Last night I attended an event at Temple Concord in Syracuse New York. The speaker, Ido Aharoni, is the current Consul General for the State of Israel in NY. To prepare myself for his probable remarks, I googled him and watched various youtube videos. Watching him reminded me of an advertiser working for a tobacco company: Really hype the product despite the fact that it kills. I was surprised that his talk was not his usual "Brand Israel" one, but that he tackled politics head-on.
I knew I was not in friendly territory considering my viewpoints on the Israel/Palestine conflict, but I sat quietly as I tried to stomach the half-truths, racist innuendo, and outright distortions of fact. The mostly grey-haired audience ate him right up. He was giving them exactly what they came to hear: Israel is a truly diversified, democratic nation; the Israelis have done everything possible for peace; the settlements are not an obstacle to peace; the problem with the Middle East is not Israel, but another word that begins with "I". He expounded on the "culture of hate and death" that permeates Palestinian society. The real problem, according to Aharoni, is the Palestinians' "habitual reluctance to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish homeland". He contended that their leaders have erred by not telling their constituents that quite simply "the right of Palestinian return is just not going to happen".
His statements went unchallenged, including the regurgitation of "Barak's Generous Offer", which we know to be a false assertion. He failed to mention the details of the leaked Palestine Papers which showed the degree to which the Palestinian leadership was willing to acquiesce to Israel's demands. He spoke of the extremely benevolent moves made by the Israeli government including the "giving back of the Sinai" and "the return of Gaza", failing to mention the legal obligations to do so and the siege imposed on Gaza that is squeezing the life out of the people.
Particularly disturbing were his remarks about the murders of the family members in Itamar. He described the vicious throat-slashing of the 4 month old baby. His disgust at all "Palestinians" was evident. No mention was made about the tremendous disparity between the number of Palestinian children killed and the number of Israeli children killed. And needless to say, he failed to mention the "accidental" killing of a family in Gaza unfortunate enough to be playing soccer outside their home when Israeli artillery rained down on them. His one-sided representation made his presentation a farce. He told the story of an unwelcome gift, a "white elephant", one which eats and eats. He then referred to the Palestinians as "White Elephants" who eat up Israel's resources, and deplore "Israel's values".
He ended the presentation by reminding the audience about how truly superior the Israelis are: The tremendous gains in high-tech, the upscale quality of life for Israeli's, and the strides in environmental sciences. He spoke of the willingness of Israel to send medical teams to support catastrophes around the globe. And then he lamented that the conflict exists because of the Palestinians "dangerous, lethal, mentality".
After a few comments from the audience, I was able to get in a couple of points before being booed. I complimented Aharoni on being a gifted speaker and one who gives the audience what they want to hear. I said that a baby can be killed by having his throat slashed or by being burned alive with white phosphorous from the sky. I spoke of the wall which delves deep into Palestinian territory, and the settlements which are stealing the resources of the local villagers. Lastly, I managed to express that the average age of the audience was about 70 years old and that younger Jews are beginning to question the reality of the conflict and morality of Israel's positions. These believers in Jewish values will cease being unquestioning allies of the Jewish State.
Pat Carmeli is a US/Israeli citizen who lives in Cazenovia, NY, and is a member of CNY Working for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel.
“He expounded on the “culture of hate and death” that permeates Palestinian society. ”
This mantra will be repeated on every plane load of Israeli Jews escaping the coming of their ultimate nightmare- the principle of one man one vote in Erez Israel. I’m sure the Portuguese who fled Mozambique in the late 70s felt the same about their neighbours.
i already read it repeated … now i know the source.
This sort of warms my heart. It’s last century propaganda. Young people can’t stomach this crap any more.
Young people in China? Perhaps.
In Israel they lap it up, hence the 60% poll result indicating that Israeli Jewish teenagers reject giving Palestinians equal rights in Israel.
And keep advocating for “limited BDS”, it might actually anger some colonists, but won’t do much in terms of changing Israeli policies.
Say, when you go bear hunting, do you bring with you a BB gun or a shotgun? I bet you bring a water pistol.
From a recent article in the New York Jewish Weekly:
“The answer — first heard at a six-hour colloquium with about 45 Jewish leaders and thinkers and later at a panel discussion for young AJC lay leaders — was yes, younger Jews feel less connected to Israel. But that was the easy part.
The deeper exploration was into why that was the case, with responses attributing the problem to: the failure of the American Jewish establishment to provide adequate Modern Israel education; a parallel (and connected) lack of interest among the young in Judaism itself; and the policies of Israeli governments on dealing with Arab citizens, relations with Palestinians, women, liberal Jewish denominations, etc., all of which were said to clash with the liberal values of young American Jews.”
link to thejewishweek.com
None of the audience is likely to go see “Miral,” either.
Ahh, the light unto the nations, NYC style.
It just reinforces the notion, in my mind, that the Jewish community in the US, although liberal about many things, contains an insane number of flat out anti-Arab racists. It would really be nice to see that bigotry called out, as the bigotry it is, by the moderate Jews in America.
The zionists established their settler colonial state at the end of the 1940s when the native Arabs who they dispossessed (since they had no land since they did not come from Palestine ) were classed as a backward people who obviously couldn’t have been anything but inferior to European Jews. It was very much in keeping with the Zeitgeist.
link to nybooks.com
“A longtime British colonial official named Lord Hailey pushed through the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1940. Hailey said, “A new conception of our [colonial] relationship…may emerge as part of the movement for the betterment of the backward peoples of the world.” This was at a time when the Colonial Office said that “most Africans are still savages” and “they will probably not be fit for complete independence for centuries.” This story is told in detail in an undeservedly obscure book, Lord Hailey, the Colonial Office and the Politics of Race and Empire in the Second World War (2000) by Suke Wolton, who summed up the prevailing view of the time”
Israel was built on this understanding. And the ideology is now well past its sell by date.
Here is Yisrael Medad of “Judea and Samaria”
YESHA, Judea and Samaria, Area C is part of the original Mandate and thus Jews can live there and since the Arabs rejected the 1947 Partition recommendation, we have what’s called reversionary rights, as we have the better claim to that territory.
Well I suppose we could call the Anti-Defamation League to… oh. Never mind.
Well, you know… I remember when the Catholic church I went to when I grew up had a consul general from the Vatican Army come in and speak about… oh wait. No I don’t. The Catholic church has no army.
Seriously, and no offense and all levity aside… I don’t think American Jews realize just what a culture shock this is for non-Jews that a Jewish house of worship in the United States routinely entertains visits from Jewish soldiers. Not Jewish soldiers in the US army, not a soldier from some other nation who is Jewish like the congregation, but soldiers who fight for the “Jewish nation” and the “Jewish nation” alone.
A little research about Ido Aharoni led to this…
“In New York, Aharoni became familiar with nation-branding methods, which he later introduced to his superiors in Jerusalem thus bringing about a paradigm shift in the perception of Israel’s public image by Israeli officials in Israel and in the USA. ”
link to jnf.org