Arabs & Jews together against Israel

aude, Yassine Channouf27 februari 2009 – 14:07

There is as much freedom of speech in Europe when it comes to criticism of Israel as there is freedom of movement in Palestine. Almost none. So why is this subject so volatile?

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Well, for starters there is the - too often heard- claim that any criticism of Israel is direct or indirect anti-Semitism. Self proclaimed analysts and representatives of the Jewish communities explain the accusation. A huge part of the Jews in the world associate themselves with the State of Israel. Criticism of this entity is in fact hidden criticism of the Jews in the world. And what worse accusation is there in the world today than anti-Semitism?

When one objects to the murder of 1400 children, women and men, are you an anti-Semite? Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as a hero.
When one protests against the thousands and thousands of wounded in Gaza in only three weeks time, are you an anti-Semite?
Pity the nation that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
If you protest against the racist colonial apartheid laws in Israel are you an anti-Semite?
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox and whose philosopher is a juggler.
When you cry out against the imprisonment of almost two million people in the most densely populated area in the world, which is cut off from the world and starved to death physically and mentally, are you an anti-Semite?
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years.
Oddly, oddly, the answer appears to be: Yes! For what is more precious: the death of 13 Jews -of whom 5 died by friendly fire- or the murder of 1.400 Palestinians and the wounding of thousands more, the destruction of tens of thousands of houses, hospitals, …

The Arab European League, one of the fiercest advocators of the Palestinian cause in Belgium and the Netherlands, knows everything about it. How often have they been accused of ‘hating Jews’ in mainstream media, let alone Israeli lobby magazines such as ‘Joods Actueel’? In the light of the recent massacres in Gaza the AEL deemed it necessary to organise a press conference with members of the Jewish community who also object the very existence of a –in their words- so called ‘Jewish State’. This way the AEL hoped that once and for all the constantly reappearing accusation of anti-Semitism would cease.
On the other hand you had Neturei Karta, a movement –they refuse to be called an organization- representing what they call true Orthodox Judaism. They are despised by the Zionist establishment for refusing to join their path of conquest. Neturei Karta has been persecuted ever since the Zionists set foot on Palestinian soil, for there was always a strong Jewish antipathy for the Zionist nation-building project believing that having one inch of Jewish sovereignty on earth is blasphemy.

Anno 2009, what repercussion does this meeting have for the western public opinion? The answer is -sadly- very limited. For Neturei Karta has always been actively boycotted by Zionist infiltrated press, and the AEL, well, they only have the right to speak when they have to explain why a couple of car windows have been broken by some adolescents. At this press conference it was clear that the media, despite the huge positive implications such a meeting could have, decided it was too irrelevant to attend. In Brussels, the capital of Europe, important representatives of the Arab community and Ortodox Judaism come together, not long after the assault on Gaza to denounce the Israeli aggression. This is a potentially ground-breaking scoop. The positive implications of such a meeting could not be measured. But is it part of the narrative? Mainstream media seems to promote the simplistic view that Muslims hate Jews and vice versa, that this is how it is, how it was, and how it will be. Samuel Huntington may have died recently, but his Clash of Civilizations remains vivid nonetheless.

Both AEL and Neturei Karta have chosen the path less travelled by, and hopefully that will make all the difference.

.........not that this will

kl, 28/02/2009 – 04:17

.........not that this will ever be read, but, nevertheless, a very nicely written & thought-out article (indeed!).

weird AEL

Polri, 01/03/2009 – 13:33

This article is weird in many ways.

First of all: there is the claim that there is no such thing as freedom of speech when it comes to criticizing Israel. According to the AEL, every criticizer of Israel is shut down on the premise of being antisemitic.

Maybe they stopped watsching the news in the 1980's?

I can't think of any person or organization who wasn't allowed to speak out against Israel or who was brandend an antisemite for no reason. At least not in Belgium, and not in the last 10 years.

They probably refer to the fact that they had a hard time organizing a demonstration in Antwerp, after one of their actions ended with riots and racist (not just antizionist) slogans like "joden buiten".

The fact that riots were the problem, and not just criticizing Israel, is evidenced by the fact that in the same weeks many other anti-Israeli demonstrations were allowed to happen, also in Antwerp.

The weirdest thing, though, is that the AEL seems to expect Jews to forsake their identity and solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Israel, and in fact become "house negro's".

It is very bizarre to see the AEL, a secular, panarabic movement side with religious extremists like Neturei Karta. Lets not forget that Neturei Karta's support for the Palestinian cause is very similar to the support Israel receives from extreme evangelic Christians: a support based on messianic ideas about the holy land.

The AEL is a nationalistic movement. They say themselves that when it comes to justice for "their" people the end always justifies the means, whathever they are. They reject assimilation. They insist that only a strenghtening of Arab identity will make the Arab people able to stand up against discrimination. Their narrative is a mixture of nationalism, socialism and a little bit of religion.

If you take this al together, the conclusion seems to be that if these people would have been Jewish in the first half of the 20th century, they would probably have been ... zionists :)

Bij deze is het bewijs

Huub Vos, 01/03/2009 – 15:02

Bij deze is het bewijs geleverd dat Joden inderdaad ook antisemieten kunnen zijn. In België loopt ook één dergelijk exemplaar rond die zich uitgeeft als vereniging. Hetgeen in zijn geval wil zeggen dat hij voor de spiek-gel moet gaan staan en dan nog één aanhanger ziet. Mvg Huubke

Judaisme is geen zionisme

krimo73, 02/03/2009 – 03:15

neem je wensen maar niet voor waarheid aan. Bij de conferentie waren meerdere Antwerpse joden aanwezig. Jeschurun bestaat wel delijk uit meerdere personnen. En ook Neturei Karta telt in Belgie vele mensen. Probleem is idd wel dat de zionistische joden de boel controleren en intimideren. Ze bedreigen anti-israelische joden en boycotten hen overal om werk te vinden bij andere joden. Zelfs synagogen dreigen, weigeren en soms vallen er klappen. In elk geval zeeeeer de moeite om de boel daar eens te onderzoeken en te toetsen aan de Belgische strafrecht... als je niet onder invloed staat van het zionisme natuurlijk.

Naturei Karta is ook

Paul, 02/03/2009 – 15:27

Naturei Karta is ook aanwezig op conferenties met David Duke van KKK.
Erg intelligent en genuanceerd allemaal....

gedachten zijn vrij

Polri, 02/03/2009 – 16:34

Akkoord dat judaisme en zionisme geen synoniemen zijn. Eigenlijk spreekt dat vanzelf:

Ter herinnering:
"jood" = een aanhanger van het joodse geloof.
"Jood" = een lid van het joodse "volk" (meer dan 50% van de Joden is seculier)
"zionist" = (vroeger) de politieke overtuiging dat een Joods land de oplossing is voor de "joodse kwestie".
= (vandaag) pattriotisme tegenover dat Joodse land (Israel)

Sommigen hier horen het niet graag, maar de meeste Joden zijn wel degelijk zionistisch. En u hoeft het niet fijn te vinden, maar het is niet verboden en zionist zijn is niet "fouter" dan enig ander pattriotisme.

Wat de AEL probeert te doen is een opsplitsing maken tussen "goede Joden" (= die minderheid die, vaak om religieuze redenen, fervent antizionist zijn) en "slechte Joden" (= al de rest).

Al die "slechte Joden" moeten van de AEL gewoon van kamp veranderen.

Ik zal het maar ronduit zeggen: dat zijn hun zaken niet.
De gedachten zijn vrij, en de AEL zal dat toch moeten leren aanvaarden.

De AEL aanvaardt elke dag de vrije gedachte

Jan, 03/03/2009 – 23:16

Buiten de uit de hand gelopen betoging kan men de AEL moeilijk verwijten dat ze de vrije gedachten van zionisten om zionist te zijn niet aanvaarden.
Bij deze blijkt nog maar eens met welke ongenuanceerdheid er wordt geschoten op de AEL en zijn standpunt omtrent Palestina en Israel.
Dat de AEL oproept en aanmoedigt om zich uit te spreken tegen het zionisme dat vandaag de dag in Israel VN-schuilplaatsen en ziekenhuizen bombardeert, vrouwen en kinderen vermoordt, huizen wegbulldozert, een politiek landschap heeft dat zich uitstrekt van rechts tot extreem rechts, kan ik als humanist alleen maar aanmoedigen. Dat ze dit in samenspraak doet met verschillende joodse organistaties en pleit voor een staat waarin iederéén in harmonie samenwoont is des te verheugelijker.

vrijheid van meningsuiting en de AEL

Polri, 05/03/2009 – 14:55

@ Jan

Het probleem is de reactie van de AEL op het feit dat antizionisme soms ontaardt in antisemtisch geweld.

Die reactie komt neer op: "uiteraad keuren we dit geweld niet goed, maar als de Joden nu eens afstand zouden nemen van Israel zou dat de rust kunnen doen weerkeren."

Dat is een uiterst kwalijke uitspraak. Alsof Joden enkel door het innemen van een standpunt over een buitenlands conflict verantwoordelijk zouden zijn voor het feit dat sommigen daardoor racistische gewelddaden plegen.

Als Joden enkel door het uiten van een mening geweld over zich kunnen krijgen is er in de feiten geen sprake meer van een vrijheid van meningsuiting.

Religious fanatics both Arab and Jews want Israel's destruction

Mike, 08/03/2009 – 04:38

You posted interview with the black-hat, bearded Jews to prove your point, but in fact you're proving opposite one!
"Naturei Karta" is organization of Jewish religious fanatics who want Israel's destruction on religious grounds: God distracted biblical Israel, so only God (but not people!) can create new Israel again. These fanatics don't recognize the very existence of the state for 60 years (while living in Israel and freely expressing their views!) to the point where they're still asking Jordanian kind's permission to pray in Jerusalem. To non-biased readers this only showing two points:
1) People who supports views of that organization, don't want to criticize Israel's policy - they simply want that Israel seized to exist the same way like "Naturei Karta" wants it. They also went to Iran and met its president and he is for change is very clear about his solution to Middle East conflict. So when you're saying that even those Jews against Israel, you're only trying to hide the same hateful agenda, nothing more.
2) Jews like all other peoples have their own fanatics, and like all other fanatics those guys do not care about their own people (and ,of course, they do not care about Palestinians!) but only about their fanatic goals: like Hamas send its own people (mostly youth) to die or hide behind women and children in battle, so in the same way the fanatical Jews want to destruct their own "infidels" in Israel. That only proves that as soon as each nation could get ride of their own fanatics (and only then) the people could start living in peace.