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Red-Green Anti-Semitism

Jean-Christophe Mounicq | 16.12.2003 16:41 | World

Being a leftist, an immigrant, an Arab and/or a Muslim does not automatically put one on the side of the angels. One has the right to question Leftists and Muslims on their anti-Semitism. European and Muslim media should stop characterizing Israel as a Nazi state. This is not only a question of justice. It is a necessity if one doesn't want the new anti-Semitism to spread and the worst to come.

The recent outburst of anti-Semitism in Europe has little to do with the sad history of European prejudice. The new anti-Semitism is not due to a resurgence of far-right activism or neo-Nazism. Recent anti-Semitic acts have been proven to be of Muslim-Arab origin and have more to do with the Islamization of Europe. On 2 December, the World Jewish Congress brought more evidence of this green anti-Semitism by making public a disputed report kept under wraps by the European Union.

If European authorities are not facing up to anti-Jewish sentiment among Muslim immigrants in Europe, it is partly because this new anti-Semitism capitalizes on the "politically correct" anti-Israeli bias currently in vogue in the EU, a bias promoted by many European politicians.

European politicians also have trouble admitting that it is bolstered by the steady and uncontrolled immigration of Muslims since the 1960s and the spreading of Radical Islam by and among immigrants. This is another result of political correctness which impeaches any criticism of the sources of anti-Semitism. Being the result of political correctness linked to leftist bias of the media, the new anti-Semitism may also be qualified as Red.

Contemporary political correctness defines any limits on immigration as racism. Any political leader, intellectual or "normal" citizen, who suggests that immigration should be controlled through the application of law or who advocates repatriation of illegal immigrants is denounced as a racist. It is sometimes even considered outrageous to suggest that immigrants should obey the laws of their host country. "We cannot obey this law because it is incompatible with the Koran" is a claim heard more and more often from Muslims. "Native Europeans" often seem ready to abandon their principles to avoid conflict.

Airplanes full of illegal immigrants sent back to their native country have been compared, by French intellectuals, journalists and political activists, to the trains that carried Jews to Dachau. Thus a former French interior minister, Jean-Louis Debr�, who carried out this policy, was portrayed as a Nazi despite being of Jewish origin himself. This attitude was termed as "Reductio ad Hitlerum" by philosopher Leo Strauss. The sophism might be caricatured as: Hitler loved dogs; X loves dogs; thus X is a disciple of Hitler.

Any criticism of the culture of any immigrant is also viewed as racist. The only permissible criticism seems to be that which is directed against Western civilization. Bad Westerners are portrayed as the only violent colonizers and evil invaders of all history.

Anyone who dares to recall certain facts -- Mohammed was a warrior, conquests by Muslims were made by the sword, violence is allowed and sometimes recommended by the Koran -- is viewed as Islamophobic. The Muslim world, which suffered from the Crusades and has been colonized, is "good." And their law and customs are "good" too.

Few dare to mention that Muslims have also colonized, tortured and slaughtered millions, that the Turks were responsible for the first genocide of the 20th century with the extermination of 1.4 million Christian Armenians, that during World War II many Muslim leaders including the Great Mufti of Jerusalem, al Hadj al Husseini, helped the Nazis to constitute Muslim SS divisions, and that Christians still today are stigmatized and repressed throughout the Muslim world.

As many books written by French teachers show, young French Muslims frequently deny the fact of Nazi genocide against Europe's Jews. Muslim clerics, frequently backed by their governments, continue to disseminate the medieval forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," also a favorite of such salubrious organizations as the Ku Klux Klan.

Political correctness also insists that communism, socialism and leftist radicalism are good. Conservatism and the Right are bad. They created Fascism and Nazism (when actually both are forms of totalitarian Socialism). Bush and Sharon are from the Right. They are evil. Their countries are both capitalist and rich. Thus bad. Rich Israelis and Americans from the right are attacking poor Palestinians and Iraqis. This leads to the portrayal of Israeli and American leaders as "Nazis."

The condemnation of Nazi Germany, a totalitarian and powerful state with a strong army, brought into vogue the condemnation of any national state. "With the Six Day War, the Israelis demonstrated their capacity for power. For the anti-Semite, the Jews once considered weak and stateless came to be viewed as strong and nationalist," writes Gilles William Goldnadel in Le Nouveau Br�viaire de la Haine (new breviary of hate). The Israeli state built around one religion and defended by a strong army became the hated state.

This idea explains why Israel is viewed by 59 percent of Europeans as the country which most endangers world peace. Repeated by Islamists and leftists, the "green-red" alliance, Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic remarks are widely spread during leftist anti-globalization rallies that are always pro-Palestinian. The revealed European report noted that: "Often this generated a combination of anti-Zionist and anti-American views that formed an important element in the emergence of an anti-Semitic mood in Europe.

The consequences are that "Jewish communities are once again victims of hostile acts in an atmosphere of relative indifference," writes Goldnadel. The latest fire in a French Jewish school in Bondy illustrates this point. French authorities have firmly condemned such acts. But they have not dared to denounce those responsible, young French Arabs, and have taken no action to prevent any further acts.

Rabbi Marvin Hier is right to say that "shocking poll results, showing that European popular opinion is that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace, bigger than North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan, defies logic." But is it "a racist fantasy?" Today, racism is only apparent when one suggests that a Muslim or an Arab country is dangerous.

Ancient anti-Semitism is still alive in Europe. The recent declarations of German General Reinhard Gunzel and German Parliamentarian Martin Hohmann demonstrate this clearly. Hohman called the Jews "a nation of perpetrators responsible for millions of murders in the name of socialism and Bolshevism" because Marx, Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev were Jewish. Never mind that Lenin and Stalin were not Jewish and murdered thousands of Jewish communists.

This old anti-Semitism from the Right is progressively disappearing. The new anti-Semitism comes from the Left. Eerily echoing the voice of the defunct Soviet Union, anti-Israelism today is the most powerful modern vector of anti-Semitism. Since World War II, anti-Semites have attacked the Jewish state as a substitute for the Jewish people. One may notice that intellectuals from the Left who propagate anti-Israelism and political correctness are often Jewish themselves. But the overwhelming numbers of anti-Semitic acts in Europe are of Arab-Muslim immigrant origin.

To avoid debate on these facts, as the EU is doing, is counterproductive. On 19 November, one French Jewish disc jockey was murdered by an Arab Muslim. The murderer was proud of "having eliminated one Jewish scum from the earth." To prevent any debate, French authorities said the Arab was "psychologically disturbed." Maybe. But are other crimes from "less psychologically disturbed" Muslims needed before Muslims and the Left are called to task?

Jean-Christophe Mounicq

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

Racists complaining about racists!

16.12.2003 18:08


Can you can explain how Arabs who are Semite can be Anti-Semitic?

Notice the line 'European politicians also have trouble admitting that it is bolstered by the steady and uncontrolled immigration of Muslims since the 1960s and the spreading of Radical Islam by and among immigrants'

Prejudice at its most acute




Haidar


Examples, please?

16.12.2003 18:23

Erm, this left-wing anti-semitism that you Zionist apologists are forever wittering on and on and on and on about - does it actually exist? I mean, I'd be willing to take my comrades to task for it, if I had any concrete examples.

The nearest you come to it here is talking of 'pro-Palestinian' sentiment at anti-globalisation or anti-war marches, which, as any moron must know by now, is hardly anti-semitism - there are plenty of good, anti-racist reasons for opposing the illegal and murderous occupation and colonisation of someone else's land.

So come on, cite me some examples of this 'left-wing anti-semitism' that you guys are frightening gormless Americans with. I need to know!

Aim Here


Anti-Zionism is NOT Anti-Semitic

16.12.2003 18:59

for the 4000the time on this site, another deliberately misleading set of words. the usual pile of tripe from Zionist apologisers. The state of Israel has been responsible for crimes against humanity and state terrorism - disproportionatley metered out to a Palestinian population now in a minority to the Jewish majority.

You started it, in 1948 when Britain started resettling Jewish people on what had been up until then (and some of which still is), Palestinian land.

Mossad-Watch


Timing

16.12.2003 19:09

This particular brand of bullshit seems to have grown exponentially in the last few months, though I know it's been around longer in the US. This particular writer is obviously just ranting (Muslims = green, the corporate-owned racist press has a 'left-wing bias' etc - who does he think he's kidding?) but there is also a mainstream version of this 'criticism of Sharon's security policy is tantamount to Holocaust denial' line appearing in the press.

This stuff muddies the waters just as much as claiming Palestinian suicide bombers are holy martyrs muddies the waters. Yes, anti-Jewish prejudice does exist, among old-school fascists in Europe and the US and among some of the more intolerant Muslims around the world. Yes, a few of the cleverer anti-Jewish bigots dress up their prejudice as criticism of the actions of the Israeli state and army.

HOWEVER:

Opposition to the actions of a particular group of individuals (in this case, Sharon and the other members of his government responsible for policy relating to the West Bank and Gaza Strip) does not equal opposition to a) the existence of Israel b) the right of Jews in Israel to continue to live there, or c) the very existence of Jews as a people and a religion.

No-one would suggest that criticism of the actions of Vajpayee's BJP government in India indicates a deep-rooted prejudice against Hindus, or, indeed, that criticism of Bush's overtly Christian government in the US indicates a deep-rooted prejudice against Christians. So why is criticism of Sharon's government labelled as anti-Jewish prejudice?

It could be argued that the 'critics of Sharon are all secret anti-Jewish bigots' line is the last irrational gasp of the losing side of an argument. But which argument? Between whom? The 'global anti-Jewish conspiracy' myth is precisely as hollow as the 'global Jewish conspiracy' myth. Both myths seem to emanate from different bits of the right wing, as can be seen from the way leftists of all shades get cast into both camps

The effect of the myth-making on all sides is to continue to marginalise the voices - Israelis, Palestinians, diaspora Jews and everyone else - calling for a peaceful, accommodating, solution that treats human beings as equals.

There's no conspriracy, just the age-old battle of war against peace, propaganda against truth...

laura


Here you go...

16.12.2003 20:06

First of all, the 'arabs are semites' thing is just silly. So much is obvious. Anti-semitism is the term most commonly used to designate hatred of Jews. If you object, feel free to promote the use of the term Judeophobia, Judenhass or Jew-hatred.

Laura, I'm not quite sure about your objection to Muslims-Green, but it's nothing to do with conservationism.

As for left-wing antisemitism not existing, a few pointers:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1106760,00.html
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1100094,00.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/01/51305.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/04/28754.html
 http://vigilant.tv/article/3423
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/078796851X/026-3248021-4342045

ALSO don't forget to read as much as you can of the stifled EU report that concluded left wing and muslim anti-semitism was clearly seperable from legitimate criticism of Israel (e.g. burning down synagogues).

 http://haganah.us/hmedia/euasr-00.html

P.L. (posted original article)


Sigh, opposing the Israeli government is not racism

16.12.2003 21:40

Only one of those links (other than the amazon book, which I can't really investigate at short notice) points out any member of the left saying or doing anything racist, and all of those articles just equate opposing the policies of the Israeli government with anti-Jewish racism, a dishonest and cheap argument if ever there was one.

When I made my original post, I had forgotten about Tam Dalyell's idiotic 'cabal' statement, something he should be roundly criticised/excoriated/humiliated for. I did have a wee bit of respect for him until he came out with that shit, so yeah, I'll grant you Dalyell. He hardly constitutes a horrifying new wave of left anti-semitism by himself though.

Sure there's a nasty rise in anti-semitism in Europe these days, but the perpetrators are generally a mixture of white nazis and some of the madder Islamists - not us lefties. You Zionist apologists seem to be throwing mud at us on the offchance that it might stick and scare us away from opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine.



Aim Here


some comments

16.12.2003 21:43

well...
Israel a Nazi state? I dont think so, clearly does not compare to six million dead in 1940s. But..I dont recall most critics of Israel referring to it as Nazi. Those who do are wrong in their analysis of it.

Anti-semitic attacks in Europe are of course deeply troubling to anybody but too many seem to forget that the racist attacks faced by not only muslim immigrants but any body non-white are increasing at a much more worrying rate. Also to say that right-wing anti-semitism has decreased is to ignore the rise of far-right parties across Europe, just look at the small but steady growth of the BNP in Britain today (and they are nazis) and Le Pen in france, the Nazis parading in Germany recently etc.

A point:
Actually when it comes to anti-semitism it seems that the founders of zionism where among the worse:
Leading zionists campaigned for western countries to close their borders to Jews in the 1940s because "people must be forced to go to Palestine"

Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organisation, in 1912 even says:
"Each country can only absorb a limited number of Jews if she doesnt want disorders in her stomach. Germany already has too many Jews"

A quote from Ben-Gurion says it all:
"If I knew it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England, or only half of them, to Israel, then I would opt for the second alternative"
In other words establishing Israel took precedence over Jewish lives.

Yitzhak Shamir says (later Deputy PM of Israel):
"Throughout the war, nothing much was done by the Zionist leadership to help the Jews...Many things could have been done"

These quite clearly show the attitude of leading zionists at the time. If zionism is all about protecting the interests of Jewish people then why not help Jews in Nazi germany?
Dont try and cloud criticism of Israel with accusations of anti-semitism, it really doesnt help. That this argument has been popularised recently in the mainstream media to smear the anti-war/anti-capitalist movement should be no surprise.

confused about zionism


one simple question......

16.12.2003 23:34

In the face of this sort of aggressive propaganda it is wearisome to have to keep pointing out that there is a huge and significant difference between anti-semitism and the current widespread profound opposition to the policies of the Israeli government.

So let us just ask one simple question.......

Why does Israel expect, alone in the middle east, to escape any criticism for its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty or to submit to nuclear inspections, despite its reputed possession of more than two hundred nuclear missiles and the ability to deliver them upon any of its neighbours ?

Any defender of Israel's current defence policies care to answer ?

I guess not.

Please bear in mind that any right of Israel to defend itself must apply equally to its neighbours. Any answer which boils down to "we are special- we are uniquely vulnerable- we are the chosen of god- we are more trustworthy" is not acceptable to the huge majority of fair-minded individuals.

The last of these four defences, in particular, has been completely demolished by Israel's repeated violations of international law and of humanitarian principles in the occupied territories.

kftyh


Clear difference

17.12.2003 02:47

"there is a huge and significant difference between anti-semitism and the current widespread profound opposition to the policies of the Israeli government."

Yes! - so please tell me you don't think that burning down or blowing up synagogues, vandalising cemetaries, murdering Rabbis, blood libels, denying or even praising the holocaust, Latuff/Streicher style Der Stuermer cartoons featuring hook nosed Jews eating babies - is in any way 'criticism of Israel' rather than just 'hatred of all Jews'.

And Israel IS "uniquely vulnerable" in the Middle East - that's been demonstrated by repeated invasion attempts and constant insurgency from all of Israel's neighbours.

Seeing as the replies to this post seem to be more calm and rational than some I've seen, perhaps it's a sign that a distinction is starting to be made between legitimate criticism of Israel and the vast wave of violent Jew-hatred spreading across Europe that has absolutely nothing to do with Israel at all.

The reason the disease has spread to some in the left is because it's been confused with anti-Zionism, but the disease has been a stain on the European and Arab past for longer than Zionism has existed. It's too easy for - to give two examples - white European neo-nazis and Arab Islamist fascists to dress Jew-hatred up as anti-Zionism.

P.L.


LEFT RIGHT GREEN RED RADICAL CHIC and THE NEW NAZIS

17.12.2003 08:25

Israeli / Zionist propaganda is great !!
They are experts at converting black into white right in front of our noses. Or fuckery into fact .
In a recent opinion poll carried out by the EU europeans "voted" nuke powered rogue state israel as the N0 1 big danger to world peace. pretty good choice I would say . But EU leaders like Romani Prodi don't see it like that, they reckon we are all anti semetic. it's now a case of pull the other one on Israel .
Left and right are just two different ways of getting shafted . Greens and reds errr are they goodies or baddies ?
Oh no of course the right are the baddies and the Left are the goodies , so the greens and reds are a bunch of radical chic dick heads .. and the right are the baddies , I grew up believing that israel and the cowboys were the goodies and the indians and the arabs were the baddies , and then it hit me ....
What i fnd really funny is that these mossad / israeli propaganda releases is that they really think that people are still seperated into there various sheep pens, left , right , green , red ect ect .

dr feelgood


Screw you, nazi thug

17.12.2003 10:23

You're right, Dr. Feelgood - it's getting harder and harder to separate so called left wing militants from so called extreme right wing neo-nazi white supremacists and their allies the genocidal Islamist fascists.

You espouse the same rhetoric about 'Zionist occupation' and 'Zionist conspiracies' that are found on Combat 18 sites.

Israel exists and will continue to exist because the Jewish people have a right to self determination in the land they have lived in for millennia.

P.L.


why ask me such an extraordinary question?

17.12.2003 11:24

PL asks me:
"Yes! - so please tell me you don't think that......."

How could you possibly imagine that I could think such things ? You really need to get a more balanced view of the world around you. You are NOT surrounded by people who think things like that ! This is paranoia.

If you find hostility to your views, it is not based on prejudice or racism. Not often. Not even usually. Just very occasionally. There are always a few extremists on every issue. Just as there are jewish people who declaim the inferior status of the goyim, and the jews privileged relationship with the almighty.

There HAS been a huge increase in hostility. But it is hostility to Israeli policies. Notice also the huge increase in hostilty to American policies. Is this due to racism against Americans ? How could it be - they have no homogeneity.

You say Israel IS uniquely vulnerable, but the evidence you supply shows only that Israel WAS uniquely vulnerable. This is no longer the case. Israel is one of the most heavily and efficiently armed nations of the world. None of its neighbours would stand a cat in hell's chance against it, even discounting its nuclear weapons.

So I've treated your points with respect. How about answering mine ?

Should Israel declare its nuclear weapons and make them available to inspection ? How otherwise can any criticism be levelled at any other middle eastern country with a secret nuclear programme ? Like Iran, for instance.

I'm not saying Israel should necessarily disarm. Just that honesty demands that all this deceit be ended. Otherwise no real moves towards MiddleEastern peace and harmony can be meaningful, and no-one can respect Israel as an honest and trustworthy negotiating partner.

kftyh


OK, but...

17.12.2003 12:36

Apologies if you thought I wasn't treating your reply with respect - I was emphasising the difference between anti-Israel protest and violent anti-Jewish hatred. Many Indymedia users, I have noticed, refuse to recognise that there is any difference.

Every religious group thinks they have a privileged relationship with the Almighty or whatever deities they might worship - Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shias et al.

Israel was and IS uniquely vulnerable. While Israel may have, temporarily, the ability to ensure no direct military aggression is likely to secure the aim of exterminating every Jew 'from the Jordan to the sea', warfare has evolved since the last time Arab dictatorships tried. The jihads in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir etc are more characteristic of the tactics used against Israel.

Since the withdrawal from Lebanon, Hizbollah mortar and rocket attacks have continued unabated, so 'occupation' isn't the issue. Hamas attacks (note that the Hamas charter explicitly demands the extermination of every Jew, the complete obliteration of Jewish physical, cultural and religious existence) are often co-ordinated by Syria.

The threat isn't just of a conventional military nature. Why would Israel submit to inspections from the UN, a body that sees Israeli children as subhuman, only fit to burn to death on bombed buses?

Israel's first UN proposal, suggesting that Israeli children have the right to live, was rejected by the Arab fascist regimes that massed together to turn the South African anti-racism conference into a pogrom. The same Arab fascist regimes repeatedly produce proposals glorifying the murder of Israeli children while asserting that only the lives of Arab children have any value.

Presumably the International Atomic Energy Agency would conduct the inspections. The director general of the IAEA is Egyptian - Egypt being one of the fascist regimes that pay for, organise and revel in the murder of Israeli children.

No criticism has been levelled by the IAEA against Iran. Perhaps the odd 'stern' word - with El-Baradei nodding and winking when the cameras have gone.

Heterogeneity is no bar to racism. There is plenty of anti-American racism around too - all Americans are fat, stupid, ignorant, aggressive rednecks, right?

P.L.


Who is an extremist, who is a freedom-fighter ...& who is anti-semitic?

17.12.2003 14:28

P.L. didn't you know, Hamas was originally set up by Mossad.

They (the Zionists) try to discredit every action against the Israeli state as being Anti-Jew ...you, Sir, make many valid points, but don't think for a minute that the majority reading this think anything other than the fact that Israel under Sharon in action and deed is effectively fascist - building a secuirty wall beyond the (mis-construed) border well into Palestinian territory.

(Oh, and Hi Guys, yes, it's me ...since I know that you can read my ISP!!!)

Mossad-Watch


my hopes were raised for a moment, PL......

17.12.2003 21:37

The first part of your posting began to look like the calm exploration of a rational difference of viewpoint.

And then--------

" Why would Israel submit to inspections from the UN, a body that sees Israeli children as subhuman, only fit to burn to death on bombed buses? "

Irrational outburst of hatred, misrepresenting what happened so extremely as to be laughable if not so tragic.
I presume you reach this bizarre conclusion because the general assembly refused to allow israel to dictate the inclusion of extra text of its choosing into a resolution critical of Israel, in order to deflect and negate the force of that criticism. Of course we all deplore the deaths of innocent Israeli children. Of all and any children. But it is not for one group to dictate to another when and how it must say so.

Please recognise there are profound disagreements here, of which the death of children is only a part, if a desperately tragic part. Remember Allbright, who said agreed on the record that sanctions had killed 500,000 Iraqi children, but that on balance it was worth it. HALF A MILLION !!! And more now in the war - probably a couple of thousand. I utterly deplore ALL these deaths, and justify none

The point is - it is ludicrous when engaged in an argument to try to demand that your opponent may not speak unless he incorporates into every utterance issues and statements selected by you. Or to claim that any refusal to obey proves malevolent intent.

The normal course of events is to let him state his position, speak against it, then see how many votes he gets. THEN is your opportunity to put up a resolution of your own, incorporating what you feel he left out, and see how many votes YOU get.

You know, I don't want to be unkind, but most of us met this sort of transparently self-serving and illogical behaviour in kindergarten. We see through it in a trice. We all understand what you are trying to do. What else can you do when you know you face the united condemnation of virtually the whole world. What was it? 270 (170?) to 5, or something like that ?

The worst of it is that it is so insulting to the rest of us. I mean it. Do you really believe that we are so stupid that such childish bullying could have the faintest hope of blinding us.

And oh, your shameless racism. You actually believe that no egyptian, however carefully chosen and with whatever proven record of probity, could ever act impartially. Like a little toddler, you live in a world of bluster and tantrums, where you believe that shouting something and waving a stick makes it so.

You seem unaware that adults are watching and shaking their heads sadly. And regretting that a foolish teenager is continually feeding you enough pocket money to buy horrid sticks with nails in.

I refer to "You", the Israeli govt supporter, please note. NOT to "You" the racially or religiously Jewish person. Many, many such persons are saddened adults too.

kftyh