Sunday, June 15, 2014

Why Shouldn't They Kidnap Jews?

Michael L.

the guys1Within recent decades Arab and old Soviet propaganda convinced the well-meaning (and not so well-meaning) in the progressive-left that Jews are "Occupying" the innocent "indigenous" population of "historical Palestine."

The progressives - in the years since the 1967 war allegedly turned Jewish Israelis into "Goliath" - convinced the majority of diaspora Jews that Israel is somehow "illegally occupying" what is, in fact, the current and historical land of the Jewish people.

Jews are accused of illegally occupying the very land that we come from and many diaspora Jews unwittingly (or so one hopes) promote the notion.

Let me give you an example of the kind of thing that I am talking about.

Over on Daily Kos there is very little any longer in the way of pro-Jewish / pro-Israel participants, most of whom were driven out by the growing presence of a highly malicious contingent of anti-Semitic anti-Zionists of the type typically found within progressive-left venues.

However, one pro-Jewish / pro-Israel participant who still posts there goes by the moniker charliehall2

Charliehall2 has a brief "diary" up at Daily Kos from a few days ago alerting an almost entirely indifferent community about the fact that three Jewish teenagers, including one American, were kidnapped just outside of the old Jewish city of Hebron by Arabs.

Charlie writes this:
I have never written two diaries in one day. In fact it is rare for me to write two diaries in a month. But something happened in the Occupied Palestinian Territories within the past day that deserves note -- three young men, all Israeli with one also a US citizen, are missing and feared kidnapped, possibly by terrorists.  (My emphases.)
Now, I have no ill-will toward Charlie and, in fact, remember him as a perfectly reasonable individual from my own time participating on that blog.

But I do have a few criticisms of Charlie's effort and, by extension, Jewish left discourse around the Arab-Israel conflict.  First, while I understand that he is seeking to wait until he gets more information, but if they were not kidnapped by terrorists, then just who were they kidnapped by?

The Girl Scouts?  The Rotary Club?   B'nai Brith?

It is obvious that terrorists grabbed those kids and if they were not terrorists before they did so they instantly became terrorists the very moment one of them pulled out a weapon.  In fact, that is pretty much the way it works, yes?

But let me ask Charlie a question, because this is a far more important point.
If Judea and Samaria actually constitute Occupied Palestinian Territories then just why shouldn't the local Arabs try to kill or kidnap Jews?
What Charlie is doing, whether he realizes it or not, is justifying ongoing majoritarian violence in the Middle East toward the small Jewish minority.  After all, if Judea does not belong to the Jews, and if the Jewish presence is illegal under international law - which it is not, by the way - then naturally the local Arab population would be well within their rights to resist the Israeli Occupation Forces, by any means necessary.

By telling the world that Judea belongs to Arabs and not Jews he ends up accidentally justifying violence against us.

This is not Charlie's intention, but it is the message that he spreads when he uses Arab propaganda phraseology like "Occupied Palestinian Territory."

What's next?  Are left-wing diaspora Jews going to now start referring to the IDF as "Zionist Occupation Forces"?  Will the Knesset become the "Zionist Colonial Government"?

As I have argued many times in these pages, so long as diaspora Jews continue to use the language of the enemy then we will continue to send a message to the rest of the world that the Jews are guilty as sin.

Of course, the only way to convey that message is to not place the conflict within the long history of Jewish persecution under Arab-Muslim imperial rule.  By failing to do so Charlie sends a message that is both strategically unsound and entirely empty of the necessary historical context.

As I say, I have nothing against the man, personally, but if he thinks that "Occupied Palestinian Territory" represents anything that resembles reality, either historical or current, then he is doing a great service for the very anti-Semitic anti-Zionists who drag his reputation through the mud on Daily Kos and who wish to see Israel dismantled as the national home of the Jewish people.

I recommend against it.

9 comments:

  1. CNN put kidnapped in quotes. I guess the jury is still out and they may have run away from home or something...?

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    1. Or perhaps they wandered into the hills while tripping on acid and got lost?

      That's possible.

      Or maybe they were beamed up to an alien spaceship for purposes of illicit intergalactic relations.

      Anything is possible, really.

      Of course, in certain neighboring countries they might easily suggest that it was Zionist Golums run amock against their heinous masters.

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  2. Stuck out to me, too. I didn't want to 'rec' it because of that language, but I ultimately did just because it was there. Agreed fully with this post.

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    1. They forgot to ban me, because I left for a couple years after being 'permanently NR'ed,' but then came back a little bit after finding out there was apparently some sort of 'amnesty,' so that vicious antisemites, like soysauce, whose only purpose on that site was, and is, to spread hatred against Jews... and actual life-long liberal Democratic activists like myself, who was only once "NR'ed" for a couple years apparently because I stood up against antisemites like her a little too much for the liking of that site's administration (to this day, I still do not have a 'hidden comment' there; I think this clearly proves my point), are now equally welcome back, I find an interesting landscape.

      There are still good people like Mets and dhonig there who keep kicking ass. Good folks like fizziks, PaulinBerkeley, volleyboy (let's just agree to disagree on him for now, Mike) and Corwin Weber are still gone, unfortunately, which actually sort of mystifies me, since I'm pretty sure I'm now to the 'right' of where they all were when they were banned from that site, at least on the A-I conflict.

      I don't really have the time to go in there, guns blazing, anymore right now, but maybe that will change soon. ;)

      Too busy at work for now. But maybe I'll be banned within the next year for speaking uncomfortable truths, as well. We'll see. For now, again, I don't really have the time, and I also don't think they're worth spending what dwindling free time I do have anymore on them, but this can change at any moment. It could prove some good entertainment, if nothing else, eventually. ;)

      In the end, the most important thing to remember is that places like Daily Kos are far from being completely reflective of the Left as a whole, though they do provide great examples of certain mindsets which are definitely worth illustrating from time to time, as you do here...

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    2. (and not to mention the dozens of Jews who left of their own accord, completely out of disgust due to antisemitism on that site, and its tolerance by admins, over the years...)

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  3. From Harry's Place, a post about a regular poster at Electronic Intifada. This shows how vile such "antiZionists, really are:

    "Wonderful wonderful news that three settlers have been kidnapped. Celebrations celebrations. Cheers everybody (Zionists excluded)!

    She then complains

    My God. Have we really reached the stage at which the children of the oppressor are equated with the children of the oppressed?

    and elaborates:

    I find the comparison between Palestinian and Israeli boys very very ridiculous, not to say disgusting altogether."

    http://hurryupharry.org/2014/06/14/electronic-intifada-contributor-gloats-over-kidnappings-in-israel/

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  4. And this:

    "Arabs Celebrating Kidnapping of Jewish Children
    By: Jewish Press News Briefs
    Published: June 14th, 2014
    Latest update: June 15th, 2014
    print
    Palestinian Unity Government Arabs celebrate the kidnapping of 3 Jewish boys.

    Palestinian Unity Government Arabs celebrate the kidnapping of 3 Jewish boys.

    Palestinian Unity Government Arabs have been celebrating the kidnapping of the three teenage boys. They are handing out sweets and cakes.

    On social media sites they are praising the kidnapping of the boys.

    It’s all very reminiscent of how they celebrated when the Twin Towers were destroyed in New York on 9/11.

    What a sick and twisted society they are."

    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/arabs-celebrating-kidnapping-of-jewish-boys/2014/06/14/

    Sick and twisted, indeed. You know what? F**k Palestine.

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    1. It's time for Israel to turn off the lights in PLO offices.

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  5. Caroline Glick begins her take on this with:

    "Three Jewish boys were abducted by Palestinian terrorists while trying to catch a ride home from school Thursday night. And as far as the foreign press is concerned, it’s their own damned fault."

    http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Our-World-Ignoring-the-elephant-359675

    "their own damned fault"

    Says it all doesn't it? Yep, says it all.

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