FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

Isi Leibler, chair of the Diaspora-Israel Relations Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), writes:

In view of the fact that demonstrating hatred of Israel has become a key prerequisite for eligibility to membership of the “progressive” camp, one finds Jews at the forefront of the vicious campaigns demonizing Israel in virtually every country.

Yet to accuse these renegades of indulging in self-hatred is considered as a cardinal sin in many circles. It is thus legitimate for Jews to defame Israel as an “apartheid state,” accuse their kinsmen of behaving like Nazis, apply double-standards to Israeli behavior, accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, even genocide; it’s even acceptable to call for dismantling Israel and replacing it with a binational state, or to support the “right of return” for Arab refugees - all in the name of communal tolerance.

Yet to stand up and brand such views as extremist is deemed an expression of “Zionist McCarthyism.”

It is a pathetic reflection of our times that people such as Tony Judt, Marc Ellis, Norman Finkelstein, Jacqueline Rose and Tony Kushner are considered martyrs, and tolerance of their malicious efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state has become confused with freedom of expression.

What a red herring. Insisting that Jewish demonizers of Israel comprise an extremist fringe and speak only for themselves does not represent suppression of free speech. — Jews against Zion (Jerusalem Post)

Although there have always been anti-Zionist Jews, the present circumstance of so many high-profile Jewish intellectuals giving more than just aid and comfort to those who not only want there to not be a Jewish state, but who also wish to kill the Jews, is unprecedented.

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By Vic Rosenthal

Little by little, the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and then practical, and then it happens. And then something even more unthinkable starts to be thought.

At one time, it was against the law in Israel to even talk to a representative of the PLO. Then somebody did it, and soon it became official and soon Arafat — Arafat! — was shaking hands with the Prime Minister. And soon he was actually paid to set up shop in Gaza and Ramallah, where this remarkably evil and duplicitous man stuffed his Swiss bank accounts, built an educational and media system designed to create martyrs in the jihad against Israel, and pretended to talk peace at the same time that he was paying his terrorist minions to kill Jews.

At one time, Israelis and Jews throughout the world vowed that the blood that was shed in 1967 to regain the Old City of Jerusalem would not be dishonored. In 2000, Barak offered control of the Temple Mount to Arafat. In 2007, sovereignty over it has all but officially passed into the hands of the Palestinians.

At one time, only the extreme Left considered a Palestinian state in the territories an option. Today, the US President endorses the idea, but the Arabs and the Left have moved on to talk about a single, “binational” state.

At one time, the West overwhelmingly supported Israel’s right to exist. Today, it’s a subject for debate.

Technorati Tags: Israel

Imagine that George Bush and Nancy Pelosi had private armies. Mostly, they shoot at Canadians, but every once in awhile they shoot at each other. Can you imagine that it would be a good idea to give “security” — military — aid to one side or the other? Even if one side promised that they really wanted peace with the Canadians (but still shoot at them)?

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A British Muslim has called for reconciliation between Jews and Muslims:

One of Britain’s most controversial Muslim leaders has declared that there is “an enormous amount” that Muslims could learn from the way Jews have integrated into the UK.

[Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)] also has demanded an end to Islamic anti-Semitism, in what is being viewed as a remarkable move towards reconciliation between the two communities. — European Jewish Press

Bunglawala has previously made comments to the effect that the British media is controlled by Jews and similar statements. He indicated that the MCB’s policy of boycotting Holocaust Rememberance Day was under consideration (!) and might be changed.

Bunglawala…said his organization’s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood shouldn’t be a barrier to ties between the two communities, as they don’t seek to undermine Jews in the UK. He added that the Muslim Brotherhood believes the creation of Israel was a tragic mistake. — Jerusalem Post

The Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist Sunni organization, is the ‘parent’ of Hamas (Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas founder was a MB activist). It is characterized by extreme antisemitism as well as anti-Zionism; so I think Bunglawala’s statement is just a little misleading.

Of course any reduction of antisemitism is to be welcomed, but from my point of view, it’s strange to imagine Jews who could overlook Bunglawala’s position on Israel.

Technorati Tags: Bunglawala

There’s no doubt that all of the ‘donors’ to the Palestinian enterprise will soon be on board. Norway (not an EU member) has announced a resumption of aid, and Sweden, Ireland, and Italy have made official comments that indicate approval of the new Hamas-dominated PA unity government. The stance of the US is critical, and it seems as though we are moving in the same direction:

The United States made its first contact with the new Hamas- Fatah coalition Tuesday, ending a yearlong diplomatic boycott of the Palestinian government.

The meeting between a U.S. diplomat and the Palestinian finance minister signaled a break in policy between Israel and its closest ally, and could mark a significant step toward ending a painful aid cutoff to the Palestinian government. — AP (Yahoo)

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In a sense, I appreciate people like Sylvia Stolz and Hamas. I don’t have to waste time proving that they are antisemitic. I don’t have to show that Hamas incites and commits murder or that Stolz is insane. They do this themselves by word and deed.

German prosecutors on Tuesday charged the former lawyer for far-right activist Ernst Zündel with incitement, accusing her of denying the Holocaust and ending one of her legal filings with “Heil Hitler”…

During Zündel’s trial, Stolz repeatedly disputed the Nazis’ mass murder of Jews, called for hatred of the Jewish population and ended a legal document with the words “Heil Hitler,” the [prosecution] statement said…

“We are under foreign occupation, and this foreign occupation has portrayed Adolf Hitler as a devil for 60 years, but that is not true,” she said. “But the real truth can only be told when someone attempts to break this taboo.” — Jerusalem Post

Right. A class-A nutter (I wrote previously about Zündel himself here).

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Manchester University in the UK has 26,000 students. A student organization managed to orchestrate the passage of a motion by the Student Union that affirmed solidarity with the students of a Palestinian university that apparently specializes in murder:

Jewish students were this week left reeling after the Student Union at Manchester University passed a motion twinning it with a West Bank university which has glorified suicide bombing and the massacre of innocent Israelis.

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Hamas is wasting no time to show that it is continuing to ‘resist Zionist aggression’ as part of the new government:

KARNI CROSSING, Gaza Strip (AP– Yahoo) - Hamas militants on Monday claimed responsibility for a shooting that wounded an Israeli civilian near the border with the Gaza Strip — the first serious violence after formation of the new Palestinian unity government.

Actually, 5 Kassams fell in Israel yesterday, but since they didn’t hit anyone, they are not ’serious’.

Israel’s electric company said one of its workers was seriously wounded as he worked on a tower on Israeli territory near the crossing.

Hamas military wing claimed responsibility, calling the attack “a response to continued Zionist aggression.”

Yes, it’s certain that the fellow picked off like a sitting duck while hanging from his safety belt on the tower was a Zionist aggressor. I think if I worked for the electric company, I would find it impossible to continue to supply electricity to Gaza for safety reasons.

Let them import it from Norway, the first major donor country to announce that they will resume aid to the PA.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, Gaza

One of the most infuriating things found in antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda is the comparison of Israel and Jews to Nazis. But it’s much more sinister than simply a way of raising my blood pressure:

The false accusation of Holocaust inversion-the portraying of Israel, Israelis, and Jews as Nazis-is a major distortion of history. This anti-Semitic concept claims that Israel behaves against the Palestinians as Germany did to the Jews in World War II. “The victims have become perpetrators,” is one major slogan of the inverters. By shifting the moral responsibility for genocide, Holocaust inversion also contains elements of Holocaust denial…

The core motif of classic anti-Semitism was that Jews embody the most extreme malevolence. During the postwar era, the Nazi regime has become the paradigm for absolute evil. Comparing Israel’s conduct to its actions is a new mutation of this ancient theme…

American historian Deborah Lipstadt has also pointed out this method of establishing a fraudulent proposition as a historical truth. She says about the historical writer and Holocaust-denier David Irving: “Irving realized that a pre-condition for Nazism’s resurrection was to strip and wash it of its worst elements. The first important tool to accomplish this was the creation of immoral equivalencies, essentially a balance of bad behavior”…

This malicious identification of Israelis as Nazis is intended to free Europeans of their remorse and shame for their centuries-long history of lethal anti-Semitism. Above all, it liberates Europeans from any residual guilt they might have experienced in the wake of the Shoah. If the Israelis-who are, after all, mostly Jews-can be depicted as Nazis, then not having helped them during World War II might not have been misbehavior. — Manfred Gerstenfeld, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Holocaust inversion is a potent part of the arsenal of propaganda weapons used by those who wish to delegitimize Israel preparatory to destroying her. Dr. Gerstenfeld, chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has written a major article characterizing and explaining it, which I urge you to read.

Technorati Tags: Israel, antisemitism, Holocaust, Holocaust Inversion, Gerstenfeld

By Vic Rosenthal

The newly appointed Israeli Arab minister of Science, Culture and Sports, Raleb Majadle, will not sing Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva. Perhaps it will surprise some people that I don’t think this is a bad thing.

Majadle, a long-time member of the Labor Party, defended his decision, saying he does not believe that “enlightened and sane Jews” would request a Muslim to sing a song which speaks to the Jewish people. “The Arabs are not in a mood to sing right now,” the Arab minister commented.

“Of course I would not sing the anthem in its current form,” Majadle said. “But before we talk about symbols, I want to talk about equal education for my children. It’s more important that my son would be able to buy a house, live with dignity.” — Arutz Sheva

We have predictable reactions from both sides. The Right says that this shows that he’s disloyal, that any Arab would be disloyal, and that Israel should not have an Arab cabinet minister. The Left says that it’s undemocratic that the symbols of the state discriminate against one-fifth of its citizens, and that Israel should get a new national anthem.

Both types of reaction are wrong.

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By Vic Rosenthal

Finally the Israeli government shows some backbone:

Israel, which in recent months said it wanted to hold “political horizon” talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, reversed gears on Sunday and declared that it would only talk to him about security or humanitarian issues.

The upshot of the cabinet resolution that defined Israeli policy toward the new PA government, a senior government source confirmed Sunday night, was that the “political horizon” idea that was meant to strengthen moderate Palestinians by showing what they had to gain by rejecting Hamas’s extreme positions, was now no longer relevant…

The resolution also stated Israel was now limited in what it could discuss with Abbas, as a result of the new PA government guidelines that see terrorism as a legitimate right, accept previous agreements with Israel only “in accordance with Palestinian interests” and call for any future agreement to be approved by the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Diaspora. — Jerusalem Post

This PA unity government has finally made clear that there is no desire for peace on the Arab side except on their terms — in other words, surrender (as exemplified by the Saudi initiative). The long Oslo detour through which we were led by the lies of Yasser Arafat is now finally, irrevocably over.

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Today I had the opportunity to visit an air base here in California, operated by the US Navy. I couldn’t help but compare it to what I remember from military service in Israel. The first thing I noticed was that it was enormous; I was told that it was 20 square miles in area.

Of course everything was neat, clean and well-maintained. Yes, neater and cleaner than what I remember. The guard at the gate did not appear to be reading a paperback when we arrived, nor was there a radio playing. In a ready room where pilots wait before missions (it’s a training base) there was a book about the Israeli Air Force on a coffee table.

The officers that showed us around happened to be military doctors, so perhaps they were especially concerned with the welfare of the men and women for whom they were responsible, but they pointed out detail after detail that showed how much the Navy cared about their people. Of course they also mentioned how many millions of dollars were invested in training the pilots, but they stressed that everyone got the same level of health care. You could tell that they were proud to be part of it.

The aircraft we looked at, F18 Hornets, being designed for landing and takeoff from carriers at sea, had overdeveloped landing gear like the incongruously powerful calf muscles on pretty ballet dancers. With their huge twin engines they looked very, very businesslike. If they could talk, they would have said: “don’t even dream about messing with me”.

The hangars had the familiar smell of hydraulic fluid, solvent and jet fuel.

It was Sunday, so there was very little activity. I didn’t get to hear the unbelievably loud noise of fighter aircraft taking off.

Technorati Tags: Navy, Hornet