Poetry for Palestine

Yitzchak   Ginsburgh

Under the pretext of a “chosen people and promised land”:

They have invaded and colonized Palestine for decades, they have imposed on Palestinians abject racist laws inspired by supremacist ideology, causing and continue to cause unimaginable suffering to indigenous Palestinians for many generation.

They have caused the destruction of 531 (five hundred and thirty one) Biblical villages of World Heritage and still continue their destruction.

They have ethnically cleansed more than 70% of native Palestinians, throwing them into the cruelty of refugee camps or the Chilliness of Diaspora.

Under the pretext of “security” and “war on terror”:

They have promoted Islamophobia and through their media outlet continued to incite hatred, fear and suspicion against Islam and against its almost two billion adherent Muslims.

They have designed the war on Afghanistan causing millions of some of the poorest nations on Earth to suffer for more than a decade.

They have pushed for the war on Iraq, and have already succeeded in destroying one of the world oldest civilizations.

Not yet satisfied, they continue to “teach” and “train” Americans the “art” of war, and continue    pushing and planning for a new war on Iran and fantasizing and drooling over yet another war on Egypt.

The boil that festers underneath all this aggression and destruction appears to have stemmed from one misperceived misconceived word which turned sour, nay, in the eyes of the nations it looks atrociously hideous, and on their tongues it tastes awfully bitter: CHOSENNESS

This one word, a taboo not to be mentioned, uttered or discussed, seems to be the engine behind what we see in the arrogant behaviour of Jewish-Zionist colonizers in Palestine and the contempt they exhibit when dealing with Palestinians, the “unchallengeable” sense of entitlement: to world leadership, divine ownership and uncontrollable drive for power and control.

Once and for all, let us poke that boil, before it burst into a global catastrophe, dragging the entire world into a nuclear biocidal war causing the destruction of all what we cherish in our beautiful planet and what humanity has achieved throughout its history.

In the subsequent two articles quoted towards the end, we get a glimpse into the mind and psychological state of two people who were religiously educated and indoctrinated with that concept.

The first being Dina Avramson, we feel her agony struggling to reconcile her intrinsic egalitarian humanity with such indoctrinated irrational supremacy, as she explains: “I would laugh if it wasn’t so sad – the self-conviction that Jews possess all that is pure andnoble and maintain a constant connection to divinity and to infinite light, while all other nations of the world are overcome by promiscuity, lust and robbery. We are holy, yet they are filled with darkness and spiritual impurity.”

Then she goes on to say: ” As a graduate of religious Jewish education, I notice that to this day I face a mental-psychological barrier when facing non-Jews. I discover that deep within me I believe that I am nobler than them and I stutter when I need to explain why I cannot marry a gentile. What can I tell them, that a Jew must not mix in with a gentile soul because it is of lower strata? When I search for the word “soul” online, I find explanations on religious websites noting that Jews have two souls, a beastly one and a divine one, while non-Jews only have one, beastly soul.”

The following links give an introductory taster to that misperceived concept of CHOSENNESS.
“70 % “Israeli Jews believe they are the chosen”

“We are the Chosen”

“If you are chosen, act it”

“Safed rabbi: Gentiles jealous of chosen people”

Palestinians are the prime victims of this “Chosenness”

Secular manifestation of chosen-ness: “elitism and specialness”

Other manifestations: “tribal loyalty and exclusivity”

  “A chosen people that believes in its God. That is Israel, circa 2012. God have mercy on us”

The first article:

Chosen people? Not quite 

Op-ed: Dina Avramson says Jews should dispose of notion that they are superior to other people

Dina Avramson

Published:

05.28.12, 10:02 / Israel Opinion

On the eve of Shavuot I dressed up in white; they say it’s the wedding day of God and His people, so I was ready for it. I prepared all the requirements: Plants to adorn the table and a cold cheese cake in the fridge. All that was left was to clarify the essence of this prominent day, decide to again assume the Torah’s burden upon myself, and read it the whole night as one reads love letters; to recall how God chose us from all the nations and what this really means.

He chose us? From all nations? Really? I read online one story of how God went from one nation to another and offered His holy Torah, yet no one wanted it. The Ishmaelites wanted to keep murdering, the Edomites wanted to keep committing adultery, and only the righteous and pure Israelites, who never murder and never commit adultery, told God: “We shall do and hear.”

Stalled Promise?

Why won’t God reveal himself again? / Rabbi Levi Brackman According to tradition, collective transcendence above ego was key for revelation Full story

Religious singer Avraham Fried went even further. Instead of singing about Ishmaelites and Edomites, he sang about adulterous French, greedy Brits, Americans who don’t know how to honor their father and mother, and thieving Arabs. Yet only the Jew with the prayer shawl is the righteous hero and is given the Torah. We’re so lucky.

I would laugh if it wasn’t so sad – the self-conviction that Jews possess all that is pure and noble and maintain a constant connection to divinity and to infinite light, while all other nations of the world are overcome by promiscuity, lust and robbery. We are holy, yet they are filled with darkness and spiritual impurity.

So is that the case? No, would say those in the know. It’s not about us being above them; we are simply like an elite unit. We chose to assume the burden for the sake of the others. We took upon ourselves tougher missions in order to lead the world to a better place. I may be able to accept this explanation – the understanding that we chose strict laws in order to achieve lofty goals – yet I most certainly cannot accept the distinction between us and the rest of the world, as if we are the chosen son.

Does God love them less? Based on my limited knowledge, I believe that every nation has its way of connecting to God. The Indians, who hail from the element of wind, do well with lengthy meditations, while Islam, which hails from the fire element, is required to assume great modesty. The Sufis connect via dance and song, and native Americans who come from the element of earth drink a muddy beverage that that leads them to divinity.

Does God love them less? Does He appreciate their work less? Is a Buddhist monk who sits in a cave for three years less connected than me?

As a graduate of religious Jewish education, I notice that to this day I face a mental-psychological barrier when facing non-Jews. I discover that deep within me I believe that I am nobler than them and I stutter when I need to explain why I cannot marry a gentile. What can I tell them, that a Jew must not mix in with a gentile soul because it is of lower strata? When I search for the word “soul” online, I find explanations on religious websites noting that Jews have two souls, a beastly one and a divine one, while non-Jews only have one, beastly soul.

 

I realize that my knowledge is only akin to a drop in the ocean and that had I immersed myself in studies I would be able to understand the issues more thoroughly. However, most people do not spend hours upon hours studying and are therefore left with the superficial knowledge of the chosen people’s superiority. Only this week I received an invitation on Facebook to join a group called “Let’s show the Sudanese that we rule!” This is what happens when you think you’re better than someone else.

Perhaps the time has come to leave behind this flawed way of thinking, as though we are favored and better understand what’s right for the world, as though our Torah is the exclusive truth across the universe and there are no other ways to experience a revelation, and as though any foreigner who wishes to live in our country is a threat.

So on the eve of Shavuot I got dressed in white and headed to the synagogue to read, with love, the words of the Torah. I know that for me this is the most suitable way to connect to the infinite light, but I also know that somewhere on the other side of the planet there are different people who connect to it in a different way, and they are considered no less precious children.

END QUOTE

The second article:

Exclusive: Hate All Non-Jews,

QUOTES

“A recently published book written by a Skver hasidic rabbi and endorsed by the Skvere Rebbe himself tells Skvere hasidim and other Jews to hate all gentiles. Gentiles are wholly evil, the book says. They spiritually pollute the world, and even looking at their faces is harmful.”

 “However, to separate with a million degrees of separation, a gentile is an impure thing.  The entire essence of the gentile is evil and impure.  Even if he occasionally does good deeds he does not thereby become good.”

“As is also well known, even educated gentiles who guarded themselves because of their clear understanding of what is right, nonetheless failed when they were tested, because a gentile has no power for goodness within him.”

“On the contrary, the evil thoughts of gentiles contaminate the world’s atmosphere and create ordeals for Jewish children. As the Remnant for Pinchos {i.e., the author of the book Sheairit L’Pinchas} says, the thoughts of gentiles, even when they are dead, still linger in and contaminate the atmosphere.”

“He says that to be protected from this there is only one solution; to completely despise the thoughts of gentiles and to realize that all their thoughts are only evil. (Hate doesn’t mean wanting to do something to a gentile, but it means not being able to tolerate him, not being able to stand him, because of his great impurity, especially when one realizes how harmful this {impurity} is {to Jews and to the world}.) Understandably, loving a gentile is the exact opposite of this.”

“So also the Holy Light of Life {i.e., the author of the book Ohr HaHayyim} writes, in the portion of Vayigash {in his book entitled Oh HaHayyim}, that the nature of the righteous ones is to hate gentiles.”

“the nature of the righteous ones is to hate gentiles.”

 

 

Armed French citizens responded to the call of Jewish Defence League and came to lend a hand to their brethren

 

“The second point is; one is not to concentrate on the face of a gentile. As the Willows of the Valley {the author of the book Arvei Nahal} writes on the Talmudic passage, “it is forbidden to look upon the face of an evildoer”, because the other side [the devil] {the sitra achra} cloaks himself in the guise of an evildoer and it is a danger to look at him. This passage refers to a Jew who has, God forbid, become an evildoer. Certainly, beyond any doubt, a gentile whose whole nature is essentially evil, looking at his appearance is defiling.”

 

 

 

 

 

“one is not to concentrate on the face of a gentile… it is forbidden to look upon the face of an evildoer…even looking at their faces is harmful.“

You can even find this troubling concept mentioned on Wikipedia:

Distinction between Jews and non-Jews

A number of medieval Kabbalistic sources contain statements to the effect that the Jewish soul is ontologically different from the soul of non-Jews; for example, it is held by some that Jews have three levels of soul, nefesh, ruach and neshamah while non-Jews have only nefesh. The Zohar comments on the Biblical verse which states “Let the waters teem with swarms of creatures that have a living soul” as follows: “The verse ‘creatures that have a living soul,’ pertains to the Jews, for they are the children of God, and from God come their holy souls….And the souls of the other nations, from where do they come? Rabbi Elazar says that they have souls from the impure left side, and therefore they are all impure, defiling anyone who comes near them” (Zohar commentary on Genesis).

Some later Kabbalistic works build and elaborate on these ideas. One point of view is represented by the Hasidic work Tanya (1797), in order to argue that Jews have a different character of soul: while a non-Jew, according to the author Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (b. 1745), can achieve a high level of spiritually, similar to an angel, his soul is still fundamentally different in character, but not value, from a Jewish one.^[49] A similar view is found in early medieval philosophical book Kuzari, by Yehuda Halevi (1075-1141 AD).

Another prominent Habad Rabbi, Abraham Yehudah Khein (b. 1878), believed that spiritually elevated Gentiles have essentially Jewish souls, “who just lack the formal conversion to Judaism”, and that unspiritual Jews are “Jewish merely by their birth documents”.^[51] The great 20th century Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag viewed the terms “Jews” and “Gentile” as different levels of perception, available to every human soul.

Racism, supremacy, specialness, entitlement, arrogance and tribal elitism are an inevitable outcome cultivated and nurtured from that one seed of chosenness.

The burden of challenging and fighting that concept to the point of total defeat lies within the Jewish communities themselves. It is of no good to keep denying the existence of this elephant in the room… It is of no good to keep pointing fingers and screaming “ANTI-SEMITE”, at gentiles who feel extremely alarmed and distressed with that concept. Fair minded and principled people from Jewish background should take it upon themselves to go inside their communities and convince them to abandon that concept and pull it out from its roots.

Failing to do so, will no doubt have dire consequences not only on Palestinians and other gentiles who feel the brunt of this racist ideology but also on decent Jews who with all their heart reject this concept and feel ashamed and shackled by it.

As long as the concept of chosenness is not challenged and eradicated, once and for all, it is not possible to dream of a just world or imagine an egalitarian society built on brotherhood and equality.

Get rid of the CHOSENNESS in theory and practice, and watch Anti-semitism shrivel away.

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On 30 March 2012, tens of thousands of Palestinians and their supporters gathered in Jordan at the borders with Palestine, in a show of solidarity and determination not to give up on our rights or land.

Between us and the hills of Palestine in the horizon, stood Jordanian police, army in their armored vehicles creating a separation wall.

Disturbed to have to witness such bizarre configuration, I walked to the soldiers and talked to them. I asked them: “why do you protect the enemy?” some said: ” we are not protecting the enemy, we are protecting you!” I said: ” how can you be protecting us when your guns are pointing at us? why do you point your guns and tanks against us? shouldn’t be facing the other way, if indeed you want to protect us?”

I want is to go back home,

I continued: “I have been in exile for 45 years, my grandmother is now an elderly 87 years-old, and I am still being separated away from her, by those who stole our land. My village is over there, and all I want is to go back home, allow me to pass, why do you prevent me from going home? are you not my brothers? why do you support those who stole our land and forcibly evicted us out from our homes and homeland?”

By then I was surrounded by soldiers and their superiors, and one of them who appeared to be a general came rushing to the scene, then while pointing away, he kept saying:”go back there, go back there, back off, back off”

I repeated to him the stuff I said earlier, and told him that he is my brother, he should be helping me to go home, not stopping me, he embarrassingly said: “insha’Allah, one day insha’Allah, we will be all united and will help you to go home”

The so called “peace treaty” with Jordan puts the Jordanians and their government in a an absurd situation where they find themselves having to protect thieves and murderers, against their oppressed brothers and sisters!

The positive thing about what happened though is to see all these people who came in support of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the right of return and the Liberation of Palestine. Tens of thousands, young and old as well as representatives from 80 countries. The atmosphere was hopeful, young girls and boys were buzzing with determination, even though some have never seen Palestine before, and many are not even Palestinians. The speakers made it clear in plain unequivocal terms that this is only the first drop of rain, with deluge to follow, they called for FULL Liberation and for prosecuting the criminal occupiers and their supporters.

Together, we chanted for Palestine, for Liberation, for Al-Aqsa, for Freedom and For Return.

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Finally, it appears that years of work, persuasion, temptation, pressure and coercion have yielded its fruits, with the publishing (made it into hyper Zionist hate-site Harry’s Place) of the joined statement by Mr Ali Abunimah and a few others, in which they brazenly called upon Palestinians and their supporters to disavow Gilad Atzmon because of his alleged “anti-semitism”.

Here, I cannot help but wonder, what does Ali Abunimah mean exactly when he invites people to disavow Atzmon?

Can this “disavowal” be understood as a modern secular-leftist substituted for the “good old” Judaic concept of Herem?

Are we not entitled to ask then, if that concept of “disavowal” is by any chance related to the Talmudic concept of excommunication, in which “the Talmud forbids coming within six feet of a person who has been excommunicated“?

Ali Abunimah opens his statement with the declaration: “Granting No Quarter“, calling to deprive the accused of any mercy or forgiveness. Such daring harsh words which mean “not to allow someone any mercy” eerily resemble the sinister Kabbalistic invocation of Pulsa diNura, a “ceremony in which the angels of destruction are invoked to block heavenly forgiveness of the subject’s sins”,

It appears, yet again, that some people are determined to thrust us back into the Dark-Ages. Not only do they exhibit severe intolerance towards those whom they disagree with, but also instead of defending their position and “refuting” such disagreeable ideas with logic, factual information and reason, they resort to fight them with unsubstantiated accusations.

Furthermore, they actively and shamelessly participate in barbaric rabbinic medieval type of behaviour, in which they call for the “disavowal” (modern-secular for excommunication) of those whom they perceive as “heretics” for daring to think outside the box or for being crazy enough to talk about taboos and cross the boundaries of “permissible” debate. Amazingly, even those who refuse to abide by such “rabbinical-style” orders are also sentenced for being guilty by association, so they get the excommunication treatment too!

I would like to remind Mr Ali Abunimah and the few individuals who signed his statement, that in our Islamic heritage, Arabic tradition and Palestinian culture that they claims to defend and protect, such concept of excommunication , Herem, Pulsa diNura, and exclusion from mercy and forgiveness, are non-existent.

I would like to remind them also that such foreign concept they are trying forcibly to shove down our throats and introduce to our culture under the pretext of “fighting racism”, does not only stand in stark contradiction with the very core ethos of the culture they claim to be defending, but it reflects severe reasoning impotence as well as intellectual incompetence.

Indeed, our culture has suffered heavy blows under the repeated attacks of the past centuries, which caused some disorientation in its vision and practice in our era, however, facts remain;

In our inherited culture, we do not disavow, ostracize or excommunicate, we invite for debate

In our inherited culture, we do not burn books we disagree with, we refute with reason and facts.

In our culture, we do not forbid independent thinking, we encourage إجتهاد Ijtihad.

In our culture, we do not forbid deep critical thinking or unfamiliar creative ideas, we call it تفكر (thinking), تدبر (reflecting), تعقل (using the brain), تأمل (meditation).

In our culture, we do not say “grant no quarters”, we say “ارحموا من في الارض يرحمكم من في السماء”, have mercy on those on earth, the One in Heaven will have mercy on you.

In our culture we oppose double standard, we call it hypocrisy; one cannot pretend to oppose one type of racism (anti-Jewish racism) yet sneakingly participate in the concealment of Jewish anti-gentile racism by blocking information, aborting any debate about it and by silencing and shunning those who attempt to expose it.

In our culture, we refuse to act as lackeys of our oppressors, as they sharpen their knives, we refuse to be ones who lay down on the floor while guiding them where and how to slaughter.

In our culture, we refuse to be fooled by sugar coated vacuous promises, NOT all the shiny teeth we see are necessarily smiles.

In our culture, we say selling your land equates selling your dignity and selling your honour.

The brain continues to buzz with burning questions:

Why is it that Ali Abunimah, his mentors and those who approve of his statement are keen to prevent Palestinians and their supporters from examining and analysing the ideology, the motivation and the method of operation of our occupiers?

Do they not realize that by censoring the investigation of motives and modus operandi of the crimes, they implicitly and invariably imply that there is no crimes, i.e they facilitate the normalization and the whitewashing of the crimes?

What is it that makes them so desperate to conceal from our eyes, and to stop us from discussing the disturbing reality and to ignore the ugly fact that 70% of “Israeli” Jews believe that they are the “chosen”?

Are they so naïve as to pretend that if we rub shoulders with a few Post-Zionism activists or Cultural Zionists, singing Kumbaya and hugging each other, we would melt the heart of our oppressors, and we would see them kneeling down, shedding their chosen-ness, arrogance and supremacy and asking for forgiveness, and lo and behold, all of a sudden the paradigm of our world would shift, all our problems as Palestinians would be magically solved, when the “chosen” would embrace us as equals?

Do they not comprehend the catastrophic implications of their embracing of the idea of equating oppressors with oppressed, while knowing that the oppressor suffers from the “chosen” superiority complex, which leaves them at best feeling intellectually and morally exceptional and at worst believing that gentiles are only created to serve the Jews and be their slaves?

Do they not see how severely deluded when they kid themselves with the fantasy of equality between victims and criminals, of which the criminals are ideologically inflated with concepts of superiority, paranoid with phantomic pains of exceptional suffering, entrenched in a society of militarism and intoxicated with the illusion of invincibility?

Furthermore, why is it that Ali Abunimah and his mentors want to prevent us from looking at, analysing and understanding the level of influence exerted by the Jewish-Zionist lobby, how it is organized and how does it function to acquires such high levels of control and malignant influence?

Why is it that he along with others, are taking part in a campaign that want to divert our attention from looking at issues we can no longer ignore such as the racist fanatical laws implemented hysterically to accelerate the Judaization of Palestine, including the disturbing reality of the extensive level of support of the Jewish state “Israel” by the global Jewish communities?

How can they fantasize that an occupation entity whose ideological foundations are supremacist to the core, with chosen-ness, exceptionalism, specialness, and uniqueness of suffering would suddenly concede to view the un-chosen gentile as equal?

How could they propose to us a solution that would finalize the Zionist project by thinking that loosening the military grip while legitimizing and increasing a civilian/ political/ financial/ educational/ cultural supremacist grip, is good of Palestinians?

Why would any sane Palestinian want to trap his people into placidly and foolishly accepting the finalization of the Zionist project by embracing Post-Zionism with all its supremacists racist attitudes, under the delusion that it might weigh better in the scale of morality than militant Zionism?

“Never forgive, never forget” seems to be “acceptable” and “reasonable” when it is repeated by people of Jewish background, but the gentile-others who suffered and still suffering at the hands of Jewish-Zionist, are labelled as racist anti-Semites if they refuse to lovingly embrace their abusers and pre-forgive their rapists before they even stop their crimes, and before seeing any signs or intention to change of their cruelty, criminality, behaviour and racist attitude.

The death-trap solution presented to us by Ali Abunimah and his cohorts in which they “hope” and “promise” us with a “community founded on justice, where all are free, all are equal and all are welcome“, omitting to mention that such dust in the eyes is not a solution but mere delusion:
Equating abused and abuser is No justice;
Absolving and rewarding criminals is No freedom;
Fantasizing to be accepted as equal with supremacist is No hope;
Claiming “all are free”, when only some have the monopoly of everything is No promise.

Abunimah, continues to further deceive his people, the victims, when he lays the claim that as a prerequisite to having “self-determination”, Palestinians are implicitly asked not only to pre-forgive and grant their oppressors total and unconditional amnesty before they even stop their crimes, but also they are suppose to defend the sensitivities and shield from attacks, the present occupiers and those who support them.
Moreover, the victims of decades of racism are supposed to secure the future of the supremacist victimizers, and to reassure and guarantee the abusers that their crimes don’t matter, no matter what they do, they will always be accepted as equal (though as “chosen” they will be a little bit more equal than others), and their freedom (to continue their oppression, theft, crimes and mischief) will always be granted.

Furthermore, abusing the sincerity and magnitude of Palestinian hospitality, playing with the warmth and tenderness of their emotions and under the deceitful banner of “all are welcome“, Abunimah, the self-claimed “owner of Palestine”, the self-appointed Future-Immigration-Minister, hopes to facilitate the continuous invasion of the supremacist “chosen” occupiers! How amazing! How just! How very generous! How pathetic!

After a century of aggravation, any Palestinian who propagates the fantasy that “Israeli-Jews”, with their artificially-created, ideologically racist, inherently fascist settler society would one day embrace as equals, the Palestinians -whom they brutalised for decades and still do, is at best Naïvely deluded or at worst a traitor, and in both cases he/she would be furnishing their “successful careers” with tiny bodies of little babies slaughtered at the alter of lunatic supremacism, they would be climbing over the bodies of thousands of martyrs, trashing the sacrifices of his own people.

Contrary to the understanding and lopsided logic of Mr Ali Abunimah and his cohorts, discussing and criticising the ideologies, the politics, the aims, and the motivations of some Jewish Zionists or anti-Zionist persons or groups, is NOT anti-Semitic. Such criticism does not occur “simply because they are Jews“:

We criticise their obfuscation of truth, by acting as filterers of information, attempting to prevent people from learning about issues, vital to understanding the Palestinian catastrophe;

We criticise the hysterical manner in which they react against people who attempt to examine and understand the global and powerful Jewish-Zionist networks and lobby, their unrelenting support of “Israel” and it’s ramification on Palestine and the Palestinian cause;

We criticise their hypocrisy in the way they frantically accuse people of racism simply because we expose and oppose one of the ugliest forms of racism, while they turn a blind eye to what we came to know as Jewish racism (no motion is presented to PSC to oppose that kind of racism);

We criticise their irrational performance, appointing themselves as “Thought Police” and “Political Commissars”, Forbidding people from reading what THEY deem unsuitable, or associating with those who THEY condemn to be excommunicated;

We criticise their primitive and tribal behaviour, insisting to protect the interest of Jewish communities despite the irrefutable fact, these communities are by a good majority supportive of “Israel”;

We criticise their insidious protection of the future interest of Jewish-Israeli genocidal occupiers, which is no doubt contrary to International Law and of course contrary to Palestinian interest;

We criticise their pushy dominance on the solidarity movement, and their insistence to steer it and to define its aims and objectives rather than leaving that mainly to Palestinians on whose behalf the campaign was created;

We criticise their irritating arrogance by insisting to impose their definition of words and concepts (like anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denier) leaving no room for other intellectuals to put their case or views;

We criticise their detrimental and harmful agenda, (divergent from the Palestinian agenda) on the Palestinian movement and on the shaping of the future of Palestine;

The fact remains that many of those whom they accuse of “anti-Semitism” are themselves Jews or have Jewish ancestry like Richard Falk, John J. Mearsheimer, Gilad Atzmon, Paul Eisen, Jonathan Azaziah, OR Semites themselves like: Samir Abed-Rabbo, Ramzy Baroud, Nahida Izaat, Sammi Ibrahim, sameh Habib and Jonathan Azaziah.

So, when they come whining and shouting “anti-Semites”, “anti-Semites” whenever confronted with truthful, genuine and scrupulous criticism is not only childish and wasteful, but –and time will tell, is also counterproductive if not destructive, and will only yield more trivialization of the word they have misused and abused so much, namely “anti-Semitism”.

For us who engage in that type of intellectual criticism, the fact that those -whose agenda and actions we criticise, are Jewish is irrelevant, it is absolutely not the issue, they could be of any racial or religious background. What we criticise is THEIR POLITICS and THEIR AGENDA which we redeem more geared to further the interests of Jewish “Israelis” and organizations and communities supporting them, rather than Palestinians, hence it is harmful to Palestine.

The fact that THEY are Jews or define themselves as Jews is extraneous, except in the detail that they USE this reality as a pretext to attack and defame activists and intellectuals who disagree with them and who dare to criticise their agenda. They USE this to excommunicate activists and intellectuals who care deeply about Palestine and whose prime objective is the LIBERATION of Palestine, and whose main concern is the protection of interest of the long-oppressed Palestinians.

Finally, some questions to ponder upon, for those who signed the “disavowal” statement and those who agree with it:

Is it anti-Semitic to examine racist ideologies and expose it?

Is it racist to disagree with the politics of some groups when their involvement in politics is based on tribalism?

Is it immoral when a person finds him/herself unable to love his/her torturer and tormentor?

Is it moral to force a person to love and live with the killer of his child?

Is it moral to force a person to marry her rapist?

Is it obligatory that all people must love all the Jews all the time, simply because they are Jews?

Is it racist to dislike some Jews for their bad actions and attitude?

Is this sentence by Gill Kaffash anti-Semitic and racist: “If a Zionist is a Jew, it is anti-Semitic to mention it; if an anti-Zionist is a Jew, it is mandatory to point it out.”?

I hereby denounce and reject in total the adaptation of rabbinical schemes of control within our Palestinian midst and mindset, in which medieval methods of thought terrorism and oppression are exercised; including the “granting of no mercy or forgiveness” against curious free-thinking dissenters, and the use of exclusion of intellectuals from the folds of the “tribe”, as means of punishment for their “sins and crimes”.

I denounce and reject in total any proposal of a “solution” that would trap my people in a status quo scenario, in which the occupiers remove their attire and keep their essence, shed their skin and hold on to their racist supremacist core, declare the end of Zionism (which already has fulfilled its goals), only to continue business as usual.

I shall leave it at that.

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I have just finished reading the heartfelt plea of Paul Eisen inviting his fellow Jews to abandon their “supremacist inclinations” (which I content is a result of long-term ideological indoctrination with concepts such “chosen-ness” in which 67% of “Israeli” Jews believe) and to embark on a journey of self-reflection, and to ask themselves some tough questions for once, rather than continuing to blame the entire world and accusing the entire humanity of harbouring intrinsic, inexplicable and incurable feelings of “hatred towards Jews”, which erupts randomly and violently around the globe for no particular reason.

Eisen’s genuine plea inspired me to myself to rethink and reflect.

It has been said that we are not bodies with souls, but rather souls which are given physical bodies temporarily, through which we can come to learn and expand if we choose to.

We make our journeys through life independently yet our paths cross, and our experiences are interconnected by communication, exchange of feelings, actions, reactions and interactions.

All our options remain open, if we comprehend the simple reality of our humble existence: we humans (Jews or non) are NOT the “masters of the universe”, we are NOT Gods, neither are we “Gods in the making” for that matter, and from this elementary perspective, our human reality appears humble.

So, by simply accepting that viewpoints appear different when approached from different angles, and by keeping our hearts and minds open to the fallibility and the limitation of our own singular conclusions, then our various understanding of the same information is facilitated, better comprehension emerges when viewed from different sides. Thus correct, just and innovative path toward understanding the mysterious “other”, and towards the realization of infantility of ideas like superiority of self or inferiority of “others” become self-evident, which in turn enables us to explore ways of solving discord without the “need” to destroy the “other”.

Accepting the fact that we stand on equal footing in our quest for answers, and that non of us has more claim to truth than the other by virtue of “birth”, and as we climb up the mountain of self discovery leaving our ego behind, we learn to see multiple perspectives , we grow spiritually and our horizon expands. By realizing how microscopic, thus vulnerable we are in relation to the infinite, and by accepting the relativity of our perspective and the deficiency of our restricted paradigm, we come to our senses and allow the very feelings of modesty and humbleness which are basic prerequisites for individual compassion and the emergence of sustainable, cohesive societies

However, IF we choose NOT to take that inner path of self-discovery, self-check and self-realization, if we deprive ourselves the ability to see the others’ view point, we restrict our views into a one-point linear-perspective, which in turn results in a stunted growth condition.

As it has been emphasized by many insightful prophets and inspired teachers, arrogance is one of the most poisonous traits in human character. It is one of the most dangerous obstacles that blocks our ability to learn and expand.

An arrogant soul, person or group would struggle to accept that there might be a perspective that differs from his/ her own, thus their ability to learn is significantly reduced, so they keep doing the same mistakes over and over and over again… quite sad really, when we think about it.

Unfortunately, no one can help people with such attitude except themselves, because their overgrown ego and their uncontrollable arrogance would always stand in the way, separating them from the rest of humanity. By their refusal to accept the multiplicity of perspectives, they fail to comprehend that outside their own little bubble things might be viewed differently. So when an exchange of opinions occurs or when they are invited to do some self-reflection, instead of appreciating the sincerity of heart in which the advice is given, they perceive such differences of opinion and criticism as an existential threat.

The problem remains, as long as arrogance is kept unchecked, or fostered to become a prominent feature in our souls, we won’t be able to accept the concept of the fallibility of our opinion, the vulnerability of our existence, the limitation of our comprehension and the imperfection of our beings.Therefore, self-reflection and looking at the self with a critical eye becomes almost an impossibility, which in turn disables us from learning and spiraling upwards, and like a child who keeps putting his finger in the fire and getting burned each time, and as long as we fail to make the link between acts and consequences, we would get stuck in a never-ending perpetual vicious circle of mistakes and pain, and so it goes . . .

The problem remains as long as arrogance is kept unchecked, or even fostered to become a prominent feature in our souls, thus rendering us incapable to accept the concept of the fallibility of our opinion, the vulnerability of our existence, the limitation of our comprehension and the imperfection of our beings. Therefore, critical introspection rendered impossible, we remain incapable to learn and to spiral upwards, and remain like a child who keeps putting his finger in the fire and getting burned each time. Whomever fails ore refuses to recognize the direct link between acts and consequences, is stuck in a never-ending perpetual vicious circle of mistakes, destruction, and pain… and so it goes .

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In the land of the insane, it is of no use to have a brain !


Like the ideological, authoritarian, cemented narrative of the Holocaust, 911 has become an ideology revealed by the establishment. You are forbidden to discuss, read about, question, or investigate except through the parameters defined by them, on their terms and as laid down by their think-tanks.

Failing to conform would grant you the “lunacy” title, you become a “conspiracy theorist”, a “certified cuckoo” living in “LaLa-land”.

Complying with this, the “Thought Police” of some “Friends of Palestine” demanded the removal of any information, links or even mention of 911 from the group’s website.

Having your “best interest” at heart, they want you to stop looking at “controversial topic”, to stop asking questions, and to overlook any inconsistencies or contradiction… In their eyes “Earth is Flat, and it is “anti-Semitic” to question that, pure and simple.

You see, it’s all for your own good; limiting your capacity to use your brain, will save you much valuable time and effort. Reducing your ability to think, will remove the burden of hard work from you. They will do all the work on your behalf, what more do you want?

“If it’s my head you are relying on….
but if it’s my head you relying on,
you gotta realise
you got to save yourself…. save yourself, YEH!“
Robert Wyatt

Have a look at this:

911 A Conspiracy Theory

Remember, the motto of the “Thought Police”

. . . It is “cool” to be a “fool”

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As I surfed the net, I came across several items, from different sources, the pieces appear unrelated, but with a tiny scratch to the surface, some disturbing image begins to emerge:

The first item is a letter by Rabbi Dr. Jacob Immanuel Schochet addressed to his congregation, in which he expresses his “authoritative view” [sic] and joins the global ban on this book written by a fellow Rabbi.

He declares the book to be “heretical” and confirms “It Is Forbidden for Anyone to Buy or Read this book”. The book is called “Kosher Jesus“, yet Rabbi Schochet could not bring himself to even pronounce the name “Jesus” or print it in his letter, he uses instead the letter”J“!

He elucidates:

“Regarding the recent controversy surrounding a book released by Shmuley Boteach entitled ‘Kosher J’ I am writing this letter to express my authoritative view in response to those who have sought my opinion on this matter.

While it is not normally my style to write letters of condemnation, having read the book, I feel it poses a tremendous risk to the Jewish community and therefore imperative to state my halachic (Jewish legal) opinion that it is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book, or give its author a platform in any way shape or form to discuss this topic.”

In this second item however, we read an article by a young man complaining about his experience in a Yeshiva school, he talks about what he calls exposure to non-Jewish sources of information.

The young man starts his article with this comment: “When I was in Yeshiva, my friend was “busted” reading a non-Jewish novel. Guess what was his excuse and what the Director did to him”

Coming from a student, I expected a critical article from a rebellious young person, against that kind of restriction and practice. To my shock and dismay, the young man instead was criticising parents who allow their children to be “exposed” to “schmutz” (filth/ dirt) of non-Jewish sources of information! Worse, in his piece he argues that EXPOSURE to non-Jewish sources is actually a form of abuse !! he goes on further advising parents to be a “living example of what a Chossid is. Even if it is fake“.

His message to Jewish parents was clear:

“Please do your children a favor and bring them up in a warm Yiddishe Shtub (home) that is illuminated by the light of Chassidus (many hear this under the Chuppa and forget that one fast …) and keep the schmutz out“

In the third item, we are confronted with an even more bizarre situation where reading becomes a crime punishable by law: 7 years in prison for reading the Torah !

Then we end up face to face with the absurd; where contradictory laws are fabricated and enforced to permanently oppress and shackle the mind; where even involuntary thoughts that creeps into the mind which does not conform to an imposed narrative, and where modest aspirations of basic human rights would throw the “culprit-thinker” behind bars:

• Prison if you RECOGNISE Palestinian suffering: (Nakba Law)

• Prison if you DENY Jewish suffering: (Holocaust Laws)

• Law of “Return” a right to those who never been

• Law of “absentees” against those who have always been

One begins to wonder if the time has come to start watching out our dreams, were last night dreams “permissible” or not? and if not what sort of dreams is “allowed”? and failing to dream the right dream what sort of punishment should one expect? and how best to conceal “forbidden” dreams before ending up in prison?

But the mind is such a naughty thing, curious as it is, it keeps nagging;
where does this attitude towards knowledge and the concept of “forbidden knowledge” come from?
Why is that in this day and age, some still believe that it is their business and divine right to act as Thought Police; to block the flow of information and to classify knowledge as permissible or forbidden?
Why is it that some suffer with such uncontainable ego, that they think they are somehow intellectually, morally or spiritually more able/entitled to decide what is good for people and what is not?

The picture becomes clearer when you start examining some sources to discover that this kind of attitude towards control of knowledge and filtering of information, does not erupt in a vacuum; rather, it has its historic and ideological background. The fire behind the smoke appears to be related to a common belief amongst ultra Orthodox Jews that they are forbidden from taking knowledge from non-Jewish sources, and non-Jews are also forbidden from learning from religious Jewish books.

“While Jews are commanded to learn the entire Torah, Hasidic Gentiles are obligated only in those parts that pertain to the Noahide Laws and related concepts…… A gentile receives great reward for studying relevant parts of Torah, but faces death from Heaven for delving deeply into forbidden parts” source

“Idolaters — those who follow false gods and false religions, such as Buddhism or Christianity — are forbidden to learn any part of Torah at all, except those specific teachings that will bring them to repent and become Hasidic Gentiles. We are therefore forbidden to teach idolaters any parts of Torah they are not allowed to learn” source

“Gentiles who are oseik in Torah related to the Noahide Laws achieve the holy status of the cohen gadol; gentiles who are oseik in other parts of Torah are liable to death penalty“.
Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zarah 3a source

“Hasidic Gentiles have a portion in Olam HaBa; Christians and Muslims do not, because they are kofrim baTorah”.
Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Teshuvah 9:2 source

Teaching Torah to non-Jews

“Idolaters have no business studying any portion of Torah.”
“Torah study is forbidden to idolaters.”
“Indeed, if an idolater were to studyTorah, especially Kabbalah, they would place an irrevocable curse upon their souls.” source

“Idolaters will never be able to understand Torah and/or Kabbalah properly all the while that they cling to unclean beliefs and practices. Therefore, such Non-Jewish individuals have no place in Torah study and are thus not welcome here in KosherTorah.com.” source

“A Gentile who engaged in Torah is punishable by death. He should not engage in anything other than their seven commandments alone.”source

“A Gentile who studies Torah is punishable by death, as it is said: ‘Moses commanded us the Torah as an inheritance,’ for us it is an inheritance, and not for them”. source

“The prohibition against teaching Torah to non-Jews is well known to students of Jewish law.” source

“A person unfamiliar with the extensive rabbinical literature devoted to this topic may perceive a certain tension, and perhaps even contradiction, between a recognized need to disseminate religious truths and an almost xenophobic reluctance to share the greatest repository of such truth—the Torah.
Yet even a cursory examination of the relevant sources dispels the notion that while the community of Israel jealously guards its spiritual wealth, it refuses to share these riches with others. On the contrary, it is unique among Western religions in its willingness to share its teachings without seeking to impose its observations. This necessarily involves a vocation of teaching despite the stricture against teaching Torah to non-Jews. The latter, while based on substantive philosophical considerations and of definite halachic import, admits of sufficiently broad exclusions to assure that Israel remains true to its role as a lamp unto the nations. p192″ source

“The Gemora in Sanhedrin (59a) states explicitly that a non-Jew who studies Torah is liable for death.” source

“The prohibition against teaching an idolater Torah is only applicable to the six hundred and eleven mitzvos that Moshe taught us. The other two, I am Hashem your God and the Unity of God; one would be permitted to teach to them.” source

The above would’ve been somehow less disturbing if such exaggerated sense of worth and entitlement, such grandiose image of self, and such delusion of entitlement to censor and withhold knowledge were only confined to ultra Orthodox fanatical groups, or if it were only restricted to the inner circles of the artificial Zionist entity, however, this is proven not to be the case.

This obsession with the entitlement to “educate”, to filter the flow of information and to select intellectual diet for others, this pushy strive for dominance, to be in control of people’s minds, this bizarre trend “we know best” is not limited to some weird rabbinical rulings of some ultra Orthodox Talmudists, Nay, it permeates deep into the secular sphere, even outside the Zionist entity.

Recently, we have witnessed the unfathomable secular manifestation of this obsession, played out in the most crude and ugly manner as events unfold:

When excommunicating and censoring fellow activists is portrayed as normal;

When banning books and picketing Launch of books becomes “progressive activism”;

When intellectuals become targets because they desired to retain independent minds and choose to exercise their freedom of thought;

When even concert and cultural events do not escape the heavy hand of thought police of our time.

One is entitled to ask then, since when using one’s own brain and acquiring knowledge needed “permission”?

How can one be expected to exercise his/her freedom of thought, freedom of expression, or any freedom in general when books and sources of knowledge become forbidden fruits?

How can humanity hope to progress or arrive to any understanding of the other, if communication processes are jeopardized and access to information are blocked?

How can some self-appointed Thought-Police and Political-Commissars feel entitled to ban books or forbid others from reading or communicating with each other?

What level of cultural grandiosity and intellectual supremacy one must espouse before they embark on banning books, restricting knowledge or blocking debate?

I conclude with the following:

Those who appoint themselves gatekeepers at gates of knowledge, minders of minds of others, or guardians to grounds of wisdom are no less than Intellectual Supremacists.

In other words, those who consider knowledge as a threat are themselves THE THREAT. period

“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings”
— Heinrich Heine

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