Jews and HIndus have both been victims of attempted extermination by Islamics. Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists. But today, most terrorists are Muslims. A speech to Hindu youth in Pune.
On January 8, 2012, I delivered a rather passionate speech in Pune, India via Skype. I was invited to do so by “Youth 4 Panun Kashmir.” The organizers were especially interested in my drawing parallels between Israel and India, Jews and Hindus both of whom have, historically, been genocidally exterminated and driven out of their holy places.
The obsession of the EU, the USA, the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Russia and even the Vatican to interfere in Israel’s domestic and foreign policy reminds me of the treatment of a Big Brother who has failed to do right in his past and thinks that he can make amends by forcing little brother to make all the sacrifices that Big Brother never has and never will make to satisfy a guilty conscience.
Speaking before an overflow audience at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening November 1st, Helen Freedman, the executive director of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI) told those gathered at the Zionism Museum and Education Center that, “the current political climate in Israel demands our active concern and our concrete participation. As the government of Israel acquiesces to world pressure and maintains a timorous posture towards the Arabs, as UNESCO sanitizes the Palestinian Authority, we are witnessing an all out assault against the intrepid settler movement.”
Every day in the Middle East, terrible things take place. The worst are the material acts of violence and oppression. The second-worst are the lies and distortions of truth that help ensure things don’t get better. Every day in the West, the lies are echoed, amplified, and invented. This also helps ensure things don’t get better in the Middle East and that they do get worse in the West.
Now I’ve found, from the most unexpected place, a single sentence, an ancient proverb, that explains it all. It comes from the Navahos and it goes like this:
You cannot awaken someone who pretends to be sleeping.
Following the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas has attempted to convince the world and the international community that their quest for statehood is just. Moreover, he would like us to believe that this “state” is responsible and accountable and deserves to be part of the community of nations. Yet it is puzzling, to say the least, that simultaneously we are witnessing a significant escalation of violence under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority such as the latest attacks in the southern parts of Israel.
And now it seems as if I am standing still while the years quickly swirl round me like autumn leaves, like diamond snowflakes. As one ages, time seems to gather speed.
Paradoxically, this particular moment in history seems to be taking place in slow motion. It seems we have been here before — but really, it is always new, always happening as if for the first time.
In his much awaited speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas officially asked the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state to rounds of applause, except for US Delegate Susan Rice and the Israeli delegation, in the automatically pro-Arab body.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, UN Ambassador Ron Prosor, and later Minister for Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, left the room.
Abbas started his speech by referring to Israel as “an occupying power who has committed ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, pushing them away from their ancestral homeland,” ignoring UN recognition of the state of Israel in 1948.
Autumn in New York City will never be the same. The traditional atmosphere that marks this time of the year such as cooler temperatures, changing leaves and post-season play for major league baseball have been abruptly usurped by the menacing tone of geo-political realities. As most of us are already aware, the United Nations General Assembly will be convening for its annual session. In addition to hosting a veritable rogues gallery of assorted miscreants such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and playing chief sponsor to yet another round of infamous Israel bashing as manifested in the Durban III conference, this year the international spotlight is on the unilateral Palestinian bid for statehood.
Before noon on Wednesday, September 21st, scores of stalwart Christian supporters of Israel along with sizable contingents of Jews poured into Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the United Nations to express their indignation over the unilateral Palestinian bid for statehood expected to take place on Friday as part of the annual UN general assembly meeting. Sponsors of the rally said that a coalition of close to 50 Christian and Jewish organizations along with the Israeli government had taken part in mobilizing over 5000 people to attend under the banner of the “Eagles Wings Coalition Council”, named for the Buffalo, New York based organization of the same name, headed by Robert Stearns. Many rally participants had traveled from across the United States and Canada to attend.
Six Jewish activists including Rabbi Avi Weiss, director of Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns, were arrested on Tuesday morning September 20th at the corner of 1st Avenue and East 40th Street as they blocked traffic in a symbolic protest against the Palestinian bid for independent statehood at the United Nations annual general assembly conference. Their arrest was part of a rally co-sponsored by Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) and Amcha that drew over 35 people, many of whom also stood in street with them.
Agence France Press reports that the Palestinian bid for UN recognition of unilateral statehood is “causing diplomatic panic” in the United States and Israel.
While Israel is certainly concerned, I think “panic” is totally wrong as a description. After all, Israel’s overwhelming interpretation is that the UN event will change nothing. As for U.S. panic, where has the Obama Administration been for the last year when this outcome was totally predictable?
The Associated Press says that Israel is “increasingly isolated” ahead of the vote. I don’t think that’s how Israelis look at this either. We know that cynicism makes sense — various countries will vote for the resolution or abstain purely to get popularity points with Arab and Muslim-majority states and then do nothing.
As the United Nations prepares to vote next week on the issue of Palestinian statehood, it might be worth bearing in mind that whatever the outcome, the result will certainly not be the creation of an actual Palestinian state, any more than the November 1947 partition resolution spelled the inevitable creation of a Jewish one.
In 1948, Israel came into being due to the extraordinary cohesion of Palestine’s Jewish community (the Yishuv). Armed with an unwavering sense of purpose and an extensive network of institutions, the Yishuv managed to surmount a bevy of international obstacles and fend off a pan-Arab attempt to destroy it. Likewise, it was the total lack of communal solidarity — the willingness to subordinate personal interest to the collective good — that accounted for the collapse and dispersion of Palestinian Arab society as its leaders tried to subvert partition.
There are many lands around the world that have been occupied not so long ago by other countries. Many of them are still subjugated to the rule of an occupying power. They were conquered during offensive or defensive wars, throughout the process of establishment of statehood or as a part of colonial and imperial policy. The following is a far from complete list of the lands currently occupied under such circumstances:
Great Britain still occupies Gibraltar, 17 provinces of Ireland, and is holding on to the many residual symbols of her former colonial glory around the world.
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