I AM A JEW (PART XIX - I Almost Wish I Hadn’t Started This Study!)

As the title shows this is the 18th part (actually the 19^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, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV, Part XVI, Part XVII and Part XVIII.

As I reach Part XIX of this series, I am beginning to wish I hadn’t started this research. I started researching and writing on this subject because I was shocked at the brutality of the Gaza campaign, a murderous infliction of collective punishment on innocent civilians, having no other purpose than to terrify. The message was, “accept what we impose upon you - don’t resist - resistance is futile - any attempt at resistance and we will kill you, your wives and your children. We will destroy your homes, your infrastructure and make your lives a living hell, and if you thought it was already a living hell, think again, we can and we will make it even worse.

But for all that I wrote about Gaza before, I neglected to mention other horrors.

J Street called attention to the fact that:

Even before the horrible 50-day military confrontation this summer in Gaza, the water situation for the 1.7 million Palestinians who live there was desperate.

 According to UNICEF, more than 90 per cent of the water extracted from the territory's sole aquifer is unsafe for human consumption; an estimated four-fifths of the water sold by private vendors there contaminated. Additionally, nearly 100,000 cubic meters of wastewater are discharged into the sea every day because sewage treatment plants are overwhelmed.

Currently, potable water flows from Israel to Gaza through two pipelines. A third pipeline has been constructed but has not been turned on. Israel could turn the lever tomorrow and double the flow of clean, potable water to Gaza.

 This action is being held up pending broader negotiations that, of course, are complex and may never reach fruition.

That was bad enough!

But my research uncovered so much more. The massacres from the beginning! The ethnic cleansing from the beginning! I almost wish I hadn’t found out.

But what I have begun must be finished! Pleasant or unpleasant, the truth must be uncovered! It must be told.

The inhumanity of man to man is old. But I thought Jews were better than that. And still my research uncovers more. I started with how proud I was to be a Jew. Can all the achievements of all these Jews, from Einstein to all the others wash away the crimes committed in the name of creating a Jewish state. I hear the lament from Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. 

I thought that the destruction of homes of Palestinians who commit acts of terror had come to an end. (See: Part IV where I wrote:

As long ago as 2005 Israel announced that it was halting the demolition of militant’s homes, an implicit admission that this was a policy that had been in effect. See here.

But here is a headline from the BBC.  See here and here.

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that the homes of Palestinians who have carried out attacks in Jerusalem be demolished.

No one has been convicted. And most of the people living there are not even accused. But there is no respect for due process. No respect for Arabs.

Israel is supposed to be the last refuge for Holocaust survivors, but to quote from Haaretz See here or here:

According to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, 87 percent of Holocaust survivors who request financial aid live on less than NIS 5,000 a month, while 58 percent live on NIS 3,000 or less. Meanwhile, 70 percent of survivors who turn to the foundation cannot afford dental care, and 18 percent need financial aid to pay for eyeglasses.

But where does the Israeli government spend its money, instead of helping Holocaust survivors. According to The Forward: 

“…state spending on the settlers… includes the cost of building homes and other facilities, special hardship subsidies and providing energy, communications, roads and other infrastructure not needed by the military…. They do not include the likes of health, education and welfare spending on the 350,000 West Bank settlers included in the statistics. The CBS data include 19,000 Israelis in the Golan Heights annexed from Syria and, until 2005, 9,000 settlers in the Gaza Strip. They exclude 200,000 Israelis living on land annexed and incorporated into Israel’s Jerusalem municipality.

But where is the money for the Holocaust survivors?

But what about Holocaust survivors in the United States? Some 350 Survivors and Descendants of Survivors ran an ad in the New York Times reading in part:

Genocide begins with the silence of the world, …We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. 

See here. The complete text can be found here.

Well, they do not represent all Holocaust survivors, and I don’t give this group any special standing, but they are entitled to a hearing. Are they right to claim special status because of their Holocaust connection? I would think not, but at least their Jewishness and their Holocaust connection aught to shield them from the charge of anti-Semitism, just as I asserted my Jewishness, and my pride in being Jewish as a shield against claims of anti-Semitism, or of being a self-hating Jew.

But how were they treated? It tells us much more about the unconditional supporters of Israel, then about their critics.

Here were some of the comments by Israelis that appeared on Facebook translated into English:

David Cohen: Those aren’t Holocaust survivors those are probably collaborators with the Nazis.

 Shmulik Halphon: He’s invited to go back to Auschwitz.

 Itzik Levy: These are survivors who were Kapos. Leftist traitors. That’s why they live abroad and not in the Jewish State.

 Vitali Guttman: Enough, they should die already. They survived the Holocaust only to do another Holocaust to Israel in global public opinion?

 Meir Dahan: No wonder Hitler murdered 6 million Jews because of people like you you’re not even Jews you’re disgusting people a disgrace to humanity and so are your offspring you are trash.

 Asher Solomon: It’s a shame Hitler didn’t finish the job.

 Katy Morali: Holocaust survivors who think like this are invited to go die in the gas chambers.

 Yafa Ashraf: Shitty Ashkenazis you are the Nazis.

Please note the inherent anti-Semitism in many of the comments.  The last comment about Ashkenazi Jews (those who came from Europe) were the primary victims of the Nazis and the founders of the State of Israel, but they are now the double victims of Israeli anti-Semitism.

But they weren’t the only ones who savaged the Jews who spoke out.

The Forward published an article by Alvin H Rosenfeld, Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University  and author of The End of the Holocaust, which savages the authors of the Times ad under the title: "Moral Emptiness of Holocaust Survivors Who Took on Israel - TheTrue Face Behind a New York Times Ad" and can be summarized by its last paragraph.

In fact, it is unlikely that many people emerged from Hitler’s camps ennobled or enlightened. To believe otherwise and to arrogate to oneself as a “survivor” or a relative of a “survivor” some special access to wisdom and virtue is, as IJSN’s ad shows, little more than moral pretense.

But since Israel’s very founding was predicated on the persecution of Jews in the Holocaust, it is perverse to denigrate the very group whose existence and suffering formed the impetus for the founding of the State of Israel.

Or as one post in the response to the article points out:

This article is a sad, completely ad hominem, attack on this group of Holocaust survivors. These are people who are carrying on a traditional of Jewish social activism; many have heroically taken the tragedy of their own dehumanization and channel that toward decades of work for peace and justice. It is one thing to disagree with them (and to make reasoned arguments to that effect), quite another to launch into a dismissive rant against them that doesn't even consider the content of the letter that they published in the NYT. Trying to end the violence and build some sort of constructive and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not an "anti-Semitic" project. Indeed, it is necessary for the survival of the Jewish state.

 Unfortunately, Professor Rosenfeld essay says nothing useful or constructive about the urgent issues confronting that area of the world. He's more interested in besmirching the reputation of other US-based Jewish intellectuals who happen to disagree with him.  

It is indeed unfortunate that an intelligent, fact based, debate on Israel’s policies cannot be had without this kind of vitriol.

The kneejerk defense and justification for every Israeli action, no matter how ignoble or outrageous, is a sad commentary on the traditional humanism and social consciousness that has so long been the hallmark of Jewish tradition.

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 (Special Bulletin)

I recently sent out my commentary entitled "I AM A JEW (Part III)." If you haven’t read it please do, as well as "I AM A JEW (Part I)" and "I AM A JEW (Part II)."

I am issuing this Special Bulletin because I am deeply disturbed by the latest expropriation of Palestinian lands.

Here is the announcement that I find deeply disturbing, particularly so son after the carnage in Gaza.

I quote: 

On Sunday, Israel announced the appropriation of land in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem, a move which an anti-settlement group said was the biggest such claim in 30 years.

Quite aside from the immorality of the decision it does not even represent the will of the Israeli government. So much for Israeli democracy. 

Haaretz further reported: 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said at a conference in Tel Aviv that the appropriation of land was a move of underhanded opportunism that wasn't submitted for the cabinet's approval and is damaging to Israel in the international arena. (Ibid) 

“We are after a military operation, facing a sensitive international front, and it was difficult for us to maintain the world's support as it is," he said. "What was so urgent right now to create another crisis with the Americans and the world?" (Ibid)  

As for the reaction of the world:

The European Union on Tuesday urged Israel to reverse its decision to appropriate 4,000 dunams of West Bank land, joining in on the calls of condemnation made by other Western nations and Egypt over the last day.

We condemn the new appropriation of land in the West Bank, relating to plans for further settlement expansion, announced by the Israeli government on Sunday," the EU spokesman said. "At this delicate moment, any action that might undermine stability and the prospect of constructive negotiations following the cease-fire in Gaza should be avoided. (Ibid) 

The U.S deemed the move "counterproductive" and urged the Israeli government to reverse the decision. The U.K., France and Egypt also condemned the decision. (Ibid) 

We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity," the U.S. official said. "This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians."

We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the official said in Washington.  

The appropriated land belongs to five Palestinian villages in the Bethlehem area: Jaba, Surif, Wadi Fukin, Husan and Nahalin. See here.

J Street, The American pro-Israel thorough peace and justice organization, (and I urge all people who seek peace and justice to join that organization which can be found at: http://jstreet.org), issued a statement on its website.

I set forth the statement in full below:

J Street Condemns New Settlement Announcement, Urges Firmer US Action 

SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2014

 J Street condemns as provocative, damaging and extremely destructive to Israel and to hopes of peace a decision by the Israeli government to seize almost 1,000 acres of land in the occupied West Bank to build a massive new settlement.

 The decision, both in its timing and intrinsic nature, could hardly be more negative and harmful. This has been described as the largest grab of Palestinian land for the purpose of building settlements in 30 years. It demeans and weakens Israel’s peace partner, the Palestinian Authority; it defies the will of Israel’s most important ally and friend, the United States, and it flies in the face of a broad international consensus.

 Most of all, it casts serious doubt on the Israeli government's sincerity in claiming to favor a two-state peace agreement with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu says he is in favor of peace based on a two-state solution, yet almost all of the government's actions and words point to the opposite conclusion.

 This decision is also a test of US seriousness in Mideast peace-making. The United States has protested settlement announcement after settlement announcement for decades – yet its opinion has been disregarded by successive Israeli governments to the point that US credibility has been called into question. How can the world expect US leadership in dealing with hostile actors across the Middle East when even its closest friend in the region flagrantly ignores its policies? It is time for the Administration to make clear to Israel that it means what it says and that US opposition to settlements is not just symbolic but real.

 J Street urges the United States government to undertake a thorough review of its policy toward Israeli settlements and to announce the steps it will take if Israel goes forward with this decision. As a first step, it should declare now that it is the view of the United States that settlements are not merely "unhelpful" or "illegitimate" but illegal under international law as laid out in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

 It may be true that the land being expropriated from five Palestinian villages lies within one of the settlement blocs that are likely to be retained by Israel in any prospective peace deal. But until there is such an agreement, this kind of land grab can only be seen as a blatant unilateral move to create new facts on the ground.

 It is particularly unfortunate coming on the heels of last week's Gaza cease-fire which seemed to offer a new start for diplomacy in tackling the conflict. One would have thought following that war, that Israel would do everything possible to strengthen PA leaders and their pursuit of diplomacy and non-violence. Instead, this move undermines President Abbas and reinforces his opponents, including Hamas, whose abhorrent use of violence shows exactly why now is the time to empower moderate Palestinian leadership. 

We urge the Israeli government to reverse this decision, to announce a settlement freeze and its readiness to return to negotiations for a final settlement based on the 1967 borders with agreed land swaps. 

 Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni have already noted how much harm this decision will cause to the US-Israel relationship. Other responsible members of the ruling coalition should join them in working to reverse this decision and to move urgently to seek a two-state solution.

I will release I Am A Jew (Part IV) next Monday.

As usual your reactions are invited.