There’s a fascinating piece in the Jerusalem Post which contains this intriguing paragraph:
WHY IS it so easy to blame the Jews as aggressors even when it is perfectly clear that they are the innocent victims? Unfortunately, the allegation traces itself all the way back to the New Testament’s claim of Jewish complicity in the death of Jesus. The Roman governor, by all accounts a callous, bloodthirsty brute, is portrayed as benevolently trying to save Jesus while the Jews are portrayed as a bloodthirsty mob who want a docile and peace-loving prophet dead.
That’s right, the gentle Jews are the victims of Christian slander and are absolutely blameless concerning present events. And
… don’t think that because the Arabs are Muslims they are not affected by this slander. The New York Times reported on its front page just this past Saturday that Sheik Eid Abdel Hamid Youssef, a government-appointed preacher in a 1,000-year-old Cairo mosque, inveighed against the Jews: “God has inflicted the Muslim nation with a people whom God has become angry at and whom he cursed so he made monkeys and pigs out of them. They killed prophets and messengers and sowed corruption on Earth. They are the most evil on Earth.”
Yes- that’s right- the Muslims who hate Jews are just following the lead of the Church. Were it not for all those wicked Christians, the poor Jews would have been left alone to live in quietness and peace just as they have always desired.
This is the clearest piece of historical revisionism that I’ve ever read. Instead of facing squarely up to Jewish responsibility for the present carnage in Gaza, it’s much easier for Mr. Boteach to reach all the way back to the New Testament in order to evade responsibility. But if he really wanted to be honest (which he evidently didn’t) he could have reached way back to Jeremiah, who said things far more anti-Judah than anything in the New Testament. But Boteach’s purpose isn’t to honestly evaluate biblical literature, it’s to point fingers and blame someone else for the suffering of the Palestinians.
If you’re a fan of hate filled rhetoric, this is a must read essay. It brims to overflowing with contempt for Christianity. It is blatantly anti-Christian and of a sort that is only mirrored by the anti-semitism of Goebbels. Indeed, it probably isn’t too much of a stretch to say that Mr Boteach is Mr. Goebbels’ counterpart. Now let’s see if his anti-christianity is as widely denounced as anti-semitism has been.
Hi Jim,
As the saying goes, “Just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you.”
Yes, it is over the top to link the current anti-Israel rhetoric with a poor reading of the gospel.
Like you, I don’t agree with much of the article.
On the other hand, where is the outrage when rockets are fired indiscriminately at Israeli citizens?
I find it is amazing how people aren’t upset with Hamas, an organization, which has vowed to destroy Israel; yet when Israel defends itself, the same people are totally bent out of shape.
And thus, the paranoia.
By: jack on January 12, 2009
at 10:00 pm
Mr Boteach sounds pathetic. Jews were blameless therefore they will always be blameless. Everyone hates the Jews therefore the Jews hate everyone. Oh what a merry world.
By: steph on January 13, 2009
at 3:01 am
Yeah, that’s bad, but I thought Bill Moyers was making a stretch in his latest show when he tied what Israel’s doing to the Conquest.
By: James Pate on January 13, 2009
at 6:13 am
Actually, if you would follow some of the recent virulent anti-Semitism seen in the Arab world, much of it is along the lines of classical European, Christian-oriented Anti-Semitism. Although you can deny this all you want, there is a very strong connection between Anti-Israeli discourse in the Arabic/Muslim world and very frightening Anti-Semitic, basically blatantly racist statements. Time and time again Jews are compared to monkeys and pigs. It’s not pretty – but it’s out there.
Aren Maeir
By: arenmaeir on January 13, 2009
at 10:46 am
oh diddums. Are Jews really the only race in the world attacked with racist abuse? What about ‘Arab’ Muslims? What about Chinese? What about Poles? What about Pacific Islanders? You get the drift.
Jack – I think people are as outraged by Hamas as they are by Israel.
By: steph on January 13, 2009
at 7:33 pm
I don’t think most people are willing to believe just how bad the anti-Semitism in the Moslem world is. There is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas. That would be like trying to equate England and Germany in World War II. And yes, I do mean that Hamas is Nazi-like. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the Hamas charter:
Here:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Notice article 13, quote:
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. “Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know.”
Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?
“But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah.” (The Cow – verse 120).
There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:
“The people of Syria are Allah’s lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation.”
Or maybe just watch a bit of Moslem TV with English subtitles. Memri.org has plenty of their own words available to watch or read. Or just go to their own websites if you happen to know Arabic.
The reality is this: if Hamas laid down their weapons tomorrow, there would be peace. If Israel laid down their weapons, they would all die.
It takes two to make peace. Hamas does not want peace. They just want the Jews to die. That is a very ugly truth that a lot of people simply are unwilling to face.
Remember something: Israel gave back the Sinai to Egypt in exchange for peace.
And also remember this. The original UN partition for Palestine divided it into a Jewish and a Palestinian Arab state. The Jews accepted that. The Arabs rejected it and went to war. Between 1948 and 1967 Egypt held the Gaza and Jordan the West Bank. Why was there no call for a Palestinian state for them then, when the Arabs controlled that territory? Why was the PLO formed in 1964, before the 6 Day War? And why did they attack Israel rather than Egypt or Jordan?
By: R.P. Nettelhorst on January 13, 2009
at 11:22 pm
“Jewish responsibility for the present carnage in Gaza”? That’s just anti-Zionism, right?
You know, there are casualties outside of Gaza, such as Hani al Mahdi, a Bedouin from Aroer who was killed by a rocket attack at Ashkelon while in the first days of the offensive. I guess Jews are responsible for his death too.
As far as rockets, I can’t find any post in this blog prior to December criticizing Hamas for the rockets, or for kidnapping Gilad Shalit. Where were you then?
I know Jim! Why don’t you come over and explain to the citizens ducking for cover from the rockets in the streets of Ashkelon and Beer Sheva that it is the Jews who are responsible for the Gaza carnage?
By: Yitzhak Sapir on January 14, 2009
at 2:34 am
Steph: “I think people are as outraged by Hamas as they are by Israel.”
Only when they notice. The press generally doesn’t notice that rockets are flying; it doesn’t make TV news that Hamas broke the cease-fire so many times this week, etc. It’s only when Israeli military responses begin that the press wakes up, the commentators begin to spout, and Johnny Public gets angry – at whoever the press have blamed as the bad guys.
As for “diddums” – it makes no difference when you’re being racially abused to know that somebody else is being abused as well. Especially as the Western press NEVER picks up on the continual flow of hate and abuse in Arabic literature.
By: Tony Buglass on January 14, 2009
at 7:17 am
Well Tony, I wasn’t aware the BBC was so biased when I was there. I have been back in NZ for a year now and we get fed a well balanced plate of news from both sides. We hear all about the Hamas missiles and even the Israeli ambassador gets frequent coverage. Both sides have been guilty of breaking ceasefire agreements. There is no blaming by the media – we get sympathy stories from both sides. Is our media really so much different from yours? It’s so easy to blame the media when people disagree with you isn’t it.
By: steph on January 14, 2009
at 9:15 pm