File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9709, message 253


From: lftmnsch-AT-istar.ca
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 22:51:48 -0700
Subject: M-I: zionism & the holocaust (in reply to gay)


Gay Harley wrote:

>I question:
>Why are Jewish people of
>the world being held more accountable for the crimes of a single
>state than any other racial/ethnic group?

The overwhelming majority of American Jewish organizations
passionately support Israel - be it in regard to the apartheid-like
structure of Israeli rule, or the state's drive to exert its hegemony over
the Middle East.
By and large, they operate on the following principles: Israel can do no
wrong and any attempt to find fault with Israel's actions are motivated by
antisemitism.

As these principles mesh with US interests in the region, Jewish
organizations have been able to take a leading role in sanitizing public
discourse about the country by suppressing information which would in any
way tarnish Israel's image.  In terms of fanatic dedication to Israel,
they exceed the chauvinism of most Israeli Jews. Remember that these
organizations don't admit non-Jews in their ranks and draw social and
political power from that fact.

Note: we are talking about Jewish *organizations* - not Louis Godena's
"The Jew".  Jewish organizations have *chosen* to defend Israel. .This is a
totally different situation than the one you sketched in regard to Quebec
and French nuclear tests.

In order to find a Canadian analogy to the Zionist colonization of
Palestine, it would make much more sense to look to the war waged by
European settlers against the First Nations. A process - not a single
event.

*

>Now, I am clearly ignorant of something in American politics. My
>simplistic view of Israel exists in a framework of American
>foreign policy slash oil politics. How does this connect to
>ordinary Jewish people who happen to live in the U.S.?

There are some five or six million Jews in North America, and approximately
half of them are not affiliated to Jewish organizations (though these
organizations claim to speak on their behalf). Unaffiliated Jews are not
any more or any less responsible for Israeli atrocities than non-Jews. To
argue that they have some special responsibility is indeed antisemitic.

That said, pro-Zionist Jewish organizations in North America have worked
hard to promote Israeli apartheid as democratic rule and justify Israeli
war crimes as self-defence. This fits in well with US State Department 's
designs for the Middle East.

Were US strategic interests in the M.E.  to shift, North American Jewish
organizations would not be able to sustain their hysterical level of
support for Israel. In the meantime, however, they have taken the lead in
maintaining a sanitized image of  Israel by suppressing opposing views,
particularly those of Palestinians.

*

>I am truly puzzled ... not trying to score debating points.

Zionism and antisemetism have shared  many assumptions,  first and
foremost, that the Jews had no place in Europe.  In the wake of WWII, the
Zionist movement  cynically exploited the destruction of European Jewry as
justification for Zionism,  decontextualizing the  Holocaust  from the
long-term historical processes in which it occurred.

Prioritizing the Zionist interpretation of the Holocaust is a common
practice of pro-Israeli ideologues. Due to the fact that the mass murder of
European Jews and Gypsies leaves so many speechless, the Zionist
interpretation of the Holocaust has not met with much opposition. For it is
impossible to begin to understand the events that took place in Europe
during World War II without coming to grips with the genocidal foundations
of European civilization.


--luftmensch




     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005