this contamination of motives and agendas which renders the entire topic such a hot potato.<br /> <br />The settler question is tied up with peace negotiations, being used by different groups to advance their interests. Israel, in my view, must exert effective lawful control over its own citizens but faces significant political costs in a climate in which it feels threatened and isolated. This is a key point to which I return later. You are using real incidents and inflated claims to justify the actions of the SAHRD and your ambiguous position vis-a-vis Israel. I won't be part of that campaign but feel free to express personal disgust with bullying, fanatical and criminal behaviour. I believe Israel would benefit from clamping down on such behaviour but that it won't stop her enemies from pressing her on other issues. <br /> <br />2. I do not "unconditionally" support Israel as you assert; I strongly, very strongly, support her - a meaningful difference. My support is not unconditional in two respects:<br /> <br />One is that certain actions would lead me to withdraw support. While I may disagree with specific Israel’s positions or be saddened/disgusted/infuriated by the actions of certain Israeli individuals or groups, none of this has remotely been of such a nature as to deserve a withdrawal of my support. That you suggest otherwise reveals your priorities or a limited historical perspective or both; it says nothing about the reality of the situation.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Secondly, the stance I adopt vis-à-vis Israel is also conditioned by my understanding of the context and my own situation in it. If, for example, I were living in Israel and was more intimately and existentially familiar with the situation there and was also directly involved in the consequences of my choices, my own behaviour may well be somewhat different – and conceivably – more openly critical of certain policies and practices. This would find practical political expression within the context of a practicing democracy.<br /><br /> <br /><br />But I don’t live there and neither do you. We live far from the scene in a media environment which is often venomously anti-Israel (an assertion which can backed up by reams of evidence). This is partly the product of ignorance and disinformation (aka propaganda), partly simply a mutant form of anti-semitism and, significantly, the conscious and deliberate deployment of demonisation and delegitimizing as a component of a global strategy against the “Zionist entity”. The recent advertisements in the M & G and The Citizen are simply part of a larger pattern. <br /><br /> <br /><br />You may not wish it but you contribute to this propaganda project in your public utterances and positions. It has nothing to with the "self-hating Jew" accusation which simply serves to cloud the issues. I won't contribute to that strategy and do my best to thwart it.<br /><br /> <br /><br />3. You somehow claim to know my "version" of the Zionist enterprise which you link to my purported association with the major Jewish communal organisations. I strongly doubt that you have any clue as to my "version" of Zionism or my personal history and you are seriously mistaken in your belief that I work hand in glove with the Jewish leadership. On the contrary, Dennis Davis and for all I know, Doron Isaacs, have a much closer association with them than I have or ever did. Secondly, I suspect that there is quite a substantial degree of diversity of opinion within the Jewish leadership despite, possibly, some commonality on fundamentals.<br /><br /> <br /><br />But briefly regarding my purported role vis-a-vis the BofD and ZF: I had an 8 month association (interim chairman of the Media Committee) with the communal Jewish organisations which came to an end in December 2007 (more-or-less). Other than a small regular column in the Cape Jewish Chronicle (also now come to an end), I have no formal and almost no informal contact with them whatsoever. I suppose there is some commonality of perspective (though sometimes I wonder) and I retain a reasonably amiable (though remote) relationship with some members. So, do you think this myth can now be dispensed with?<br /><br /> <br /><br />4. To paraphrase, you claim that I have "compared Palestinians to Nazis", with the fascinating rider that I do so without realising it. At the same time you coyly desist from revealing to me and your readers exactly what I said and in what context. Please do so immediately or otherwise withdraw this silly and vile accusation. <br /><br /> <br /><br />I am not going to reply on behalf of the Board or the ZF since they can do that for themselves and I have no authority whatsoever to speak for them.<br /><br /> <br /><br />5. Myth 2: Official Jewry supports a two state solution. On the contrary, I strongly suspect that "official Jewry" - if that term has any real content - does indeed support on the whole a two-state solution for pragmatic and moral reasons, but they do not support your moral crusade and don't conveniently discount the serious practical obstacles in the way of that outcome - including the real existential threat to Israel posed by demography, geography/topography, fanaticism (religious and otherwise), anti-semitism and simple pragmatic self-interest and political dynamics.<br /><br /> <br /><br />For a moral crusader such matters seem merely an excuse. But you are seriously mistaken which is why you contribute to the problem rather than to the solution. I discuss this more fully at the end. But once again, I speak for myself not for official Jewry who can formulate their own reply.<br /><br /> <br /><br />6. Your paragraph which starts with "None of this is to forget for a moment the unjustified violent attacks...". I have called this elsewhere the "caveats of expediency". They are easy calls and they lack content and consequence. You do not adequately recognise or act on the implications of the words you use here since you are really pre-occupied mainly with your moral crusade.<br /><br /> <br /><br />So let me end by dealing briefly with certain more general issues as briefly and succinctly as possible. <br /><br /> <br /><br />In general I don't set myself up as a serious participant in the Israeli political process. To do so would require a degree of chutzpah which I don't posses, but apparently you and your "allies" do. I see myself as a defender of the "Zionist Project" in the broadest sense, in the media arena of propaganda warfare outside Israel. Contrary to your implicit depiction of a powerful Jewish Diaspora “unconditionally” supporting Israel, we have been a tiny voice struggling to find expression in a media which is ignorantly, and sometimes maliciously, anti-Israel and which has used every device to stigmatise it as a uniquely evil state. They have turned the Holocaust and Nazism around to use as tools to blacken its name when they aren’t using Apartheid and colonialism for the same purpose.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Where I (and other supporters of Israel) are indeed seriously concerned over certain matters (eg. the settlers) then there exist ways to convey that concern effectively WITHOUT giving aid and comfort to her enemies or undermining commitment within the diasporean Jewish community. The SAHRD failed that test badly and its subsequent explanations and clarifications have not altered that perception. If the reaction to the SAHRD has induced a more critical self-reflection in some members, it would be a good outcome. Is there any evidence for that?<br /><br /> <br /><br />For what its worth my own position, grossly simplified, is as follows:<br /><br /> <br /><br />Israel has real security concerns which justify the security barrier (though not its abuse) and its refusal to return to 1967 borders. I believe in a "two state solution", or variants thereof, but recognise that this is blocked as much by anti-Israel entities regionally and globally as well as by maximalists within Israel and sometimes outside. Israel is a democratic state and shifts in policy necessitate the support of the population. Poll after poll show that a majority for peace and compromise can be built in Israel but that requires considerable (and perfectly understandable) reassurance on the security front. <br /><br /> <br /><br />It is in the perceived interests of the anti-Israel brigade to ensure that this does not occur and that Israel remains trapped in endless conflict, in the hope that via attrition her resolve can be undermined or that a global alliance can be created to bring her down or that her major ally, the USA, can be deterred and so forth. The Palestinians, as well as the Israeli population, are in a sense victims of this strategy. It is the same dynamic which contributes to Israeli failure to deal effectively with rogue elements within the settler population and their supporters. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Given this reality, the tactic (your tactic) of pressurising Israel is singularly misguided. It simply strengthens the maximalists on all sides. The most effective strategy is to forego the dubious pleasures of moral righteousness and deal with the hard and complex political issues on the ground. This means a change of tone and framework of analysis. It means a demonstrable commitment to Israel and a full, not expedient, recognition of the forces with which she needs to contend.<br /><br /> <br /><br />It is only in this way that you can establish credibility within the broader Jewish population at present. While effective in other situations, the "activist" approach to complex issues like the Middle East, especially by outsiders, is misapplied and destructive. Moral crusades are not a universal panacea for all the ills of mankind. The SAHRD junket and the shotgun accusations, broad generalisations and shrill tone of your subsequent writing all suggest a pre-occupation with a narrow moralism rather than a serious engagement with the issues. They don't advance a solution.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Mike Berger<br /><br /> <br /><br /> ---- Original Message ----- <br /><br />From: Nathan Geffen <br />To: Solar Plexus <br />Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 4:10 PM<br />Subject: Re: Hebron settler riots can only be called 'pogrom'<br /><br /><br />Dear Mike<br /><br />(This is an open letter which I am distributing widely.)<br /><br />I read your email below, which you copied me on, in reference to the Haaretz article about the pogrom by settlers in Hebron. <br /><br />Your response is not strong enough either. You are correct that the perpetrators of the Hebron pogrom should be prosecuted. You are also correct that the settlers' behaviour puts the entire Zionist enterprise at risk. You ignore the crux of the Haaretz piece, which is that the army stood by and let Jewish extremists terrorise Palestinians. <br /><br />But what you really fail to see is the role of the particular system that has created the conditions that have led to this pogrom and the many other less newsworthy atrocities that take place daily in the occupied territories. The settlers live under the protection of the army, receive housing subsidies, have water, electricity, postal, and road connections provided by the state, and, as has been shown in a comprehensive report by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, are almost never prosecuted when they attack Palestinians. Much systematic work goes into insulating Israel from criticism of its settlement project. Crucial to perpetuating this project has been the systematic support of an organized part of the Jewish communities around the world. You, as well as the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and the SA Zionist Federation are a small part, but nevertheless a part, of this system. It is not only the settlers that have put the Zionist enterprise at risk; it is the unconditional support for Israel --irrespective of the crimes committed or sanctioned by the state-- by the dominant form of Zionism in the diaspora today. A crucial element of this system is its dehumanisation of Muslims and Arabs. That's what creates the environment for pogroms to take place. We learnt this from Jewish History.<br /><br />Your particular version of the Zionist enterprise, the dominant version currently, depends on myths for its credibility. These myths are becoming increasingly unsustainable. I shall give a few examples from South Africa, but I am sure similar examples exist in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and elsewhere.<br /><br />Myth 1: The Board of Deputies seeks better relationships with the South African Muslim community.<br />Yet, this same Board allows Avrom Krengel of the SA Zionist Federation to bully Habonim into disinviting Farid Esack from speaking at their camp. How can the Board be serious about improving relations if this is the way we treat a Muslim leader who argues vehemently in his own community against antisemitism and engages in good faith with our community? <br /><br />And the same Board, which rightly criticises people who misuse the Nazi analogy, has defended --in correspondence with me-- its employee, David Saks, for his Islamaphobic remarks and comparison of Palestinians to Nazis (see page 10 of the link). You also compared Palestinians to Nazis (without even realising it). But the Board simply denied to me that you were associated with them. Yet the chairperson of the Cape Board, Owen Futuran, thanked you at the Board's conference for your media work. <br />What credibility can an institution which tolerates racism have when it comes to combating antisemitism? <br /><br />Myth 2: Official Jewry supports a two-state solution. <br />Only lip-service is paid to this view. Doron Isaacs and I are expected to declare our support for the two-state solution – which Doron has publicly supported for years – to have credibility in front of the Board, but this is not expected from those in our community who believe in a greater Israel, donate money to promoting the settler ideology and send their children on pro-settlement tours. Ironically because of this equivocation throughout the diaspora, the two-state solution looks increasingly unattainable, at least not without great suffering. <br /><br />Myth 3: The "self-hating" Jews who speak critically of Israel are a threat to Israel. <br />This is essentially the response to the Jews who participated in the HRD, as well as other outspoken Jews. But as you have acknowledged in your email, it is the settlers who have put the Zionist project at risk. My plea to you is to realise that it is not only the settlers, but the current politics of the Board and Zionist Federation too --and their equivalents throughout the world-- that is a much greater danger to Israel than any "Self-Hating Israel Threatening" Jew. Without the support of the Israeli state, and its staunch defenders like you, the settlers would have little power.<br /><br />In all of this the Board and the Zionist Fed have pandered to the interests, or more accurately the prejudices, of a minority in our community at the expense of the wider community. It is this same pandering that emboldens the prejudice against reform Jews, an example being the restrictions on Netzer's involvement at King David School. <br /><br />to which Israel has been subjected, nor the real antisemitism that exists today, or the denial of Israel's existence by some. But supporting a policy of settlement in the West Bank does not help us deal with any of these things. <br /><br />I hope, that if there is anything you and others in the Board and Zionist Fed can learn from the dreadful events in Hebron, it is how misguided the political choices of official Jewry have become.<br /><br />Regards<br />Nathan Geffen<br /><br /><br /><br />On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 5:09 PM, Solar Plexus <mike.berger@telkomsa.net> wrote:<br /><br />Dear Anthony<br /><br />I think a stronger response is called for. Such behaviour is disgusting and puts the entire Zionist enterprise at risk. It has nothing to do with legitimate concerns over security...it is simply fanaticism and the abuse of power.<br /><br />I would like to see them thrown in jail. Of course, one must always keep somewhere in the back of one's mind there may be more to the story than this, but until that comes out my reaction stands.<br /><br />MikeSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-87848227148142396452008-12-04T11:24:00.000+02:002008-12-04T11:25:55.651+02:00In a NutshellThe confrontational and needlessly abrasive correspondence between myself and Doron Isaacs should not detract from the central issue – finding a way to bring about a sustainable peace between Israel and her neighbours in such a way as to preserve the existence of a viable Jewish State.<br /><br />It is mistakenly believed that those of us who steadfastly support Israel, in a climate characterised by the stupid extremism of the anti-Israel petitions which appeared in the Mail and Guardian and The Citizen, wish to preserve the status quo there. It is ignorantly thought by our self-appointed moral guardians that we’re blind to the dangers of the status quo or that we have no regard for the rights or suffering of any other than Jews or Israelis. <br /><br />Such embedded ignorance is difficult to dislodge, but it should not distract us from clarifying the issues involved and acting to promote the kind of resolution which so far as humanly possible is sustainable and just.<br /><br />I use the word “just” with some caution, since one of the less attractive features of human behaviour is moral grandstanding on the basis of a conveniently selective morality. I do not support Israel because of some grand law of universal justice. I support her mainly because I’m Jewish and, in the context of recent world history, that requires me to support the creation of the Jewish State.<br /><br />I do not believe that Israel has some absolute right to her present borders, to larger borders or for that matter to any land at all in the Middle East, or indeed elsewhere. Nor do I believe that the Palestinians or any peoples or nations have such abstract rights.<br /><br />I believe that a consideration of history and human psychology, especially in its collective form, indicates that those collections of people who see themselves as a definable collective almost always seek out land on which they can pursue their collective interests and social-political life. This inevitably brought peoples into conflict with others seeking also to maximise their claim to land and the resources contained on it. <br /><br />At the risk of stating the obvious, much of history is the story of the conflicts engendered by this process and the various regulatory instruments and norms developed to render the process less destructive, more in keeping with the interests of the ordinary folk most at risk and in maintaining a stable global system.<br /><br />Putting it this way, takes some of the ideological and moral fervour out of the equation and allows us to seek pragmatic solutions to human needs. There is no simple formula to this. It will inevitably require a rather subtle blend of power, feasibility and basic principles of equity.<br /><br /> In the context of the Middle East, it is generally agreed that the most pragmatic solution (in the sense spelt out above) would be the creation of two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian, living side-by-side in a state of peace and preferably active cooperation. So what’s stopping it?<br /><br />One could point to many factors indeed and I have alluded to some of these in previous articles and am reluctant to go over all this ground here. I am not an expert in any event. <br /><br />Most of them come down to this: it is politically possible to create within Israel a strong majority opinion in favour of just such a settlement provided that genuine peace and security can reasonably be assured. <br /><br />For good reasons of history and context, “reasonably” in this case means a very high level of assurance. Without that, it is unlikely that a strong peace movement can be sustained within Israel. But with that, as indicated in poll after poll, such a movement undoubtedly could be created and could prevail.<br /><br />It is this fundamental fact, which is continually missed by the so-called “left”. They believe they can bully or shame Israel into doing the “right” thing as defined by them. They vilify and demonise those who oppose their view and some seek to do the same to Israel as shown in the repugnant adverts taken out in our local newspapers. <br /><br />The most important actions they could undertake, if indeed the fate of the Palestinians were as an important concern as they claim, would be to drum this fact into the heads of those who currently seek to bully, threaten or destroy Israel. It would be to assure Israel of their loyalty and commitment. It would be to publically defend Israel and to attack those who seek to delegitimise (subtly or blatantly) or undermine her through boycotts, the promotion of single state solutions and a selective and dishonest media focus on Israel’s shortcomings and the “suffering” of her neighbours.<br /><br />Only when Israel is no longer scared (legitimately scared) that relinquishing strategic resources as part of a peace process will not be met by further hostility, strengthened both psychologically and tangibly by various kinds of strategic gain, can the prospects of a sustainable and reasonably just settlement become a reality. Only then will she be able to realistically confront the maximalists in her ranks playing the high-risk game of a zero-sum outcome. <br /><br />Why does this argument not apply equally to the other side? For a host of reasons: <br /><br />• Israel does not threaten its opponents with extinction. <br />• Israel has an unruly and potentially dangerous settler movement; it does not have tens of thousands of well-armed militants ready to invade or bomb it’s neighbours and undermine its own government. <br />• Its demographic and geographic position (and other factors) puts it at a serious strategic disadvantage vis-à-vis its neighbours – only offset by a strong military backed up by a strong economy and a committed population and diaspora.<br />• Its recent and long-term history makes security and top priority.<br /><br />Thus it is Israeli security which is the chief issue. When that is understood and implemented, then it will be possible to bring the political process forward. We are not there yet. Though there have been some useful moves forward, with Iran and other extremist entities still very much alive and kicking it is premature to start “pressurising” Israel, the preferred tactic of the left. <br /><br />Creative ways need to be, and are being, sought to advance the security of the region and with it, Israel. This cannot be achieved overnight, but also should not be put on the back-burner. It requires realistic political nous and the right blend of economic, diplomatic and military incentives – not public posturing.<br /><br />This, put as simply as possible, is the absolutely central issue. Anything else is simply a call for Israeli surrender with all the enormous risks that would entail. Most of us will never become part of that campaign directly or indirectly. There are ways of conveying real concerns to Israel which do not involve some form of betrayal. If necessary these should be used.<br /><br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-48042902409400652082008-12-03T10:22:00.002+02:002008-12-03T10:32:14.669+02:00Correspondence with Doron Isaacs of the SAHRDThis is the first time I've written to you directly...<br /> <br />You know of course I strongly oppose not only your position and the HRD notwithstanding subsequent clarifications and, in my view, spin. I have spelt out the basis for my position in the CJC and on my occasional blog, Solar Plexus. You have never responded to any of this; you were under no obligation to do so. <br /> <br />While I'm not immune, I suppose, to gossip around people's motivations, agendas and associations I always retain a measure of scepticism preferring to believe in sincerity (even if seriously mistaken sincerity) rather than hidden agendas and motivations - unless established otherwise. Not that "sincerity" is some universal whitewash. It is a word which requires considerable qualification. <br /> <br />However I have read your "debate" with Joel Pollak and some of your other writing. To be honest I find much of it egregious sophistry. Examples abound. You raise issues around the number of hospital beds in Israel to suggest it is not interested in "human rights" - a phrase you seem to regard as a kind of universal moral solvent. One could of course quote longevity and childhood mortality stats to show that Israel's population, both Arab and especially Jewish, have health statistics comparable to the rest of the developed world. But why indeed do you find it necessary to minutely and selectively scrutinise Israel's social and moral shortcomings except to provide a backdrop to your condemnation of her occupation. Who has ever argued that Israel is a perfect society? Surely if you want to cure its real and alleged shortcomings, go and live there as an Israeli citizen and participate in the democratic process available.<br /> <br />You make a point of insisting that Israel does not face existential threats by focussing on selective military shortterm assessments; others would claim otherwise. But, in any case, what does this have to do with the longterm reality of continued anti-Israel and anti-semitic propaganda and activity which of course are existential threats - that is their declared purpose.<br /> <br />You tend to poo poo Israel's security concerns to suggest she is not sincere about ending the occupation. Israel is of course a heterogeneous society and there are elements (not only settlers) who strongly believe that Israel has a right to the West Bank. Have you seriously considered their arguments, not only the more extereme religious ones? For the record I do NOT believe that Israel has a RIGHT to this territory; nor do I believe that the "Palestinians" have an automatic right. I believe that it is mainly a political question to be resolved pragmatically and that Israel's very real security concerns play an enormous role in determining Israeli attitudes towards this issue. <br /> <br />But there are really 3 questions I have of you:<br /> <br />If you truly support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state (as you claim to do), then do you not admit that she has significant enemies who wish for precisely the opposite outcome and who use every means possible (military broadly speaking, economic, diplomatic, propaganda and psychological warfare - depending on circumstances) to advance their aims? If this is true, are the alleged "sins" of Israel in context really of such a magnitude that Jews should provide aid and comfort to Israel's enemies because of their (understandable) concern with aspects of Israel's (or individual Israeli's) behaviour? My answer to that is unequivocally no. What is yours?<br /> <br />Secondly, will you concede that your public stance and the stance of many of those you have associated yourself with, is predominantly critical of Israel specifically. In this context I am well aware that you and others of the Human Rights Delegation (HRD) have also condemned suicide bombings and the like and the "strategy" of Palestinian "resistance" etc. But it seems to me that these are caveats of expediency - like condemning serial rape they're easy calls? The thrust of your public utterances and actions has been directed at Israel. You have never attacked Palestinians to my knowledge on fundamentals...like antisemitism, like the glorification of violence and martyrdom, like their utter failure to create a viable political-social structure or to grasp productively real opportunities to advance their alleged aim of 2 peaceful states side-by-side with Israel rather than the extinction of Israel. You have never seriously referred to the fact that Israel faces existential issues arising not only from Palestinian "resistance" but other state and non-state entities regionally and even globally. Even your reading of history downgrades the significance of the Zionist movement, the extent and impact of Arab hostility, Israeli moves towards establishing peaceful relationships and Israeli achievements relative to the prominence you accord to real and alleged transgressions against the Palestinians. In view of all of this, are not your critics entirely correct in their view of you as fundamentally hostile to Israel and thus in their view of you as part of a 5th column?<br /> <br />Finally, is my (and, of course, many others as well) perception correct or incorrect that you are actively engaged in spreading your vision of the ME situation (to use a clumsy shorthand) to the Jewish community, especially its youth, in this country and that you may well be linked to others (like Kasrils) whose clearly venomously anti-Israeli views are well known? Calling this activity "debate" simply serves as a very flimsy camouflage of an essentially political agenda and so I would reject that explanation. This should be a straightforward question to answer. I ask it since many believe that is precisely what you are engaged in under the blanket of a concern for "human rights" which applies mainly to Palestinians and not to Israelis - unless to illustrate Israels' disregard for human rights. <br /> <br />So these are my 3 questions. I would be interested in your answers. Please understand that I'm NOT writing to you in confidence and your reply will also not be regarded as such. <br /> <br />I would only add in passing that your comment that Makhanya's and Madlala-Routledge's statements "do not contain an ounce of prejudice" is frankly unbelievable. Prejudice means making up one's mind without sufficient information or on the basis of dubious information or on the basis of pre-conceptions or being resistent to any argument and information which runs counter to or would mitigate the views one holds. Do you seriously wish us to believe that no prejudice is at work in these utterances?<br /> <br />Mike Berger<br /><br /><br /><br />Dear Mike Berger,<br /> <br />You are mistaken if you think that you can write to me, impugn my integrity, suggest that I may secretly support suicide bombing, inform me that I tolerate antisemitism, imply that my approach to the world is defined by some anti-Jewish animus, insist that I have hidden agenda, and then expect me to take you seriously. <br /> <br />Your style is more insidious, objectionable, tasteless (and less witty) than your obsessive colleague's. <br /> <br />There are two things I find really fascinating. <br /> <br />The first is that it really doesn't matter what I write, your eyes will fail to see it. It will be there on the page, on almost every page, as clear, distinct and purposefully written as anything else, but you'll miss it. When you do see it you regard it as a propaganda trick, because you've managed to convince yourself that these people who find fault with Israel are actually lying when they say they don't want their Jewish relatives and friends in Israel to die or have their human rights compromised in any way. You need to have magic eyes that see only certain things, and have a special mind that can find hatred where it doesn't exist, because realising that these are just normal people saying though-out things would push over the house of cards on which your miniscule intellectual universe is built. <br /> <br />Here is a challenge. Can you (a) manage to not actually read the next paragraph or (b) find a way to interpret it as one big lie designed to hide a malicious agenda?<br /> <br />I have specifically condemned all the things you mention:<br />- Antisemitism: "Hamas must be challenged on their antisemitism" http://supernatural.blogs.com/<br />- The glorification of violence and martyrdom: "The reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is an indictment on ... the Palestinian leadership for choosing violence to achieve political ends" - Press Conference to announce the Human Rights Delegation. And also "You speak about the problem of martyrdom. We saw this with our own eyes and found it disturbing." -http://themovingdebate.blogspot.com/ <br />- Palestinian utter failure to create a viable political-social structure: "I think we should all be critical of them, particularly those who returned with Arafat from exile, for their poor leadership, their corruption, their toleration of and involvement in violence, and their reluctance to champion a truly progressive politics." -http://themovingdebate.blogspot.com/ and "they must learn. If they want to be supported as the victims of oppression, then they cannot preach oppression" -forthcoming on Supernatural blog.<br /><br />I could really cite scores of examples. <br /> <br />The second thing I find amazing is how close to classic antisemitism your logic comes. You think that I am part of some secret clique working in the shadows, pulling the strings, with massive influence in the media, a network of power and evil-intent not visible in the public domain. Zionism was meant to free us Jews of such mindsets of permanent persecution, but in your case this is sadly still the pathology. I have met Ronnie Kasrils exactly once in my life, seven years ago, in December 2001, when I chaired a debate he had with Hagai Segal and Joel Pollak. <br /> <br />I am not closing the door to you. When you're ready to take me seriously and acknowledge that I, like you, do what I do because I believe in it, and among other reasons belief it to be in the best interests of Israel and Jews, and when you're read to engage me seriously on the issues - vigorously, robustly, as trenchantly as you like - then I will respond to you in kind, as I have done with everyone else who has e-mailed me in that way. Until then, please take good care of yourself.<br /> <br />Doron Isaacs<br /> <br /> <br />Dear Doron<br /> <br />My comments were robust and trenchant as you put it. Yours are simply insulting and dishonest - and puerile even to point of referring to my "miniscule intellectual universe", the staple insult of the pea-brains who infest internet talkbacks. <br /> <br />I think you impugn your own integrity: I never implied that you support (secretly or otherwise) suicide bombing or that you tolerate (whatever that may actually mean) antisemitism or that you have an anti-Jewish animus. I did open the question of a "hidden agenda" and gave you the opportunity to put that issue to rest. <br /> <br />In fact you never simply and directly answered ANY of the questions I put to you. Perhaps that is because you have convinced yourself "that it really doesn't matter what I (that's you) write, your eyes will fail to see it." Or because it is a lawyer's trick or whatever. It doesn't really matter, but it's wrong. I do in fact read, carefully, what you and others with whom I may disagree have say and I may be convinced otherwise or I may be confirmed in my previous assessment.<br /> <br />The only paragraph of yours worth serious comment is this one <br /> <br />"I have specifically condemned all the things you mention:<br />- Antisemitism: "Hamas must be challenged on their antisemitism" http://supernatural.blogs.com/<br />- The glorification of violence and martyrdom: "The reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is an indictment on ... the Palestinian leadership for choosing violence to achieve political ends" - Press Conference to announce the Human Rights Delegation. And also "You speak about the problem of martyrdom. We saw this with our own eyes and found it disturbing." -http://themovingdebate.blogspot.com/ <br />- Palestinian utter failure to create a viable political-social structure: "I think we should all be critical of them, particularly those who returned with Arafat from exile, for their poor leadership, their corruption, their toleration of and involvement in violence, and their reluctance to champion a truly progressive politics." -http://themovingdebate.blogspot.com/ and "they must learn. If they want to be supported as the victims of oppression, then they cannot preach oppression" -forthcoming on Supernatural blog.<br /><br />I could really cite scores of examples." <br /> <br />As I pointed out in my challenge, certain calls are what I called "caveats of expediency" and don't carry too much weight. Amongst these I included such obvious no-nos like suicide bombing as part of the glorification of violence and martyrdom and the violent "strategy" of Palestinian resistance. You repeat them above and add condemnation of Hamas anti-semitism and Palestinian failure to create a viable social-political structure. <br /> <br />Well and good, it is a small step in the right direction. But why only Hamas's anti-semitism? What about the widespread anti-semitism in the region and, in fact, permeating a significant portion of Islam globally? Why not point out the general failure of the Arab states to achieve the basic democratic norms which you so "trenchantly" endorse? And which Israel, by and large, has achieved. It is these failures which point to the heart of the problem which I and many others have with your position - and will come back to shortly.<br /> <br />But first a VERY brief response to your paragraph starting with "The second thing I find amazing is how close to classic antisemitism your logic comes...." BULLSHIT! <br />But I am glad you have nothing to do with Ronnie K.<br /> <br />However, most of the above is skirting the central issue which you do quite a lot of. The fundamental question is this: where does your heart lie as revealed in the totality of your public writings and actions? You can bluster to your heart's content but there is no room for ambiguity in the context of Israel. Nothing you have said in your letter or in your public position suggests other than that you reveal enormous ambivalence or actual hostility towards the Zionist project with all its warts and imperfections. <br /> <br />Just in case you don't grasp what I'm saying here let me paint a reasonable analogy. In WW2 Great Britain, in particular, was bombing (on somewhat dubious strategic grounds) the hell out of German cities. The sheer death, destruction and suffering to the civilian population this campaign caused outweighed by many orders of magnitude anything Israel has inflicted on her enemies. Let me repeat: enemies. But had a delegation of Englishman left for Germany to report back on English brutality in the midst of this conflict, together with a bunch of people outspokenly - sometimes virulently - sympathetic to Germany and critical of England, it would have been called treason. And it would have been just that.<br /> <br />So until you address (within your own mind and heart as well as publically) my central questions adequately, you will not have laid to rest the suspicions and anger many members of the Jewish community feel towards you and your delegation.<br /> <br />And one more thing. If you ever write to me again in the same bullying and insulting way, you will not only not get a reply, I will never read or trust or reproduce anything you have to say. <br /> <br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-51456166920272627382008-11-12T21:04:00.004+02:002008-11-13T10:58:15.596+02:00BetrayalI've copied below an article by Matthias Kunzel to provide context for what I have to say. I suggest you read the Kunzel piece before reading mine to provide context for my arguments.<br /><br />Tuesday evening I attended the launch of Joel Pollak's book entitled "The Kasril's Affair" attended by a decorous audience of Jews mainly. By all accounts so far, the book is informative and interesting.<br /><br />This post is not about the book, which I have not yet read, but is rather an attempt to remedy my own rather limp-wristed contribution to the debate initiated by the roundtable of 3 panelists.<br /><br />In essence, I suggested that what was omitted from the scrupulously fairminded and decorous(there's that word again) discussion was context.<br /><br />My comment was provoked by a number of what we can call the Not in Our Name/Human Rights brigade speaking, in infinitely self-righteous and self-pitying tones, of the intolerance and closed-mindedness of the Jewish community in response to their views. They bemoaned their alleged rejection and marginalisation by the Jewish collective which, they implied, bespoke of the failure of their fellow Jews to appreciate their high-minded and progressive stance.<br /><br />In short, their failure (partial as it turns out) to make significant inroads into popular Jewish opinion stemmed, according to their own estimation, not from the erroneous and perverse nature of their political stance, but from the intellectual and moral shortcomings of their fellow Jews.<br /><br />Tsk tsk! Let us up front first repudiate the silly threats and idiotic slurs made by some of the immature/fanatical members of our community. These are to be condemned mainly for their gross stupidity, but also for the danger such rantings holds for meaningful discourse. They serve only as red herrings and the opportunity for anti-Zionists to pose as martyrs to themselves and others. <br /><br />Having disposed of this irrelevancy, let's cut to the chase. The vehement rejection of the Not in Our Name/Human Rights brigate by their fellow Jews was not based solely on the intellectual and moral poverty of their arguments. If so the community reaction would have been far less angry and sustained.<br /><br />No, it was based on the clear understanding that noisy PUBLIC attacks in the media on Israel by Jewish and other members of the HR delegation, as well as on so-called "Zionists" in general, are not simply abstruse academic squabbles over historical fact, interpretation and analysis. It is well understood by ordinary Jews with an ounce of commonsense that these were POLITICAL acts in the service of political and personal agendas performed in the CONTEXT of a sustained hostile media campaign to depict Israel in the blackest of colours. <br /><br />To get to the nub and to use the proper words, these actions were correctly percieved as acts of betrayal. This is a painful word but it must be said. <br /><br />What else can the public behaviour and words of these fellow Jews possibly be called in the light of the Kunzel article below - or in the light of the consistently hostile and venomous depiction of Israel in our public media over the past decade? What other word can one realistically use when Israel's right to exist is openly denied by significant state and non-state actors both in the Middle East and elsewhere? What other term is appropriate when Israel has been engaged in hot and cold conflict with is neighbours, both near and more distant, for over half a century? How else should one describe the reductionist, selective and decontextualised condemnation of Israel by fellow Jews despite the racist demonisation of Israel in organisations like the United Nations by states whose major distinguishing features are their own fanatical and tyrannical political cultures?<br /><br />The ordinary Jew understands quite well the distinction between genuine (whether justified or not) ethical misgivings over aspects of Israeli policies and practice and siding with outright enemies of Israel.<br /><br />Some may claim that my depiction of Israel's situation in such existential terms is alarmist and false. That, in fact, Israel with her effective miilitary backed by nuclear weapons, her strong economy and powerful allies like the USA, is under little if any threat - especially if considered in the context of her backward and divided neighbours. If this is true, public criticism of Israel, even if unbalanced and distorted, should not be regarded as betrayal but as healthy debate.<br /><br />Even the most meagre scrutiny disproves such simplistic analysis. It is true to the extent that without these advantages, Israel would have long disappeared. But the enormous demographic and geographic strategic disadvantages remain. So does the discrepency in access to natural resources as does the persistence of a militant and totalitarian Jihadist culture which provides endless human ammunition against Israel (and the West in general). Furthermore, what also remains is a Western media/academic discourse which sytemetically delegitimises Israel and Zionism in such a way as to open the door to the openly Nazi doctrines of Ahmadinejad and many others in the Middle East and, regrettably, in the wider Islamic world.<br /><br />It may also be argued that the Human Rights Delegation brought some nuance to the hitherto totally one-sided views of a number of the Human Rights delegation. This is also true to a point. But it is far from good enough and it is clear that all things considered, the overwhelming tone was selectively and misleadingly anti-Israel. <br /><br />The position of the diasporean Jew vis-a-vis Israel and Israeli actions is a legitimate topic for open debate wihin the Jewish community. This is a complex and subtle issue. To promote such debate is not equivalent to condoning or actually participating in the malicious sport of Israel-baiting, and Jews generally can tell the difference.<br /><br />If not done so already, it also needs to be appreciated by the communal leadership, that the Not in our Name/Human Rights members are seasoned and accomplished activists. They understand well the arts of persuasion. Their focus is on the Jewish youth and they have learnt their lesson from the collective response to the Human Rights Delegation to Israel.<br /><br />They will conduct future operations under the public radar so to speak and will couch their appeal in terms of Jewish fairmindedness and openness to conflicting ideas. If not confronted this will pave the way to a serious questioning of the very basis of the Jewish state and to undermining the emotional attachment to the idea of a Jewish homeland.<br /><br />Well and good, such is the price of free speech which we are obligated to uphold. But this does not place the Jewish collective under any obligation to take the Not in My Name/Human Rights brigade at their own inflated self-estimation or to allow them to conduct propaganda unhindered under one or another disguise. Let us call them out and take them on without undue subservience to the dictates of political correctness. Unless their tacit denial of a fundamental Jewish solidarity and collective history is effectively combatted, the loyalty of our youth and the future relationship of the diaspora with Israel will be put in jeopardy.<br /><br />This is what I should have said at the meeting. As mentioned by Joel Pollak the members of the Humn Rights delegation seem strangely reluctant to enter into debate. This blog is open to their responses. Their silence will not be misunderstood by the Jewish community.<br /><br />Mike Berger<br /><br /><br /><br />Defining Jew-Hatred Down<br />The curious response to Ahmadinejad at the U.N.<br />by Matthias Küntzel<br />The Weekly Standard 11/17/2008, Volume 014, Issue 09<br /><br />It is a topsy-turvy world: At the United Nations--an organization born out of the struggle against Nazi Germany and intended to embody the lessons of the Holocaust--a head of state openly spouts anti-Semitic propaganda in an address before the General Assembly. Granted, he takes the trouble to denounce "Zionists" and avoid the word "Jew," but this dodge is transparent to any student of the Nazis. His speech is greeted with acclaim, and neither the U.N. secretary general nor any Western head of<br />government bothers to object. The media are mostly silent.<br /><br />It happened on September 23, and the speaker was Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A familiar figure at the U.N., Ahmadinejad has a history of using his turn at the rostrum to sermonize about his yearning for the return of the Shia messiah. This time, he went further, drawing inspiration also from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. <br /><br />The Zionists, he told the assembly, are the eternal enemy of "the dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people" (this is the English translation of his remarks on the U.N. website). Although they are few in number, the Zionists "have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the United States in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner." Indeed, so influential are the Zionists around the world that even "some presidential or premier nominees in some big countries have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings, swear allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to attain financial or media support." In particular, even "the great people of America and various nations of Europe" are caught in the clutches of Jewish power: They "need to obey the demands and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and invasive people. These nations are<br />spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and occupations and the threats of the Zionist network against their will."<br /><br />Yet liberation is near. "Today," according to Ahmadinejad, "the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse. There is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters." For Ahmadinejad, of course, such talk is nothing new. Addressing the international Holocaust deniers' conference in Tehran in December 2006, he declared (in a speech translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI) that "the Zionist regime will be wiped out, and humanity will be liberated"--freed, that is, from the "acquisitive and invasive" minority he "outed" in New York as the real power behind Western governments. <br /><br />The sentiment is not so far from that expressed in a Nazi directive of 1943: "This war will end with anti-Semitic world revolution and with the extermination of Jewry throughout the world, both of which are the<br />precondition for an enduring peace." Just as Hitler's utopia, his "German peace," required the extermination of the Jews, so the Iranian leadership's "Islamic peace" is conditioned on the elimination of Israel. Ahmadinejad's performance elicited applause from his audience and a warm embrace from the president of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a 75-year-old Catholic priest and holder of the Lenin Prize of the former Soviet Union. D'Escoto is a close friend of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, in whose government he served as foreign minister from 1979 to 1990. This is the same Ortega who, four weeks after the Tehran Holocaust deniers' conference, joined President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in welcoming Ahmadinejad to Latin America as a "a president willing to join with the Nicaraguan people in the great battle against poverty." <br /><br />Equally noteworthy was the lack of reaction to Ahmadinejad's U.N. performance in Western capitals--with three exceptions. The German and French foreign ministers criticized Ahmadinejad's "blatant anti-Semitism," and Barack Obama expressed disappointment that the Iranian president had been given "a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views." Otherwise Ahmadinejad's misuse of the U.N. to spread anti-Semitic propaganda didn't even register as a provocation.<br /><br />On September 23, the very day of his speech, Ahmadinejad was Larry King's guest on CNN. King offered the Iranian president an hour-long opportunity to hold forth as he pleased. The next day, in an article for Salon, the Iran specialist Juan Cole of the University of Michigan took Obama to task for his comments on Ahmadinejad. Cole quoted a single sentence from the U.N. speech--one in which Ahmadinejad criticized the United States—while ignoring the anti-Semitic passages. "Larry King got at the true Ahmadinejad," Cole insisted, whereas Obama "fell into the trap of declining to make a distinction between anti-Zionist views and anti-Semitic ones."<br /><br />Then on September 25, Ahmadinejad visited the New York Times. In the interview published the next day, he rehearsed his anti-Semitic notions without protest from interviewer Neil MacFarquhar. "Zionism," Ahmadinejad explained, "is the root cause of insecurity and wars. . . . What commitment forces the U.S. government to victimize itself in support of a regime that is basically a criminal one?"<br /><br />This was in striking contrast to the Times's outrage in 2003 when Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia delivered an anti-Semitic speech. Back then the Times wrote: It is hard to know what is more alarming--a toxic statement of hatred of Jews by the Malaysian prime minister at an Islamic summit meeting this week or the unanimous applause it engendered from the kings, presidents and emirs in<br />the audience.<br /><br />Not only that, but the Times concluded its editorial with a sharp rebuke to the European Union: The European Union was asked to include a condemnation of Mr. Mahathir's speech in its statement yesterday ending its own summit meeting. It chose not to, adding a worry that anti-Semitism displays are being met with inexcusable nonchalance. The Times is doing now what it so recently held to be "inexcusable." <br /><br />Sixty-three years after Auschwitz, then, has anti-Semitism entered "acceptable" discourse? Or is the New York Times actually fooled by a rhetorical trick? Where Mahathir was crude enough to denounce the machinations of "the Jews," Ahmadinejad attacks only "the Zionists." He says, "Two thousand Zionists want to rule the world." He says "the Zionists" have for 60 years blackmailed "all Western<br />governments." He says, "The Zionists have imposed themselves on a substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural and media sectors." Perhaps this is why he is hailed as an anti-imperialist star.<br /><br />But the Iranian president uses the term "Zionist" in precisely the way Hitler used the term "Jew": as the embodiment of evil. Even if the Iranian regime tolerates the presence of a Jewish community in Tehran, whoever holds Jews responsible for all the ills of the world--whether calling them "Judases" or Zionists"--is propagating a potentially genocidal creed. <br /><br />In fact, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have gone hand in hand for over 80 years, not only in the annals of Nazism but also in the intellectual foundations of the Iranian revolution. In 1921, the future Nazi ideology chief Alfred Rosenberg published a book entitled Zionism, Enemy of the State. In 1925, Hitler<br />likewise attacked Zionism in Mein Kampf, warning that "a Jewish state in Palestine" would only serve as an "organization centre for their international world-swindling, . . . a place of refuge for convicted scoundrels and a university for up-and-coming swindlers." Or does this reading of Hitler fall into Juan Cole's "trap of declining to make a distinction between anti-Zionist views and anti-Semitic ones"?<br /><br />As a scholar who can read the writings of the Ayatollah Khomeini in the original, Cole is surely familiar with Khomeini's anti-Semitism. And yet he passes over this anti-Semitism in silence, just as he passed over the offensive passages of Ahmadinejad's speech. Up until the revolution of 1979, Khomeini was entirely open in his choice of words. "The Jews wish to establish Jewish domination throughout the world," he wrote in 1970 in his major work, Islamic Government. "Since they are a cunning and resourceful group of people, I fear that they may one day achieve their goal." In September 1977, Khomeini declared: "The Jews have grasped the world with both hands and are devouring it with an insatiable appetite, they are devouring America and have now turned their attention to Iran and still they are not satisfied." The quotation comes from an official compilation of Khomeini's works published in Tehran in 1995.<br /><br />Starting in 1979, however, Khomeini substituted the word "Zionist" for "Jew," while leaving the fundamental anti-Semitism unchanged. The mullahs' regime disseminated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion throughout the world. In 2005, an English edition of the Protocols was displayed by Iranian booksellers at the Frankfurt Book Fair--the very year Khomeini's fervent admirer Ahmadinejad was elected president.<br /><br />Today, the anti-Semitism of the Nazis is espoused in Tehran with all the zeal that fuels religious war. As Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, one of the regime's leading religious authorities, declared in a statement published in 2005 by the official Iranian news agency, Fars (but quickly pulled from the Fars website, according to MEMRI): "One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam are met." <br /><br />What makes the Iranian nuclear program so dangerous is not the technology, but the religious and anti-Semitic mission that the regime would use it to pursue. "Tehran . . . is pregnant with tragedies," Israeli president Shimon Peres told the U.N. General Assembly the day after Ahmadinejad's appearance. "The General Assembly and the Security Council bear responsibility to prevent agonies before they take place." And not only the General Assembly and the Security Council--but Larry King, the New York Times, and the rest of us as well.<br /><br />Matthias Küntzel, a Hamburg-based political scientist, is the author most recently of Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11.Solar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-36911448365739198162008-10-25T08:15:00.001+02:002008-10-25T08:17:24.746+02:00Human Rights Delegation: open letter from Stephen PaulAN OPEN LETTER TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION TO ISRAEL<br /><br /> <br /><br />In the beginning you announced that one of the aims of your mission was to engage local Jewish and Muslim communities on the human rights issues bedevilling the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, for the purpose of sensitizing local Jewry to the situation of Palestinians and the harm this is causing to Israel’s own interests, for the benefit of local Jewish/Muslim community relationships. By implication this refers to human rights abuses from one side only caused by what you would call Occupation and what others recognize as Jewish Israelis living in Judea and Samaria / West Bank. This is a discussion for another time. Suffice to say that neither the settler policy of successive Israeli governments, nor the notorious “Khartoum 3 no’s type” rejectionist policy of Arab and Palestinian leadership, has worked, and a two state solution is being agonizingly negotiated with the exhausted mandate of the majority of Israelis and Palestinians. <br /><br />So with the above in mind last night I attended your public meeting at the Jewish Community campus where you showed the video made of your trip. It is very difficult to understand how you thought it would facilitate engagement or to move forward constructive debate as you put it. On the contrary it seemed to be extremely polarizing and counter-productive. Lofty expressions of Jewish idealism notwithstanding, if your target market is to change the hearts and minds of the local community by shaking people out of their complacency, you also need to engage with their own narrative. To produce a desired result requires the methodology to go with it. This is not rocket science. There was absolutely no acknowledgement of Jewish rights or Palestinian obligations. Only the reverse. No context to the conflict whatsoever. A striking example was sympathetically interviewing an Arab householder in Hebron in which she answered - why should she leave as this was the land of her ancestors. In contrast Hebron Jewish residents were portrayed as thuggish and that they should get out of their 3000 year old ancestral land. A comment of Zackie Achmat was that the delegation was perceived as being anti-Israeli but we were not seeing the young Israelis with them on the mission working for peace and against the brutalising effects on the Israeli psyche. This is a subliminal way of saying that they are the “good” guys, and I fail to see how much room that leaves for “engagement”. In reply to a direct question from the floor the delegation could not produce a vision of how the audience in the room could have any influence on the political process already taking place in Israel. What then is the point of the exercise?<br /><br />So let me tell you where I am coming from.<br /><br />I have great compassion for the Palestinian whose family has lost a home and loved ones in the conflict and/or is subjected to humiliating security measures such as the defensive barrier necessitated by their leadership choices of suicide homicidal bombers and other terrorist acts. I would also ask him/her if their hatred of Israelis includes anger at their own leaders for choosing violent warfare and terrorism for 60 years instead of acceptance of the others right to exist and negotiated settlement; and if they have ever tried to stop or influence this policy in any way. Does their remorse extend to acknowledging the pain and narrative of the other and saying sorry?<br /><br />I have great compassion for the Israeli who has been subjected to constant barrage of wars, terror and existential threat for 60 years, who has lost 30 000 loved ones and tens of thousands more maimed in the conflict, and what this does to his/her psyche. I would also ask them if their hatred for Palestinians extends to anger and remorse at their own unthinking arrogance for ignoring the pain and dispossession caused to the other for whatever reason. Can they acknowledge the other narrative and say sorry?<br /><br />I have great compassion for the Palestinian homeowner in Hebron who only wants to be rid of the settlers. And great compassion for the Hebron settlers whose rights to their national Torah heritage are being trampled upon.<br /><br />Great compassion for human rights activists who are prepared to stand their ground in front of hostile Zionist audiences. And great compassion for audiences that are asked to examine lifelong passions and prejudices.<br /><br />One thing I do know. One narrative without acknowledging the other does not work. The SA Zionist Federation and Muslim Judicial Council are expected by their constituents to represent their own constitutional mandates but also need to show leadership even in the face of opposition. My contribution to the debate sought by the Human Rights Delegation is that you show your bona fides to both representative bodies so that you can facilitate dialogue without fear or favour to either narrative. So far you do not cut it. <br /><br /> <br />Stephen PaulSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-12075486102198156012008-10-13T15:43:00.002+02:002008-10-14T16:29:46.981+02:00On this and thatI signed off on Solar Plexus a couple of months ago, in order to take something of a break from the Israel-Palestine issue and to get more involved in a new personal interest.
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<br />In the interim all sorts of important things were taking place on the home front as well as globally. None of this has made us feel more comfortable, though an optimistic interpretation of current local political events is that they have opened up the political space for more a realistic and hopeful politics and vision. But we should not get ahead of ourselves.
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<br />Mugabe, predictably, has thrown a spanner into the Zimbabwe powersharing deal and that country slides ever closer to total meltdown. The human cost in premature death, hunger and blighted hopes for a better future is sickening.
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<br />Locally we still have our ideologues, extremists and political entrepreneurs milking the fears and the prejudices of the South African population. They are not going to disappear off the map.
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<br />We have Manto writing her illiterate nonsense on The ANC Today - luckily a sideshow following the appointment of Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health. We have the usual mischievous political meddling in sport, with irrelevant and provocative attacks on the Springbok emblem and the re-intrusion of quotas into national teams. It is almost certain that for the average black South African, neither of these carry much resonance.
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<br />What they and most decent South Africans want is simple fairness, real grassroots transformation and opportunity, and, above all, success. They do not want or need the humiliation of “tokenism”. Unfortunately, Luke Watson used the occasion to make an ill-judged and immature speech to the Ubumbo Rugby Festival. Besides the harm it has done to his own career and to our rugby, it has also brought white racists out of the closet as judged by the comments on http://www.keo.co.za/.
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<br />Given that Motlanthe emphasized inclusivity in his address to South Africa, it is time that the ANC put these fine words into practice by reining in the provocateurs in his party’s ranks. That is the minimum required; we also need to see inclusivity stretch beyond the appointment of Barbara Hogan, to become part of the ANC policy platform and practice. But that would be following the DA lead wouldn’t it?
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<br />Then there is Lekota and the New Party Threat! All that is in such an early stage and so much is going on behind the scenes, that it is impossible to make a serious comment. What one would like to see is the emergence of strong, two relatively balanced centrist forces in South African politics and the creation of a genuinely inclusive South African identity. At present that is wishful thinking, but with energy and imagination we may yet see the forces of left and right reaction put to flight.
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<br />At the same time, South Africa is sharing in the global pain of economic uncertainty and potential recession. According to Trevor M, this is likely to persist (or get worse) for a couple of years at least. Eina!
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<br />What impact this will have on the South African economy, social projects, infrastructure spending and employment remains to be seen, but is unlikely to be positive.
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<br />Some good may still come out of this if it induces a generally more realistic stance vis-à-vis the role of the state in economic development. Along with crime and corruption, education, social policies and sustainability this remains part of the challenges South Africa faces for the foreseeable future.
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<br />Locally the South African “Human Rights Delegation” (HRD) to Israel caused bitter dissention with reactions ranging from unseemly threats to denialism. It is the latter that I want to take issue with, but let’s start by getting some things out of the way.
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<br />Nobody is denying the HRD their right to free speech. That does not mean, however, that they should be immune to robust critiques of the content of their message, the political agenda which it serves or their motivations.
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<br />Let us be quite clear that their project and its motivation is political. They wish to convert as many Jews and non-Jews in South Africa to their political perspective. For instance the Book Lounge, an innovative addition to the independent bookstore scene in Cape Town, is hosting at talk by “two leading Israeli and Palestinian human rights activists, Mikhael Menkin and Hani Abu-Heikel, who work together...”. “They will discuss the difficulties involved in the important challenge of engaging in joint Israeli-Palestinian non-violent opposition to the Occupation. They will also give a vivid and accurate understanding of the current political situation and the reality on the ground, particularly in Hebron”. It seems highly likely that this is at the instigation or with the participation of the individuals from within the HRD project.
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<br />It is quite clear from the phrasing of invitation what the underlying assumptions are. In case it needs to be spelt out they are:
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<br />• The prime responsibility for solving the current conflict is Israel as the “occupying” power. No mention is made of how Israel came to be in the position it is and the role of Palestinian and other extremist entities in the region in maintaining the status quo. Thus, it is Israeli ambitions, intransigence and brutality which stands in the way of a peaceful outcome.
<br />• This stance leads to the activist project of mounting a “non-violent opposition to the occupation”. No mention is made here of the role of Iran and, to a lesser extent, Syria and their proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah in the maintenance of the impasse. These are outside the realm of discourse.
<br />• At the root of both of these assumptions, is the fundamentalist “leftwing” paradigm that imperialist Zionist and Western (mainly USA) ambitions are the root cause of this conflict amongst many others. Thus while paying lip service to a two-state solution, the narrative opens the door to the more radical claim that the existence of Israel as a Jewish entity is a Zionist, hence racist and imperialist, project which has no moral legitimacy. Of course, this claim is made openly and repeatedly by the enemies of Israel, for which the apparently more moderate discourse of the HRD and its affiliates prepares the ground. Jews indulging in such forms of activism cannot disown the instrumental uses to which their stance is put.
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<br />The other point to be made, is that this invitation is being made to the wider South African public, not simply the Jewish community. This is the same public which over the past decade and more has been subjected to a barrage of anti-Israel reportage and analysis using the same selective bias, half-truths, decontextualisations and outright falsehoods which characterised the more explicit European and Nazi antisemitism of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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<br />It is hardly surprising that the recent Pew Global Survey of Social Attitudes shows South Africa to have amongst the highest levels of antisemitism of countries without an outright Muslim majority. Given that Jews constitute about 0.2% of the population one must ask whether such attitudes do not derive from the calculated media partisanship regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, supported by a small, aggressively moralistic clique within the South African Jewish community.
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<br />Since this complex conflict is far distant from South Africa’s strategic interests and obvious socio-political challenges, one must ask whence derives the drive amongst Jewish activists to ensure that the debate remains in the public domain. In some measure it is the result of the media programming to which all of us have been subjected. Partly it flows from the consensus leftwing paradigm concerning the moral failures and responsibilities of the West, specifically embodied in Israel and the USA.
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<br />Thus the HRD position must be rejected on at least two levels: the simplistic and misleading nature of their core analysis and the instrumental purposes to which their activism is put by declared enemies of Israel.
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<br />It would be a shame if the imaginative and admirable Book Lounge becomes the venue for a partisan political agenda. I trust it will not.
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<br />A list of some of the more informative articles and analyses I have come across in the past couple of weeks follows. I’m sure this is incomplete but others may wish to supplement the list.
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<br />"Talk Isn't Cheap With Iran" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122265290125384359.html) Michael Oren and Seth Robinson</a> examine some of the issues involved in initating dialogue with Iran.
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<br />http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2008/FM_Livni_Address_MFA_Conference+_Policy_Strategy_5-Oct-2008.htm: An address by Tzipi Livni to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Policy and Strategy Conference in October setting out the broad principles of her vision.
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<br />http://www.bicom.org.uk/newsletter-latest-from-bicom/bicom-analysis--violent-frin: BICOM Analysis: Violent fringes challenge Israel’s emerging territorial consensus. Claims that a broad emerging consensus in Israel regarding the key elements of the peace process has provoked right and left wing elements into extremist activties and even violence. Some of this, minus the violence, is spilling over into far-off South Africa.
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<br />http://www.inss.org.il/publications.php?cat=21&incat=&read=2222&print=1: Gabrial Simoni of the Jaffee Institute for Security Studies says that Israels response to “provocation” will be disproportionate in future to elevate the costs to the enemy of the strategy of attrition.
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<br />www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/israelmedia.pdf: An excellent guide to all aspects of the Israeli media scene as a pdf file.
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<br />That’s it for this posting. Shalom!
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<br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2132494293584688324.post-89253908059802428172008-09-07T14:28:00.001+02:002008-09-07T14:28:48.112+02:00ReminderThis is an opportune time to tell everyone I will be away up North for almost 2 weeks and will be thinking inter alia of my next post, tentatively entitled, "Hawks and Doves in the Centre Lane". <br /> <br />It is also a good time to remind readers and contributors that the blog, SOLAR PLEXUS, is in the public space. It is a political blog and hence all political comment or comment related to its content or to my political writings or positions, can be posted there for public scrutiny at my discretion.<br /> <br />I receive a lot of mail which is not intended, and is not appropriate, for publication. Often this is just a message of support or agreement or minor comment. It is much appreciated but it need not be posted.<br /> <br />However the blog is intended to be interactive so I welcome substantive comment, positive or negative, and will be happy to post it for public scrutiny and debate. It is meant to be a blog (probably excessively serious and earnest at times) about ideas and not about personalities. This cannot be an absolute rule; sometimes the personality attached to an idea or approach is significant as it clearly was in my debate with Judge Davis. <br /> <br />Generally, abusive, racist or just plain silly material will not be posted but simply thrown into the rubbish bin. But if I feel it is of such a nature that public exposure is desirable, then it will appear on SOLAR PLEXUS. So be warned: there is no confidentiality clause covering political and related comment coming to me personally or through the blog, unless this is agreed upon in writing. I don't go in for gossip and slander and refrain from posting material which clearly belongs in the private domain, unless there is an overriding need to do otherwise.<br /> <br />I believe in the importance of robust, public debate within the boundaries of decency. So let's have your views, whatever they are, within these fairly generous limits.<br /> <br />Mike BergerSolar Plexushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01361482340960599573noreply@blogger.com0