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Jun-21-2011 15:20
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What's the Real Scoop on 'Antisemitism'? Is it Hatred or Self-Flattery?
Opinion by Tim King Salem-News.comAre humanitarian writers simply hiding a hatred of people over their religion?
 All artwork by the amazing Artist Carlos Latuff, friend of Salem-News.com, in Rio de Janeiro. |
(SALEM, Ore.) - It occurs to me that the endless false accusations of 'antisemitism' fired at news agencies with the guts to speak openly about Israel's terrible abuse of non-Jews in Palestine, may actually be a form of self-flattery.
 According to this man it's not about war crimes, murder, |
As the only U.S. news agency not under the influence of Israeli policy, Salem-News hears this accusation often. My hatemail file is an interesting one.
It takes a lot of audacity to suggest that an objection to war crimes, the murder of children and theft of land, is actually a hidden 'hatred of Jews' but this is the endless accusation. What kind of a society is able to conjure that up? One that both directly and indirectly supports state terrorism, that much we know; but what is the rest of the story?
I have several items that continually are on our radar when it comes to contact from pro-Israel supporters.
First, I regularly observe backers of Israeli apartheid (Israel has separate laws and roads for Jews and non-Jews) policy failing to capitalize the word 'Muslim' and honestly, that tells me a great deal right off the top. It is a dirty trick that betrays high levels of prejudice. Israel is an occupying government; I strongly object to their politics, but that doesn't mean we should subject them to a lower case by reference.
Second, there is a hasbara (Israeli propaganda) program underway to suggest that Palestine never actually existed. This is curious since Zionism was all about "moving to Palestine" and it was becoming increasingly popular as the 20th Century approached the Holocaust; another word that is always capitalized, like Nakba or Naksa, which represent the beginning of Palestine's Diaspora in 1948, and the terrible deadly Six Day War of 1967.
Third, those behind Israeli policy always reference 'terrorists' when the numbers of civilians Israel has murdered and purged over six decades absolutely dwarfs the number of their own killed. Thus the question is asked, who is the terrorist?[1]
Less Violence, No Change
 In theory, this couple would be OK with you moving into |
It is true that the different Palestinian resistance groups used to set off bus bombs, suicide bombs and all of the other guerrilla warfare techniques used by the oppressed and occupied. It is also true that these days, those explosions are nearly silent. Should this not be valued?
It can't be valued, because it is more important for Israel's media and politicians to remain in a victim role which is a highly convoluted scenario at best. It seems quite true that they are dismissing the progress toward peace of their perceived enemies, and prefer to say things like, "Hamas fires thousands of rockets into Israel". The real picture is that when Hamas was conducting these attacks, they only managed to kill 28 Israelis total over the years[2].
This means Israeli press (with the exception of the great journalists at Ha'aretz) doesn't note the concessions of Hamas, which not only terminated suicide bombings years ago, but then later stated they were wrong for ever having done it. Where is the coverage? It can all be read on Wikipedia and don't think the Israelis would leave that page on Hamas alone if it featured fabricated statements.
The truth is that for many years the Palestinians have laid down their arms hoping for a peaceful end to their terrible struggle. It is a large thing to have taken place, in a culture that has its homeland stolen. No people on earth take kindly to the idea of real estate theft, which is synonymous with the concept of Israel since it first began 63 years ago, a story much like the Native Americans in the US that took place in the century before.
Supporters of Israel are not all wrong; they are denied information by a sold out mainstream media that is reliant on money that largely tied to the support of Israel. If they knew what we know, they would feel differently.
 Israeli President Shimon Peres |
Even Israel's own President Shimon Peres, recently stated his very serious concerns last week in a Ha'aretz article:
"I'm concerned about the continued freeze [in the peace talks]."
Peres also said, "I'm concerned that Israel will become a binational state. What is happening now is total foot-dragging. We're about to crash into the wall. We're galloping at full speed toward a situation where Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish state."[3]
From the thousands of items we have published about the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and the peace talks, it seems clear that the killers are Israelis and that those doing almost all of the dying are Palestinians.
One recent event that shows the absurdity of the mentality was the tragic murder of the Fogel family at the Itamar settlement. The Israeli media circus and rumor mill must have been red lining.
They took images from a Gaza freedom gathering, and suggested that the gathering was to celebrate the 'terrorist' murder of this settler family.
The people in Gaza had anything but that on their minds; none had been anywhere near the settlement of Itamar. The story again underscores the massive bizarre Israeli mentality that always leads to "they hate me because I'm Jewish" instead of logically sorting through the issue and finding a fair answer.
Even if they are willing to defend a privately owned vessel at sea from Israeli commandos with stones and slingshots, not one person in this movement believes in violence. Their goal is a world where they can raise their families and live in peace. This is not an option for most Palestinians. The Fogel family Murder is a tragedy by any standard, but it should never have been used as a political tool against Palestine.
 Members of the Fogel family; Itamar settlers, |
As our writer, Alison Weir noted in her article at the time:"American news reports continue to provide excruciating details about the atrocity. Given the amount of reportage, it is surprising how much significant information is omitted.
"For example, none of these reports mention that the location of the murders, Itamar (near Nablus), is an illegal Jewish-only settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the midst of refugees whom Israel pushed off their ancestral land through massacres and ruthless military actions.
"Nor do reports mention the frequency with which Israeli settlers beat, occasionally torture, and sometimes murder Palestinians of all ages, burn their crops, and hack down their groves of olive trees, the livelihood of many Palestinian villagers; hundreds, at least, of these trees, have been destroyed by rampaging Israeli settlers"[4].
If anything even unrelated involving the death of an Israeli takes place, the media is all over it. Yet Israel kills one or more Palestinian every single day. Accepting this murder as the "right" of Israel is insane.
As is the slaughter that the Americans are guilty of. The U.S. killed over a million Iraqi people in its current 'Oops that was a mistake war in that country and Karzai himself is getting sick of the 'collateral damage' which is fancy talk meant to reference the seemingly endless deaths Americans and their friends have caused.
So back to antisemitism, the false charge we always live with for honest reporting about Israel; it is untrue, there is no obligation for Americans or anyone else to "support" any government that sees itself as entitled to take life yet somehow remain above the fray. The constant misinformation, the direct lies about battered populations being "terrorists" as Israel reserves no humanity for them; it is all so wrong.
Those children of Palestine need everyone's support and with love instead of bullets and checkpoints, Palestine could be a normal integrated society where Judiasm is prominent but not exclusive.
 |
First they came for the communists,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me[5].
This sickness of a system of violence that some believe represents Jews, is nothing of the sort. Real Jews don't stand up for murder, and intelligent people do research and leave their comfort zones to get the real facts, not just those that are tailored to fit their lifestyle.
And for the record, when it comes to the Salem-News.com writers who take on this subject, we are all well studied in Genocide, because this is what we do for a living; we're professional researchers all.
Conclusion
Perhaps there are writers in the world who, for whatever reason, actually hate Jewish people. I don't even know the concept of hate in this way, and I never have or will select my friends because of their faith. It's all good by me unless the person uses that 'faith' as an excuse for some type of personal gain. This I see far more in my Christian friends than my Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim friends.
As the editor, when it comes to Genocide, I write about Palestine and Sri Lanka primarily, but I have also written about what happened in Europe during WWII, Cambodia in the 1970's, Afghanistan during the 1980's, and Uzbekistan in recent years. Since the genocidalists in these places are of varying faiths, Jewish and Hindu in Israel and Sri Lanka; it would thus be assumed that I am not writing about their heinous acts and am not really bothered by the war crimes; the deaths of children and the rampant slaughter; those who make off base accusations of antisemitism believe these claims are just a 'mask' or a guise to hide my real motivations, of being a person who hates these two particular religions.
Of course in past articles I have talked about the negativity associated with the Tamil ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Sri Lanka (by expulsion, not death) and I'm sure I then become a 'Hindu hater' in your book. However, we must not forget that I also have written at length about the Taliban's treatment of humanity and about the troubles in Northern Ireland and the UK's oppression there; it is true that I have.
So therefore by the logic of the 'antisemitism' accusers, I also hate Christians, as well as Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims. Now, let's not forget that I am really disgusted by any country that does this. Surely you conclude from my disdain over the Killing Fields in Cambodia, that I really just hate a particular religion, right? Which one was that again?
If you want to meet the legacy of a famous antisemite, go examine the early years of Zionist founding father Theodore Herzl. As crazy as it seems, that guy hated Jews first (He was part Jewish like Hitler) and then turned around and led them to believe they should steal all of Palestine because it is their 'right', and that my friend is racism at its finest.
I'm sorry, but it embarrasses my soul to watch what the Americans and Israelis and Sri Lankans are doing; what the Nazi's and the Khmer Rouge have done, and the other countries also guilty of these crimes. Things would be much better if we didn't spend our time defending ourselves from false accusations. I could care less what, where or how any person worships.
The moral to this story? Israel and its supporters need to stop trying to excuse war crimes and human rights violations. There are no excuses, and no religion gets a free ticket because its ancestors suffered. I can't appreciate that part of the argument. Does anyone think my ancestors and yours didn't suffer or have to sometimes fight for what they had? White Americans are utterly intolerant of reparations for African-American suffering, but its OK for the Jews to justify their deeds over it? What possible justification does the suffering of a thousand years ago mean to a modern generation?
[1] Hip Hop, Olive Trees and Palestine - Tim King Salem-News.com
[2] If HAMAS is a Terrorist Organization, What Does That Make Israel? - Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com
[3] Peres warns: Israel in danger of ceasing to exist as Jewish state - By Yossi Verter Ha'aretz
[4] Murdering Babies is 'Permissible' When They're Palestinian - Alison Weir Salem-News.com
[5] First they came… - From Wikipedia
_________________________________________________________
Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer
Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.
Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.
Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 82 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
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Joan of Arc April 7, 2015 12:05 pm (Pacific time)
real estate theft, which is synonymous with the concept of Israel since it first began 63 years ago, a story much like the Native Americans in the US that took place in the century before- Please go back to Europe white man
Doug June 28, 2011 5:16 pm (Pacific time)
This is one of the antisemitic pieces of **** I've ever read. No wonder you write for some local rag.
Editor: Doug, send in your self entry for Darwin Awards eh? You would not agree with the truth if your life depended on it.
June 23, 2011 4:47 pm (Pacific time)
Palestine (Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistinē; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל Eretz-Yisra'el, formerly also פלשׂתינה, Palestina; Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn) was a conventional name, among others, used between 450 BC and 1948 AD to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.
The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were first defined in modern times by the Franco-British boundary agreement (1920) and the Transjordan memorandum during the British Mandate for Palestine. Today, the region comprises the country of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Today, the term Palestine is also used to refer to either the Palestinian territories or the State of Palestine.
Other terms for the same area include Canaan, Zion, the Land of Israel, Syria Palaestina, Southern Syria, Jund Filastin, Outremer, the Holy Land and the Southern Levant.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
Editor: Thank you!
Paul June 23, 2011 7:06 pm (Pacific time)
Your story includes massive misinformation. Studies of Hitler's paternal grandfather show no evidence whatsoever that he was Jewish. You also say, "perhaps there are some writers who don't like people who are Jewish?" Yeah, you think. Buddy, you're as anti-semitic as they come. Neither hatred nor self-flattery but descriptive and accurate.
Tim King: Hey Paul, shove it where the sun doesn't shine, I think you talk out of that thing too. Not even a good try. What confounds me is that I am sticking up for the good people who are Jewish and you are against them! I can do the "You just hate me because I'm a reporter" line or "You just hate me because I love all humans equally" but none of it is true. Your government is as bad as the Nazi's were, even worse because you are doing it today. F*ck your politics buddy, you use your religion as a thinly veiled excuse to mask your utter hatred and Genocide of Palestinians. You treat my Jewish brothers and sisters who speak out against Israel's atrocities just the way you regard me. You call them self-hating Jews. Dude, that is just the most retarded f*cking thing I have ever heard. Good luck finding a cure for your bigotry. You think you are this superior race but you are not. We are all just a bunch of human beings.
Anonymous June 23, 2011 1:05 am (Pacific time)
By 1948 all the countries that surround Palestine had gained their independence and delineated their borders in their respective constitution.
That, in itself, defines Palestine.
Never mind the name was first coined by the Greek historian Herodotus around 400BC, never mind every map drawn ever since called the area Palestine, never mind the British calling their administration of that territory the Mandate for Palestine in which article 25 makes it clear no other territories will be added to it, including Transjordan for which the British established a totally separate administration for it.
And never mind the cities of Jerusalem, Meggido, Ashkelon, Jericho, Hebron, Shiloh, Beershebah, Bethel, etc. were ALL FOUNDED, BUILT AND CREATED BY THE CANAANITES AT LEAST 800 YEARS BEFORE ANY JEWS SET FOOT ON THEM.
Most Jews who lived in Palestine before the 1948 War came over AFTER WW2.
When the Arabs came to our aid during that war it was after the Zionist terrorist groups had already expelled over 300,000 Palestinians. These terror groups were so ruthless they managed to expel an additional 500,000 Palestinians and erase over 400 Palestinian villages and towns even after the Arabs intervened.
The state of Israel was established with the help of its terror groups (the Irgun, the Hagannah, the Lehi, the Stern Gang, etc) all of whom had members who either were elected as Prime Ministers of Israel, or chosen to became members of the cabinet by the ruling parties.
Israel didn't have a Prime Minister who was born in Israel until 1996, and by then 7 of the 9 PMs it had were all born outside of Palestine.
The reason we didn't establish Palestine when Gaza was under Egyptian control and the West Bank under Jordanian control was because we wanted to keep the integrity of Palestine as articulated in the 1964 PLO Charter:
"Article 21. The Palestine people believes in the principle of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and the right of peoples to practice these principles. It also supports all international efforts to bring about peace on the basis of justice and free international co-operation."
"Article 22. The People of Palestine believe in peaceful coexistence on the basis of legal existence, for there can be no coexistence with aggression, nor can there be peace with occupation and colonialism."
And even if we did establish a state back then Israel would have gone ahead with its goal of conquering all of Palestine and "transfering the Palestinians" as they've been saying in everyone of their Zionist manisfestos since the late 1800's, starting with The Jewish State by Theordor Herzl.
Damn if we do, and damn if we don't.
The best peace offer Israel ever made would have that country in complete control of all the borders of Palestine, all of its airspace, all of its coastline, and over 80% of its water resources.
International law calls for the end to all military occupation within reasonable time regardless of how the occupied people feel about it, including Hamas.
Hamas is a political party just like all the other Israeli political parties that call for the expulsion of Palestinians or the prevention of a Palestinian state and that run in every Israeli election and have been part of pretty much ever Israeli cabinet.
Hamas is made up of people who have been born into a ruthless military occupation, have gone to school, married and work under it and who're now watching their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren being born, going to school, marrying and working (if at all possible) under the same ruthless military occupation.
You gotta have some balls to invalidate our existence in Palestine, question our humanity, tell us what our history is and is not, who we are and who we are not, and what belongs and doesn't belong to us.
Editor: Hey Palestine, we have your six. Even when the rest attack you, even when they attack us, because humanity and dignity are all that matter and until you are given the liberation from occupation and oppression that you deserve, you have a growing number of allies.
Israel Muse June 21, 2011 7:44 pm (Pacific time)
Ridiculous comments you make, one for example "Israeli Hasbara claims that Palestine did not exist" - this not true and you deliberately change what we say or mean...
We know Palestine existed but when we say it didnt exist we mean that it never existed as a country, nation, culture, religion etc etc.... do not change what we say to what you want it to mean... we are not delusional like you lot... you deny our history and fabricate your own...
Editor: Don't you think that last charge is extremely hypocritical since your 'program' expressly seeks to de-legitimize Palestine? It takes a lot of gall from someone who hails from a country barely older than most people's grandfathers. Hell, Israel make this whole American experiment with 'democracy' appear ancient. What bothers you is that hasbara-based propaganda is being reasonably countered in my argument and you know the searches will now start turning this piece up instead of yours.
Your point is a nonexistent anyway, because the PA, Hamas, Fatah, the PLO; these groups are legit governments of Palestine and they are mighty close to Israel in age; that means you never had a point to make about Palestinian government.
For those reading this, simply Google 'Palestine' and/or "Palestine history' and read about the amazing past of this culture. So they didn't have the same type of controlling government Israel has established, so what? For all of the years preceding the establishment of Israel, there was peace in Palestine, which of course really encompasses an area much larger than Israel. I remember standing with my then-State Gov. Ted Kulongoski in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2006, and how he talked in our interview about how Afghanistan can be a democracy, but it will never be a Jeffersonian style democracy like the US. The previous cultural of Palestine is the same. These societies are partly tribal and they should be allowed to maintain their cultures.
Neither you nor I or anyone else has the ability, according the the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. to eliminate culture. I hate the fact that so many of your 'settlement' colonies are sitting right on top of historic Palestinian villages, by design.
When it comes to your government's practices, your IDF (IOF) fills the role of ethnic cleaning monsters.
I hope all of your walls and checkpoints come tumbling down on the heads of the racists of Israel who are the problem. I have friends in Israel that I love, they agree with me and hate your lies. There really isn't much more to it, damned militaristic society makes ours almost look sane, which it is not. The end of Israel doesn't mean 'everybody get the Jews', comment person who can't even use a whole name; it means getting over your problems, handing at least 200 of your military and government to The Hague (Many are listed on Salem-News.com - thanks to one of our inside sources with the IDF. (There are good people in every group, including the IDF. They know I am not against them, I am after the ones that run the checkpoints and enjoy their work too much.
I am against every single one who has ever abused a Palestinian. I am against your leaders in the military and the Knesset who are terrible and racist and openly legislating what we would call 'Jim Crow' laws in the US. Then there are the clauses in new legislation for 'peace' shalom; the disclaimers that state that the new law will not supersede those written in 1950, 1941, etc.
As my friend Kevin Neish who was aboard the Mavi Marmara last year when it was attacked by Israeli invaders, "Zionism; it's racism, simple. It's just racism".
As a west coast US native, I was raised only to believe that racism in all forms is bad. I was taught to never judge a group by the actions of some of its members, and this lesson came through my education, media, my family and the surrounding culture. Yet here we are in 2011 and Israel has roads that are 'Jews only' and laws for Jews and non-Jews that are different!
This is crazy!
So knock off your stupid (sorry, really) accusations and drop your agenda muse and all the rest of you. And feel free to stand up for your racism here if you want, but instead why don't you take a look in the mirror and really ask yourself if those Palestinians deserve the life they have. Join us, that 'us' is mankind, and work only for the end of violence, end of war, the end of discrimination of all kinds.
I have no ability to see it any other way. Perhaps if I were born there, but I doubt it.
COLLI June 21, 2011 7:38 pm (Pacific time)
If focus can be shifted, even for a second, the pea always seems to find its way under a neighboring shell.
[Return to Top]Rationalization, denial, accusations of racism, control of the media, control of the politicians via contributions to re-election campaigns, and greed . . . good heavens man . . . did our Congress open a school for sleaze-bags?
Innocence means nothing, children mean nothing, ethics do not exist, honor does not exist, humanitarianism does not exist . . . the country they are building will eventually implode because the structure on which it is being built is simply a shell whose purpose is for appearance only!
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