Monday, March 17, 2008

It never fails to anger me

If there's something I hate, it's cowards who hide behind their ethnicity and religion and culture to pass themselves off as the perpetual victim. Because white men came up with the grandiose scheme of slavery to bring more inequalty and tyranny to this world, a white person can no longer criticise a black person without being called condescending, colonialistic, imperialistic, slave driving, etc. Robert Mugabe's power is build on this tactic. Whenever he needs to distract the sheeple from the apalling poverty in Zimbabwe, he pulls out the boogyman of arrogant western imperialists sabotaging proud and free Africa. I doubt this is what Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela or Jesse Jackson meant when they changed the world for the better.

But this time, regretably, the group using such cheap below-the-waist shots are the pro-Israel lobby. Criticizing Israel equals you wanting to see it utterly destroyed. How un-nuanced can it get? This time they took a really inlikely victim: a Dutch ex-minister named Dries van Agt. Van Agt is a conservative christian politician. A former member a conservative thinktankt that fell from grace when its leader alligned itself with a racist dumb blonde party leader (van Agt BTW left exactly for this reason). He peppered his speech with ancient words. And in his wilder years he sought out open confrontation with a social-democratic premier by means of denigrating comparisons.
But in 2005, he had a revelation on a fact-finding mission to Israel. He must have stumbled across something rotten while fact finding. When he returned from Israel he became an open sympathiser of the plight of Palestinian citizens. He's become highly critical of Israel as a result of being at the front row of where it's all happening.

Enter Hendryk Broder, a Judeo-German political commentator who's know for his partisan support of Israel. He attacks left-wing pacifists by calling them anti-semitists. No constructive debate can be held with this kind of man. Van Agt's scepticism towards Israel has been noticed by Broder, as he's called him a christian anti-semite now. He based this on no other proof than that van Agt dared criticize Israel. I can now consider Broder another coward using ethnic background and history to deflect criticism and shun responsibility.
Van Agt fortunately seems well aware of this argument. It must be getting old. His response was that this was a well known method to silence critics of Israel. I must applaud him for his sharp sense and courage. His ally, Hajo Meijer, a Jewish Auschwitz survivor, is also a writer and critic of Israel. Broder has called this person of semitic descent an anti-semite as well. Screw you Broder! You don't even know who you're talking about. In contrary to yourself, Meijer actually witnessed real anti-semitism the likes of which you never experienced, because you're from the 50's! You're a blind man, trying to paint your brother as a racist when you are the only one who has anything in common with a true racist: sweeping generalisations! Your American counterpart is the partisan that claims his opponent has no patriotism because that opponent is practicing his right to free speech by questioning the government's leadership; the cornerstone of democracy.

And Broder is not the only one who has picked up on this sham of a tactic. Desmond Tutu has also been called a closet Nazi when he questioned Israel's policies. I kid you not! Some of the most powerful allies in the fight to end Apartheid were Jews, and the freedom loving people of South Africa are indebted to these countrymen. But Free Speech as the price for freedom? Never! You would be right back at square one if you shut up because someone does not like his fault laid bare: paternalism, authoritarianism, fascism. The pro-Israel lobby must stop bullying critics, or they will become themselves what they hate most. It is very demeaning for actual victims of fascism and persecution, like Hajo Meijer was. The pro-Israel lobby is incredibly racist: it tries to maintain a distinction between Jews and non-Jews in a world that needs to grow out of judging others by their creed, skin colour or culture!

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