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Anti-Semitism For Dummies
Written by Jim Kerr - August 2007
"Criticism of Israel is not antisemitism. Even denial of Israel's right to exist - obscene though that is - is anti-Zionism, not antisemitism, despite the fact that the route from the one to the other is slippery and steep. We do not serve the fight against prejudice by blurring these distinctions."
Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
These are the words of Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth - Britain's main body of Orthodox synagogues. Credit is due to the Chief Rabbi for making a clear and unambiguous distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. But as anti-Zionists already know, our opponents never miss an opportunity to conflate the two. In their perception, criticism of Zionism is an act of anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism masquerades as anti-Zionism. Some go further and consider criticism of the state of Israel itself to be an act of anti-Semitism.
There are others who go further still, and extend the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of the Israel lobby Britain, the United States and Poland. It's simply not kosher to speak of a Zionist lobby in Britain. Odd then, that it is considered anti-Semitic to speak of things that do not exist. Ditto support for the Palestinian people. Neve imply or state the primary cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict to be Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, for that too is considered anti-Semitic. Don't ever dare criticise Israel for dropping in excess of one hundred thousand cluster bombs on Lebanese soil unless you are comfortable with being labelled anti-Semitic. Anti-war? Pro-peace? If so, you are anti-Semitic. Caught with your hand in the till? No need to worry - just cry anti Semitism and soon you'll be celebrating.
There are those who take the meaning of anti-Semitism to absurd levels. The New Testament is anti-Semitic, and so too is Mel Gibson's cinematographic masterpiece, The Passion of the Christ. Petitions that call upon American universities to divest in Israel, boycotts of Israeli universities by British academics, and anti-globalisation rallies at which criticisms of Israel are expressed are also considered to be anti-Semitic activity. While any proposal of divestment in Iran is perfectly acceptable, to enquire whether a product might be of Israeli manufacture certainly is not. Israelis citizens may openly boast of the Jewish state's Nuclear capability and of how European capital cities can be destroyed by Israel's weapons of mass destruction yet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is mischaracterised and demonised for pursuing a domestic nuclear energy programme.
Should German citizens complain that they have become bored with being constantly reminded of the Holocaust, then they too will be deemed anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitism is an international mental illness that knows no boundaries. Sacre bleu. Daniel Bernard, the former French ambassador to London is an anti-Semite. His reference to Israel as "that shitty little country" was considered to be "a pure anti-Semitic expression." So incensed by the French envoy's remarks was Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, president of Labour Friends Of Israel, that she felt it necessary to write to Jacques Chirac to demand that Bernard be sacked.
Although the hypocritical, Zionist-controlled British government decree that universities should "quash" anti-Semitism, and that lecturers and university staff should surveil "Asian-looking" and Muslim students, it promises a 'crackdown' on anti-Semitism. Academics are under fire for supposed acts of anti-Semitic nature. Across the Atlantic, even the proposition that a teacher's trade union hold a debate on whether or not Israel's treatment of Palestinians merits condemnation is unacceptable. Anti-Israeli sentiment could turn anti-Semitic and find its way into the classrooms, assert B'nai Brith. According to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, anti-Semitism is 'rampant' in Arab literature, and, apparently, in American literature too. What one does not write about Israel in a book can also be considered anti-Semitic or worse. Even falling-out with one's neighbours can lead to one being unfairly labelled as anti-Semitic. 'Anti-Semitic' - the most powerful brand in the world.
And so it goes on, from the absurd to the extreme, from the Church of England to the London Guardian and the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Nation's most prominent religious institution and two major players in the British media are, allegedly, hotbeds of anti-Semitic sentiment, and, according to the Israeli government, the media's 'hostile' and 'biased' coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a major contributory factor in the rise of anti-Semitism that is alleged to have taken place in Britain during 2005. Journalists who do not present coverage of war in Lebanon in Israel's favour are held to be anti-Semitic, and any investigative journalist who would dare link Israel to the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington or expose the truth about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty can also expect to be labelled anti-Semitic regardless of the weight and persuasiveness of the evidence that they present.
While there are clearly many definitions of anti-semitism, anti-Semitism is narrowly defined by Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary as "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group." Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League states that "those who only find fault with the Jewish people, the Jewish State and the actions of the Jewish sovereignty and never find anything that is positive are anti-Semites under the guise of anti-Zionism and anti-Israel." But as Ted Pike elucidates, the term 'anti-Semitism' has been broadly misdefined for use as a political weapon by those with passionate attachment to Israel, the purpose of which is to silence any legitimate criticism of Israel, Zionism or Judaism. Although anti-semitism is the Zionist's first weapon of choice, it is, however, a weapon that does not legitimately belong to them, as J. Bruce Campbell succinctly shows.
Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, an anti-Zionist Jew, states unequivocally that the Jews are not a race, and the facts fully support his statement. Almost all of the present occupants of Israel are of Russian-Jewish descent. The ancestors of these Ashkenazis did not originate from the middle-east and are thus no more Semitic than are Eskimos. Likewise, Khazars are also the lineal ancestors of Eastern European Jewry and are not even Israelites never mind Semites. Arabs, however, most certainly are, and this is something that the anti-Zionist should always draw attention to whenever they discover Arabs to have been the victims of anti-Semitism.
It would be a mistake though, to equate all Jews with Israel as the two are not always synonymous. One would also err if one conflated Jews and Zionists, Judaism and Zionism. Indeed, some of the most vocal opponents of Zionists and Zionism come from within the Jewish community itself. Although not all Jews are Zionists, Zionists are predominatly Jewish. The Jew who opposes Zionism, Zionists, and the Zionist state of Israel is the next most reviled character after the 'anti-Semite'. The 'self-hating Jew' will inevitably be marginalised and smeared. The names of such dissenters might well end-up being published on the S.H.I.T list or in the Jewish Defence League's little black book. The Jewish Defence League do not discern between Jew and non-Jew alike. Cross swords with the JDL and they'll threaten you with violence, your children with death.
In his 2004 treatise, The Myth of the New Anti Semitism, professor Brian Klug makes the same clear distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism that I emphasised at the outset. Klug demonstrates the logic Zionists use to define anti-Semitism. In simple terms, Zionism is the ideology that supports the existence of a Jewish state, and anti-Zionism is the antithesis of this doctrine. When the Jewish state is criticised for actions and policies that other states practice, Zionist logic decrees such criticism to be 'unfair'. Since anti-Zionism is the antithesis of Zionism, and since Zionism is an antithesis of anti-Semitism, it follows that an anti-Zionist must therefore be an anti-Semite. Klug explains:
"To argue that hostility to Israel and hostility to Jews are one and the same thing is to conflate the Jewish state with the Jewish people. In fact, Israel is one thing, Jewry another. Accordingly, anti-Zionism is one thing, anti-Semitism another. They are separate. To say they are separate is not to say that they are never connected. But they are independent variables that can be connected in different ways."
Professor Klug is correct to dismiss this logic. The arguments that are proffered by proponents of Zionism and Israel are flawed in their basic premise. It is not anti-Semitic to criticise Zionism, the state of Israel, and Jews any more than it is anti-Celtic to criticise Scottish nationalism, Scotland, and Scots. Zionists have been successful in wedding Jewish identity with that of the state of Israel. They have also been successful in blurring the clear and distinctive boundaries that seperate Zionism and Jewishness. To criticise Zionism is to criticise the Jewish people, and to criticise the state of Israel is tantamount to criticism of Jews. Anti-semitism then, when viewed from a Zionist perspective, encompasses the Jewish people, the state of Israel and the ideology of Zionism itself. Put another way, Zionists use Jews as shield and sword - the means to an end. Zionism poses a dangerous threat to the Jew and the non-Jew alike. The doctrine of Zionism is the common enemy of both.
The evidence presented so far shows how anti-Semitism has been misdefined and abused in its application. But what purpose has abusing anti-semitism served? What is the ultimate goal?
"As a new global campaign against anti-Semitism is launched, the way Zionists use anti-Semitism needs to be understood: Zionist extremists like Ariel Sharon have always fostered andfomented anti-Semitism for one primary reason to compel Jews to come to Israel. Without anti-Semitism pushing more Jews to Israel the Zionist project is doomed to fail."
Barely eight months after Bollyn published his article Ariel Sharon made an announcement urging all French Jews to relocate to Israel to "escape anti-Semitism." Moving to Israel, said Sharon, was "a must and they have to move immediately". Christopher Bollyn's evidence is supported by Philip Greenspan's observations. As Greenspan points out, it is not unreasonable to assume that Zionists would resort to Machiavellian practices as a means of increasing anti-Semitism. "The anti-Semites will become our most loyal friends, the anti-Semite nations will become our allies", said the founding father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, demonstrating in the process that he fully understood the machinations of the Hegelian dialectic.
Outbreaks of 'anti-Semitism' prior to invitations for exiled Jews to migrate to Israel are not unusual. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Argentinian economy in 2001, Israel pledged to help members of Argentina's large Jewish community rebuild their lives - but there were strings attached. The $20,000 on offer was conditional on those wishing to receive it emigrating to Israel. No relocation = no twenty grand. The Israeli government's offer was heavily promoted in Argentinian and in international media outlets. A matter of weeks later stories began to appear in the Hebrew press warning of a rise in anti-Semitic attacks on Argentinian Jews. Anti-Semitism sells but who's buying? Not too many it seems. Immigration to Israel is at an 18-year-low. Indeed, Israel's Arab minority are reproducing at a faster rate than Jews and therein lies the threat to the Zionist state.
Jews who undertake Aliyahin the hope of escaping anti-Semitism in the host nation cannot, however, expect to live in peace and safety once resettled in Israel since the Jewish state has a serious problem with anti-Semitism. I cannot think of a better definition of the word 'ironic'. There are several other ironies to be found within this report. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Israel, describes anti-Semitic acts committed inside Israel as an "aberration" before going on to reveal that his organisation "doesn't monitor such cases." But wait...here comes the mother of all ironies. Laura Kam is the spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League In Israel. She informs us that the ADL doesn't investigate anti-Semitism in Israel. This represents a 360 degree turn on what the ADL does elsewhere. The self-appointed guardians of the Jews are always quick off the mark to loudly trumpet incidences of anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States yet incidences of anti-Semitism inside Israel are completely ignored. While some might view this as inefficiency on the part of the ADL, I see it as unadulterated hypocrisy of the highest possible order. Beyond chutzpah indeed.
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Despite the 'leap' in anti-Semitism that has been alleged to have taken place in Britain, the Anti Defamation League can list but SIX such incidents on their website, and of these six incidents just ONE actually involved the use of physical violence. This is hardly evidence of an epidemic that justifies 'immediate' action by government, the police, prosecution agencies and educational institutes. Indeed, the Israel-based Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism reported that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK had actually decreased to 312 in 2006 from 321 in 2005. The data produced by this source flatly contradicts the statistics compiled by The Community Security Trust, who claim that during 2005 there was a 31% increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain.
The Israeli government attributed a large proportion of blame to the British media for 'fuelling', what the Israelis claimed to be a rise in anti-Semitism in Britain throughout 2005. The focus shifted somewhat in 2006, and the media were no longer considered to be the villain of the piece. The British media had been replaced by 'critics of Israel', and anti-Semitism had been replaced by 'hatred of British Jews'. MPs demanded that 'urgent action' be taken by government, police, prosecution services and universities, and that there be "international cooperation to prevent the spread of racist material on the internet." But are such drastic actions necessary? Is there a 'wave of hatred' afflicting Britain's Jews? Does the problem exist on the scale that is alleged Have the Germans and Canadians become as hateful of all things Jewish as the British supposedly have? Is there really a new anti-Semitism sweeping the globe?
I have found no credible evidence that would substantiate the claims being made vis a vis the supposed 'rising tide' of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the evidence that I have examined indicates the opposite to be the case. Consider the words of Jack Coutts, a fellow Glaswegian who emigrated to Israel last summer:
"There wasn't anti-semitism. Scotland is a good place, very tolerant, but I am concerned about what I see as support for Hezbollah in Glasgow. I was dismayed when someone painted 'Hezbollah' outside the Garnethill Synagogue in Glasgow."
Rabbi Nancy Morris, of the Glasgow New Synagogue says that "Scotland is a friendly place and I have not experienced anti-semitism myself, but some of the commentary around just now is incitement against the Jewish community as well as against Israel." Rabbi Gerald Levin, of the Garnethill Synagogue also paid homage to the Scottish people in general and the Glaswegian in particular when he proclaimed Scotland to be a tolerant nation. As these statements from members of Glasgow's relatively small Jewish community show, Glaswegians are tolerant of Jews. It is with each other whom we Glaswegians are intolerant. In 2003 the European Monitoring Centre On Racism And Xenophobia published a report titled The Fight Against Anti-Semitism And Islamophobia. In the report Rabbi David Goldberg is quoted as saying that claims of a resurgent anti-Semitism are "paranoid and exaggerated." Goldberg also states that "it is far easier and safer to be a Jew than a Muslim, a black person or an east European asylum seeker." In the city of Glasgow it is certainly far safer to be a Jew than a Muslim, asylum-seeker or a Celtic supporter.
Further discrediting the dubious claims of Britain drowning in a sea of anti-Semitism are the remarks made by former President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress; founder and President of the Commonwealth Jewish Council and the Inter Parliamentary Council Against Antisemitism; Chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Lord Forte Charitable Trust; key figure in the Nazi Asset Campaign; initiator of the 43-nation Nazi Gold Conference; and son of former Chairman of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain, Barnett Janner, and alleged paedophile; New Labour peer Lord Greville Janner of Braunstone. "In the UK it's not as serious as it is in France, Denmark, the Netherlands or Belgium", states Janner who then defines a much greater threat to British Jewry than the perceived threat of anti-Semitism:
"Not less than 30 per cent marry outside the faith and that's really serious. They have, perhaps, for some of their number, integrated and assimilated just a little too well."
What is particularly striking about Janner's statement is that it was made just a few months prior to the Parliamentary Committee Against Antisemitism publishing its report. As we have already seen, several British Rabbis have made statements to the effect of there being no epidemic of anti-Semitism prevalent in Britain. The statements made by the Rabbis are completely at variance with the findings of the Parliamentary Committee. Before we examine the committee's report, let's scrutinise the committee itself.
The committee chairman Denis MacShane is a member of the Policy Council of Labour Friends of Israel, and a notorious Israel-firster. Barbara Keeley is a Vice Chair of Labour Friends Of Israel. Former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith believies that "Israel is one of the most vulnerable nations on the planet", and fellow Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski's main claim to fame is his tabling of a Commons motion that called for Jerusalem to replace God Save The Queen asthe English national anthem. Thankfully, we Scots have our own. They may take away our independence but they will never take away our national anthem!
Conservative MP, Theresa Villiers is of particular interest. Villiers is a rabid Zionist. I've seen this woman on the BBC's 'Question Time' programme several times, and never has she missed an opportunity to promote and defend Israel while at the same time vilifying Muslims. When Villiers is not demanding a 'fair hearing' for her beloved Israel, she's attending Zionist Federation gala dinners accompanied by her New Labour friends Louise Ellman, Andrew Dismore and Lee Scott, all of whom are patrons of The Zionist Federation.
Louise Ellman is an
Differences between Britain's two main political parties go straight out the window when it comes to supporting Israel. The Jewish state enjoys massive support within the Conservative Party as well as New Labour. According to the web site of the Conservative Friends Of Israel, over two-thirds of Conservative Members of Parliament are also members of CFI which means that 132 Conservative MPs can always be relied upon to speak-up for Israel. The Zionist credentials of the leaders of both political parties are already well-known. The Liberal Democrats would also appear to be under Zionist control. That Zionists feel able to dictate which laws Britain should and should not have provides further evidence of the extent of Zionist influence that exists within the British political system. Unless this once-great nation frees itself from the shackles of Zionism, it is going to hell in a hand-basket. I barely recognise Britain these days. Whatever happened to this green and pleasant land - this sceptred Isle?
With regard to the supposed rise in 'anti-Semitism' in the UK, a report was published last autumn by The Parliamentary Committee against Anti-Semitism. The report is highly suspect and open to question given the sources from whence the bulk of the evidencewas derived. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Director of Communications of the Community Security Trust, and two representatives of the Union of Jewish Students could hardly be considered impartial witnesses. The inclusion of a known Jewish extremist as a witness is on its own, sufficient grounds for questioning the findings of the all-party Parliamentary Committee's report. The thoroughly odious Melanie Phillips rabid Islamophobe who never misses an opportunity to bash Muslims and their religion. The testimony given by The Board of Deputies of British Jews and The Community Security Trust is also open to question given the close ties that exist between both of these Jewish organisations.
Professor Norman Finkelstein presents compelling arguments which highlight the absurdity of his report. Another excellent critique of this pro-Zionist report can be found on Lenin's Tomb. Since both accounts represent a cogent summary of my own views there is no need for me to express them here. Suffice to say that anti-Semitism is clearly being used as a vehicle for furthering the Zionist agenda here in the United Kingdom. Britain's Jewish community numbers around 300,000, the overwhelming majority of whom have evidently never experienced anti-Semitic attacks or abuse. Channel 4's recent The War on Britain's Jews attempts to paint a picture of a community under siege. That the presenter of the documentay Richard Littlejohn appears to have a preconceived negative perception of Muslims, and that Channel 4 have recently attempted to portray Britain's 4,000,000+ Muslim community in a negative light, both parties could be rightfully accused of bias and selective reporting.
In an article written in 1937 titled How The Jews Can Combat Persecution, the former prime minister of Britain Winston Churchill contends that Jews are partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer. Although this particular piece was ghost-written by Adam Marshall Diston, a member of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, the article nonetheless offers some insight into the thoughts of a man who was a lifelong supporter of Zionism and the Jewish people. Whileany discussion of whether not the Jews themselves are the architects of their antagonism is a moot point, the interests of non-Zionist Jews resident in Britain are not best-served by the blatant racism expressed by Zionist Jews such as Avigdor Lieberman. It disgusts me that the dishonourable members of Parliament who have made perceived domestic anti-Semitism such a huge issue are ominously silent when a member of the Israeli government is being openly anti-Semitic. Israel is an apertheid state. Israel has always been an apertheid state. Israel is a racist state, and Lieberman is its epitome.
The vile sentiments expressed by Lieberman are not confined to middle-aged Russian immigrants though. A young Israeli citizen by the name of Orri Joseph Avraham has a chilling message for Gentiles:
"I am a Jew, I am an Israeli, I am a Zionist, and I am both racially and intellectually superior to you, the non-Jew. For your lies, your pathetic stupidity, and your anti-Semitism, your people will suffer under the punishment of the world's future super-power, Israel!
"You seem to forget Israel's nuclear capability. No country will risk getting hit with an atomic bomb, and therefore Israel's survival is assured. We will also, at a certain point in the coming decades, finally realize the need to exercise ruthlessness, and will blow our Arab neighbors to kingdom come. I am sure you will have the joy of witnessing the first example of the latter policy, when Israel takes action against Iran (and perhaps also Syria) in the coming months.
"Jews are superior to dirty-blooded non-Jews like you. While your ancestors were sleeping with the swine in the forests of Europe, my ancestors were building the city of Jerusalem. Israel will come to be the world's newest superpower. It is our destiny, written in the prophecies of god, written in our ambitions, written in our blood!
"Beware, for your kind will come to fear us. The coming 30 years will make your eyes twitch my gentile!
"I am a Jew, you are not. I have the privilege of having god by my side, as well as the world's supreme nation. Perhaps you do not yet see that the worst is awaiting your kind, in the face of the coming Islamo-Christian War, from which my kind will arise victorious.
"I am only 14 years old, but I have enough wisdom to see that you are nothing but a piece of gentile filth. No matter, perhaps god will find it suitable that a terrorist attack will end your misery. I shall personally pray for it to be so."
What I find most concerning about these words is not the actual words, but that they were spoken by a fourteen year-old. That one so young could be a hate-filled, anti-Gentile, Jewish supremacist is truly alarming. This young Zionist adequately demonstrates the Zionist mindset and displays a knowledge of the Zionist agenda that is way beyond his years. Orri Joseph Avraham's young mind was evidently poisoned before it had a chance to fully develop. It is something of an irony that the "superior" intellect this teenager says to be representative of he and his "race" seems capable of spouting only naked hatred for 99.8% of the global population. And while British politicians work themselves into a frenzy over the anti-Semitism they say is prevalent in Britain, British citizens working in Israeli-occupied Palestine fall victim to violent threats from obnoxious, drunken anti-Gentilites.
Can you imagine the outcry there would be if an Islamic cleric were to publicly denounce Jews by decreeing that "it is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable"? These are the words of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party.
Anti-Semitism is often said to be 'the longest hatred' I beg to differ. Anti-Gentilism is the longest hatred.
Anti-Semitism is an entirely different story.
| "Anti-Semitism will act as a propelling force which, like the wave of the future, would bring the Jews into the promised land."Theodore Herzl |
