Actually, one doesn't see too many Zionists protesting the outrageous misuse of Nazi analogies to describe the people downtrodden by Israel. Quite on the contrary, an army of pundits and pseudo-scholars (yes, I mean Alan Dershowitz among others) have been busy all these years waving the photo of the unelected Mufti of Jerusalem with Adolph Hitler, and claiming that the whole Palestinian nationalist movement stems from a sick desire to kill Jews.
So what do you make of the following story?
Jerusalem-born Jew elected to Fatah Revolutionary Council
The official list published Saturday of winners in elections to the Revolutionary Council of the Palestinian Fatah movement included 67-year-old Dr. Uri Davis, a Jerusalem-born Jew.
He was the first Jew to become a member of the Revolutionary Council since it was established in 1958.
Davis, who in the 1980s abandoned his Israeli citizenship in protest over Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and later received Palestinian citizenship, was the only non-Arab to run for a seat in the Revolutionary Council, Fatah's legislative body.
(...)
Speaking perfect Arabic, he teaches Jewish studies at the Palestinian al-Quds University in Abu Dis, located just outside an eight-meter high concrete wall Israel has built around occupied East Jerusalem to separate it from its West Bank environs.
The problem with using loaded words for accusing people is that the more loaded the word, the easier it is to find counterexamples. If you call a guy a Nazi, you must prove he's never been friends with a Jew, because Nazism is a visceral hatred of Jews which allows for no exceptions. And the Palestinians have proved not only that they can accept a Jew living among them and teaching in their universities, but also that they can elect him to a position in the Revolutionary Council of their main party.
Of course, many will say now that Davis is a sell-out Jew, a self-hating Jew. That may be so, I never asked him about his self-attitude -- but he's still a Jew. And how many Jews, even self-hating ones, were ever there in the Nazi Party leadership?
Or, for that matter, how many Israeli Muslims, even self-hating Muslims, are there in the Likud Central Committee?
According to one account at least, he converted to Islam:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127310
Ibrahim, could you please contact me?
ReplyDeletesomethingfantastical[at]live[dot]com
Thank you,
Mustafa
good post!
ReplyDelete"because Nazism is a visceral hatred of Jews which allows for no exceptions."
ReplyDeleteThe Hamas charter is no different. The Palestinian people elected to power a party that advocates genocide of the Jews -- not just in Israel but in the whole world. Simply put, like the Germans in 1933, the Palestinians elected Nazis. That is why Israel has the moral duty to protect itself against this genocidal threat on its borders.
The part of the Hamas Charter that no hasbarist will mention.
ReplyDeleteArticle Thirty-One: The Members of Other Religions The Hamas is a Humane Movement: Hamas is a humane movement, which cares for human rights and is committed to the tolerance inherent in Islam as regards attitudes towards other religions. It is only hostile to those who are hostile towards it, or stand in its way in order to disturb its moves or to frustrate its efforts. Under the shadow of Islam it is possible for the members of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism to coexist in safety and security. Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam, and recent and ancient history is the best witness to that effect. The members of other religions must desist from struggling against Islam over sovereignty in this region. For if they were to gain the upper hand, fighting, torture and uprooting would follow; they would be fed up with each other, to say nothing of members of other religions. The past and the present are full of evidence to that effect. “They will not fight you in body safe in fortified villages or from behind wells. Their adversity among themselves is very great. Ye think of them as a whole whereas their hearts are diverse. That is because they are a folk who have no sense.” Sura 59 (al-Hashr, the Exile), verse 14 Islam accords his rights to everyone who has rights and averts aggression against the rights of others. The Nazi Zionist practices against our people will not last the lifetime of their invasion, for “states built upon oppression last only one hour, states based upon justice will last until the hour of Resurrection.” “Allah forbids you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your houses, that you should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! Allah loves the just dealers.” Sura 60 (Al-Mumtahana), verse 8.
Doesn't sound like an prescription for genocide, does it? Of course not. That's why it's never mentioned by those who seek to justify the dispossession of the Palestinians.
Tree: I think you'll find that the Hamas charter clearly does not classify the Jews as a "religion" deserving of rights and respect. The Hamas charter explicitly states that the Jews as the enemies of Muslim humanity and worthy of destruction anywhere -- thus Hamas supporters are the true heirs of the writers of the Protocols and the Nazi Party.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that the Hamas Charter also explicitly states that "it is possible for the members of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism to coexist in safety and security." Those who wish to paint Hamas as genocidal towards Jews always ignore this passage. If we are to ignore this passage of the Charter, then one must explain why it is rational to insist that one must believe the Hamas members who ratified this Charter in 1988 were utterly sincere in one passage that has been interpreted by some as genocidal and yet utterly insincere in another one that is not at all so.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find actions to speak louder than words, and the Israeli government has done enough to convince me that the only serious objection it has with Nazis is their anti-Jewish feelings, and that Israel otherwise embraces much of Naziism's ideology of hatred of the "other" and the "untermenschen", and their desire for lebensraum for the ubermenschen. In other words,they like the ideology, they just think that they are, and should be, the ubermenschen.
Frankly, I don't think it's acceptable for anyone to be making comparisons to the Nazis. I think doing so is an intellectually bankrupt argument. It's a pathetic attempt to smear ones opponent by tarring them with the (almost) universally accepted as evil, Nazi label. I think that applies across the board.
ReplyDeleteAs for Dr. Davis, I would say that he is still a Jew, only not theologically. He does not consider himself to be a Jew and he practices Islam. Which should really be of no concern to anyone. His religion is his own business. On the other hand, I think, as is demonstrated here, he's being used as a get-out-of-antisemetism-free card by those who would argue that the Palestinian National movement is lilly white and has no ill will towards any Jews.
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ReplyDeleteProfe, you make a good point, but it doesn't debunk mine.
ReplyDeleteThe Nazis would not accept someone who was openly Jewish. Uri Davis, by contrast, has been a member of Fatah since 1984, well before he converted to Islam.
@tree
ReplyDeleteInteresting quote from the Hamas Charter.
I particularly like the part about " Under the shadow of Islam".
So basically, in defense of Hamas as a gentle, tolerant organization, you posted part of their charter which says that there can be peace, as long as the Jews and Christians are slaves to the Muslims.