I AM A JEW (PART XIII - The Death of Klinghoffer & The Israeli Propaganda Machine)

As the title shows this is the 13th part (actually the 14^th, if you count the Special Bulletin) of the series. If you haven’t read the other parts I urge you to do so. They are, after all a continuum. Easy access to the others can be obtained by clicking on the parts.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Special Bulletin, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI and Part XII.

I have chosen to continue to address the Klinghoffer controversy because it so well illustrates the Israeli propaganda machine.

As I illustrated in my last post this is an invented controversy that exploits the children of the slain Klinghoffer, who would have issued a statement when they first saw the opera in 1991 if they had found it offensive. They issue it now because they have been asked to. The propaganda machine has decided to go into action now, because following Gaza, there is increasing outrage, with the British Parliament (House of Commons) voting 274-12 in favor of a motion for UK recognition of a Palestinian state, and Sweden announcing that it will recognize a Palestinian state.

But it isn’t only the demonstrators; the politicians jump on the bandwagon. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. George Pataki and two U.S. congressmen are among hundreds expected outside the Metropolitan Opera. Did any of them see the opera or is it politically expedient to be there?

Interestingly enough the “The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group, said the play (Opera) is not anti-Semitic …”  

And this is what the editor of The Jewish Week had to say about it: 

Well, I saw it.

 And I’m not sure which was more of a letdown, the hubbub over the show or the show itself.

 Let’s start with the critics and protesters, since they are responsible ultimately for turning the show into the most buzzed about cultural happening in New York (at least since the close of the Jeff Koons retrospective on Sunday at the Whitney Museum).

 By the time I settled into my seat on Monday night — after months of cries of “anti-Semitism” and “glorification/humanization of terrorists” filling my email box — I was expecting Shylock meets “Natural Born Killers.”

 Not even close. Whatever the original intentions of composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman when they created the opera about 25 years ago, the latest production casts the killers as not particularly likable, violent thugs and puts Leon Klinghoffer at the moral center. So much so that the show’s effort to provide a measure of absolution for the terrorists near the end comes off as contrived and heavy handed, and is immediately trumped by the final monologue from Klinghoffer’s wife, Marilyn….

 But after actually seeing the production, this seems wrong-headed: Compared to the anti-Semitic fare widely available on the Internet and Arabic television, this show could pass as an anti-terrorism public service announcement.

But while these distractions from what Israel is doing are being orchestrated in New York, the International community is increasingly concerned about continuing, and even increasing building activity on the West Bank and in Jerusalem.

As I have stated above the UK and Sweden have started to react.

Haaretz reports here and here:

The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, is set to relay the message to Israel…

The two-page document defines several of the EU’s “red lines” regarding Israeli actions in the West Bank:

 1. Construction in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood, beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem: The document said that construction in that area would jeopardize the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The EU “cautions the Israeli government not to move ahead with tenders and construction. Such a development would constitute one more grave “fact on the ground” which would be liable to crucially prejudge the outcome of peace negotiations,” the document reads.

 2. Construction in the E1 area between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem: The document said construction in that area would also jeopardize the possibility of contiguous Palestinian state, and added that it has already publicly and strongly opposed plans for E1’s development.

 3. Further construction in the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line.

 4. Israeli plans to relocate 12,000 Bedouin without their consent in a new town in the Jordan Valley, expelling them from lands in the West Bank, including E1: “The EU strongly urges Israel to put these plans on hold and search for other solutions together with the concerned populations and the Palestinian Authority. The EU underlines that implementing those plans may amount to a serious breach of International Humanitarian Law (IV Geneva Convention),” the document reads.

In the meantime Economy Minister Naftali Bennett told Army Radio that:

...more housing for Jews in the predominantly Arab eastern half of the city as well as a more forceful response from police and security services is the formula for neutralizing the unrest.

 “It’s quite acceptable to think that what motivates our enemies is despair,” he said. “On the contrary, they are driven by the hope and aspiration to evict us from here. And they think that if they commit more terrorist atrocities then we will throw our hands up in despair and flee.”

 “What we need to do is to say, ‘We are staying here, we’re building in our capital,’ and I call on the prime minister to expedite the approval of construction permits,” Bennett said. “Without sovereignty, there can be no security. There’s no need to wait for a terrorist attack in order to put down the iron fist, and we have the means to do so.”

But what is the true nature of Jerusalem? What constitutes Jerusalem?

Jerusalem Online helps us to understand. Israel’s definition of Jerusalem is invented. As the article explains:

Forty-seven years ago… a decision was made that would dubiously be accepted quietly today: to annex the Arab areas of the city that were under Jordanian sovereignty, and several villages nearby along with it… From 6 square miles it has become a city of 70 square miles... since 1967, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli sovereignty have a special status of residents without full citizenship. (Emphasis added)

And even while the Israeli government’s Economics minister talks about more oppression, more confiscation, Gazans can‘t even get drinking water.

From the Times of Israel:

There is a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza and water is at its center. Holding water issues hostage to the conflict will have dire consequences for Palestinians in Gaza, Israelis and Egyptians. Directly due to the hostilities, an estimated 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza have no running water. There exists insufficient electricity in Gaza to treat or pump out sewage. This will no doubt result in even higher than present levels of drinking water contamination that risk the outbreak of pandemic disease, such as cholera and typhoid. The health risk is compounded by the present inability to even chlorinate drinking water

 This situation requires an urgent response if the outbreak of pandemic disease is to be avoided. Pandemics risk Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian populations.

And what’s ahead! More building on Arab land; more confiscation of Arab land; more oppression.

And an unending attempt to distract Americans of all faiths and creeds and political orientations from the crimes being committed by the Israeli government, by having a fabricated controversy over an Opera that will be seen by less than 28,000 people, if its seven performances are sold out to include standing room.

I welcome comments, but will not publish any, unless they have a unique relevance to the segment under discussion, until this series is complete.

I AM A JEW (PART XII - The Death of Klinghoffer)

As the title shows this is the 11th part (actually the 12^th, if you count the Special Bulletin) of the series. If you haven’t read the other parts I urge you to do so. They are, after all a continuum. Easy access to the others can be obtained by clicking on the titles: "I AM A JEW (Part I)," "I AM A JEW (Part II)," "I AM A JEW (Part III)," "I AM A JEW (Special Bulletin)," "I AM A JEW (Part IV - The Torah & The Talmud)," "I AM A JEW (Part V - Gaza Is A Huge Prison)," "I AM A JEW (PART VI - The Palestinians)," "I AM A JEW (PART VII - A Defense of Israel’s Policies and a Rebuttal)", "I AM A JEW (PART VIII - Hamas & Likud)" ,"I AM A JEW (PART IX- The Palestinian Diaspora & The Right of Return)", "I AM A JEW (PART X - The Abject Poverty of the Palestinians)" and "I AM A JEW (PART XI) The Israeli Propaganda Machine."

In my last post I said: “I welcome comments, but will not publish any, unless they have a unique relevance to the segment under discussion, until this series is complete.”

However, I cannot resist publishing a comment from Bruce Weintraub
who exclaimed: 

“You are the greatest.  You should be the President.”

On October 20, 2014 the opera “The Death of Klinghoffer“ opened at the Metropolitan Opera in Mew York City. It was met by picketing following a barrage of criticism that preceded its opening.

The Met synopsis shows little that one can find objectionable. I wonder how many of the picketers have seen the opera, or have much, if any, knowledge of its story line. The opera’s premiere was in 1991 in Brussels, Belgium and its American and New York premiere was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991. None of these earlier renditions drew protests or were controversial. It is difficult to understand why it has become so controversial now, 23 years after its premiere. 

The children of the murdered Klinghoffer have issued a statement of condemnation now, even though they saw it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991. Why not then? Why now? One cannot help but wonder! Have they been asked to do this by the propaganda organizations referred to in my last post “I AM A JEW (PART XI - The Israeli Propaganda Machine)” to distract attention from the wanton murder of thousands of Gazan Palestinians.

That is not to minimize, or worse, to justify the murder of Leon Klinghoffer. Murder is murder and it can’t be justified. But I come back to my question what about the murder of thousands of Gazans.

Does the comment attributed to Joseph Stalin “A Single Death is a Tragedy; a Million Deaths is a Statistic” apply? Or is it that Jewish lives have so much more value than Palestinian ones.

Since Israel was founded there have been many massacres. Some I have referred to. Others I have not. There were just too many.  I have written extensively about Deir Yassin in my posts I AM A Jew (Part II) and I AM A JEW (PART VIII - Hamas & Likud) but there were so many more. Many, many, by the Palestinians with their roadside bombs and other means. But these have all been well publicized. The Israeli ones not so well.

Wikipedia covers both very well under the title “Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war." 

I quote from the article:

Yishuv (or later Israeli) soldiers killed roughly 800 Arab civilians and prisoners of war. Most of these killings occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the Second phase of the Civil War, Operation Dani, Operation Hiram and Operation Yoav.

… the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre with 60 to 70 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre with around 100, Lydda massacre with around 250 and the Abu Shusha massacre with 60-70. In Al-Dawayima, accounts of the death toll vary. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports 100-200 casualties^] Morris has estimated "hundreds" and also reports the IDF investigation which concluded 100 villagers had been killed David Ben-Gurion gave the figure of 70-80. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports the village's mukhtar account that 455 people were missing following the al-Dawayima massacre, including 170 women and children.

Did it end in 1948? Are my readers aware of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites were murdered in cold blood? See here. 

No Israelis were directly responsible, but:

In 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission, appointed to investigate the incident, found that Israeli military personnel, aware that a massacre was in progress, had failed to take serious steps to stop it. The commission deemed Israel indirectly responsible, and Ariel Sharon, then Defense Minister, bore personal responsibility "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge", forcing him to resign. (Ibid)

One might have thought that this was the end of Sharon’s political career, but on “February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister." See here. 

But all this is just statistics, as Stalin might have said.

How about the murder of an individual? Does the name Folke Bernadotte ring a bell? I quote from the Jewish Virtual Library:

During the fight for Jewish statehood, extremist military groups sometimes resorted to the use of terrorist tactics. One such instance occurred in 1948 when members of the Jewish underground organization LEHI killed UN Peace Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte to protest his diplomatic efforts to modify the Palestine partition plan.

Bernadotte, a Swede with family ties to the Swedish King, gained international recognition through his work as head of the Swedish Red Cross during World War II. Bernadotte used his position to negotiate with Heinrich Himmler and saved thousands of Jews from concentration camps, although many argue that he could have done more had he been less cautious in negotiations.

Well, the reader might say, there are always rogue elements, who do outrageous things but surely Israel and its leaders can’t be held responsible.

Allow me to quote the last paragraph from the last paragraph from the Jewish Virtual Library post:

Yitzhak Shamir reputedly played a role in planning the assassination; however, he was never tried and years later was elected as Israel's eighth Prime Minister.

Israeli propaganda has made much of Hamas hiding weapons in Houses of Worship and in schools etc.

Again allow me to quote from Haaretz: See here or here.

Can you believe it? Groups hiding arms in places of worship, schools, even kindergartens. Welcome to pre-state Israel, where comparisons with Gaza are not welcome.

… the British, who were the rulers of the land, prohibited the possession of weapons. They were therefore concealed in a hiding place under the foundations of the first public building. In that building was a grocery, a clinic and a kindergarten. The entrance to the secret weapons storage was underneath the kindergarten toilet.

…The British, by the way, searched Rishpon and found nothing. They did not consider the possibility of blowing up the kindergarten because it might be used to store weapons.

…There was no Jewish settlement in the country that did not have a “slik” – as these storage sites were known – all in the heart of “civilian population concentrations,” of course. At Ein Ganim there was a slik in a synagogue… 

…Schools served as training installations, even as weapons production workshops.

But all we hear is the Palestinians this, the Palestinians that and the slogan "Israel Has the Right to Defend itself."

But maybe, just maybe, it is time for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I welcome comments, but will not publish any, unless they have a unique relevance to the segment under discussion, until this series is complete.