Anti-Semitic, Who Us?

I hate Zionists, nor Jews. It's anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism:

* A Chicago Jewish day school received a bomb threat.
* A molotov cocktail was thrown at a Chicago synagogue.
* Hand-made posters in support of Hamas were placed on two synagogues in Irvine, California.

None of these places are Israeli. And yet, somehow, they're all being attacked as if they were connected to Israel. Why is that?

Hmmm... Let's think:

Officials say they don't know if there's a link between the incident and increased violence in the Middle East.

Right. They don't know. They can't figure out why people will attack Jewish schools and religious institutions when they're angry with Israel, the Jewish State. But again, it isn't anti-Zionism. It's anti-Semitism.

Anti-Zionism has become the most dangerous and effective form of anti- Semitism in our time, through its systematic delegitimization, defamation, and demonization of Israel. Although not a priori anti-Semitic, the calls to dismantle the Jewish state, whether they come from Muslims, the Left, or the radical Right, increasingly rely on an anti-Semitic stereotypization of classic themes, such as the manipulative "Jewish lobby," the Jewish/Zionist "world conspiracy," and Jewish/Israeli "warmongers."

One major driving force of this anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism is the transformation of the Palestinian cause into a "holy war"; another source is anti-Americanism linked with fundamentalist Islamism. In the current context, classic conspiracy theories, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, are enjoying a spectacular revival.

The common denominator of the new anti-Zionism has been the systematic effort to criminalize Israeli and Jewish behavior, so as to place it beyond the pale of civilized and acceptable conduct.

Indeed, Israel is today the only state on the face of this planet that such a large number of disparate people wish to see disappear - itself a chilling reminder of the Nazi propaganda of the 1930s. The most virulent expressions of this "exterminationist" or genocidal anti-Zionism have come from the Arab-Muslim world, which is the historical heir of the earlier 20th-century forms of totalitarian anti-Semitism in Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union. Even "moderate" Muslim statesmen such as Mahathir Mohammad have publicly repeated the classic anti-Semitic belief that "Jews rule the world" while eliciting virtually no objections in the Islamic world. The more radical Islamists from Al-Qaida to the Palestinian Hamas go much further since they fuse indiscriminate terror, suicide bombings, and a Protocols of Zion style of anti-Semitism with the ideology of jihad. In this case, the socalled "war against Zionism" unmistakably embraces the total demonization of the "Jewish other":

As the "enemy of mankind," as deadly poisonous snakes, as barbarian "Nazis" and "Holocaust manipulators" who control international finance, not to mention America, or the Western mass media, while they busily instigate wars and revolutions to achieve world domination.

Such conspiracy theories sailing under "anti-Zionist" colors constitute a highly toxic, even murderous worldview that today is linked to religious fanaticism and a worldwide revolutionary agenda. The same demonizing stereotypes can, however, be found in moderate pro-Western Egypt (home to the Protocols based anti-Semitic soap opera Rider without a Horse), secular Baathist Syria, conservative Wahhabite Saudi Arabia, and the Shiite fundamentalist Iran of the ayatollahs. This is an ideological anti-Zionism that seeks both the annihilation of Israel and a world "liberated from the Jews" - in other words, it is a totalist form of anti-Semitism.

Palestinian suffering and Arab "anti-Zionism" have helped to infect Europe with an old-new version of anti-Semitism in which Jews are rapacious, bloodsucking colonialists. The theme is that Jews were rootless, imperialist invaders who came to Palestine to conquer the land by brute force, to expel or "cleanse" it of its natives. They are the modern "Crusaders" with no legitimate rights to the soil - an alien transplant, absolutely foreign to the region. They succeeded only because of a gigantic occult conspiracy in which the Zionists (the Jews) manipulated Great Britain and subsequently America. This is a typically anti-Semitic narrative of which Hitler might have approved - widely believed around the world, even credited by millions of educated people in the West. The popularity of the Protocols today is the one telling symptom of the growing merger between anti-Semitism and "anti-Zionism".

Zionism is increasingly depicted in some mainstream media as being "criminal" in its essence as well as its behavior.

Zionism, the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained. The term “Zionism” was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum.

Jews, Judaism & Anti-Semitism

Jew! - Epithet with a Pedigree

This Jew Page
This Jew page is not intended to give a thorough explanation of the origins and history of the Jews, our nation or the Jewish faith. It is here to counteract hate materials about Jews that abound on the Internet, but it is not joke or filibuster. This is the truth about Jews.

Who is a Jew?
Jews are members or descendants of members of the Jewish faith or the Jewish people, that had a kingdom in ancient Judea and Israel and were then called Hebrews, Judeans or children of Israel (Bnei Yisrael). Jewish orthodox religious law recognizes anyone whose mother is Jewish as a Jew. Reform Jews also recognize as Jewish anyone whose father was a Jew. Israeli Law of Return recognizes anyone who had at least one Jewish grandparent, and who has not converted to a different faith, as a Jew. Non-Jews often use a much looser definition, so that even Jews who are are descendants of converts, like Karl Marx, or Benjamin Disraeli may be called a "Jew." The Nazi regime used a pseudo-scientific criterion of racial descent, so that a Jew with one Jewish parent was a "half Jew," a Jew with a Jewish grandparent was an eighth Jew.

A Jew may thus be a person, who believes in the Jewish faith, a person who identifies themselves as a member of the Jewish people, or a person defined by others as a Jew, or all any of the above in combination. Members of the Jewish faith believe that there is one God, who is omnipotent and indivisible, and with whom the Jews have a covenant, a special relationship of ethical and moral obligations and of protection. Jews do not allow any images of their God. The foundations of the Jewish faith are given in the The Old Testament Bible and in the later law books, particularly the Mishna, the Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch.

Origin of the word 'Jew'
The word Jew first appears in Middle English about 1000 A.C.E. and is probably derived from similar forms in Old French, such as giu and juieu. These in turn are probably from the Latin "Judeaus" which is the Latin form of the Hebrew word "Yehuda" - Judah, which was the name of one of the Jewish tribes and of the ancient Jewish kingdom. The word "Jew" or similar words, are used in many European languages, often as pejoratives. Thus, the more polite Russian word for "Jew" is evrei, while Zhid is the word used by Jew haters.

Becoming a Jew
The Jewish religion does not, as a rule, actively seek converts, but it is possible for a non-Jew to become a Jew -- convert to Judaism -- either following the stricter Orthodox rules, or the more lenient courses of study and preparation followed by Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism. If you are curious about conversion, further information is at Converting to Judaism.

Jew Hate
The many meanings and overtones of the word "Jew" in English betray the history of racism and prejudice that has beset the Jewish people for about 2,000 years. "Don't Jew me down" and "Don't be such a Jew" are linguistic legacies that attest to the attitudes and the facts about Jew hate, not about Jews.

The Jew has been considered the epitome of evil in Western society for over 2,000 years. Anti-Semitism, the term used for Jew hate, was coined in the 19th century, but Jew hate originated before Christianity. Pagan authors insisted that the Jews worshipped a golden donkey in the temple. This myth was repeated by Tacitus. The fathers of the Christian church spread rumors that Jews engaged in cannibalism. One of these was quoted by Edward Gibbon in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Jew-Hate has periodically erupted in violence, expulsions and religious persecution. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem in the time of the Romans, they were expelled from Spain several times, they were expelled from medieval Britain. During the rusades, the Jews of several German towns were murdered, and the Crusaders expelled the Jews from Jerusalem. Jews were treated better in Muslim countries, but they also underwent periodic persecution and forced conversions. As Arab and Muslim society declined, the position of the Jew declined in Muslim society. In the nineteenth century, many observers reported that it is customary for Muslim children to throw rocks at Jews. (see Jews in Arab Lands ).

In medieval Europe and until the 19th century in fact, Jews were confined to ghettos and the occupations permitted to them were often restricted. Forced religious conversions were frequent. The "ghetto Jew" became a standard stereotype. The Shakespearean play, "The Merchant of Venice," immortalized the European stereotype of the Jew as a crafty and evil money lender.

Emancipation freed the Jew from the ghetto, but the Jew soon found his way barred in many areas of modern society: clubs, universities and professions were often closed to Jews, or had a quota for Jews. In modern times, Jew hatred was exacerbated by the rise of nationalism. The Czarist Russian government forced Jews to live in a pale of settlement. Czarist secret police helped to incite massacres of Jews in the nineteenth century, called Pogroms.

In the early twentieth century Jew hate was rife in most of Europe. Western culture took stereotypes of Jew hate for granted. The novels of Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the Jew as crafty, pushy and dishonest. In his youthful diary, Somerset Maugham described the Jew as crafty, dishonest and ugly, and "Jewesses" as sexy and promiscuous.

In France, the Jew Alfred Dreyfus was disgraced, dismissed from the French army and banished to exile on a false espionage charge at the end of the nineteenth century. The Jew became the target of numerous right wing groups in Central and Eastern Europe. European Jew hate culminated in the Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazi regime in Germany, in which six million Jews were murdered. The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Germans, but they were eagerly assisted by Jew haters in the territories they occupied, and by the fact that almost no country in the world was willing to take in Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.

The Holocaust also spawned a new Jew hate libel, Holocaust denial: the perverse claim that Jews fabricated the story of the Holocaust.. Anti-Semites variously refer to the "Holocaust Myth," and "Holocaust Hoax." Massive documentation, confessions of war criminals, accounts of survivors, physical evidence of the gas chambers, documentary records, population statistics, crematoria and death camps are all dismissed as "inventions" by Holocaust deniers.

Following the Holocaust, outright Jew hate became less fashionable in the West, and therefore the same product is often served up in the guise of "anti-Zionism." In the USSR, the Jew was attacked as a "rootless cosmopolitan," and "Zionist" was used consistently as a substitute for "Jew." The Soviets invented an anti-Semitic "science" of Zionology. This practice spread, so that myths of Zionist control of the world substituted in many places for myths of Jewish control.

However, in the Arab world some Jew haters are more honest, and use the Jew word unabashedly. For example, in Al Ahram, Khaled Amayreh recently quoted a Palestinian official as saying of German Chancellor Angela Merkel : "This woman, like all German leaders since [Konrad] Adenauer, feels enslaved by the Jews." Al-Ahram also reported that Jimmy Carter lashed out against "the Jews" at an award ceremony.

Copies of the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Hitler's Mein Kampf, Henry Ford's International Jew, and other hateful works, many produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, continue to circulate, especially in the Arab world. These and other books perpetuate Jew hate, and harp on the following classic themes:

Jews are all powerful.

Jews are taught by the Talmud to be deceitful, to hate non-Jews and to plot the conquest of the world.

Jews practice ritual murder of Christians. This is called the blood libel. It was condemned by some popes but affirmed by others (See Papal Bulls about Jews). Even today there are groups and Web sites that support the cults of child "saints" like Andreas of Rinn and Simon of Trent allegedly murdered in fictitious Jewish rituals. The blood libel is widely believed in the Arab world and supported by a popular book by Moustapha Tlass, former Defense Minister of Syria.

Jews start all the wars, including World War I, World War II, the Iraq War and the French Revolution.

The Jews have secret lore, including hidden plots against Christians, revealed in a "secret" book called the Hesronot Shas, which only Jews are allowed to read.

There is a powerful Jewish conspiracy, the Elders of Zion, that is plotting to take over the world.

Jews bake Matzot or Purim pastries from the blood of Christian children. This medieval accusation appeared in a Saudi Arabian journal not long ago.

"The Jews" are responsible for World War I, World War II, the Russian Revolution and the French Revolution. These accusations recur in various places, including the charter of the Hamas movement.

Jews invented the Holocaust, in order to gain concessions from the world, and in particular, to get a Jewish state.

There are No Jews
A novel form of Jew Hatred has been invented by a Jew. We shall call it Jew denial. Shlomo Zand, a professor of French history, insists that Jews are all impostors and not descended from the ancient Jews. Jews, according to Zand, were never exiled from Roman Palestine, and all those people in the Diaspora were converts. The "real" Jews of ancient times are the Arabs of Palestine. Hitler killed the wrong people, it seems. More about Zand and his ideas: Jewish people: Do we exist?

Jew Pig
Medieval and renaissance churches in Germany and a few other places in Europe are decorated with a common motif called the Judensau - Jew Pig or Jews Pig. This shows Jews performing various indecent acts with pigs. A particularly odious one was reproduced in a book published in Frankfurt Am Main in the 18th century. It shows Jews copulating with a pig and suckling it, while a goat copulates with a Jewess and the Devil looks on. The top panel represents the blood libel. showing the child "martyr" Simon of Trent.

Jew Gold
Jew Gold is a superstition that may have originated with the satirical animated show, South Park. The claim is that Jews have a bag of gold that they wear around their necks, or perhaps that Jews wear one fake bag that is fairly visible and contains only rocks and a different one that is real and concealed and contains the gold. Unfortunately, the "joke" is believed in one form or another by many people, such as for example, a Dr. William Pierce who wrote about it here: natvan.com/free-speech/fs987c.html. You can see the clip of the Jew Gold episode from Southpark here

Jew on the Internet
Although Google and other search engines do not feature the Jew hate Web sites as prominently as they once did, it is still very easy to find anti-Semitic propaganda on the Web. Some of these sites are returned for keyword "Zionism." Some of the principle purveyors of racism today include these Web sites among others:

* jewwatch.com/ - Features Jewish conspiracies, Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Henry Ford's "International Jew," Zionist Occupied Government (see ZOG). Claims that Leon Trotsky was a Zionist, a claim that might surprise a lot of Trotskyites. This site was once returned by Google as number 1 for keyword "Jew." It now seems to be listed only for its main page domain name.

* biblebelievers.org.au - Protocols of the Elders of Zion and similar materials.

* serendipity.li/zionism.htm - Portrays "Zionism" as a "pernicious" conspiracy precisely the way Judaism is described by anti-Semites. Google returns this site as number 3 currently when people search for "Zionism."

* stormfront.org - American Nazi Party.

* ziopedia.org - An up and coming Australian anti- "Zionist" Web site that features standard anti-Semitic shibboleths. At one point the owner threatened to close the site for lack of funds. It seems that this problem was quickly remedied by eager donors.

* rense.com - Claims to be anti-"Zionist." Features links to the defunct ABBC.COM Web site. Sample material:
Zionists Made A Deal With The Devil
Accepting The 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'
radioislam.org - Features Jew-Hate and Jew Hate disguised as anti-Zionism.

* ihr.org/ - Holocaust Denial.

* jewscontrol.com/ - Charges that Jews control the media, the government etc.

* zundel.org - Web site of an infamous Holocaust denier

* zundelsite.org/english/101/101toc.html - features the "Holocaust Myth".

www.natall.com is prominently featured in search engines for keyword "Holocaust Hoax"

Note - if you write about these sites on the Web, please do not link to them, as that will increase their popularity in search engines.

And of course there was the Iran Holocaust Contest - a virtual event that may be a preparation for the real thing.

Jews, Zionism and the Talmud
The Talmud is the oral exegesis of Jewish law. Anti-Semites claim that the Talmud teaches hatred of gentiles, and that it is the basis of Zionism. However, the "gentiles" of the Talmud were pagans and not monotheists, and the claims often cite non-existent books of the Talmud such as "Libbre David" invented by anti-Semites. The claim that Zionism originated in the Talmud, is absurd. Many of the founders of Zionism, including Theodore Herzl, were not religious Jews and did not follow the Talmud. There are several non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish sects, such as the Neturei Karta and the Satmar Hassidim (originating in the Transylvanian town of Satu Mare) (see also Jews against Zionism). All of them follow Talmudic law, and include many Talmudic scholars. None of them are Zionists. The same Web sites that claim that the Talmud is the basis of Zionism often proudly link to Neturei Karta and Jews against Zionism Web sites, which explain why, in their view, the Talmud forbids Zionism!

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a document fabricated by the Czarist Okhrana secret police in the nineteenth century. It claims that the Jews plan to take over the world in conjunction with the Freemasons. The document was apparently concocted by plagiarizing from an 1864 non-anti-Semitic satire by Maurice Joly, about Louis Napoleon, and from an 1868 anti-Semitic novel by one Hermann Goedche written in 1868. In 1921, the New York Times revealed the protocols as a hoax, based on a book by Lucien Wolfe published in London, on research by Alan Dulles and information supplied by an anti-Semitic Russian emigre. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are sometimes entitled "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion."

A version of the document and elaborations on the theme of the "International Jew" were published by Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent newspaper in a series of articles in the 1920s. Ford had printed 500,000 copies of the Protocols, but he later retracted and apologized. Nonetheless, racists cite Ford as an "authority" for the authenticity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion have been translated into many languages including Arabic, and regrettably enjoy a wide readership in Arab countries. The Hamas Charter assumes that they are factual.

Further reading about Protocols of the Elders of Zion
In addition to our own article about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, you may be interested in these sources: Wikipedia - Protocols of the Elders of Zion Christian Action: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (quotes Ford's repudiation) The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Anti-Semitic Conspiracism The Protocols of the Elders of Zion among Palestinians. A Web site that give the texts of protocols are biblebelievers.org.au/przion1.htm which calls it the "Zionist" plan for conquest. This site - biblebelievers.org.au/intern_jew.htm publicizes the "International Jew" articles of Henry Ford. This page documents Egyptian publicity for a television series based on the: Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This article by an Egyptian comments on the TV Series: "Knight without a Horse" that dramatized the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

More about the above at Jew, Talmud Zionism - sense and nonsense about the Jewish religion.

The image of the Jew
First, some pictures of actual Jew-Zionists. We come in all shapes, colors and sizes.

Anti-Semitism: Image of the Jew in the Arab world and Pro-Palestinian Groups
Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism, or Jew hate. Arab world propaganda prominently features Jew hate, and anti-Semitism is regrettably a permanent feature of Arab world rhetoric (see Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism - A Study) . Honest supporters of the Palestinian cause condemn anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, but anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are in fact mingled freely with "criticism of Israel" in Arab propaganda and in Web sites like Rense.com, serendipity.li and the IHR Holocaust denier's Web site. Recently a pro-Palestinian movement (ISM in Britain) failed to pass resolutions condemning anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism in US Policy - "The Jews" control the government
The idea that the "Israel Lobby" controls the United States is not new. Though it is now popularized by Jimmy Carter, it was already a pillar of attitudes to Israel in 1967, on the eve of the Six Day War, as revealed in recently declassified documents. Actually, US policy at the time was probably more influenced by the pro-Arab Aramco lobby, which pressured the government, apparently successfully, to renege on its commitments to support Israeli rights to navigation in the Straits of Tiran. In Britain popular journals recently pictured the Jews taking over Europe, but a reformed terrorist revealed that actually, British authorities had made a deal with Islamist terrorists to allow them to operate freely, so long as they do not perpetrate acts of terror in Britain.

Famous Jews
Attention Jew Haters. Here are some famous Jews to hate:

* Jesus of Nazereth - "King of the Jews"
* Mary - Jewish Mother of Jesus
* Joseph - Jewish father of Jesus
* John the Baptist - Just "another" Jew.

Remember that, Mr. Mel Gibson and Biblebelievers. Since someone wrote and asked if Jesus was really a Jew, we should emphasize that indeed he was a Jew, born of a Jewish mother and therefore Jewish by Halachic law even today. This must be true according to Christian belief as well as historically, since Christians believe that Jesus is a descendant of King David.

Jesus celebrated the Passover holiday with his disciples before the Roman authorities crucified him. That was "The last supper."

Jesus said He was a Jew and was very proud of it:
John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Jesus said "we." It was not an accident.

A few more "evil" Jews in modern times:
* Albert Einstein - Famous Jew-Zionist.
* Jonas Salk - Inventor of the polio vaccine - a Jew.
* Albert Sabin - Inventor of the oral polio vaccine - a Jew.
* Edwin Land - Inventor of the Polaroid Camera - a Jew.
* Carl Sagan - Astronomer, Author - a Jew.
* Norbert Wiener - Invented Cybernetics - a Jew. .....

There are hundreds and hundreds of these people and you hate all of them. Too bad for you! Too bad for Hitler, who forced all the Jewish or part-Jewish scientists in Europe to flee - these included, among many stars - Albert Einstein, Lisa Meitner, Max Born and a host of others. This was a great blow to the Nazi war effort, and fortunate for the allies. Among those forced to flee was Fritz Haber, a Jew who originally had the delusion he could be a German. Haber's work was crucial to the German war effort in World War I. He had haughtily turned down all requests to back Zionism, as he was a proud German, but in the end, stripped of his honors, his position in the university and in society, he had to admit, too late, that the Zionists were right.

See also Jewish Scientists and Philosophers Jewish Nobel Prize Winners

Humor about Jew hate

Uncyclopedia: Jew

My Favorite Jew Jokes:
Ikey is reading a newspaper on a park bench. His friend Mo sees him and says:

"Ikey, why are you reading that anti-Semitic newspaper?"

"Mo, I like to read good things about the Jews."

"Good things?"

"Certainly. It says right here that we Jews control the banks, Jews control the newspapers, Jews control the government and all Jews are rich. So what could be bad?"

It's 1932. Ikey and Morris the Jews haven't had work in a year. They are hungry. They see a sign on a church,

"Converts to the Catholic Faith get $100.

$$$ One Hundred Dollars!! $$$"

A fortune in 1932!!

But converting to Catholicism is a big barrier. Ikey and Morris aren't religious, but still, they do not want to leave their people and insult the memory of their ancestors... And yet, they are very hungry. A hundred dollars would buy a lot of food in 1932, and pay the rent too.

"And what if we convert and they don't pay?" asks Morris.
"I'll tell you what," says Ikey. I'll do it, and if they pay, then you can do it."
So Ikey goes into the church, and Morris waits expectantly, and waits, and waits..."
At length, Ikey emerges, beaming.
"So, how was it, Ikey?" asks Morris.
"Ikey? Who is Ikey? I am Aloysius Xavier now."
"OK, OK but how was it?"
"Oh it was wonderful. Father O'Brien said the mass, and at the conclusion the congregants participated in the Eucharist and..."
"Never mind all that, what about the money. Did you get the $100?"
"Money! All you Jews ever think about is money!"





Zionism Israel

54 Ways You Can Help Israel

For many around the world, one of the most frustrating aspects of the violence in Israel is the seeming inability to help -- even in some small way. And while we may not be able to stop the suicide bombers, we can still take action to lift Israel's spirits and help it contend with an increasingly uncertain situation.
Even if our actions do not appear to influence the overall outcome of events, at the very least we succeed in changing ourselves. And that, in and of itself, is an important victory.
In celebration of Israel's 54th birthday, we present our readers' "54 Ways You Can Help Israel" -- in no particular order. And thank you to the hundreds of people who submitted ideas.

1) Buy Israeli products and services.
With the Israeli economy suffering, go out of your way to support Israel's export trade. www.shopinisrael.com, www.usaisrael.org, www.israeliwishes.com, and www.israeliproducts.com allow you to buy Israeli products directly. www.shorashim.net is an online tourist gift shop. When in the grocery store, look for brands like Elite, Telma, Osem, and Ahava beauty products -- even if you have to pay a few more dollars for Israeli products. Ask the supermarket manager to order these items specifically. Buy Israeli wine to bring as a gift when you visit friends. Home Depot and other stores have many made in Israel products -- especially plastics. www.israelexport.org lists the names of products sold in the USA.

2) Speak out!
The next time you hear something that puts down Israel, don't wonder to yourself, "What is anyone going to do about it." No Jewish organization or Israeli consulate can fight the propaganda war on every front, so don't assume they will. You be the "anyone" and pick up your pen or keyboard and start writing. Write a piece you for local newspaper, set up information tables at your high school or college, or simply talk to people. Be a roving ambassador for Israel by explaining the true facts to everyone you meet. Even the cashier in the supermarket needs good information. You never know how your contribution may affect someone else's views. The possibilities are endless. The worst thing that one can do is to remain quiet in times like this. So do something!

3) Get the facts.
The Internet is a great resource for getting an accurate picture of what is really happening in the conflict. For daily news, visit the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com) and IMRA (http://www.imra.org.il). For crucial background information, read "Israel: A History" (by Martin Gilbert), "From Time Immemorial" (by Joan Peters), and "Myths and Facts" (by Mitchell G. Bard) -- online at http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html.

4) Pray.
Pray to God to bring peace to the land. Pray for Israel's leaders who need wisdom. Pray that they continue to do what is best for Israel in spite of international pressure. Pray for the safety of Israeli civilians who are targeted by suicide bombers. Pray for the protection of IDF soldiers as they root out every last terrorist. Ask God to heal Israel's wounded soldiers and civilians and to thwart future terrorist attacks. And pray for the Arabs to realize the true nature of their leadership and doctrines that teach hate and murder. Regardless of your level of observance, you can add a request for Israel to your regular (or even irregular) prayer regimen. No prayer goes to waste. You can send prayers via the Western Wall at www.thewall.org. Cry out for God's compassion -- because the gates of tears are never closed. And remember: God is in ultimate control. He has done miracles before and will do them again.

5) Phone Israel.
Pick up the phone and make a solidarity call to your Israeli friends and relatives. If you don't know someone personally, ask someone who does. Call that person in Israel and assure them that you share their pain and understand what they’re going through. Commend that person for having the courage to live in Israel now. Let them know they are not alone!

6) Protest bias in the media.
The media has a powerful influence on public opinion and government policy. When you discover a piece of bias, immediately contact the news agency and complain. Keep your remarks respectful and stick to the facts. Build a list of e-mail addresses of friends and colleagues, so when you discover bias, you can alert others to also file a complaint. There is power in the number of responses, even if your specific letter is not printed. You can join a media watch email list at www.HonestReporting.com which gives guidelines for how to be effective in contacting the media, and has over 25,000 subscribers protesting biased news against Israel.

7) Give Tzedakah.
Give some charity every day for Israel. Encourage others to give charity for Israel, too. One person wrote; “Because our church has been forced to cancel their annual trip to Israel, we are sending our money anyway to the tour guides and bus driver.”

8) Empathize with terror victims.
As you are lying in bed at night, imagine what it's like to be the sister, child or parent of someone who yesterday was full of life, and today is nothing but scattered bones and flesh. It's a mitzvah to cry and feel another's pain. Send an e-mail to Prayers-InjuredVAT@yahoogroups.com and they will send you regular updates with the names and status of people who have been injured in attacks.

9) Visit Israel.
Go to Israel on vacation, to study, or to visit family. Encourage your local organizations to sponsor trips -- study tours, religious tours, Bar/Bat Mitzvah tours. It can be for 3 days or 10 days. Spend as much money as you can afford in order to help the economy. Hotels, stores, restaurants are lacking tourists -- precisely what the terrorists seek! Talk to others about the beautiful landscape of Israel, about the unique feeling of thousands of years of Jewish existence in Israel. Visiting Israel will show Israelis that you really care, and will make a tremendous difference to your own sense of connection. Make your motto: “Tourism against Terrorism!”

10) Fly the Israeli flag.
Put an Israeli flag in front of your home, church, etc. Let everyone know that you are proud of Israel. Put an "I Support Israel" bumper sticker on your car. Wear a combined American/Israeli flag pin on your lapel. If you can’t find an Israeli flag, make one yourself, or ask your kids to draw one, and display it in your car window or office.

11) Conserve energy.
Dependence on Arab oil drives much of the pro-Arab sentiment throughout the world. American foreign policy is also heavily influenced by the need for imported oil. To conserve energy, take simple measures like making sure your tires are properly inflated, using compact fluorescent light bulbs in your home, and buying energy-efficient cars and appliances. What about hanging up those car keys and walking or riding your bicycle for a change? If millions would cut down on fuel consumption, the Arab clout would change. Also, don't visit gas stations who import oil from Arab countries. On a public policy level, urge your political representatives to allow drilling for oil (while taking appropriate measures to protect the environment), and to pass energy conservation measures.

12) Recognize the God factor.
With all the practical efforts to help Israel -- media watch, education, economic assistance, political lobbying, etc. -- don’t forget the spiritual component! The very existence of the Jewish people after 3,500 years -- and the return to the land after a long exile -- is miraculous. Understand the significance of Abraham’s covenant with God. Each of us, on whatever level of observance, must strive to connect.

13) Send flowers.
You can show family and friends in Israel that you are thinking about them by sending flowers. This is a double-mitzvah -- it can also save a flower shop from going out of business because of the weakened Israeli economy. You can pay by credit card over the phone or via email. One Jerusalem florist, an Oleh from the UK, can be contacted at simikov@zahav.net.il.

14) Rally for Israel.
Hold a rally in your city. When thousands of people turn out for a public display of support, it affects all segments of your community -- the politicians, the media, general public opinion. And most importantly, it engenders unity and pride within the Jewish and pro-Israel community.

15) Know your enemy.
The Arab world tends to say one thing in English, but a very different message in Arabic. Blood libels and fabrications of Israeli-sponsored massacres are common. Memri (www.memri.org) provides important translations of the Arabic media. And the Center for Monitoring Impact Peace tracks Palestinian compliance with peace agreements (www.edume.org).

16) Unity!
When we stop arguing amongst ourselves and work together, then we can stand united against the enemy, and the Almighty with us. Jerusalem was destroyed because of people speaking negatively about each other, so that is the way we can rebuild Jerusalem. Let us abstain from saying (or listening to) anything bad about any Jew, any group of Jews, or even the Israeli government unless it is constructive critique. The only way to stand against our enemies is to become one with each other -- to lay down our differences and work together.

17) Holocaust education.
With the rise of anti-Semitic incidents around the world, and the state-sponsored anti-Semitism in Arab countries, it is important to see the warning signs before a crisis happens. Learning about the Holocaust helps us appreciate the depth of anti-Semitism and its root causes. Excellent information is online at www.anti-semitism.com. Squelch all anti-Semitic language everywhere you are. Stand up against this terrible hatred -- no matter what the consequences.

18) Visit your Congressman.
Form a concerned citizen’s group, and then make appointment to sit with your Congressman for an hour in his Washington office. Then rent a bus and go! He will see how seriously his constituents are about the Mideast issues.

19) Educate the Palestinian public.
With all the hatred in the Palestinian media, textbooks, etc., an entire generation is being raised for war, not peace. Find ways to introduce democratic values into Palestinian society. Jews cannot realize their dream for peace until the Arabs desire the same.

20) Strive to be a better person.
Be nice to fellow Jews and fellow human beings. Before you go to sleep each night, go through your day, review your behavior, and resolve what you can do better. By setting an example of higher Jewish moral and ethical standards, we can strengthen the nation of Israel and by extension, the State of Israel.

21) Teshuva!
Ultimately, the reviving of our devotion to the Almighty is going to bring about the reviving of the land, and our people as a whole. If we can elevate ourselves even a little, it can arouse the Almighty's compassion and Jewish lives can be spared. Each individual who does teshuva brings Israel one step closer to redemption.

22) Post on the web.
There are hundreds of Palestinian websites devoted to spreading propaganda -- with pictures of starving Palestinian children and sites with blood dripping down your screen describing the “horror of massacres orchestrated by the fascist Israelis.” Pro-Palestinian activists have flooded chat rooms, bulletin boards, and online comments sections. Speak up against individuals who spread lies, against the mobs who bomb synagogues in Europe, and against those who preach intolerance in our schools and universities. Be strong and take heart in the knowledge that all decent people are on Israel's side.

23) Make a small repair.
If you’ve had an argument with someone, simply forgive them, and then ask God to forgive His people.

24) Donate blood.
When you are in Israel, donate blood. With all the recent attacks, there is a great shortage. To give blood is to give life, and shows a deep solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people.

25) Fight child abuse.
Palestinian children are being brainwashed into sacrificing their lives for the promise of “martyrdom.” A group called SICK - Stop Inciting Children to Kill (www.operationsick.com) is trying to stop this child abuse.

26) Support Israeli citizens.
Show Israelis your support, love and friendship by writing letters, postcards and e-mails to everyone you know. Become an e-mail pen pal to someone in Israel.

27) Thank God for His many miracles.
Read the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) to see how almost every day suicide bombers and attacks are averted. And thank God!

28) Organize an Israeli products fair.
In Denver, Christians and Jews have come together under "ActionIsrael" to sponsor what is called "Ben Yehudah Street in Denver." Shop owners in Jerusalem send some of their inventory and it is sold for them. This helps Jerusalem merchants keep their shops open and provide a living for their families during this terrible time. Thousands turned out for the first effort, and another is scheduled for April 21 at the JCC in Denver.

29) The merit of a mitzvah.
Before you do any one of the 613 mitzvot, have in mind that God should use this merit to help protect Israel.

30) Support Magen David Adom.
Israel's medical emergency service is severely financially strapped and in need of ambulances. Months of terror have stretched MDA to its maximum capacity, while exposing its rescue workers to extreme danger and great sacrifice. Get your synagogue or school to start a campaign to defray the cost of an ambulance. Or contribute on-line at: www.magendavidadom.org. Jewish lives depend on it.

31) Aliyah! Make Israel your home.
You can have a great effect on what happens in Israel by living there. A large influx of educated, entrepreneurial Jews from Western countries will give Israel a major boost. Israel is the place where a Jew is truly at home and can maximize his/her Jewish potential. Start making plans to move when things quiet down (or even now if you're brave).

32) Learn Hebrew.
Call your local synagogue and find out about Hebrew classes. This will build your bond with the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

33) Get the Israeli side.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there. When an incident happens in Israel, visit the websites of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.mfa.gov.il) and the Israeli Defense Forces (www.idf.il/english/news/main.stm) to get the Israeli side of the story.

34) Learn Torah.
Through the learning of Torah, the world is brought to its senses and the Jewish people are protected. Make a commitment to a specific increase in the amount of time you learn each day. Attend a class about Judaism, or pick something from the recommended reading list at http://www.aish.com/literacy/reference/recommended_books.asp. The impact of even a few extra minutes of Torah learning is enormous. And teach Torah to your children!

35) Contact the president.
Call or email President Obama daily or weekly, to commend his support for Israel in the common fight against terrorism, and respectfully urge him to allow Israel to take vigorous action to defend itself. Write a short, personal email with a subject line like: "Thank you for standing with Israel." Every call, letter, and fax is counted. Send email to: president@whitehouse.gov, or call the White House comment line at: 202-456-1111, or 202-456-1414.

36) Support Israeli soldiers.
Write a letter and express appreciation for their self-sacrifice in valiantly defending our people and our land. You can even send a care package to a soldier with a holiday gift, etc.

37) Fight terror.
For the civilized world to survive, terrorism must be stopped. Some would appease Arab countries who supply oil. Call on your government leaders to make policy decisions based on what is morally correct, not economically expedient. Show people the PBS video documentary: "Jihad in America" by Steven Emerson. It’s a real eye-opener.

38) Distribute literature on college campuses.
There is an urgent need to counter the virulent wave on anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses. Print and distribute literature on campuses highlighting Israel's humanitarian achievements, democracy and ethnic diversity. One group working on this front is www.israelactivism.com

39) Recite Psalms.
There is a time-honored custom for Jews to gather and recite Psalms in times of distress. King David wrote stirring words that seem to be written for our exact situation today! You can set up a schedule to say a few Psalms every day (recommended are Psalms 20, 83, 121,130 and 142), or organize a group of friends to share saying the entire book together. Rabbi Elyashiv in Israel has requested that all Jews worldwide take 15 minutes out of their hectic daily schedules to say Psalms. You can say them in Hebrew or English, and a free downloadable translation is available at www.artscroll.com.

40) Reach out.
At such difficult times, Jews need to reach out to one another. Invite an unaffiliated Jew to Shabbat dinner. People are open to their heritage and feel the need to connect.

41) Register and vote.
Elected officials analyze voting registration and voter turnout carefully, and make decisions accordingly. If you are not already registered to vote, contact your local Board of Elections and ask for a voter registration application, and be sure to vote in the upcoming elections.

42) Invest. Buy stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Help Israeli companies obtain venture capital funds. You can even buy an Israel Bond for as little as $136. (www.israelbonds.com)

43) Stop carnage on the roads.
Work to end the terrible traffic accidents in the land of Israel which claim 600 lives each year. It is absurd that while we fight against terror, there are tragedies which are completely in our own hands and we refuse to take the necessary steps to stop them.

44) Sponsor educational forums.
Offer a crash course in the Mideast conflict at your local JCC, synagogue, or community college.

45) Show both sides of the refugee issue.
In conversations and in the media, emphasize how the Arab states have mistreated the Palestinians -- refusing to grant them citizenship in order to keep the "refugee" issue an open wound. Raise the issue of how 600,000 Jews were driven out of Arab lands during Israel's independence and forced to abandon their property, with no right of return or compensation ever extended to these Jewish refugees.

46) Hold governments accountable.
Write and call (and boycott if necessary) any governments that are complicit in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activities. Educate the public about the inconsistency of the European Union stand. Why would democracies -- who support human rights -- not speak out against virulent Arab hate speech? Protest at the consulates of those countries who have minimized the anti-Semitic activities taking place in their countries.

47) Help Israel get better spokespeople.
Palestinian spokespeople are persuasive and articulate, but Israeli spokespeople are sometimes less so. Compile a list of Israeli spokespeople, and run an on-line poll, asking people to vote for their favorite. Then inform the Israeli government of the results, so they know who to get the networks to interview in the future. Israelis need to know how they come across to the American TV viewer!

48) Get a clear definition of terrorism.
September 11 united the civilized world against terrorism. Concerned citizens should agree on a strong definition of terror, one that encompasses September 11 terrorists and also suicide bombers. Once agreed upon, there should be a mass campaign to get Congress and the White House to make this definition official -- to the point of using it to dictate policy. Once everyone is clear about what is “terrorism,” support for Israel will grow much stronger. And let Congressional leaders know that you do not agree with the double standard that has been set in fighting terror -- one for America, another for Israel.

49) Hold pray rallies.
Communal prayer is more powerful than any individual can muster. The New York community is holding a massive pray gathering on Sunday, April 21 at 2:30 p.m. in Manhattan, on Water Street between Wall St. and Broad St. More info at www.TefillaGathering.org


50) Support Israeli artists.
With tourism virtually non-existent, many Israelis who depend on it for their livelihood are suffering. If you're going to buy a gift, try to buy a work (piece of art, clothing, jewelry etc.) by an Israeli artist. In Los Angeles, Victorian Rose in Brentwood Gardens has unique jewelry and other works by Israeli artists. She can be reached at 310-826-9102. You can also visit www.ArtofIsrael.com


51) Sign up for solidarity.
www.our-support.com is a website to enable people around the world to express support for the State of Israel. One million people have already signed up. The text will be presented to ambassadors in every country and published in the media.

52) Say the Shema.
The Shema is like the Jewish “pledge of allegiance,” a declaration of faith to One God and an affirmation of commitment to Israel and the Jewish people. It is the first prayer that Jewish children are taught to say. It is the last words a Jew says prior to death. It is the ultimate expression of Jewish conviction, the historic proclamation of Judaism's central creed. It is traditionally said twice each day: once in the morning and once at night.

53) Yearn for redemption.
The Torah tells us that for the Jews in Egypt, it wasn't until "We cried out to God, that He heard our voice and saw our affliction." We had to hit rock-bottom, to see there was no other option but to turn to God. If need be, God will bring every force against us, and strip us bare of every possible escape, in order to bring us the realization that He is the only answer we will ever have. Actively yearn for the redemption and the coming of Moshiach. This conflict will probably not end till he comes, so we must work hard to make it happen now!

54) Brainstorm.
Get a group of friends together and spend one hour brainstorming for more ideas how you can help Israel.





Aish.Com

Zionism & Zionists

What is Zion?

"Zion is not a symbol, but a home, and the land is not an allegory but a possession, a commitment of destiny."
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, "Israel: An Echo of Eternity"

"...the ancestral voice in our hearts...is not imaginary or misleading. it is the call of our deepest, truest, best selves....It is our immortality."

- Herman Wouk, in the book 'This is my God' -

What is Zionism?

My heart is in the east, and I in the uttermost west--
How can I find savour in food? How shall it be sweet to me?
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet
Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?
A light thing would it seem to me to leave all the good things of Spain --
Seeing how precious in mine eyes to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.

- by Yehuda Halevi, My Heart Is In the East, 1141, Translated from the Hebrew by Nina Salaman, 1924, This edition published in 1924 by the Jewish Publication Society of America, Essential Texts of Zionism -

"March forward, Jews of all lands! The ancient fatherland of yours is calling you."

- by Moses Hess, in The Revival of Israel, 1862 -

Zionism is a half-conscious instinct of a people integrating past and future together into the totality of the will to live and to be itself and only itself.

- Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, from the book Whose Jerusalem, by Eliyahu Tal -

Zionism is the National Liberation movement of the Jewish People. It is the modern expression of the ancient longing by the Jewish People to return to its land and live as a free people once again. It is the desire to secure a modern state for the Jewish nation. It is the conviction that the Jewish people has the right to live in freedom and security in its homeland. It is the determination to aid and encourage the return of any and all Jewish refugees of the Diaspora who wish to return home. It is the concern for the safety and security of that modern state, and the desire to see it strong enough to defend itself and the Jewish people as a whole from any present or future existential threat.
Yet, as a modern movement, Zionism is simply a new word to describe an old and unbroken bond. Perhaps it is unfortunate that this new word appears to minimize the credit due to our ancestors for keeping that dream alive.

- The Center for Ethnic Jewish Studies -

The movement known as Zionism which meant establishing a Jewish home in Palestine is a continuation of the reverence to Zion or Jerusalem. By acting as the centre of the Jewish faith and aspiration, Zion or Jerusalem has kept alive the national spirit of Jewish oneness though they have been scattered all over the world for many centuries. It is for this reason that they would not set up a common homeland in the Gentile lands though they had many chances to do so, if they wished.

One further point to note in this respect is, that most of the Jews are racially Jews, and the Jews converted from the other races are a few, indeed. But even these converted Jews, who strictly speaking, are foreigners, think of Jerusalem as their home owing to the divine sanctity attached to it, and give it preference over their own homelands.

from Islam: The Arab National Movement, by Anwar Shaikh

You cannot convert a Jew, you may as well try to convert this house of solid walls as to convert them into the faith of Christ. They are set in their feelings, and they will be until the time of their redemption. They are looking forward to the time when they will go home and rebuild Jerusalem; they have looked for it many hundreds of years, they are looking for the coming of their king, and they do not suppose for a moment that he has already come, but they are looking for him to come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, not as a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that is dumb before his hearers; they are looking for him to come with power and great glory.

- Wilford Woodruff, 1857 -

How has Zionism survived?

Zionism's enemies believe it is one thing. Its friends know it is many things. Its enemies think of it as an ideology, while its friends know it to be a century-old argument about what Jews are and should be. Discord is essential to its identity. Liberal versus socialist, West European versus East European, religious versus secular, pro-Palestinian versus anti-Palestinian: Zionism has survived these divisions not by overcoming them but by making itself the permanent site of a debate about how Jews are to be true to themselves in the modern world.
- Michael Ignatieff, The New Republic, September 8, 1997 -

How strong is the Jewish connection to its land?

An account exists of Napoleons visit to the Temple Mount of the 9th Av, the day of the commemoration of the Temple's destruction. When asked what all the crying and wailing was about, Napoleon was told that the Jews were mourning their Temple which had been destroyed 1900 years previously. Touched by the incident the French Monarch said:

"a people which weeps and mourns for the loss of its homeland 1800 year ago and does not forget - such a people will never be destroyed. Such a people can rest assured that its homeland will be returned to it."

- Napoleon, cited in ALLAH AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT, by Lambert Dolphin -

Must one be Jewish to be a Zionist?

"Jews! Unique nation of the world! For thousands of years the tyranny of the world has succeeded in depriving you of your ancestral lands but it has not eradicated your name, nor your national existence... Legitimate heirs of the Land of Israel!... Hurry! The moment has arrived to claim the return of your rights among the nations of the world. You must claim for yourselves a national existence as states among states, and your unencroachable right to bow down before God according to your faith, publicly and forever."

- Napoleon Bonaparte's "Appeal to the Jews," encamped at Mount Tabor before his defeat at Acre, 1798. -

"Palestine which belonged anciently to a people who have exercised a mightier influence for good upon the human race than any other nation, should be returned to them (The Jews)."

- Rev. J.W. Beaumont (Canadian) who, in 1876, presented to Disraeli, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, a plan entitled "Judea for the Jews under the protectorate of the Great Powers".

"His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
- Arthur J. Balfour, British Foreign Secretary in a letter to Lord Lionel Rothschild to become known as the Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917.

"You (the Jews) have prayed for Jerusalem for 2000 years, and you shall have it."

- Winston Churchill, cited in "The Time," London, May 5, 1938. -

"Jerusalem has never been the capital of any people except the Jewish people. The unity of Jerusalem must be preserved. Internationalization is an idea which never worked in history."

- Rev. Douglas Young, Statement by Evangelical Christians in 1971. -

"We need hardly say that there can be no remains of what was once the City of David... A vast accumulation of debris from thirty to forty feet in depth has buried every fragment of it. ... Here among the ruins of Zion, still lingers a remnant of the chosen people... a despised body chiefly of exiles crouching under general dislike and persecution... yet clinging to the spot which recalls their past greatness..."

- William H. Barlett, Walls About Jerusalem, 1849 -

This is the cause of your survival. I count it as my privilege to help you fight your battle. To that purpose I want to devote my life. I believe that the very existence of mankind is justified when it is based on the moral foundation of the Bible. Whoever dares lift a hand against you and your enterprise here should be fought against. Whether it is jealously, ignorance or perverted doctrine, such as have made your neighbors rise against you, or "politics" which make some of my countrymen support them, I shall fight with you against any of these influences. But remember that it is your battle. My part, which I say I feel to be a privilege, is only to help you.

- Captain Orde Wingate, cited by Michael Pragai, Faith and Fulfillment, p. 112 10. Time Magazine, August 16, 1948 . Captain Wingate, a Bible-believing Christian, was posted as an intelligence officer to Jerusalem in 1936. At the time of his arrival, a new wave or terrorism had broken out among the settlements. To counter this terrorism, Wingate trained special units that helped defend against the Arab attacks. He introduced successful techniques in countering the marauding bands. His heroic efforts did much to insure the security of the Jewish settlers.

US. Presidents on Israel

John Quincy Adams:
[I believe in the] rebuilding of Judea as an independent nation. (Letter to Major Mordecai Manuel Noah)

Abraham Lincoln:
[Not long after the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln met a Canadian Christian Zionist, Henry Wentworth Monk, who expressed hope that Jews who were suffering oppression in Russia and Turkey be emancipated "by restoring them to their national home in Palestine." Lincoln said this was "a noble dream and one shared by many Americans." The President said his chiropodist was a Jew who "has so many times 'put me upon my feet' that I would have no objection to giving his countrymen 'a leg up.'"]

Woodrow Wilson:
The allied nations with the fullest concurrence of our government and people are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundations of a Jewish Commonwealth. (Reaction to the Balfour Declaration)

Recalling the previous experiences of the colonists in applying the Mosaic Code to the order of their internal life, it is not to be wondered at that the various passages in the Bible that serve to undermine royal authority, stripping the Crown of its cloak of divinity, held up before the pioneer Americans the Hebrew Commonwealth as a model government. In the spirit and essence of our Constitution, the influence of the Hebrew Commonwealth was paramount in that it was not only the highest authority for the principle, "that rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God," but also because it was in itself a divine precedent for a pure democracy, as distinguished from monarchy, aristocracy or any other form of government.

Warren Harding:
It is impossible for one who has studied at all the services of the Hebrew people to avoid the faith that they will one day be restored to their historic national home and there enter on a new and yet greater phase of their contribution to the advance of humanity.

Calvin Coolidge:
[I wish to express my] sympathy with the deep and intense longing which finds such fine expression in the Jewish National Homeland in Palestine.

Herbert Hoover:
Palestine which, desolate for centuries, is now renewing its youth and vitality through enthusiasm, hard work, and self-sacrifice of the Jewish pioneers who toil there in a spirit of peace and social justice.

Harry Truman:
I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now. (Granting de facto recognition to the new Jewish State-11 minutes after Israel's proclamation of independence)

I believe it has a glorious future before it-not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization. (May 26, 1952)

Dwight D. Eisenhower:
Our forces saved the remnant of the Jewish people of Europe for a new life and a new hope in the reborn land of Israel. Along with all men of good will, I salute the young state and wish it well.

John F. Kennedy:
This nation, from the time of President Woodrow Wilson, has established and continued a tradition of friendship with Israel because we are committed to all free societies that seek a path to peace and honor individual right. In the prophetic spirit of Zionism all free men today look to a better world and in the experience of Zionism we know that it takes courage and perseverance and dedication to achieve it.

Israel was not created in order to disappear-Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.

Lyndon Johnson:
The United States and Israel share many common objectives...chief of which is the building of a better world in which every nation can develop its resources and develop them in freedom and peace.

Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.

Most if not all of you have very deep ties with the land and with the people of Israel, as I do, for my Christian faith sprang from yours....the Bible stories are woven into my childhood memories as the gallant struggle of modern Jews to be free of persecution is also woven into our souls. (Speech before B'nai B'rith)

[When Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin asked Johnson why the United States supports Israel when there are 80 million Arabs and only three million Israelis, the President replied simply: "Because it is right."]

Richard Nixon:
Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that.

Gerald Ford:
[The American] commitment to the security and future of Israel is based upon basic morality as well as enlightened self-interest. Our role in supporting Israel honors our own heritage.

Jimmy Carter:
The United States...has a warm and a unique relationship of friendship with Israel that is morally right. It is compatible with our deepest religious convictions, and it is right in terms of America's own strategic interests. We are committed to Israel's security, prosperity, and future as a land that has so much to offer the world.
The survival of Israel is not just a political issue, it is a moral imperative. That is my deeply held belief and it is the belief shared by the vast majority of the American people...A strong secure Israel is not just in Israel's interest. It's in the interest of the United States and in the interest of the entire free world.

Ronald Reagan:
Only by full appreciation of the critical role the State of Israel plays in our strategic calculus can we build the foundation for thwarting Moscow's designs on territories and resources vital to our security and our national well-being.
Since the rebirth of the State of Israel, there has been an ironclad bond between that democracy and this one.

In Israel, free men and women are every day demonstrating the power of courage and faith. Back in 1948 when Israel was founded, pundits claimed the new country could never survive. Today, no one questions that Israel is a land of stability and democracy in a region of tyranny and unrest.

George Bush:
The friendship, the alliance between the United States and Israel is strong and solid, built upon a foundation of shared democratic values, of shared history and heritage, that sustains the life of our two countries. The emotional bond of our people transcends politics. Our strategic cooperation-and I renew today our determination that that go forward-is a source of mutual security. And the United States" commitment to the security of Israel remains unshakeable. We may differ over some policies from time to time, individual policies, but never over the principle.

For more than 40 years, the United States and Israel have enjoyed a friendship built on mutual respect and commitment to democratic principles. Our continuing search for peace in the Middle East begins with a recognition that the ties uniting our two countries can never be broken.

Bill Clinton:
Our relationship would never vary from its allegiance to the shared values, the shared religious heritage, the shared democratic politics which have made the relationship between the United States and Israel a special-even on occasion a wonderful-relationship.

The United States admires Israel for all that it has overcome and for all that it has accomplished. We are proud of the strong bond we have forged with Israel, based on our shared values and ideals. That unique relationship will endure just as Israel has endured. (From a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on occasion of Israel's 50th birthday.)

America and Israel share a special bond. Our relations are unique among all nations. Like America, Israel is a strong democracy, as a symbol of freedom, and an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted.

The relationship between our two countries is built on shared understandings and values. Our peoples continue to enjoy the fruits of our excellent economic and cultural cooperation as we prepare to enter the twenty-first century. (Clinton's reply after Israeli Ambassador Shoval presented his credentials, September 10, 1998).

- from JSource -

If more than half of all Jews are live outside Israel, does that mean that their homeland is not important to them? How does one reconcile being a Jew, but chosing to live outside of Israel?

"How can it be explained that a Jew like myself, attached to the destiny of Israel with all the fiber of his being, has chosen to write, teach, work, found a family, and to live far away in a social and cultural environment that is far too generalized for that of our ancestors? Israelis put this question to me, as they do other Jews in the Diaspora....Is there a satisfactory response? If there is, I don't know it....For the moment, this is all I can say: as a Jew, I need Israel. More precisely: I can live as a Jew outside Israel but not without Israel"

- Elie Wiesel, Midstream, May/June 1998). -





Peace Faq

Zionism is Racism

What is this 'Zionism is Racism' resolution?

The Soviets were strong, mobilized enemies of Israel early on, and they remained so until relatively recently. Soviet foreign policy has been active, not passive, during this whole period and its hostility toward Israel was manifested in a variety of ways. I am especially sensitive to the campaign in the various organizations of the United Nations, where the Soviets pioneered and strongly supported the Zionism-is-racism resolution. The Soviets sponsored that resolution in UNESCO and in the General Assembly. The Soviets were pushing that resolution as recently as 1985 at UN meetings in Nairobi. Even when the Arab nations were ready to abandon it, the Soviets pushed to keep the Zionism-is-racism resolution on the agenda of the Women's Conference.
- Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Soref Symposium, April 29, 1990 -

It had become a crime to be a Jew who wished to return to the Jewish national homeland.

- Ambassador/Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in the introduction to "The Anti-Zionist Complex", by Jacques Givet -

Is Zionism a form of racism?
"[the false equation of Zionism with racism is] simply an Arab ploy to take the focus off of the real enemies of humanity. Zionism is a healthy form of nationalism."

- Edward H. Brown, Jr., chief United Nations representative for the Congress of Racial Equality -

For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought to a country not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens.

- William Safire, in the New York Times (January 7, 1985) after Operation Moses, the secret rescue of Ethiopian Jews, was revealed. -

Zionism Is Not Racism
In 1975, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution slandering Zionism by equating it with racism. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, which holds that Jews, like any other nation, are entitled to a homeland.

History has demonstrated the need to ensure Jewish security through a national homeland. Zionism recognizes that Jewishness is defined by shared origin, religion, culture and history.

The realization of the Zionist dream is exemplified by more than four million Jews, from more than 100 countries, including dark skinned Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen and India, who are Israeli citizens. Approximately 1,000,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Baha'is, Circassians and other ethnic groups also are represented in Israel's population.

Many Christians have traditionally supported the goals and ideals of Zionism. Israel's open and democratic character and its scrupulous protection of the religious and political rights of Christians and Muslims rebut the charge of exclusivity.

The Arab states define citizenship strictly by native parentage. It is almost impossible to become a naturalized citizen in many Arab states, especially Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Several Arab nations have laws that facilitate the naturalization of foreign Arabs, with the specific exception of Palestinians. Jordan, on the other hand, instituted its own "law of return" in 1954, according citizenship to all former residents of Palestine, except for Jews.

The presence of thousands of black Jews in Israel is the best refutation of the calumny against Zionism. In a series of historic airlifts, labeled Moses (1984), Joshua (1985) and Solomon (1991), Israel rescued almost 42,000 members of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community.

Israel is only one of many ethnic democracies (such as Finland, Norway, Korea, etc. etc), that have one ethnic majority and one or several minorities that do not share ownership of the national territory. Israel's identity as a Jewish nation is no less democratic than any other of these countries. Almost all of the ethnic democracies also have an official state religion, just as Judaism is the official national religion of Israel. An official state religion, along with a dominant ethnic majority, are fundamental features of many democratic nations.

- from The Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel, by Shlomo Sharan and Ervin Birnbaum, Ariel Center for Policy Research -

Theodor Herzl on Africa
There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy, only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question. Just call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade, of human beings who, merely because they were black, were stolen like cattle, taken prisoner, captured and sold. Their children grew up in strange lands, the objects of contempt and hostility because their complexions were different. I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule for saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans..

- Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism. Source: Golda Meir, My Life, (NY: Dell Publishing Co., 1975), pp. 308-309 -

Isn't this resolution hypocritical?

The Office of the High Commissioner services the UN human rights treaty bodies, which were created to implement the various UN human rights treaties. Most of the treaty bodies are composed of genuine experts who act and speak in a manner that is fair. But occasionally, especially in the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), one finds evidence of prejudice. An example of this occurred when the British rapporteur of the Committee, making final comments on the report of Israel, which is a party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (which CERD oversees), declared that the flag of Israel, which contains the shield of David, is racist and discriminates against Israel's non-Jewish citizens. The representative of the Government of Israel pointed out, in the course of his reply, that the British flag contains not one but three crosses.
Dr. Harris O. Schoenberg , President of the Center for UN Reform Education, author of A Mandate for Terror

When countries attack Israel in this way, it is not just to hide their own sins and failures, and not just because they are fearful for their oil supplies. It is because the government of Guinea, among others, uses torture as a means of holding on to power; it is because the Soviet Union uses psychiatric internment as a political tool - to take only two countries as examples of deteriorating standards - that Israel has to be accused of every crime.
- Jacques Givet, "The Anti-Zionist Complex"

There are gradations on the scale of credentials to intervene in human rights discussions, and I believe that Iraq is at the bottom. Every time Iraqi representatives eagerly revive the Zionism-racism formula, I reflect on the ancient Jewish community of 160,000 forced to leave Iraq after thousands of years, and on the continued brutal suppression of the Kurdish people . When they talk of human rights I remember the innocent Jews hanging on the public gallows in Baghdad, among them, incidentally, the cousin of a member of my delegation to the United Nations whose young pregnant wife was forced to watch the execution.

- Chaim Herzog in his speech Racism, Human Rights and Double Standards -

"A world that closed its doors to Jews who sought escape from Hitler's ovens lacks the moral standing to complain about Israel's giving preference to Jews."

- Alan Dershowitz, noted civil rights lawyer -

Why is this resolution dangerous? Why should I care?

The UN does not hold antisemitism in contempt. On the contrary, it is notorious for its antisemitic position. It has passed hundreds of anti-Israeli resolutions. When, in 1975, it passed a criminal resolution equating Zionism with racism, the UN delegate from Costa-Rica noted that the resolution "was an invitation to genocide against the Jewish people."

It would be tempting to see in this propaganda nothing more than bigotry of a quite traditional sort that can, sooner or later, be overcome. But the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist campaign is not uninformed bigotry, it is conscious politics. ...Further, this fact of world politics creates altogether new problems for those interested in the fate of democacies in the world, and of Israel in the Middle East. It is not merely that our adversaries have commenced an effort to destroy the legitimacy of a kindred democracy through the incessant repetition of the Zionist-racist lie. It is that others can come to believe it also. Americans among them.

- Ambassador/Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in the introduction to "The Anti-Zionist Complex", by Jacques Givet -

"In logic, the State of Israel could be, or could become, many things, theoretically including many undesirable things. But it could not be and could not become racist unless it ceased to be Zionist."

- Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan -

Was this resolution binding?

The United States...does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.

- Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan, quoted by JSource -



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Peace Faq

Exposing How Post-Zionists Manipulate History

by Avi Beker

The Israeli New Historians have heavily influenced academic teaching about the Arab-Israeli conflict on campuses throughout the world.

The New Historians disregarded and omitted the two most critical features of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war: the religious-jihadi nature of the Arab campaign and Arab rejection of the UN partition resolution. The narrative built by the New Historians changed the parameters of political negotiations: a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel is not meant to correct the 1967 "occupation" and create a framework for a territories-for-peace exchange but to atone for the alleged atrocities of the Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) of 1948. The sharp reversal of his positions by Benny Morris, regarded by many as the dean of the New Historians, must be viewed as a full exposure of the fictitious structure and distorted facts of what was an orchestrated, antihistorical, anti-Zionist endeavor.


"Historians have tended to ignore or dismiss, as so much hot air, the jihadi rhetoric and flourishes that accompanied the two-stage assault on the Yishuv and the constant references in the prevailing Arab discourse to that earlier bout of Islamic battle for the Holy Land, against the Crusaders. This is a mistake. The 1948 War, from the Arabs' perspective, was a war of religion as much as, if not more than, a nationalist war over territory. Put another way, the territory was sacred: its violation by infidels was sufficient grounds for launching a holy war and its conquest or reconquest, a divinely ordained necessity." -- Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War --

What happens when historians ignore or dismiss central components of history? In the above statement, Benny Morris provides a very unusual glimpse at the major historians' omission of what was the central feature of the Arab war against Israel in 1947-1948: uncompromising jihad against the Jews. The Arabs never concealed that this was a religious war and they were on record in taking responsibility for it. The Arab Higher Committee representative Jamal Husseini told the UN Security Council on 16 April 1948: "The representative of the Jewish Agency told us yesterday that they were not the attackers, that the Arabs had begun the fighting. We did not deny this. We told the whole world that we were going to fight."

Husseini was quoted in the New York Times explaining that the Arabs "would never allow a Jewish State to be established in one inch of Palestine," and he issued a clear warning that attempts "to impose any solution contrary to the Arabs' birthright will only lead to trouble and bloodshed and probably to a third World War."

Behind such deadly threats that were delivered to the whole world was the ongoing use in the Arab world of religious incitement against the Jews in public broadcasts and in mosques. Prominent in this regard were the mufti of Jerusalem and main leader of the Arabs in Palestine, Haj Amin al-Husseini, and the religious scholars of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the highest religious authority for Sunni Islam, which issued an official call for a "worldwide jihad" immediately after the UN resolution on the partition plan had passed in November 1947. Religion was central to the war effort as demonstrated by the rector of Al-Azhar University, Muhammad Mamun Shinawi, who told the Egyptian expeditionary force as it crossed the border in Rafah on 15 May 1948 on its way to fight the newborn state of Israel: "The hour of Jihad has struck.... This is the hour in which...Allah promised paradise."

These two critical and central features of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence - the religious-jihadi nature of the campaign and Arab responsibility for launching the war in rejection of the partition resolution - are very often disregarded or deliberately ignored in the vast amount of literature on the war.

What happened in 1948? This is the core of the debate. Basically the revisionist New Historians sought to challenge what they termed Israel's official historical canon. They rejected the collective memory of Zionism and the state of Israel, particularly the memory regarding the state's establishment. By claiming to have discovered new archival evidence - which in most cases was not new at all - and while ignoring the historical context of the war, this group of Israeli historians turned the saga of Israel's birth upside down so as to prove that Israel was born in a sin of conspiracies, ethnic cleansing, and massacres.

This essay, in focusing on the return of Benny Morris to the fold of mainstream Israeli historians, will review the impact of the New Historians on Middle East studies in academia, on the peace process, and on Israel's general image. Morris in his new incarnation provides the best ammunition in the intellectual struggle against the anti-Zionist historians disguised as revisionist historians, who claim to possess "new" documents that show the "true" history. Ethan Bronner in the New York Times explains the role historians play in political debates:

History does not get written or read in a vacuum. The new historians had an agenda - promoting the peace process then beginning. And many Israelis, eager to put an end to their century-old conflict, were willing to be told that their successful nation building had come at a high cost to the Palestinians. They were adjusting their collective narrative to make room for coexistence with onetime enemies. Did the New Historians write history or, rather, attempt to promote a political agenda? Was it motivated by a wish that admitting responsibility for supposed past wrongdoings would be reciprocated by the other side? Morris's case proves how shifting political perspectives can lead to revolutionary changes in historical analysis and conclusions.

Academic Impact

The impact of the New Historians who revised and interpreted anew the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be exaggerated. Their amendment of what they termed the "official" Zionist version of history, mixed with postmodernist assumptions (such as that there is no one version of history), was not confined to intellectual debates in academia. Dismissed at the beginning as a fringe phenomenon, this revision of history became within less than a decade the mainstream reading and learning in universities around the world.[6] Benny Morris, who is considered the dean of the New Historians and coined the term, has provided since 1988 the intellectual infrastructure for this revamped history. Morris's selective use of documents and disregard of Arab hatred, anti-Semitism, and rejectionism toward the idea of a Jewish state have become a goldmine for anti-Zionist literature.

The group also denied what they called the Israeli myth of "the few against the many" regarding the 1948 War, and for some (such as Ilan Pappé) these post-Zionist views were replaced by a self-declared anti-Zionism. In addition to Morris and Pappé, two or three others are considered part of the founding group of the New Historians. Simha Flapan, who was the first (1987) to engage in "demythologizing" the story of Israel's founding, was included in the list retrospectively after his death. Avi Shlaim emphasized what he viewed as the conspiratorial nature of Israel's collaboration with Britain and Jordan against the Palestinians. Another writer, Tom Segev, who arrived to this group as a post-Zionist, postmodern journalist, wrote about the Yishuv's (prestate Israel) attitudes toward the Holocaust and about Israeli society during the 1967 Six Day War, and latter added his own interpretation of the British Mandate in Palestine. In Segev's book it is hard to find the role of the Jews in British policy calculations in Palestine, and it is the Arabs who drove the British out.

The books written by these revisionist historians were published by prestigious publishing houses. They immediately affected the textbooks of Middle East studies syllabuses and reoriented the direction of new research projects and policy ideas on the peace process. The leading opinion-making publications in the United States, the dailies, weeklies, and foreign policy journals, devoted extensive reviews and discussions to what were perceived as groundbreaking works. Typically, even the more objective academics who did not accept all of the New Historians' premises found it necessary to present the conflict in terms of two competing views of history, admitting that "the very concept of objectivity has in recent decades been subjected to relentless attack."

The buzzword in studying the conflict was therefore "narrative," which was supposed to replace the "nonobjective" record of history. Instead of discussing the broad context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is central to the history of each of its particular wars, the popular approach started to isolate it as an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The new books focused on alleged myths, on distorted collective memories, explaining that both sides were sanctifying hatred and resentment by "building legitimacy through narrative." Narrative - defined by the dictionary as "a story or account of events, experiences or the like, whether true or fictitious" - replaced the search for truth in historical research. Some argue that regardless of validity, a narrative is important because it is part of a collective memory, the belief-set of a group. However, as Morris would realize about two decades later, such fictitious narratives can be very dangerous when they have only one purpose: to deny responsibility for past hatred and to perpetuate it for generations to come.

In Israel, the transformation of history into narratives was reflected in the state-run TV miniseries Tekuma (Revival). Broadcast in 1998, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the state, it adopted many of the New Historians' findings. A year later these postmodern theories were given legitimacy by the Ministry of Education itself in its revised high school textbook (A World of Changes: History for Ninth Grade), part of a new curriculum aimed at teaching history from an expressly "universal" (as opposed to "nationalist") perspective. This trend even entered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which through its history division cosponsored a book that cast serious doubt on previous images of the War of Independence.

Replacing the Historical Canon

The basic arguments of the New Historians can be summarized as five challenges to the official Zionist canon of the history of 1948:

The official version said that Britain tried to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state; the New Historians claimed that it tried to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Shlaim and Pappé describe in their books a conspiracy between Britain and the Jews at the expense of the Palestinians, and Shlaim extends this to a conspiracy between Zionism and King Abdullah of Transjordan to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. In another stretch of imagination, a Palestinian professor (a former negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization) argues that the target of the Arab armies was not the Jews but rather the expulsion of the Arabs in Palestine before taking it over.

The official version said - so claimed the revisionists - that the Palestinians fled their homes of their own free will; the New Historians said that the refugees were chased out or expelled. Here Morris's contribution was central though he himself was later quoted out of context. This aspect was pivotal for the moral and political campaign to delegitimize Israel. The official version said that the balance of power favored the Arabs; the New Historians said that Israel had the advantage both in manpower and in arms, and denied what they regarded as the myth of a heroic liberation war of the few against the many. While denigrating and inciting against Israel, the New Historians also came to the rescue of the Arab image and revised or denied the official Israeli claim that the Arabs had a coordinated plan to destroy Israel. The New Historians said that the Arabs were divided or denied their death threats altogether.

All these four questions lead to the ongoing debate among historians: did the Yishuv in 1947 joyously embrace partition? Who is responsible for the lack of peace? Is it Israeli intransigence or the Arab unwillingness to accept a Jewish state? Some historians (including Flapan and Shlaim) have claimed that the Arabs wanted peace but the Zionists have been wily in maneuvering Arab leaders (such as al-Husseini, Gamal Abdel Nasser, or Yasser Arafat) into the rejectionist camp.
Impact on the Peace Process

The revisionist historians did not just end up conquering the syllabuses and the instruction in academia; they also took over the arena of Middle East diplomacy and politics. The New Historians had a major impact on the peace process and in shaping the positions taken by the Palestinians, the Israelis, and the Americans. While negotiating for the Oslo agreements in 1992-1993, the then Israeli deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin was reading Morris's book on the Palestinian refugees; later Beilin said the book was a must for Israeli negotiators. Subsequently, during meetings of joint Palestinian-Israeli groups to promote the peace process, the refugee issue became the focal point in attempting to create "agreed mutual perception" of the parties' grievances and to assume responsibility for past wrongdoings.

The revisionists and their guilt-filled narrative loomed over the Israeli negotiators at Camp David hosted by President Bill Clinton in July 2000 and, a few months later, at the Taba talks in the Sinai. The Palestinian negotiators at both forums referred to the work of the New Historians, especially Benny Morris, in trying "to establish Israel's share of responsibility for the plight of the 1948 refugees." Israeli negotiators Beilin and Gilad Sher quoted from Morris's book, and Daniel Levy, Beilin's assistant, has described how important it was for the Israeli team to change the historical narrative so as to reach an agreement with the Palestinians on their "right of return."

Another participant at Camp David was the then Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, himself a historian who admitted that the New Historians had "definitely helped in consolidating the Palestinians' conviction as to the validity of their own narrative" and that the "Israeli peacemakers also came to the negotiating table with perspectives that were shaped by recent research...powerful arguments on the 1948 war...[which] became part of the intellectual baggage of many of us, whether we admitted it or not."

In sum, the narrative built by the New Historians changed the parameters of political negotiations: a peace agreement was not meant to correct the 1967 "occupation" and create a framework for a territories-for-peace exchange, but to atone for the alleged atrocities of the Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) of 1948. It became apparent to all that the main obstacle to peace was the problem of the refugees' "right of return" to all parts of Israel.

Morris's Retreat

The person who laid the foundation for historical post-Zionism, Benny Morris, is also the one who undermined it in bringing the most serious challenge to its intellectual integrity. Morris still appears unable to say "I was wrong" and express regret for helping build the intellectual basis for the campaign against Israel and Zionism. Instead of exposing his own distortions and fallacies, he says he has found new documents in the Israeli archives that gave him a new perspective on the conflict. Reading his new interpretation of the same events makes it clear how the New Historians - at best - wrote history out of context, completely detached from the reality of its origins. In most cases they engaged in a deliberate falsification and used the "grand lie" technique against Israel.

Then suddenly, about twenty years later, Morris discovered that the Arabs had declared a jihad against Zionism already back in the 1930s. He explains his new approach as stemming from the opening of archives, including the IDF's archive, which was closed to researchers previously. He also adds that "in the current book [1948] I placed the refugee problem within the overall context of the War of Independence," and with the help of recent studies, "I tried to present a new and comprehensive description of the war, and primarily of the connections between the military processes and the diplomatic processes."

A new description? The exact opposite, in fact. His two most recent books, 1948 and One State, Two States, which were released over the past two years, completely contradict his arguments and the factual basis for his revolutionary historical approach. Morris returns to what was so detested by the New Historians, or as they put it: the canonical version of the official Zionist narrative. His new books demolish all the premises and conclusions of the New Historians. He feels no need to apologize for presenting a sharp indictment of all of post-Zionism, claiming that "historians tended to belittle the importance of the religious rhetoric during the war" and the central role of "religious motivation." This is exactly the omission committed by Morris in his previous books. The dismissal of the threats of jihad was intentional and critical for those who set out to write the "new" narrative and to turn the Nakba into the Palestinian "Holocaust."

The jihad was apparent to all in the existing literature since 1948: threats of annihilation were heard from all Arab sides and even from the dais of the United Nations in 1947 and 1948. As noted, the mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini, repeated such threats over and over again; and religious scholars in Cairo issued an official manifesto calling for jihad two days after the partition resolution was passed in November 1947. The translation of the religious decree into military action was the invasion of the Arab armies, which were called the Arab Liberation Army and the Jihad al-Mukades (Holy War) Army.

On the day that Israel declared its independence, Arab League secretary-general Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha declared a holy war. He said, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." Azzam Pasha, who was the leading spokesperson of all Arab states, had been similarly clear and violent in opposing the partition resolution: "The partition line will be nothing but a line of fire and blood." Al-Husseini stated, "I declare a holy war, my Moslem brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"

Suddenly, and consistently, Morris renounces the post-Zionist narrative in numerous articles, interviews, and lectures, and presents his new position in scholarly books. Indeed, Morris informs his readers that his previous books missed the historical context of the 1948 War, which was a jihadi onslaught by the Muslim world against the Jewish community in Palestine. From the start Morris was little embarrassed, telling The Guardian in 2002: "The rumour that I have undergone a brain transplant is (as far as I can remember) unfounded - or at least premature. But my thinking about the current Middle East crisis and its protagonists has in fact radically changed during the past two years."

In his own testimony, Morris explains that a new historical awareness about Arab sources of rage, hatred, and anti-Semitism led him to a new reading of the 1948 war. He is even able to document the intellectual transplant surgery he was undergoing:

My turning point began after 2000. I wasn't a great optimist even before that. True, I always voted Labor or Meretz or Sheli [a dovish party of the late 1970s], and in 1988 I refused to serve in the territories and was jailed for it, but I always doubted the intentions of the Palestinians. The events of Camp David and what followed in their wake turned the doubt into certainty. When the Palestinians rejected the proposal of [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak in July 2000 and the Clinton proposal in December 2000, I understood that they are unwilling to accept the two-state solution. They want it all. Lod and Acre and Jaffa.

Morris goes further in his interview and explains - as was unknown in his previous books and is unheard of in politically correct circles - that there is a "deep problem in Islam." It is a world in which "life doesn't have the same value it does in the West." The Arabs belong to a "tribal culture" in which "revenge" plays a "central part" within a society so lacking in "moral inhibitions" that "if it obtains chemical or biological or atomic weapons, it will use them."

Rewriting the Revisionist History

The complete disregard of historical context can be detected in the tables of contents and in the indexes of the New Historians' books. Arab or Islamic anti-Semitism is nonexistent; if one reads Ilan Pappé or Avi Shlaim on the conflict he may think that jihad was invented on September 11, 2001.

The New Historians' omissions regarding al-Husseini's role in fomenting hatred against the Jews are part of their great exercise of rewriting history. There were plenty of records on the mufti from the early stages of the conflict under the British Mandate. To evaluate his role as the only recognized leader of the Palestinians until after Israel's establishment, there was no need for new archives to be opened. It is striking that an anti-Israeli Palestinian American such as Rashid Khalidi presents more self-criticism on the destructive role of the two most prominent Palestinian leaders, al-Husseini and Arafat, and also devotes more analysis to Arab anti-Semitism than do the Israeli New Historians. At the same time, Khalidi refers to Morris's early book on the Palestinian refugees as a "groundbreaking" work that "shattered many myths."

Morris "B" (in 2008) reveals how the confluence of Islamic anti-Semitism and jihad played a critical role at the early stages of the conflict in Palestine. It was an integral part of the Arab Revolt in 1936 and it was pursued repeatedly by outsiders such as the speaker of the Iraqi parliament Sa'id al-Haj Thabit when he visited Palestine in March 1936. Morris also notes the mufti's active role in the Nazi jihadist propaganda to the Middle East and in recruiting Bosnian Muslims to the Wehrmacht. The mufti, says Morris, was "deeply anti-Semitic" and justified the Holocaust based on the Jewish character with "their exaggerated conceit and selfishness, rooted in their belief that they are the chosen people of God." Jihad was even part of the diplomatic exchanges sometime before the 1948 War. The Palestinians' main political organ at the time, the Arab Higher Committee, used the term jihad as a formal threat and ultimatum early in 1946 in a letter to British prime minister Clement Attlee.

In the last chapter of 1948, Morris is detailed and persuasive on the critical role of religious hatred in 1947-1948. He concludes: "The jihadi impulse underscored both popular and governmental responses in the Arab world to the UN partition resolution and was central to the mobilization of the 'street' and the governments for the successive onslaughts [during the war.]... The mosques, mullahs, and 'ulema all played a pivotal role in the process." With these open and prevailing attitudes, the threat to the Jews was very clear in the eyes of Arab observers. As one Christian Lebanese quoted by Morris told the press: "The Jewish State has no chance to survive now that the 'holy war' has been declared. All the Jews will eventually be massacred."

With threats of jihad and extermination coming from all over and with the rejection of the diplomatic track, coupled with the calls to deploy all available military force, the Yishuv could only prepare for the worst-case scenario. As many voices made doomsday warnings, the leaders of the Yishuv had no need to engage in theoretical war games. When the 'ulema of Al-Azhar University proclaimed a "worldwide jihad in defense of Arab Palestine," British foreign minister Ernest Bevin expressed his concern for "the safety of thousands of Jews scattered in the Arab world" and in particular the hundred thousand Jews of Baghdad who were at "risk of having their throats cut."

Jihad was openly declared both in demonstrations in Damascus and in diplomatic circles in the United Nations, where the head of the Egyptian delegation said that "the lives of 1,000,000 Jews in Muslim countries would be jeopardized by the establishment of a Jewish state." In May 1948, U.S. secretary of state (and World War II hero) George C. Marshall warned Israeli foreign-minister-to-be Moshe Sharett against signing Israel's Declaration of Independence: "Believe me; I am talking about things about which I know. You are sitting there in the coastal plains of Palestine, while the Arabs hold the mountain ridges. I know you have some arms and your Haganah, but the Arabs have regular armies. They are well trained and they have heavy arms. How can you hope to hold out?"

A comparison between Morris "A" and Morris "B" shows how the historical context can become blurred and even distorted by using selective facts that are inflated at the expense of the larger and more critical forces of history. It may be true that at the end of the war the newborn IDF emerged better organized, trained, and motivated. Yet during the war itself, as Morris shows in his more recent incarnation, there was a totally different assessment. The majority in the interim Jewish government before statehood as well as the Arabs, British, and Americans all thought the Arabs would defeat the Jewish army in Palestine. It is true that with current hindsight we can explain how the Arabs failed to organize adequately and how the Palestinian Arabs failed to mobilize their own resources because of "their well established traditions of disunity, corruption, and organizational incompetence." However, the war context was different: "In rough demographic and geographical terms, without doubt, the Arabs were far, almost infinitely, stronger than the Yishuv...and the disproportion in terms of land mass and economic resources, or potential economic resources, was, if anything, even greater."

The four armies that invaded Palestine on 15 May, even after leaving behind large formations to protect their regimes, "were far stronger than the Haganah formations" in all kinds of equipment, having far more tanks, artillery, and combat aircrafts (Israel lacked all of these initially). It is natural that at this point, particularly after witnessing the Arab mindset in the systematic destruction of all Jewish settlements by Arab invading armies, the Yishuv's aim was simply "to survive." In addition to a clear perception of military inferiority, based on facts and calculations, it was obvious to the Yishuv leaders that the international diplomatic environment was "consistently pro-Arab" and that the British and the Americans were working together on retracting the implementation of the UN vote to establish a Jewish state.

The New Historians' attempt to prove the British collusion with the Jews against the Arabs is refuted by both the diplomatic and military posture of the Mandatory power. To the contrary, the British were helping in training and in supplying weapons to the Arab Legion of Transjordan, which was the best-trained army in the region, and they worked actively with the Americans to foil the partition in Palestine. Their assessment of the military situation was expressed by the Chief of the Imperial Staff: "In the long run the Jews would not be able to cope...and would be thrown out of Palestine unless they came to terms with [the Arabs]." On 16 May 1948, the British High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham determined that the balance of forces "seems to have turned much in favor of the Arabs." Their representative in Amman, Alec Kirkbride, passed along a message from Azzam Pasha: "It doesn't matter how many [Jews there are]. We will sweep them into the sea."

Conclusions

In his most recent book, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict, Benny Morris casts a dark cloud over the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. He asserts that the primary reason there is no peace is "the stifling darkness, intolerance, authoritarianism, and insularity of the Muslim world," a reality that makes any solution a dim prospect.

The problem with Morris is that these factors, as well as those numerous statements on jihad and exterminating the Jews, were in the public domain everywhere in the Middle East, the United Nations, and the Western press and academic publications since 1947-1948. The opening of archives that historians so solemnly flaunt as "new sources" can sometimes add to the knowledge but not necessarily to the historical context and awareness. New documents may provide some previously unavailable details, but in most cases they cannot change the direction of historical research. Worst of all, a selective use of archives that ignores the historical context, ends up in distortions and misleading accounts. It can only serve those like Ilan Pappé, who does not attempt to disguise his anti-Zionist agenda and defines the "new history" as a revolutionary movement whose goal is to "reconsider the validity of the quest for a Jewish nation-state in what used to be geographic Palestine."

In reply to readers in the Irish Times, Morris was unequivocal on the refugee problem:

The displacement of the 700,000 Arabs who became "refugees" - and I put the term in inverted commas, as two-thirds of them were displaced from one part of Palestine to another and not from their country (which is the usual definition of a refugee) - was not a "racist crime"...but the result of a national conflict and a war, with religious overtones, from the Muslim perspective, launched by the Arabs themselves. There was no Zionist "plan" or blanket policy of evicting the Arab population, or of "ethnic cleansing."
Morris went on to say that, given the deadly threats "and the anticipated Arab armies' invasion routes...I for one cannot fault [the Jews'] fears or logic."

The new Morris blames the Arabs for their misfortunes, denies the existence of a Jewish strategy of expulsion or transfer, and, in effect, defends the right of David Ben-Gurion to expel even more, in light of the threats of jihad. Suddenly, in the concluding chapters in both books, Morris brings the case of the Jews who were expelled from Arab lands, showing that there was an exchange of refugees, with approximately the same figures, as a result of the war. The Arabs who declared the war, says Morris, are also responsible for perpetuating the tragedy of the Palestinians in refugee camps, unlike those Jewish refugees who were absorbed in Israel.

As noted, Morris speaks openly about his failed expectations regarding the Palestinians' aims in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Probably, in addition to his learning process on the roots of the conflict, he could not ignore the fact that there are virtually no "new historians" on the Arab or the Palestinian side who could inquire into how the religious factor was so detrimental in perpetuating the conflict and how radical Islam was instrumental in inciting against the acceptance of a Jewish state. Hence, he ends his study on 1948 with a clear "J'accuse" against those historians who fail to understand the Arab rejection of the Jewish state and disregard clear facts and statements of religious hatred.

In his more recent books and articles, Morris has become the leading and most effective voice in exposing how the remaining New Historians cling to their unfounded and false messages. Morris's journey and his radical retreat from his earlier publications constitute an unusual testament to the thin line separating history from propaganda or even falsehood. When the recording of events is motivated by a determination to create a postmodern political narrative, it may end up escaping from history altogether.

Dr. Avi Beker teaches in the MA program on diplomacy at Tel Aviv University, returning from two years as a visiting professor at Georgetown University. He is the former secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress and has published books and articles on international politics and security and world Jewry.

This article was published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, JCPA. Contact them by mail at jcpa@netvision.net.il