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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
This is a good slogan
but the others I see here like "I'm not allowed on Israel's Segregated Buses" that attempt to convey an image of Israel as a segregated apartheid society are grossly misleading and are a deceitful attempt to tug at the heart strings of Americans who sympathised with and may have even directly experienced the struggle for equality for Blacks in the US.
I cannot get over the sheer hypocrisy over this whole issue with Chomsky having convinced Hawking to undertake his boycott.
Given Chomsky's professed views against BDS at link to youtube.com it seems as though the minds of these people depend upon whom they just talked to or what they ate for breakfast. With this kind of duplicity the ambiguity and hollowness of the BDS becomes apparent.
To top things off Ali Abunimah in The Guardian link to guardian.co.uk makes the amazing claim that Stephen Hawking's support for the boycott of Israel is a turning point in the BDS campaign.
All that Abunimah has to offer in his article is the same old polemic about BDS and, just because Hawking had signed up, the Guardian gave the BDS campaign another free kick.
Now that the pro-Palestinian aficionados have managed to persuade Stephen Hawking to stay away they can start working on the other 5000 who will still be attending in record numbers.
@Citizen, your link states anti-Muslim hate crimes reported to the FBI were 157, while those against Jews were 771.
It is purely your imagination that supposes many Muslims don't report hate crimes against them - you have provided absolutely nothing to substantiate that opinion.
Furthermore you have nothing to support your other opinion that " every imaginable threat directed against any Jew is reported ASAP as a hate crime."
To my knowledge the recommendation from Jewish community leaders often is to discourage Jews to report minor attacks, because that often tends to provoke the haters into upping the ante and escalating their racism in retaliation.
This always happens: every time there is a jihad terror attack or foiled plot, we hear this rubbish about Islamophobia, about Muslims worrying about a "backlash". The "backlash" never really materializes, rather there is a completely justifiable increased concern and greater vigilance because these incidents keep on happening.
We start hearing these ludicrous suggestions that America is to blame for having incited militants (can't call them terrorists) with its supposedly imperialist, tendentious global policies. This myopic thinking overlooks the fact that Muslims carry out terrorist attacks with daily regularity all over the world - America is nothing special in this regard. In fact terrorist attacks are far more rife in Muslim countries.
In reality, the stream of stories about fears of "backlash" are designed to deflect attention away from the jihad attack and onto Muslims as victims, who as victims ought to be exempt from scrutiny and accountability (even though no U.S. mosque or Islamic school has any program designed to oppose the al-Qaeda version of Islam that they ostensibly reject). In reality, as David J. Rusin noted in an article in the National Review at link to nationalreview.com last January:
"a detailed analysis of FBI statistics covering ten full calendar years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks reveals that, on a per capita basis, American Muslims, contrary to spin, have been subjected to hate crimes less often than other prominent minorities. From 2002 to 2011, Muslims are estimated to have suffered hate crimes at a frequency of 6.0 incidents per 100,000 per year – 10 percent lower than blacks (6.7), 48 percent lower than homosexuals and bisexuals (11.5), and 59 percent lower than Jews (14.8). Americans should keep these numbers in mind whenever Islamists attempt to silence critics by invoking Muslim victimhood."
And Mr.Rich you try to fob this all off with your witless reference to 'holocauze'.
@Joe, are you aware of the property boom in Gaza?
The presenter of a Channel Four documentary about Gaza has said that the local population would not recognize the portrayal of the area in much of the UK media as war-torn.
Seyi Rhodes travelled to the Gaza Strip in February to film an episode of Unreported World, which aired last week on Channel 4 in Britain.
You can watch the episode at link to youtube.com
Rather than reporting on a region torn apart by conflict, the program focused on the property market and booming construction taking place in Gaza.
Mr Rhodes said the experience confounded his expectations. "Before I started researching, I thought the region was destitute - people living literally hand-to-mouth on aid, with constant security threats. I took it for granted that people would be living in temporary accommodation provided by the UN."
In fact, he found "a growing wealth gap", with ordinary families struggling even to rent but new flats being sold for up to $3 million to wealthy Palestinians with money from abroad or from jobs with the Hamas government.
"As a left-wing student, I was given one view of Gaza/Palestine," said Mr Rhodes. "But I realise now that many of those representations were entirely politically motivated.
"Even Gazans wouldn't recognise the image that is portrayed of them sometimes. The woman crying over her dead son, the man throwing stones at tanks."
He added that such stereotypes were "frankly offensive as most of these people live their lives with the same concerns as you and me… getting on the housing ladder, educating your children. People didn't even talk about Israel unless I brought it up."<p?
Read the story at link to thejc.com
Some booed and some applauded – what’s new?
Title of this piece is misleading, gives false impression.
Come on moderators let me say it as it is.
To suggest that America is to blame for having incited the Boston bombing with its supposedly imperialist, tendentious global policies overlooks the fact that radical Muslims carry out terrorist attacks almost daily all over the world - America is not a special target as such. In fact terrorist attacks are far more rife in Muslim countries than in Western countries.
The fallacious assumption here is that collaborators are all the same - that the situation where the Jews faced total extermination from the Nazis is the same as that for recalcitrant Palestinians who don't believe in or support the fundamentalists that supposedly 'represent' them. Palestinians who believe there might be a better way. Palestinians who are fed up with their sham leaders.
The effort is being made here to draw parallels that are completely false with other situations that were completely different and where the behavior of those fighting for their freedom could be unquestionably justified.
After Stalin had defeated Trotsky's supporters, he staged the infamous Moscow Trials of 1936-38 where the 'Old Bolsheviks', including Trotsky, who led the October Revolution, were accused of counter-revolutionary activity, sabotage, murder, and collaboration with fascism. Who was right here? Stalin or Trotsky?
Do we automatically take the side of Sunni Muslims belonging to Sistan-Baluchistan, a Jihadi terror group that threatens to kill those Muslims who “collaborate with Iran” link to iranmilitarynews.org?
Did the Jewish executioners drag the bodies of their collaborators through the streets to frighten the rest of the population into submission? Did the Jewish executioners grab those merely suspected and kill them without proper arrest or trial, giving them no opportunity to defend themselves?
There is no double standard here, the comparison is plainly ridiculous. Just more one-sided advocacy for the woeful pro-Palestinian cause.
@Sumud, for your information The Age has run an article today about Hizb ut Tahrir who don't want Australian Muslims to 'celebrate' Anzac Day, a national commemoration day that is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
Muslims keep having to defuse the Muslim threats and intimations from other Muslims that go against the grain of our society. No surprise that people are getting more and more upset by Islam.
@Cliff, that's the problem with your position - it's riddled with ignorance and peppered with arrogance and contempt.
If you had any truly Jewish acquaintances they could explain the perversity of the self-hating Jew.
From Ben Cohen's article "Attacking Israel Online" at link to commentarymagazine.com we see that your efforts Adam provide immunity for those who deep down despise Israel and Jewish influence:
and about your comrade-in-arms Weiss
You might not yourself utter the oft alleged anti-semitic tirades that frequently grace the pages of Mondoweiss, but you offer a vehicle for others who do.
This is reinforced by Philip Mendes at link to abc.net.au
During the Marrickville BDS furore in Australia recently, Mendes went further to show how "this offensive and ridiculous misrepresentation of Jewish views was prominent". He mentioned Lee Rhiannon (ex Communist Greens politician) who had claimed that “many Jewish communities support this work”. Mendes emphasized his argument, "In fact, no Jewish communities support the BDS, and the only Jewish community group in Marrickville, the Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance which is left-oriented and strongly supportive of a two-state solution, devoted considerable time and resources to opposing the Marrickville BDS proposal."
Ellis referring to
shows what a contemptible person he is treating to the Holocaust as if it were some kind of commodity.
Another example of revisionist history concocted to push a cause regardless of facts. Here is the photo to which ryan-o referred link to google.com.au
Tel Aviv had its beginnings in 1909 on empty sand dunes bought from local inhabitants by Jews - that is no myth. The fact that Palestinian Arabs lived there too is also no myth. This story is trying to make something out of nothing.
Israel got out of Gaza and what did it get in return? Without a doubt for that very reason Israel will need very strong security guarantees - we are not dealing with euphemisms here. Rockets from the West Bank would have very little distance to travel to hit Israeli cities.
@Donald, you doubt that it's true.
Your uninformed guesswork hardly inspires me to change my statement.
Take the National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies Australia at the University of Melbourne for example. Refer link to nceis.unimelb.edu.au
Zilch.
All focus on Jewish organizations with their open dialogues, discussions and debates. Nothing from the other side, no Islamic organizations extending invitations to non-Muslims to come inside and talk.
Why is everything so one-sided here?
A little proportionality, a speck of perspective, an active concern for real massacres and slaughter that are taking place is all we ask of you Cliff. I suspect there is more than just 'interest' on your part but you would never admit it.
@amigo, maybe much of the media is waking up to the fact that it should be behaving responsibly and informing us of what is happening instead if being instruments of propaganda.
My mistake - I must have had my search on to match case.
Goes to show the brutality that comes back at you when you just make a simple error on MW.
I always knew these waters were infested with crocodiles with an insatiable appetite for Zionists.
How can an article on this topic have any credibility whatsoever if.it never once alludes to Islam?
@annie, your comment is bloody minded nit picking . Do you think you can dismiss a thoughtful, comprehensive analytical report by finding one trivial questionable detail? You have said nothing at all that refutes the report that the textbook study upon which you rely for your prejudice is WRONG.
@Annie, remember maps are geographical representations of the present.
If you are to dismiss somebody's arguments because of their political affiliations I could do the same and we would be getting nowhere. In any case the article I referenced is in Psychology Today and NOT authored by Elihu Richter.
The Textbook Study has been found in Psychology Today to be flawed and wrong.
Refer link to psychologytoday.com
What in the hell is going on here?
Has the standard of pro-Palestinian advocacy sunk to new depths?
Racism by omission - a new concept. USA Today reporter Michele Chabin never once mentioned racism.
The one solitary individual cited in support of this non-article seems to be suffering from dissociative amnesia.
You guys hate the distraction of Syria and Iran because it takes the Palestinian issue out of the limelight. As one Palestinian so appropriately remarked (can’t find the exact quote) the distractions that keep happening in the rest of the Middle East (not just in Syria and Iran) keep taking the world’s attention away from the Palestinians. You mightn’t like that but that is the reality and you can’t just keep on blaming Israel and the US for your plight. As Obama put it
@Sumud, don't dish up this falsification about Jews and Muslims having lived together in harmony. Martin Gilbert wrote “In Ishmael’s House”, a definitive history of Jews in Muslim lands, which puts paid to this myth.
Even Maimonides the greatest Jewish scholar of the Middle Ages, who was appointed as court physician to Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, after having escaped the ferocious persecution by the Almohads in Muslim Spain, suffered greatly. He justified the formal conversion to Islam that was foisted upon Jews as an acceptable alternative to torture and death under the rule of fanatical Muslim rulers.
Israel is surrounded by Muslim countries which by definition are anti-Israel. This enmity is nothing new - steeped in history.
Any country that is encircled by countries that have a fundamental objection to its very existence will need its friends and supporters to declare themselves from time to time.
What kind of nonsense is this!
The two bleedingly obvious issues in the Middle East today are what happens to Syria, and whether Iran can be prevented from gaining nuclear weapons.
Israel and Turkey are central to these considerations.
The Palestinian issue is not the main issue right now and its resolution can wait to allow the more pressing matters of Syria and Iran to be dealt with.
No matter how much bleating and heavy breathing we hear from the Palestinian side their supporters need to recognise current priorities.
When Obama first came to office he mistakenly thought that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute was the central cause of conflict in the Middle East and Israeli settlements in the West Bank were the main obstacle to Middle East peace. He eventually realized that this conflict existed long before the issue of settlements appeared on the table.
By demonising Israeli settlements and demanding a freeze on building within them - not a freeze on the acquisition of any new territory for settlements but building within their existing territorial limits - Obama in fact gravely harmed the peace process.
The Palestinians got sucked in and hence refused direct negotiations with Israel unless there was a complete freeze on all building within settlements. The Israelis said they would negotiate directly with the Palestinians without preconditions but would not (except for one 10 months period) freeze building within settlements.
As a result of Obama's miscalculation, we got several years of inaction. Obama now realizes that direct negotiations without preconditions is the ONLY way.
The pot is calling the kettle black yet again.
Has any pro-Palestinian group out there shown any genuine desire to eradicate anti-Semites from their ranks?
As long as you speak out vociferously against Israel such racist tendencies can be tolerated.
Cannot let concerns about anti-Semitism get in the way of the 'good' cause. Like water off a duck's back.
This article at link to mondoweiss.net decrying that NPR can’t stop talking about Jews is illustrative.
There is this report last month link to maannews.net which discusses how Egypt is brokering talks between Hamas and Israel on humanitarian issues and a more recent report link to newrepublic.com from Efraim Levy, an ex-Mossad chief.
And of course let's not mention the latest rocket attack from Gaza link to aljazeera.com
@Sumud, yeh tell us how it is. See Americans’ sympathy for Israel is at 22-year high link to timesofisrael.com
“Robbins gloats about Aussie parliamentarians criticizing a ‘study tour’ of Israel” should have been the title of this article, which is illustrative of the kind of behaviour we see in our parliament all the time. She takes great glee in commenting on the off-the-topic diatribes that took place in the NSW parliaments. She should be aware that politicians who speak out like Shoebridge and Moselmane eventually get marginalised for showing themselves up as intransigents. Loewenstein may be right when he refers to “silly little politicians” in his blog at link to antonyloewenstein.com about this, Shoebridge and Moselmane being typical of this mould.
Walt Secord summed up Moselmane’s speech aptly, “This speech is simply an anti-Israel rant.”
These study tours present an opportunity for Australian politicians to go and see first-hand what is happening in Israel-Palestine. Our current and former prime ministers have availed themselves of the opportunity as has the foreign minister Senator Carr. Nobody will or can stop them from visiting or contacting others whose views may be contrary to the pro-Israel position. Shoebridge and Moselmane are either resentful that they haven’t been issued an invitation or too set in their ways to be open to views that might contradict their clearly anti-Zionist mindsets. Attitudes like theirs solve nothing.
@Woody, what you suggest was ‘done to the Palestinians’ is a direct result of their pathetic leadership that only really wanted one thing – the eradication of a Jewish state of any description in any part of the Palestine mandate.
“ It's wrong to suggest Israel was direct result of Holocaust” - refer link to haaretz.com
Obama exposed his ignorance regarding Zionist movement's history in his Cairo speech and he has now corrected that mistake. See link to mondoweiss.net
@marcb, it was more than unique it was UNPRECEDENTED.
Why would anyone not want to seek remediation or recompense after an event which threatened to destroy the entire Jewish people?
The resentment over this FACT of history by anti-Zionists is unparalled; it is no wonder that diminishment of its significance is so important to them.
Really Keith,surely you can do a better job of disguising your antipathy towards Jews. This kind of statement is the daily fare of those who like to blame Jews for all the world’s ills.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously observed during the Yom Kippur War that, "the Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once."
This is not a numbers game it is a matter of survival.
@Ecru et al, you plainly haven't bothered to read the reference link I provided to Robert Rozett's 'Diminishing the Holocaust: Scholarly Fodder for a Discourse of Distortion'.
You prefer to just vent your lazy, entrenched views that display scant appreciation of what how the Nazis went about their extermination.
Yale University professor Timothy Snyder in his book Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin considers the Nazis’ anti-partisan crusade in Belarus in 1942.
Keith and Ellen have attempted to diminish the Holocaust as a ‘Jewish’ event. This phenomenon of diminishing the Holocaust is punishable by imprisonment in a number of countries under racial and religious vilification laws. Eleven million people were killed in the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jewish - Hitler's most recognized victims and five million were not Jewish.
They fail to realise that what was unprecedented about the Nazi Holocaust was that every Jew (man, woman and child) in every land was to be hunted down and killed. This had never happened before. Most important is that the mass murder was based on a fantasy view of the Jew that had no connection to reality. Not every victim was a Jew but every Jew was a potential victim.
Furthermore they suggest that those who suffered from the Holocaust ignore the fact that others suffered as well and that Jews use the Holocaust to earn cheap political points.
The first assertion is baseless as Jews have as a result of their own persecution always been particularly aware of the hurt done to others. On a number of occasions, despite the fact that Jewish Holocaust Centres that have popped up everywhere are essentially Jewish, exhibitions and events have frequently been staged to acknowledge the slaughter of other minorities like the Roma (link to jewishvirtuallibrary.org
The second claim is a mean-spirited view that shows a lack of understanding of victimhood. In fact if we look at the Palestinian Nakba as a parallel example we see greater evidence of this trumpeting of victimhood for the advancement of a political agenda.
Perhaps Keith, Ellen and their ilk should take a look at this article link to israelcfr.com titled ‘Diminishing the Holocaust: Scholarly Fodder for a Discourse of Distortion’ to see an analysis of their behaviours.
@hostage, would you say the same about the Koran or is that not politically correct?
@Avi_G, Jews define themselves as belonging to the Jewish People whether you like it or not. Your dictates about what amounts to Jewish identity has no relevance. You can call a cat a dog if you wish but you are the only one who will believe it.
The Palestinians are also referred to as the Palestinian people, refer link to en.wikipedia.org
While we are on the topic of media bias let us go back to the story that Mondoweiss was more than happy to subscribe to last November. when the conflagration between Israel and Gaza was taking place - refer link to mondoweiss.net
As we will see in a moment the article was gravely mistitled '4 myths about the Israeli attack on Gaza'. The author said
The last sentence of the statement was probably true because what actually happened was this and this is the finding of a UN report, which indicates that the three members of the Misharawi family were killed by a rocket fired by Palestinians and not by an Israeli airstrike. Refer link to ohchr.org where it is reported in paragraph 39:
Will Mondoweiss retract the lie that it helped propagate last November?
I don't think so, as MW is not in the habit of promoting information that negates its position and supports Israel in any way whatsoever.
To be criticising another publication of bias when guilty of same is pretty hypocritical.
This was no wedding - just another publicity stunt. Nobody seems to know the name of the 'bride'.
@MarkF, this report link to middleeastmonitor.com puts the figure at $7 billion. Make up any figure to suit your agenda.
How much has been wasted collectively on trying to get rid of Israel that could have gone toward providing the Palestinians with productive lives?
@Annie, do you think you sound convincing?
Hophmi may not understand your profound analysis, but others may benefit from it. So let's hear it.
@American, you obviously have no idea about the importance of learning from history. The individuals who commit atrocities reappear from one generation to the next.
How you would love to sweep it all under the carpet.
Can't you see the obvious contradiction in your avoidance scheme?
By corollary 98% of those Palestinians who lost their homes in 1948 have long since passed away, so let's not get sucked into your pro-Palestinian blackmail scheme.
@MK_Ultra, your comment refers to a report (not provided) by the OIC, a gang of Islamic nations who are doing an appalling job in mediating the horrendous on-going conflict in Syria. This report, without scrutiny, is probably some propaganda agitprop written purely to target Israel.
Would be interesting to know actually how much the OIC gives to the Palestinians - I'm sure it's a pittance.
Sumud,
Prove it. An independent analysis, unbiased assessment, anything?
Your parallel with the Warsaw ghetto is pure nonsense.
Anybody willing to defend UNRWA as it helps to perpetuate the conflict?
The UN has two agencies that deal with refugees - UNHRC and UNWRA.
According to UNHCR a refugee is a person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality.
As for UNRWA Palestinian refugees are persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.
Now UNHRC
1. helps people out of their refugee status
2. does not give the status of refugee to all offspring
3. makes refugee status dependent on economic condition
While UNWRA
1. helps people to preserve their refugee status
2. gives the status of refugee to all offspring
3. does not make refugee status dependent on economic condition
UNHCR has helped 50,000,000 people to restart their life, who are no longer refugees. On the other hand UNRWA absorbed 711,000 refugees in 1948 and the number now is (according to UNRWA) 5,100,000.
Is the paradox becoming evident?
Alexander Galloway, UNRWA official 1951-52:
Refugee conference in Homs, Syria, 1957:
Finally, all the huffing and puffing and derogatory language aside about what I have said about how UNWRA perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem can I get an answer to my question: What do the Palestinians have to offer? There is a huge global market out there and if the Palestinians have product to sell, there is no reason that it would not attract buyers. I for one would happily buy from Palestinians if I thought that it would improve their economic well-being and move the I/P conflict toward resolution. However this is not the mindset of those who delight in using the Palestinian refugees as pawns in a propaganda war.
If you still have any doubts about what I have been saying watch how the United Nations UNRWA agency directly supports terrorism link to youtube.com
Pray tell what do the Palestinians have to offer? They present a sinkhole for UN agencies UNRWA in particular (a special body just for the Palestinians!) ensures that Palestinian refugees continue to fester in camps, sustains the livelihood of anti-Israel UN officials and presents an obstacle to any real practical efforts to solve the refugee issue.
Where were the BDSers while the UN general assembly was celebrating Rita, an Israeli-Iranian singer who sang for peace?
link to youtube.com
A great triumph against the spirit of BDS!
Vindictive. merciless souls abound in this topic.
Chu's remarks about Sheinbein suggest
but this contradicts what happened to Meyer Lansky. According to wikipedia link to en.wikipedia.org
And Chu you enjoy inverting history, making baseless insinuations that Israel likes to name streets after criminals. Have you forgotten about the Palestinian football tournament that was named after a female suicide bomber?
What kind of emotive reporting is this that doesn't even attempt to divulge the other side of the story?
How can Hamas be trusted to bring about any semblance of democracy if they do things like this
link to theage.com.au
And maybe invite Khaled Meshal to give a pep talk.
Seems like Robbins doesn't know what a pogrom actually is. She has this penchant for inflammatory language.
The insinuations are coming out that whenever there is a preponderance of Jews anywhere there should be vigilance because a lot of those Jews will have a predilection for Zionism. MW proponents are willing to show ‘leadership’ in this area, quick to slam a hasbara gag on anybody who speaks out too forthrightly in support of Israel.
All the sour grapes over 5 Broken Cameras failing to bring home the bacon (sic) at the academy awards is being translated into anti-Hollywood sentiments.
@Annie, you only allow yourself to believe what denigrates Israel.
No matter what Israel does you will damn it.
What credibility can diehards like yourself have when all they can do is criticize the one side?
Have you ever been to Israel?
Lowenstein adds nothing to this piecemeal story already out there in the media other than his own biases, prevarications and speculations:
He uses the Zygier affair as an opportunity to slang off against Zionism per se and intelligent, young Jewish people who choose to make Aliya to Israel. These are well-educated people, seriously concerned about Israel’s plight in a hostile world and not indoctrinated morons. If some choose to go and live in Israel for a while, learn some Hebrew and serve in the Israeli army, that doesn’t make them the usurped ‘tools’ of anybody, or any nation.
This is pure opiniation that has nothing to do with reality. This story is an issue about internal security - all countries protect themselves against treasonable offences. Just compare the situation in Israel to the scant information we get about the subversive goings-on in neighbouring secretive Arab countries.
The Jewish community certainly worries about its standing in the wider community. Perfectly normal.
Absolute rubbish.
Zygier had full legal representation – more rubbish from Lowenstein.
As one commenter on New Matilda has said about this latter remark:
“More innocent Australian citizens have been killed post-WWII by Islamist terrorists than anyone else. Islamist terrorism is a real and present danger for Australians. Shared intelligence is a keystone to countering this threat. Like it or not Israeli intelligence is critically important to our counter-terrorist programme. Israel has far more developed intelligence sources throughout the Islamic world than we do and sharing intelligence with them no doubt benefits us more than the intelligence that we provide in reciprocation. It is important to our National security and lives of our citizens that we sustain these intelligence linkages.”
It is completely false to suggest that Australian authorities turned a blind eye to the illegal theft of Australian identities by Mossad - the Australian government actually kicked out an Israeli diplomat at the time of the passports affair which hardly demonstrates insidious complicity between Israel and Australia.
I understand that 5 Broken Cameras is a very biased and openly pro-Palestinian film. Having an Israeli Jew as a co-director is crucial to its success; a token Jewish or Israeli activist deemed to “represent” the Israeli side, who actually turns out to be more even more pro-Palestinian than most anti-Israel Palestinians, is very helpful for the cause. The trick helps to dupe people in the audience by convincing them that everyone, Arabs and Jews alike, are united in condemning Israel.
As propaganda the film has three defining characteristics:
1. It takes a microscopic view of a very much wider issue. 5 Broken Cameras focuses on the West Bank town of Bilin, where the local population, supported by a steady flow of international supporters, has been demonstrating for years on a weekly basis against the Israeli occupation. They do so allegedly in a supposedly “non-violent” manner by throwing hundreds of rocks and bricks on Israeli jeeps! It focuses entirely on a bunch of Palestinian villagers without providing any information that would explain the context in which to place their struggle. This leaves the uninformed person to conclude that Israel is persecuting innocent Palestinian civilians for no other reason than sheer cruelty. And that is of course the entire purpose of the film. A more objective film would have presented the macroscopic view of the conflict as opposed to only one of its tiny components.
2. It uses de-contextualization to isolate the viewer from the larger picture. No one explains in the film why the security barrier came up in the first place (in the wake of the murderous second intifada in 2000 which killed 1,000 innocent Israeli civilians and left more than 3,000 maimed for life), or why Israel came to occupy the West Bank (because it was attacked by Jordan, Egypt and Syria in 1967 and ended up with this territory in the process of defending itself against Arab aggression), or why it is still there 25 years later (because the Arabs first, and the Palestinians later have systematically rejected all peace offers made by Israel to relinquish the West Bank in exchange for peace). Viewed from that perspective, the true intent of the film and its sheer hypocrisy are immediately evident. The de-contextualization of the film is deliberate.
3. It exploits heavily manipulative emotional content to better rile viewers against Israel This is the pro-Palestinian films’ classical trademark: focus on a few figures and induce viewers to identify with them emotionally. The result is entirely predictable. By the time the film is over, people are inevitably so riled up against Israel and the IDF that they are furious at the Jewish State for having the audacity to defend itself.
(adapted from an article by By J.J Surbeck in the SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD
June 28, 2012)
BDS is about delegitimising and demonizing Israel with the underlying aim being the destruction of the state of Israel. No surprise that supporters of Israel are concerned about such negative, hateful tactics.
The writer Antonio Muñoz Molina said that it is "deeply unfair" to boycott a country with a global society "as open and plural" such as Israel, in reference to those who have asked him to reject the 2013 Jerusalem Prize. Refer link to translate.googleusercontent.com
I read Jerry Haber at link to thedailybeast.com where amongst other things he said
Haber points out that the extremist character of BDS is troubling and provides no potion to ameliorate that serious concern. BDS is perceived to be about delegitimising and demonizing Israel with the underlying aim being the destruction of the state of Israel. It is therefore no surprise that supporters of Israel are dismayed about such negative, hateful tactics, while those, whose Jewishness or concerns about the viability of a Jewish identity are not particularly important to them, have no problem with Israel as it exists being dismantled.
The so called Arab Spring makes it plain for all to see that elimination of Israel would just help to turn the Middle East into an Islamic hotbed. The advocates of BDS can't see what would result from their efforts - fantasy talk is all too prevalent.
@annie, my point is that what you strive for by the dismantling of Israel would achieve the same undemocratic mayhem (sic) that is prevalent across the Arab world.
@Annie, is that the kind of democracy you are inadvertently encouraging - the 'pretend democracy' that the Arab Spring has been all about?
You guys need to realise that access to The Daily Show videos is not available to those who don't have the privilege of living in North America. The condescending message I get when I try to go there is "at least you have kangaroos and boomerangs".
@eljay, thanks for your admission. Your feelings re religions are quite evident.
Just let some of your confederates know that this Muslim anti-semitism thing is nothing new and this blame on Zionism for Muslim rage is nothing other a more recent manifestation of age old anti-semitism.
@cliff, the book by Gilbert that I have quoted is full of historical examples of Muslim anti-semitism. I only referred to Maimonides in response to the false comments by Elliot. As you say "there was religious tolerance", but tolerance does not mean acceptance. Pray tell what was the reason things got so bad without resorting to your usual insults.
@mooser, for your cynical demeanor a few more examples from Gilbert's book:
The mid-14th century saw an upsurge in Mamluk fanaticism. In 1327 the synagogue in Aleppo was turned into a mosque with the approval of the Mamluk Sultan in Cairo. In 1354, throughout the Mamluk dominions, some of the more onerous of the dhimmi restrictions were extended to Jewish converts to Islam. Converts were not allowed to serve as government officials or to work as physicians in the Muslim community. They were also forced to cut off all contact with relatives who had not converted to Islam.
At the beginning of the 17th century an English visitor to the Ottoman empire, George Sandys, was a witness to the plight of Jews under their dhimmi statusin Jerusalem. 'Here also be some Jewes, ' he wrote in his account of his travels, 'yet inherit they no part of the land, but in their owne countrydo live as aliens, a people scattered throughout the whole world, and hated amongst whom they live; yet suffred, as a necessary mischiefe: subject to all wrongs and contumelies, which they support with an invincible patience.'
In the town of Entifa in Morocco in 1879, a pious 65 year old Jew, Jacob Dahan, took in a poor Muslim woman during a severe famine. He fed and looked after her, and in return the woman worked in his house. But when the town's governor learned of the arrangement, he ordered Dahan to come before him and declared: 'Can a Jew have a Moorish woman to serve him? He deserves to be burnt!' Jacob Dahan was then taken outside, nailed to the ground and beaten so severely he died.
@eljay, thanks for your admission. Your feelings re religions are quite evident.
Just let some of your confederates know that this Muslim anti-semitism thing is nothing new and this blame on Zionism for Muslim rage is nothing other a more recent manifestation of age old anti-semitism.
@cliff, the book by Gilbert that I have quoted is full of historical examples of Muslim anti-semitism. I only referred to Maimonides in response to the false comments by Elliot. As you say "there was religious tolerance", but tolerance does not mean acceptance. Pray tell what was the reason things got so bad without making assumptions and resorting to your usual abuse and insults.
@mooser, for your cynical demeanor a few more examples from Gilbert's book:
The mid-14th century saw an upsurge in Mamluk fanaticism. In 1327 the synagogue in Aleppo was turned into a mosque with the approval of the Mamluk Sultan in Cairo. In 1354, throughout the Mamluk dominions, some of the more onerous of the dhimmi restrictions were extended to Jewish converts to Islam. Converts were not allowed to serve as government officials or to work as physicians in the Muslim community. They were also forced to cut off all contact with relatives who had not converted to Islam.
At the beginning of the 17th century an English visitor to the Ottoman empire, George Sandys, was a witness to the plight of Jews under their dhimmi statusin Jerusalem. 'Here also be some Jewes, ' he wrote in his account of his travels, 'yet inherit they no part of the land, but in their owne countrydo live as aliens, a people scattered throughout the whole world, and hated amongst whom they live; yet suffred, as a necessary mischiefe: subject to all wrongs and contumelies, which they support with an invincible patience.'
In the town of Entifa in Morocco in 1879, a pious 65 year old Jew, Jacob Dahan, took in a poor Muslim woman during a severe famine. He fed and looked after her, and in return the woman worked in his house. But when the town's governor learned of the arrangement, he ordered Dahan to come before him and declared: 'Can a Jew have a Moorish woman to serve him? He deserves to be burnt!' Jacob Dahan was then taken outside, nailed to the ground and beaten so severely he died.
Sometimes I don't why I post these kind of remarks because I feel that they fall on deaf ears. Too many here are just interested in propaganda that furthers their cause.
@Elliot, you condemn Maimonides for "racism against his Muslim neighbors runs through his writings".
This is simply one of the most ridiculous comments I have heard in ages - helping to prop up the lie that Jews were fairly treated under Muslim rule.
Maimonides was the greatest Jewish scholar of the Middle Ages. He held positions close to power in Muslim society. He was given special status because of what he was able to contribute. In other words the Muslim leaders took advantage of him and today falsely trumpet this as an example of Jews being treated equally in Muslim societies at the time. Absolutely false.
"In 1159, having fled the ferocious persecution of the Jews by the Almohads in Muslim Spain, Maimonides settled for five years in Fez. There he was forced to convert to Islam under an obligation introduced for all Jews living in the city. Later he was arrested by Muslim authorities on the charge of relapsing into Judaism. .... In his Epistle on Martyrdom, Maimonides justified this formal conversion to Islam as an acceptable alternative to torture and death under the rule of fanatical Muslim rulers."
In his Epistle to the Jews of Yemen following an appeal from the head of the Yemeni Jews for advice on how to face the threat of persecution and forced conversions under Muslim rule he said, "on account of our sins Gods has cast us into the midst of these people, the nation of Ishmael, who persecute us severely, and who devise ways to harm us and debase us. This is as the Exalted has warned us.... We have done as our sages of blessed memory instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael. We listen but we remain silent. In spite of this silence, 'we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness, and their outburst at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and chose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.'
Source:In Ishmael's House by Martin Gilbert
@Elliot, this is the kind of contemptible language that has become the MW trademark.
Translation: You Jews don't bother us and we won't bother you.
@annie
I do expect others to respect a viewpoint that they don't happen to understand or agree with. Submitting to those who have not allowed Jews to live according to their beliefs has occurred repeatedly throughout the long, awful history of anti-semitism.
@Annie, you might have a difficulty identifying with a 'home' as you describe it, but that is because you cannot appreciate or understand the intrinsic connection all Jews feel and express every year at end of the Passover seder when they say "Next year in Jerusalem".
Israel in its formation and first 20 years of its existence manifested no colonialist characteristics, so the remark
has no possible validity pre-1967.
To say then that Israel suddenly became a colonialist entity is somewhat ludicrous in view of the fact that Israel fought a defensive war in 1967 and had not yet demonstrated any colonialist ambitions or intentions.
This claim that the settlement of Jews in Israel is colonialism is complete bunkum and is trumpeted by those lazy thinkers who want to put Israel into a dirty bucket so its existence can be conveniently criticized. There is nothing in common between historic colonialism or even “neocolonialism” and the resettlement of the Land of Israel by Jews according to Zionist philosophy.
The Britannica defines colonialism as follows:
There are five characteristic elements in European colonialism and Israel has not demonstrated any of these:
All colonial powers were motivated and driven by material profits to the mother country. Material gain could be achieved either by plundering the local treasures or by exploitation of local natural resources (including labor) and transferring them to the mother country, or by opening captive markets for products of the colonizing country.
Conquest of colonies by military force; this was typical of traditional European colonialism (“gunboat diplomacy”).
Maintaining the rule of the colonizing power over the local population by garrisons (i.e., revolving military units) generally under the command of colonial military governors.
Imposing the culture of the colonizing power (i.e., language, religion, legal system, etc.) on the local native population, generally by force.
Export of surplus or undesirable populations of the colonizing power to certain colonial territories (e.g., Libya, Algeria, Australia).
Zionism advocates the return of Jews to the land of their ancestors from which they were exiled by brutal military conquests. There were two such major exiles in Jewish history – in 586 BCE and six hundred fifty-eight years later, in 72 AD. Both exiles were associated with the total destruction of Jerusalem, the ancient Jewish capital, and the demolition of its temple. The eastern hill of Jerusalem where the citadel captured by King David once stood, south of the Temple Mound, has been called Mount Zion. This name became synonymous with Jerusalem; hence Zionism.
Quoting the Britannica again:
Zionism has emerged even earlier than what I have just cited from the Britannica. Psalm 137:
The Psalm is a twenty-five hundred years old Zionist expression. Nehemiah, who came to Jerusalem about 440 BCE, giving up a high position in the Persian court, was a Zionist and so was Hillel who emigrated from Mesopotamia four hundred years later. So was Judah Halevi, the philosopher poet who wrote:
As a result of the perpetual yearning of the Jewish people for the Land of Israel, Jewish communities existed there continuously since the destruction of the Second Temple to date, notwithstanding its destroyed or occupied capital.
Now where is the analogy with colonialism? The Jews who immigrated to the Land of Israel over the millennia never represented an alien colonizing power. French Jews who immigrated to the Land of Israel did not do this for the sake of France, Russian Jews did not represent the colonial ambitions of Russia, German Jews did not have the economic welfare of Germany in mind, and so on. The only remote analogy of the establishment of peaceful settlements in another country by a persecuted minority is that of the Pilgrims in 1620; but even they had no historical claims to the land they made their new home.
Moreover, Jewish immigrants throughout the centuries did not grab land by force; they purchased it. Only the brutal War of Survival of 1948, which was initiated by the Arabs, changed this trend forcing the Israelis to confiscate Arab land to maintain their survival in a hostile region. Jews obviously did not plunder their own land for the benefit of any foreign colonial power. They did not impose Judaism on the local Arab population. The current practice of the Hebrew language by many Arabs is a matter of convenience for those who wish to maintain ties with the technologically advanced Israeli economy. Even in terms of globalization, the State of Israel is not a domineering force, definitely not when it comes to the local Arabs.
So where in the world did Israeli Jews practice colonialism in any sense? This is a myth disseminated by the same Palestinian Arabs who claim that the existence of the Jewish temple in their ancient capital is a Zionist myth. These kinds of myths need to be dispelled so that we can get to the crux of the conflict.
Adapted from link to palestinefacts.org
@woody, amazing we agree! In a perverse way this piece reveals the huge dangers we face from religious fundamentalism.
Seems like attacking Iran is off Israel's agenda too.
Refer link to haaretz.com
@cliff, the usual tangential rant and rave. I am still waiting for one concrete example of hareidim (names please) who have committed acts according to the "law of revenge".