I don’t want to irritate anyone Jews or non-Jews. However for those allergic to truth I can’t do much to help them avoid irritation.
We all condemn anti-Semitism in the strongest terms. We do so because hating a group of people because of their ethnicity or religion or because of the color of their skin is inherently unacceptable. This is what civilized people call “racism.”
In the final analysis people may be more or less inclined to dislike certain people and certain regimes for their evil deeds but not for what they are.
The list of evil doers is very long indeed that is why people like me a late-comer do hate the Nazis who murdered millions of innocent people the Soviet Communists who starved millions to death most of the western powers which destroyed nations and exterminated countless human beings in the name of civility and democracy!!!!
And I don’t forget the Bashar Assad regime along with its Iranian and Russian supporters who are carrying out a real holocaust in Syria for the purpose of extending the life-span of the criminal regime a few more months or a few more years.
For the same reason I must also condemn the slow-motion genocide Zionist Jews have been carrying out for decades against the Palestinians for no reason other than the fact that the Palestinians don’t belong to the “Holy tribe.” Yes Israel may not be the worst evil doer under the sun. But it is an evil entity none the less. And it would be dishonest to view the Zionist entity otherwise.
Let’s return to the subject of anti-Semitism.
For many decades since WWII Israeli and Zionist circles sought to blackmail the collective conscience of the West for the purpose of getting Western countries to support Nazi-like Israeli policies against the Palestinians.
And when some western nations voiced some objections or a measure of ambivalence over Israeli crimes Israel screamed Nazis Holocaust Auschwitz Bergen Belen etc. in the faces of these nations.
Unfortunately some of these states were thoroughly intimidated and forced to shut up even gravel at Israel’s feet.
Now Israel is trying once again to impose its own twisted understanding of anti-Semitism on the world community especially Europe.
Hence anti-Semitism according to the Israeli version is no longer about hating Jews for being Jews. Indeed for the likes of Binyamin Netanyahu the pathological liar and shameless propagandist who happens to be Israel’s Prime Minster anti-Semitism has acquired news far-fetched meanings and connotations including criticizing Israeli crimes and opposing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as well as Israel’s Lebensraum policies in the West Bank.
Thus if you criticize Israel’s blanket bombings of civilian neighborhoods in Gaza you become instantly an anti-Semite.!
And if you criticize the on-the-spot execution of Palestinian kids in the street of the West Bank you are an emulator of the Nazis pure and simple!
And if you argue that Israel ought to return to the borders of 1967 in implementation of UN resolution 242 then you are the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people very much like Haman the Agagite!!!
Still if you demand rather politely that Israel should halt the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem then such demands are equated with pushing Israel to the brink of Auschwitz!!!
Frankly I cannot think of a more scandalous abuse of anti-Semitism and the memories of Jews who perished because of their faith and ethnicity.
Today the likes of Binyamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett are effectively embracing and encouraging brashly racist actions against Palestinians (Muslim and Christian alike) that have much in common with actions carried out against Jews in the 1920 and 1930-Germany.
We all remember that the Holocaust didn’t really start with the concentration camps but started much earlier with a book called Mein Kamph with some anti-Jewish laws the Nuremburg laws and racist scattered attacks against Jewish properties business and places of worship very much like what settler thugs are now doing to Palestinians.
Eventually came Krystalnacht. We know the rest of the story.
I can claim in all honesty that Netanyahu’s anger over the burning of the Dawabsheh family at the hands of a member of Gush Emunim (a Jewish extremist group) had nothing to do with any genuine humanitarian concerns over the murder by way of burning of an entire family.
His anger is driven first and foremost by the fact that the gruesome crime portrayed Israel in bad light and seriously harmed Israeli Hasbara (propaganda efforts).
Today nothing harms the legitimate cause of fighting anti-Semitism more than the criminally racist Israeli policies and practices in Palestine.
We who live here in the West Bank know more than anyone else the evil nature of Israeli crimes against our people crimes that in many cases prompt Palestinian youngsters to carry out desperate acts that often end with death.
Israel doesn’t stop trying to narrow our horizons using every conceivable tactics. Hence it is Israel that is really pushing the Palestinians to the brink of Auschwitz.
Now Israel is trying to starve our people by denying the bulk of Palestinians in the West Bank access to employment.
So don’t be surprised if you watch starving children in the West Bank a few months from now.
And don’t you believe the Israelis if they tell you that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is to blame.
After all the PA is itself languishing helplessly under the Israeli occupation and is responsible and answerable to Israel not to the Palestinian people.
Khalid Amayreh is a veteran journalist and political commentator living in Dura in the Southern West Bank
