by Isi Leibler
Today, a small group of Jews and Israelis maintain this demented tradition of self-loathing, resurrecting the collective blood libel and directing it against the entire Jewish nation by seeking to portray the IDF -- undoubtedly the most moral army in the world -- as craven war criminals.
Most of us are
thoroughly exasperated with the obnoxious Jewish deviants who are
demonizing Israel with their global campaigns, falsely defaming the
Israel Defense Forces as monsters and war criminals. Such reprehensible
elements were always the bane of the Jewish people. But today the
Internet and the global media provide them with the opportunity to
inflict infinitely greater damage than in the past, when their impact
was more localized.
During the Middle Ages,
some of the most venomous anti-Semitic propaganda emanated from
self-loathing Jews, principally converts to Christianity, who
represented an important element compounding the prevailing atmosphere
of persecution, pogroms and expulsion.
In the 19th century,
Karl Marx, who was born a Jew, spouted obscene anti-Semitic diatribes,
which his Jewish followers simply refused to acknowledge. In Russia in
the 1880s, it was Jewish Social Revolutionaries who justified pogroms as
incubators that would transform the masses into revolutionaries.
After the Bolshevik
Revolution, the Soviet-appointed Yevsektsiya (Jewish cadres) were more
vicious than their gentile counterparts in demonizing and proscribing
Judaism. More recently, during the Cold War, Diaspora Jewish communists
defended Stalin as he murdered their kinsmen and applauded the Soviet
regime which promoted state-sponsored anti-Semitism.
Today, a small group of
Jews and Israelis maintain this demented tradition of self-loathing,
resurrecting the collective blood libel and directing it against the
entire Jewish nation by seeking to portray the IDF -- undoubtedly the
most moral army in the world -- as craven war criminals.
The principal Jewish
group currently promoting this blood libel is a small Israeli
nongovernmental organization, Breaking the Silence, which was
established in 2004 with the clear objective of undermining Israel. Its
strategy is to defame the IDF, dramatizing "evidence" of alleged war
crimes. However, its "eyewitness reports" are anonymous, unverifiable
and devoid of context. Many of the alleged "crimes" were subsequently
exposed as comprising anti-Israeli chatter with no basis in reality.
Indeed, allegations
accusing the IDF of engaging in Cossack-like killing sprees were
highlighted in cover stories by Haaretz in mid-2009 and subsequently
syndicated as front-page stories in newspapers throughout the world.
They were very soon proven to have been without substance. But the
damage was done and the climate was created, paving the way for the
notorious Goldstone report which accused Israel of war crimes.
Today we are witnessing
a replay. Breaking the Silence has released a 237-page report of
"testimonies" by unnamed Israeli combatants describing alleged war
crimes during the recent war in Gaza. Again, citing anonymous sources
and without context, these unsubstantiated accusations, which
effectively describe the IDF and Hamas as birds of a feather, made
worldwide headlines. They undoubtedly represent a curtain raiser for
the forthcoming United Nations Human Rights Commission report, which
promises to be as biased and distorted as the discredited Goldstone
report. The campaign is also intended to encourage the International
Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis for war crimes.
Of course war is
horrendous, mistakes are made and innocent civilians become casualties.
This applies especially in Gaza with Hamas, which aside from launching
rockets and digging tunnels to murder and kidnap Israelis, also
deliberately used civilians as human shields and located rocket and
artillery launching pads and arms depots in densely populated areas
including schools, hospitals, mosques and U.N. shelters.
If Israel had wantonly
sought to kill civilians, it would not drop millions of leaflets and
telephone hundreds of thousands of civilians urging them to evacuate
areas four hours in advance of airborne attacks.
That is not to suggest
that the IDF, even with its unique moral code of combat, is perfect. But
there are procedures in Israel for dealing with legitimate complaints
or infringements of the law. The military advocate general
systematically investigates every accusation, and some exceptional cases
have led to prosecution of offenders. But there are no cover-ups and
there has not been a single case of behavior that could be described as
a malicious intent to kill a civilian without cause.
Had Breaking the
Silence submitted evidence that as ignored by the military advocate
general, it would have been justified in condemning and protesting
against the state. But it adamantly refused both to identify the
primarily low-ranking soldiers charging the IDF with war crimes, and to
provide details of these allegations to enable their claims to be
investigated by the relevant authority. Yet it has the gall to justify
circulating such unverifiable defamatory allegations, on the outrageous
grounds that whistle-blowers would be "punished," something
inconceivable in a country that has a free press, which would have a
field day if there were an attempt to cover up any such incident.
Under normal
circumstances, no responsible reporter or newspaper would risk
publicizing such charges if prevented from verifying their veracity.
Yet these monstrous libels against Israel are reproduced as though
Breaking the Silence was a responsible government instrumentality or a
transparent, respectable human rights organization.
The problem is
compounded by the fact that the bulk of funding for Breaking the Silence
comes from anti-Israel NGOs, human rights organizations, foreign
foundations, and European governments, many of which also support the
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Some actually made their
grants conditional on obtaining a minimum number of negative
"testimonies."
Tens of millions of
euros originate from European governments, including the United Kingdom,
which would never conceivably tolerate such foreign interference in
its own domestic arena by external organizations -- especially
governmental bodies -- seeking to subvert a democratic government under
the cloak of promoting human rights. This is documented in detail in a
recent NGO Monitor publication titled "NGOs, Anti-Semitism and
Government Funding."
The demonization and
delegitimization of Israel by Jews funded by anti-Israeli groups abroad
is neither an academic exercise nor an exchange of views. It is an act
of sabotage, endangering the state and as pernicious as sabotaging IDF
weapons depots. It would not be tolerated in any other democratic
country, particularly one surrounded by neighbors fanatically committed
to its destruction.
It is indisputable that
the objective of Breaking the Silence is not merely criticism of
Israeli policies. After all, self-criticism, sometimes even extending
to masochism, is a central feature of Israel's robust democratic ethos.
However, Breaking the Silence, a small group of disgruntled
delusional Israeli leftists backed by massive overseas funding, is
unashamedly demonizing Israel throughout the world and undermining its
government. It sends out emissaries to vilify Israel among Jewish and
non-Jewish groups, particularly at universities. It is shameful that,
purporting to uphold freedom of expression and maintain dialogue, some
Hillel bodies even provide platforms for its representatives to defame
the IDF.
To besmirch a nation by
falsely portraying its soldiers as craven murderers undermines
national morale. It is in this context that the proposal mooted by
Ayelet Shaked, now justice minister, to require government approval for
overseas NGOs to sponsor Israeli political bodies has considerable
merit, despite the shrieks that democracy would be undermined.
Just as individuals can
resort to legal means to remedy defamation, the state must defend
itself from demented citizens engaged in defamation of their country.
This applies especially to Israel, the sole democratic oasis in a
region in which barbarism is rampant and whose right to exist continues
to be challenged by its neighbors.
Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
1 comment:
A few points:
1) Something that neither Mr Leibler nor many other defenders of Israel understand is that you can't fight delegitimization of Israel while at the same time delegitimizing Israel's right to its land in Judea and Samaria.
Those who favor the partition of Israel for the creation of an independent state for the Muslim invader and occupier are undermining Israel's legal and historical right to the land, and much more along with it.
2) It's been a long process but Jews have allowed the anti-Semitic world to sow self-doubt and guilt among them.
At the same time Jews watch as Israel's enemies falsify history and engage in journalistic malpractice - all culminating in one global project of CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.
So where's Jewish self-respect, and outrage at such unethical behavior?
3) It's getting very tiring to read about Jewish "self-hate".
How can any Jew claim to suffer from this ailment while experiencing first hand Muslim violence and terror in Europe and in the Middle East? In addition to two thousand years of hate and persecution?
Even animals UNDERSTAND that they can't survive without defending their territory. But Israel, the most maligned country in the world, repeatedly announces proudly that it is ready to give land away for peace.
So, where's the Jewish sense of self-preservation?
4) Israelis have also allowed the enemy to use the euphemism of "peace" to really mean the surrender of the Jewish heartland along with many other concessions.
It is time that Israelis took charge by using the term peace as defined by the dictionary: the absence of war.
They should also be more honest and rename the negotiations as they are at the present as the "PARTITION TALKS".
5) I check Israeli websites daily (particularly Arutz Sheva and Jewish Press) and there seems to be no single day in the year when the Israeli government is not backtracking and surrendering to the Arabs and the anti-Semitic world in one way or another.
That appeasing attitude carries A STRONG MESSAGE that reinforces what Israel's enemies are repeating every day that Israel is guilty of all charges, and an illegitimate colonizer.
6) And regarding Breaking the Silence and other character assassination projects - When was the last time Israel sued for defamation?
Tracy W
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