Chomsky Pro and Contra follow-up
From Jeff Blankfort
[replying to Sara Kershnar, of International Jewish anti-Zionist Network],
While being Jewish and being Zionist are not necessarily the same thing, most Jews are philosophically Zionists, although the majority is not part of the Israel Lobby. On the other hand, anyone reading the Old Testament, our friends in Neturei Karta not withstanding, can see that there is a direct connection between Orthodox or Fundamentalist Judaism and Zionism; that the mentality that created the Jewish god who then, we are told, ordered the early Jews to commit the most violent of genocides against people who never harmed them, is the same mentality that lies at the root of Zionism as practiced in modern day Israel. To repeat, it is also true that despite its well publicized crimes the vast majority of Jews and virtually the entire organized Jewish community in the US, Western Europe, South Africa, and Australia, support the Zionist Jewish state. To pretend that those of us who seriously oppose Zionism and the existence of a Jewish state are anything other than a relatively small handful is to deceive ourselves and others.
To pretend that Judaism can be separated from Zionism is also a deception. Just take a look, for example, at three Jewish holidays, all of which celebrate death, not of Jews but of others. Passover memorializes the story of the angel of death passing over the Jewish homes while marking those of innocent Egyptians for death. Who was that angel working for, if not Yahweh, the Jewish god?
Then we have Purim in which Jewish children dress up as clowns and everyone has fun. What are they celebrating? The massacre of 75,000 Persians by the Jews (an early pre-emptive strike since we are told, as we have been told lies about Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon) that they were ready to do the same to the Jews). Finally, there is Hanukah which celebrates the bloody victory of the Jewish fundamentalists over the Jewish secularists, called Hellenists at the time. Frankly, there is something wrong with a religion that celebrates such holidays, the authenticity of the stories being irrelevant.
There was a time, when I was much younger and thought much as you did, because I was raised in an atmosphere where Jews were in the leadership and predominant in the ranks of virtually every progressive political struggle. That was my parents' generation. But then I discovered to my horror, when I returned from my first visit to the ME in 1970, that when it came to the Palestinians, almost all of them were transformed into racist, screaming Afrikaners, my parents being a rare exception. I know since I experienced their venom.
I also take serious issue with you and [Scottish anti-racist] Mick discounting the number of Jews in the Obama administration as a distraction and that it "takes us toward the extreme right." Rather, it points us towards the truth. If it was only the number of Jews we are considering I would agree but in the case of the Obama administration we have what the Israelis consider to be "warm Jews," those strongly pro-Zionist, in a number of key State Dept. positions as well as in the Treasury including Stuart Levey and David Cohen, the top two men deciding what Muslim groups will be put on department's "terrorist list," Daniel Benjamin, in charge of "counter-terrorism" for the National Security Council, and Kenneth Katzman, in charge of analyzing the Persian Gulf region for the Congressional Research Service. The head of that department in Treasury, Levey frequently speaks before Zionist organizations where he brags, as he does to the mainstream media, that he is "the decider."
Not a word of criticism let alone mention of his name and what he does have I heard from any Jewish anti-zionist other than Phil Weiss on his Mondoweiss blog. It was, in fact, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conf of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations, who bragged to the Jewish weekly Forward in 1995 how he helped to formulate the first Effective Death Penalty and Counter Terrorism Act under Bill Clinton which initiated the economic war against Palestinian institutions. Is speaking about that and Levey's role in enforcing the law a dangerous distraction or an important fact everyone should know in waging a serious struggle for Palestinian rights? Passionate rhetoric, on the other hand, such as what we hear and read from Chomsky and Finkelstein, who also never mention the role of Levey and the history of Hoenlein, leaves me cold. Particularly when they oppose BDS targeting Israel.
Should we be concerned about oil company insiders and pharmaceutical drug lobbyists getting jobs with the government but keep silent when it comes to pro-Israel Jews in Washington and try to silence others who raise the issue? Is it not of historical importance that the election to presidency of Bill Clinton led to what an Israeli journalist described as a Judaization of the State Dept., a situation that has not only not changed but grown more serious with each successive administration? Does IJAN not take any interest in that? Is it "anti-semitic" to bring it up? I am not only bringing this up because I unconditionally support the rights of the Palestinian people to regain and return their ancient homeland but I am also concerned with what the American Jewish Establishment, through its ham handed support for Israel and its stranglehold on Congress and on the White House have done to undermine what is left of our democracy. Does IJAN taken a position on that?
Yours,
Jeff Blankfort
[Not surprisingly, Sarah's response ends with "I really think this discussion is not useful and not going to produce anything useful for actually confronting Zionism or capitalism.]
From: Bekir L. Yildirim, Turkey
Without getting bogged down in deciphering, parsing the nuances here is my two cents worth on the big picture:
Chomsky does perform a useful function in getting us to the "good".
We should not fall in the "perfect enemy of the good" trap.
Average informed Western mind cannot get to Shamir, Shahak, Finkelstein or the like without the likes of Chomsky.
Alas, I agree with the Israel's characterization of "a discussion within our camp".
We live in a world of relative morality. Not compromising from pure idealism might be the right thing to do for the moralist who is not concerned with expediency. But some of us cannot wait a thousand years for the utopia.
Hence:
Chomsky better than no Chomsky.
From John Wheat Gibson
The US government is, indeed, like a gigantic truck, barreling through the streets, killing innocent people and smashing property. Israel is not such a large truck. Israel, however, is driving the truck.
From Alla Nikonov, Tel Aviv
Honest, I am not THAT worried about who is worse - USA or Israel, or even who wags whom. But when Chomsky openly disregards Palestinians' call to BDS, on the ground that BDS would harm Jews in Israel, I rest my case :(
From Roger Tucker
As I see it, the bottom line is that Chomsky is a Zionist, if one accepts the definition of a Zionist as someone who asserts that "the Jews" had the right to colonize Palestine. The fact that, otherwise, he's a very influential spokesperson of the Left means that the damage he does is just that much more destructive. Obviously he's basically a good guy and smart as a whip, and his critique of the Empire is very effective, but that's why Jeff, Ken and others who take him on are performing an essential task. People like Chomsky, not to mention Uri Avnery, Jimmy Carter, Michael Lerner, Walt and Mearsheimer and so on (all fine folks), confuse the issue, leaving the ZPG more or less free to maintain their stranglehold over public opinion in the West, and leaving Israel free to give the middle finger to them and the rest of the world. We won't make any headway until we make the case stick that the Jewish State does not have "a right to exist."
Re: They Trampled him into the ground
From Ian Buckley
Hello Israel Adam,
This man's deplorable fate acts as a sort of public warning to independent thinkers. The message is: do not venture too far away from received wisdom. Pour encourager les autres and all that.
In the final analysis, the system rests on fear and all the bland corporate media men, smoothy politicians and conformist academics know it well enough. As a movie buff (like me) you'll be familiar with Jacques Tourneur's 'Night of the Demon'.
Karswell's words in that film:' And I do what I do out of fear also. It's part of the price' would seem to sum the prevalent attitude among such types.
best wishes,
Ian
From Steve Campbell
Here is a most revealing interview with the late Dr. Dariusz Ratajczak from 2002.
http://www.polskawalczaca.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8141/
From Jim Dean
I had not heard of Professor Ratajczak getting the Judeo-Aztec treatment...Polish style.
This focus on a single victim can often grab the public's sympathy more than a shipload or corpses. When a school of tuna decimates a shoal of mackerel the public goes about their business. And they generally do the same when the Jewish Lobby destroys lives, families and businesses.
But this man's cruel death could be the beginning of something, maybe a catalyst for those Poles who no longer want to live on their knees. But of course there are always those, the ones with knee pads...who don't find it too bad. And sadly much of the professional historian community falls into this group.
My thanks to Mr. Bellinger for the tribute to this brave historian to whom we are all indebted for his 320 booklets. What happened to him was an act of terror if there ever was one...the slow version...to make him a better intimidation example. Maybe we can be inspired to lower the future body count.
And to all those Poles, Jews and non Jews, who participated in the lynching of this man...may you all burn in hell, and slowly please so I can enjoy the odor longer while I read over the names of your victims.
Thanks for this. When we get the time we will build a virtual memorial wall on line for the victims of the Hebrew Klansmen.
We can ask for national holidays and government subsidies to build museums in their honor, etc...and drive a lot of people crazy. When they say no, we can then demand that funding be eliminated for their chosen victims so the rest are not sent to the back fo the bus.
If someone can find a photo of this man, I should like to see his face to remember him by.
Jim Dean
Heritage TV...Atlanta
Next victim?
From Frank Scott
Read http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297219/Judge-faces-anti-semitism-probe-speech-attacking-Israel-helps-free-arms-factory-protesters.html
Judge faces anti-Semitism probe after speech attacking Israel helps free arms factory protesters
Remarks: Judge Bathurst-Norman is being investigated after summing up in a trial which led to protesters being acquitted
A senior judge was under investigation yesterday after being accused of making anti-Semitic remarks in court that may have swayed his jury into acquitting a group of protesters.
Judge George Bathurst-Norman was said by critics to have persuaded a jury to clear a group of campaigners who smashed up a factory making parts for Israeli warplanes.
Summing up in the criminal damage trial, he compared Israel to the Nazi regime and accused the country of ignoring international law.
The judge added that 'there may be much to be admired' about the chief protester, and that 'in the last war he would probably have received a George Medal'.
The Office for Judicial Complaints, which deals with objections over the conduct of judges and magistrates, confirmed that an inquiry into how Judge Bathurst-Norman handled the trial of five political activists at Hove Crown Court in June is under way.
Its findings will be considered by Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge and Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, who have the final say on any disciplinary action.
A number of complaints are said to have accused the judge not just of anti-Israel rhetoric but specifically of anti-Semitism.
The case involved a group of activists who broke into and vandalised a Brighton factory run by engineering firm EDO MBM.
The company was making parts for use in the bomb-aiming equipment on Israeli F16 warplanes.
The invasion shut the factory for a week and caused £187,000 worth of damage. But five men and women who appeared in court claimed they had done nothing wrong under criminal damage law.
The law says someone is not guilty of causing damage if they believed it was necessary for the immediate protection of someone else's property.
It is framed to protect, for example, someone who smashes a neighbour's door down if they believe their house is on fire.
However, in the Brighton case, the activists claimed they believed their invasion was necessary for the protection of property in Gaza.
Several similar defences by protesters have been successful in recent years.
In 2008, six Greenpeace protesters were acquitted after causing £30,000 worth of damage at a coal-fired power station.
The jury in that case accepted they had acted to prevent climate change causing greater damage.
Describing evidence shown in court, Judge Bathurst-Norman told the jury that he could only describe the 'horrific' events shown as 'scenes which one would rather have hoped to have disappeared with the Nazi regimes of the last war'.
In his summing up, he gave his backing to the evidence of one defendant, Ornella Saibene, a former Greenham Common activist.
The judge said: 'She took us through the horrors, and there really is no other word for it than horrors, that emerged in the press and on the news and the footage as to what the Israelis were doing in Gaza.
'You may think that perhaps "Hell on Earth" would be an understatement of what the Gazans endured.'
Among groups complaining was the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Its president, Vivian Wineman, said: 'The judge's comments give rise to profound concerns about the appropriateness of his directions to the jury.'
Jonathan Hoffman, of the Zionist Federation, said: 'This opens the door to any group which thinks the British presence in Afghanistan is wrong to go and smash up plants supplying British forces.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297219/Judge-faces-anti-semitism-probe-speech-attacking-Israel-helps-free-arms-factory-protesters.html#ixzz0vP3SoODx
Read a new piece by Nadia Kevorkova:
http://rt.com/About_Us/Blogs/extra-ordinary-lives.html
The British government has appointed its first-ever envoy to deal with post-Holocaust issues. Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Sir Andrew Burns, a former ambassador to Israel, would take the job. Hague said his country was committed to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and would support efforts to make sure that the lessons of this period in history are not forgotten.
