Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fairest One of All?

Is it morally acceptable to think, talk and act for the self-interest of the tribe against the interest of the whole world?

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fairest One of All?

(LONDON) - Is it not an oxymoron to call oneself "atheist Jew"?

Is it OK for a "progressive Jew" to be a supremacist?

Is it not schizophrenic, for those who call themselves "progressive Jews", to be simultaneously, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli?

Is there a problem with Jewish identity?

"Is it good for Palestinians" to rally behind some anti-zionist Jews even as we know that they act primarily for Jewish self-interest?

"Pearls of wisdom" appear to be not just the trade-mark or the speciality of extremist-settlers, violent zionists, or supremacist chabadists; it appears that some "Jewish-anti-zionist progressive supporters" have a significant share in this "wisdom" pie.

One of those “gurus” appears to be the "progressive anti-zionist Jew", Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss runs the Mondoweiss website and describes it as: "a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective"

Philip Weiss poses as an anti-zionist progressive Jewish voice who want to expose zionism, and who poses as a "friend of Palestine", yet he censors a faint Palestinian voice from his Jewish "progressive" website and even from the comment section.

As shocking as that maybe to activists who support Palestine, Philip Weiss described what it means to be Jewish to him using the very unsettling words:

"Tribalism", "Jewish Self-interest", "Us-ness", "Distinction to them", "Sense of Difference", and an "Elite Identity"

Philip Weiss also admitted that his anti-zionist stance is “concerned with a Jewish self-interest”. Then he elaborated: “A theory of political life based on altruism or concern for victims purely is doomed to fail.”

In a slip of a tongue Weiss managed to expose himself to be anything but progressive. He threw away millennia of human progress and evolution, and took us back to the dark ages of tribalism, barbarism and clannish grievances.

In just a few words Weiss made redundant the sacrifices of Rachel Corie, Tom Hurndall and thousands if not millions more of other civilized human beings who rush to the rescue and help of their fellow human, when in danger or live under oppression, for no other reason than the desire to protect and foster life, for no other motivation but pure compassion, longing for justice and love of humanity.

I am certain that the thoughts of "tribal self-interest" of the type: “Is what I am doing here good for America and the American?” never crossed Rachel’s mind as she bravely stood in front of the bulldozer, and altruistically gave up her life, nor did the question “is it good for Britain?” cross the mind of Tom Hurndall as he embraced the little children to protect them from gunfire.

When they did what they did, Rachel and Tom did not act on "tribal self-interest", but rather at the RISK of their own self-interest. In their great acts of sacrifice, there is nothing but pure selflessness and altruism.

Philip Weiss does not stop there, he comes again to enlighten us with his blatant tribal supremacist blather "We’re just smarter, that’s why". I can't help but ask: is the supremacy of the ultra Orthodox permeating the secular progressive world?

Am I getting too thick for my skin to accept such lies, Or, could it be simply the concept of "their chosen-ness" that we "gentiles" are allergic to and "fail" to fathom!

In his article Weiss brags on the smartness of Jews who through their networking manage to achieve what "gentile" fail to achieve.

I would like to remind Philip Weiss and all our anti-zionist Jewish supporters who operate within “Jewish self-interest” or “is it good for the Jews?” framework that Jewish self-interest is incompatible with the Palestinian aspiration of FULL LIBERATION.

In fact, the concepts of “Jewish self-interest”, “is it good for the Jews?” and the "elite identity" are incompatible with morality, humanity and civilization itself.

After decades of slow genocide, ethnic cleansing and barbaric brutality used against Palestinians to make them submit or leave, it is inconceivable to see “our Jewish supporters” insisting that Palestinians must share their land and their future with those who raped them. they insist that in any future solution, Jewish invaders must have equal rights to claim permanent residency, historical attachment and ownership of Palestine!

Those so called "Israelis", whom the progressive anti-Zionist Jews are desperate to protect and to secure their "Jewish interest", are occupiers, who serve in the IDF and support the occupation, and by the sheer fact of being there in Palestine they ARE the occupation. They constitute a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural foreign invaders.

They occupied the land by force, they raped the land by force, they stole the land by force, and they have been committing atrocities every single day for almost a century.

Can any sane and moral person equate invaders with the native owners of Palestine who have every moral and legal right to defend themselves, protect their culture and to RESIST the invasion and the takeover of their land and property?

Can any sane or moral person blame the Palestinians for not desiring to share their land with such barbaric invaders?

I have spent the last two years researching and trying to understand what motivates those mad settles, who invaded Palestine, to behave in such peculiar manner; where does all this arrogance they exhibit come from? and how can human beings become so blatantly sadistic as a group?

Why after over a century of their violence, we see no signs of remorse or repentance, only more and more extremism, more and more brutality?

What I found was more than horrific, a deep bottomless hole, filled with ugliness beyond description.

It appears to me that authentic Judaism has been totally hijacked by some dark self-worshiping Talmudists, who have managed to disfigure and distort the original teaching of prophets beyond recognition.

Furthermore, historical records show that occupiers who take over other people's homelands would inevitably either get defeated and kicked out, or they form a bond with the land and its native people and get absorbed in.

Obviously, the Jewish-Zionist invaders failed in forming any bond with the land, nor with its people, so why is it that our Jewish supporters insist that we view the occupation of Palestine differently, in terms of the inevitable consequences for invaders who have committed generations-long crimes and who are evidently unfit and unable to bond and blend with the people, the land and the environment?

Why is that we have to accept a bizarre version of history, in which foreign invaders of multi-ethnicities claim to have been given the land of Palestine by God (even though that many of them don't even believe in God)?

Why is it that we have to be accommodating and extra sensitive when dealing with the Jewish-Zionists?

Does the fact that they are Jewish has anything to do with it?

That leads us to the question of Jewish identity which has indeed become a taboo, along with any mention of the racist concepts that thrives within many Jewish communities.

If we are aspiring to establish a world build on equality and fair dealing for all, this taboo has to be broken; and the problematic issues within have to be faced and dealt with.

Such discussions are extremely important; it enables us to understand the motivations, the mental and psychological process that animates the occupiers of Palestine and the majority amongst the Jewish communities who support them.

Those who try to suppress or prevent such discussions whether they realize it or not, act as controlled opposition and gatekeepers, who want to divert the world’s attention from looking at the rot inside their communities, the root causes, and the ideology that produces such peculiar behaviour that has plagued our land and our recent history in Palestine and caused so much misery to millions of human beings in the Middle East.

As it is the case with all other moral issues that poses threat to establishing a just and peaceful society, rejecting racism is a necessity; starting from the concept of their chosen-ness amongst religious Jews, which includes their sense of superiority and distinction in terms of intellect, morality, spirituality, and exceptional suffering, and ending with the concept “Us-ness in distinction to them”, “Jews is: a sense of difference”, and of being part of an “elite identity”, with “great civilization”, amongst some secular progressive Jews.

If Jewish people are really serious about protecting their future and saving what is left of their religion, they should look in the mirror for once and start doing some soul-searching and inner-reflecting, they should start cleaning their own house before it's too late for God's sake.

No human would ever accept to be enslaved or looked down upon by some self-chosen, self appointed supremacists.

No human would tolerate to be viewed as sub-human with an animal soul by any other.

No human would succumb to some self-appointed "masters" who declare themselves divine, equipped with a divine right to rob, kill, lie and get away with it.

I for one, rebuke and reject the absurd concept of “chosen-ness” of the Jewish people.

I rebuke and reject their mantra of their “specialness”, exceptionalism, “elite-ism”, and their delusion of a “superior Jewish IQ”.

I rebuke and reject their claim that Jews are “smarter than others”.

I rebuke and reject the concept of the “uniqueness of the Jewish suffering”.

If believing that: Jews and non-Jews are equal in intellect, morality, spirituality and in their responsibility for their own actions; if believing that is a crime, then I am the first to be called a criminal.

If believing that the statement: “Jews are unique and special beings, with unique Divine souls” is a racist, chauvinistic and supremacist statement; then I plead guilty of racism.

If believing that “ALL mankind, Jews and non-Jews alike, are equal in humanity and in their accountability before the law”, is anti-Semitic, then call me anti-Semite.

If believing that no man is superior to another in intellect by the virtue of race or religion, is considered extremism, in this Orwellian world, then call me an extremist.

It cannot be that difficult to comprehend that bragging and propagating myths such as "Jews are just smarter than others", makes the "gentiles" just a little uncomfortable.

Is it really hard to see that such blatant supremacy coming from a "progressive Jew" can only create negative feelings against the Jews?

Hence, the claims that anti-semitism has always existed and continue to exist due to the innate irrationality of the "gentiles", or due to character defects in them, or because they are born with an irresistible tendency to hate, kill or oppress Jews need to revisited and re-examined.

Throwing sands in the eyes of the “gentiles” by focusing all the attention on the blurred and moribund catchword of “zionism”, rather than the ideology that has produced and still animates zionism, does not fly well with anti-racist people who are more interested in identifying, fighting and eliminating real causes of racism rather than blankly staring at the symptoms.

Deflecting the activists' attention from identifying the culprits who have accumulated enormous level of financial power and political control that enabled them to be literally "above the law", can only serve to protect the real ruling "elite" culprits, who have caused unimaginable devastation to the world in recent history.

“progressive” Jews ought to be running mad to expose those ruling "elite" rather than hysterically and irrationally throwing accusations and labels of anti-semitism at anyone who dares to ask such questions:

Who are the "ruling elite"? Who are the bankers? Who are the warlords? What is the common denominator between most of them?"

“progressive” Jews ought to pull their act together, take a look in the mirror, practice some self-reflection and ask themselves the painful questions:

Is it morally acceptable to consider themselves up and above the rest of humanity?

Can they not see the problematic inevitable consequences of fostering or concealing ideologies that are racist and supremacist?

"Is it good for the Jews" to keep creating mental, emotional and intellectual walls of separation between the world and the "tribe", in the name of "it is good for the Jews"?

Is it morally acceptable to think, talk and act for the self-interest of the tribe against the interest of the whole world?

Can they blame the world when it reaches a threshold and reacts to their racism, supremacy, exclusionary tribal mentality and the takeover of influential positions that serves their interest against the interest of the whole?

Nahida Izzat is a Jerusalem-born Palestinian refugee who has lived in exile for over forty two years, after being forced to leave her homeland at the tender age of seven in 1967, during the six-day war. She has a degree in mathematics, but art is one of her favorite pastimes. She loves hand-made things and so makes dolls, cards, and most of her own clothes. She also writes poetry, participates in written dialogues and believes in building bridges, not walls.

You can write to Nahida : nahidaexiledpalestinian@gmail.com

Americans for a Stronger Israel