New York – What exactly is Israel’s strategy in Gaza? Behind all the clamor about antisemitism, films about the 1940’s Jewish Holocaust and western politicians chanting about Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ lie some ugly facts that are not spoken of in polite society.
Many members of Congress receive money from Israel and its American lobby, plus media support and freebie trips. Last week the New York Times was caught issuing orders to its staff not to use any terms or phrases that put Israel in a bad light. In Britain, the Labour Party’s left-wing leadership was purged of critics of Israel, and a bland leader installed in place of its former fiery left wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
So too the endless barrage of disinformation about Palestine we see on America’s Israel-dominated TV. Britain and Canada also suffer from similar media censorship. Big financial donors to academia are using their tax-deductible donations to stifle criticism of Israeli tactics and strategy in Gaza. The US Congress is worse. The Israel lobby seats and unseats senators and congressmen depending on their Mideast votes. It’s no wonder Israel is the world’s largest recipient of US aid. The Israel lobby is feared and obeyed.
Many are now refugees in Gaza. My mother was forced to stop writing for US newspapers due to the cascade of threats. As pro-Palestinian students demonstrate across the US and the rest of the world demanding the massacre in Gaza end, we see growing efforts by pro-Israel groups to silence the students, curb the internet, and unseat politicians who dared criticize Israel.
At the same time my mother, a renowned journalist writing about the Mideast, and I were repeatedly threatened by pro-Israel thugs who threatened to throw acid in our faces if my mother kept writing about the nearly one million Palestinian refugees driven from the Galilee region in the 1940’s who – according to the US media – did not actually exist. They did.
Israel’s supporters must be careful not to twist too many arms. Doing so will surely engender real antisemitism and raise the famous question posed by Voltaire about who really rules us.
Right wing Israelis must lower their demands for an ever-larger Israel. They want Galilee, and chunks of southern Lebanon, including the Litani River. Plus driving most or even all Arabs out of the West Bank – designated a Palestinian state by the UN agreement that created the first Jewish state.
I know antisemitism when I see it. While still a boy, I was sent to a rustic summer camp in New Hampshire. At dinner, many of the campers would chant ‘all you guys with long, long noses, come and join the fight for Moses!’ A close Jewish friend of my fathers bought a resort hotel on New Hampshire’s Rangeley – only to be informed that it refused to rent to Jews. That was the virulent antisemitism of the 1950’s.
I was with Israel’s army when it invaded Lebanon in 1982 and, inadvertently helped create the Hezbollah movement. The notion of a second Jewish state in Ukraine is illusory. Israelis must begin figuring out how to live in the Arab World if they ever want to find peace. Getting out of Gaza would be a good beginning.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2024
I don’t care if you are Jewish your comments about Israel are antisemitic . Jewish control of countries because of money. That Israel needs to be careful about the fact they are causing anti semitism.wow. The Arabs kicked millions of Jews out of their countries. The Arabs were given most of Palestine when they created Transjordan and than they were given half of what was left. They just don’t want Jews .Israel not only has the right but the obligation to protect the millions of Arabs,Jews and Christian.. The IDF are heroes as they only target terrorists and have the lowest civilian to terrorist death rate in history. Compared to the other western countries who have a 3to 1 civilian death toll IDF only has 1 civilian death per terrorist.Even though the terrorist are in hospitals and mosques.Any civilian killed is Hamas fault not the IDF.