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Posted in: Comment on this

05/05/09 03:16 PM

Mr. Heilman, I can't believe you are only now seeing this. I have seen it going on for years now, since before the Iraq War, but it literally exploded after the Israel/Hezbollah war in 2006. I do not agree with Archie that there is always a clear cut distinction being made in these attacks between Jews and Zionists-- perhaps for him and some others an attempt is made to do so, but in my experience (regularly frequenting internet forums as diverse as The Washington Post to such alternative sites as Information Clearing House) for most others it is not. I am not Jewish, but have studied Jewish history extensively at University. I see several problematic issues at stake here, which I do not believe the Jewish community should ignore much longer, nor do I believe draconian actions on the part of Israel or radical Zionists will help alleviate-- but peace and reconciliation might: 1. Anti-Semitism itself has become a buzzword. Rather than understanding that the racist German Wilhelm Marr invented the term in the late 19th century for the purpose of attacking and oppressing Jews specifically and not Arabs, most anti-Semites excuse themselves by claiming that since they support the Palestinians specifically and the Arabs generally (who in their thinking are also Semites) they cannot, by definition, be anti-Semitic. To them, the term in fact is just a broad brush with which the evil Jews use to try to paint anyone who criticizes them. There may be some truth that some of the most extreme Zionists throw the word about quite easily, but more needs to be done to educate people on the origins of the term itself as specific towards the Jews and the real history of anti-Semitism, and that it isn't just a word made up by them to hide behind. 2. Most of these people have now accepted the pseudo-historical mumbo jumbo based on the book of one man, that the Ashkenazim are not really descendants of inhabitants of the Middle East at all, but instead are mixtures of European and Turkic people, specifically the Khazars, who lurked in Eastern Europe for a thousand years before stealing Palestine from the Arabs. The Khazars did indeed "convert" to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century, but modern DNA tests on Ashkenazim show high numbers of markers proving descent from Middle Eastern ancestry. There are indeed also markers for European, and perhaps even Central Asian markers as well, but there is no way to dispute the fact that Ashkenazim are descended from the Jews carried by the Romans into Europe as slaves. This issue is in urgent need of address. 3. Unbelievably, reference to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are actually being made again. The book is back in print in many languages, and apparently believed. Things are much worse than most Jewish people are aware, I think. I do not believe that hatred toward the Jews has ever been as high and as widespread in the history of the world as it is now. This should give the Jewish people with their tiny sliver of land and several nuclear weapons great pause. I am ashamed of the wars the US is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ashamed of Israel's actions in Lebanon and Gaza. But I am an anti-antiSemite, who also believes Israel has a right to exist, and that the descendants of Jews evicted from that land two thousand years ago have a right to live there which overrides the rights of those who came in later and filled the void. There must be a two state solution, along pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as an International City of Peace. The settlements must be disbanded and evacuated. The Palestinians must track down and suppress terror elements in their midst. The IDF must conduct itself according to Nuremberg. Perhaps these things will be a beginning.