It's too easy just to blame Jews
Paul Sheehan
January 12, 2009

'American Jews are not authentic. They're obsessed with money. There's something annoying about them." This comment, from a Jewish reporter, Danny Ababa, for Israel's largest-selling daily, Yediot Aharonot, was published last November 21, while I happened to be in Israel. Not surprisingly, it caused consternation, especially among the American Jews attending an international assembly in Jerusalem.

On the same day, there was a report of physical violence between competing factions within the ultra-orthodox Jewish communities in Jerusalem. At the same time, ultra-nationalist Jews were preparing for a siege against the Israeli Defence Forces over their occupation of an illegal Jewish settlement in Hebron in the Palestinian territories.

When it comes to the morality of Israel's behaviour, no community is more fiercely divided, or vocal, or politically fractionalised than the Jewish community itself. Israel is special, and it inspires passions out of all proportion to its size given that the total number of Jews worldwide is about 13 million, or 0.2 per cent of the world's population.

This applies doubly to anti-Jewish sentiment, which is being carried by the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. Look no further than the demonstration in Melbourne eight days ago. Amid demonstrators protesting against the Israeli attacks on Gaza were those carrying signs that said: "Clean the Earth from the dirty Zionists" . . . "Chosen dirty people of the Earth" . . . "Stop the sub-human Zionist land-grabbing barbarian mass murder in occupied Palestine".

Then there was the young man with an Australian accent, interviewed by the BBC in Beirut last week, during a demonstration against Israel's actions in Gaza: "I'm an Australian, but I'm here to kill Jews."

Kill Jews. Dirty People. Sub-human. Mass murderers. Greedy.

The passions run deep and viscerally. After 60 years of conflict without end over the borders of Israel, since 1948, the intellectual and moral terrain is filled with ruts, trenches and no-go areas. On both sides minds snap shut at the first hint of sympathy for the enemy.

When I visited a Palestinian refugee camp in November, the Aida camp on the West Bank, near Bethlehem, I was escorted around by a charming 16-year-old, Mohammed, who wants to become a doctor. He is a third-generation refugee. When I asked if he had ever visited Israel, he replied: "Yes, I have been to occupied Palestine." (Where was the term "occupied Palestine" when the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza were an ethnic majority living under the rule of an ethnic minority, the Hashemites of Jordan, for 20 years until 1967?)

Even in Sydney, negative stereotypes of Jews sit quietly below the surface: the gaudy Hungarians of Double Bay, the haughty South Africans who left as soon as the blacks took over, the Zionist billionaires Frank Lowy and Dick Pratt, the divided loyalties of the orthodox Jews. It's not hard to scratch a Jewish itch in Lakemba, Punchbowl, Bankstown or Auburn.

The idea of disproportionate Jewish power and success is an unspoken emotional subtext that puts so much heat and resentment into the Israel-Palestine debate. It is not just geography and history and morality. Then action begets reaction. Complaints have come into the Herald from outraged Jews: your coverage is biased against Israel. It is insulting. Expect consequences. We will boycott your paper. You will feel our power.

Because the existence of Israel radiates an affront to the Muslim world, only Palestinians have been sequestered from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to a special agency. That agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, has warehoused displaced Palestinians for decades because it has been in the interests of the Arab world for this problem not to be solved.

Gaza has become a giant warehouse of misery. It has no economic growth, no prospects, almost no civil order, yet about half the population is under the age of 17. The population has exploded amid economic privation. Women, living under Sharia law, are used primarily as breeding stock. When Nizar Rayan, the most senior member of Hamas, was killed in the latest Israeli attacks, he had four wives and 14 children.

Why did Israel go into this strategically useless, densely populated area, which it had already given up, risking urban warfare, civilian casualties, international condemnation and more anti-Semitism? Based on briefings I received from the Israeli Government, there are four reasons for Operation Cast Lead:

- A perception had grown in the Arab world that Israel was losing its stomach for a war of attrition and had responded tepidly to 6000 Hamas rocket attacks. Israel wants to end that perception.

- To stop the rocket attacks, Israel has a very specific target, the Philadelphi corridor along the border with Egypt. It has occupied the corridor, destroyed the smuggling tunnels, and will pass control only to an international military force.

- Neither Israel nor Egypt want an Islamic Hamastan solidifying on their doorsteps in Gaza. They want Hamas to be synonymous with chaos.

- Finally, Israel believes it did not waste the war in Lebanon in 2006. Hezbollah was badly damaged. After 17 days of attacks in Gaza, Hezbollah has not opened

You saying those signs didn't exist Abu?

That the "Zionist controlled" media just made it up?

Quick better tighten your tin hat....

Hmm you left out the "I'm here to kill Jews"  quote and looks to me klike YOU are trying to misrepresent the article Abu...  shame on you.  muslims need to learn to stop lying to non-muslims.

hmmm  so whom isn't reading the article?
Whom is out of his depth?

tsk, tsk, tsk...  you keep proving what a hypocrite you are Abu.

No use just dismissing someone and hoping dumb people will agree with you.

abu_rashid wrote on Jan 12^th, 2009 at 5:26am:


Whom is a word.

Whom is the singular of who  you are a singular person I suppose...  I was referring to one person that would be you.  hence whom.

Or have you Muslims got some sort of borg hive mind thing happening.

You can't win an argument on this topic Abu.  All you get is abuse and derision.  It's obvious, that even Grendel, who professes to be so knowledgeable and well read is ignorant on this subject although he calls others clueless.

It is impossible to explain the difference between a zionist and a jew to those who won't listen and it's because they can't or won't distinguish between an extremist Muslim and a moderate muslim.

Everyone's lumped into the same category - Christians/Jews = righteousness and civility - Muslims = jihadists and primitivity.

You can't win against hate.  So much for religious conviction.  Those who contain the most hate call themselves Christians.

Calanen wrote on Jan 12^th, 2009 at 7:38am:


Do YOU know who owns news lmd?

And now for some balance-

"YOU'VE got to hand it to the Israeli public relations flacks: only they could convince you that killing children was an act of self-defence.

As the recent bombing of Gaza began, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave instructions for the Foreign Ministry to take "emergency measures to adapt Israel's public relations to the ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip". Livni went on to call for foreign language speakers to put Israel's case to the world.

In Australia, the ABC relies for "independent" comment on the smooth Mark Regev, an official spokesman for the Israeli Government, and Martin Indyk, a former official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

It's the oldest trick in the book: if they look and sound like us, we are more likely to be sympathetic towards them. Anyone putting an alternative view is immediately cast as anti-Semitic. Our media glibly accept the excuses of the Israeli public relations machine and ignore the horrific realities of Israel's barbaric behaviour in Gaza.

It's the same in most Western countries - the groundwork has been laid and the responses of world leaders are predictable. When the Israeli attacks began, right on cue Western leaders regretted the killing of children but in the same breath condemned Palestinians for firing rockets from their walled ghetto into Israel.
It seems that no matter what injustice Palestinians have suffered in the past 60 years, they should be grateful for the privilege of being able to live under the jackboot of Israeli occupation.

For three years since daring to democratically elect a government not favoured by Israel or the US, the people of Gaza have been subjected to a starvation blockade. Yet the civilised world has barely raised a note of concern. Is this the standard by which we judge the behaviour of nations? We talk about Darfur and Zimbabwe but say little of the gross abuse of human rights that occurs daily in the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Our double standards have made a mockery of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention.

Our failure to condemn the totally disproportionate, not to say illegal, attacks by the Israeli Defence Force has changed the way conflict is regarded around the world. Last August, Russia employed the same tactics in its attack on Georgia as Israel did against Lebanon.
Using cluster bombs or phosphorus bombs against civilian targets is perfectly legal if you can believe the Israeli Defence Force.

Assassinating Hamas leaders during a ceasefire does not constitute a breach. Collective punishments against communities, obstructing medical and humanitarian relief - all part of Israel's tactics - could now be considered acceptable behaviour in national and international conflict.
Last month, Falk called for an International Criminal Court investigation to determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.

To that long list of war crimes and crimes against humanity we can now add the atrocities committed in this recent invasion. But, with its superior public relations forces, Israel can easily deflect concern about its barbaric assault."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/gett ... 52831.html

Here are some FACTS dont let them get in the way of your jew hugging fantasies.