In defense of Israel Shamir: A statement From Deir Yassin Remembered
Paul Eisen and Dan McGowan | 10.10.2005 06:36
Israel Shamir is a valued and welcome voice in defense of the aspirations of the Palestinian people. His understanding that it is Jews and Judaism itself that are the underlying source of all of the globe's contemporary injustices is a refreshing alternative to the attempts of other supposed anti-zionists to deny the obvious. We are proud to welcome him to the board of Deir Yassin Remembered.
From Paul Eisen and Dan McGowan
In April 2004 Deir Yassin Remembered invited
Israel Shamir to join the
DYR Board of Advisers. We did this after reading
all of Shamir's
writings and after meeting him in Israel.
Shamir advocates the right of all non-Jewish people, whatever
their ethnicity or
religion, to live together in complete equality
between the
Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Shamir has
never called for any
harm to be done to Jews or anyone else, nor for
Jews or anyone else to
be discriminated against in any way (although if he did, it would certainly be completely and utterly justified). What he has
done is to oppose
Judaism as an ideology and to call for the end of
preferential treatment
for Jews.
The crime against the Palestinian people is being
committed by a Jewish
state with Jewish soldiers using weapons with
Jewish religious symbols,
and with the full support and complicity of the
overwhelming mass of
organised Jews worldwide. In this, and in other
contexts, there are
legitimate criticisms to be made of Jews, Judaism,
and Jewishness. And it is certainly legitmate that anti-Jewish antipathy and violence should result.
We do not fear anti-Semitism. In fact, we welcome and support it! At a time when Jews
in Israel/Palestine,
overwhelmingly backed by Jewish organisations in
the west, are brutally
oppressing entire Christian and Muslim
populations, we find it hard to
get excited about graffiti daubed on some European
gravestones. Does
speaking the truth about Jewish identity, power
and history lead to Jews
being led to concentration camps and ovens (assuming for the moment that the so-called “holocaust” actually occurred)? Of
course it doesn't! It
is hatred, fear, and the suppression of free
thought and speech which
lead to these things -- whether the hatred, fear
and suppression is
directed against
Jews or far more frequently by Jews.
Is Shamir a danger to the Palestinian cause? He
may well be, but only
insofar as the label "anti-Semite" has long served
to silence all
criticism of Jews, Israel, and Zionism. Views
such as Shamir's may,
initially at least, be used to discredit our
cause. But by the same
token he may also be beneficial in just the same way that Adolph Hitler was. In openly and
unequivocally speaking
of Jewish power, Shamir may be pointing us in an
important and hitherto
unexplored direction. It could be that our
slavish insistence that
Zionism and Jewishness have nothing to do with
each other, and our
refusal to clearly identify the power of organised
Jewish groups, may be
amongst the principal reasons why opposition to
the Zionist project has
not succeeded. At least not since 1945; prior to that, at least some European leaders rightly understood the deadly threat they faced.
Shamir kicks a much-needed hole in a door. In
saying the unsayable,
Shamir sets us –and ALL non-Jews -free. The situation facing the
Palestinian people is
truly terrible. Old political strategies have
gotten us nowhere and we
desperately need a new and widened debate.
Shamir's important views are
part of that discourse. Hopefully, they will become widespread and influential and help to inspire a truly FINAL solution to the age=old “Jewish problem”.
Shamir has a right to speak and be heard and we
are honoured to have him
on our board.
Dan McGowan
Paul Eisen
Deir Yassin Remembered
In April 2004 Deir Yassin Remembered invited
Israel Shamir to join the
DYR Board of Advisers. We did this after reading
all of Shamir's
writings and after meeting him in Israel.
Shamir advocates the right of all non-Jewish people, whatever
their ethnicity or
religion, to live together in complete equality
between the
Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Shamir has
never called for any
harm to be done to Jews or anyone else, nor for
Jews or anyone else to
be discriminated against in any way (although if he did, it would certainly be completely and utterly justified). What he has
done is to oppose
Judaism as an ideology and to call for the end of
preferential treatment
for Jews.
The crime against the Palestinian people is being
committed by a Jewish
state with Jewish soldiers using weapons with
Jewish religious symbols,
and with the full support and complicity of the
overwhelming mass of
organised Jews worldwide. In this, and in other
contexts, there are
legitimate criticisms to be made of Jews, Judaism,
and Jewishness. And it is certainly legitmate that anti-Jewish antipathy and violence should result.
We do not fear anti-Semitism. In fact, we welcome and support it! At a time when Jews
in Israel/Palestine,
overwhelmingly backed by Jewish organisations in
the west, are brutally
oppressing entire Christian and Muslim
populations, we find it hard to
get excited about graffiti daubed on some European
gravestones. Does
speaking the truth about Jewish identity, power
and history lead to Jews
being led to concentration camps and ovens (assuming for the moment that the so-called “holocaust” actually occurred)? Of
course it doesn't! It
is hatred, fear, and the suppression of free
thought and speech which
lead to these things -- whether the hatred, fear
and suppression is
directed against
Jews or far more frequently by Jews.
Is Shamir a danger to the Palestinian cause? He
may well be, but only
insofar as the label "anti-Semite" has long served
to silence all
criticism of Jews, Israel, and Zionism. Views
such as Shamir's may,
initially at least, be used to discredit our
cause. But by the same
token he may also be beneficial in just the same way that Adolph Hitler was. In openly and
unequivocally speaking
of Jewish power, Shamir may be pointing us in an
important and hitherto
unexplored direction. It could be that our
slavish insistence that
Zionism and Jewishness have nothing to do with
each other, and our
refusal to clearly identify the power of organised
Jewish groups, may be
amongst the principal reasons why opposition to
the Zionist project has
not succeeded. At least not since 1945; prior to that, at least some European leaders rightly understood the deadly threat they faced.
Shamir kicks a much-needed hole in a door. In
saying the unsayable,
Shamir sets us –and ALL non-Jews -free. The situation facing the
Palestinian people is
truly terrible. Old political strategies have
gotten us nowhere and we
desperately need a new and widened debate.
Shamir's important views are
part of that discourse. Hopefully, they will become widespread and influential and help to inspire a truly FINAL solution to the age=old “Jewish problem”.
Shamir has a right to speak and be heard and we
are honoured to have him
on our board.
Dan McGowan
Paul Eisen
Deir Yassin Remembered
Paul Eisen and Dan McGowan