Times of Israel..
10 August '14..
If there is something in common between the term “anti-Semites” that refers to the haters of Jews and “anti-Zionists” that refers to the haters of the Jewish people who live in Zion (Israel), it is that the two arise from the same emotion: a fundamental obsession with the Jewish People, the People of Israel.
Because this obsession existed before the advent of Christianity, even the term “anti-Semitism” is a relatively modern concept in relation to this phenomenon of hatred.
The Roman Empire is a good example of how the hatred of the People of Israel was manifest. This was a centuries-old empire that ruled over hundreds of different peoples through the years, many of whom revolted and rebelled.
However, only the victory over the Jewish rebellion warranted a “Victory Gate” (the Arch of Titus). Among all the nations who rebelled against the Roman Empire, not even the rebellion of Hannibal merited a monumental “Victory Gate” such as was “received” in the form of the Arch of Titus.
The revolt of the Jews in the Roman Empire wasn’t so special. Only a deep sense of obsession with the Jews can explain the Arch of Titus.
This phenomenon is probably not going to disappear from the world, but that is no reason to be discouraged. It’s possible that no one can change it.
Anti Zionism
In 1948,the Jews and Arabs were offered a plan by the UN that was called the “United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine”. The Arabs rejected it and war broke out. The Arabs, who seemed to have the clear numerical and materiel advantage, lost.
Since then, two phenomena have co-existed.
1. Since the 1948 war there has been a “Palestinian refugee problem.”
In 1948, 800,000 Arabs were deported/left/ran from Israel/Palestine and today there are 5,000,000 “Palestinian refugees”. Unlike any other situation in the world, Palestinian refugee rights are inherited. No other refugee on earth can pass on a family legacy of refugee status. There is really no reason why the definitions are not the same. There is nothing special about the Jewish-Arab conflict and there is no reason why the refugee definition should be different from other populations in the world.
After World War II millions of people were refugees. They were expelled from/left/fled and yet neither they nor their descendants are refugees today. Fourteen million people moved between the new India and the new Pakistan in 1948 – 7 million on each side. Did they all leave voluntarily or were they deported? Did some escape? When Turkey invaded Cyprus in the early 1970s, were 200,000 Greek Christians from the north side and 50,000 Muslims expelled? Did they flee? Did they simply leave?
Today, no refugee camps have been left behind in any of these examples. No person gets refugee status. Even though the story is no different than what happened in Israel in 1948, Arab countries have refused to grant the Palestinians who live there permanent resident status. This reality has created the “Palestinian refugee problem”, not Israel’s victory.
The only way to explain the distinction between a Palestinian refugee and the totality of the world’s other refugees, is that the Palestinians were in a conflict with Jews. (Obsession)
2. Since 1948, Israel’s existence has been constantly opposed and resisted. This situation has never relented. First there were wars against Israel, and then the fight continued with terror against civilians. While it is the right of the Palestinian Arabs to resist and choose terrorism, it is also Israel’s right to build a security fence to stop suicide bombers and marauding terrorists.
This endless resistance, this obsession with destroying Israel rather than building a Palestinian society is the primary reason we have the tragic situation today between Palestinians and Israelis.
It is also worthwhile to remember that the PLO was founded in 1964, three years before the so-called “occupation” started. That means that the conflict has never been just about Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, but always over the idea and reality of Israel itself.
Free Gaza- from Hamas
Israel left Gaza in 2005 (the Disengagement) and a week later Hamas undertook its first terror attack on Beersheba’s central bus station. And so began what is called in English the “siege on Gaza”.
No negotiation was possible at this point because Hamas took control of Gaza by force. In doing so they had pushed out the ruling Fatah Party and its leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and proceeded to cancel all previous agreements and understandings between the parties (Israel and the Palestinian Authority).
However, the “siege” as the cause of this war is a fabrication. Not only had Israel been permitting a steady flow of trucks carrying equipment and supplies every week to Gaza, but also because the border between Gaza and Egypt was completely open during the rule of Egyptian President Morsi.
But, rather than developing the economy and working to normalize life, Hamas smuggled enormous amounts of weaponry and explosives, and focused its efforts on developing the means of terror against Israel.
Article 7 of Hamas’ charter says explicitly that the purpose of the organization is the elimination of Jews, so it has no interest greater than killing Israelis and Jews.
The entire population of Gaza is used for a singular purpose – war with Israel. Millions of dollars have been spent digging tunnels not toward military bases but toward Israeli civilian communities. Obviously, these funds could have been invested in education, development and infrastructure.
But one rarely hears so-called Human Rights Organizations mentioning this. Instead of condemning the use of children as human shields, they prefer to denounce Israel. It is Israel, against whom Hamas has been relentlessly digging terror tunnels into civilian communities in order to slaughter innocent children and civilians – this has been the focus of HRO condemnation. Such behavior is more than anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism. It is obsession.
Zionism
The State of Israel is a “Zionist state”, because the Zionist movement birthed a unique political reality: a democratic Jewish state (Israel). In this “Jewish and democratic state” all citizens enjoy civil and human rights, not seen in any other place in the Middle East.
Conversely, the scene surrounding Israel is dismal to horrific. Syria has been slaughtering children for more than three years. Egypt shoots protesters, hunts down homosexuals and Coptic Christians. Saudi women are not allowed to drive. Iran hangs homosexuals and women must not go out without a head covering. Islamic groups in Iraq run riot and murder hundreds of people. In the larger Muslim world we find groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Boko-Haram, Global Jihad, Hamas, ISIS and more.
Israel is what might be called the “oasis in the jungle.”
And Israel’s tolerance to its minorities compares favorably to so-called enlightened Europe, in which. Switzerland forbids to building mosques above a certain height, and where both France and Belgium have a “veil law,” prohibiting such dress. Neither of these laws would ever become law in Israel.
Although Zionism created Jewish state, a Muslim has more rights in Israel than anywhere else in our neighborhood.
Meanwhile, our enemies call every day for our destruction and death, and for the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Their schools are filled with curricula designed to instill hatred and the destruction of Jews and Israel in their children.
Our enemies consider killing minorities, hanging homosexuals, and beating women as a normal part of life, indeed a religious duty, and yet HROs worldwide turn a blind eye, preferring to criticize Israel.
This is not Anti-Semitism. It is obsession.
Link: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/obsession/
Matan Peleg is CEO of Im Tirtzu, a grassroots Zionist organization advocating for Israel in Israel
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
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