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The Boy Who Cried Wolf (by Latuff)

Latuff | 22.04.2004 03:00 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Social Struggles

Copyright-free artwork by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff, on behalf of brave Palestinian people and their struggle against U.S. backed Israeli terror.

Cry Wolf
Cry Wolf


(There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!")


ABUSING "ANTI-SEMITISM"

by Ran HaCohen


The eve of the Jewish New Year is an excellent occasion for what Jewish tradition calls Kheshbon Nefesh, or soul-searching on so-called "anti-semitism", which has now become the single most important element of Jewish identity. Jews may believe in God or not, eat pork or not, live in Israel or not, but they are all united by their unlimited belief in anti-semitism.

When a Palestinian kills innocent Israeli civilians, it's anti-semitism. When Palestinians attack soldiers of Israel's occupation army in their own village, it's anti-semitism. When the UN General Assembly votes 133 to 4 condemning Israel's decision to murder the elected Palestinian leader, it means that except for the US, Micronesia and Marshal Islands, all other countries on the globe are anti-semitic. Even when a pregnant Palestinian woman is stopped at an Israeli check-point and gives birth in open field, the only lesson to be learnt is that Ha'aretz journalist Gideon Levy – who reported two such cases in the past two weeks, one in which the baby died – is an anti-semite.

Anti-semitism is an all-encompassing explanation. Anything unpleasant to anti-Palestinian ears is just another instance of anti-semitism. Jewish consciousness focused on anti-semitism has taken the shape of anti-semitic conspiracy theories, like that of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion: whereas the anti-semitic classic relates every calamity to Jewish conspiracy, Jews relate to anti-semitic conspiracy every criticism of Israel. As we shall see, this is not the only similarity between anti-Palestinianism and anti-semitism.

It is high time to say it out loud: in the entire course of Jewish history, since the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BC, there has never been an era blessed with less anti-semitism than ours. There has never been a better time for Jews to live in than our own.

Up to just two generations ago, anti-semitism was a legitimate political and cultural attitude in most of the world's leading powers. Anti-semitism was something you could express openly, even be proud of. Disliking Jews was as natural then as detesting cockroaches is today. Nowadays, anti-semitism is a taboo and a criminal offence in every developed country on earth. Even truly anti-semitic groups deny their anti-semitic character, knowing it is politically unacceptable. Unlike earlier centuries, where anti-semitism stood in direct proportion to the number of Jews in the pertinent country and thus constituted a real threat to them, the countries where anti-semitism is still thriving today – mostly poor Muslim countries – are virtually empty of Jews, so that the actual danger to Jews there is minimal; representatives of Muslim communities in the West have to give up their anti-semitism as a precondition for entering the political system.

Just a few generations ago – the Holocaust aside for now – Jews were treated as second-class citizens in all major Jewish concentrations. They were denied civic and religious rights almost universally. There were limits on access of Jews to universities and many professions, to public service and to any position of power; sometimes even marrying and making children was dependent on quotas and licences. Such institutionalised discrimination and oppression is not only totally extinct today: it is utterly unimaginable. With one revealing exception (Israel, where non-orthodox religious Jews are discriminated against), Jews enjoy full religious freedom wherever they are. They have full citizenship wherever they live, with full political, civic and human rights like every other citizen. This may sound trivial, but it was not so just a few generations ago and throughout the entire first and second millennia. Repressive regimes have either collapsed, or their Jewish population has left them.

Nowadays, an orthodox Jew can run for the most powerful office on earth, the president of the United States (I personally hope he doesn't win). A Jew can be the mayor of Amsterdam in "anti-semitic" Holland, a minister in "anti-semitic" Britain, a leading intellectual in "anti-semitic" France, a president of "anti-semitic" Switzerland, editor-in-chief of a major daily in "anti-semitic" Denmark, or an industrial tycoon in "anti-semitic" Russia. None of this was imaginable a century ago. Jews have free and unlimited access to every institution in every country they live in; Ironically, a converted Jew is even mentioned as a possible successor to the Holy See. At the same time, "anti-semitic" Germany (home to the world's fastest-growing Jewish community) gives Israel three military submarines for free, "anti-semitic" France has proliferated to Israel the nuclear technology for its weapons of mass destruction, and "anti-semitic" Europe has welcomed Israel as a single non-European country to everything from football and basketball leagues to the Eurovision Song Contest, and has granted Israeli universities a special status for scientific fund-raising.

The Holocaust has been the greatest catastrophe in Jewish history and among the greatest crimes in human history – but the very fact that these words sound so obvious is a great victory on anti-semitism. The term genocide, coined by a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust (R. Lemkin) and modelled on the genocide of the Jews, has found its way to international legislation and been affirmed as a crime by almost all the countries on earth, including eventually (with a shamefully long delay) the US. The Holocaust has (justly!) become the prototype of genocide, a synonym for Crime against Humanity. There were several other genocides in the 20th century – enough to mention the Armenian genocide by Turks (which preceded and inspired the Holocaust) or the Tutsi genocide by Hutu in Rwanda (which was even more "efficient" than the Holocaust). However, while other genocides are still struggling even to be acknowledged, the Holocaust is the only genocide which is considered unquestionable to the extent that its denial is in some countries a criminal offence. No other genocide even comes close to the 250 memorial museums and research institutes dedicated to the Holocaust around the world, and no other genocide survivors have been financially compensated like the persecuted Jews. In such a world, whoever cries "anti-semitism" twice a day has an extremely heavy burden of proof to shoulder.

The State of Israel has always been cynically exploiting allegations of anti-semitism, condemning purported and cooperating with actual anti-semites at will. Last week, to quote just a minor example, when the world was outraged by Italy's monarch Berlusconi's claim that his fascist predecessor Mussolini "had not killed anybody but just sent people to holidays in exile" – which comes fairly close to Holocaust denial – the only official Israeli reaction was that of an unnamed spokesman for the 2nd Minister in the Ministry of Finance, who mumbled that "If the words have been said (!), one can not agree with them, since History speaks for itself" (Ha'aretz 14.9, p.12 bottom). The reason for this ear-deafening outcry is simple: Berlusconi, like most right-wing extremists, has taken a decisive pro-Israel stand in Europe. So let him even deny the Holocaust if he likes, Israel will show understanding. After all, Israel was a closest ally of the most racist regime in the post-WWII era, South Africa's Apartheid: moral considerations have never played any role whatsoever in Israel's politics and diplomacy.

On a state level, some may excuse it as Realpolitik. The institutionalised pro-Israel lobby has compromised its integrity to such an extent, that I won't be surprised if, say, the Anti-Defamation League, which cries anti-semitic wolf on a daily basis, now hails the fascist apologist Berlusconi as a distinguished statesman; Actually, precisely this world-record of hypocricy has taken place this very week. Much more disturbing is the intensive resorting to "anti-semitism" claims by Jewish individuals and institutions who do try to maintain a look of integrity.Such claims take many creative forms: for example, some Jews have a morally repulsive pastime of looking for worst cases of oppression – Russian atrocities in Chechnya (whose veterans, by the way, join the Israeli army), Chinese in Tibet – which supposedly "prove" that the media focus on Israel is anti-semitically motivated. As if it were not outrageous enough to be on the shortlist of evil-doers, as if only the gold medal in this satanic competition, but not bronze or silver, is worthy of protest. And I wonder how many of those arm-chair pro-Israel Tibet specialists ever bothered to actually do something to free Tibet, except for exploiting its suffering to distract from Israel's atrocities.

The abuse of alleged anti-semitism is morally despicable. It took hundreds of years and millions of victims to turn anti-semitism – a specific case of racism which led historically to genocide – into a taboo. People abusing this taboo in order to support Israel's racist and genocidal policy towards the Palestinians do nothing less than desecrate the memory of those Jewish victims, whose death, from a humanistic perspective, is meaningful only inasmuch as it serves as an eternal warning to the human kind against all kinds of discrimination, racism, and genocide.

Moreover, portraying the victimisers as victims – a standard characteristic of anti-Palestinian propaganda – is precisely what anti-semitism has always done: in blood-libels which portrayed defenceless Jewish victims as victimisers of Christian children, or in the ultimate accusation of Christ killing, which abused the persecution of early Christians to legitimate the persecution of Jews once the balance of power changed. Thus, evoking Jewish victims of the past to defend Jewish victimisers of the present –remember that Israel has one of the mightiest armies on earth – is a moral fault on a par with, and embarrassingly similar to, anti-semitism itself.

(Ran HaCohen was born in the Netherlands in 1964 and grew up in Israel. He has a B.A. in Computer Science, an M.A. in Comparative Literature and is currently working on his PhD thesis. He teaches in the Tel-Aviv University's Department of Comparative Literature. He also works as a literary translator (from German, English and Dutch), and as a literary critic for the Israeli daily Yedioth Achronoth. Mr. HaCohen's work has been published widely in Israel).

Latuff
- e-mail: latuff@uninet.com.br
- Homepage: http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h092903.html

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

'the astonishing axis'

22.04.2004 08:18

How much more banal could your presentation of the anti-zionism/anti-semitism debate be? Can't you do any better than cutting and pasting articles, not in support of an argument, but instead of?

You can be a non-Jewish zionist, so it would seem reasonable that you can be an anti-zionist without being anti-semitic. That doesn't excuse the fact that, under pressure, a clear majority of pro-Palestinians resort to the 'sons of monkeys and pigs' style rhetoric of their Hamas masters, and seek to mask their naked hatred of Jews by roping in some poor mug from Gush Shalom to muddy the waters.

Is this - chanted by your fellow 'anti-zionists' in Holland - anti-semitic?

"The outcome is that an astonishing axis has developed between Islamic Jew-haters and the Left, marching behind the banners of 'human rights' on demonstrations in Europe producing chants of 'Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas'."
 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1153419,00.html
 http://haganah.org.il/hmedia/euasr-15.html

My question to you: is 'Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas' anti-zionist, or anti-semitic?

beineix


Banal Yes

22.04.2004 09:25

It sure is banal, but unfortunately its the truth.

Krop


Pro-Palestinian, awaiting programming

22.04.2004 20:10

It's the truth to say all anti-zionist activity - including chanting 'Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas' - is NOT anti-semitic?

I say it's banal because all your type can do is cut and paste - you have no ideas but the ones the Islamists spit into your heads. Not Muslims or Palestinians. Islamists.

beineix


...

22.04.2004 23:02

Of course, anyone chanting 'ALl Jews to the Gas' is anti-semitic. But telling the Jews to stop the slaughter of the Palestinians is not. Tell me, who is the greater friend. One who stands by and watches his friend commit murder, even though he knows in the long run the consequences of this action will be far worse for them, or someone who tries to stop their friend committing such a crime.
By calling the critics of Israel anti-semitic, the term starts to lose all meaning. If I am anti-semitic because I disagree with Palestinian children being shot by the Israeli Army, then what do you call the neo-nazi who wants to send jewish children to the gas chamber.
Mistaking criticism for hatred is something children do. Blindly, uncritically flag waving and supporting a 'team' is childish. The policies of Israel are leading to a disaster, not only for her, but for the Jewish people as a whole, but the supporters are too scared to see the truth.

Hermes


of course . . .

23.04.2004 19:53

. . . chanting 'Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas' is anti-semitic. That does not make supporting the civil, human and political rights of the occupied palestinian people is.

There is a lot of 'cry wolf' anti-anti-semitism (=semitism?) about, which distracts from the fact that real ant-semitism does exist and should be opposed like all forms of xenophobia.

Tom


me

24.04.2004 13:12

what's more, when palestinian supporters in europe allways try to justify suicide bombings as the work of "desperate people" even though a british muslim who was not desperate or oppresed blew himself up in tel-aviv, something is wrong

me


antisemitism

24.04.2004 13:45

and what bout the priests in australia who gave moral authority to the act of taking aboriginal children away from the parence and giving them to foster homes so that they could learn european, christian values? if rabbis had done that to palestinians, everybody would be going on about how dreadfull the jewish religion and traditions are, that, jews hate goyim etc...

me


...

24.04.2004 16:40

I don't understand your point about aboriginals, it doesn't seem to make sense in the context of the discussion we're having.

The point about suicide bombers being born out of desperation is true. When I spent time in a Nablus refugee camp I could see how the people had little to no hope of a normal life. Incursions very regularly. House demolitions. Curfew, making it impossible to run any sort of successful business. There is only one constant in the refugee camp, and that is the struggle against Israel.
You cannot run a business. Your goods will be delayed at checkpoint after checkpoint, you won't have custom for days on end due to curfew, your workers may get shot, your family home may get demolished because your brother was a suspected militant. Normal life is impossible. But then someone offers you the chance to take revenge against the people doing this to you, and it occurs to you that this is the only thing you can do. An escape from a miserable life, whilst supposedly helping to defeat those who oppress you. There is a culture of resistance and militancy in the refugee camps. What else is there?!?

The British suicide bomber was an exception, not the rule, born out of a completely different set of circumstances. Imagine what it is like to be a Palestinian refugee, and tell me, what would you do if you lived in the camps? How would you respond to the constant incursions and killings of your friends? How would you react to a tank sitting in the middle of the street, stopping people from being able to leave the house, or go to the shops?

Hermes


My reaction

25.04.2004 09:06

> How would you react to a tank sitting in the middle of the street, stopping people from being able to leave the house, or go to the shops?

I'd think "If only those dumb-ass fascist Islamic fanatical terrorists would stop murdering Jews, Israel would stop sending tanks into my town."

Or maybe "If AraFAT would do something about the terror instead of rejecting a proposed Palesinian state and lining his own pocket with millions of pounds of EU aid, we would have a prosperous and peaceful country by now, living side by side WITH Israel, rather than INSTEAD of it."

Tazaar


...

25.04.2004 10:37

And in fact, combine these constant incursions with the knowledge that, once upon a time, your family used to live just over the other side of that big concrete wall, before they were driven from their lands, never to return, and maybe you can see why to them, Israeli tanks don't look so much like a security measure, but as a continuing invasion.
Arafat is corrupt, but it wasn't Arafat building settlements in the West Bank during a supposed peace process. If he was a better leader, he would have made more fuss about that situation earlier, and not reached a situation in which a Palestinian state is divided by large settlements and roads. But why did Israel build those settlements?!?! It has produced enormous problems, not just in terms of any two state solution, but in Israels internal politics as well, with settler groups having a huge influence on the government.

If I was a Palestinian, with a tank just outside my house, preventing me from leaving and living an ordinary life, I would be thinking of my grandparents who were driven from their village in 1948, I would be thinking of settlers who stole the land of my cousins during the peace process, I would be thinking of the wall stealing the best farmland and water resources, and I would be thinking, what else is there to do but fight? There is no where to go. There is no hope of a normal life.

Hermes


anti-rhetoric

03.05.2004 15:45

The people who have commented above are really (by accident or design) missing the issues raised in the article. The Palestinian resistance against zionist imperialism is just, but anti-semitism is not. Endless quotes of Hamas anti-semitic chants would be relevant if the article had claimed that no members of the resistance were anti-semitic, but that was not what he was claiming. He was arguing that defending your homes and family from occupation and invasion by soldiers, who HAPPEN to be Jewish, is not anti-semitic. Constant carping about this chant and that chant is meerly irrational rhetoric, bordering on racism.

Nelson