[lbo-talk] "Does the Jewishness of the neocons influence American foreign...

MOTECK1457 at aol.com MOTECK1457 at aol.com
Fri Apr 9 19:48:15 PDT 2004


In a message dated 4/9/2004 9:01:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, galliher at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu writes: Israel is a uniquely racist state, in that all other states are the states of their inhabitants, but Israel is by law the state of that one racial group worldwide Once again, Jews are not "one racial group." Defining Jews as "one racial group" is defining them the way the Nazis did. Jews are multi-ethnic and multi-racial. Ever hear of the Jewish Multiracial Network? (http://www.multiracialjewishnet.org/). Take a close look at the illustrations on that website. You also need to read anthropologist Raphael Patai's The Myth of the Jewish Race.

Moreover, "all other states are not the states of their [original] inhabitants." It is ahistorical and racist of you to overlook global patterns of economic and social change that have resulted in ethnic diversity (and people of diverse national origins) living in hundreds of different countries. To say that all other states have only citizens born within their geographic boundaries is preposterous on its face. The United States and Canada, to mention just two, have citizens from hundereds of different national origins; ie - citizens who were born somewhere else. Does the word "expatriate" mean anything to you? How about immigrant? How about refugee?

Moreover, Israel is not "a uniquely racist state." (Saudi Arabia is far more homogenious and racist.) How simple the eradication of racism would be if it existed in only one state. In fact, Israel admitted Vietnamese boat people into Israel on humanitarian grounds and they are prospering there. In fact, there are African American men who have emigrated to Israel, and are happily married to Ashkenazi (if you even know what that word means) Jewish women. In fact, Rabbi Natan Gamedze, born into a distinguished family in Swaziland, converted to Judaism of his own free will, emigrated to Israel of his own free will, and teaches alongside Ashkenazi rabbis in an Orthodox seminary in Tsfat. (For more on Rabbi Gamedze, see: http://www.shareibina.com/faculty.html; scroll down towards the middle of the page.)

You are not the first extreme anti-Zionist whose analysis is racist in theory and practice because it renders Jews of color invisible, and sadly you will not be the last. On issues of gender, I have a number of philosophical disagreements with Orthodox Jews; but on issues of race and Jewish identity, it appears that the Ashkenazi Jews of Sharei Bina are way ahead of you! (Oh, perhaps you think that Rabbi Gamedze is a racist too. Would you dare tell him that to his face?)

Your ignorance of Israeli sociology and demography is appalling, and anti-Semitic on its face. You are in no position to pass judgement on Israel until you clean up your own anti-Semitic act!

And you are of utterly no use to the Palestinains, because you are incapable of making common cause with the very Israeli leftists who are trying to change Israeli government policy.

Following is an excerpt of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (analagous to the American Declaration of Independence): [bolding mine]:

"THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

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