This
letter was my response to a Jewish friend (supporter of Palestine), who
got upset upon hearing severe criticism, disdain and sarcasm against
“Israel” and “Israelis”
He
felt that people as they criticise “Israel” should not forget the
“humanity” of “Israelis”, he also felt that this was a typical behaviour
of anti Semitism which caused him to feel angry and frightened
About anti Semitism
Talking
about anti-Semitism, and the accusation of anti-Semitism, is to many
people a very sensitive issue, nevertheless, I feel the need to
highlight some points:
As
a Palestinian and as a Muslim, with first hand experience of racism,
whether here in UK or in occupied Palestine, I do understand what it
means to be subjugated to it; thus, I deeply empathise with those who
suffer from the menace of racism and discrimination, those who are
abused verbally, physically, emotionally, or otherwise for no other
reason than the fact that they are “different”
And
I also do understand the awful feeling and dreadful sensation of being
subjugated to subtle racist looks or remarks, only felt by you and not
the people around you
However,
I do see a huge difference between a racist remark directed at a person
or a group for their beliefs, race, or whatever that which makes them
different, and between a snarl, a sneer or sarcasm against an occupying criminal entity called “Israel” and its people, for their CRIMES
One
must not fail to distinguish between the rage and fury caused by
watching helplessly for decades the grim unstoppable crimes go
unpunished year after year, and the racist blind hatred that might still
exist among a tiny minority who, by nature, would be hating anything
and anyone who is different anyway
Furthermore,
this occupying entity called “Israel” (a word that I myself detest to
even pronounce and generally avoid to use) is not a theoretical being,
nor does it operate in a vacuum; it’s neither an abstract concept nor a
conjectural void
It’s an entity run by PEOPLE
PEOPLE who make decisions,
PEOPLE who elect politicians
PEOPLE who ALL serve in a barbaric army
PEOPLE who foster racist beliefs, attitudes and actions
PEOPLE who invaded others’ land, dispossessed them, and forcibly occupied it
PEOPLE who imprison children and shoot babies hearts
PEOPLE who destroy world heritage
PEOPLE who steal water, land, sea and sky
PEOPLE who kill hope, life, beauty and smiles
PEOPLE who build their colonies on the blood and ruins of another people
It is an entity of PEOPLE, 94% of whom voted for the attack on Gaza
It is an entity of PEOPLE, 71% of whom want U.S. to strike Iran
It is an entity of PEOPLE who violated and assaulted ALL neighbouring countries
It is an entity of PEOPLE who live on a STOLEN
land for over six decades, with no signs of shame, remorse, awakening
of conscience, or willingness to neither admit nor right the wrongs
they’ve committed
Every normal person with some compassion, would make a grimace of disgust and revulsion when hearing about such an entity or such a people who commit such despicable horrors
Now,
I find it difficult to be persuaded that such a reaction to such
horrific crimes -when hearing the name “Israel” or “Israeli”- is an act
of racism (anti-Semitism)
On
another note; we – Palestinians- do not have any responsibility
whatsoever for the crime of the holocaust, nor do we carry the burden of
European racism against Jewish people
Furthermore,
I do not see a difference between any kind of racism including racism
directed against Jewish people known as anti-Semitism. If we accept
racism against Jewish people as being different, then it implies that we
accept the racist absurdity of “Jewish exceptionalism”. Racism is
racism, many causes same consequences
Thus,
I do not see the suffering of Jewish people (horrible as it was) as a
unique kind of suffering which must be revered and viewed as essentially
and fundamentally different from other human suffering; the same way
that I do not see our suffering as Palestinians as unique or different
from any other
Questions come pounding:
Why is it that we –Palestinians- are constantly reminded of the horrors of the holocaust, when we had nothing to do with it?
Why
is it that we Palestinians, are to suffer the same fate as the victims
of the holocaust by the hands of those who brag worldwide to act for
“never again”?
Why
would the UN want to enforce the study of the history of our oppressors
and occupiers -holocaust- upon our children who are languishing in
refugee camps –who themselves along with their parents, and grandparents
were victims of ethnic cleansing, planed and executed by those whom they are supposed to feel sympathy with?
Why is it that we are persistently bogged down by the fixation on anti-Semitism, while for sixty years (a century rather),
we are the ones who are relentlessly suffering from a most vile evil
racism (ethnic cleansing gradually becoming a form of “final solution”)
perpetrated by a whole population of racist zionists?
(with
all honesty, I must tell you that some times I imagine it would’ve been
easier and less painful to us to be gassed and killed immediately
rather than this policy of excruciating slow death that we have been
going through for over a century)
How
could the world keep asking us to recognise the “humanity” of a
settler, who comes with his wife and children armed to his teeth, and at
gun point evicts a Palestinian family, throws their entire belongings
out, and moves in?
What kind of “humanity” is this?
And
most importantly, why is it that we are continuously been asked to feel
compassion towards our tormenters who relentlessly murder and humiliate
us, who attempt to annihilate us and our history and why, to what
purpose, are we asked to feel their “humanity”, while their knife still piercing deep in our hearts?
Finally,
I cannot speak on behalf of all the Palestinians, but as for myself, I
must admit, the recent assault on Gaza was the last straw that broke the
camel’s back; before that, I used to think that there is hope, those
PEOPLE would wake up to their “humanity” one day, and regret the evil
that they’ve done, unfortunately, the more I see of them, the more I
realise that this hope and dream was an illusion
Over
the past few years, I have been reading and debating with many of those
“soft” zionists in the so called “peace camps”, all I found is an
extremely arrogant groups of people, who are incapable of recognising,
admitting, or willing to rectify the crimes they’ve done.
They are only interested in “peace” to protect their interests and to further secure their grip hold on the stolen land
Moreover,
very recently, and by sheer accident, I stumbled upon some honorific
information that reveals the severity of decay of morality and lack of
humanity amongst those RACIST zionists - whose ideological bigotry and chauvinism surpasses
all other- that left me in a state of shock for days; crying, shaking,
suffocating with palpitations and suffering from severe panic attacks.
Undoubtedly,
the world community should leave it to the victims to decide how to
deal with those criminals in the future. Only the victims can
investigate the fragile alleys of forgiveness or punishment. The victims
should have the last say irrespective of what their judgment might be,
they should not be vilified, indicted or moralized with, for they have
suffered more than enough
The emergence of forgiveness and reconciliation requires certain conditions:
1) Stopping the crime
2) Admitting of guilt
3) Asking for pardon
4) And rectifying the wrong
None of these conditions are ever considered as an option amongst that mighty sick racist zionist society
As
for me, I have no authority to talk in the name of all Palestinians,
but I can state with all honesty, I DO NOT wish the zionist murderers,
those of whom were directly or indirectly involved in massacres, theft
of land, subjugation and oppression, to remain in Palestine after its
liberation from the occupier. –except of course for the very few good
people amongst them, as no soul should carry the liability of another- I
do not wish the invader, occupier and criminal racists to stay in
Palestine, the land that they incessantly raped, destroyed and
disfigured, nor do I desire them to be my neighbours
They have shown no respect, no appreciation, and no love to this land or to her people
They do not deserve to live there
But these are only my own feelings, and I know that the decision is not mine.
More on anti Semitism
There are some more points that I would like to draw attention to:
1) “Israel” calls itself a Jewish state,
and claims to be acting for all Jewish people, by Jewish people. It is
still enjoying the moral and financial support of the majority of Jewish
communities world wide. The absence of a huge uproar of denunciation
and disassociation by the majority of world Jewry, makes it hard
for people not to blame zionist Jews who live outside occupied Palestine
for their guilt of complicity, active alliance or passive complacency
by either silence or aiding and sustaining the criminals
2)
“Israel” still enjoys the protection of the “Security Council” with its
US vetoes on any UN resolution sanctioning “Israel’s” endless list of
ongoing crimes and infractions of international law, and the "Israeli"
criminals still roam with impunity, free from prosecution by any
jurisdiction . This intolerable situation inevitably foments further
rage and fury against the double standard and special treatment granted
to the “Jewish” state
3) The excessive use of the term “anti Semitism”:
a) by zionist Jews, accusing all non zionist
b) by soft zionists Jews, accusing anti zionists Jews
c)
by anti zionists Jews, accusing fellow anti zionists Jews and also non
Jews of anti-Semitism as soon as they dare to examine Judaism with
critical eye, criticising some aspects of it, some beliefs, attitudes or
behaviours
All
this has participated in creating a sense of repression of freedom of
expression, and undoubtedly also a sense of being subjected to what
feels like intimidation and thought control
It
has also diluted the meaning of the word Anti-Semitism, making it
practically devoid of any signification. It is now used ad nauseam, ad
absurdum, reduced to a simple rhetorical trick, slapped in the face of
anything and anyone, as soon as there is the slightest inspection of
facts. The word has lost its effectiveness to expose a form of racism, I
am afraid. The more we hear it used inappropriately, the more
indifference its further future usage will raise. Worse, it may even
-God forbid- contribute to a form of blow-back ...the story of the boy
who cried wolf is only too familiar
So,
a sincere advice from a heart that cares, to all my Jewish friends who
are really interested in preventing the re-emergence of real “anti
Semitism”, and to those “Israelis” with some humanity left; I would say:
1) Instead of wasting time searching for the "humanity" within "Israeli" criminals, focus your energy on fighting and revealing “Israeli” crimes and exposing its inhumanity
2) Disassociate your selves completely from such an entity and proclaim this annulment loud and clear
3)
Let go of the idea that anti Semitism is a “special” case of racism;
treat all racism with the same degree of unambiguous condemnation
4)
Try to look at the situation from the standpoint of non Jewish people,
who will not accept or understand the insistence on the uniqueness
of the Jewish suffering, whereas the world has seen since the end of
WW2 the massacres of millions and millions of non Jews. The world is now
inflamed by hatred against Muslims, not against Jews.
5) With love in my heart, with sincere and pure feelings, I would appeal to you to look inwards and search for reasons, as to why you feel that the world should accept racism against you as somehow worse or different, and as to why
you feel that your suffering is unique and unlike others’ , because
this is not how the world sees it. All suffering has the same value to
those who go through it, and all racism has the same consequences and
must be ostracized with the same ferociousness
6)
Those of us who are involved in the support of Palestinian cause are
inevitably going to be accused of anti Semitism, that does not make us
in any shape or form anti-Semites, for
we know very well that we are not; hence, false labels, and bogus
allegations should not frighten or deter us, distract us or hinder our
determination of doing what we think is right
7)
And finally, please, do not freak out when people point out to certain
aspects of Judaism and the Jewish culture that they might not like or
find incompatible with humanity, equality, or fairness, after all
assessment and criticism have always been accepted by other religions,
belief-systems and cultures, and this is what freedom of thought and
freedom of speech are all about, people have the right to look at
different ideologies, scrutinize them, criticise them and sieve out what
appears to be hindering the human moral development, as long as all
this is done in a non offensive manner, without slander or abuse, but
rather in a respectful, academic, genuine and good-intentional search
for truth
PS:
I
know that what I have said might appear too strong, unfamiliar, or
painful to hear, but I can only speak of what’s in my heart, as I
believe that only through openness and honesty that trust can be built
We have a saying in Arabic; “sadeequka man sadaqak, wassaddaqak”
صديقك من صدَقك و صدّقك
“Your true friend is that who is honest with you and who believes you”
Arabic word for honesty: sidq
And for friend: sadeeq
Both friend and honesty share the same root: sa-da-qa= told the truth
My love as always
nahida
I and my friends in Swedan are with you all the way ...
Peace
Lasse Wilhelmson
we are with you Nahida from here in India
On behalf of Nahida and all Up's editors, I would like to thank you for your support.
Palestine is not Gaza and West bank. It's mainly the Millions of exciled Palestinians uptooted drom thier Homeland.
Uprooted
RedRover
USA
jee syllabus