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zion still naked
7/23/2002 (24:47) |
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A Response to Fundamentalist Bigotry
'We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one
centimeter of Eretz Israel.... Force is all they do or ever will understand.
We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us
on all fours ... When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able
to do will be to scurry around like drugged roaches in a bottle.'
-- Israeli Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan (Gad Becker, NYTimes 4/14/83)
In October 2000, Answering Islam published a little pamphlet titled, Israel
and the World’s Mock Trial, by one Mr. “Walid'. Aside from being a
disturbing piece of doomsday literature, chock-full of cataclysmic preaching
and apocalyptic claptrap, this book exhibits what is an all-too-familiar and
dangerous feature of fundamentalist Christianity – racism. Racism in the
form of fundamentalist Christianity is, of course, nothing new. It provided
the cultural climate for such frightening events as the Salem Witch Trials
and such genocidal policies as Manifest Destiny, which was used to wipeout
the Native Americans. It justified the Atlantic Slave Trade. It justified
European colonialism. It justified the American policy of expansionism. Even
Teddy Roosevelt exhibited fundamentalism and racism in explaining American
foreign policy in the Philippines. It does not take a Ph.D. in psychology or
history to understand the dangerous consequences of the racist mind. Racism
robs innocent human beings of their humanity, making their suffering and
their deaths meaningless in the eyes of the racist. The Founding Fathers
were not content in acknowledging black people as fully human; rather, a
black man was considered only 3/5th’s of human being (we can only imagine
how much less of a human they regarded black women). This racist
characterization of blacks was even part of the original constitution of the
United States, “the land of the free”, where “all men were created equal”.
Certainly, reducing the humanity of the black people made it easier for the
whites to enslave them. Modern anthropological studies estimate the number
of blacks who died in the Atlantic Slave trade to be somewhere on the order
of 40,000,000 human beings (see Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the
United States). It is left for personal curiosity to consider whether or not
the nations involved in this racist enterprise truly feel remorse for what
are truly original sins.
Racism results in not only physical but also intellectual destruction. Its
intoxicating effects prevent the racist from seeing things as they truly
are. It compels the racist to take unusual, irrational, and extreme
positions on historical events, such as excusing certain massacres while
denying others. In order to make sense of a racist’s corruption of history,
lies are often fabricated while genuine facts are suppressed. This moral
depravity is not just a character of fringe groups, but even pervades even
the highest and most powerful sectors of society, such as the United States
government. To this day, the United States Congress staunchly refuses to
formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
Unfortunately, ignorance begets ignorance. Racist propaganda will always
hold its sway over the ignorant. Unless one is educated in the most basic of
facts, how is one supposed to even recognize such gross distortions of
history? Children in the United States are raised to believe that
Christopher Columbus was a noble Christian hero who “discovered” America.
However, when such corruptions of history are brought to the test, they
always fall apart and are proven absurd. They are never told that Columbus
launched what was to become one of the greatest campaigns of genocide in
human history, that he raped women, that he enslaved children, and that his
hunger for gold was more voracious than that of a wild animal. The
whitewashing of history continues to this very day. Aggressive propaganda
campaigns are launched to distort people’s perceptions of the world, always
in the pursuit of a corrupt motive. These motives are rooted in politics,
nationalism, social ideology, and religious fundamentalism. This last
phenomenon has been made manifest throughout human history, but has become a
frighteningly dangerous threat in our very own day. In addition, television
plays a very crucial role in shaping the way people think. Certain
stereotypes are repeatedly portrayed so as to create a very precise picture
of the world – blacks are drug dealers, thieves, and gang members; Arabs are
all fanatic, violent, terrorists who want to destroy the world; Mexicans are
all pathologically lazy people; Cubans are all communists; Latin Americans
are all drug dealers; Asians have no personalities and serve no purpose
other than as human resources. The stereotypes are countless and ubiquitous.
“I strongly disagree with the Israeli attacks on the helpless Palestinians.”
- Answering Islam’s very own Sam Shamoun
The aim of this modest web page is to present an honest and truthful account
of the situation in Israel and the illegally occupied territories of
Palestine. This account will, of course, be an alternative account to the
Hollywood version of reality, which has unfortunately brainwashed many
people. What follows are objective, insightful articles, many of them
written by Jews, that shatters the myths and the foolishness of the
propaganda surrounding Israel in the mainstream media. As a Jew, I was
deeply offended by the arrogance, the lies, the irrationality, the racism,
the vulgarity, and the idiocy of Mr. “Walid’s” hate literature. Ultimately,
racism is idiotic and its danger thrives off of its idiocy. In particular,
his denial of the Deir Yassin Massacre amounted to the most extreme form of
hatred and spite for innocent human beings. In recognizing the futility of
reasoning with somebody who could put forth such madness, I thought it best
to simply provide objective perspectives on certain vital issues up front.
For the educated reader, much of this information will be review. However,
considering the sort of person who could be persuaded by the bigotry of Mr.
'Walid's' book, much of this information might seem surprising, perhaps
shocking. It is our hope that the reader of this web page will exercise the
human faculty of critical thinking and challenge his or her own
understanding of the depressing situation in the Middle East and perhaps
cultivate some compassion for the true victims of the ongoing crisis.
Liam Avram Hulin
01/05/00
1. Historical Background
· A Quick History of the Rise of Israel by Charley Reese (Orlando
Sentinel 01/05/1999) “It may amuse you to know that the big terrorists of
the 1940s were the Jews, in British and also in American eyes. Menachem
Begin, founder of Benjamin Netanyahu's party, ran an organization called the
Irgun, which bombed, ambushed and assassinated both Palestinians and British
soldiers and officials. Yitzhak Shamir, the former prime minister, led an
even more radical group known as the Stern Gang and gave the order to
assassinate Count Folke Bernadotte, a United Nations diplomat and Swedish
humanitarian.”
· Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict (Jews for Justice in the
Middle East) “What really happened was that the Zionist movement, from the
beginning, looked forward to a practically complete dispossession of the
indigenous Arab population so that Israel could be a wholly Jewish state, or
as much as was possible. Land bought by the Jewish National Fund was held in
the name of the Jewish people and could never be sold or even leased back to
Arabs (a situation which continues to the present).”
· Land Without a People by Michael Palumbo: “The Zionists spoke of
making Palestine 'As Jewish as England is English'. They also used the
slogan 'A land without a people for a people without a land' to describe
their attitude toward Palestine. The Zionists considered Palestine
uninhabited, despite the fact that in 1881 almost half a million Arabs lived
in Palestine, forming almost 95 per cent of the population.”
· We Took Their Land by James Ron: “Many Israelis' unwillingness to
acknowledge Palestinian rights stems from their secret shame over the events
of 1948. During that conflict, Jewish soldiers forced -- or 'encouraged' --
some 750,000 Palestinian to flee their homes. Through a process today known
as ethnic cleansing, Israel seized control over vast swathes of Palestinian
land and denied refugees their right to return.”
· Who is a Palestinian? by David Newman (Jerusalem Post 07/28/1999).
The Palestinians' “right to be called a nation is not rooted in whether they
existed hundreds of years ago or not. The simple fact that they constitute a
group, numbering several million, who have shared beliefs, with common
cultural and territorial ties, at any given point in history, is sufficient
to legitimize their claims to independence and statehood.”
2. Zionism
· What Is Zionism?: “Zionism is an apartheid philosophy.”
· The Future Borders of Israel: “The rebuilt Jerusalem we pray for is
not this modern city, and the redeemed Eretz Israel is not the political
state of the Jews we see today. As the influence of the Torah extends, so
will the boundaries of Eretz Israel expand accordingly.”
· Zionist Ideology by Rabbi Elmer Berger: “All formulas have failed
because of Zionism’s insistence upon it’s hard core racist and or theocratic
yardsticks to determine full participation in the society which Zionism
contemplated.”
· For Jews Only: Racism Inside Israel: An Interview with Phyllis
Bennis: “But the new intifada has refocused attention on the nature and
extent of Israeli racism, among other things. You have new reports from
Amnesty International looking at the Israeli treatment of its own
Palestinian citizens -- minors, children, being arrested, beaten and held
for days. Israel treats Palestinians, inside or outside the Green Line, as
being less human than Jews. This is rooted in the very definition and Basic
Law of the Israeli state. And the new intifada may give us a chance to
challenge that apartheid character.”
3. Christian Fundamentalism
· Israeli Extremists and Christian Fundamentalists: The Alliance by
Grace Halsell (Washington Report 12/1988)
· Israel: Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy? by Dr. Rabbi Elmer Berger
(1970)
· Praise God and Pass the Ammunition: the Changing Nature of Israel's
US Backers by Phyllis Bennis with Khaled Mansour (Middle East Report Fall
1998)
· Zionists and the Bible: by Professor Alfred Guillaume
· Christian Zionists' Donations to Israel by Aryeh Dean Cohen
(Jerusalem Post 11/12/1997).
· An Open Letter to 'Christians for Israel' by Kathleen Banks
(Washington Report 09/1998)
· Do Jews Have a 'Divine Right' to Palestine? by Dr. Fayez al-Sayegh
· Confronting the Bible's Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine by Michael
Prior (AMEU 12/2000) Microsoft Document.
4. Israel: Friend of Christianity?
· The Zionist / Orthodox attacks on Christianity by David Paul “10
January 1963 the Finnish Christian Mission School in Jerusalem is attacked
by seventy Jews, mostly Yeshiva students. They smashed windows and beat Mr.
Risto Santala, the school pastor. Further along the street the plate glass
windows of the Zion Mission shop run by Reverend William Hall were smashed.
All of this was the result of an editorial in the Jewish newspaper Yediot
Aharonot of 23 Dec. 1962 which accused the Christian Mission of converting
Jews to Christianity, and calling on Jews to demonstrate outside the Finnish
School.”
· Enraged Mob Attacks Jews for Jesus Meeting by Aliza Arbeli
(Ha'aretz 11/29/1998)
· Vatican suggests Israel denies religious freedom to Palestinians by
Haim Shapiro (Jerusalem Post 02/27/2000)
· Israelis Don't Know Much About Jesus by Orna Coussin (Ha'aretz
12/23/1999)
· Jews Angry Over Remark By Falwell. Antichrist Speculation Called
Antisemitic by Caryle Murphy (Washington Post 01/25/1999)
· Baptists call on followers to pray for Jews to convert. B'nai
B'rith call it 'Effrontery and arrogance' by Nitzan Horowitz (Ha'aretz
09/13/1999)
· Christian Embassy Shocked by Barak Snub (Ha'aretz 09/27/1999)
· A Letter to Rev. Falwell from Palestinian evangelical pastors
serving in the Holy Land (02/01/1998)
5. Israel, Human Rights, and International Law
· Amnesty International: Israel and the Occupied Territories -
includes updates, and annual reports on the state of human rights in Israel
and the Palestinian Authority.
· Human Rights Watch Report: Israel, The Occupied West Bank, Gaza
Strip, and Palestinian Authority Territories - December 2000 report on human
rights in the region.
· B'Tselem: Israel’s Leading Human Rights Group
· Gush Shalom: Another Respected Human Rights Group from Israel
· Deir Yassin Remembered: In memory of one of the worst massacres of
1948
· A Zionist Website acknowledges what Mr. “Walid” denies: The Deir
Yassin Massacre .
· UN Security Council Resolutions condemning Israel for violations on
international law: 1955-1992
· UN Slams Israel on Jerusalem Policy by Nicole Winfield (Associated
Press 12/01/1999)
· U.N. Resolutions Condemning Zionist Terrorism
6. Essential Reading List
· Jewish History; Jewish Religion. The Weight of Three Thousands
Years by Israel Shahak (1996). Read reviews of this book in Washington
Report and Z Magazine. Another copy of the book may be found here. EXCELLENT
· Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel by Israel Shahak (2000). EXCELLENT
· The Fateful Triangle: The U.S., Israel and the Palestinians by Noam
Chomsky (1999) Read Review and Excerpt.
· Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel by
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi 1993. Reviewed by H. J. Skutel
· The Holocaust Industry by Norman G. Finkelstein (2000) EXCELLENT
· The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust by Tom Segev.
(1993) (Review)
· The Invention of Ancient Israel and the Silencing of Palestinian
History by Keith Whitelam (1997)
· Israel's Sacred Terrorism: A study based on Moshe Sharett's
Personal Diary, and other documents. by Livia Rokach. Foreword by Noam
Chomsky (1986)
· Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts about American-Israeli
Relations by Paul Findley A book on the many sins of Israel towards
Palestinians, Arabs and Americans. (1996) Reviewed by Richard Curtiss.
· Necessary Illusions: Thought Control In Democratic Societies by
Noam Chomsky (1989)
News and Alternative Media:
· Z Magazine: A Community of People Concerned about Social Change
· Ha’aretz: The Major Israeli Daily
· Al-Ahram Weekly: Published In Cairo
· Mother Jones: Daily News and Resources for the Skeptical Citizen
· Palestine Times: News Service
· Palestine Chronicle: Daily News
· Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Monthly. The best
analytical resource on the Middle East.
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