Tribalism, Racism And Projection – Part 1

1st part of two – In this paper and the one to follow, I expose the misleading aspect that is, unfortunately, inherent to some ‘anti’ racist ideologies. I will elaborate on the role of anti racism in maintaing both Zionism and the Left discourse.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ― Anaïs Nin 

It doesn’t take a genius to see that people who are identified as Zionist and Jews are, somehow, over represented in many blunders in today’s world affairs. The pro-war, Neocon think-tanks were overwhelmingly saturated with Zionist Jews, and the ‘moral interventionist’ advocates within the media are also largely Zionist Jews. The ‘brains’ behind the so-called Bush doctrine i.e. The ‘War Against Terror’, were Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby, and if that were not enough, at the heart of the financial turmoil we also find Jewish persons, and financial institutions that are clearly recognizable as Jewish – such as the Lehman Brother, Goldman Sachs, Alan Greenspan, Bernie Madoff, and many others.

Here one must ask an obvious question – why should any Jew anywhere in the world be concerned in any way with these facts? Why should any Jewish person be concerned with actions or ideas that he or she probably has nothing to do with? Why should my Jewish neighbour, also subject to the financial turmoil and with no connection whatsoever with Madoff, Wolfowitz, DavidAaronovitch or Lord ‘cash point’ Levy, be at all concerned  with current financial or imperial blunders for which he has no responsibility? Why should my Jewish musician friends who have no ties to Israel, AIPAC, CFI, CST, Nick Cohen or Alan Greenspan feel guilty for crimes or actions taken by others just because they also happen to be Jewish? Would a Frenchman or an Irishman in America feel threatened or potentially discriminated against because of revelations that a few of their expatriates had been involved in a major colossal scandal?

So, the question I raise here is a simple one: why should any Jew feel guilty for crimes that are committed by other people – people he or she does not know and is not affiliated with? And the answer is equally simple – Jewish individuals have no reason to assume responsibility for actions committed by other Jews. But the truth of the matter is, that many Jews are extremely concerned about the current blunders: some feel guilty, and many – potentially at least – feel threatened. I would say that such a reaction merits our attention.

Amongst my other sins, I regularly monitor the Jewish media, and it is obvious to me that Jewish institutions are put on alert by any scandal that is even mildly associated with Jewish protagonists or institutions. Jewish media outlets give the impression that every blunder associated with a Jew is highly likely to turn itself into awave of vile anti-semitism.

We are left to wonder then whether the Jewish fear of anti-Semitism is actually justified, or whether it is simply driven by a ‘fantasy of destruction’.

In my latest book  I contend that Jewish fear of anti-Semitism is largely self-inflicted and has very little to do with the surrounding reality. Jews tend to regard themselves as a tribe and most Jews are subjected to a degree of cultural and racially driven indoctrination. On the one hand, the religion of Judaism teaches its followers that  “all of Israel are responsible for one another” (1) (Kol Yisrael areivin zeh l’zeh); while on the other hand, the non religious, secular, emancipated Jews who identify politically, ideologically and socially as Jews they also operate within Jewish ethno-centric settings. Even within the Palestinian solidarity movement we find Jews who operate within ‘Jews only’ cells such as JBIG (Jews for Boycott Of Israeli Goods) and IJAN (International Jewish Antizionist Network). Somehow, they also feel primarily ‘responsible for one another.’

This reading of contemporary Jewish communities may reveal why many Jews are alarmed by crimes committed by other Jews – Jews whom they don’t even know.

I can think of three reasons for such a situation:

1. Projection: Because some Jews regard themselves as a racially exclusive tribe, they tend to believe that others – non Jews – will also regard them as such. In other words, many Jews project their own ethno-centric symptoms onto the Goyim i.e. They think the Goyim are as racially driven as they are.
2. Guilt: Because some Jews tend to regard themselves as a racially exclusive tribe, they feel guilty for not stopping those members of the tribe who are involved in some major blunders.
3. Conjunction –- both 1 and 2.

It is increasingly clear then, that at the heart of the Jewish fear of anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish bigotry we find Jewish racial orientation, manifesting itself in various forms of projection and guilt. Though it is clear that Jews do not actually form a race, there is little doubt that Jewishness – and especially Jewish secular discourse – is racially, or at least tribally driven.  Not many people are aware of the racial tension between different Jewish communities such as Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. In Israel the blood donation of Black citizens with Ethiopian background isdisposed of for ‘medical reasons.  Israel legal system is saturated withdiscriminatory racist and supremacist laws against the Arab and non-Jewish population.

To a certain extent then, the fear of anti-Semitism inherent to the Zionist and Jewish secular political discourse is fuelled by the belief that the ‘other,’ i.e. the Goy, may well be equally driven by a similar racist ideology.

Some Jews, it must be said, might offer reasons to reject the above explanation: they might argue that Jewish history (i.e. that endless chain of Shoas), proves that ‘the sons of Israel’ would be justified in being on a constant state of alert. Jews, they might say, should be constantly aware that their neighbours might turn against them at any given moment.

I suggest that we are dealing here with a ‘chicken and egg’ situation: while some Jews would agree among themselves that anti-Semitism is largely an ‘irrational disease’,  a few historians such as Bernard Lazare were brave and honest enough to ask why and how exactly, Jews have managed to bring so much pain on themselves.

The American Dilemma

On January 12^th at a Martin Luther King Birthday Concert I joined the NYC Meeting House Orchestra to perform a set of my music.  The event was the annual fundraiser for a local homeless shelter and it took place at the auditorium of the Friends Seminary, an elite Quaker private school in Lower Manhattan.  The cause was obviously worthy and fully consistent with Quaker values, the house was packed and the concert was a smashing success.

Apparently, some Zionist parents were devastated by my invitation. A few days before the concert, I learned that an Israeli parent was mounting pressure on the Seminary’s management and a day or two before the concert, notorious ethnic cleansing enthusiast Alan Dershowitz joined in. As he himself proudly admits, he relentlessly threatened and harassed the school and its administration.

According to Dershowitz who along the years has gained for himself quite a reputation as a compulsive liar and a plagiarist,  the Friends Seminary has now acknowledged that it ‘was wrong to invite’ me. And also according to Dershowitz, the Quaker Seminar promised to invite representatives of the notorious racist Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Dershowitz himself to address the students about the “dangers of the sort of anti-Semitic hatred spewed by Atzmon.”

So what’s going on here? Is this a desperate attempt by Dershowitz to be funny? After all, how is it possible that a Quaker institute would invite Jewish supremacists to lecture on tolerance towards one group only? Why would a Quaker institute give a platform to an ADL that is interested in the ‘defence’ of one people only? And why would a Quaker institute give a platform to Alan Dershowitz who is advocating the ‘Case of Israel‘  at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine? I have never come across a single humanist who supported either warmonger Dershowitz or the Zionist ADL so it would be indeed interesting to see a Quaker institute leading such an unusual move.

Also, the alleged surrender by the Quakers may not be all that it seems. First, it wasn’t the Seminary that invited me it was the teachers within the Seminary who have been following my writing and clearly saw  a continuum and consistency between my texts and Quaker’s philosophy. And why not? I write about universal human and civil rights. I fight for justice for all and I tour around the world educating students (of all ages) about the ‘primacy of the ear’ and the art of listening to others. I oppose supremacy and I preach only tolerance and brotherhood. True, I do indeed openly oppose Jewish political exclusiveness, but my criticism is humanist and founded in ethical and ideological criticism. I do not oppose the Jewish people and I refrain from criticising Judaism.

Living as I do in London and being supported by Quaker institutes in the past, I was initially pretty perplexed by the Zionist influence within the NYC Quaker Seminary. To start with, I couldn’t understand the logic of it. Why would Zionists send their kids to a Quaker school?  Clearly the discrepancy between Quaker pacifism and Zionist militancy must be blindingly obvious to every Jewish nationalist parent.

However when I visited the Seminary the fog lifted a little. Apparently there is a dispute at NYC Friends Seminary between a management that is striving to survive within a highly competitive educational market and the teachers who are spiritually driven by Quaker philosophy. Also, once in NYC I was pleased to find out that, in accordance with Quaker ideas of inclusiveness, peace and tolerance, the Seminary is sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause and in fact is about to send a mission of student to Palestine this month.  It didn’t take a genius to work out that the Zionist parents who opposed my visit were also opposing the mission to Palestine.

The practicality of the Zionist parents sending their kids to the school is obvious. The expensive, elitist school (around $40.000 a year) is located in Lower Manhattan, an area thickly populated by very rich people, many of them of Jewish origin so, the percentage of Jewish students is pretty high, maybe as high as 40% according to one of the teachers.

But I still can’t work out why Zionist parents – supporters of Israel and promoters of Jewish, nationalist, militant ideology – would send their kids to a tolerant, pacifist school. I mean, surely those parents must loathe Quaker ideals. So how do they get over the ideological divide? Simple. The Zionist parents, in collaboration with warmonger Dershowitz, are now insisting that the school give up on its Quaker principles and start to operate as a Yeshiva. They openly lobby against tolerance,  freedom of expression and relentlessly suppress freedom of speech. As we always knew – in the ‘land of the free’ money can buy everything.

In fact, what we see here is a microcosm of the Zionification of America. Once Zionist money changes hands, tribal indoctrination will soon follow. The Wall Street Journal confirmed this week that some parents “vowed to pull their applications in protest” unless their demands are met.  The message to the Quaker seminary was clear – surrender or face financial extinction.

The Quaker Seminary is facing a serious challenge here. It has to decide whether to stand up for its precious principles or surrender to mammon seeking and face total moral bankruptcy. Interestingly enough, America faces the exact same dilemma. It has to choose between a fight for freedom or total surrender to a foreign materialist ideology conveyed by AIPAC, ADL and other Zionist warmongers.

I wish America and the Friends Seminary’s Quakers lots of luck, because in this battle we are all together. We’re all Palestinians seeking liberation.

Wondering about the Wandering Who

[Book Review by Israel Shamir of Gilad Atzmon, The Wandering Who?: A Study of Jewish Identity Politics]

Gilad Atzmon is larger than life; no delicate and sensitive artistic soul, he is rather a living volcano, a titan with a Rabelaisian sense of humor and enough energy to power a city. Nights, you will find him entertaining his fans in every corner of the globe with his masterful saxophone playing: tonight in Mexico City, tomorrow night in Sheffield. His days are spent producing a vast quantity of writing and blogging, sending out at least two letters a day to his many readers. His previous book,  , is a very funny novel with more than a touch of the macabre and grotesque. It features a roving Israeli orchestra smuggling Nazis in double bass cases. It also contains kosher pigs, sexy spies, smelly underwear, casual killings, and a row of Israeli national leaders, all with their trousers down.

The best writings of Gilad Atzmon firmly belong to the realm of Israeli literature. His preference for writing in English attennuates his essentially Israeli character, just as Beckett remained a British writer while writing in French. His merciless goading of tender Jewish sentiments recalls the much-loved Israeli playwright, Hanoch Levin; this explains why Atzmon is enjoyed more by his country-mates than by Diaspora Jews. His newest book,   is a collection of essays that revolve around Jewish-identity politics. This subject (“what does it mean to be a Jew”) holds much fascination to people of Jewish origin. Many contemporary Jewish writers indulge in this sort of reflection, usually slipping into woe and whine mixed with self-adoration, and coated over with treacle and romanticism.

Being no delicate flower (see above), Atzmon delivers robust and forceful opinions with both hands. He regains some of the lost honesty once expressed by free thinkers and Zionists of the fin-de-siècle. Early Zionists from Nordau to Herzl provided some very frank and critical assessments of Jewish society. Yet even more critical was Otto Weininger (1880 – 1903), the tragic Viennese writer who dared to connect sex and Jews in his great bestseller ; he followed up his success by committing suicide at the age of 23. Weininger has long been forgotten in Europe, and yet he holds a fascination for Israelis. A play by prominent Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, Weininger’s Night (subtitled “The Soul of a Jew”) was a great hit in 1983; it was responsible for opening up Israeli theatre to the world. It was the first Israeli play ever staged in Moscow’s MXAT theatre (in 1990), directed by talented Gedalia Besser.

Atzmon has a loving and thoughtful essay about him. He provides some valuable insights. He turns Weininger’s “I dislike what I am” into “I dislike what I do”.  Atzmon sees Weininger’s suicide as an impetuous reaction against his womanly/Jewish side. Atzmon sympathizes with Weininger’s feeling that “Jewishness” is somewhat similar to “queerness”, and this provides a key to the book’s understanding.Jewish-identity musings, like gender-identity discussions, tend to fluctuate between the vulgar and the brazen; both can seem boring and repetitious unless the reader is directly involved, and perhaps even then.

The first essay of the collection has the freshness and sincerity of true testimony. The story of a young man trying to break free from his fiercely nationalist non-religious Jewish family background is akin to any man’s escape from stifling gender politics. Imagine a virile young man conceived in vitro and brought up by a sorority of lesbian activists, who has finally come of age and broken out into a rich and satisfying world of natural love. Clearly one might expect and forgive such a young man his unflattering depictions of “dykes” and “butches”, but such transgressions could never be forgiven by the sanctimonious gay activists and PC wardens who decide for us what is permissible and what is not.

This in fact has happened with Atzmon’s book: it has generated a significant amount of heated controversy. This kind of publicity is never bad for book sales. As for the author, he is no shrinking violet and quite up to the task; in fact, he is a pugnacious fellow, able to defend himself and always ready for a good brawl. Many of Atzmon’s critics seem to think that when we talk about Jews we must speak as we do about the dead: say something nice, or don’t say anything at all. And yet who should critique the activities and attitudes of the dead but the living? Banning all outsiders from the debate is a recipe for insipidity.

And yet, Atzmon is no outsider. An (ex-) Israeli, he has some first-hand knowledge, and he introduces us to a long obscured side of Jewishness, just as Jean Genet once reminded us about the backside of queerness. In Genet’s oevre we see the gender-confused men who are not saintly martyrs on their way to Auschwitz, but brutal criminals who kill and betray their friends in the hellish darkness of a jail. Though art is perhaps a better mode for such delivery.

One of his problems is that the Jewish subject is over-explored, and one treads on the footsteps of predecessors, even if one does not give them credit. The most interesting essay in the book contains Atzmon’s reflections on an essay by Milton Friedman. Friedman was curious as to why so many Jews had abandoned their historically Left-leaning socialist ways. To avoid the conclusion that Jews used to love Justice and Mercy, and now they have traded it for Power, Friedman instead posits that Jews are most naturally creatures of the Right. Friedman declares that while pure capitalism is the environment in which Jews thrive best, for one hundred years Jews were kept out of right-wing politics because the Right stood with the Church; the Left, anti-clerical and atheist, accepted them as they were. It was only after the Right was separated from the Church that Jews began to stream back into right-wing movements, and they ended up wholeheartedly embracing capitalism of the most brutal kind. This is a valuable observation, something that has yet to be learned by leftist philosemites like Seumas Milne, and by the Christian Right. The mass participation of Jews in a movement has a price, and this price is the rejection of the Christian Church.

Atzmon rejects Friedman’s conclusions: he would rather walk us through all the hypocrisies of the Jewish Left, as though a change in leadership would solve the problem. This attitude is very common among educated Israelis who have lived through the great betrayal of humanism by the left-wing parties, climaxing with labour leader Ehud Barak carrying water for Sharon and Netanyahu. Since the destruction of the Israeli Left can be directly attributed to these “traitors to the cause”, Atzmon might be forgiven for thinking that but for a crisis in leadership the Left would be still ruling the roost.

Atzmon gets carried away by his own rhetoric when he proclaims that the Jewish Left wants to seize assets of the rich just because Jews do not respect Goyim property rights. This is plainly not true: radical leftists everywhere call for the expropriation of all banks, Jewish or otherwise, and Jewish leftists are no different in this aspect. Jews are the wealthiest minority in the world; they have the most to lose in a leftist revolution. It’s apparent to everyone except Atzmon that the Jewish move to the Right is as natural as bacon.

With zeal of a born-again Christian, Atzmon offers not the smallest fig leaf of hope for good-hearted Jews. If a Jew supports the Left, he is doing it because he wants to rob wealthy Goys with Talmudic impunity. If a Jew supports the Right, it is because he wants to steal land. If a Jew supports Palestine, he is doing it in order to take over the Palestinian movement. This is a bridge too far. This sort of self-criticism should be reserved for confession. Not all Jews are that self-serving. Yes, there are hopeless wretches like Tony Greenstein and Roland Rance, leftist British Jews whose main participation in the Palestinian struggle is constrained to battling phantom antisemitism and Holocaust rhetoric, but not all Atzmon’s adversaries are paper tigers.

However, as Atzmon wrote in his essay on Weininger, one condemns one’s own faults, so perhaps this is a form of his contrition.

Atzmon is tough on Jewish tribalism, no endearing feature to be sure, but something not all rare in the Middle East. Jews are not any more tribalist than are Armenians, and no more nationalist than Georgians. This clannishness may be less common in British/American culture, but the tribal setup of immigrant croups is well known even there. Jewish success in the US and the UK cannot be explained by expounding upon Jewish insularity; a better explanation is traditional Jewish fidelity to power.

We could do with less psychologism and Portnoy’s complaints. Discussion of English or American identity and mentality does not lead to better understanding of British and American imperial policies. Likewise, policies of the World Jewry are very relevant for us, while Jewish mental attitudes are not. Who cares what Jews feel towards their neighbours? We care what the Jews do. Instead of dealing with bees, we need to know of swarms, and this is what Atzmon fails to deliver, because this brave man gets cold feet.

Atzmon is least convincing and most dull when he pedantically constructs his castle of exceptions and explanations intended to ward off the inevitable accusations of ‘hate’ and ‘racism’. He declares his preference for “accidental Jews”, i.e. people who are Jews by accident of birth. This alibi is designed to fortify his position against attack. It is as if Nietzsche added to his famous dictum (“You are going towomen? Do not forget the whip!”) a caveat “but beware some women are able to use the whip, too”. An allegoric poetic quality of writing has been ruined, and now nobody is happy. We admire Atzmon’s fierce and fearless qualities, and it’s kind of a let-down when he chooses to be prudent now and then.

One can point out several errors of fact in his book. For instance, he claims that Jews did not write any histories until the 19^th century. This is not true: Abraham Zacuto produced his  (“Sefer Yohassin”) in the last decades of the 15^th century, and this book is available on . Still he builds some castles on this factual error, and they collapse like straw houses.

However, Atzmon’s greatest fault is narcissism, or perhaps it is a myopic solipsism. Atzmon remains locked in the very Jewish dichotomy of Jews vs. Gentiles. He does not seem to appreciate the marvellous variety of the Gentiles; he cannot recognize that the Nations of the Earth are quite different from each other. The British are not the same as the Palestinians, nor are they as French as France. And yet for Atzmon, they are all one happy crowd without specific features. In vain shall we seek to learn what are the qualities of the Palestinians that have attracted him (except perhaps the ability to make good hummus). The one all-redeeming quality that they all share is that they are not Jewish. For this reason he suggests that Jews fully adapt to the modern, generic, global cosmopolitan monoculture of multiculturalism. This is absolutely unnecessary. While we applaud acculturation, Jews should adopt the culture of the land they inhabit, become one with the folk they live with. There is no shortcut to universality. I would like to read about Atzmon hanging out with average Brits, Scouses, and Brummies, or about his adventures with Palestinian shepherds, but they are not to be found: in a diverse world, he sees only Jews.

Another problem is the absence of God. Indeed, all discourse on Jews sine God is quite useless. I am aware that in the modern British climate, if Atzmon were to publish his thoughts on God and Jews, he would not find a publisher. You may use every obscenity, but you should not mention Christ. And yet Jews are first of all a religious community; a valid analysis of Jewish identity must take religion into account. Atzmon purposely adds a disclaimer declaring he will not criticise Judaism, but this simply ducks the issue.

He does give himself permission to use the Bible against them, but his literal readings are too primitive for the sophisticated readers of the 21st century. One can’t quote bloody stories of the Conquest of Canaan from the Book of Joshua like one quotes the admissions of a criminal. So many wonderful minds have discussed these tales, from St Jerome to Edward Said, and all of them had more valuable thoughts than Atzmon has to share. Indeed, when God says: you will inherit houses you did not build and vineyards you did not plant, Atzmon says: “that’s why the Jews seized Palestine!” This is trite. We live in houses we did not build, most especially in the houses of our bodies, built by God. We enjoy many wonderful things we did not produce. For instance, we enjoy Atzmon’s saxophone, though we didn’t built it. God’s grace gave us these things. This Biblical verse reminds us all that we receive a lot of undeserved things, and that we should all work harder to justify God’s trust in us.

The bottom line is that identity musings are dry and boring stuff; Atzmon is actually a much better writer than one would conclude from reading this book. He wanted to get it off his chest. Fine! Now let us see more of his witty novels.

P.S. Naturally I side with Atzmon in his polemics against his numerous detractors, but their arguments are so senile that it would be a waste of reader’s time to dwell time and time again on the endless and fruitless assertions of ‘hate’ and ‘self-hate’. What we do is soul-searching, not hate. Non-Jews have become so over-sensitised to allegations of race hatred that they swarm with the rest even when it’s an honest discussion between Jews.

Christ Under Occupation: Christmas In The Holy Land

This weekend millions of cultural Christians throughout the world will flock into churches and sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and hear stories of Nazareth and Jerusalem.

Too few know the 21st century realities about the land where Jesus/AKA The Prince of Peace promised that the Peacemakers are the children of God.

The indigenous Christian population in the Holy Land has shrunk from 20% in 1948 to less than 2% in Israel and the West Bank today.

In 1970, The World Christian Database reported that the Christian population in the West Bank was 5.3% of that population and in 2011 their numbers have shrunk to half that.

Most all Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land never even visit the occupied territories or meet a Palestinian Christian for they tour with Israeli led groups and miss the reality tours conducted by organizations like SABEEL. [Read more… 

The day is rapidly approaching when that troubled piece of real estate many claim is holy will be bereft of the most highly educated and consistently nonviolent Palestinians –the indigenous Palestinian Christians/AKA The Forgotten Faithful.

Researches predict that if things do not change very soon, Holy Land churches will be nothing more than museums for Christian communities across the region are declining due to low birth rates coupled with increasing emigration due to the persecution and violence rooted in the now 44 years of Military occupation of Palestine.

Some Christian leaders and many politicians claim the rise of radical Islam in the area is causing the decline of indigenous Christians and it does contribute, but the bigger truth is that it is religious fundamentalism within Judaism and Christianity entwined with Israeli-USA government policies versus justice and equal human rights for Palestinians that is most culpable!

In Israel, the indigenous Palestinians are labeled “Israeli-Arabs” and approximately 9% are Christian.

There are also growing numbers of Messianic Jews whose ethnicity is Jewish but they recognize Christ as the Messiah and they are supported by global Christian Zionists who profess strong support for Jewish people but are blind, deaf and dumb to their sisters and brothers in Christ: the indigenous Palestinian Christians who are most Forgotten Faithful.

The little town of Bethlehem is festooned with sparkling decorations but for those who know the brutal truth it is just smoke and mirrors over the military occupation of Palestine.

Nabil Giacaman, co-owner of a souvenir shop called Christmas House is a third-generation woodcarver who daily witnesses around 200 tour buses that roll in from the Israeli side of The Wall for a quick visit to the Church of the Nativity. The pilgrim-tourists are all escorted directly from the bus to the church and then back again without any time to browse the nearby shops.

Giacaman laments, “My total sales the other day were $4.13. My shop is in the middle of it all, but it gets worse every year. We have tourists, but not profits.” [1]

The decades-old political conflict aided and abetted by USA foreign policy also is an economic battle raging between Israel and the West Bank based Palestinian Authority and the livelihoods of all Palestinian merchants.

“At 1.1 million a year, the number of Christian pilgrims — those who describe their visit as chiefly spiritual in purpose — now surpasses Jewish tourism to Israel. Many of the top Christian sites are in the West Bank, and tourists have been returning in droves thanks to a recent lull in violence.

“Many Christian pilgrims belie the image of austere travelers sleeping in religious hostels. These visitors, mostly Catholics and Christian evangelicals, spend about $200 a day on hotels, restaurants and souvenirs, compared with an average of $140 for all tourists, according to Israeli figures.” [Ibid]

That would be gospel/good news for Palestinian businesspeople but the simple truth is that most all visitors to the Holy Land arrive by air in Israel and immediately join Israeli-led tours so they never get to see what is hid behind the faux-painted and extensively landscaped apartheid wall which is adorned with graffiti-against the occupation in the West Bank.
Recently, Israel’s Tourism Ministry opened a “religious affairs desk” and launched Christian-themed websites and a YouTube channel to entice them.

The Israeli government is also providing free trips for government officials and religious leaders from Latin America, Africa and Europe and in 2011, 81 members of Congress took an AIPAC political vacation and never spent an hour in occupied territory.

For Christmas, Israel is offering free bus transportation to Bethlehem for midnight Mass so that the pilgrims can avoid the lengthy wait at Israeli checkpoints. The Tourism Ministry is also promoting an alternative to Bethlehem [under the control of the Palestinian Authority] by inviting pilgrims and foreign diplomats to the Israeli city of upper Nazareth for a Christmas market which will be staffed by Israelis and no doubt supplied with goods made in the settlements-all of which are illegal under international law.

Palestinian Authority Tourism Minister Kholoud Daibes, contends that Israel collects 90% of pilgrim-related revenue and said, “They are promoting occupied territory as part of Israel.” [Ibid]

The mayor of upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gapso refused to allow Christmas trees to be placed in his town square and told the AFP, “The request of the Arabs to put Christmas trees in the squares in the Arab quarter of Nazareth Illit is provocative. Nazareth Illit is a Jewish city and it will not happen — not this year and not next year, so long as I am a mayor. Nazareth is right next door and they can do what they want there.” [2]

The town’s indigenous Palestinian and Christian minority accused him of racism. A 35-year-old Christian resident of Nazareth Illit nailed it, “The racism of not putting a tree up is nothing compared to the real racism that we experience here.”

“When we asked the mayor to put up a Christmas tree in the Arab neighbourhoods of Nazareth Illit he said this is a Jewish town, not a mixed town,” said Shukri Awawdeh, a Muslim Arab member of the town council.

Awawdeh said there were 10,000 Arabs, most of them Christian in the town and there was also a large community of Christian Russian immigrants.

“We told him that decorating a tree is just to share the happiness and cheer with other people in the town,” said Awawdeh.

“People here, Jews, Christians and Muslims live in harmony, but when the mayor does something like that, it does not make things better.” [Ibid]

Last year, Israel began allowing Israeli tour guides to lead groups in Bethlehem and only Israeli approved tour guides are allowed into Israel. Legislation is also pending that will require all Jerusalem guides to be Israeli citizens.

Professor Virginia Tilley wrote:

“Just twenty years ago, Christian pilgrims could still walk to the old city of Jerusalem or Rachel’s Tomb on ancient trails laid down over five thousand years among the rocky hills of Judea, following the footpaths of prophets and disciples that wove among the springs and valleys of biblical legend. Just twenty years ago, shepherds still tended their flocks by night around the hills of Bethlehem, playing on wooden flutes. Now these sacred landscapes are paved over, blocked off, and the West Bank is an uglified mess of four-lane highways, broken up by hideous concrete barriers and electrified fences, the old olive terraces crushed and buried under acres of monolithic Jewish-only apartment blocs. The shepherds are arrested, harassed and gone. The ancient trails are gone forever. Millennia of humanity’s historical heritage, razed and effaced in a scant few decades, to serve not natural population growth but an artificial state-sponsored project to take over land in the name of an exclusive ethnic nationalism. The loss is heartbreaking on so many levels that it cannot be expressed.

“And the world’s great Churches, whose cathedrals are nested in all this? To Israeli authorities, quiet pleas, in stiff meetings behind closed doors, tactical manoeuvres to keep privileges and access. To the world, silence or token gestures, even as Israel’s construction and archaeological excavations press up against their churches’ very walls.” [3]
Maria Khoury writes from the last remaining self-sufficient Christian West Bank village of Taybeh, where they produce Holy Land olive oil and beer. Her latest email was titled:

Politics at Christmas

It’s that special time of year where you simply want to wish everyone a blessed holy Christmas celebration but I can’t help it that it’s the only chance I get to remind my friends of the horrors that are still happening where Christ was born.  Every time I travel to Boston, I simply feel I am escaping from the day-to-day misery of Israeli occupation and take a break from seeing the new illegal Israeli settlement getting bigger in front of my kitchen window in Taybeh.

By the way, Israel approved 4,000 new settlement homes in East Jerusalem.   These days, I cannot even get the Orthodox Churches to invite me to speak about the Christian community in the Holy Land because people don’t want to hear politics.  Although I don’t mean to be political but I am giving my life to promote a Christian presence in the very land where Christ lived, was crucified and resurrected for my salvation.

I am very sorry, I have a need to tell someone that this year, Israel, doubled up its efforts in demolitions of Palestinian property over 500 homes, wells and other structures to add to over 24,000 Palestinian homes that have been demolished since 1967. This also means displacing more than 1,000 people just in the last few months not to mention over 700,000 Palestinians who ran away at gun point to save their lives when Israel was created in 1948 creating the catastrophe of the current eight million Palestinian refugees who have no right to return to their home.

No one is paying attention to the twenty human rights organizations including Amnesty International reporting Jewish settler violence against Palestinians increased in 2011. The attacks from settlers are up 50% because maybe they are going crazy with Palestine’s effort for full UN membership and the recent admission of Palestine to UNESCO, thus over 10,000 olive trees were deliberately damaged this year alone to add to the over one million trees that have been uprooted since 1967. This is a huge destruction to Palestinian livelihood and to the mother earth.

If anyone knows Newt Gingrich personally can you please tell him that with my own eyes I have seen my late father-in-law’s birth certificate (1925) that was entitled “State of Palestine” issued under the British Mandate!

Mr. Gingrich said Palestinian people were invented.  I did not know what he means? Because before the peace talks and Oslo Peace Agreement (1993) it was forbidden to even say the word Palestine.  With my own eyes I have experienced a historic moment when I saw the Palestinian flag raised for the first time at the Friends Boys School in Ramallah in November 1996 without the students being shot at by soldiers or thrown in jail.  Also I need Newt Gingrich to know that it took two Palestinian pounds (local language called Jeneh Philestinee) to pay for the tuition at FBS (1920’s) when our uncle Hanna Khoury was a student, which was a huge financial burden for his father the local Orthodox priest in Taybeh.

Please forgive me to remind you that more hard worked tax payers’ money was sent to Israel this year because seven million dollars a day from the USA was not enough to keep up this awful occupation that includes hundreds of checkpoints and more illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  It is currently costing more than 8 million dollars a day in military aid to support what I call the 51^st state and very spoiled child of the USA.  If you have an only child or an only son you might know what I mean. Parents are not supposed to have favorites but we do.  Israel has ignored more than 65 United Nation resolutions.

I am being so political that I have to keep saying the Jesus prayer every second to keep my sanity!

Please, Dear Lord, remind me that these most holy days all eyes are on Bethlehem which is a big prison with the wall surrounding it and help me stop being political because people will pray for peace.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born for you.”  (Luke 2:13)

We keep our hope because we believe life with Christ overpowers death. His Light overcomes the darkness of our times.  Christ’s love is the answer to the current hate and discrimination.

Palestine exists in the heart of every Palestinian child and a needed Christmas gift of 47 years would be the end of occupation.  Christ is Born!  Glorify Him! Wishing all of you a most blessed Holy Nativity celebration with all of your loved ones.  And, I wish not to be remembered for politics but for someone who believes Christ is our greatest gift.- Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

OK Maria, but please remember that Christ was never a Christian for that term was not even coined until the third decade after he walked your homeland a Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up against a corrupt Temple and agitated the status quo of a brutal Military Occupation.

And “Christ you know it ain’t easy” to persist in the good fight for justice and peace when one’s only weapons are truth and love.

1. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-christians-tourism-20111220,0,510422,full.story

2. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=344641

3. http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/55553#more-55553

The House of Rothschild – Money’s Prophets & The World’s Banker

In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family’s phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family’s vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of impeccable scholarship with a thoroughly engaging narrative, “The House of Rothschild” is a biography of the rarest kind, in which mysterious and fascinating historical figures finally spring to life.

This second volume of Niall Ferguson’s acclaimed, landmark history of the legendary Rothschild banking dynasty concludes his myth-breaking portrait of one of the most powerful and fascinating families of modern times. With all the depth, clarity and drama with which he traced the Rothschild’s ascent, Ferguson shows how their power waned as conflicts from Crimea to the Second World War repeatedly threatened the stability of their worldwide empire, and how their failure to establish themselves successfully in the United States would prove fateful. At once a classic family saga and a major work of economic, social and political history, this is the definitive biography of some of the most powerful financiers of recent times.

The history of the Rothschild’s and The Secret History of the International Bond Market – War Wealth Politics and Power.

Source: Red Ice Creations

The Fierce Urgency of Conversation with Christian Israeli Dissident Roy Tov

Part One…

“The Shen Beet, you know, like your FBI and the Mossad, like your CIA.” – Mordechai Vanunu

Last October and just before the publication of BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu’s FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010 a supporter of Vanunu’s who had become a friend of mine three years prior told me about another dissident Israeli and former military officer who had also converted to Christianity and been involved in high-level scientific programs.

A major difference between Vanunu and Roy Tov is that Tov left Israel for South East Asia and wrote his insights of the Zionist state in The Cross of Bethlehem

A major similarity is that, to this very day, both brothers remain in the cross hairs of the Mossad.

Tov added, “but most readers would probably not be aware I had been formally recognized by Bolivia as a political refugee in 2005. This would put things in a clearer perspective, especially the Bolivian treason against me. They accepted me and then sold me out to my persecutors.”

The latest in Vanunu’s saga is that for the second time, on 13 November, the Israeli Supreme Court failed again to meet the announced deadline to respond to Vanunu’s appeal to revoke his citizenship. Follow that story at Vanunu’s You Tube Channel: 

The only way I can bear the waiting for Vanunu’s freedom from Israel is by imagining the delay is because SECURITY [Shen Beet and Mossad] are searching for a graceful way out of the wall they backed themselves up against by failing to imagine a little muckraker like me would expose their Vendetta against Vanunu and send it to them:

In the Mail To: 3 Judges of Israel, Obama and Hillary 

I just ordered my copy of The Cross of Bethlehem and a book review will follow, but this begins what I hope and intend will be a series of Internet conversations with Tov.

It begins with Tov’s response to my inquiry for an Internet interview:

“Eileen, my fierce urgency is for real. I can’t tell you if I’ll be able to breath tomorrow. I can’t tell you if another criminal Bolivian hired by Israel will attack me again this night.”

Roy also wrote:

“Seldom do I publish day after day, but yesterday something happened. After I published Rabbinical Fake: 6000 Differences I was attacked, as it often happens after I write on religious items condemning Judaism. It’s not the first time it happens or that I report it on this website, but this time it was a viciously hard hit.

“My food was poisoned and I barely managed to arrive at the guesthouse where I was staying. After several aspirins and coffees, I was able to reach the nearest internet kiosk and send a few update emails including one to a leading American human rights lawyer who is trying to help in my case.

“Back in the guesthouse I collapsed.

“Today I decided to make this public, despite the negative impact (literally so) it may have on me. I fear another violent attack by the Bolivian authorities. Let me be clear: the attack was organized and performed by Bolivian authorities and funded by Israel.

“In  I describe a Bolivian intelligence officer who admitted openly that Israel asked to ‘keep an eye on me.’

“That was in March 2007. Since then I have no peace. A wide variety of harassment methods are routinely used against me; from time to time I describe them in the website. I was forced to move out of the church. I was forced to live in cheap guesthouses, all the time in the move.

“At the Internet kiosks my memory cards are a favorite target. I am harassed while eating and while walking. Israel cannot logically answer me, thus it physically attacks me.

“In July 2009 I was savagely attacked by a Bolivian – Israeli team, which was performed with the help of the local police (to say the very minimum). I was left with nothing. Copies of my documents mysteriously disappeared at the same time from the refugees’ agency and from the immigrations authorities. No explanation was ever offered for this last event. As a result, I have been illegitimately made into a prisoner of the Bolivian state, unable to leave the country that gave me refuge in order to sell me out to my persecutors.

“Since then, my throat – badly hurt during the coward attack – keeps deteriorating. I can’t neither teach nor preach. Interviews are impossible; after speaking for a while I fold in pain.-Bolivian Refugee 461/2005 Betrayed by those who gave refuge [1]

Roy explains that “as of now I barely speak, have difficulties eating and constantly suffer from pain” in his throat.

Previously he wrote:

“On the morning of July 23, 2009, I was forced to leave the church building where I was living very early, a few minutes before 7 AM. The noise was impossible and I knew that complaining to the brothers would be useless; I’d tried that too many times. I left the building and headed downwards, towards La Paz downtown…twice in my way down suspicious 4×4 trucks crossed my way. They advanced too slowly, as if in a reconnaissance mission, and were out of place. At that hour I never met even one. I chose to advance faster and eventually reached the Santa Cruz and Illampu corner a few minutes later; this is where “El Lobo” – an Israeli owned restaurant which apparently doubles as a Mossad substation.

“Somewhat down that street, four Israeli men were waiting. Probably following their expectations, I moved away from them as fast as possible, meaning I entered the Linares Alley. This is the center of the backpackers’ area in La Paz, featuring many souvenir stores half hidden in a maze of narrow alleys. Fearing they would follow me, I immediately turned left and began descending a steep and unnamed alley leading to Murillo Street and to what I thought would be safety. Halfway down, I heard some muffled steps behind me. I turned around exactly when a small, stocky Bolivian man reached me, bypassed me, and stopped about a yard ahead of me, blocking my escape route. “Roy” he said.

“That was impossible; I use a Spanish name with Bolivians. Feeling what was going on, I turned backward just in time to see one of the Israelis that I had seen instants before on the Santa Cruz Street. Another man was out of sight, and jumped on me from behind; his arm wrapped my throat. He had a solid piece of metal on the inner part of his elbow; he pressed it on the lower part of my neck. He pulled backwards and I fell, another man picked up my feet at that moment and pushed them away from me. That increased the pressure on my neck. I felt the neck making a funny noise and everything turned black.

“I was awake. Nobody was near me. My backpack and all my documents have been taken away. I stood up. Nothing seemed broken, tough my neck felt funny. I headed down to Murillo Street. Unsurprisingly, there were two policemen waiting there. Crime in Bolivia pays dividends to the police; seldom a crime is committed without the police knowing or even helping it. This is not secret; it’s all over the Bolivian media. I approached them and shouted “I’ve been attacked.” Standing next to me, the policemen barely herd the weak whisper that came out of my broken throat. I repeated that and pointed at the alley…afterwards I was at the emergency room of a Catholic hospital, which cooperates with the refugees’ office.

“I had no intentions of letting them perform intrusive tests or to let them inject we with drugs. Local hospitals are famous for causing infections that demand additional treatments (and create bonus incomes for the hospital). After a physician examined my throat, he wanted to give me cortisone to avoid the inflammation. I refused. They refused to let me go. “You’ll suffocate to death otherwise,” a nurse told me.

“They brought a new syringe and show me the cortisone ampoule. Eventually, after some thirty minutes, I began experiencing difficulties in my breathing and agreed to the injection.

“In the early afternoon, I returned for the forensic examination. While waiting in the large inner yard of the building, R.G. appeared. He is the Bolivian intelligence officer described in The Cross of Bethlehem. In March 2007 he admitted ‘Israel asked to put an eye on you.’

“His son is one of the Bolivians working in a joint false-missionaries program with the CIA; Bolivian missionaries can enter where Americans cannot. I ignored him. Then, the physician told me my throat had been badly crashed. Later that year permanent damage to my throat was diagnosed; since then it is slowly and steadily deteriorating. I won’t describe here the subsequent contacts with official bodies here, but nobody doubts the Israelis and the local police carried out a joint crime; apparently the Bolivian intelligence had also had a profitable role. Thirty coins of tin for a Bolivian Judas…..Meir Dagan slept well that night.” [2]

Meir Dagan stepped down as the head of Mossad in early 2010 and went “on the offensive in a series of briefings with journalists and public appearances because he feels that Israel’s security is being mismanaged by Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister.” [3]
Dagan said, “I decided to speak because when I was in office, Diskin [the head of Sin Bet/internal security agency], Ashkenazi [the head of the army] and I could block any dangerous adventure. Now I am afraid that there is no one to stop Bibi [Netanyahu] and Barak” who have all been replaced by men chosen by the current government. [Ibid]

Dagan has publicly warned against Israel attacking Iran to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons stating “if Israel attacks Iran, it will find itself at the centre of a regional war that would endanger the state’s existence. Dagan’s intervention is dangerous for Netanyahu because it comes from the right wing of Israeli opinion rather than the left, where the prime minister would expect criticism.” [Ibid]

Dagan had once been in charge of aggressive Israeli actions abroad and in recent years his ‘accomplishments’ included connections to assassinations in Lebanon, Syria, Dubai and an air attack on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria.

Ben Caspit of the Maariv newspaper wrote: “He is one of the most rightwing militant people ever born here…who ate Arabs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When this man says that the leadership has no vision and is irresponsible, we should stop sleeping soundly at night.” [Ibid]

The best and only way I know to disturb the sleep of willfully ignorant hypocrites in high places is to give voice to the voiceless and those at risk of loosing theirs- as Tov literally is!

If all goes as planned this article is the first in a series of Internet conversations with Tov whose expose can be ordered here:

 | The Memoirs of a Refugee

1. http://www.roytov.com/refugee/evo.htm
2. http://www.roytov.com/refugee/aaa.htm
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/03/israel-government-reckless-mossad-chief

David Landy and his ‘Israel Critic Jews’- A Book Review

David Landy, an Irish-Jewish academic and a Palestinian solidarity activist has written a book about Jewish Identity and Jewish dissent in the Diaspora. The book,  published on 7th July 2011, was largely ignored by most pro-Palestinian outlets and dissident journals. Almost four months later, Landy’s book was re-launched by JFJFP (Jews for Justice for Palestinians), in the hope, presumably, that it might divert attention from my own .

Following the JFJFP’s enthusiastic endorsement, I was looking forward to reading Landy’s book, expecting to find, for the first time, some arguments that may counter my own take on Jewish identity politics.  But I was disappointed: Landy’s findings only supported my reading of the subject in general, and confirmed my critical take on Jewish anti Zionism in particular.

Like me, Landy, makes a clear distinction between ‘Palestinian solidarity’ and ‘Jewish anti Zionist activism’: “I do not call them (the Jewish anti Zionists) Palestinian solidarity either” (pg. 6).  He prefers to refer to his ‘Jewish Diaspora dissident voice’ as ‘Israel-Critical Jews’. Landy has grasped that Jewish dissent is actually more about ‘Jewish liberation’ than about liberating others. It is largely about Jewish secular craving for identity as opposed to any attempt to really change the reality in Palestine: “Few, if any, of my interviewees thought that they were working exclusively for the Palestinians” says Landy and goes on to explain that “This is partly because some participants think they’re protecting the Jewish collectivity from anti Semitism by promoting peace in the Middle East” (pg. 26.)

Such an observation should have alerted Landy to the possibility of something slightly dishonest within the ‘Jewish anti Zionist’ cell. After all, we know that Landy’s ‘Israel-Critical Jews’ completely fail to confront the Jewish Lobby in the UK or the USA. And if that were not enough, they will even join forces with Zionists and hasbara, and are clearly willing to use every possible means to stop others from  attempting to expose the lobby and the extent of its political influence.

Despite Landy’s attempt to portray a growing, vibrant Jewish dissent, he is at least honest enough to admit that the Jewish Diaspora is largely supportive of Israel, and that ‘Israel critical Jews’ are still no more than a marginal calling.

But this is more or less where the good news ends, for unfortunately, on every other front Landy’s book is totally lacking in substance. .

For some reason, Landy has completely failed to address the criticism leveled by a rapidly growing number of Palestinian solidarity activists and intellectuals against his protagonists, the ‘Jewish anti Zionists’

In the last few months in the UK, more and more exiled Palestinians and solidarity activists have been  kicked out from PSC and other solidarity organisations, thanks to relentless pressure from the so-called ‘Israel Critical Jews’. Francis Clark- -Lowes, former Chair of the National PSC was thrown out of the PSC a few months ago due to demands mounted by the infamous Jewish activist Tony Greenstein.  Admired Palestinian poet and writer Nahida Izatt was also cleansed . This time it was no Israeli or a ‘Zionist’ who barred her from her local Palestinian solidarity group – it was  a Jewish ‘anti’ Zionist Greg Dropkin who had been harassing her and other intellectuals for years. A similar fate was awaiting Gill Kaffash, an admired London activist,  who was asked to resign from being  Camden PSC’s Secretary.  Sammi Ibrahem, Palestinian activist and radio journalist, originally from Gaza, was Chair of Birmingham PSC – at least he was, until he too was expelled due to Jewish ‘anti’-Zionist pressure.

Landy fails to address the embarrassing fact that here in Britain, there is now a wide awareness of the negative and subversive input of some of his ‘Israel critical Jews’. Through the years, Jewish ‘anti’-Zionist Roland Rance achieved a reputation as a leading figure amongst the notorious ‘Wikipedia Jews’. Rance specialises in vandalising Palestinian Solidarity entries on the free online encyclopedia.  Tony Greenstein is famous for repeatedly harassing, smearing and defaming an endless list of both Palestinians and solidarity icons. Naomi Wimborne Idrissi, the leader of J-BIG (Jew Only Boycott Campaign) has been exposed numerous times for running clandestine operations against myself and other pro-Palestinian activists. Earlier, in 2005 I myself exposed the ceaseless activity of JPUK members intent on blocking free and vibrant discourse.

One is entitled to ask: how could Landy, a supposedly impartial academic, possibly fail to address the growing fatigue that so many of us feel towards this bunch of ‘Israel critical Jews’? How did Landy manage to miss the glaringly obvious fact that the subjects of his research are regarded by so many of us as being little more than a bunch of AZZ (anti-Zionist Zionists), people who are on the verge of actually being Israeli sayanim [1]? Landy’s failure to address the subversive McCarthyite nature of the Jewish ‘anti’ Zionist operation is indeed disappointing — but it is hardly surprising.

‘Identity Construction’

Landy spends a lot of time elaborating on the need for an alternative ‘Jewish identity construction’; yet he fails to ask the most crucial question -is such an identity a viable concept?

‘Identity construction’ only becomes meaningful once ‘identification’ comes into play, once one is consciously and practically ‘identifying’ with the ‘constructed identity’, yet such a mental or intellectual process can only carry one away from authenticity or authentic realisation.

Moreover, Jewish anti-Zionism may aspire to ‘universalism’ – but Jewish culture is fundamentally tribal, ethno-centric and, in most cases, racially oriented. It represents categorically, the direct opposite of universalism.  So it is not clear how an inherently tribal, political, ethno-centric and exclusive setting can genuinely uphold a universalist standpoint.

Thus, it was inevitable for Zionism to become the voice of world Jewry and a dominant Jewish identity political discourse.

As opposed to the ‘anti Semitic’ early Zionist school of thought[2], post-1948 Zionism is shaped as  a wet dream – it is supremacist; it is tribal; it is expansionist; but most importantly, it is saturated with self-love. Zionism provides the Diaspora Jew with an opportunity to love oneself against all odds.  Israeli military and technological power, for instance, can be realised from a Jewish perspective, as a valid verification of chosen-ness and superiority.

Yet, from an identity perspective, anti-Zionism offers the Jew very little, if anything at all. None of the alleged ‘Jewish anti Zionist’ values are in any way truly Jewish. Solidarity with others is certainly not Jewish (Jewish solidarity is based on clannish brotherhood); universalism is far from being Jewish; and peace, harmony and reconciliation are certainly no Jewish inventions.

Landy provides us with some quotes from his ‘critical Jewish’ interviewees. They all speak in the name of ‘Jewish universal values’ and ‘Jewish justice’; and yet, neither Landy nor anyone else ever provides us with a single reference to a text that actually portrays or explicates Jewish secular universal standpoints. Instead, Landy refers to Jewish ‘diasporist identity’. He tries to draw lessons from Jewish Marxist intellectual Isaac Deutscher, who regarded himself as a ‘non-Jewish Jew’.  But Deutscher was the complete opposite of Landy’s ‘Israel Critical Jews’: Deutscher had little time for ‘Jewish politics’ joining the Communist Party in Warsaw rather than the ‘Jews only’ Bund whose ‘Yiddishist’ views he so opposed. Unlike Landy’s ‘Israel Critical Jews’ who are largely driven by Jewish self-interests, Deutscher was captivated by, and adhered to a universal thought. He believed in unconditional solidarity with the persecuted. Deutscher didn’t need a secular synagogue, a ‘Jews only’ cell or a Jewish party. He was a successful product of Jewish emancipation, an individualist who shaped his ethical views by means of judgment rather than by adherence to any orchestrated ‘identity’ with a ‘constructed emblem’.

The 2nd Category Jews Vs. Landy’s Israel-Critical Jews’

In I divide Jews who identify themselves as Jews into three categories:

1. Those that follow Judaism.

2. Those who regard themselves as human beings that happen to be of Jewish origin

3. Those who put their Jewishness over and above all of their other traits.

I have no doubt that Isaac Deutscher belongs to the 2nd category; while Landy’s ‘Israel critical Jews, who all operate within ‘Jews only’ political cells, fall into the 3rd category. .

Here, I am about to make a most arrogant suggestion. I’d better just come out with it. My guess is that Landy could have done with reading a bit of Atzmon. It would have saved him from many categorical blunders. And it would certainly have made his text more relevant.

Landy has systematically managed to miss the significant contribution of the 2nd category Jews – those who are genuinely  interested in universalism and ethical thinking, yet refuse to operate within ‘Jews only’ political and spiritual cells. It is clear that those amongst those ethically driven Jews who express solidarity and empathy with Palestinians, operate as ordinary human beings by stripping themselves of any trace of Jewish exceptionalism and exclusivity. Amongst those Jews you will find some of our leading thinkers and writers such as Lawrence Davidson, Jeff Blankfort, Richard Falk, Norman Finkelstein, and many others.

It is also true that Landy’s ‘Israel Critical Jews’ have produced a rather limited body of intellectual work, if any at all.  They certainly write enough about ‘anti Semitism in the movement’; they tell us what is ‘right’ and who is ‘wrong’ for Palestine, and they spend a lot of time pursuing any activists who don’t fit into their kosher vision of Palestinian solidarity. They, consciously and enthusiastically, use hasbara tactics – smear, defamation and misinformation – and, if necessary, are not averse to joining forces with their Zionist brothers and sisters. But still, they write little, if anything, about their own identity or ideology.  They don’t produce any music, poetry, cinema, plays, literature, plastic art or indeed anything that could be seen as a uniquely Jewish cultural contribution, something that could  be considered as offering an alternative ‘identity construct’. That Landy has managed to miss this obvious and crucial fact is staggering.

This lack of Jewish anti-Zionist culture is particularly significant when compared to the wide and varied cultural contributions of Israeli and ex-Israeli dissident voices. Laor, Avnery, Weitzman, Yoav Shamir, Gideon Levy, Shahak, Israel Shamir, Tzabar, Beit-Halahmi, Pappe, Abarbanel, Bereshit and many others are at the forefront of the discourse and in the vanguard of the cultural anti-Zionist battle. Unlike Landy’s ‘Israel-Critical Jews’ (noticeably uncreative culturally and lame intellectually) the ‘Israel-critical Israelis’ operate as a fountain of ideas, using their creativity to push forward the Jewish  Diaspora identity discourse. .

I suppose Landy has failed because he was just too engaged in sociological jargon and mired in postmodernist clichés without understanding the true uniqueness of his subject matter; i.e. Jewish identity.  Philosophical thinking also seems alien to Landy so he is unable to grasp the metaphysical depth of questions connected to identity, identification and authenticity in the context of Jewish culture and ideology.

But most important, Landy fails because he is a politically motivated activist, and his reading of his subject matter is shaped by political considerations and political ‘correctness’ rather than by a desire for genuine truth seeking.

Though the aspiration of this book is promising and challenging, the result is slightly disappointing.

—

 

To buy Landy’s Book Jewish Identity & Palestinian Rights  on 

 

 

 

 

The Wandering Who-A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics, available on   or 

    

 

[1] Sayanim – Diaspora Jews who provide assistance to Israel and the Mossad.

[2] Early Zionism may be viewed as a unique critical moment in Jewish history. It was often defined as a promise to ‘civilise the Diaspora Jew’ by means of re-settlement, labour and productivity.

By Way Of Deception

Examining Alan Dershowitz’s and Abe Foxman’s arguments against The Wandering Who…

Earlier this week I learned from theJerusalem post how desperate notorious Zionists Alan Dershowitz and ADL’s Abe Foxman are to stop my new book ‘The Wandering Who’.  It seems that Foxman, Dershowitz and their allies amongst the Jewish ‘anti’-Zionists (aka ‘anti-Zionist Zionists’ or AZZ) are in a state of total hysteria. So far, the book has been endorsed by some of the most distinguished academics, writers and humanists in contemporary discourse. It has been praised on every dissident outlet around the world.

But it’s also obvious to every person who reads me that there is not a drop of racism, bigotry or anti Semitism in any of my writing. In my entire writing career I have never criticized Jews as people, ethnicity or race. Nor do I criticise Judaism.  What I do is to scrutinize Jewish ideology and culture and I argue that if Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish State’ and drops bombs on civilians from airplanes decorated with Jewish symbols, then surely it is our moral duty to question what this ‘Jewishness’ is all about.

In fact my biggest contribution to the discourse is my attempt to offer a critical argument against Jewish identity politics that is both ethically grounded and based on universal thought.

But it seems that those who try to stop the book refuse to read it. Instead, they recycle empty labels that cannot be substantiated. The Jerusalem Post wrote this week, “The Wandering Who, has been described as contemporary cultural racism and as an attack on Jewish identity inspired by Soviet anti Semitism” Needless to say, ‘cultural racism’ is a misnomer.  There is nothing wrong with cultural criticism as long as it is not racist, and racism is clearly something that will not be found in any of my texts. And what about ‘Soviet anti- Semitism’, what is that exactly, and how specifically do I fall into such a category?

Alan Dershowitz seems to forget that defending an alleged wife- killer may be somewhat easier than promoting an ideological racist, expansionist and murderous collective*. Dershowitz told the Jerusalem Post that the “book has crossed the line from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism.”

Here, I’m puzzled. Is Dershowitz, getting soft in his old age? Is he now suggesting that ‘anti Zionism’ is actually legitimate or even kosher? This would certainly be a most welcome development, but no, it seems that Dershowitz also hasn’t read the book. And if he has, he has clearly failed to explain why the book is ‘anti-Semitic’?

As well as being intellectually lame, Dershowitz is also both a bully and a coward, “I challenge Mearsheimer and Falk to a debate on whether they have endorsed an anti-Semitic book,”Dershowitz proclaims. I believe that if Dershowitz has a problem with the book, he should have the guts to debate this with its author.

Dershowitz prefers to intimidate rather than debate. This is neither new nor surprising and ‘The Wandering Who’ attempts to explore the depth, and the characteristics and the origins of those tactics that are employed regularly by Dershowitz and his ilk. In the book I try to explain why they prefer to lie and intimidate rather than engage in fruitful critical dialogue. And the answer is simple. Blindness and detachment are inherent in Jewish identity political discourse. They are there to maintain the club, so consequently the history of Jews may be understood as one long tale of the brutal silencing of any form of dissent.

Another laughable character in a panic about my book is Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti- Defamation League.“With his glowing endorsement of a book by a known Hitler apologist and Holocaust denier, John Mearsheimer has revealed himself to be an anti- Semite.” Yet this master of ‘Anti- Defamation’ fails to inform us what exactly it is that makes me into a ‘Hitler apologist’ or a ‘Holocaust denier’.  The truth of the matter is that within the Jewish Ghetto some Zionists and AZZ just get so carried away tagging me with their own outrageous labels, probably projecting their own symptoms on myself, that they miss that no one outside the Jewish ghetto believes any of this spin.

In ‘The Wandering Who’ I try to grasp at this deep culture of deceit – so symptomatic of modern Jewish political national activism – while they, for some reason, believe that ‘by way of deception’ is the true materialisation of Jewish wisdom.

So, unable to produce a single intelligible argument, Foxman reverts to his Talmudic bullying tactics; “For years, Mearsheimer paraded as an objective analyst, professor and critic, and for years we were very careful not to label him as an anti-Semite. Now he has clearly aligned himself with the worst kind of anti-Semitism.”

Being intellectually retarded, Foxman here admits that the ‘anti-Semitic’ tag is attached to people and even distinguished academics without any evidence of any form of hatred towards Jews or ‘Semites’. Mearsheimer’s sin, according to Foxman, is simply that he endorsed my writing and so Foxman labels the American professor as an ‘anti-Semite’ without presenting a shred of evidence of hatred towards Jews or anyone else.  I honestly can’t make up my mind whether Foxman’s blunder here is sad or funny. But certainly, it is revealing.

Foxman and his ilk attribute the anti-Semitic label to anyone who fails to surrender to their command. But the tide has turned. Foxman, Dershowitz and their AZZ collaborators will have to either adapt or accept defeat. They can neither stop me nor my book. ‘The Wandering Who’ has now been read by thousands – it now has a life of its own, and it will quickly spread.

If Dershowitz, Foxman and any other hasbara campaigners want to do themselves a big favour, they should engage in an open debate. They should dig deep into my writing in the hope that they might manage to produce a valid counter argument.

Do they posses the wisdom or intellectual integrity to do this? I doubt it, but I truly hope they do. It’s really starting to get a bit boring over here.

*According to an Israeli poll, at the time of operation Cast Lead,  a whopping 94% of the Israeli Jewish population strongly supported  the operation and  IDF’s tactics that included carpet bombardment and WMD warfare.

London JC launched an attack on Prof’ John Mearsheimer

Gilad Atzmon: I occasionally read the London JC: it provides  a glimpse into Zionist paranoia, and it also depicts a true image of the ‘Nuevo Ghetto’ mentality.
Today, a week ahead of the publication of my new book , the JC seems to be desperate to mount pressure on Professor John Mearsheimer, the highly respected academic who warmly endorsed my book.

It is apparent that the JC is yet to realise the length of the list of prominent scholars, writers and activists who support and endorse my new book.

In the article below, the JC prints a collection of quotes from the book that are supposed to be both embarrassing and contentious (I made them bold).  Needless to mention, I am standing firmly behind all of my quotes, and each of my words

However, being the amateurish outlet that it is, the JC has made at least two mistakes:

1. I am not an ‘anti-Semite’. I am actually a firm opponent of any form of racism whatsoever — and this includes questioning and challenging every possible appearance of Jewish political and ideological exclusivity and collectivism in the same manner that I would criticise any other manifestation or form of ethnic prejudice.

2. The book is not published by “The Susjin Agency” as the JC suggests but by Zero Books.

The JC article:

Mearsheimer backs book by antisemite By Jessica Elgot

http://www.thejc.com/

A US academic who co-wrote a controversial book about the Israel lobby has praised a new work by the Jewish antisemitic writer Gilad Atzmon.
 

Mr Atzmon, a jazz musician and vociferous critic of Israel and Judaism, has written a book called The Wandering Who? published by The Susjin Agency.

The book was recommended on the publisher’s website by University of Chicago professor, John Mearsheimer, an international relations expert and co-author, with Stephen Walt, of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.

In his book, Mr Atzmon writes: “The Holocaust religion is probably as old as the Jews themselves. I believe the Holocaust is engraved in Jewish culture, discourse and spirit.”

A Look At Europe’s New Right

“Belonging To A People Makes A Man Human,” writes Guillaume Faye in his best selling book, “Why We Fight.”

Faye has emerged as the leading voice of Europe’s ‘New Right’ (Nouvelle Droite) as he departs further afield from his mentor Alain de Benoist as well as from Dieter Stein, publisher of Junge Freiheit (Young Freedom).

Guillame Faye’s Why We Fight indeed moves beyond the theories of de Benoist’s ground breaking year-2000 Manifesto For The New Right. For while Faye gives credit to his mentor’s philosophy his main concern is with on-the-ground strategic activism in finding a solution to Europe’s multiracial immigration problem.

Faye’s geopolitical outlook in some ways mirrors the “Eurasianist” idea advanced by Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin and the anti-Immigrationists of the “Euronationalists” such as Front National’s Marine Le Pen and British National Party’s Nick Griffin.

This puts the “ethno-visionary” Faye at odds with de Benoist who seeks an alliance between Europe and the Islamic Third World in opposing Zionism and Americanism. Faye has also debated against his former guide’s claim that immigration is an incontestable facet of European existence and can only be dealt with as such:

“The right to be different in de Benoist’s strategy in reality is reserved for everyone butEuropeans who in the name of multiculturalism are summoned to discard their own biological and cultural identity.

For in the Europe it envisages, communities of foreigners, particularly Muslim ones, will, for obvious demographic reasons, play an ever-greater role in our lives. This affront to our identity is accompanied by sophistic arguments that ridicule the ‘fantasy’ of a possible White reconquista. In this spirit, we are told that we will have to make do with a multiracial Europe.

But I, for one, refuse to make do. Nor am I prepared to retreat before an alleged historical determinism which aims at making Europe a Third World colony.” View Entire Debate Here.

Although Faye does view America (which he calls “the monstrous offshoot of Judaism”) as an “adversary,” he identifies the “real enemy” threatening the European White Homeland as Islamic Third World immigration.

And while acknowledging that the Judeo liberal class has been the  of Third World immigration and the demonizing of European White culture, he sees European Jewry as nothing more (albeit serious) than a “corrupting” and “intimidating” force.

“An enemy,” Faye contends, “does more than corrupt and intimidate, it threatens one’s biological existence. Our life and death struggle is with an inassimilable Islam, growing in numbers throughout the continent.”  , Here & Here.

RACIAL WARS & RACIAL SOLUTIONS

“EUROPE’S PLIGHT IS PROVOKING A WORLD CATASTROPHE,” warns Guillaume Faye in a recent interview with the Occidental Observer.

In his latest book, Avant-Guerre (Before the War), Faye develops his thesis of “the colonization of Europe” while going beyond the New Right context by predicting “a terrifying crisis.”

A coming crisis, (surprisingly), he actually welcomes—”a third world war”—which he believes will be the means to awaken Europeans to their need for a homogeneous White society.

In a concurrent interview with the Flemish magazine Menzo, Faye brings up the riots that lasted for twenty-one days in November 2005. He views the anarchy that ensued as a prelude to a coming catastrophe:

“The riots were an ethnic revolt and not what the liberal class made of it, a ’socio-economic’ backlash. Because of unbridled immigration of sub-Saharan Africans, we have massive numbers of foreigners with hidden arsenals whose culture is totally different from ours.”

In sub-Saharan countries, social structures that we take for granted are non-existent. Mothers have children with different fathers and children are raised by the village. When such structures are exported it inevitably causes problems.

Paris is not a village and the rearing of children is not its responsibility. The offspring of these Africans frequently turn to crime. They don’t know who their father is and no one takes responsibility for them. Their presence here is like a time bomb.” View Entire Story Here & Here.

And this “time bomb,” (so Guillaume Faye warns of and even welcomes), as he views the storm clouds on the horizon, will soon, (he predicts), usher in world-altering tempests descending on the White race—determining once and for all—if it is to have a future or not.

http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=653

Humanism: The Scourge of Humanity

It has never been popular to publically condemn evil actions.    When Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed hypocrites he planted a seed that contributed to His own demise.  Today is the same. Writing truthful essays results in unexplained silences, quietly broken relationships, hate mail, and problems with publication.  Continuing to construct essays in the same vein is redundant, and though necessary to produce even tiny public change, it, too, is often condemned.

Truth gets occluded when donations are essential.  Ministries that depend on donations tend to defer to their major donors. Internet sites that hold to particular ideologies restrict truth.  One popular site will not publish anti-Zionist material, several others are dubious of any questions regarding the Constitution, some sites prefer erudition, credentials are preferred by others, elsewhere goring the Evangelical dog is forbidden, critical articles are never as popular as those that affirm, and good political writing will command a large but usually mislead audience.  Religious writing that titillates the intellect is still well received but confrontations involving the arrogance of ignoring orthodox Christianity and failure of popular Christian theologies to fulfill the Will of God are as poorly received as they were when Christ overthrew the money changers.

Like many Americans (The vast majority in my time.) I married, had children, and spent my middle years working to pay for the house, the car, and food for the family.  I voted Republican (a family tradition) and as a result felt I had done my patriotic duty.  Church attendance was fairly regular and though at the beginning the Gospel was not a personal matter, I did consider the church a “good” and socially beneficial institution.  This is the plight of most middle aged individuals in Western society.  Heavily influenced by massive amounts of propaganda and neither politically nor religiously astute decisions are made by rote and tradition.  Populations that are not educated in maintaining righteousness and are denied accurate information cannot remain free.

When God saved and converted me He kindled an interest in the relationship of my new Faith to society. Most American preachers agreed with God that He had created the world and everything in it but they seemed more concerned with building their church by attraction, conversion, manipulation, and exploitation than in bringing His creation under His control. “Love” was often quoted as a Christian objective.  But loving behavior was never accurately defined.  “Doing God’s Will” is a popular objective but in Pietistic circles God’s Will is the accumulation of myriads of esoteric personal impressions that are frequently idiotic and always anarchic.  Without the yardstick of God’s Law Christians become lost in a humanistic sea of competing and confusing personal opinion. There is no clear map to obedience and most congregations quickly find themselves lost in a chaotic quagmire of individuality that consumes time and energy in questionable behavior, renders the Gospel useless, and creates unnecessary derision.

It is the duty of the Christian Church to teach its members to behave in ways that please God and to support and correct the State so that Family, Church, and Government function righteously.  America has devolved into its present state because the church has utterly failed.

The vacuum created by the Church’s failure has been successfully filled by a cadre of humanistic power elite who sincerely believe they can govern better.  These are men and women with an unshakeable faith in their own beneficial hegemony. They have acquired wealth and power, are unencumbered by an overarching legal system, and are sincere in their belief that they can bring peace and prosperity to the world by imposing the product of their reasoning.

It is difficult for Americans to understand the extent to which pervasive propaganda has manipulated their behavior.  They are often unaware that seeing racial diversity day after day on television is a propaganda tool.  They fail to recognize that movies about war heroes promote illegal wars.  The constant barrage of Holocaust movies has distorted the reality that the murder of innocent Christians was much more pervasive than the murder of Jews.  Social chaos is created by pervasive immorality which is promoted by the media.  Wars are couched in false terms of necessity.  Hate is engendered by casting the target as evil and cruel.  Righteousness is pilloried, slandered, and made to seem foolish.  Evil propaganda is destroying the culture, distorting truth, creating strife, and debilitating our nation.

The idea that powerful forces would deliberately set the stage for poverty, riots, and irreconcilable conflict is unthinkable. Strife purposely fomented by setting up two controlled, contending forces is beyond the imagination.  We are a people nurtured on right and wrong.  It is hard for us to believe our fellow human beings would deliberately cultivate evil social behavior.  We are helpless in the flood of humanistic nihilism; unable to believe that the America we have known and loved is being intentionally destroyed by the government we have elected.

War, false flag operations, bankruptcy, illegal immigration, rampant public mendacity,  wealth destruction, family disintegration, homelessness, controlled violent weather, impure food sources, impediments to travel, arbitrary law enforcement, leakage of national sovereignty, aberrant sexuality, immoral and violent motion pictures and TV shows, multiculturalism, legal diarrhea, loss of lucrative middle class jobs, concentration of wealth and power, callus and impersonal corporations, hopeless unemployment, and galloping inflation are but a few of the hundreds of disintegrating forces tearing at our nation.  Very few Americans can comprehend that all this is being done on purpose.

It is time for Americans to understand that the political system cannot produce a solution.  It is part of the problem. Christians are wasting time in the political arena.  There will be no political solution!  Championing fringes of righteousness in Washington is like hoping the drowning man might save himself after he surfaces the third time.  United States has been under the thumb of controlled politicians for decades.  The problem is religious, not political.  Christians have allowed aberrant theology to neuter the Gospel thereby bringing God’s judgment on both themselves and the nation.  Striving to solve moral problems in a humanistic political system is foolishness.

Islam is more dangerous to the new world order then Christianity.  The invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the vilification of Iran and Pakistan are all efforts to bring Islam to heel.  Islam has a legal system feared by the majority of Americans but practiced by Muslims and by their governments.  The humanist new world order prefers to dictate laws that are convenient for them and is intent on wiping out Islam.  Since Christians have nullified God’s Law they are without a legal system and are only able to create minor resistance to the Devil’s legal juggernaut.  Muslims with legal reverence to a higher authority present a more serious problem; they actually resist the evil laws of the new world order, Christians cannot.

What is left of Western Christianity is abysmally weak and those who participate in it are astonishingly intractable.  As the rotten social fruit of Christian ministries is reaped year after year one wonders if their leaders are sentient.

Western Christians fail to recognize the dichotomy of claiming to support a Christian God while offering as a solution a humanistic Constitution that bans Christian oaths and encodes religious plurality in direct violation of the Commandments of the God they claim to worship.  Christians have allowed this humanistic document to supersede and replace the Laws of the Creator.  Foolish Christian ministers actually laud “rich religious diversity”.   It is a sin that must be corrected for God cannot forgive such willfulness.

Christians have no authority to override the Constitution and impose God’s Laws but it is their duty to preach the superiority of the legal system God in His infinite Wisdom gave first to ancient Israel then to Christians.  As society comes to understand the superiority of Biblical Law and seeks to live in personal freedom under its mandates, then, and only then, would Christian dominion become viable.  It is impossible to impose a righteous legal system on an evil people.

Evangelical Christianity is a heresy.   Omitting God’s legal standards is tantamount to worshiping a false God.  It is impossible to understand the character and the Will of our God without understanding and obeying His Law.  Evil is disobedience to God’s Law.  When Pietism eschews the Law they make the definition of evil esoteric.  When we fail to carry out God’s punishments for evil behavior we fertilize and compound social sin.  When we fail to execute the murderer we bring God’s judgment on ourselves and burden society with our disobedience.  When we allow rebellious children to grow into adulthood we create civil unrest which contends with the peace God intends for His people.  When we wink at adultery and fornication we destroy the family and eliminate the order God set forth for His creation.  Homosexuality is a grievous sin; a precursor to the death of a nation.  But far more serious than specific disobedience is the pervasive fear of God’s Law and the punishment it requires.

The majority of American Christians prefer the Devil’s mandates to the perfect Law of God; many fail to support the death penalty.  In direct rebellion against the character and Will of the God they profess to worship they condemn stoning and support the use of sedatives.  They are so utterly ignorant of their God that they live in mortal fear of Shiria law which is in some ways similar to the Law of the Bible.  Fear of God’s Law is the essence of humanism.  Christianity without Law is a faith that puts man and his culture before God and His Word.

Humanism has infected the majority of contemporary Christian leadership.  Rare is the pulpit that respects the orthodox theology that was willed us by our forefathers.  Dispensationalism and other heretical humanistic theologies have infected the church creating an effete institution.  God’s sovereignty is attacked when pastors disregard His authority and emphasize human decisions for Christ.  If He is sovereign and you are a Christian you were chosen by God.  Even more dangerous is the massive human intervention into God’s Word.  Judaism’s Torah heretically truncates the Gospel.  Dispensationalism adds an order that God did not impose and dissects the Bible in human terms.  American Christians delight in prophecies and other errant ministries of fallen creatures – they prefer humanism to the God of the Bible.  Evangelical Christians claim to be Bible based but they ignore the legal standards that are the subject of the narrative of three quarters of the Book they claim to support.  Three fourths of the Bible describes the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience and a quarter of God’s Word describes His merciful solution to the sins of His created beings.  Since God has provided mercy for our disobedience should we then sin by ignoring His Law – God forbid!

When the Christian Church lost its Biblical foundation our courts followed.  American courts function under Admiralty Law.   Judges not bound by immutable standards become lord in their court rooms.  The Constitution is usually ignored. When the perfect law of God is absent the error filled laws of men replace it, freedom is lost and imperialism soon follows.  Man was not created to govern himself.  American courts send innocent men to jail and free the guilty.  It is a fearful thing to fall under the jurisdiction of our courts for they are neither fair nor just; justice and equity were long ago replaced by power and victory.

Few Americans act as if God is sovereign and Jesus is King.  Instead we continue to put our faith in human solutions bringing God’s continuous judgment.

We may be living in the End Times but when we become consumed with that prospect we fail to perform the task God has assigned to us.  Our business is to bring the ineffable message of salvation to the hearts God has chosen and righteousness to the world He has created for as long as His Grace allows us to live.

Many would contend that my essays overemphasize God’s Law.  That accusation is correct.  However, my overemphasis is but a drop in the dearth of legal information that afflicts the Christian Church.  Social righteousness is diminished to the extent that God’s Law is ignored and in America it is not only ignored but widely condemned.  When we ignore God’s Law we ignore righteousness.  Since sin has been covered by the Blood of Jesus we are forgiven but unfortunately Christians can be forgiven and eligible for Heaven from earthly societies that are sinful, chaotic, and Fascistic.  Sin, chaos, and Fascism result from disobedience and will remain and worsen until God’s people return to righteousness under His mandates.

The Herem Law in the context of Jewish Past and Present

The European Union appear concerned about the new Israeliherem law. The law suggests that a person or an organisation calling for the boycott of Israel , including the settlements, can be sued by the boycotts’ targets, without having to prove that they sustained any damage.

“We are concerned about the effect that this legislation may have on the freedom of Israeli citizens and organisations to express non-violent political opinions” said spokesperson for foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.

More and more people and institutions now understand that Israel is not a ‘civilised society’: it is impervious to notions of human and civil rights, and it also does not share the common and fundamental foundations of a Western value system.  Israel is not a democracy and it has never been one. At the most, Israel has managed to mimic some of the appearances of a Western civilisation, but it has clearly failed to internalise the meaning of tolerance and freedom.

This should not take us by surprise: Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, and Jewishness is, sadly enough, inherently intolerant; indeed, it may be argued that Jewish intolerance is as old as the Jews themselves.

Regarding legislation then, how are we to understand the implications of the word ‘herem’? The Hebrew word herem in its contemporary usage refers to a ban,  boycott and sanction. However, within the biblical context, the word suggests the total destruction of the enemy and his goods at the conclusion of a campaign.

The emergence of Christianity then, can be viewed as an attempt to rectify such a situation of stark intolerance — it can be understood as an attempt to drift away from The Old Testament’s dark ideology. Christianity introduced ideas of harmony and love. And it is no wonder that the man who dared suggest to his Judean contemporaries to ‘love their neighbours’ ended up nailed to wood. He himself ended up being subject to a vile homicidal herem campaign.

Uriel Da Costa

The spirit of herem is intrinsic to the Judaic teaching and spirit. Many people are aware of Spinoza being subject to a Rabbinical herem. Yet, not many are familiar with the story of Uriel Da Costa.

Da Costa was born a Catholic in 1585 in Porto, Portugal. From an early stage, Da Costa was aware that his family had Jewish origins, and in the course of his studies, he began to consider a return to Judaism. By 1617, Da Costa and his family had decided to return to Judaism, and they fled Portugal for Amsterdam, which was soon to become a thriving centre of the Sephardic Diaspora.

Once in the Netherlands though, Da Costa very quickly became disenchanted with Rabbinical Judaism. He came to believe that the Rabbinic leadership was consumed by rituals and (Talmudic) legalism. In 1624 Da Costa  published a book entitled “An Examination of the Traditions of the Pharisees”, which questioned the fundamental belief in the immortality of the soul. The work also pointed out the discrepancies between biblical Judaism and Rabbinical Judaism.

The book was considered controversial and publicly burned. Da Costa was called before the Rabbinic leadership of Amsterdam for uttering blasphemous views against Judaism and Christianity, was fined a significant sum, and subject to herem. 

In 1633  Costa sought reconciliation with the community. He vowed to go back to being “an ape amongst the apes.” However, soon enough, he began to express rationalistic and skeptical views again, for instance,  expressing doubts whether biblical law was divinely sanctioned, or whether it was simply written down by Moses. He came to the conclusion that all religions were human inventions, ultimately rejecting formalised, ritualised religion. Possibly the first atheist Jew, Da Costa came to believe that religion should be based only on natural law, believing that God resides in nature, which is full of peace and harmony, whereas organised religion is marked by violence and strife.

It did not take long before Da Costa became, once again, subject to Rabbinical herem. For seven years he lived in virtual isolation, shunned by his family and loved ones. Ultimately, the loneliness was too much for him to bear, and he recanted once more.

As a punishment for his heretical views, he was publicly given thirty nine lashes at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam, then forced to lie on the floor while the congregation trampled over him. The events left Da Costa traumatised, and he became suicidal. After writing his autobiography, “Exemplar Humanae Vitae” (1640), in which he disclosed his experience as a victim of Jewish intolerance, he set out to end the lives of both his cousin and himself. Seeing his relative approach one day, he grabbed a pistol and pulled the trigger, but it misfired. Then he reached for another, turned it on himself and fired, reportedly dying a terrible death.

Zionists and ‘Anti Zionists’ Alike

The record of vile Rabbinical measures against dissidence is staggering. But unfortunately, Jewish intolerance exceeds far beyond religious institutions.  In Israel, it seems that Jews imposeherems on each other on a daily basis.  The so called ‘Israeli left’ imposes herem on the West Bank settlements (as if Tel Aviv is not a settlement), and in response, the right wing governmentherems the left heremiates .

And as we all know, prominent Jewish critical voices outside of Israel too such as Norman Finkelstein,  have been subject to relentless Zionist herems over the years.

However, one may find it astonishing that Jewish ‘anti Zionists’ who claim to be ‘progressive’, godless ‘atheists’ and  ‘cosmopolitans,’ also  consistently use the exact same Talmudicherem tactics that have been employed by their Rabbinical ancestors for hundred of years.

In the last decade we have come across more than a few Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ herem campaigns. Jewish ‘anti- Zionists’ single mindedly dedicated themselves to the destruction of Deir Yassin Remembered (DYR),which was at the time the biggest and most successful pro-Palestinian organisation in the UK.  Monitoring the contemptible language used by Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ campaigners and observing the strategies they  implement  against fellow anti- Zionist Jews  and Palestinian solidarity activists reveals a very grim picture and a repetition of the most horrendous Rabbinicalherem tactics.

But such a realisation and understanding of these Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ tactics should not really take us by surprise, after all, just like the Jewish State, the Jewish ‘anti Zionists’ also identify as Jews.

However, unlike Rabbinical Jews — who at least provide some reasoning for their severe judgements based on supposed transgression of Biblical tenets — the Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ concentrate solely on measures of punishment. Yet such a fact is hardly surprising : whilst hardly any of the so called ‘progressive’ Jewish ‘anti Zionists’ believe in God or follow the Torah — they have clearly managed to draw from Judaism its very worst methods i.e. brute and crude intolerance.

I too am obviously  subject to on going and constant herem campaigns,  conducted by various ethnic Jewish activists, both  Zionist and crypto-Zionists.

However, I am delighted to report that my detractors are not at all successful. In fact, they are by now growing accustomed to learn that their hopeless herem attempts to excommunicate me simply backfire, time after time, leaving them frustrated and more and more isolated from the public discourse regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict.

On reflection, I would conjecture that the growing circulation of my work has little to do with my talent or wisdom though. It is much more simple than that: rather, my perspective on  humanism and ethics is probably more straightforward, coherent, inclusive and consistent than the Jewish ‘anti Zionists’  pseudo progressive ethno-centric exclusivism, so clearly manifested in each of their herem campaigns and implicit in much of their writing.

Jews and the BDS

As one would expect, world Jewry welcome the new Israeli heremlaw. According to Ha’aretz, the umbrella organisation of French-Jewish groups in France (CRIF) hailed the  new Israeli herem law : “the CRIF’s director general Haim Musicant pointed out that a similar such law has long existed in France, much to the satisfaction of the French Jewish community.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also defended the new law, saying “what stains (Israel’s) image are those savage and irresponsible attacks on a democracy’s attempt to draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not.”

Netanyahu sums it up eloquently — the new Talmudic law is there to highlight and establish the terms regarding what is acceptable within ‘Kosher democracy’: it is a non-civilised setting driven by blatantly exclusivist policies. In a very similar manner, the Jewish so called ‘anti Zionists’ often enough claim to know what ‘Kosher anti Zionism’ is all about, and how its boundaries should be defined. Incredibly enough, the Jewish ‘anti Zionists’ also repeatedly preach to us about ‘who is good’ and ‘who is bad’ for the Palestinians.

I presume that by now, the continuum between Netanyahu’s attitudes and those of the crypto-Zionists within our midst is pretty well established, and clear enough for all of us to see.

In April, the renowned journalist and film maker Max Blumenthal addressed some questions regarding the Jewish hegemony within the BDS movement.  The BDS is a call initiated by Omar Barghouti  and Palestinian civil society to impose boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel.

Blumenthal wrote, “last night I went to Columbia University to see Omar Barghouti discuss his new book, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights…  During his talk, Barghouti mentioned that he had approached J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami about arranging a debate on BDS. The response from Ben-Ami was as follows, according to Barghouti: ‘We want to keep this debate inside the Jewish community. So we won’t participate in a debate with any Palestinians.’”

“Last December”, Blumenthal continues, “I debated the issue of BDS against the director of J Street U, Daniel May. My debate partner was Rebecca Vilkomerson of Jewish Voice for Peace. Daniel May’s partner was a Jewish student from Princeton also named Daniel May. Everyone involved in the debate was an Ashkenazi Jew, yet we were debating a movement founded and controlled by Palestinian civil society.”

If you should ask yourself why J Street insists on running the BDS as a ‘Jewish internal affair,’ or why the BDS has become a ‘Jewish call’, here is the answer – the BDS is interpreted  by most Jews as a call for a herem,  and this is what Jews do best : destroying, excluding, excommunicating, silencing, boycotting, sanctioning. After all, Jews have been doing this for centuries.

But here arises another problem regarding Jewish over representation and control within the boycott movement. As much as many of us sympathise with the Palestinian civil society call, hardly any of us actually want to operate within, or take direction on what we should do and think from a Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ Trotsky-ite synagogue.  And as it happens — and this makes me very sad at times — some of the crypto Zionists who operate within the BDS movement are now using this important Palestinian call in order to promote Jewish interests, or to fight other Palestinian solidarity activists.

But I believe that for the BDS to be successful, this movement must be attentive first and foremost to the Palestinian call, and to that call above all others. For the BDS to be effective it must transcend itself beyond the banal herem type activity. It must be a universal call, and managed as a civil society campaign.

Herem, Post Herem and a Joke 

Israel and Zionism then, has proved to be a short lived dream. It was  initiated to civilise Jewish life, and to dismantle the Jewish self-destructive mode. It was there to move the Jew into the postherem phase. It vowed to make the Jew into a productive being. But as things turned out, neither the Zionists nor the ‘anti Zionists’ managed to drift away from the disastrous  heremculture. It seems that  the entire world of Jewish identity politics is a matrix of herems and exclusion strategies. In order to be ‘a proper Jew’, all you have to do is to point out whom you oppose, hate, exclude or boycott.

Such a state of affairs is indeed pretty tragic, but it certainly brings to mind the old Jewish joke:

Q: How many synagogues are needed in a village with just  one single Jewish habitant?

A: Two synagogues; one that he goes to, and one he would never set foot in.

Flotilla, Flytilla and the prospect of ‘Civil Society Action’

It might be argued that the passing week was not very easy on the Palestinian solidarity movement:  firstly, an international peaceful flotilla aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza did not manage to leave Greek ports. The Greek government had surrendered submissively to Israeli pressure and American Jewish organisations, and blocked the naval enterprise.

Secondly, an international attempt to fly hundreds of activists from all over the world to the West Bank also partially failed, as the Israeli Government had managed to mount just enough pressure to make sure that the project fell apart before it became airborne.[1]

Though it may seem as if the Palestinian solidarity movement suffered a blow, it is actually Israel that was harshly beaten here, for Israel has managed to expose its level of hysteria: it seems that eight old yachts and a few hundred Easyjet passengers have managed to shake the entire Israeli society.  Now try to imagine the potential impact of hundred of thousands of  Palestinian refugees marching to their  homes  in Jaffa , Acre Lod , Ramle, Haifa, Beer Shiva and  Al Quds.

I guess that the picture is clearer than ever– Israel doesn’t stand a chance. Its fate is doomed. It is just a question of time. It is not a matter of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’.

But the truth of the matter goes slightly deeper. Both the Flotilla and the Flytilla are exemplary cases of ‘civil society campaigns’– they were intended to mobilise international public support using peaceful and democratic means.

Both campaigns were not aimed to harm Israel’s security in any way; rather, they were there to draw the world’s attention to the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Their immediate goal i.e. reaching Palestine, was not fulfilled, but their mission is still a clear and significant victory because it proves once again what Israel is all about: the Jewish State is a closed society, a morbid collective driven by ‘Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (fuelled by vivid imaginary fantasies of destruction).  Most importantly, the Israeli government’s desperate measures against the peaceful Flytilla proved to the world that the West Bank is also under siege, and Palestine is closed to visitors.

The leaders of the two ‘civil society campaigns’ had done their homework: they had planned it all for months, orchestrating and coordinating an airlift of different international groups. They had raised the funds, and they operated as you would expect ‘civil society campaigners’ to operate.

But they had failed to see one thing. They did not grasp the most obvious fact about the Jewish State and its supportive powers around the world.  As much as they wanted to put into action the most civilised peaceful strategy, they may have failed to grasp that the Jewish State is not a civilised place, and it is also totally foreign to the notion of civilisation.  Once again the Israeli Government provided its critics around the world with a clear lesson about the unique traits of the Jewish State.

Israel vs. Civilisation

The word ‘civilisation’ comes originally from the Latin word civilis, related to the Latin words civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning city or city-state.

‘Civilisation’, then, is traditionally grasped as a society that acknowledges and respects notions of  ‘civil law’ and ‘citizenship’. Israel is not such a society unfortunately. Most of the people whose homes are on Israeli-controlled land lack basic civil rights just for failing to be Jewish.

It is possible that Israel’s deficiency in that regard is rooted in orthodox Judaism’s defiance of the notions of ‘civil law’ and civilisation. For Rabbinical Judaism, it is the Halacha law that strictly sets the legal rights and duties of the Jew.[2]

Interestingly enough, early Zionism was an attempt to remedy the situation. It promised to ‘civilise Jewish life’.  It vowed to erect a Jewish society that respected principles of citizenship and secular civil law. But Zionism was doomed to fail. Already, at its moment of inception, the Jewish State preferred to ethnically cleanse the vast majority of the Palestinian population instead of exercising the theoretical possibility of ‘Jewish civilisation.’

The truth of the matter is that the Jewish state has battled with Halachalaws since its moment of birth. On the one hand secular Israelis, Hasbara agents and Zionists disseminate the deceptive image of a Jewish ‘democratic’, ‘civilised and open society’ but on the other hand, the religious institutions in Israel challenge that fictitious deceptive   agenda: they clearly argue that if Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish State’, it should give Jewishness some real meaning. They are basically referring toHalacha laws

The outcome of this struggle is clear: by now, Israel has very little respect for the notion of ‘civilisation’ or ‘civil law’.  At the most, it mimics some liberal Western symptoms. The Arab MK who suggested a few years ago that Israel should become a state of all its citizens ( i.e. a civilisation ), had to run away for his life, and has lived in exile ever since. It is not a secret that Israeli Arabs (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) are second class citizens, and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank lack any meaningful civil status. They are dwelling in open air prisons. They are subject to Israeli brutality  and different forms of racially discriminative laws. Not only that, foreign labour communities in Israel are also totally marginalised, living a life of complete insecurity, with few rights.

The obvious question here then, is whether ‘civil society action’, as we have seen in recent weeks from international solidarity activists, can have any effect at all on a society that so clearly defies the notions of ‘civil law ‘and ‘civilisation’?

Jewish Diaspora and Civilisation

Israel itself is obviously just part of the problem: the Jewish State is supported by some relentless Jewish Lobbies all over the world.  These lobbies do manage to push Western governments and political institutions into some very dark corners.  In Britain, for instance,  Sheikh Raed Salah, AKA the ‘Gandhi of Palestine’ has been detained for more than a week following the shameful British Government surrender to right-wing Jewish Lobby pressure.  Also, the Israeli press was proud to report recently about the incentives offered by Jewish organisations to the struggling Greek government ahead of the Flotilla.

The Israeli Government and its supporting lobbies gathered a while back that it is much cheaper to buy a Western politician than it is to buy a tank.

So, the moral for the rest of us should be clear: though Israel itself defies the notion of civilisation, the above incidents prove that its lobbies around the world still manage to interfere with our respective nations’ civilisations.

Civil Society Action Vs. The Non Civilised

Palestinian Solidarity leaders will have to draw the necessary lessons from the recent events. Civil Society Campaigns do mobilise public support around the world and this is indeed very important. However, such campaigns may be just too weak to bring about a change of consciousness in Israel.

In order to defeat Israel and Zionism, we must first admit to ourselves what Israel is all about: we are combating a unique, racially oriented, expansionist tribal project that has no precedent in history, and this project exceeds beyond its natural geographical boundaries. Israel is not just a territorial quest; it is actually an ideology, and its modus operandi is driven by radical forms of racial supremacy (Jewish chosen-ness). But we should  also acknowledge that the Jewish State is not alone: it is supported institutionally by world Jewry.

If we care about Palestine, world peace and the state of our world in general, our task is to stand up openly and identify the kinds of ideology, politics and culture that serve the Jewish State and its interests, both globally and locally.  We do not necessarily have to travel to Palestine to combat the Israeli soldiers: it may be better to locate its mercenaries around us, in our media, political institutions, think tanks, academia and economy.

These people and organisations actually interfere with our civilisation, with our most sacred Western values of ethics, pluralism, harmony and tolerance.

[1] Those activists that did make it to Israel were very quickly detained and given deportation orders.

[2] It may be argued that Islam also defies the notion of Civil Law. However, unlike Judaism, Islam is a universal precept. It  clearly defined respectful measures and approaches towards ethnic and religious minorities.

Killing Goyim and Beyond

Israeli Police is now arresting leading Rabbis for endorsing and supporting ‘Torat Hamelech’ (The King’s Torah), the Jewish religious book that justifies the killing of Gentiles.

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, was questioned Sunday morning on suspicion of incitement to racism and violence following his endorsement of the religious tract which preaches Goy hatred.

Kiryat Harav’s Chief Rabbi Dov Lior was also detained a few days ago for his endorsement of the same racist text.

The arrest of the Rabbis  sparked violent protest across Israel. It also raised harsh criticism against the police and state prosecution by right-wing elements.

I guess that one may be puzzled by the whole saga and wonder how come the Jewish State, a state that legally discriminates people on racial grounds, a state that institutionally abuses its non-Jewish population, an entity that terrorises and starves the indigenous people of the land and often enough kills them en masse, is so concerned with a few Rabbis who endorse the Halacha interpretations that actually justify such lethal barbarian policies and practices.

The answer is pretty interesting. Zionism was initially an attempt to erect a Jewish civil society- a Jewish homeland where Jews could be subject to newly formed Jewish civil law instead of religious law.  As much as this idea appealed to some assimilated Jews at the time and a few new Israelis later, Rabbinical Judaism has never approved of the revolutionary innovative move. In fact, Rabbinical Judaism defies the notion of Jewish civil law.  For Israeli Rabbis, it is clear beyond doubt that if Israel defines itself as the Jewish state, it better be driven legally and spiritually by Halacha Laws.

The current debate in Israel is not new. It is as old as the Jewish State, yet there is an intellectually intriguing element in that ideological battle. Following the last Rabbi arrest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement backing the law-enforcement system. However, Netanyahu is not exactly a leading humanist dove. It is his government that keeps Gaza in a brutal siege and other Palestinians in open air prisons. It was his Government which unleashed Israeli Commandos to commit their deadly crime against the human aid flotilla in high seas last year. Netanyahu’s hands are soaking with the blood of innocent Goyim. On the face of it, there is an apparent continuum between the Halacha anti Gentile teaching and Israeli murderous policies and practices.

So here is the question, how come Netanyahu’s government arrests Rabbis who preach for lethal acts which Israeli Government happens to perform ? The answer may be devastatingly simple. Those Rabbis are arrested in Israel because they actually support the accusation that Goyim killing may be inherent to the Jewish Halacha law (or at least inherent to some interpretations of the Halacha). While Israel insists to present itself as a peace seeking nation arguing that the killing of Palestinians is no more than unfortunate incidents, by endorsing ‘Torat Hamelech’ some Rabbis actually confirm that killing non- Jews is justified as far as Judaism is concerned.

It is obvious that the Jewish state seems to be pretty confused by the notion of Jewishness. As much as it yearns to celebrate an imaginary phantasmic notion of Jewish  heritage, it invests a lot of effort to conceal the real meaning of what Jewish heritage is in reality.

Hypocrisy of War & Religion

How an Unlikely Group Could Unravel Their Evil Connections…

It’s almost unimaginable but it may be near the end for the U.S. military and quite possibly, the end of war. It is the result of the President’s  recent decision to allow gays to openly serve in the military. Two million men and women in the U.S. military are now being forced to undergo training on how to cope with the new rules.

If gays find a welcoming atmosphere in the military hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of straight men and women might drop out of the service; reserve units could be especially hit hard because this is where a large part if the older segment of the military is found and they are probably far less tolerant of tampering with God’s plan.

Unlike most professions where they can rise to commanding positions, the military was always thought to be off-limits to gays and homosexuals. Of course it never was but that was the popular notion. Thinking along those lines, it was easy to assume that the planning and execution of warfare tactics such as fire-bombing, water-boarding and nuclear strikes required personnel to be of the highest moral character. We all know what that implies. However, there was some basis for the unofficial practice of excluding gays from the military.

Chapter 20 of Leviticus covers all the different forms of immorality that requires the penalty of death, bareness or excommunication from God’s people. —adultery, fornication, homosexuality, incest, sex among relatives, sex with animals, any sexual activity other than between husband and wife.

The passages of Chapter 20 were obviously not considered when this official scheme of integrating gays into the ranks was planned. The biblical scriptures are very specific about war and killing so this action of forcing the military to integrate gays into their ranks may well destroy the finest killing machine the world has ever known. In the books of the three major religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, there are several passages that speak of killing, war and jihad, so it took an unusual disregard for the ultimate authority to issue a counter-command of this magnitude. On to the scriptures:

Hebrew Bible:

“Joshua’s army killed everyone in Jericho, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys,  Joshua defeated the whole land; he left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.” (Joshua 6:21 and 10:40)

Islamic  Qur’an:

Muslim leaders have sometimes threatened to kill unbelievers if they did not accept Islam (Peters). Although Islam spread to some parts of the world like Indonesia mainly by means of “beautiful preaching,” much of its expansion elsewhere was due to offensive war, first by Muhammad to unify Arabia, then by his followers in conquering Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia, parts of India, North Africa, Spain, Turkey and the Balkans.
Qur’an 9:5, “Kill the idolaters wherever you find them,”

Christianity:

Killing unbelievers was actually declared by popes Leo IV and John VIII to be spiritually beneficial for Christian soldiers…No one was immune from attack by Christian crusaders; whole cities were slaughtered. (1)

Historically speaking, the religious precedent for war and killing had been established long ago. Because it takes millions of real men and women to wage global war, the forces might well be decimated by the loss of personnel because of the reaction of the heterosexuals revolting against serving with gays. If the revolt is large enough resignations and retirements could soon flood the Department of Defense. The reality of it all could be the end of the military and thus, the end of war; all because of gays. They will have accomplished in a very short time what the United States has been fighting to win for over two hundred years, everlasting peace and it comes to this: Peace by Homosexuality.  If it  indeed comes to pass what an unremarkable way to end the glory of war and a way of life. One might have expected a grand and global battle to finalize war and secure eternal peace.

But a word of caution to the executive and legislative branches; the whole economy of the United States hangs in balance, indeed our imperial dynasty could be toppled by this incredible phenomenon. It’s unsettling, the elimination of war and all that it means to us as a nation.

Can you imagine?  No more body-bags, dog-tags, snipers, drones, screaming nightmares, civilian causalities or combat boots. Troop ships, jeeps, Hummers and drummers all gone. Military Specifications will be a lost form of measurements and codes. No more use for the Agency for International Development where bright young elite men can serve to direct other young men where to burn villages. Other bastions of war mongering will cease to have importance. The propaganda factories will lose direction and fold. Their directors will  have to join the unemployed since their profession is now a casualty of peace.

Certainly this decision could not have come from a divine message for it is in direct opposition to biblical teachings of the three major religions. A few short years ago, the previous president received a message from God to go to war.(2) Now, a real God would not be that inconsistent. If one subscribes to the belief in God and the scriptures and accepts the fact that God has allowed and/or directed his children to kill each other, probably numbering  more than one hundred million people,  for thousands of years, does it not seem odd that he would suddenly allow Mr. Obama to use the gays in the armed forces issue to bring about the demise of our military and ultimately, to end war?

Surely, for believers, there must be some way to override or ignore this aberration and return to God’s will so the nation can continue the killing, bloodshed, horror and depravations for all the right reasons. And, the most compelling reason of all is self-righteousness.

If however, one rejects the hypocrisy of religion and war and all its inhuman tenets, there might be another option. When secular humanist principles are applied as a way of life the entire human race will be protected and secure in pursuit of their destinies during their short time on this earth. Tags of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political persuasion or tribal membership will mean little. We’re all humans, like it or not. We really have no other choice.

1. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/perry.html
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa

Hollow Christianity

Death to Freedom…

Fought in 1967 the Six-Day War substantially expanded the hegemony of neo-Israel and created a frenzy of excitement among Christians.   During my early Christian years I experienced that consuming fire.  Many of us were recent converts we were high on emotion and personal reward and low on sound theology.  Though He was of Divine origin we thought of Jesus as Jewish and regarded His Jewish brothers and sisters with reverence.  To the elation of a new Christian family and a newly redeemed life our leaders added the expectation that Jesus might soon return. Neo-Israel was an intricate part of this expectation and the recipient of an emotion ridden fanatical support that has helped to vault a narcissistic cadre of elite Zionist Jews into positions of world domination.

They control our media, they control our money, they are dominate in business circles, and will determine the identity of the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate.   Michele Bachman, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee are all fanatical Dispensational supporters of Israel, Mitt Romney is a Mormon, Barber, Giuliani and Gingrich are tired pragmatic politicians who would (and have) sell (or sold) the country down the drain for less than thirty pieces of silver.  All of these power seekers have been to Israel for conferences with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Both Ron Paul and his son, Rand, support Israel. Gingrich, Romney, and Jon Huntsman have condemned Obama for “throwing Israel under the bus”, Gary Johnson has met with Netanyahu and supports Israel and Rick Santorum has called for a holy war.

Please remember, gentle reader, Jews make up about one and a half percent of our population.  Then consider the overwhelming Jewish influence in and around the Obama Administration.

Rahm Emanuel - White House Chief of Staff; son of a Zionist terrorist; dual-citizen of Israel and America (Emanuel served in Israel’s military during the First Gulf War instead of the U.S. military)  Joe Biden – A self-proclaimed Zionist, Biden stated about Iran, “Israel can determine for itself—it’s a sovereign nation—what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.”  Ron Klain – Chief of Staff to the Vice President.  Mona Sutphen – Deputy White House Chief of Staff; 2nd behind Rahm Emanuel.  David Axelrod – Special Adviser to the President.  Tim Geithner – Treasury Secretary, former President of the New York Fed’.  Paul Volcker – Chair of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (and former Chairman of the Fed).  Lawrence (Larry) Summers (Samuelson) – Director of the White House National Economic Council, Wall Street executive, and World Banker… no conflict of interest here, eh?  Jared Bernstein – Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President.  Gary Gensler – Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  Elena Kagan – Solicitor General of the United States, Department of Justice – and Obama’s new Supreme Court Nominee.  Sally Katzen – Major legal adviser to Obama-Biden.  Eric Lander and Harold E. Varmus – Co-Chairs of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science/Technology.  Ellen Moran – White House Director of Communications… which is why we don’t communicate!  Peter Orszag – Director of the Office of Management and Budget.  Penny Pritzker – Obama’s National Finance Chair during election, billionare of the Chicago crime boss family, the Pritzkers.  Robert Reich – Economic adviser to Obama-Biden.  Dennis Ross – Obama’s Ambassador-At-Large in the (entire) Middle East, Obama’s “top envoy” (so a Zionist Jew is in charge of the Arab/Israeli Conflict).  Robert Rubin – Economic adviser to Obama-Biden, former Treasury Secretary, and ultra-greedy Wall Street crook.  Daniel B. Shapiro – Head of the Middle East Desk at the National Security Council (another Jew involved in foreign policy matters involving the Middle East); also a major Washington lobbyist.  Mary Schapiro – Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, served in every Presidential administration since Reagan, also an executive for Duke Energy and Kraft Foods meaning she regulates Wall Street as a Wall Street executive (what ever happened to conflicts of interest?).  Barney Frank - Chairman, United States House Committee on Financial Services.  Phil Schiliro – Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, also Henry Waxman’s long-time Chief of Staff.  Neal Wolin – Deputy Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department.  Lael Brainard – Under Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department.  Richard C. Holbrooke - Special Envoy to Pakistan/Afghanistan.  Stuart Levey - Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.  Jason Furman - Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget.  Jeffrey Zeints -Chief Performance Officer to streamline government and cut costs as well as Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget.  Sheila Bair - Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  Karen Mills - Administrator, Small Business Administration.  Jon Leibowitz - Chairman, Federal Trade Commission.  Douglas H. Shulman -Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Neil M. Barofsky - Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).  James B. Steinberg - Deputy Secretary of State, second in rank only to Hillary Clinton in foreign policy matters.  Jacob Lew - Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, second in rank only to Hillary Clinton in foreign policy matters.  Jeffrey D. - Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (Includes Mideast). Lee Feinstein - Foreign Policy Advisor.  Eric Lynn - Middle East Policy Advisor (again, a Zionist Jew advising on Arab affairs?).  Dennis Ross - Special Advisor for the Gulf (Iran) and Southwest Asia to the Secretary of State.  Steven L. Rattner - Director, Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry .  Kenneth R. Feinberg – Special Master for Compensation, U.S. Treasury Department.  Mara Rudman - Foreign Policy Advisor.  Julius Genachowski - Chair, Federal Communications Commission.  Dr. Margaret Hamburg - Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration.  Dr. Joshua Sharfstein - Deputy Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration.  Susan Sher - Chief of Staff for First Lady Michelle Obama.  Dr. Thomas R. Frieden - Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Neal S. Wolin - Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.  Michael S. Barr – Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions.  David S. Cohen - Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing.  Christina D. Romer (white) – Married to Jewish husband David H. Romer, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.  Douglas W. Elmendorf - Director, Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  Jon D. Leibowitz – Chairman, Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  Sheila C. Bair – Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  John E. Bowman – Director, Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).  Karen G. Mills - Administrator, Small Business Administration (SBA).  Mary L. Schapiro - Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Gary G. Gensler -Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).  Daniel J. Roth – President and Chief Executive Officer, National Futures Association (NFA).  Duncan L. Niederauer - Chief Executive Officer & Director, NYSE Euronext.  Robert Greifeld - Chief Executive Officer, NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. Lloyd C. Blankfein - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.  Robert B. Zoellick – President, The World Bank.  Stephen Roach – Manageing Director and Economist of Morgan Stanley.  Martin Feldstein – Director of American International Group (AIG).  Alan Fishman - CEO of Washington Mutual. George Soros – Major player in all things, Quantum (hedge) Fund. Matthew Kabaker – Deputy Assistant Secretary, Counselor to the Secretary.  Lewis Alexander – Counselor to the Secretary.  Lee Sachs - Counselor to the Secretary.  Jake Siewert - Counselor to the Secretary.  Gene Sperling – Counselor to the Secretary.  Ben Shalom Bernanke – Chairman, Federal Reserve.  Donald L. Kohn - Vice Chairman.  Kevin M. Warsh – Married to Jewish wifeJane Lauder.  Eric S. Rosengren - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  Charles I. Plosser - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.  Jeffrey M. Lacker - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.  James B. Bullard -President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  Gary H. Stern - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.  Thomas M. Hoenig - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.  Richard W. Fisher - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.  Janet L. Yellen - President, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  Economic Czar – Larry Summers. Regulatory Czar – Cass Sunstein.  Pay Czar – Kenneth Feinberg.  Guantanomo/Military Czar – Daniel Fried.  Car Czar -Steven Rattner.  Border Czar - Alan Bersin.  Climate Czar - Todd Stern.  Global Warming Czar - Carol Browner –Socialist International, that advocates “global governance.” Not Jewish, but very supportive of Zionist and communist/socialist ideals —-this is only a partial list.   Read more here.

Dispensationalism has been a heretical bonanza for Zionism.  Hoards of wide-eyed, emotion driven Christians have become fanatical supporters of neo-Israel in spite of the fact that the elite Jews who control it hate Christians and use every opportunity to insult, chide, and marginalize them.  As with many progressive disasters this one started with a false premise.

When the leaders of ancient Israel rejected God’s only Son as propitiation for their chronic disobedience it was an arrogant affront that resulted in the oft-threatened scattering that marked the Diaspora.  Not only did God’s Chosen People refuse to obey Him but they refused to accept the forgiveness He mercifully provided.

“Jesus said to him (Thomas), ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”  John 14:6 Henceforth, the ONLY access to God, The Father, is through The Son, Jesus, The Christ.

The Blood of the Paraclete was willingly shouldered by His rejecters and remains on their shoulders to this day. “And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves’.  And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’”. Matthew 27: 24-25

“For I know the thoughts, that I have thought towards you, saith the Lord, even the thoughts of

peace, and not of trouble, to give you an end, and your hope.  Then shall you cry unto me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hear you, and ye shall seek me, and find me, because ye shall seek me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places, whither

I have cast you, saith the Lord, and will bring you again unto the place, whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” Jeremiah 29:11-14

God promised to gather His people from around the world but the promise was made before the wanton crucifixion of His Only Son.   We are living under a New Covenant; Jesus is King and no one comes to the Father but through Him.  Jews may repent and come to the Father under the Blood of Jesus and some have.  However, Judaism is a defiant religion that cannot receive God’s blessing.

Disobedience cannot be blest because it usurps God’s throne.  It pushes aside the Creator and crowns the creature.  The Old Testament chronicles the blessing (for obedience) and cursing (for disobedience) that filled the history of God’s chosen people.

As a culmination of many mercies the Diaspora was a fulfillment of God’s many threats to divorce and scatter His chosen people.  The rejection of His Son was the final nail in the coffin, following the destruction of the Temple the Jews were scattered throughout the world.  They became a people without a country until a pact between the Rothschild and Balfour families set the stage for the disobedient incursion of hundreds of thousands of Jews into land that under God’s order had been owned and occupied by Arabs for hundreds of years.  The incursion was a humanistic attempt to reverse what God wrought through the Diaspora; an incursion that has resulted in 75 years of strife. It is a human endeavor accomplished by military might for a people who are more disobedient to His Commandments today than they were when He scattered them two thousand years ago.  It bears no resemblance to the quick, miraculous victories that marked the fulfillment of the Will of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We recently visited a missionary friend who is a Charismatic Christian.  With tears in his eyes he told us that his prayers brought a baby back from the dead and healed several afflicted people.  He was adamant about accepting and loving his fellow Christians and offering consistent help to the needy.  It was not a conversation but a lecture on the faithfulness of God to a servant willing to minister to the poor and needy with faith and persistence

Nevertheless, I left the meeting with a heavy heart because my concerns with God’s judgment resulting from the lack fruit from the Body of Christ were never addressed.  Our conversation began when I outlined my Christian walk through the Charismatic Movement into Reformed Christianity and Christian Reconstruction.  I explained the unreliability of the emotionalism that typifies pietism but the statement was never acknowledged.  Since I was the only one who asked questions I became a listener and was never able to point out that the quest for human healing centers attention on the creature.  It is a humanistic endeavor that can glorify God but usually glorifies the human instrument.  Nor was I able to point out that healing is a genuine product of faith in God but it is neither the major theme of His Word nor the major desire of His heart – that is obedience.

It was disobedience that required God to sacrifice His only Son and it is disobedience that is the cause of our current dilemma.  If you are a Dispensational Christian you may think that you “made a decision for Christ” but that is not the case. Jesus said that no man could become a Christian unless The Father chose him and drew him. John 6:44  God always does the choosing (check the Bible) and He expects that those whom He chooses will obey His Commandments.  Jews were chosen and rebelled, then Christians were chosen and they rebelled, both resisted obedience.

It is a sad irony that rebellious Dispensational Christians in America are falling under the captivity of God’s original, still rejected, defiant people, the Jews.

Recently Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Prime Minister, spoke before a joint session of congress where he received 29 standing (sycophantic) ovations.  Israel controls the United States. Not a single United States remained seated for each understood that criticism of Israel is death to an American political career.

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