Roger Waters throwing bombs

The Anti-Defamation League has accused Roger Waters for using Antisemitic imagery in his recent performances of The Wall. Here's the offending number:



As we can see, the bombers are throwing the symbols of the three major monotheistic religions, as well as symbols of giant financial conglomerates. So the immediate message that arises is not Antisemitism, but lament that we are killing each other in the name of religion and for the sake of profit. It is a legitimate artistic statement, whether you agree with it or not. So the accusations against Waters are not justified.

However, I'm not completely exonerating Waters. The clip begins with a bomber throwing Stars of David, followed immediately by a bomber throwing dollar signs. This creates an Antisemitic combination of Jews and money, which Waters should have been wary of.

And anyway, I'm tired of Waters' simplistic, outdated politics. You'd expect him to get wiser with age, to appreciate the complexity of the issues he sings about, but he only gets dumber. There's only one thing I find more tiring, and that's the constant whining of the Anti-Defamation League.

Hamas aid

"Free Gaza!" rings the slogan, as the world is becoming increasingly moved by the plight of the Gaza people, and applies growing pressure on Israel to lift the blockade it imposed on it. Human rights activists from all around are on the move, setting out to rid the world of another evil. Before you pick up your gun, however, tarry a while and ask yourself: are you sure you know what you are fighting for?

Gaza, as you probably know, is ruled by the Hamas movement. You probably don't like Hamas very much. You probably deplore their religious fundamentalism and their authoritarian policies. Perhaps you also disagree with their terrorist tactics. Perhaps you've also heard of the Hamas Charter, and you know that it calls for the destruction of Israel. Yes, all these things you know about Hamas are true, but they are not the worst part, the part which compels Israel to retaliate the way it does. So, before you go any further, please allow me to introduce you to the core of the Hamas ideology, and the true nature of the Gaza government.

Following are excerpt from the Hamas Charter, with interpretations. I took the English translation of the charter from the Palestine Center website. Let's let Hamas tell us about itself.

"Hamas is calling upon the Arab and Islamic peoples to act seriously and tirelessly in order to frustrate that dreadful scheme and to make the masses aware of the danger of coping out of the circle of struggle with Zionism. Today it is Palestine and tomorrow it may be another country or other countries. For Zionist scheming has no end, and after Palestine they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates. Only when they have completed digesting the area on which they will have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion, etc. Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present [conduct] is the best proof of what is said there..." (article 32)

This is the gist of modern Anti-Semitism. Modern anti-Semites do not say they hate all Jews, only "Zionists". But their definition of Zionism has nothing to do with the actual Zionist movement. For the anti-Semite, a "Zionist" is a Jew who wants to take over the world and enslave it. The "proof" for this conspiracy is a book called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a famous 19^th century text written by an anti-Semite which pretends to be a guide book for Jews on how world domination is to be achieved. The anti-Semite defines himself against this imaginary "Zionist" danger, and his whole existence revolves around it: he can never quit the fight against Zionism, because it is the core of his identity. Hamas, we see here, is driven by this kind of Antisemitism, so it can never give up the fight against Israel.

There are several types of Antisemitism, and this is the most dangerous of them all. Why? Because these dreaded "Zionists" cannot be identified. There is no Jew out there who says he wants to take over the world, there are no Jewish organizations teaching The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. So how does one fight these scheming Zionists, if one cannot even identify them? Well, we saw what the anti-Semite solution was in the past: the Nazis, who held exactly this type of Antisemitism and believed that there is a worldwide Zionist scheme to take over, set out to preempt that danger by annihilating all the Jews, figuring that all Zionists would perish in the process. Genocide is the only logical solution of this type of anti-Semitic ideology.

"The Zionist invasion is a mischievous one. It does not hesitate to take any road, or to pursue all despicable and repulsive means to fulfill its desires. It relies to a great extent, for its meddling and spying activities, on the clandestine organizations which it has established, such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions, and other spying associations. All those secret organizations, some which are overt, act for the interests of Zionism and under its directions, strive to demolish societies, to destroy values, to wreck answerableness, to totter virtues and to wipe out Islam." (article 28)

Modern Anti-Semitism is a conspiracy theory. It believes that Zionism is directing things from behind the scenes, and prepares the ground for its final takeover of the world. Actually, it is arguably the mother of all other conspiracy theories. It was born in Germany in the 19^th century, and the Nazis adopted it, but the Nazis stopped short of blaming only the Jews. They believed that there are other evil clandestine organizations working out there, whose members are not Jews, but are still evil. The Freemasons, for instance, were on the Nazi list, and the Nazis sent them to the concentration camps. Hamas, we see, is not that pluralistic and generous in assigning the blame. According to its ideology, all these other organizations are merely fronts for the Zionists, as the Jews are behind everything. Hamas, we see, is more anti-Semitic than the Nazis.

"The Muslim women have a no lesser role than that of men in the war of liberation; they manufacture men and play a great role in guiding and educating the [new] generation. The enemies have understood that role, therefore they realize that if they can guide and educate [the Muslim women] in a way that would distance them from Islam, they would have won that war. Therefore, you can see them making consistent efforts [in that direction] by way of publicity and movies, curricula of education and culture, using as their intermediaries their craftsmen who are part of the various Zionist Organizations" (article 17)

Apparently, those conniving Zionist have also invented Women's Lib, for the sole purpose of distracting the Muslim woman from her sacred duty, which is to stay at home and raise Jihad babies. This is typical of anti-Semites: anything they don't like, they describe as a Zionist tool. If Hamas will be allowed to have its way, it will use this to oppress the people under its rule, and any type of behavior it doesn't like will be branded as "Zionist", and brutally put down. This is what will happen if you "free Gaza".

"The enemies have been scheming for a long time, and they have consolidated their schemes, in order to achieve what they have achieved. They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream. This wealth [permitted them to] take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like. [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there… They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein. As regards local and world wars, it has come to pass and no one objects, that they stood behind World War I, so as to wipe out the Islamic Caliphate… They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state… There was no war that broke out anywhere without their fingerprints on it." (article 22)

In short, the Zionists are behind every bloodshed, corruption and violence. Or, to put is as plainly as possible, the Jews are the root of all evil in the world. History tells us that when one group of people defines another group of people as the root of all evil, they will move to annihilate them on the first chance they get.

The Hamas Charter, then, leads to one logical conclusion: all Jews must be exterminated, in order to save the world. But in case it wasn't clear enough…

"Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them." (article 7)

In short, it is the religious duty of every Muslim to kill the Jews, to bring about Judgment Day. I did not bother to quote them, but the entire charter is laced with quotes from the scriptures, to prove that Allah supports the movement's anti-Semitic ideology. The Nazis, to remind you, never announced publicly that they intend to kill the Jews. Hamas is not that shy about its true intentions.

Antisemitism has always been a part of the Palestinian discourse, ever since the 1930's, when some Palestinian leaders borrowed it from the Nazis. However, it has usually been more of an overtone, not so much part of the ideology. With Hamas, it becomes the core of their ideology, the raison d'etre of their existence. So when the Palestinian people, at the first chance they got, voted for Hamas to lead them, Israelis were shocked and angered. A logical Israeli reaction would have been to regard this as a declaration of total war and react accordingly, but we Israelis choose to believe that the majority of Palestinians voted for Hamas for reasons other than Antisemitism, and we prefer to keep the peace process alive. Therefore, Israel keeps negotiating with more reasonable Palestinians, and in the meantime places a blockade on Gaza to prevent Hamas from amassing weapons, and a strict embargo to prevent the Gaza economy from growing and getting stronger. We have vowed not to let the Nazi monster rear its ugly head ever again.

There was hope that Hamas, once in power, will become more pragmatic, and move away from its extremist ideology. If the Gaza government wants to end the blockade, all it has to do is announce that it recognizes Israel's right to exist. It should take them no more than five minutes, and it constitutes no capitulation on the part of the Palestinian people, nothing they haven't already agreed to in the past. But, even after years of blockade and war, the Gaza government refuses to do so. They would rather let their citizens suffer, than recognize Israel's right to exist. Why? Of course, because that would be giving up on their anti-Semitic ideology, the very thing that keeps them going. They can never do that.

Instead, Hamas uses a different tactic: let the people of Gaza suffer, and wait for the world to pressure Israel to lift the blockade. Once they achieve that, they will be able to import advanced weapons from Iran, with which they can totally disrupt Israeli daily life and economy, until they get Israel to agree to their demand: a long-term ceasefire, which will allow them to grow stronger and indoctrinate the Palestinian people on their anti-Semitic ideology, preparing them for the final battle to annihilate the Jews. They have time, and they assume that there are plenty of anti-Semites in the world that will help them, and many others gullible enough to support their "Free Gaza" campaign. And, guess what? They were right.

The last time that there was a government that was almost as anti-Semitic as the Gaza government was when the Nazis took over Germany. Back then, the world stood idly by and did not take the Nazis' anti-Semitic rants seriously, and the outcome was that 90% of Europe's Jews were wiped out. Horrified and dismayed, the world vowed back then never to allow this to happen again. Well, here it finally has the chance to stand by this vow, to oppose a government that has a self-declared anti-Semitic agenda. So what does the world do? That's right, it comes to the aid of Hamas.

Nothing has changed, nothing was learned.

The masks are beginning to fall

So Helen Thomas, respected reporter and long time Israel hater, who just this week called the Israeli flotilla operation a "massacre", has been revealed (surprise! surprise!) as nothing more than a regular anti-Semite, who believes that the Jews are subhumans who do not deserve to have the same rights as other people.

When you scratch the surface of most of Israel's vehement critics, that is what you'll find.

It didn't use to be that way. In the past, it was rational to believe that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the root of the problem, the cause of the conflict. Those of us who are inside the conflict knew it is more complicated than that, but many of us, including myself, also believed that the occupation is the main issue. And the position that put the blame entirely on Israel was understandable.

In the past two decades, however, Israel has transferred control of the Gaza Strip and 40% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, offered to give them control over more than 90% of the West Bank, and publicly acknowledged the right of the Palestinian people to form a sovereign state in these regions. The majority of Israelis is in favor of the two-state solution, and wants the two nations to live side-by-side in peace and dignity. Only the extreme right still rejects this solution.

How did the Palestinians react to these changes? How do they regard the rights of the Jewish people? Currently they have three leaderships. The Gaza government openly declares it wants to annihilate Israel, and its ideology implies that all Jews should be exterminated. The West Bank government accepts the two states solution, but wants one state (Palestine) to be ethnically cleansed of Jews, and the other state (Israel) to have a Palestinian majority, and give away its Jewish identity. And the leadership of the Israeli-Palestinians warns its people not to play any positive role in Israeli society, and refuses to acknowledge Israel's legitimacy, defining it as a colonial entity. You don't hear any Palestinians acknowledging that Jews are also natives of this land, and have a natural right to live in it. The most they are willing to do is accept that since they can't get rid of the Jews, they are willing to let them stay.

And yet, the global anti-Israel rhetoric has only grown increasingly more hateful and violent, and now uses inflammatory words like "apartheid", "genocide", "massacre", and other words that have no relation to the reality of the situation, but are thrown around generously to describe Israel's actions. How come?

I believe what happened is that the reasonable critics of Israel have realized by now that the situation is more complicated than they thought, and adopted a more careful view. So that left the Israel-bashing to the anti-Semites who disguise themselves as human right believers, and since the media tries to be "balanced", the side that is against Israel is represented by these anti-Semites, who are poisoning the minds of the viewers.

Well, I'm drawing a personal line in the sand. The view that blames "Israeli occupation" for being the root of the problem is no longer reasonable or defensible. I will no longer regard it as understandable. There are enough facts to refute it, and anyone who still holds it in the face of these facts does so disingenuously. Anyone who in this day and age puts the majority of the blame on Israel does so because they are an anti-Semite.