Chosen and Choosing
In an article of mine[i], I described a British Jewish
scholar Mr Hiyam Maccoby, a ‘Jewish nationalist’. His
daughter, Miss Deborah Maccoby, of London, a
correspondent and a friend, rose to the challenge and
objected to “the completely distorted picture of Dr
Maccoby”.
“He cannot be described as a right wing Jewish
nationalist. In the 1970s, he was one of the signatories
of a letter to the Times advocating a federal solution
to the Israel/Palestinian problem. He is now a supporter
of the two-state solution. His views are very close to
those of Amos Oz, who is hardly a right-wing Jewish
nationalist”, she wrote.
Dear Deborah, it is nice to know that the important
British Jewish scholar, Dr Maccoby, does not belong to
the right wing of Jewish nationalism. Or is it? He would
like the Gentiles of Palestine to have their separate
state, permanently disarmed, broken into a few separate
pieces, its borders permanently guarded by the Jewish
state next door, its newspapers and TV programmes
censored by the Jews, its holy places under Jewish
control. He would not return the properties confiscated
from the Gentiles in 1948 and 1967, probably not even
the lands confiscated last year. In other words, Dr
Maccoby stands for the creation of a ghetto for Goyiim
spread over small slivers (often and appropriately
called Bantustans) of their land.
Let us translate his position into British realities.
What would you call a man who supports the creation of a
separate Jewish state in [the London suburb of] Golders
Green, transfer of all British Jews into this state,
confiscation of all Jewish properties outside of Golders
Green, and, of course, disenfranchisement of the Jews in
Britain? Would he qualify as a right-winger? Oh yes. As
a member of the lunatic fringe? Absolutely. As a mad
Nazi? Probably. He would surely be well to the right of
any British party, even to the right of the National
Party and the National Front. But in Jewish politics,
such a man would not be even a right winger, but a
moderate.
Unwittingly, you touched the core problem of the Jewish
community in England (and that of the US). If the
opinions I described above are ‘moderate’ for the
community, the community needs a psychoanalyst. Probably
a programme of de-Nazification would do even better.
Because, as you correctly say; these opinions are
considered moderate among Jews. As I do not wish to hurt
your filial feelings, I’ll tell you that my own mother
considers your father’s opinions as left-wing and
defeatist. She would have the Gentiles expelled or
killed. Like many Israeli Jews, she is dreaming and
hoping for a Jewish Hitler.
Apparently, the Jewish community nurtures dark thoughts.
I do not know whether these thoughts are induced by the
conflict in Palestine, or whether the conflict in
Palestine just made these thoughts visible. If the
desire for Palestine unhinges their minds, Jews should
forget Palestine and save their souls. Let my right hand
forget me, if I forget Jerusalem, said R. Judah ha-Levy,
but it is better for you to lose one hand than for your
whole body go into hell, replied the Gospel.
If the conflict in Palestine just made these thoughts
apparent, the British society should limit the influence
of the sick community until it heals. It is an illusion
or self-deception to presume that Jewish opinions on
Palestine/Israel do not influence their vision of the
world. The prominence and influence of the sick Jewish
community in your country is a major source of trouble
in our troubled world. The elevation to be a peer of the
realm of that man-eating ogre, the Pillar of the Tories,
Conrad Black, friend of Pinochet, Sharon and Thatcher,
husband of Barbara Amiel, the owner of the Telegraph and
numerous other newspapers is a proof of the influence
and infectious nature of the malady.
And what of Labour? Another freshly minted lord, Michael
Levy a.k.a Viscount Reading, a friend of Sharon, is the
grey eminence behind the New Labour leader, the Prime
Minister of Great Britain and the US envoy
plenipotentiary, Tony Blair.
A fervent Zionist, Levy was the man who made Tony Blair
the Prime Minister of England. He found youthful Tony,
managed his election campaign and brought him to power.
(Levy learned a lot from Bronfman, who was instrumental
in bringing Clinton into the White House.) Blair made
Levy his special envoy to the Middle East, but the
Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook blocked Levy’s attempts to
re-Zionize British policy. He even refused to give the
freshly knighted Michael Levy a room with a secretary in
the Foreign Office. It was short-sighted of Cook, who
annoyed Israelis on previous occasions as well. After
Blair’s re-election, Cook received the boot, and Levy
was elevated.
You can see the consequences of it at work, in the BBC.
The intrepid Robert Fisk of The Independent reported on
August 4, 2001: “BBC officials have banned their staff
from referring to Israel's policy of murdering its
guerrilla opponents as "assassination". BBC reporters
have been told that in future they are to use Israel's
own euphemism for the murders, calling them "targeted
killings". Robert Fisk concluded it was due to ‘Israel’s
diplomatic pressure’. Probably that is how it looks from
Beirut, but if Fisk would check the story with London,
he would find another source of influence, the British
Jewish community and its prominent members in both major
parties.
We have a perfect witness of the racism inherent in the
Jewish community, the well-known feminist writer and a
good person Andrea Dworkin, who wrote:
“I realized only as a middle-aged adult that I was
raised to have prejudice against Arabs and that the
prejudice wasn't trivial. I was taught that Arabs were
irredeemably evil. Over the years, I learned about
Israeli torture of Palestinian prisoners; I knew Jewish
journalists who purposefully suppressed the information
so as not to "hurt" the Jewish state. My [liberal]
opinions put me into constant friction with the Jewish
community, including my family, many friends, and many
Jewish feminists. I don't believe that American Jews
raised as I was are free of this prejudice. We were
taught it as children and it has helped the Israeli
government justify in our eyes what they have done to
the Palestinians. We've been blinded, not just by our
need for Israel or our loyalty to Jews but by a deep and
real prejudice against Palestinians that amounts to
race-hate.”
Now, this race-hate produces the horrible fruits of
genocidal war. Dave Edwards wrote last week in ZNet: “We
live in a world where Tony Blair can insist that
"nothing can justify the killing of civilians", even as
B52s are doing just that in Afghanistan. Never has the
deep, unconscious racism of Western society been more
apparent. And at the heart of this belief, in turn, I
fear, lies a truly lethal conceit: that our men, women
and children really are more valuable, more precious,
more fully human, than their men, women and children”.
Do you recognise the source of this lethal conceit?
Could it be the idea of chosenness, rejected by Christ
but upheld by our Jewish community? Does it remind you
of the maxim, “the life of a hundred Gentiles is not
worth one Jewish toenail”? It was proclaimed by Rabbi
Yaakov Perrin, on Feb. 27, 1994 and quoted by the N.Y.
Times, Feb. 28, 1994. It was repeated by Rabbi Yitzhak
Greenburg, one of the leading Cabbalists, and
implemented by ‘the reprisal tactics’ of Ariel Sharon.
Do you think the increased influence of the Jewish
community is purely coincidental with this outburst of
racism, with the bombing of Afghanistan, with continuing
destruction of Iraq, and with Israel’s full-scope Nazi
treatment of Palestinians?
Look at another coincidence. The Jewish state has the
biggest gap in the developed world between the richest
ten percent of income and the middle classes. Bank
managers earn ten thousand dollars a month, after taxes;
Jewish office and industrial workers earn up to about
1,250 dollars a month; native Gentiles earn about 1200
dollars a year. Do you think that the increased
influence of the Jewish community is purely coincidental
with steep rise of the social gap in England and in the
US, the next two states on the ladder?
You are my friend, Deborah; you do not have to feel
accused because I am not accusing you. We do not choose
where to be born. You could have been born in the family
of a Prussian Junker, a steadfast supporter of the Third
Reich. I could have been born to the family of cannibals
who ate Captain Cook.
Still, the children of Junkers and Cannibals whose eyes
have been opened to alternative moralities have a
choice: to stick to the family and community tradition
or to reject the evil ways of their fathers and embrace
humanity. We are not Chosen, we are choosing. That was
the message of Jesus misunderstood by your respected
father.
[i] Yuletide controversy