Israel and the Palestinians: November 2003 Archives

or, Did you know what a semite actually is?

[ original source tracked down to Al-Ahram Weekly Online ]

I received an interesting article today via email from the Palestine Info mailing list, which was about how the Israeli right has twisted the definition of anti-semitism, and stands guilty of more than hypocrisy when they accuse others of being anti-Semitic. Ibrahim Nafie writes:

Israel and Zionist organisations are becoming increasingly dependent upon the charge of "anti- Semitism" as a political weapon. Individuals and organisations, indeed entire nations and societies, have found themselves so besmirched.

Anti-Semitism has a very precise definition. It refers to remarks or acts targeting the ethnic group termed Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs. Israeli and Zionist media and political forces have warped this definition in several ways. Above all they have manipulated the concept of Semitic ethnicity so as to apply to Jews alone, thereby enabling them to level the allegation of anti-Semitism against the Arabs in spite of the fact that they constitute the majority of the Semitic peoples. In addition, they have stretched the definition of anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Israel and Israeli policy. Thus, anyone who speaks out against the aggression and inhumane practices inflicted against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation forces risks being branded "anti-Semitic".

"Radical Jewish settlers claim the the hilltops above the Arab village of Ain Abbus as their own. Palestinians say the settlers have resorted to both threats and violence to prevent them from picking their olives. The settlers say God has called on them to settle there."

So who rushes to the aid of these people? Suprisingly enough, it is a group of rabbis. "Rabbis for Human Rights" that intervenes to help the Palestinians.

The rabbis believe that they must uphold the Jewish tradition of human rights and teach moral responsibility and biblical concern for the "stranger in your midst".

This week it would appear that the rabbis and their local volunteers went to help with the olive picking, only to find hundreds of olive trees had been hacked apart by the Jewish Settlers. (On the word of god no doubt.. )

Why?

Read the complete story: