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Defending Zionism - Defending the Indefensible
By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 3 of 4 page(s)
Pearl like most others can't accept the fact that Israel disdains peace, thrives on violence, and needs it as justification. The very notion of peace and conflict resolution terrifies it. What prime minister Yitzhak Shamir once admitted about Israel's 1982 Lebanon war - that there was "terrible danger....not so much a military one as a political one" so a pretext was invented to attack when no threat or justification existed.
It took 18,000 lives and left South Lebanon occupied until Israel Defense Forces withdrew in May 2000, except for the 25 square km Shebaa Farms area illegally retained to this day.
Yet Pearl insists that "anti-Zionism targets the most vulnerable part of the Jewish people, namely, the Jewish population of Israel, whose physical safety and personal dignity depend crucially on maintaining Israel's sovereignty. Put bluntly, the anti-Zionist 'plan' to do away with Israel condemns 5.5 million human beings, mostly refugees or children of refugees, to eternal defenselessness in a region where genocidal designs are not uncommon."
He adds that "anti-Zionist rhetoric (shows) academic sophistication and social acceptance in certain extreme yet vocal circles. (It's also) a stab in the back to the Israeli peace camp (and) gives credence (to) the hidden agenda of every Palestinian (for) the eventual elimination of Israel."
Now some facts misrepresented, distorted, or unstated by Pearl and other like-minded apologists:
-- There never was nor is there now an "Israeli peace camp," as explained above.
-- Israel's sovereignty isn't the issue. It exists, is accepted, and anti-Zionists don't dispute it. Further, since at least the late 1980s, Palestinian leaders (including Arafat and Hamas) have been willing to extend recognition. But Israel rejects all peace and reconciliation overtures, yet the dominant media and Zionists won't mention it.
-- Palestinians and other Arabs don't target Israel and haven't since the 1973 war. However, they justifiably defend themselves when attacked as international law allows.
-- Anti-Zionists, like this writer, have no plan or desire to destroy Israel, harm its people, or render them defenseless. Demanded, however, is that Israel behave, act civilized, practice the democracy it preaches, observe international and its own laws, and be held fully accountable when it doesn't, including its leaders for their crimes of war and against humanity to deter future ones from committing similar violations.
-- Israel alone menaces Palestinians and other regional states, including Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Those nations, nor any others, threaten Israel, yet again media and Zionist propaganda say otherwise.
-- Zionist ideology is extremist, undemocratic, and hateful. It claims Jewish supremacy, specialness, and uniqueness - God's "chosen people." It harms Jews and non-Jews alike. Former Israeli scholar, critic, and life-long human rights activist, Israel Shahak (1933 - 2001), explained the dangers of Jewish chauvinism, religious fanaticism, and its influence on America's polity.
He called the notion of self-hating Jews "nonsensical" and explained the definition of a Jew:
...."if either their mother, grandmother, great-grandmother (or) great-great-grandmother were Jewesses by religion; or if the person (converted) to Judaism in a way satisfactory to the Israeli authorities, and on condition that the person has not converted from Judaism to another religion." According to the Talmud and post-Talmudic rabbinic law, "conversion (must be) performed by authorized rabbis in a proper manner." For females, it entails an outlandish ritual - "their inspection by three rabbis while naked in a 'bath of purification' " to confirm it.
Shahak wrote extensively on how Israel discriminates in favor of Jews in most every aspect of life, including the three he called most important - "residency rights, the right to work (and to have) equality before the law."
Zionist ideology demeans non-Jews and denies them equal rights in Israel. A body of law enforces it - to legally discriminate against non-Jewish Israeli citizens (for their religion) and Palestinians in the Territories, something unimaginable in all developed states and most others on every continent.
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