The mask is being lifted from the face of Israel’s apartheid state, exposing a grinning death’s head that portends the obliteration of the few restraints against killing Palestinians.
Anyone who dares to breath a breath of support for Palestine - or dare to criticize Israel about ANYTHING- is dubbed antisemitic and facing censure across the board
It’s absurd
You’re telling the truth and it’s like talking to a wall
Feral your hyperbole is showing. Antisemitism saw the Jewish Community in Europe destroyed during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Pogroms.
Zionism is just a convenient excuse.
I don't excuse apartheid but it ain't Semitic. It is human. It is religion. It is creating gods in our image.
Moe, I might be mistaken, but my understanding is that antisemitism is the hatred or disliking of the descendants of the ancient Semites that originated on the deserts of Syria and from there invaded most of the levant. Today they compress a large number of nations that even now are being invaded and persecuted by the West just like we did during the crusades. You are an instructed person and if I'm mistaken correct me, that I love learning.
I'm sure you are a good Zionist but, like in any other movement or political faction there are the good, the bad and the ugly. I have observed here in America that the Zionist (the bad and ugly types) with their irrational support of the criminal theocratic regime of Israel are killing the good will that we traditionally had for that country and creating an unjust reputation for the majority of the diaspora. Same that has happened to us around the world because of the unjustified wars invented by our governments. That is what I understand, and agree, when somebody says that Zionism creates anti-Semitism. I know I don't hate the Jews otherwise I wouldn't like the thinking of Marx, Freud, Einstein, Chomsky and the other Jewish geniuses that have influenced so much our modern world.
I am Canadian and Tom Harpur is my go to theologian. He was an ordained Anglican Priest who became religious editor of the Toronto Star.
His best seller was The Pagan Christ on how the gods of ancient Egypt became a Christian Deity.
He said there is no history in The Bible it is literature and literature is true for all time and history is written for the moment.
My father's Judaism was what we call secular humanism or what we called Deism in 1776.
Deism rejects all religion and believes in a universe which is the opposite of a metaverse.
My grandfather was a Labour Zionist and did not believe any land was holy. Zion for him was place of peace and refuge. He sent Jewish youth to Costa Rica, Argentina, Uganda, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US and Canada. He knew Europe hated Jews.
Roman Catholicism was the antithesis of Christ's teachings and modern orthodoxy is "European Judaism" that of a people who live in constant fear.
I lived amongst a traditional aboriginal people. They have just started being what we call "CIVILIZED". Nomadic hunters understood the land owns us we belong to the land.
That is the essence of anti-Semitism as I know it. It is a clash of metaphysical values.
That is why Marx credits Franklin as a founder of Communism and Vilnius is where the enlightenment began.
In Vilnius science ruled and the theologians were ridiculed.
In his 1755 Dictionary of English Language Dr Johnson called the leaders of Vilnius The Wisest of the Wise. The same Dictionary Scalia used to pervert the constitution.
This is America's downfall, the scientists are scorned and priests are respected.
I saw Zelensky as a scientist and Musk as a priest but I am autistic and my perceptions are my perceptions.
Vilnius was destroyed in 1794 and Napoleon II visited after its destruction and said it was still the most beautiful city in Europe.
All the Empires rejoiced when Russia destroyed Vilnius.
Vilnius said people are holy. The land belongs to the universe.
Either the universe is Holy or nothing is Holy.
God doesn't pay attention to prayer she responds only to our deeds. Darwin was a Messiah. Jesus was a Dreamer.
This is from today's GUARDIAN. The sweetgrass ceremony is much the Havdalah services on Friday evenings. I have burnt a lot of sweetgrass although I burnt much more cannadis which was the sweetgrass of the ancient Semitic Temples. At leaast that is what the ash tells us 2000 years later.
These Evangelical are truly our greatest existential threat and Putin is one of their own.
Our courts ruled properly. Quebec's Bill 21 is opposed by the ACLU and Regent University and enjoys the support of 70% 0f Quebecers. Bill21 bans the promotion of religion in school and all our Provincial PUBLIC institutions.
When I was born in 1948 only the promotion of European religion was permitted.
You are correct I don't understand. I am autistic. You know not normal. I need fixing. I am a Zionist. I believe in only one class of citizenship. I don't believe in apartheid. Do you think Palestinians are all the same?
I remember being 20. I didn't care what tribe she belonged to. At 74 I still don't but the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak and I don't think my wife would be happy.
Thank you Chris for highlighting the additional horrors that are about to be visited on the Palestinians. This post needs to be spread far and wide.
I have been saying for at least 30 years that Israel has become what they despised. The difference between how the Jews were treated in the 30's and 40's and what they are doing now is only a difference in degree, not in kind.
As a Jew who can trace my ancestors back to a Chief Rabbi of Vilnius, Poland in the 17th century, I believe the current and recent governments of Israel have/are violating everything Jews are supposed hold as holy.
I really don't have adequate words to describe the horror and disgust I feel about the Israeli government right now.
I suppose I would be called a self-hating Jew by the ultra-Zionists, but if that label is going to be applied to those who follow Hillel's dictum to never do to others what is abhorrent to you, I will wear that label proudly.
I like to turn the phrase "self-hating Jew" on its head: No, I'm not a self-hating Jew. I'm a Jew that hates Israel's rejection of the culture's highest value: "Do unto others as you would be done by."
No matter what these thugs call themselves, it is obvious they are not religious. They are tribal...
Of course it's hogwash, Feral. That's kinda the point.
However, I have never seen "self-hating (whatever)" used in any other context and I ascribe it to the tribalism of much of the Jewish community, especially the ultra-Zionists.
BTW, Theodor Herzl, often called the Father of Zionism, must be spinning in his grave due to what's going on in Israel right now.
From Wikipedia:
"In his novel (Altneuland), Herzl wrote about an electoral campaign in the new state. He directed his wrath against the nationalist party, which wished to make the Jews a privileged class in Israel. Herzl regarded that as a betrayal of Zion, for Zion was identical to him with humanitarianism and tolerance—and that this was true in politics as well as religion. Herzl wrote:
"Matters of faith were once and for all excluded from public influence ... Whether anyone sought religious devotion in the synagogue, in the church, in the mosque, in the art museum, or in a philharmonic concert, did not concern society. That was his [own] private affair."
Love that differential, religious v. tribal. I feel that any religious Jew who is affiliated, acts tribal. There is a definite hierarchy: and it shall be obeyed… very authoritarian and tribal.
If you mean affiliated with a congregation, I would contend that does not necessarily mean authoritarian and tribal. I have been affiliated with my congregation my whole life (72 years), although I stopped participating about seven years ago, partly to avoid my ex-wife.
I have never been authoritarian and the only time I've felt tribal is during the Seder.
Who are you trying to kid, Chris? Israel already is and has been a despotic theocracy. I have always said that Israel is a theocracy - no different from Iran. The funny thing is that they both worship the same Abrahamic god. However, in reality, this is what happens whenever you allow ideology to take over from practical governance. Sadly it is happening to the US. The government no longer solves problems, they apply ideology. If the application of ideology doesn't solve the problem, then you've misidentified the problem. Ask them they'll tell you.
No way. Iran doesn't demand special pleading, insist that anything other than full-throated and unconditional support for every murderous policy is antisemitism identical to that of Hitler and Himmler, and claim Special Historical Victim Status on the one hand, and in the same breath justify their deeds on the basis that might makes right.
Then there is that pesky little detail that Iran hasn't launched a war of aggression since 1799 or so.
You are, of course, correct. I hadn't thought of it in those terms. The funny thing is that not all the Jews left the Levant. Some remained there but didn't run things. Those Jews are looked down on by the European Jews. Tells you something, I think, about European society.
Similarly, there have been Jews in Ethiopia for almost as long as there have been Jews in the Levant. Ethiopian Jews are very much treated as second-class citizens in Israel. And for all the jawing about "Muh Western Judeo-Christian Civilization", Israel treats native Christians like garbage as well.
My understanding is that Israel treats all native Jews like second class citizens, and the only ones who get good treatment are European and U.S. Jews.
I think it is very important to one, distinguish the Jewish religion from Zionism.
Two, understand that the issue is not just cultural and religious, but at its core lies capitalism and class societies.
Without understanding the role of US corporations and their allegiance to Arab states in the early part of the last century, especially Ibn Saud and the Royal family, and the use of Israel in and for the cold war, it is hard to paint any broad brush.
Class plays a large role in Israeli society as it does in the US.
Jewish or not, in a class society if you are not in the upper middle classes or ruling class you lose.
And about the non sequitur of anti-Semitism. The people of Palestine are likely more Semitic than the transplanted European Jews..........but who cares about ethnicity really, when absolute defense of Zionism is the real purpose of all these smear campaigns.
That they work as automatically as they seem to may be an indicator of how Fascistic many of us in the west actually are....beneath or democratic face masks.
"...The people of Palestine are likely more Semitic than the transplanted European Jews..." Good word Ingamarie, you hardly ever hear that the Palestinian people are also "Semitic" but really now, who cares about "semantics?"
Maybe that's why I hear American jews instructing that the word anti-semitism should not be used because that construction of the word by definition includes Palestinians.
Well it just might be a term to some, but words have meaning. I'm a retired English teacher, so for me semantics matter. And its a kind of ignorance to call me an anti Semite because I'm appalled by the treatment of the Palestinian people. For two reasons: 1. Palestinians are a Semitic people and 2. To oppose Zionism and its ideology of Jewish inherent rights to the holy land, is not equivalent to being anti any ethnicity.
So when its used as this loose 'term' you refer to, its lies twice. One lying abuse of language is bad....doubling down on BS offends all mother tongues. I've a 0 tolerance for it.
But it does show you how far a propagandistic lie can travel...and how few 'brainiacs' have the background to call it out.
Today's Palestinians are descended from the Jews that did not leave the Levant. According to Shlomo Sand in his great book "The Invention of the Jewish People" the Palestinians are the descendants of the Jews who remained in Palestine and were converted to Islam. Therefore the ultra-Zionists are murdering their own ancestors.
It is more than a little dreadful what happens to us when we imagine we are a chosen race, people, or political party. Why when we play games in our family, we're always careful to call the winners the weiners.
A little honest humility goes a long way. As unfortunately, does ignorance.
When I put the post up in the first place, I was just looking at it from the perspective of governmental structure, the power of the religion in the society, etc. but your comment brings other things to mind. I cannot relay this tale without hearing "The Revolution will not be televised" run through my head. I lived and worked in Iran, specifically Tehran, from 1977 to 1979 and left two days before the revolution happened. When I finally got to my folk's place in Florida, I sat down on the couch and watched the 11 o'clock news and watched video of Iranians overrunning Doshan Tappeh airbase where I had been just three days earlier. I told you that to frame what comes next. The company I was working for paid us in US$ deposited in our bank accounts. So how did I get Iranian rials to buy stuff? Goldsmiths. In my case, two in specific. Both were Jewish and Iranian (I saved my canceled checks. They have some interesting stamps from Beirut, Amsterdam, London, New York, and finally Dayton where my bank actually was). I'd go in, write a check and, they'd cash it. They got a side benefit in that I bought all sorts of stuff from them. So we all knew the shit was going to hit the fan ever since we knew that the Ayatollah had arrived. I asked Red and Jacob what they going to do. What do you mean, do? Are you going to stay here? Of course. We were here before and we will be here after. No worries? No.
I can't imagine the Palestinians making the same statement.
I am not a Holocaust denier. Far from it. But the fact of the Holocaust doesn't give Israel a license in perpetuity to abuse Palestinians. Nor should our moral hangover in having failed to prevent the Holocaust mean that we are eternally beholden to Israel.
After all, I don't see, for instance, the Congolese demanding and getting a license to behave like brats, because the brutal Belgian occupation of Zaire ended in 1961.
What this shows is that victims tend to act like the people who victimized them if they get a chance. This is of course a generalization, but Israel acts toward Palestinians the way the Nazis acted toward Jews. This doesn't at all excuse anything Israel has done and is still doing, just pointing out a basic psychological fact.
They are both theocratic fascist states. And there are more and more each day -- Hungary, Poland, Brazil, Peru, they grow like a cancer on the body politic.
Israel, like the US, was and is a white settler colony.
You raised a very important point, though maybe not intentionally, and it was no more than a minor point in your comment. The monotheistic religions from the Middle East are one of the worst scourges on this planet. Monotheism is religious authoritarianism ideologically, and these religions have at their core very evil principles, such as human domination over the Earth. The whole world would be a lot better off if these religions had never existed. I realize that all religions have good and bad points, but the bad points of monotheistic religions are far worse than those of other religions, and far outweigh their good points.
"Monotheism is religious authoritarianism ideologically, and these religions have at their core very evil principles, such as human domination over the Earth."
I am in complete agreement and go even further in arguing that belief in Gods is in itself immoral.
Hierarchy is what we are told to believe in and hierarchy is what is keeping us from grabbing one rung of the ladder.
Religion is based in hierarchical thinking.
But not just religion.
Any form of super-naturalism, be they claims to metaphysical truths or belief in rabbit's feet robs the mind of rationality.
I would like to take the time here to introduce you to someone you might never have heard of who takes the points made a bit further.
"This was the opinion of Jean Meslier, the 17th century French philosopher, an atheist in a priest’s skirt (1)
In the preface to his famous “Memoir of Thoughts and Sentiments”, he wrote that he had recently encountered a man who “was not a student, but who evidently possessed sufficient enough common sense to recognise and condemn the abominable abuses,” for he had said that:
“all the great men of the earth should be killed, should be strangled with the intestines of priests and hanged by the neck…”
Meslier adds:
“This way of speaking certainly seems harsh, rude and offensive, but it must be admitted that it is frank and open. Frank, succinct and impressive.”
You would be completely incorrect. There was nothing unintentional about it. I was raised Roman Catholic and then I went to college and took a course called the Philosophy of religion. The most corrupting course I took. Ancient Greek and Roman religions, a bit of Judaism & Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism. I also spent time going through the ancient Celtic religions as well as Islam when I was in Iran, and Zoroastrianism and the religions of the Aztec and Maya. Personally, I'm an atheist thanks to all that.
I will disagree with you on one point. I agree with your assessment of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) but one of the world's oldest religions, Zoroastrianism, is a monotheistic religion that lacks many of the objectionable facets of the Abrahamic religions.
Jews who have a history of being oppressed are now the oppressors. These people do not really understand Jewish history, values and culture. They are not real Jews. As an American Jew, they do not represent me and my values. What they are doing is repulsive to me.
Yes, but it depends on what one sees in history. The behavior of the current murderers can be understood by remembering the biblical tale of Joshua's invasion of Palestine where he burned all the villages he found and killed anything that moved, and, a similar massacre was perpetuated by the European Jewish settlers during the 1940's.
I profoundly admire the Jewish people for their love of justice and peace and I wish they pressed the APAC lobby to demand from our politicians peaceful solutions rather than more guns. I Also wish most Americans contributed to the Israeli Human Rights Watch organization whose some of their articles Mr. Hedges embedded in this report.
This is their website I use to contribute and to get independent Israeli news:
What leg does the USA government have for giving and or selling ANY armaments, money or (im)moral support to Israel? How can we, the people, see to it that Israel gets zero from us? Isn't it time to spur human rights organizations to demonstrate, organize boycotts and economically divest from Israel just as they did (we did) with South Africa? Why should Israel be treated any differently than apartheid South Africa?
P.S. Thankyou Chris for the sanity of your writing. I am 65 and have been peeling the onion of propaganda since 911. At that time I actually hung a USA flag to show support and sent money to the N.Y. Fire fighters. Then I went digging and was lucky enough to read Chomsky who step by step lifted my ignorance. When Dubya pointed his cannons at Iraq I ripped the flag down. Before that time I didn't realize how manipulated we the public were. All the pro war Hawks were lionized by the media and anyone against were censored or fired. Finding writers like you who speak truth to power has set me free!
the MSM will simply NOT allow Israel to be "tarnished" no matter what they do. no matter!
Heck, MSM, don't even tarnish oil pipeline operators for leaking...so much back story is hidden away from the dumb Muricans.....kept dumb......so sensitive is the news coverage!
But smearing entire races, slut shaming women, is par for the course in the MSM hollywood reality.
Elon Musk should certainly receive a Nobel Peace Prize -- he just might have saved us all from the US bipartisan fascist War party !!
However, it will be interesting if the research and exposure of censorship at Twitter will extend into “unprovoked” Ukraine catastrophe or into 70 years of terror on Palestinians. On that, not at all sure about Bari Weiss who
-- supports apartheid, i.e., racism,
-- publishes her interview with “Bibi” Netanjahu in her newsletter while promoting it with Twitter files,
-- adores super-racist Nathan Sharansky ("Kill all Arabs") and
-- permanently eliminates/censors her paying readers if they mention human rights of Palestinians
It is rich that Bari Weiss, of all people, is promoted as a free speech icon, when she was all about cancelling anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to Israel.
Israel is not our friend. One only needs to remember the attack on the USS Liberty and to research the inconsistencies of the official 911 story to know that. (And then there is the systematic sexual blackmail of American elites by Epstein and company.)
One of the great ironies of our time is that the state founded on the history of European racial persecution is itself today one of the most ruthlessly genocidal countries in the world.
What pariah status? Any politician expresses anything other than blanket support for anything Israel did, does or chooses to do, and Israel runs screaming to its American bully.
QUOTE: “Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the U.S. lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note, we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us” --Menachem Begin telling Young Senator Joe Biden, 1982.
Meanwhile, Biden is on tape during his late campaign for the presidency saying it's US policy to continue to make the middle east a greater safe zone play area for ISrael.
"...the U.S. lends us money..." Is he referring to the 3.8 billion dollars in welfare that the U.S. gives to Israel every year (except for the years when they request more)?
Yes Feral and the Samson Option to back them up! Robert Fisk used to wonder why the USA diplomats bent over backwards to Zionist chauvinists like they were junior statesmen. They all walked on eggshells terrified to push Israel in any way shape or form. Then from the Grandmotherly mouth of Golda it came to light "We will go crazy" basically threatening if push comes to shove we will take out the world!
I find it ironic that descendents of Jews persecuted, hunted and exterminated by the Nazis would espouse the same psychotic supremacist ideology in seeking to exterminate the Palestinians. The west, in particular the United States is largely to blame for this and should be responsible for reining in rabid Israeli nationalism
The mask is off but no media in Canada allows the public to see! I get the Toronto Star they have comment sections to articles and 9 out of 10 are censured! Having access to Haaretz allows comments and most are printed. This tidbit of blatant hate in Haaretz was deemed unacceptable to the Star. From BBBC channel 4 interview with far write lawmaker Zvika Fogel "if it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry" "Anyone who wants to harm me, I will harm him back. As far as I am concerned the concept of proportionality should cease to exist" The interviewer Secunder Kermani acused Fogel of racism and Fogel said "We are too merciful. Its time for us to stop being so"! AHHHHGGGG!!!!
I noticed that you employed the term ‘VIOLENCE’ several times in your pleading against this unprecedented VIOLENCE.
While I fully sympathize with your goal and Demand for gun (and weapons) sanity, rather than this insane gun/weapons culture throughout our only small fragile world.
I wrote this comment to the NYT this mourning:
My following brief comment to the NYT expands on this critical effort for peaceful co-habitation of our ’only small, fragile, and endangered world’:
Paul [Krugman], there is a simple reason as to "Why America Is Getting Tough on Trade" — because "The Quiet American Empire” [apologies to Graham Greene] can't dominate our world, based only on superior propaganda, and deceit — but only on threatened or actual GUNS & Weapons of Violence.
Which is why I believe that my ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and double-sided demonstration signs — which I employ weekly in Portland Maine & Portsmouth NH. simply say:
LOVE
OVER
VIOLENT
EMPIRE
and on the other side:
LOVE
Democratic
Socialism in
America
Since America continues its extreme arrogance of acting like this:
Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Racist Propagandist Criminal Ecocidal 'Children-Killing' & 'War-Starting' EMPIRE, controlled by the ‘Ruling-Elite’, UHNWI, <0.003%ers, TCCers, arrogantly self-appointed "Masters of the Universe", and "Evil (not-so) Geniuses" [Kurt Andersen] — which hides, or attempts to disguise this Empire behind their totally corrupted dual-party Vichy-facade of duopoly faux-democracy — in the same manner that the Bush/Chaney administration, and the Neo-Conservative focused PNAC, heralded as an unprecedented Global Unipolar Power.
But, IMHO, the fellow duopoly party of this Empire of Violence held an earlier goal of the same level of geopolitical and Imperialist deceit in the "Quiet coup d'tate" of 1944's OSS & DNC torpedoing of FDR's brilliant and socialist VP, Henry Wallace.
If this were just between Arabs and Jews, I'd say "who cares?" And I'm 100% Jewish! This idiotic fight between two tribes that's been going on for thousands of years just because two brothers couldn't get along is stupid beyond words.
The problem here is that the U.S. and U.K. got involved, stealing Palestinian land and creating the Zionist state of Israel on it, mainly and originally for the purpose of having some control over the oil in the region. This has allowed Israel to act with impunity toward the Palestinians, and any sane and moral person can see how that's worked out. As usual, the West is the real problem here, though that's no excuse for Israel's behavior or actions.
Thank you for calling a spade a spade, Chris. For far too long, the apartheid regime of Israel has committed murder and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and gotten away with it. It seems that the Zionists have forgotten that the expression "never again" applies also to the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, from whom the Zionists stole their land and then proceeded to annihilate them. The current trend of calling anyone opposed to this criminal regime an "anti-semite" is abhorrent and used to cover over the true nature of the Israeli policies and practices. It amounts to the same thing that is currently going in in Germany, with its own rise of neo-Nazism, and also what is taking place under the ultra-nationalist government of Ukraine where Nazis are called "freedom fighters".
Anyone who dares to breath a breath of support for Palestine - or dare to criticize Israel about ANYTHING- is dubbed antisemitic and facing censure across the board
It’s absurd
You’re telling the truth and it’s like talking to a wall
Israel is its worst enemy. Zionism is racism and theocratic fascism.
That they have the nuclear bomb is the frightening part for they are ready to use it.
But then again, it is hard to have much empathy for the people of Israel as it is hard to have much empathy for the people of the US.
The alarm clock by the bed has been wringing all morning but most people are still asleep.
The Zionists have created more genuine antisemites than anything written on Stormfront or whatever.
Feral your hyperbole is showing. Antisemitism saw the Jewish Community in Europe destroyed during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Pogroms.
Zionism is just a convenient excuse.
I don't excuse apartheid but it ain't Semitic. It is human. It is religion. It is creating gods in our image.
Moe, I might be mistaken, but my understanding is that antisemitism is the hatred or disliking of the descendants of the ancient Semites that originated on the deserts of Syria and from there invaded most of the levant. Today they compress a large number of nations that even now are being invaded and persecuted by the West just like we did during the crusades. You are an instructed person and if I'm mistaken correct me, that I love learning.
I'm sure you are a good Zionist but, like in any other movement or political faction there are the good, the bad and the ugly. I have observed here in America that the Zionist (the bad and ugly types) with their irrational support of the criminal theocratic regime of Israel are killing the good will that we traditionally had for that country and creating an unjust reputation for the majority of the diaspora. Same that has happened to us around the world because of the unjustified wars invented by our governments. That is what I understand, and agree, when somebody says that Zionism creates anti-Semitism. I know I don't hate the Jews otherwise I wouldn't like the thinking of Marx, Freud, Einstein, Chomsky and the other Jewish geniuses that have influenced so much our modern world.
Thank you,
If I might respond.
I am Canadian and Tom Harpur is my go to theologian. He was an ordained Anglican Priest who became religious editor of the Toronto Star.
His best seller was The Pagan Christ on how the gods of ancient Egypt became a Christian Deity.
He said there is no history in The Bible it is literature and literature is true for all time and history is written for the moment.
My father's Judaism was what we call secular humanism or what we called Deism in 1776.
Deism rejects all religion and believes in a universe which is the opposite of a metaverse.
My grandfather was a Labour Zionist and did not believe any land was holy. Zion for him was place of peace and refuge. He sent Jewish youth to Costa Rica, Argentina, Uganda, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US and Canada. He knew Europe hated Jews.
Roman Catholicism was the antithesis of Christ's teachings and modern orthodoxy is "European Judaism" that of a people who live in constant fear.
I lived amongst a traditional aboriginal people. They have just started being what we call "CIVILIZED". Nomadic hunters understood the land owns us we belong to the land.
That is the essence of anti-Semitism as I know it. It is a clash of metaphysical values.
That is why Marx credits Franklin as a founder of Communism and Vilnius is where the enlightenment began.
In Vilnius science ruled and the theologians were ridiculed.
In his 1755 Dictionary of English Language Dr Johnson called the leaders of Vilnius The Wisest of the Wise. The same Dictionary Scalia used to pervert the constitution.
This is America's downfall, the scientists are scorned and priests are respected.
I saw Zelensky as a scientist and Musk as a priest but I am autistic and my perceptions are my perceptions.
Vilnius was destroyed in 1794 and Napoleon II visited after its destruction and said it was still the most beautiful city in Europe.
All the Empires rejoiced when Russia destroyed Vilnius.
Vilnius said people are holy. The land belongs to the universe.
Either the universe is Holy or nothing is Holy.
God doesn't pay attention to prayer she responds only to our deeds. Darwin was a Messiah. Jesus was a Dreamer.
This is from today's GUARDIAN. The sweetgrass ceremony is much the Havdalah services on Friday evenings. I have burnt a lot of sweetgrass although I burnt much more cannadis which was the sweetgrass of the ancient Semitic Temples. At leaast that is what the ash tells us 2000 years later.
These Evangelical are truly our greatest existential threat and Putin is one of their own.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/13/canada-court-reject-indigenous-ceremony-school-religious-freedom
Our courts ruled properly. Quebec's Bill 21 is opposed by the ACLU and Regent University and enjoys the support of 70% 0f Quebecers. Bill21 bans the promotion of religion in school and all our Provincial PUBLIC institutions.
When I was born in 1948 only the promotion of European religion was permitted.
You apparently misunderstood my comment.
Thank you but what is genuine antisemitism?
You are correct I don't understand. I am autistic. You know not normal. I need fixing. I am a Zionist. I believe in only one class of citizenship. I don't believe in apartheid. Do you think Palestinians are all the same?
I remember being 20. I didn't care what tribe she belonged to. At 74 I still don't but the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak and I don't think my wife would be happy.
Criticizing Israel doesn't by itself mean that one has any dislike of Jews, any more than criticizing Nazi Germany means that you must hate Germans.
You can wake someone who is asleep,
but you cannot wake someone who pretends to be asleep.
too damn many
Somnambulists.
A breath of fresh air. The truth is that way....thank you Chris Hedges.
2 peas in a pot.
"POD"
I think you've got the expression wrong.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/two%20peas%20in%20a%20pod
Thank you Chris for highlighting the additional horrors that are about to be visited on the Palestinians. This post needs to be spread far and wide.
I have been saying for at least 30 years that Israel has become what they despised. The difference between how the Jews were treated in the 30's and 40's and what they are doing now is only a difference in degree, not in kind.
As a Jew who can trace my ancestors back to a Chief Rabbi of Vilnius, Poland in the 17th century, I believe the current and recent governments of Israel have/are violating everything Jews are supposed hold as holy.
I really don't have adequate words to describe the horror and disgust I feel about the Israeli government right now.
I suppose I would be called a self-hating Jew by the ultra-Zionists, but if that label is going to be applied to those who follow Hillel's dictum to never do to others what is abhorrent to you, I will wear that label proudly.
I like to turn the phrase "self-hating Jew" on its head: No, I'm not a self-hating Jew. I'm a Jew that hates Israel's rejection of the culture's highest value: "Do unto others as you would be done by."
No matter what these thugs call themselves, it is obvious they are not religious. They are tribal...
If I am a German and I detested Nazi Germany, does that mean I am a "self-hating German"?
Hogwash.
Of course it's hogwash, Feral. That's kinda the point.
However, I have never seen "self-hating (whatever)" used in any other context and I ascribe it to the tribalism of much of the Jewish community, especially the ultra-Zionists.
BTW, Theodor Herzl, often called the Father of Zionism, must be spinning in his grave due to what's going on in Israel right now.
From Wikipedia:
"In his novel (Altneuland), Herzl wrote about an electoral campaign in the new state. He directed his wrath against the nationalist party, which wished to make the Jews a privileged class in Israel. Herzl regarded that as a betrayal of Zion, for Zion was identical to him with humanitarianism and tolerance—and that this was true in politics as well as religion. Herzl wrote:
"Matters of faith were once and for all excluded from public influence ... Whether anyone sought religious devotion in the synagogue, in the church, in the mosque, in the art museum, or in a philharmonic concert, did not concern society. That was his [own] private affair."
Israel today is nothing like what he envisioned.
I see it as using tribal identity to enforce tribal loyalty.
Besides being tribal, it's also fundamentally dishonest.
Love that differential, religious v. tribal. I feel that any religious Jew who is affiliated, acts tribal. There is a definite hierarchy: and it shall be obeyed… very authoritarian and tribal.
I'm curious about what you mean by affiliated.
If you mean affiliated with a congregation, I would contend that does not necessarily mean authoritarian and tribal. I have been affiliated with my congregation my whole life (72 years), although I stopped participating about seven years ago, partly to avoid my ex-wife.
I have never been authoritarian and the only time I've felt tribal is during the Seder.
I like that idea, David. It puts the onus back on the other person to justify their position.
I agree that they are irreligious and tribal, and it's a damn shame.
Said like a rebbi…
Thank you, Kate. That's very kind. I'm honored.
Who are you trying to kid, Chris? Israel already is and has been a despotic theocracy. I have always said that Israel is a theocracy - no different from Iran. The funny thing is that they both worship the same Abrahamic god. However, in reality, this is what happens whenever you allow ideology to take over from practical governance. Sadly it is happening to the US. The government no longer solves problems, they apply ideology. If the application of ideology doesn't solve the problem, then you've misidentified the problem. Ask them they'll tell you.
No way. Iran doesn't demand special pleading, insist that anything other than full-throated and unconditional support for every murderous policy is antisemitism identical to that of Hitler and Himmler, and claim Special Historical Victim Status on the one hand, and in the same breath justify their deeds on the basis that might makes right.
Then there is that pesky little detail that Iran hasn't launched a war of aggression since 1799 or so.
You are, of course, correct. I hadn't thought of it in those terms. The funny thing is that not all the Jews left the Levant. Some remained there but didn't run things. Those Jews are looked down on by the European Jews. Tells you something, I think, about European society.
Similarly, there have been Jews in Ethiopia for almost as long as there have been Jews in the Levant. Ethiopian Jews are very much treated as second-class citizens in Israel. And for all the jawing about "Muh Western Judeo-Christian Civilization", Israel treats native Christians like garbage as well.
The Rastafarians are hated by the Zionists which show their utter hypocrisy
My understanding is that Israel treats all native Jews like second class citizens, and the only ones who get good treatment are European and U.S. Jews.
I think it is very important to one, distinguish the Jewish religion from Zionism.
Two, understand that the issue is not just cultural and religious, but at its core lies capitalism and class societies.
Without understanding the role of US corporations and their allegiance to Arab states in the early part of the last century, especially Ibn Saud and the Royal family, and the use of Israel in and for the cold war, it is hard to paint any broad brush.
Class plays a large role in Israeli society as it does in the US.
Jewish or not, in a class society if you are not in the upper middle classes or ruling class you lose.
And about the non sequitur of anti-Semitism. The people of Palestine are likely more Semitic than the transplanted European Jews..........but who cares about ethnicity really, when absolute defense of Zionism is the real purpose of all these smear campaigns.
That they work as automatically as they seem to may be an indicator of how Fascistic many of us in the west actually are....beneath or democratic face masks.
"...The people of Palestine are likely more Semitic than the transplanted European Jews..." Good word Ingamarie, you hardly ever hear that the Palestinian people are also "Semitic" but really now, who cares about "semantics?"
Maybe that's why I hear American jews instructing that the word anti-semitism should not be used because that construction of the word by definition includes Palestinians.
Damn ironic isn't it. And a damn shame for certain as no people should be treated in this manner especially by a people who should know better.
Aren't all Arabs also Semitic? Antisemitism is just a term, and everyone knows that it means being prejudiced against Jews.
Well it just might be a term to some, but words have meaning. I'm a retired English teacher, so for me semantics matter. And its a kind of ignorance to call me an anti Semite because I'm appalled by the treatment of the Palestinian people. For two reasons: 1. Palestinians are a Semitic people and 2. To oppose Zionism and its ideology of Jewish inherent rights to the holy land, is not equivalent to being anti any ethnicity.
So when its used as this loose 'term' you refer to, its lies twice. One lying abuse of language is bad....doubling down on BS offends all mother tongues. I've a 0 tolerance for it.
But it does show you how far a propagandistic lie can travel...and how few 'brainiacs' have the background to call it out.
Today's Palestinians are descended from the Jews that did not leave the Levant. According to Shlomo Sand in his great book "The Invention of the Jewish People" the Palestinians are the descendants of the Jews who remained in Palestine and were converted to Islam. Therefore the ultra-Zionists are murdering their own ancestors.
It is more than a little dreadful what happens to us when we imagine we are a chosen race, people, or political party. Why when we play games in our family, we're always careful to call the winners the weiners.
A little honest humility goes a long way. As unfortunately, does ignorance.
When I put the post up in the first place, I was just looking at it from the perspective of governmental structure, the power of the religion in the society, etc. but your comment brings other things to mind. I cannot relay this tale without hearing "The Revolution will not be televised" run through my head. I lived and worked in Iran, specifically Tehran, from 1977 to 1979 and left two days before the revolution happened. When I finally got to my folk's place in Florida, I sat down on the couch and watched the 11 o'clock news and watched video of Iranians overrunning Doshan Tappeh airbase where I had been just three days earlier. I told you that to frame what comes next. The company I was working for paid us in US$ deposited in our bank accounts. So how did I get Iranian rials to buy stuff? Goldsmiths. In my case, two in specific. Both were Jewish and Iranian (I saved my canceled checks. They have some interesting stamps from Beirut, Amsterdam, London, New York, and finally Dayton where my bank actually was). I'd go in, write a check and, they'd cash it. They got a side benefit in that I bought all sorts of stuff from them. So we all knew the shit was going to hit the fan ever since we knew that the Ayatollah had arrived. I asked Red and Jacob what they going to do. What do you mean, do? Are you going to stay here? Of course. We were here before and we will be here after. No worries? No.
I can't imagine the Palestinians making the same statement.
Perpetual Special Historical Victim Status ad infinitum
I am not a Holocaust denier. Far from it. But the fact of the Holocaust doesn't give Israel a license in perpetuity to abuse Palestinians. Nor should our moral hangover in having failed to prevent the Holocaust mean that we are eternally beholden to Israel.
After all, I don't see, for instance, the Congolese demanding and getting a license to behave like brats, because the brutal Belgian occupation of Zaire ended in 1961.
What this shows is that victims tend to act like the people who victimized them if they get a chance. This is of course a generalization, but Israel acts toward Palestinians the way the Nazis acted toward Jews. This doesn't at all excuse anything Israel has done and is still doing, just pointing out a basic psychological fact.
They are both theocratic fascist states. And there are more and more each day -- Hungary, Poland, Brazil, Peru, they grow like a cancer on the body politic.
Israel, like the US, was and is a white settler colony.
You raised a very important point, though maybe not intentionally, and it was no more than a minor point in your comment. The monotheistic religions from the Middle East are one of the worst scourges on this planet. Monotheism is religious authoritarianism ideologically, and these religions have at their core very evil principles, such as human domination over the Earth. The whole world would be a lot better off if these religions had never existed. I realize that all religions have good and bad points, but the bad points of monotheistic religions are far worse than those of other religions, and far outweigh their good points.
"Monotheism is religious authoritarianism ideologically, and these religions have at their core very evil principles, such as human domination over the Earth."
I am in complete agreement and go even further in arguing that belief in Gods is in itself immoral.
Hierarchy is what we are told to believe in and hierarchy is what is keeping us from grabbing one rung of the ladder.
Religion is based in hierarchical thinking.
But not just religion.
Any form of super-naturalism, be they claims to metaphysical truths or belief in rabbit's feet robs the mind of rationality.
I would like to take the time here to introduce you to someone you might never have heard of who takes the points made a bit further.
"This was the opinion of Jean Meslier, the 17th century French philosopher, an atheist in a priest’s skirt (1)
In the preface to his famous “Memoir of Thoughts and Sentiments”, he wrote that he had recently encountered a man who “was not a student, but who evidently possessed sufficient enough common sense to recognise and condemn the abominable abuses,” for he had said that:
“all the great men of the earth should be killed, should be strangled with the intestines of priests and hanged by the neck…”
Meslier adds:
“This way of speaking certainly seems harsh, rude and offensive, but it must be admitted that it is frank and open. Frank, succinct and impressive.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Meslier
You would be completely incorrect. There was nothing unintentional about it. I was raised Roman Catholic and then I went to college and took a course called the Philosophy of religion. The most corrupting course I took. Ancient Greek and Roman religions, a bit of Judaism & Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism. I also spent time going through the ancient Celtic religions as well as Islam when I was in Iran, and Zoroastrianism and the religions of the Aztec and Maya. Personally, I'm an atheist thanks to all that.
I will disagree with you on one point. I agree with your assessment of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) but one of the world's oldest religions, Zoroastrianism, is a monotheistic religion that lacks many of the objectionable facets of the Abrahamic religions.
Jews who have a history of being oppressed are now the oppressors. These people do not really understand Jewish history, values and culture. They are not real Jews. As an American Jew, they do not represent me and my values. What they are doing is repulsive to me.
Phil, I couldn’t agree more.
Thanks!
Yes, but it depends on what one sees in history. The behavior of the current murderers can be understood by remembering the biblical tale of Joshua's invasion of Palestine where he burned all the villages he found and killed anything that moved, and, a similar massacre was perpetuated by the European Jewish settlers during the 1940's.
I profoundly admire the Jewish people for their love of justice and peace and I wish they pressed the APAC lobby to demand from our politicians peaceful solutions rather than more guns. I Also wish most Americans contributed to the Israeli Human Rights Watch organization whose some of their articles Mr. Hedges embedded in this report.
This is their website I use to contribute and to get independent Israeli news:
https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20221006_icc_preventive_intervention
What leg does the USA government have for giving and or selling ANY armaments, money or (im)moral support to Israel? How can we, the people, see to it that Israel gets zero from us? Isn't it time to spur human rights organizations to demonstrate, organize boycotts and economically divest from Israel just as they did (we did) with South Africa? Why should Israel be treated any differently than apartheid South Africa?
This might be the leg:
Pro-Israel: Money to Congress
2022
SummaryTop 20 MembersAll SenatorsAll Members of the HouseAll Senate CandidatesAll House Candidates
Party Split:
Dems: Dems: $20,866,534$20,866,534
Repubs: Repubs: $10,407,520$10,407,520
Others: Other: $12,900$12,900
All Candidates:
Total to All Candidates: $31,286,954$31,286,954
Incumbents Only:
Total to Members: $24,821,452$24,821,452
House # of Members Average Contribution Total Contributions
Democrats 199 $62,651 $12,467,634
Republicans 194 $31,215 $6,055,809
Independents 0 $0 $0
TOTAL 393 $47,133 $18,523,443
The US House of Representatives has 435 members and 5 non-voting delegates.
Totals may exceed 440 due to mid-term replacements.
Senate # of Members Average Contribution Total Contributions
Democrats 27 $136,915 $3,696,707
Republicans 15 $173,420 $2,601,302
Independents 0 $0 $0
TOTAL 42 $149,953 $6,298,009
It's the United States buffer zone in the middle east?????
Money.
P.S. Thankyou Chris for the sanity of your writing. I am 65 and have been peeling the onion of propaganda since 911. At that time I actually hung a USA flag to show support and sent money to the N.Y. Fire fighters. Then I went digging and was lucky enough to read Chomsky who step by step lifted my ignorance. When Dubya pointed his cannons at Iraq I ripped the flag down. Before that time I didn't realize how manipulated we the public were. All the pro war Hawks were lionized by the media and anyone against were censored or fired. Finding writers like you who speak truth to power has set me free!
It is good that you got wise. Too many people keep doubling down rather than admit that they were fooled.
the MSM will simply NOT allow Israel to be "tarnished" no matter what they do. no matter!
Heck, MSM, don't even tarnish oil pipeline operators for leaking...so much back story is hidden away from the dumb Muricans.....kept dumb......so sensitive is the news coverage!
But smearing entire races, slut shaming women, is par for the course in the MSM hollywood reality.
Thank you VERY much for this superb analysis.
Elon Musk should certainly receive a Nobel Peace Prize -- he just might have saved us all from the US bipartisan fascist War party !!
However, it will be interesting if the research and exposure of censorship at Twitter will extend into “unprovoked” Ukraine catastrophe or into 70 years of terror on Palestinians. On that, not at all sure about Bari Weiss who
-- supports apartheid, i.e., racism,
-- publishes her interview with “Bibi” Netanjahu in her newsletter while promoting it with Twitter files,
-- adores super-racist Nathan Sharansky ("Kill all Arabs") and
-- permanently eliminates/censors her paying readers if they mention human rights of Palestinians
It is rich that Bari Weiss, of all people, is promoted as a free speech icon, when she was all about cancelling anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to Israel.
Israel is not our friend. One only needs to remember the attack on the USS Liberty and to research the inconsistencies of the official 911 story to know that. (And then there is the systematic sexual blackmail of American elites by Epstein and company.)
One of the great ironies of our time is that the state founded on the history of European racial persecution is itself today one of the most ruthlessly genocidal countries in the world.
What pariah status? Any politician expresses anything other than blanket support for anything Israel did, does or chooses to do, and Israel runs screaming to its American bully.
QUOTE: “Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the U.S. lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note, we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us” --Menachem Begin telling Young Senator Joe Biden, 1982.
Meanwhile, Biden is on tape during his late campaign for the presidency saying it's US policy to continue to make the middle east a greater safe zone play area for ISrael.
"...the U.S. lends us money..." Is he referring to the 3.8 billion dollars in welfare that the U.S. gives to Israel every year (except for the years when they request more)?
Yes Feral and the Samson Option to back them up! Robert Fisk used to wonder why the USA diplomats bent over backwards to Zionist chauvinists like they were junior statesmen. They all walked on eggshells terrified to push Israel in any way shape or form. Then from the Grandmotherly mouth of Golda it came to light "We will go crazy" basically threatening if push comes to shove we will take out the world!
Why do people think women are "kinder and gentler"? "Golda boots" were named after the brutal Golda.
Israel doesn't even need the Samson Option.
They just have the US to act as their bullyboy.
I find it ironic that descendents of Jews persecuted, hunted and exterminated by the Nazis would espouse the same psychotic supremacist ideology in seeking to exterminate the Palestinians. The west, in particular the United States is largely to blame for this and should be responsible for reining in rabid Israeli nationalism
Some Israeli government functionary recently put it thusly, that his only beef with the Nazis was that they were on the other side.
Seems he learned the wrong lessons.
The mask is off but no media in Canada allows the public to see! I get the Toronto Star they have comment sections to articles and 9 out of 10 are censured! Having access to Haaretz allows comments and most are printed. This tidbit of blatant hate in Haaretz was deemed unacceptable to the Star. From BBBC channel 4 interview with far write lawmaker Zvika Fogel "if it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry" "Anyone who wants to harm me, I will harm him back. As far as I am concerned the concept of proportionality should cease to exist" The interviewer Secunder Kermani acused Fogel of racism and Fogel said "We are too merciful. Its time for us to stop being so"! AHHHHGGGG!!!!
I wish I could listen to this on my computer..... I don't have a smart phone...
Carol K
I noticed that you employed the term ‘VIOLENCE’ several times in your pleading against this unprecedented VIOLENCE.
While I fully sympathize with your goal and Demand for gun (and weapons) sanity, rather than this insane gun/weapons culture throughout our only small fragile world.
I wrote this comment to the NYT this mourning:
My following brief comment to the NYT expands on this critical effort for peaceful co-habitation of our ’only small, fragile, and endangered world’:
Paul [Krugman], there is a simple reason as to "Why America Is Getting Tough on Trade" — because "The Quiet American Empire” [apologies to Graham Greene] can't dominate our world, based only on superior propaganda, and deceit — but only on threatened or actual GUNS & Weapons of Violence.
Which is why I believe that my ad-hoc, focus-group tested, and double-sided demonstration signs — which I employ weekly in Portland Maine & Portsmouth NH. simply say:
LOVE
OVER
VIOLENT
EMPIRE
and on the other side:
LOVE
Democratic
Socialism in
America
Since America continues its extreme arrogance of acting like this:
Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Racist Propagandist Criminal Ecocidal 'Children-Killing' & 'War-Starting' EMPIRE, controlled by the ‘Ruling-Elite’, UHNWI, <0.003%ers, TCCers, arrogantly self-appointed "Masters of the Universe", and "Evil (not-so) Geniuses" [Kurt Andersen] — which hides, or attempts to disguise this Empire behind their totally corrupted dual-party Vichy-facade of duopoly faux-democracy — in the same manner that the Bush/Chaney administration, and the Neo-Conservative focused PNAC, heralded as an unprecedented Global Unipolar Power.
But, IMHO, the fellow duopoly party of this Empire of Violence held an earlier goal of the same level of geopolitical and Imperialist deceit in the "Quiet coup d'tate" of 1944's OSS & DNC torpedoing of FDR's brilliant and socialist VP, Henry Wallace.
If this were just between Arabs and Jews, I'd say "who cares?" And I'm 100% Jewish! This idiotic fight between two tribes that's been going on for thousands of years just because two brothers couldn't get along is stupid beyond words.
The problem here is that the U.S. and U.K. got involved, stealing Palestinian land and creating the Zionist state of Israel on it, mainly and originally for the purpose of having some control over the oil in the region. This has allowed Israel to act with impunity toward the Palestinians, and any sane and moral person can see how that's worked out. As usual, the West is the real problem here, though that's no excuse for Israel's behavior or actions.
Thank you for calling a spade a spade, Chris. For far too long, the apartheid regime of Israel has committed murder and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and gotten away with it. It seems that the Zionists have forgotten that the expression "never again" applies also to the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, from whom the Zionists stole their land and then proceeded to annihilate them. The current trend of calling anyone opposed to this criminal regime an "anti-semite" is abhorrent and used to cover over the true nature of the Israeli policies and practices. It amounts to the same thing that is currently going in in Germany, with its own rise of neo-Nazism, and also what is taking place under the ultra-nationalist government of Ukraine where Nazis are called "freedom fighters".