Category: People

Silence is complicity.  

The silence in the media and the US and EU’s unconditional support for Israel’s war on the Palestinian people cannot be excused. (My previous post – The Moral Bankruptcy of the West was about Professor John Mearsheimer‘s views)

Hate has escalated to violence – and the result of our silence is the death of thousands of innocent women and children, and the total destruction of the infrastructure in Gaza – schools, hospitals, even universities. Food and water are scarce – and entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble.  This is not a fight, as Israel claims, against Hamas, but rather, may be viewed – as South Africa has argued in the ICJ – as genocide.

But what is genocide?  According to the UN Genocide Convention, genocide means: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Genocide is the end-result of ideologies based on hate and intolerance.  In a stunning case of bad faith, the Anti-Defamation League itself has embroiled itself in controversy over Gaza and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL, said he placed opposition to Israel on a par with white supremacy as a source of antisemitism. “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” he said in a speech to his own leadership team.

But is Zionism the same as Judaism?  

Albert Einstein did not think so.

In fact, Einstein was extremely critical of the party founded by Menachem Begin.  Here’s a letter from Einstein and friends (including Hannah Arendt) against Begin in the New York Times:

To the Editors of the New York Times:

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.

Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement.

The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.

Attack on Arab Village

A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants240 men, women, and childrenand kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin.

The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.

Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model.

During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.

The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots.

Discrepancies Seen

The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a “Leader State” is the goal.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin.

The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.

ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ, HANNAH ARENDT, ABRAHAM BRICK, RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO, ALBERT EINSTEIN, HERMAN EISEN, M.D., HAYIM FINEMAN, M. GALLEN, M.D., H.H. HARRIS, ZELIG S. HARRIS, SIDNEY HOOK, FRED KARUSH, BRURIA KAUFMAN, IRMA L. LINDHEIM, NACHMAN MAISEL, SEYMOUR MELMAN, MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY, SAMUEL PITLICK, FRITZ ROHRLICH, LOUIS P. ROCKER, RUTH SAGIS, ITZHAK SANKOWSKY, I.J. SHOENBERG, SAMUEL SHUMAN, M. SINGER, IRMA WOLFE, STEFAN WOLFE.

New York, Dec. 2, 1948

What does this warning from Einstein and friends have to do with the current situation?  

The same Menachem Begin Einstein warns us about later founded Likud, the party currently led by Benjamin Netanyahu.  The ideology of Zionism became “Jewish supremacy.”

On April 9th, 1948, a month before Israel declared independence, just over one hundred residents of Deir Yassin were massacred by members of two militant Zionist groups – Lehi and Irgun – as part of an effort to cleanse the area of its Arab population. The next day, Einstein wrote a short but passionate letter to Shepard Rifkin, a New York-based representative of Lehi who had recently written to Einstein in the hope of garnering some high-profile support for the group’s efforts. His belief that Einstein – a man who publicly backed the creation of a Jewish homeland in the British Mandate of Palestine, but by different means – would agree to such a suggestion was clearly misplaced.

---

Einstein’s words are chilling: 

When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the Terrorist organizations build up from our own ranks.

I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.

Israel’s barbarism in Gaza has uncovered this right-wing ideology of terror – which the US, England, Australia, and the EU has been supporting blindly for too long.

Zionism is not Judaism.  

Israeli historian Ilan Pappe writes:

When Zionism made its first appearance in Europe, many traditional rabbis in fact forbade their followers from having anything to do with Zionist activists. They viewed Zionism as meddling with God’s will to retain the Jews in exile until the coming of the Messiah. They totally rejected the idea that Jews should do all they can to end the “Exile.” Instead, they had to wait for God’s word on this and in the meantime practice the traditional way of life. While individuals were allowed to visit and study in Palestine as pilgrims, this was not to be interpreted as permission for a mass movement.^[1]

In his latest book, the outspoken Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. 

1. Palestine was an Empty Land
2. The Jews were a people without a land
3. Zionism is Judaism
4. Zionism is not Colonialism
5. The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homelands in 1948
6. The June 1967 War was a war of ‘No Choice’
7. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East
8. The Myths about the Oslo Agreement
9. The Lies we tell about Gaza
10. The two-state solution is the only way forward

If nothing else, the book serves as an important starting point for questioning the assumptions that underly US support for Israel, in particular its complicity in the massacre of innocents in Gaza.  Never again means never again for all people.

Here’s an early take (via Twitter) on what is happening from Arnaud Bertrand:

Israel’s “war” in Gaza has removed all pretense of international law, or the “rules-based order” which the US has been justifying as a way to maintain it hegemony.

Andrew Feinstein, a former member of the South African Congress, makes it clear:

“The so-called Western world is prepared to sacrifice the entire architecture of international law that has been put in place post World War II, specifically to prevent there being another #genocide like the Holocaust. We have prepared to rent all of that asunder so that Israel can continue to murder 247 Palestinians on an average day. 48 of whom will be women and 117 of whom will be children. We’re prepared to throw it all out. That’s the point of crisis that our politics are at now. And it is up to all of us who recognize that to actually create a counter narrative to nonsense that is spewed by our politicians to maintain their own place in this appallingly corrupt and malfunctioning political system we have.” 

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur spells it out:  

1. “Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted foundational rules of international humanitarian law – distinction, proportionality and precaution – in an attempt to legitimise genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.”
2. “By deliberately redefining the categories of human shields, evacuation orders, safe zones, collateral damage and medical protection, Israel has used their protective functions as ‘humanitarian camouflage’ to conceal its genocidal campaign.”
3. “Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is an escalatory stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure.”
4. “The ongoing Nakba must be stopped and remedied once and for all. This is an imperative owed to the victims of this highly preventable tragedy, and to future generations in that land.”
5. Selected recommendations: 

– Arms embargo on Israel & sanctions; 
-Support South Africa’s resort to UNSC under UN Charter art 94(2); 
– investigation & prosecution; 
– establishment of register of damage; 
– reconstitute UN Spec Cttee against Apartheid; 
– protective presence in oPt (occupied Palestinian territory).

More:  Anatomy of a Genocide: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, by Francesca Albanese, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner 25 March 2024 

There is no excuse.

It doesn’t take an Einstein to recognize this genocide. Israel is a terrorist state – and Zionism is an insult to Judaism.

See also:

• The Ladder of Escalation: From Hate to Violence
• The Pyramid of Hate: incitement and escalation — from bias to genocide
• Genocide in Progress
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer on The Evil of Stupidity