Understanding the antisemitism of Israel’s “critics”. Part III

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Epilogue: The ethnic cleansing accusation. 

The ethnic cleansing accusation is less heard in the anti-Israel discourse. Even though it shares similarities with the act of genocide. This similarity is the concept of the destruction of a community. It is less defined in international law, and therefore less useful for those that wish to harm Israel and its population. The main difference between ethnic cleansing and genocide, is that when it comes to the former, mass murder is a means to end, and not the end itself. When it comes to later mass killing is the final goal.

This accusation is false largely for the same reasons the genocide accusation is false. No one from the Israeli war cabinet made such a statement. And the same measures Israel took to prevent needless deaths of Palestinian civilians exonerate it from both accusations. However, this one is easier to sell. Because there is a political movement in Israel that tries to push this idea. And the level of destruction in many parts of the Gaza Strip raises the dire possibility that there is nothing to return to. Since this is the case, why Israel’s “critics” wasted their time focusing on genocide?  No matter how we look at it, the integrity of the intentions of the accusers will always come into question.

However, this matter relates to something that is real and serious. It is something that the international media has largely overlooked. This is the role of Palestinian civilians in the atrocities of October 7^th, 2023. The fact is that once Hamas’ forces took control of a large portion of Israeli territory, with several Israeli communities in it, hundreds of Palestinian civilians followed them, and stormed those communities. There they took part in the slaughter, torture, rape, and abductions of Israeli civilians. Those civilians included children that helped the adults find places where people, including children, were hiding. This fact, along with the surveys that shows that the majority of Palestinians in the WB and Gaza support the atrocities undermined the convictions of many Israelis that there is a significant body of Palestinian civilians that want peace and co-existence. The worse part is that for those living around the Gaza Strip life became frightening and traumatizing. So much so that most have been evacuated to other parts of the country. The idea that you are living next to a large population that is willing to kill you, your family, and your entire community, is naturally traumatizing. And it is not only Israelis that are fearful. So do foreign governments that had farmworkers working in Israel. Those governments ordered their citizens to leave Israel completely, creating a crisis in the field of Israeli agriculture. Because of that evicting the hostile population of the Gaza Strip is the simplest looking solution. Every critic has the right to challenge the morality of this solution. But doing it while ignoring what happened on October 7^th and its impact is hypocritical and dishonest. Ignoring this also helps the far right in Israel to push for this solution. It is not unheard of that extremists from opposite ends can be an asset to one another.

Understanding the antisemitism of Israel’s “critics”. Part II

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Part 3: The debate over genocidal language.

The legal definition of genocide under international law, rightfully includes the use of language. Language is a necessary tool when perpetrating a genocide. It dehumanizes the intended victims in a way that denies their humanity and makes the act of killing them justified. Therefore, if someone wants to make a serious accusation of genocide, they must include the subject of the use of language. When it comes to Israel this argument employs a known propaganda trick, taking words out of context. The accusers say that when Israeli leaders call Palestinians human animals, or compare them to Amalek, that language is genocidal.

Israeli leaders did make this kind of comparisons. But not of the entire Palestinian population. Only those that perpetrated the atrocities of October 7^th. The biblical Amalek were indeed condemned for annihilation. But that is not why the comparison was made. It was made because Amalek killed women and children, and the elderly. And that is exactly what Hamas did. Hamas are also compared to the Nazis, because that is what the Nazis did. Both have killed women and children, and everyone they could, deliberately. Hamas is also compared to ISIS, because this is what ISIS did. Like Hamas they killed everyone they wanted, women, children, man, elderly. Every person they said had the wrong faith. Extremists’ statements had been made by public figures and some government officials. And the membership of Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir in this government is indeed an abomination. But none of them is a member of the war cabinet. The members of this cabinet come from the ruling Likud party, and the Mahane Mammlachti party of Beni Gantz. This was the lead opposition party prior to October the 7^th 2023. Genocide is an inhumane act. And false accusations of genocide dehumanize those been falsely accused. As do false accusations of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and colonialism.  

As international law acknowledges, the act of genocide requires dehumanizing language, organization, such as gathering the weapons needed for the genocide. And killing countless of people with the intention to inflict harm. Israel has done none-of those. Its actions saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and the harsh language used by its decision makers is against the perpetrators of the atrocities of the 7^th of October, not all the Palestinians. The one that fills all the check boxes defining genocide is Hamas. They, as well as the PA, have been indoctrinating their population to hate the Jews for years. Hamas has been gathering weapons for the purpose of killing as many jews as possible. It tried to do so mostly with missiles and rockets. But was more successful on October the 7^th 2023, when its elite forces gained control over several Jewish communities. There, with the help of civilians from the Gaza Strip, they killed, tortured, and abducted everyone they could. Causing some of these communities to be severely depopulated. This is a genocide. And for years Israeli and pro-Israel activists have been warning against that. The reactions to these warnings were outrageous. Those warning were ignored in most cases, dismissed as demonizing the Palestinians in other cases. And when they did receive some attention by world media it was treated as background noise, and never received the same importance as the issue of the settlements. The examples they brought were either over stretched or form marginal groups. The purpose of those comparisons was to dismiss the accusations under the attitude that said, since both sides are doing it, there is no point in dealing with it. These attitudes, knowingly and unknowingly, made their contributions to the atrocities of October 7^th.  This ignored fact of recent history demonstrate the hypocrisy behind the accusation of genocide. Those that were the most silent about Hamas genocidal behavior prior to October 7^th; are now making the loudest noises, falsely accusing Israel of genocide. The 2 sides of this hypocrisy show indifference to Jewish lives. And that is the most obvious form of antisemitism.

Part 4: policing the victim.

Another age long antisemitic behavior, a tradition of sort, comes to play here. When a wave of pogroms swept through the Jewish communities of the Russian Empire in the 1880’s, local comities of Christians and Jews were formed for the purpose of investigating the causes of those pogroms. The Christian members in some of those comities decided to change focus. Instead of investigating the causes of the pogroms in the Russian Christian side, where the perpetrators came from, they wanted to investigate the Jews. (On this topic find the Mina Goldberg doctoral work, Berlin 1934.) This was an act of blaming the victims. But it is also an act of policing the victims. It came from people that decided among themselves, and without consulting with their Jewish co members. They decided that the idea of looking for the causes of the pogroms in the Christian side, where the pogromists came from, is wrong, without even exploring it. And they forced their decision on the Jewish members of those committees while ignoring the Jewish protest. Passing critical judgment on other people’s actions and behavior is the act of policing, conducted to make sure they follow the accepted code of conduct. When a crime is committed it is the victimizer that is supposed to be policed, not the victims. Clearly, there was something very twisted in Czarist Russia.

This practice, of passing critical judgment on Jews trying to change the conditions that brought upon them horrific calamities, continues to these very days. The best and most obscene example came from the late Hellen Thomas. The senior and longest serving White House corresponded that chose to end her remarkable carrier with a despicable bang. Following her call for Israeli Jews to return to Germany and Poland, she gave an interview to Joy Behar, then on CNN. There she “clarified.” One of the things she said was “The Jews did not have to leave Germany and Poland following the holocaust since they were not persecuted anymore.” Putting aside the fact that there was nothing much for Jews to return to in those countries, and most of Europe at that time; her statement shows immense ignorance of what suffering is. The idea that after a genocide or a pogrom, survivors can return to their previous lives as if nothing happened is patronizing and grossly insensitive. And when it is aimed against Jews it is clearly antisemitic. And this was a major argument in her critic of Jews trying to change the conditions that made the holocaust possible. The best way seen by many jews at the time was by forming a nation state where they can defend themselves and flourish as a culture. A clear-cut antisemitic attitude was used as an argument to pass judgment on Jews as a whole and forbid them from changing their lives for the better. The antisemitic attitude of indifference to Jewish suffering and concerns, was used as an argument against the very existence of Israel. Not a critique of its policies but denying its right to exist. Since a nation state is the legitimate right of every nation the idea itself is discriminatory towards Jews. The justification for this discrimination is the accusation of ‘taking someone else’s land’. That someone been the Palestinians. This accusation is historically inaccurate.  Most of the land owned by Jews prior to 1948, was purchased from wealthy Arab landlords. After 1948, when Israel was formed, its government gained control of more land. Most of it was state land. Land that was owned by the British government. This was a land one governing authority inherited from its predecessor. The Arab lands that Israel did gain, were gained because of a war of survival. A war Israel did not start. The debate about Israel’s creation is about that part. Was it justified or not. This debate is harsh and painful for both sides. And extremely politicized. But Hellen Thomas earlier statement, about Israeli Jews going back to Germany and Poland, shows that her problem was not with Israel’s conduct during its war of independence, but with its very existence.  She used an antisemitic assumption, to justify an anti-Zionist position. In doing so she demonstrated how little the space is between antisemitism and Anti-Zionism.

Next antisemitic police action against the Jews came courtesy of congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the 3 stars of the earlier mentioned squad. The other 2 are of course Rashida Talib, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. This one was a part of a package of antisemitic concepts and attitudes. It starts with her infamous “it’s all about the Benjamines” remark regarding AIPAC. This was criticized and denounced as an antisemitic trope because it raised the age-old antisemitic motive associating Jews with money and control. It suggested that a group of people, whose common denominators are been Jewish, and wishing to have good relation between the USA and the Jewish state, are motivated by greed and manipulating politicians by greed. In doing so it denied the existence of common values, common interest, and the legitimacy of other opinions in politics. It is also a double standard. Because it is taken for granted that all immigrant communities in the USA are allowed to desire good relations between their home country, and their countries of origin. But when it comes to Jews, not only it is not okay, but is solely associated with the worse stereotypes of Jews, greed and power. But it is more than just a trope and a double standard. Describing people as so greedy that they refer to their money bills on a first name basis is cartoonish. And describing Jewish “greed” with cartoons is a known tradition of the worse forms of antisemitism. It is a dehumanizing language.

For those who remember this affair from 5 years ago, she did apologize. But that was not the end of it. Afterwards, in a town hall meeting available on youtube, she introduced a problematic world view. She stated that mentioning the suffering of Jews, prevents mentioning the suffering of Palestinians. This is nonsense, because there is no reason that the mentioning of the suffering of one community will come at expense of mentioning the suffering of another community. It also false since descriptions and discussions of Palestinian suffering existed in Jewish spaces in both Israel, USA, and Europe for many decades. It was so effective it founded and motivated political movements that championed the two-state solution, in both Israel and the USA. These movements argued that it will provide security for Israel and will end Palestinian suffering. She was erasing the peace camp.

Next, she said, “What I am fearful is that, because Rashida and I are Muslim, that a lot of our Jewish colleague, a lot of our constituents (she mentioned her Jewish constituency earlier, b.t.), a lot of our allies go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be antisemitic because we are Muslim. And so, to me it is something becomes designed to end the debate.” This is a variation of a recognized form of left-wing antisemitism called ‘The Livingstone formulation.’ Named after former mayor of London Ken Livingstone, 2000-2008. It was identified and defined by British sociologist Dr. David Hirsh of Goldsmith University of London, in 2010. It described an institutionalized behavior, especially in the British Labor party under Jeremy Corbin. In this behavior, whenever Jews complained about antisemitism, they were immediately accused of been a part of a conspiracy to remove Jeremy Corbin from his leadership position. This is done without even trying to listen before passing judgement. It was a form of police action. Here, in this quote, Ilhan Omar gives ill intention motives for those accusing her and Rashida Talib of antisemitism. Those alleged motives are racism towards Muslims and attempting to shut down the debate. In doing so, she, like any other practitioner of the Livingstone formulation, ostracizes the complainer through this false labeling. And that is a punishment. This is policing. If antisemitism and racism are factors in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and they are, exposing them and clearing them away, will help solving it. Ilhan Omar and the rest of the squad are doing the opposite, denying a discussion about it.

If you think this tradition of policing Jewish responses to antisemitism is limited only to Israel related matters, David Chappelle and Jon Stewart are here to demonstrate that it is not the case. Chappelle piece on SNL, following the Kanye West affair, was criticized for been antisemitic. And it was. It was a nasty police action. He mocked the concerns of Jews over antisemitism with 2 contradicting lines. The first one, served as an advice to Kanye West, suggested that American Jews are easily manipulated. Once you formalistically condemn antisemitism, you can throw everything you want at them. The other line introduced the Jews as oversensitive drama queens, because “you cannot say ‘the Jews’ in Hollywood”. This is obviously made up. I guess he can always say it was just a joke. Except his jokes are social commentaries. And this commentary included a defense of Kanye West, as if he confused the large number of Jews in the film industry with control.

In the highlight of this commentary, he forbade Jews from criticizing and taking action against the Antisemitic tweet of NFL player Kyrie Irving. “The NBA told him he should apologize and he was slow to apologize and the list of demands to get back in their good graces got longer and longer, but, this, where you know I draw the line. I know Jewish people have through some terrible s—t all over the world but you cannot blame that on black Americans.” How is criticizing one black celebrity over an antisemitic tweet is blaming black Americans for the troubles Jews had elsewhere? He fabricated something that did not exist and used it as an excuse to monitor, police, “draw the line,” on Jewish reactions to the antisemitism that harms them.

When Jon Stewart commented on the affair in ‘The late show with Stephen Colbert,’ he may have tried to do some damage control. He may have tried to find a POV that both Jews and Black folks can agree with. Whether or not that was the case, the end-result was bad, very bad.

Jon Stewart, been Jewish, has every right to be as harsh as he feels necessary on Jewish issues. Internal criticism is not policing, even when it is harsher. It is also not beyond scrutiny. He argued that penalizing for a thought is wrong. That is a legitimate POV. But that has been the standard operating procedure when other minority groups in the USA were offended by tweets and remarks made by other people. If he is against that mode of activity why he hasn’t said anything about that before? Or since?

He said that the best way to deal with foul ideas is by exposing them to the fresh air. Agreed. But that contradicts his claim that calling them antisemitic shuts down the debate. How can we expose something to the fresh air, and the cleansing sun, without calling it for what it is? The fact that it is Ilhan Omar’s line and not his original thought does not help the image of this argument.

He found one thing Chappelle said to be constructive. “That it shouldn’t be this difficult to talk about it.” That is not exactly what Chapelle had said but that is beside the point. He literally appointed an outsider to measure how Jews response to their own abuse. How can he even suggest monitoring the response of parents when they hear that their kids are called “oven doggers” in the college they sent them to?  Or the responses of members of a community visiting the recent vandalization of their community center or their synagogue? Or seeing and hearing a public figure with millions of followers echoing some of the many tropes that brought so many calamities on the Jewish people?  Abuse is a terrifying experience. Because of that it is always difficult for the victims and those related to them to talk about it.  The reason it is hard to talk about it is because it is an abuse. Because of that the custom in present day society is to allow those affected by the abuse to express their fears, anger, and frustrations, through every means available, except violence, and racial language. Those forms of accepted expression can be silence, tears, or rage. The idea that there should be someone with a barometer measuring these modes of expression is in complete contradiction with this approach.

He argued that conversation and explanations are a better way. He is wrong because the two are not mutually exclusive. There should be a room for conversations between communities, a wide one. For such a conversation to be effective it must not be under the supervision of any barometer of sensitivity. All sides must be willing to listen to each other no matter how difficult it gets. For the conversation to be effective, it cannot avoid the difficult staff. This is also the most likely way to win over the haters. Since it takes on their convictions. But even than I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Such difficult conversations are more likely to prevent the haters from spreading their hate.

Because what Jon Stewart had said was too much of a mess of self-contradictory arguments his remarks cannot be considered an approval of antisemitic behavior. But in adopting Ilhan Omar’s concept that accusations of antisemitism shut down the debate, he does demonstrate how an antisemitic attitude that rises in the conversation about Israel can migrate into the discussion of other Jewish issues that have nothing to do with Israel.

Most of this policing seems like just words. But these words can become actions. It happened in Czarist Russia in the late 1880’s. It is happening now in the International Court of Justice in the Hauge. In Czarist Russia and in other places in recent history Jews were severely punished for defending themselves. With South – Africa’s appeal to the ICJ the risks are different, may be even greater. Here the risk is the nuremberginazation of international law and humanitarian law.

NEXT

Understanding the antisemitism of Israel’s “critics”. Part I

 

Introduction.

The global reaction to the horrific atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7^th, 2023, has been diverse. From pro-Israel reactions to anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian reactions.  Some of the Pro-Palestinian reactions had been called out as antisemitic. These are the glorifications of the atrocities, denying them, and tearing down the posters of the abducted Israelis and those of other nationalities. But that is not enough. Antisemitism will not be truly denounced and ostracized if its more “civilized” and accepted expressions are not recognized and pointed out.

In identifying antisemitism, we need to be aware that there are many forms and levels of antisemitism. There is genocidal antisemitism, one that denies Jews the ability to live, and/or sees the Jewish identity itself as a crime. There is the patronizing approach. This has many forms, such as tokenizing, bossing, preaching instead of conversating. There is of course intolerance, bias, and conspiracy thinking. And many of these forms of antisemitism find their way to accepted and respected forms of conversation and social conduct.

Part 1: Practical language.

In today’s world genocidal antisemitism cannot simply call for the eradication of the Jews. But it can use language to deny them the ability to be alive. Think of the claim heard before October 7^th, that the blockade of the Gaza Strip was inhumane, and even illegal. Factually, this accusation is incorrect. False. While there is no denying that a large section of the Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip lived in impoverished conditions, along-side them also existed a social elite and a consumer culture. As well as a productive sector. As for the blockade, this was a military blockade, aimed to prevent the very atrocities it failed to prevent on October 7^th, 2023. It was legal because it was implemented on the Israeli side of the border, where Israel’s sovereignty supposed to be undisputed. And because every government on Earth has the duty to defend its territory and the lives of its citizens. If these measures are illegal, cruel and inhumane, then the very lives they had saved, those of ordinary Israelis, are cruel, illegal, and inhumane. And nothing can be more genocidal than denying people the right to be alive. The atrocities of October 7^th become therefore the logical conclusion of the illegal and inhumane blockade accusation. Because in cancelling and delegitimizing, through falsehoods, the duty of the Israeli government and the IDF to defend the lives of its citizens; they are also cancelling and delegitimizing the right of those civilians to be alive. And again, that is genocidal.

This is even truer with the current accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Which again are false. Backing these accusations with pictures of destruction from Gaza gives them the appearance of credibility, but that is a propaganda ploy manipulating emotions. And not a fact-based accusation. There are four facts that demonstrate why such accusations are dubious and ill motivated. First, the act of genocide requires a tight control of the ground by the forces of the exterminators. Not of the air above them. The SS had no air wing. In the annals of the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994, the Rwandan air force is not mentioned. Apparently, it was destroyed 4 years earlier. And the many genocides that took place throughout the 19^th century, before the inventions of airplanes, show that this horrific crime against humanity has no need for air power. Massive air power can do a lot of harm to civilian populations, including war crimes. But only ground forces with total control of the ground can hunt down every person marked for extermination.  

Second, Images of massively destroyed cities came from many modern wars. They all came with stories about huge numbers of dead civilians. But they were never called genocide. Not the bombing of Mosul during the war against ISIS. Not the massive American bombing of North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Not the Russian’s actual carpet bombing of rebel held areas in northern Syria. And not the allies bombing of German cities during WW2. They all came with accusations of war crimes, but not genocide. All parties in the debates around those actions acknowledge the existence of legitimate military targets. And that technology has its limits, and therefore, collateral damage is unavoidable. The debate in all those cases is on how much care was given to differentiate between legitimate military targets and the surrounding civilian population. When these are the borders of the debate, even the harshest critic must acknowledge that there is a degree of legal and moral legitimacy to the air campaign, unless the war itself is illegitimate. And yes, even the lenient of critics must be open to the possibility that avoidable civilian deaths had occurred.  An accusation of genocide overdramatized an already horrific situation. And there are never good motives to do that. It attacks the legitimacy of the war itself, denying any legitimacy, even the smallest, from the attacking side. And when that accusation is thrown so easily at a side that defends its own civilians from war crimes aimed at them, as is the case with Israel, there is a room to doubt the intentions of the accusers. Remember Israel has been accused of genocide before. Even when the Arab population in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel grew several times over, Israel was accused of genocide. Therefore, the third argument is that this accusation already has dubious history.

Mosul 2017

Forth, a major component of the definition of genocide under international law says that genocide is also the act of creating unbearable living conditions for the population targeted for extermination. When Israel and the IDF called the 1.5 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip, to move to the southern part of the Strip, this is the kind of genocide they were accused of doing. The argument behind the accusation pointed to the impoverished conditions that already existed in that part of the Strip. Saying that there is no way they could support those extra 1.5 million people. The problem with that argument is that it is not a very effective way to do this kind of genocide. Here again, a total control of the ground is required to make the genocide successful. With this kind of control, the genocidal forces can deny any help from local sources. As well as any help from outside forces. They can also nip in the bud any show of resourcefulness found among the people marked for extermination.

Here on the other hand, Israel and the IDF told the civilian population to move to the southern border. The border with Egypt. It is an international border where there are very few Israeli forces. This gives them access to outside help from all over the world. With no Israeli forces able to impede or prevent any measure that helps this population of evacuees to survive. While there is no denying that the lives of these evacuees are difficult, there is a difference between war refugees and victims of genocide. Victims of genocide are dead, annihilated, entire populations. War refugees are alive.

What this analysis shows is that Israel is subjected, yet again, to a double standard. What otherwise would have been treated as the possibility of war crimes, is treated as definite genocide. And double standard against Israel has already been recognized as antisemitism masquerading as critique of Israel. The difference between war crimes and genocide may seem minor to some, but it is critical. War crimes can be committed by a party to a war that fights a legitimate campaign. A genocide is inherently illegitimate. And can never be justified. When the charge is made because of a double standard, it is false, and therefore dehumanizing. Since Israel is engaged in a legitimate campaign of defending its civilian population this dehumanization denies them the right to be alive and is therefore a genocidal act.

What we see in this critique is the deadly use of language. One that denies Jews the ability to stay alive against the threats they face.

As this crisis worsens the lives of the displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are indeed in greater jeopardy. Especially from hunger. But when reviewing the parties that have the responsibility to prevent it, one must pay attention to the following factors. The ability of international aid to reach the Gaza Strip. Entry into the Gaza Strip. And distribution of the aid inside the strip. The first is the responsibility of the international community and Egypt. The second is the responsibility of Israel. And the third is the responsibility of Hamas, UNRWA, and other UN agencies working inside the Strip. Putting the blame on Israel for the shortcoming of other agencies will be more than just hypocrisy. It will reward those agencies for their failures. And encourage them not to improve, preserving their inefficiencies in the face of future calamities. Inefficiencies that will certainly harm people in other parts of the world; that have nothing to do with this conflict. Those that already misuse language in a way that denies Jews the ability to be alive, will try to confuse the matters. As the UNRWA revelations demonstrates, some of them will come from the UN.

 Part 2: The depths of hatred.

 What makes this false accusation worse, (yes, it is getting worse), is that this is a spin and a blood libel. Political spins are commonplace in politics. It is the act of taking a maneuver made by a political rivel and spinning it to one’s own advantage. It can be done by exposing falsehoods or fallacies that may exist in the rival’s plan or statement. Or it can be done by falsely associating it with negative subjects. Spins are usually considered dirty politics. As the old Jewish saying goes, “It stinks, but it’s kosher.” But when a good did is spun into the opposite; portrayed falsely as something monstrous; that kind of a spin is a blood libel. The fact is that Israel and the IDF are doing the outmost to keep Palestinian civilians alive, WHILE keeping the mission of destroying Hamas ongoing. Navigating between these two conflicting requirements is a nearly impossible task. What can be done, has been done. And it has saved lives. The warnings given to evacuate saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians by simply keeping them away from a lethal war zone. The slowness of the ground campaign, where it took more than 40 days to conquer just half of northern Gaza, was also because of concerns for the civilians that had remained there. Look at the pictures of ruins from Gaza and try to imagine what would have happened if all those 1.5 million residents had remained there. There would have been multiple deadly incidents of civilians caught in the crossfire. Alongside deaths and injuries caused by collateral damage from explosives, misfires, and mistaken identity, from both sides. There is no question that as war refugees they are suffering. But the alternative is far more horrendous. In the context of intense battles fought in densely populated urban areas, Israel’s measures give them the most elementary thing required by international and humanitarian law in times of war and chaos. The ability to stay alive. And that is a good thing. Using their unavoidable suffering to make an accusation of a genocide is a classical spin. A spin based on half-truth. The true part is that they are suffering. The omitted part is that they had avoided countless horrific deaths. Keeping people alive is the opposite of genocide. Calling it a genocide is therefore false. This is also blood libel, since this is a very serious false accusation.

Those that oppose Israel’s evacuation order, (and do so without suggesting their own alternatives, even when pressed to by journalists,) give Israel 2 options. Do nothing and give Hamas a chance to kill more Israeli civilians. Or engage Hamas while it is hiding among 1.5 million Palestinians. As demonstrated earlier this will result in a much greater number of dead and injured Palestinian civilians. The first option is a well-recognized antisemitic fantasy; more dead Jews. The second one asks Israel to cause the very brutalities it accuses Israel of doing. As a false accusation this is also a fantasy. It is a demonic stereotype of a Jew on a killing spree. Those critics condemn Israel for senseless killing but come up with critique that if listen to and acted upon, would produce far more deaths and suffering among the Palestinian civilians. This means that as far as they are concerned, Israel is not living up to that fantasy, of killing more Palestinian civilians. These critics are not stupid. They know Israel won’t act on their advice. This is a desire they are expressing. The desire to see more dead Jews and more dead Palestinians. Their fantasy image of the dead Palestinians is not a product of the realities on the ground. For the bigots this stereotype is a part of their world view. And when reality does not much their convictions, they fall into a cognitive dissonance. When white supremacists find themselves in this situation, by meeting successful black persons, they act according to their standard operating procedure. Violence, and the more the better. For the antisemitically motivated critics of Israel, engaging in violence is not an option. Their standard operating procedure is to argue for their convictions. They use it unethically by using half-truths, misrepresentations of international law, and distorted description of events. And sometimes outright lies. This is also how they try to resolve their cognitive dissonance. Giving a seemingly legitimate critic that if acted upon the results will be far worse than the situation that is been criticized. Seeing this behavior in the current situation. When the death toll among Palestinians is the highest it ever been per conflict, demonstrate how deep that hate goes. No matter how many Palestinians we have killed in-order to defend ourselves, these “critics” need us to kill more. If you don’t believe me, and think that this is a farfetched interpretation, here are 3 more clearer examples of it.

The first one come from UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca P. Albanese. She was a guest of the National Press Club of Australia on the 14 of November 2023. Her speech and the answers she gave to questions from the host and the audience had plenty of antisemitic components. Top among them were, omitting the facts there were Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism prior to October the 7^th. She did acknowledge the horrors of that day but gave it “context.” The now usual line “history did not start on October 7^th”. Which is true, it did not. But it also included a lot of Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism. A selective memory like this is a known characteristic of racist practices. When the victims are Jews, it is antisemitic.

The other top example came when the host pointed out that the only way to know if Israel committed war crimes is to examine every bombing. As he pointed out, it can only be done after the war is over. She avoided the question by not giving a straight answer. Demonstrating that Israel’s “critics” such as herself don’t need evidence or investigation to find it guilty of the worse crimes possible. There is plenty of that in Jewish history.

Like all of Israel’s critics she opposed Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. When asked for alternative, she suggested “using the means of law & order.” She did not specify How. But given the fact that during October the 7^th Hamas was able to take over the police station of the city of Sderot, it is amazing she was able to say that with straight face. A police force cannot arrest a fully armed military or paramilitary force. Only a better armed force can do that i.e. an army. She literally demanded the IDF to engage Hamas while it is hiding in the densely populated areas.  And she is not the first to demand the IDF to inflict more harm on Palestinian civilians.

An earlier example is provided by Joe Stork. He is the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division in Human Rights Watch. He has a problematic history with Israel, as pointed out by Ben Dror Yemini. He is also one of the people behind HRW report of October 2002, denouncing suicide bombing as a war crime. It is one of 2 reports that came after a long protest over the lack of such reports from the entire human rights community of that era. In this short video he explains why Israel attacking an electric plant that provides electricity for 43% of the population of Gaza is a human rights violation. In the opening he acknowledges that electricity has dual use, military and civilian, and therefore it is a legitimate target. A recognition we won’t find today. So why in this case it is a crime? Simple, according to him Israel had an alternative. Since it provided electricity to the remaining 57% it could just pull down the switch and stop providing that electricity. Somehow denying electricity from 57% of the population is more human than denying it from 43%. It gets worse. He said it could take a year to restore that plant into a working condition, true or false, Israel can shut down the electricity it provided as long as it wanted. He pointed out correctly that because of the attack the 57% had to share the electricity they received from Israel with the 43%, creating a situation where everybody gets electricity for only 8 hours a day. If this was the other way around, it would be 6 hours of electricity each day. And somehow that is the more human option.

Seen this video when it was newer made me realize that something this twisted exist in the culture of Israel’s critics. Since than I have found it mostly on social media, but it is far more commonplace. And a few years ago, it was center stage.

I hope, many still remember the debate in the US congress about funding the replenishing of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. This system needed replenishing after it thwarted over 1,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israeli population centers in May 2021. A faction within the American Democratic Party known as the squad opposed this under the guise of criticizing the Israeli government. This unique air defense system saved the lives of Israelis without killing a single Palestinian. Whatever criticism one may have of an Israeli government and its policies, if the intentions of the critic are sincere, this weapon system should be their lowest priority. If critics think that because of it, Israel allowed itself too much of a free reign over Gaza, a claim I dispute, they should target its air offensive capabilities. Not the air-defense capabilities. Without it, Israel’s air force will have to hasten its response to such missiles’ attacks. This will increase the likelihood of harm to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. If it wouldn’t, more Israelis will be hurt. As I said before, both possibilities are antisemitic fantasies. And there is something very sadistic in forcing someone to choose between the lives of its civilians, and the lives of enemy civilians.

NEXT

Anti-Zionism, the case of Amjad Iraqi. When the apartheid blood libel is more than just anti-Semitism. Part 3

Previous 

Amjad Iraqi’s bad faith is a disturbing one. It is best demonstrated when he chooses, the 2003 order that halted family unification between Palestinians living in Israel, and Palestinian coming to Israel from the WB, Gaza, and elsewhere. As always, he avoids context. Instead he compares it to Israel law of return. A law he describes as giving citizenship to every Jew coming to Israel. The actual law is more of an asylum law than a naturalization law. And it is extended to non-Jews. I added a video that explains it in a good and brief way.

 

It is a good thing that he brought that law as an argument. To begin with, were does it say that immigration policies are an indicator of apartheid? But even if there is such a clause in international law, Israel doesn’t qualify. As Amjad Iraqi points out, Israel has an immigration law for non-Jews. It is the family unification act. Under this law 130,000 Palestinians immigrated into the state of Israel, from 1994 to 2002. This law still exists today. In 2003 it was blocked to Palestinians. The main reason it was blocked, terrorism.

On the 31^st of March 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber from Jenin blew himself up in the Matza restaurant in Haifa. He murdered 16 Israelis, and injured over 40. He was able to enter Israel because he had an Israeli id card; a blue card he inherited from his mother. She was an Israeli Arab citizen that married a Palestinian from the WB, and moved there to live with him. Their son was a second-generation Israeli citizen of this family unification law. And he was not the only one from these demographics involved in violent activities. He was just the deadliest. There was always some degree of involvement in violent activities against Israel, and Israelis, by Arab citizens of the state. The second-generation Arab Israeli citizens of the family unification law, are over represented in those activities. They are less than 5% of Israeli Arabs, but 15% of the perpetrators, (Hebrew link). These numbers are small, but the lesson of the Matza restaurant attack is that the threat should not be underestimated.

Ignoring this makes the critic dishonest, and hypocritical. As the late Israeli supreme court judge, Michel Chesin, pointed out at the time, Israel is asked to accept emigration from hostile territories that engage in violent activities against its civilians. And that is the whole point. No country in the world was ever held to such a high standard. No country in the world, had ever faced the demand, to accept immigrants from hostile nations. Especially when hostilities were taking place. When Israel was doing so it was going the extra mile on this civil-rights issue, ahead of any democracy on earth. The cost was deadly. In maintaining a secondary civil right for Palestinians, Israeli lives were lost. For Amjad Iraqi, this fact is not worth mentioning. I wonder why?

Israel’s record of not having a clear policy towards Arab civilians is an important argument against the lies and distortions of Amjad Iraqi. But it does not clear Israel from wrong doing towards them. Like most democracies Israel’s record towards its minorities is checkered. On one hand the state gave its Arab population voting rights. One the other hand, many of their communities were under military administration until 1967. Today there is a greater integration of Arab citizens into Israeli society, culturally, and economically. But the economic disparities continue. And, sadly, bigotry is also expressed in various social and official interactions.

The most acute situation exists in East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 when it reunified the city, after the victory in the Six Days war. The unification was done for two simple reasons. A divided capital city that is shared with an enemy is under a serious security threat. And East Jerusalem includes the most important places for Judaism, religiously, and nationally. The top of the list includes the Temple Mount, The Western Wall, and the Jewish quarter. However, Israel did not sort out the issue of the Arab residents of the places been annexed. An issue that remains open today. With losers on both sides. The Palestinian Arabs living there found themselves residents of a state they were not its citizens. And Israel found itself with large communities of non-citizens. A fact that undermines its sovereignty there. The most obvious solution, granting citizenship, has its drawbacks for both sides. For Israel there is the risk of incorporating a large hostile population. For the Palestinians the concern is that this will be seen as legitimating Israel’s existence; especially the annexation of East Jerusalem.

This vacuum was filled with substitutes. The Arab residents were allowed to keep their Jordanian citizenship. But this was revoked in 1988, by king Hussain of Jordan. In 1993, following the implementation of the Oslo Accords, they were given the right to vote for the institutions of the PA. But this right became meaningless when these elections ceased to take place.

While other factors contribute to this situation; Israel as the ruler of East Jerusalem, has the responsibility to resolve it. That means finding a solution that won’t be booby-trapped by the political standoff. Think of a left-wing, Israeli politician trying to resolve this. On one hand civil rights values will suggests giving Israeli citizenship to all the Arab residents of East Jerusalem. But that will collide with the ideological position of considering re-dividing the city as a part of a peace deal. Right wing politicians will have to confront something they keep avoiding. What role do they give minorities in a state that define itself as Jewish? In emphasizing their collective identity, they run the risk of othering and alienating local minorities, living alongside them. This is one of the problems with the nation state law. This law, like the city of Jerusalem, creates a focus on this issue, and enhances the problems involved.

Jerusalem brings a great emphasis to a lot of issues on both side. The Palestinians have to come to terms not only with the technical existence of a Jewish state. But also, with the connection Jews and Judaism has with this land; especially Jerusalem. This political deadlock traps everybody. But no one is more affected by it than the Arabs of East Jerusalem. The current position of the Arab residents of East Jerusalem under Israeli law, is that of permanent residents. This is an improvised solution that solved that tried to use a law meant for people from other countries and do not wish to become citizens. Under this law they can vote for the municipality of Jerusalem but not in the general elections. They get welfare services from the Israeli state. And they can travel to any part of the state. But if they stay too long outside of Israel, they can lose this legal status. And since today many of them have no other citizenship, they could become stateless. This legal status also contains a path to Israeli citizenship, with its share of bureaucratic hurdles, enhanced by security concerns and mutual suspicions. Since 1967, around 20,000 residents became Israeli citizens. And around 15,000 lost their residency status, mostly during the 90’s. (This was criticized at the time as been a deliberate policy of expulsion). While the overall population had quadrupled.

This is not the complete picture. The Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are intertwined with this. And the human dimension is missing from this review. But it is a vital perspective. One that has to be be given in order to understand the complexities and dilemmas involved. Especially when facing the fallacies behind Amjad Iraqi’s argument.  [East Jerusalem has been the subjects of research and study for quite some time; as do other aspects of Israeli society. Some of it politicized, some of it less so. Therefore, there is no shortness of information on this issue. The purpose of this article is to critic Amjed Iraqi’s accusations against Israel and Zionism.]

To those tempted to call it apartheid here are some challenging facts. The population of Israeli citizens includes Israeli Arabs that are of the same ethnicity and religions as they are.  Residency laws exists in many countries on earth. Calling it apartheid is therefore another wide common denominator. This law does not create a fixed condition. While apartheid laws were meant to be perpetual. The apartheid regime in SA created a crisis. This complex situation is caused by a crisis.

Calling it apartheid is like trying to fix a medical condition with a magic potion. Rather than heal, it will make things worse. Just look at Amjad Iraqi’s argument. From all the aspects of the ongoing crisis in East Jerusalem, he chose the 1980 law. This law annexed East Jerusalem to the state of Israel. It was largely a symbolic act, motivated by the connections Israeli Jews have to that part of the city. The actual annexation took place 13 years earlier. All the problem described above begun then. This symbolic law had no effect on the Arab residents of East Jerusalem. It did not made things worse. And it did not made things better. If anything it obligated the Israeli government to take care of all the inhabitants of the city, (item 4a).  It expresses the Jewish national identity. Identity that has many of its leading symbols in that part of the city. If this is apartheid, one the most immoral systems of government in modern times, then the very existence of Judaism is equally immoral, and has no right to exist. How does criminalizing an identity, be it Jewish or Palestinian, help resolve the conflict? The conflict can only be resolved through mutual acceptance. Amjad Iraqi does the opposite, he criminalizes one of the identities involved.

In his defense one may argue that it was a random pick. And he could have easily picked other dates in the history of East Jerusalem since 1967. The problem is that it is a part of a pattern. One that is consistent and uniform. Every example he brought is something he and his magazine chose. He is an editor, not just a columnist. What does he find apartheid in the behavior of the settlers? Based on the two examples he brought, it is not how they treat the Arab population around them. He chose two pictures where the settlers are harming no one. And all the service they get from the IDF is the defense of their lives. If there is apartheid, and the settlers are the driving force behind it, then the begging settler would not have begged. He would have ordered the armed soldier next to him to expel the crowd that came to support the elderly Palestinian confronting him. Instead, he is begging. This means that the armed soldier is there not to resolve the dispute, just to keep the settler safe. In choosing these two pictures Amjad Iraqi demonstrates that for him, living, breathing, settlers are apartheid. It is one thing to have a political and ideological opposition to the settlers and the settlements. It is something completely different, wanting them dead.

And it is not just settlers that he wants to see dead. It is every Israeli Jew that he wants to see dead. Each of the examples he brought has its differences. But most of them have one thing in common, they kept Jews alive. The 1950 absentee’s property law did so by solidifying the end of a brutal war. And by helping in absorbing Jewish refugees from Arab lands. Military operations in the WB do it every minute of every day, by preventing terrorist activities. The 2003 act, is the direct result of murderous terrorism. For Amjad Iraqi everything that keeps Jewish Israelis alive, is apartheid. One of the most immoral systems of government in recent history. An evil that must be abolished wherever and whenever it does exist. But that evil is a system of government, not the very existence of human beings. But for Amjad Iraqi that what apartheid is, the very existence of Israeli Jews. For him the very connection Jews have to their holly sites in Jerusalem is also apartheid. This choice not only fit the pattern; it expands its genocidal intention to every Jew on Earth. This is why, we, the Zionist Jews, cannot afford to tire from disproving the apartheid libel. Our lives depend on it. Amjed Iraqi demonstrates that this blood libel isn't just antisemitic, it is genocidal.

From the point of view of the history of blood libels against Jews, this is not unusual. Most of them, if not all, ended in the mass slaughter of Jews. And it happened in the Muslim world just as it happened in the Christian world. What is new is the use of the language of civil right to justify it, and aid it. By twisting facts, and history, he twists the language itself so murder and genocide will become acceptable to those that cherish civil rights and human rights. In doing so he makes the genocide acceptable to those that read uncritically any left-wing literature on human rights. The wide common denominators create the false association between Israel and apartheid SA. The lies and the selective examples extend that association to the very existence of living, breathing Jews in the land of Israel, and beyond.  The idea is to make them accept atrocities against Israeli Jews, should they recommence on a massive scale. It happened before. 20 years ago Israelis were subjected to an horrific wave of suicide bombing knows as the second intifada. Nearly every day there was some kind of an attack that murdered several Israeli civilians. It was made possible by pressure from European governments on the Israeli government. That pressure kept Israel from using effectively its armed forces to end the atrocities. The reason Europe helped this mass murder campaign is because its media, along with major sections of its public, bought the language of the Palestinian propaganda. Then it rationalized the war crime as caused by the “occupation.” Now the far nastier charge of apartheid is there to facilitate greater atrocities. The Palestinian armed groups don’t have the means to deliver it. But Hizzbulah, and Iran, with the backing of Russia and China might.

 Why did the PA support the Chinese crackdown in Turkestan? 

What do they expect in return?

Related links in Hebrew about Jerusalem from the Jerusalem Institute.

 1 & 2 

Anti-Zionism, the case of Amjad Iraqi. When the apartheid blood libel is more than just anti-Semitism. Part 2.

Previous 

In order to prove that Israel is an apartheid state Amjad Iraqi uses extremely wide common denominators. They are so wide not only Israel and apartheid SA are included in it, but every society on earth, and every human activity. He also uses lies about SA and about Israel. But what is more dire is what he brings as examples of apartheid policies in the history of Israel.

He brings four examples, Israel’s absentees property law, from 1950. The annexation law of East Jerusalem in 1980. Banning family unification for WB Palestinians in 2003. And the military administration of civilian lives in the WB. (He also brings Israel’s nation state law, but that example had already been discussed). What these examples have in common is the lack of context. And that context is war, a violent conflict. This conflict is not just context. It is the cause of each of these examples. Avoiding mentioning that fact makes the deception possible. It helps create the false impression that these are the causes of the conflicts, and not the byproducts. Disputing them does more than rebuking the apartheid allegations. It demonstrates the actual complexities this conflict is trapped in.

The military administration of civilian lives is definitely a heavy burden on the civilians been administrated. But, this is another wide common denominator. This is a part of every occupation. Be it the genocidal imperialistic occupation of Europe by Nazi Germany. Or the occupation of Nazi Germany by allied forces that ended Nazi aggression.

There is no question that any military occupation should be and must be scrutinized by the standards of law and morality. But the critique itself must answer to moral and ethical guidelines. Those guidelines suggest that no decent critique of the IDF can ignore the threat to Israeli civilians on both sides of the green line. The historic and current record show that armed Palestinian groups are a threat to the very lives of Israeli civilians. As a result, both the IDF and its critics are on the same razor-sharp dilemma. The dilemma of finding a balance between the right of Israeli civilians to live, and the elementary human rights of Palestinian civilians. A critic that ignores that is not a critic. It is political propaganda of the worse kind.

An unavoidable follow up to this discussion are the settlements and the settlers. Aren’t they apartheid? Well…look at the images Amjad Iraqi choose to present. The first one (here on the right) shows a group of settlers walking through a market in Hebron, secured by armed IDF soldiers. Where is the apartheid here? Shopping? Walking? Are these activities constitute apartheid? Receiving military escort for everyday activity is very disturbing. But if those lives are under threat, they must be protected; regardless of your views on the issue of the settlements. These images are supposed to be examples of apartheid. They are supposed to be as clear as ‘whites only, blacks only’ signs. But the only thing these two images show, is the existence of tension between the two populations.

Source: 972 magazine

The second picture shows a confrontation between a settler and an Arab resident, near Hebron. The caption given to this describes the general situation, but not the two main participants in this scene. It is like a picture of a traffic accident with the caption, "Rush hour traffic." It is related, maybe, but it doesn't explain what happened and how the caption and the picture are related. Was this accident the result of rush hour traffic, or just happened to take place during the rush hour? The explanation may come in the body of the article. If it doesn't, all it creates is an impression. And accusations are not made based on impression. They are made based on information. Be it allegations over bad road safety maintenance, or apartheid. 

The irony is that this picture does not deliver the expected impression. The settler in this picture is begging for something. The Arab man is steadfast in his position. Whatever the debate is; no matter who is right and who is wrong; apartheid does not look like this. The oppressor never begs the oppressed. And remember, there is an armed soldier next to the settler. Under apartheid, and under oppressive regimes, a scene like this cannot take place, not even once. This does not mean that everyday life for Palestinians in the WB is a garden of roses. Far from it. This does tell us a lot about Amjad Iraqi. From the complex situation that exists in the WB, there are probably other pictures that are better suited for Amjad Iraqi’s purpose. Other scenes that can be taken out of context in order to make this nefarious accusation. Yet, he chose the most useless ones. Why did he chose them? The answer will reveal itself. It is not stupidity. 

There is no dispute that actions taken by Israeli governments had an impact on the lives of Palestinians. There is a conflict going on. And actions taken by either side had an impact on the population of the other side. Israel’s 1950 absentee’s property law contributed to the problem of Palestinian refugees. It prevented them from returning. But it did not cause it, and did not perpetuated it. The cause was a brutal civil war that devastated both societies, Jewish and Arab. The cause of that war was the Arab opposition to the two states solution, and to the existence of the Jewish state of Israel. It was fueled by the mutual hostility both populations had towards each other. This law effectively ended that brutal war. The most likely outcome of allowing the return of these refugees would have been the resumption of hostilities. And the continued devastation of both societies. This is why other, similar conflicts, ended the same way. Therefore, those accusing this law of apartheid are knowingly or unknowingly making a moral case for the continuation of bloodshed. Apartheid is one of the most immoral systems of government in human history. If one thing is apartheid, then its opposite is highly moral. In this case the opposite to Israel’s absentee’s property law it is the resumption of bloodshed. One the worst this conflict has known. This is the razor-sharp dilemma “critics” keeps avoiding. And in this case, it is sharp enough to slice an eyelash from one end to the other.

This continuation of bloodshed would have denied Israel the legitimate right of national self-determination. This fact raises a question as to Amjad Iraqi views on the matter. Is he for or against the principle of national self-determination? His harsh accusations against the 1950 law suggests he is against it when it favors Israel. He does call it apartheid. He makes the same accusation against Israel’s nation state law. He calls that apartheid by falsely claiming it denies self-determination for the Palestinians. It seems that for Amjad Iraqi the principal of national self-determination is not a universal one. To him, denying it from the Palestinians is apartheid. But giving it to Jews is also apartheid.    

This law gave Israel not only the ability to have effective national self-determination, but also the ability to absorb hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. These refugees fled countries they were not a threat to, and societies they did not declare war on. But those societies were hostile to them, violently so.  Israel’s absorbed them, and ended their refugee status. While the Arab world, with the help of UNRWA, perpetuated the stateless conditions of the Palestinian refugees. Instead of absorbing them, they treated them as a threat. And they continue to do so today, with the exception of the Kingdom of Jordan. It is the only Arab state that gave them citizenship.

Israel’s absentee’s property law was brutal, there is no denying that. But it was the lease possible evil, from all the evils that were available. And only evils were available. This evil gave both sides the time and ability to recover. Israel took that chance, the Arab side scorned it. If Amjad Iraqi thinks that the creation of the refugees’ problem makes this law an apartheid law; then he must include in it the other, more dominate factors that contributed to the refugee problem. The segregation and ghettoization imposed by Arab governments on Palestinian refugees. And the war initiated by the Palestinian leadership. But if both sides are responsible, and both sides are responsible, this is not apartheid. It is an important part of a greater conflict that has to be resolved. The refugees’ problem is one of several open wounds that need to be closed. But it won’t be solved by destroying Israel. Each side has its grievances and concerns. Ignoring the other side concerns is not an act done in good faith.

It is important to be reminded that in traditional Palestinian polemics the accusation is not apartheid. It is ethnic cleansing. This accusation is challenged in a similar way. If it was ethnic cleansing, where is the responsibility of the Arab side, and the Palestinian side? As mentioned before, this conflict was their idea. And how come this is ethnic cleansing if many Palestinian Arabs remained in Israeli controlled territory? Today their descendants are a fifth of the Israeli population. If this is an ethnic cleansing what would you call the fact the Arab world had been emptied from its Jewish population?  There are slightly more than 3,000 Jews in the Arab World; mostly in Morocco and Tunisia. It is just 3 eighths of a percent from the 800,000 that used to live there. It is one of the best examples in history for the expression, a faint shadow of its former self. And one of the saddest. The one-sided nature of both accusations shows that the criterion is not the nature of the did. But the identity of the accused. And that is more than just bad faith. It is the very nature of bigotry.

Part 3

Anti-Zionism, the case of Amjad Iraqi. When the apartheid blood libel is more than just Antisemitism. Part 1

 A short prelude:
in this article I use repeatedly 3 initials:
WB - West Bank,
SA - South Africa
PA - Palestinian Authority.

Pro-Israel advocates always argue that accusing Israel of apartheid is false and antisemitic. A column by Amjad Iraqi, a writer and editor at +972 magazine, proves these accusations to be an understatement.

Amjad Iraqi titled his arguments under the headline, “Palestinians are tired of proving Israeli apartheid exist.” This is a clear acknowledgment of a failure; obviously. There could be many reasons for such a failure. It could simply be not true. Israel is not an apartheid state. After all, Amjad Iraqi himself is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. This means that he can vote, speak, and work like all other Israeli citizens, Jews and non-Jews. Like them, he can try and get elected to a public office, such as the Israeli parliament, or the council of a major city. And there is nothing in the Israeli legal system that prevents him, or any other non-Jewish citizen from becoming the Prime Minister, or the President of Israel.

There are other possibilities. They could be doing it wrong. Or maybe it’s a trust issue. It is possible that some people have a hard time believing the intentions behind such accusations. They see the corruption and internal divisions of Palestinian politics, and begin to suspect that Israel is being scapegoated to cover up these failures. There are probably more possibilities. But Amjad Iraqi does not need to explore any possibilities, these or others. He already has an answer. It is the target audience that is the problem. The world public opinion is the problem. Not the Palestinians, not even Israel. The world itself is the problem. According to Amjad Iraqi, the world does not understand what apartheid is. The world expects Israel to become an apartheid state in a specific moment in time, while in fact it is a process. That moments in time was supposed to be the annexation of parts of the WB on July 1^st 2020. As of the time of the writing of these words, this hasn’t happened. Whether it will take place or not, I do not know. After the declaration of open relationships between Israel and the UAE, doubt is the dominate assessment. I do think that attempting to predict the outcome of such a move is a fool’s game. And it does not matter who is doing the predictions.

    As for Amjad Iraqi, he tries to prove his thesis by outlining the main points in the development of the Apartheid regime of South Africa. According to him, apartheid, tyranny, and Zionism, are all processes. And he is right about that. Apartheid in SA was a process, and tyrannies across the world and across history are processes. And so are those that oppose them. Democracy and anti-apartheid are also social and political processes. Industrialization is a process. Environmentalism is a process. Education is a process. Fashion is a process. The changes a spoken language goes through is also a process. Amjed Iraqi had found a common denominator between apartheid SA and Zionism that is so wide, it includes apartheid and anti-apartheid forces.

Another wide common denominator that he points to is that both movements were founded by people that found home in a new land; “made this new land their home,” he quotes from the history of SA. Putting aside the fact that the land of Israel is not new, not for Jews, and not to western civilization. The statement, “made this new land their home,” can be said on every immigration movement. This includes the Indians of SA. They also suffered under the apartheid regime. Not as much as black South Africans, but they too were systematically, legally, and socially discriminated. And like the discrimination of black South Africans, it has a history that goes back to earlier years of Afrikaners politics and ideology in South Africa. This common denominator, binds the apartheid regime not only with Zionism, but also with the Mahatma Gandhi.  After all, he lived in SA for 21 years. Those years are known to contribute to the formation of his world view and the nature of his political activism.

These wide common denominators are a good explanation why the Palestinians have been failing to prove that Israeli apartheid exists. These are bad arguments. They are truly horrendous.  Lies are worse. And Amjad Iraqi does use lies. As the old rational from terrorist organizations goes, the aim justifies the means. He states: “Like South Africa, Israel’s complex regime was not created by a single dramatic moment: it was meticulously designed over decades, fueled by an ideology that rejected equality between the natives and the settlers…”. The first lie is about SA. Equality was not simply rejected in Apartheid SA. It was not some vague statement against equality, with a policy of jobs discrimination. In Apartheid SA inequality was glorified and imposed rigidly, and brutally. In all walks of life. That regime not only actively, and forcefully discriminated against people in every aspect of life. It also went after their thoughts on the matter. And punished them for those thoughts. Especially when they were not white. No one in Israel is going after Amjad Iraqi’s thoughts. He diminishes the horrors of that regime, in order to narrow down the differences between Israel and the apartheid regime of SA. Thus, creating the illusion that the two are similar. The aim justifies the means. He doesn’t say it, but he practices it.

Israel does not have a policy of rejecting equality towards the Palestinian Arabs. To begin with Israel and the Zionist movement never had a policy towards the local Arab population. Most of this “policy” was reaction to murderess violence coming from the Palestinian side. Occasionally, dotted with attempts of rapprochement. The most famous example, is the WeitzmanFeisal agreement of 1919. It was a mutually agreed framework to prevent the conflict from taking place in the first place. And it was signed by the leaders of both sides. But the Palestinian leadership chose not to enter into this framework. They made that decision on May 4^th 1920 in a classical pogrom, known as the Nebi Musa riots. The first in a serious of pogroms that got worse and worse. Another Zionists attempt in rapprochements was during the 1920’s. The Histadrut, tried to help Arab workers unionized. The Histadrut is the biggest labor union in Israel. It is an umbrella for trade unions from many fields. Before the creation of Israel, it was the de facto government of the Jewish Zionist community in the land of Israel. They were also Socialists that believed in the international mission of Socialism; unionizing and unifying workers around the word. Therefore, they tried to help Arab workers unionized and improve their working conditions.  This early rapprochement is a struck contrast to the history of apartheid SA. During the first decades of the 20^th century, trade unions of white Europeans in SA, turned against sharing joint cause and equal pay with black trade unions (see the 1919 mark on the timeline).

And the contrasts continue. When SA became separated from the British Empire, it imposed the Apartheid system, where black Africans had no political representation. When Israel became independent, it had Arab parliamentarians in its first legislative assembly. And in each and every elected legislative assembly since. This is why apartheid was more than just inequality. It denied political representation from entire ethnicities, especially the majority black population. In Israel all major minorities have political representations. They include Arab Muslims, Arab Christians, Jewish ethnicities, and various branches of Judaism. Israel is, a one person, one vote political system.

 A luck of political representation is another form of oppression. And another key contrast between Zionist Israel and apartheid SA. Historically, and continuously, Zionism and Israel acknowledged the equality of the Palestinian Arabs. This was done on two levels, on the individual level, with equal rights to all the citizens of Israel. And on the collective level, by accepting the principle of the two states solution. A Palestinian nation state, alongside a Jewish nation state.

Even the much maligned, Israel’s “National State Law” does not denies it. It says that the state of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. It does not forbid the establishment of another nation state on the same land. This Basic (constitutional) law has its problems. But saying that this law forbids national self-determination for Palestinians is false. Thewording of this law is very clear. “(b) The state of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, in which it realizes its natural, cultural, religious, and historical right to self-determination. (c) The exercise of the right to national self-determination in the state of Israel, is unique to the Jewish people.” While Amjed Iraqi declare in a question, “what about the Jewish Nation-State law, passed two years ago, which decrees that self-determination in this land belongs solely to the Jews?” With the change of just one word, land instead of state, he created a gross lie. And the article his “decree” links to, is nothing but a failed attempt to make a duck look like a pig.

Part 2:

BDS stupidity, Easily Found On The Internet

Jon Haber from Divestthis has done an excellent work, recording and demonstrating the fallacy and malice of the BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanction). The anti Israel movement aimed at punishing Israel for defending its citizens. His work is admirable, and as an Israeli I am grateful, immensely.

Venturing just a little bit into his realm of expertise, I was surprise to find out how easily found on the Internet their stupidity is, almost one link after the other. And if it is not stupidity that surfaces it is another shortcoming.




The above video records one of the many false reenactment of what they say happens in Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank. Something thousands of cameras distributed to Arab residents of the West Bank failed to catch. It ends in a libel, the killing of a child waiting at the checkpoint. But look at their uniforms – these are not Israeli army uniforms. They do not even closely resemble IDF uniform. They are probably Belgium army, but they resemble Syrian army uniform. Which at the time of this reenactment, (March 2011) was at the beginning of its current mass murder campaign. A mass murder campaign against its own people that is far more horrendous than this libel. In a way their bad reenactment had unintentionally prophesized the coming brutality of the Syrian regime.

Daraa -  Syria

The next two examples belong to Judith Butler, a feminist activist and philosopher, and a known proponent of the BDS movement. In minute 1:13 she and here audience find the idea of righteous Jews hilarious. Thus exposing the anti-Semite side of the BDS movement. What can be more obvious expression of racism than regarding all Jews as evil, even those who agree with them?
In a later video, from the Q&A part of the lecture, at Minute 7:16 she mentions the “struggle after occupation.” Struggle against what? It seems they are intent to continue fighting Israel even after they win. Ending the occupation of 67, and the occupation of 48 is not enough for them. Lucky they are losing.


In the third video I came across, still in Canada, a certain Ben Saifer is arguing on behalf of the BDS movement, and challenged by Marvin Kurtz of B’nai Brith. Between Minutes 4:00 to 4:12 Saifer’s argument for Israel been apartheid state under the legal definition of the word is followed by his own self-rebuttal. He mentioned their guest speaker, Israeli Arab parliamentarian Jamal Zahalka. Something Marvin Kurtz noticed. Mr. Kurtz deserves a lot of credit for his sound arguments and for not losing his cool in front of this fool. I don’t think I could have done the same.

The last example is of a BDS flashmob in Brisbane Australia. A flashmob that is afraid to dance, afraid to move out of their chairs and meet people. Other people may carry realities that expose their false convictions. And an accidental eye contact may expose their hatred. People full of hate cannot do a flashmob. And you will find it in every BDS flushmob video. First condition for a good flushmob: love humanity.