The phenomenon of extreme anti-Zionism among some Jewish academics is puzzling. Now Ami Isseroff has come up with a case study to explain it. It doesn’t quite work for Jacqueline Rose, but otherwise it’s as good an explanation as any.
Archive for February, 2007
Anatomy of a Jewish anti-Zionist
Saturday, February 10th, 2007How they see it
Friday, February 9th, 2007Here are how some mainstream news reports refer to the Temple Mount:
JERUSALEM – Israeli police stormed the grounds of Islam’s third-holiest shrine Friday, firing stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of Muslim worshippers who hurled stones, bottles and trash in an eruption of outrage over Israeli renovation work nearby. — Yahoo News (from AP. The same report appeared in CNN, the LA Times, and our own Fresno Bee)
In Jerusalem the Israeli building project is taking place on the most sensitive ground. The Al Haram al Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary compound, is where the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 following a controversial visit by Ariel Sharon, who was then the Israeli opposition leader.
It contains the Al-Aqsa mosque, the site where, Muslims believe, the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. It is also revered by Jews as the site of their ancient temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. — Timesonline (UK)
Clashes at disputed Jerusalem holy site (headline)
JERUSALEM: Protestors and Israeli police clashed today outside the Al Aksa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest shrine… (IHT)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli police forces entered the area around Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and fired stun grenades at stone-throwing Palestinian worshippers in clashes at the end of Friday prayers. (Boston Globe, others)
Please note, we are talking about the site which has been most holy to Judaism for several millennia. The best we get is an ‘also’ mention in one report. Note too that the International Herald Tribune emphasizes ‘disputed’. The BBC recently called it ‘contested’.
There’s lots of discussion about the historical importance (or lack thereof) of this site to Islam, and especially the emphasis placed on it since 1967. Recently, there have been attempts by Muslims to deny that the Temple ever was at this location! But keep in mind that Israel has allowed access to all the holy sites of all religions in Jerusalem since 1967, whereas Jews were not permitted to pray at the Wall when the area was under Arab control.
The Mughrabi Gate is the new Danish cartoons
Friday, February 9th, 2007By Vic Rosenthal
Muslim protests about the repair work and excavation near the Mughrabi gate are not abating; indeed, they’re heating up.
Some people do not understand why it’s not possible to simply explain that this work is far from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and can’t possibly damage the Temple Mount in any way. Of course the reason is that Muslim authorities everywhere are saying that it’s a Zionist plot to destroy the mosque and replace it with a third temple; and if you were a Muslim, whom would you believe?
There are several reasons that they are doing this. One is to make the point that Jerusalem and the Temple Mount don’t belong to the Jews — Muslims decide what happens there. The Islamic Waqf’s recent excavations of the actual Temple Mount and construction of a huge underground mosque in the Solomon’s Stables area — which should have been protested by Israel for archaeological reasons but was not, for political ones — also made a statement of this kind.
Israel has so far resisted pressure to stop the work, apparently understanding that doing so would represent a weakening of her claim to sovereignty over the area. We can expect this pressure to increase, as worldwide reverence for Muslim sensitivity kicks in, and Muslims threaten sympathetic disruptions in other places. It’s the Danish cartoons all over again, except even more irrational.
Israel needs to defend her sovereignty and the world has to stand firm against blackmail. It has to be made clear that:
- Facts — in this case the fact that the work is harmless — must override agitation that trades on ignorance and prejudice.
- Israel is sovereign over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and her respect for the rights of all religious groups to worship in Jerusalem must not be interpreted as weakness.
- Muslim leaders must not be allowed to blackmail the world at will with threats of violence.
Technorati Tags: Temple Mount, Al-Aqsa, Mughrabi Gate, Israel, Muslims, Jerusalem, Danish cartoons
Lipman
Thursday, February 8th, 2007By Murray Farber
Murray Farber is a retired reporter and editor who lives in Fresno.
The crazy declarations coming out of Iran reinforce our obligation to never forget the Holocaust. It prompted me to think back over the years and reflect on a Jew named Lipman.
In 1939, he was studying at a seminary in Poland when the Germans invaded, seized him and sent him to Buchenwald as a slave laborer. In December of 1942, this young Orthodox Jew was forced to sing Christmas carols to the cheers of German soldiers who rewarded him with food for his barracks.
Some months later, Lipman was among Jews being loaded onto a truck when a soldier recognized him and remembered the Jew with the tenor voice. The soldier conferred with an officer and they ordered Lipman back to the barracks.
None of the Jews aboard the truck ever returned.
As editor of my newspaper’s religion page in 1957, I met Lipman when he came to the New Jersey community where I worked. His arm was tattooed by the Nazis with the number F6580. He arrived to serve as the cantor of the local synagogue’s high holiday services.
Technorati Tags: Holocaust
Palestine murder week
Thursday, February 8th, 2007“Israeli Apartheid Week†will take place for the third consecutive year starting next Monday through to Saturday.
Israeli-Arab MK Jamal Zahalka was invited to speak at one of the events marking the week in Montréal on Thursday.
“Calling the occupation apartheid isn’t an overstatement, it’s an understatement,†Zahalka told Ynet, “The Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are worse than apartheid.â€
“Israel Apartheid Week†will be comprised of several events including lectures, informational booths, cultural events, film screenings and demonstrations held at various North American and European campuses.
This is normal. This is the way they make their case, over and over again.
Suppose I decide that next week will be “Palestine Murder Weekâ€, and hold events all over world with speakers describing various ax-murders, shootings and bombings of Jews perpetrated by Palestinians. There could be films dramatizing events that occurred over the years, going back to, say, the massacre in Hebron in 1929; reconstructions of wedding halls and pizza parlors. Of course, we’d need to have serious academic-sounding lectures as well as intimidating mass demonstrations. We’d distribute literature about the need for the US and EU to divest from funding terrorist militias like Fatah and Hamas.
We would not have to exaggerate. We wouldn’t have to bend language, such as the way the Palestinians and their supporters use the word ‘apartheid’, when we could use the simple word ‘murder’ to describe what they do.
The only thing we wouldn’t have is a Jewish member of the Palestinian parliament to denounce it.
