Anti-Semitism and “The Israel Project”

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 25 Mar 2019

Askiah Adam – TRANSCEND Media Service

19 Mar 2019 – Israel is off-limits. The criminalisation of anti-Semitism means nothing short of this. In fact, France’s President Macron says anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism and both are now legally defined as “hate crimes”. Will this be a global precursor? Will the world uphold such a sweeping, broad legal definition that has the potential to embrace the inhumanity and egregious acts of such nations as Israel, now an apartheid Jewish state? For example, will countries refusing to recognise Israel, like Malaysia, be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC)?

And, why is it the apartheid Jewish state of Israel, discriminatory towards the Palestinians in its very essence, cannot be criticised for its inhumanity against a brethren race? Let the Semites fight it out amongst themselves — for the land, the water resources and whatever else the Israeli Jews are robbing the Muslim Palestinians of?

Yes, the inhumane treatment of the Palestinians, most especially of Gaza, by Tel Aviv is anti-Semitism. Why is it that only the rhetorical and physical manifestations of irrational hatred toward the Jewish community, institutions and religious facilities — as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and used officially — is singled out? Palestinians are Semites, too. The British gave away their land to a bunch of Jewish terrorists from Europe, not Semitic, enabling the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland. There was genocide and ethnic cleansing by the Jews, which are on-going to this day. These crimes against a Semitic people is not anti-Semitism?

Furthermore, the IHRA definition in attempting a neutral position does uphold that “Rhetorical and physical manifestation of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or property…”

Yet, the West goes out of its way to define any and all criticism of Israel — and in France also of Zionism — as anti-Semitism and has been conveniently criminalised. Why? In whose interest is it to prevent the exorcism of evil from Israeli policies?

Zionism claims legitimacy as “a national liberation movement of the Jews, by the Jews, and for the Jews” (Mohameden Ould-Mey, 2003) which, in short, is Jewish nationalism. Israel then would be the basis for Jewish nationalism and ipso facto containing Zionism to within the Israeli borders. Not so! As Laurent Guyenot argues in his article “How Zionist is the New World Order”, Zionism is nationalism, which transcends itself, a feat achievable only within a religious context.

Jewish nationalism is sourced from the Bible, which refers to Jews as the people of Israel, hence Israelites. After the fall of the Kingdom of Israel at the hands of the Romans the Jewish/Israelite diaspora became.

A complicated history of commercial and financial success enriching the minority Jews at the expense of the natives ultimately saw violence — the pogroms in Russia where the biggest community of Jews lived — perpetrated against them almost on a regular basis. Of course, there was the Holocaust. The search for a safe haven became the imperative and the struggle took the form of Zionism.

Jewish nationalism, aka Zionism, drove not just the modern-day Israelis with such birthright notions of the Promised Land and the Chosen People. It is, too, the ideology of the diaspora, a convenience hijacked by the neoconservatives — not all Jews — for their New World Order aspiration of a world government where nation states are cumbersome constructs; colonialism 2.0. Israel under this ideology then becomes more a project to drive a larger world-view long financed by oligarchs such as the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers. George Soros is but a johnny-come-lately.

Only under this circumstance can anyone hope to understand why against the emerging populism in the West the sanctity of freedom of speech is being openly sacrificed. Why anti-Semitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn is being built up as a menace when research shows that Mr Corbyn was never an anti-Semite prior to him taking over the leadership of the British Labour Party on a crest of populist sentiments, nor now. Being pro-Palestine is not being anti-Semitic. And, there are few indications that the Party is being poisoned by anti-Semitism, although some are obviously trying to fan what are mere ambers, if at all.

This explains why the French philosopher Roger Garaudy was imprisoned on charges of Holocaust denial. Why Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been attacked for questioning the dual loyalty of many in Congress to the extent where laws are passed that do not serve American interest but to protect Israel. Why many US legislators have lost their positions for questioning Israeli improprieties. Why anti-Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDF) legislation has been adopted in almost half the states of the USA and parts of Europe.

But Macron’s criminalising of anti-Zionism is probably a first. Why make public the connection between Zionism and anti-Semitism? Zionism, after all, is perceived as ideology. Criminalising anti-Zionism is not unlike attempts at criminalising Marxist theory by banning Marx’s writings as in some Third World countries.

It is my guess that the French move to criminalise these particular “hate crimes” now could be a desperate attempt at oppression; to quell the popular discontent as epitomised by the Gilet Jaunes street protests, now in its 15^th consecutive Saturday. Accuse the peaceful protesters of “hate crimes” and then ban what has been proven to be peaceful protests made violent by state aggression.

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Askiah Adam is Executive Director of the International Movement for a JUST World (JUST), in Malaysia.

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation’s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH 729, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 25 Mar 2019.

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