The European solution (re: Israel)

JPost ^ | Nov. 14, 2003 | CAROLINE GLICK

[veronica]

What does Europe want from the Jews?

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis's Hitlerian rant this week was the latest expression of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. To an audience which included the Greek ministers of culture and education he asserted that the Jewish nation "is the root of evil. It is full of self-importance and evil stubbornness."

Theodorakis has a long personal history of hating Jews and Israel matched by a long history of support for the PLO – support which led to the PLO's decision to have him compose the Palestinian national anthem.

Because of this, the fact that he feels the way he does about Israel and the Jews is no surprise.

What is interesting about Theodorakis's remarks is that they come but a week after we learned that 59 percent of Europeans believe that Israel is the single largest threat to peace in the world. And the publication of the EU poll came but a week after the EU, under French leadership, refused to condemn the anti-Semitic screed uttered by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed at the Islamic Summit Conference where he said that "the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

In Israel, Theodorakis's remarks, like the EU poll results have been greeted with red headlines and a shallow public discussion of what Israel has done to cause this rash of Jew hatred. Is our army's treatment of the Palestinians responsible? Are the Israelis who live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza to blame for Europe's steadily rising comfort level with public expressions of anti-Semitism?

Underlying all of this gratuitous and vain soul searching has been another running subtext.

What has Israel done to defend itself against the resurgence of anti-Semitism as a cultural and political force in the West and why have these actions, such as they are, failed so abysmally?

Under the gun of media scrutiny, Israel's public diplomacy gurus launched their breathless defense. Led by Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General for Public Diplomacy Gideon Meir, they whined that they don't have enough money to launch a successful campaign to defend Israel abroad. The decision to close Israeli embassies due to budget cuts also adds to the Foreign Ministry's failure to defend the country and indeed the Jewish people from constant vilification, we were told. And, aside from these tired excuses, the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office found a scapegoat on which to pin their failure.

Danny Seaman, who has headed the Government Press Office for the past three years, was informed Monday night by a reporter that a decision had been made to replace him. Seaman, whose crime has been his staunch and unprejudiced enforcement of Israeli laws towards the foreign press, we are told, is responsible for the biased reporting that characterizes the media coverage of Israel. If he hadn't made foreign news organizations hire Israeli cameramen and if he hadn't ended the policy of accrediting Palestinian journalists, Israel would never be in the mess it is in today.

Of course this is ridiculous, as are all of the Foreign Ministry's excuses for its failure to mount even a modicum of defense for the state in the international media and towards foreign governments.

The real cause of Israel's abject failure to combat anti-Semitism in Europe is our failure to see the big picture. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe because many members of the European political and intellectual elite believe that vilifying Israel and the Jews advances their interests. And what are these interests that are served by anti-Semitism? They have to do with the enhancement and projection of European power.

How has this been manifested? A month before the September 11th attacks on the US, French policy wonk Dominique Moissy published an article in Foreign Affairs under the title, "The Real Crisis over the Atlantic."

Moissy, an advisor to the French Institute for International Relations and a member of the Trilateral Commission explained that the rift between the US and the EU has to do with how Europe defines its role in the world. Using the example of European rejection of the US's right to use the death penalty, Moissy explained, "Traditional state-centered concerns are no longer as relevant in this age of interdependence. Instead, domestic issues such as the death penalty and abortion have emerged on the foreign policy agenda."

Moissy's argument, at base, was that the US needs to accept European cultural supremacy if it wishes to maintain its Atlantic alliance with a self-confident New Europe. Two and a half years later, after the "New Europe" which Moissy described prevented the US from going to war in Iraq under UN Security Council or NATO aegis, many argue that the EU-US rift that was already apparent before the September 11th attacks has turned into an unbridgeable break.

Undaunted by the split his own government was so responsible for causing, Moissy recently published an article in the International Herald Tribune where he made the case for why Europe is indispensable for America. In his view, America cannot turn its back on Europe because "Europe is America's best protection against its own inner evils – neo-isolationist narcissism and arrogant ignorance of the way others may feel and think."

Moissy also provided a way to mend fences between Europe and the US. The way to rebuild the Atlantic alliance, he argued, was to work together to end Israeli sovereignty. In Moissy's words, "The road to reinvent the West goes through Jerusalem." Moissy urged that Europeans and Americans work together to force Israelis to accept the European financed Geneva "peace formula" which he claims "is the only way out of the abyss into which the region is falling."

The Geneva initiative calls for the institution of an international regime to include military forces from the EU, UN, US, Russia and indeed, Mahathir's Organization of the Islamic Conference that will take over the role of sovereign from the government of Israel. The international forces will be responsible for settling all disputes between Israel and the Palestinian state and will oversee everything from the security of Jerusalem to the use of airspace and the protection of borders. In short, the Geneva initiative that the EU stands so squarely behind, calls for the end of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and the reinstitution of an international mandate like that of the League of Nations.

It has been evident for years that many European governments view Israel's right to sovereignty as conditional upon our enemies' acceptance of our right to exist. European block voting in favor anti-Israel resolutions in the UN is case in point. So too, data indicating that levels of anti-Semitism in Europe reached an all-time low during the Oslo years are proof of this fact. As long as the PLO said it was okay to recognize Israel, the Europeans went along. The minute that Arafat renewed his call for the destruction of Israel, the Europeans, again, followed his lead.

But the current European hostility towards Israel, that is manifested as much in its policies as in its overt expressions of anti-Semitism is not simply a matter of never fully accepting Israel's right to exist. This conditional European acceptance of Jewish sovereignty is now linked to European aspirations to cultural hegemony over America.

There is a direct connection between Europe's anti-Semitism and its anti-Americanism. European anti-Americanism stems from cultural envy of American independence and power. Europe wants America to accept its cultural superiority and in so doing, hitch US military and financial might to European visions of social engineering and global governance.

Anti-Semitism plays an enormous role in the New Europe's attempt to force the US to adhere to its cultural dictates. If the US can be convinced that Israel is the gravest danger to world peace, as the vast majority of Europeans believe, then the US will effectively abandon its right to make moral distinctions for itself and come to rely on European guidance in its application of its military might.

If Israel, the archetype of the nation state is accepted as a rogue nation, then the US will hardly be able to argue with Europe's self-proclaimed right to interfere in its own internal debates about issues like the death penalty, abortion rights, genetically modified crops or global warming. Europe will have proven its point. According to the European logic, America, after abandoning Israel, will have been brought to cultural heel.

When seen as part of an overall European push for cultural hegemony over the West, the resurgence of anti-Semitism stops being a matter of simple public diplomacy. And our self-indulgence in blaming European anti-Semitism on loyal civil servants or on Jewish settlements is also unmasked as so much self-destructive nonsense.

To be successful, public diplomacy, like traditional diplomacy must be based upon what is actually happening in the real world. Israel has become a European pawn in its power bid to force its norms on America. If we wish to combat European anti-Semitism, we must understand that it has nothing to do with our actions. Rather, the resurgence of Jew-hatred in Europe has to do with the European quest for power.

[veronica]

FYI.

[veronica]

Bump.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[veronica]

So now we know where Zorba The Anti-semite is coming from.

[veronica]

I wonder what the lyrics of the "Palestinian national anthem" are. It's gotta be tough finding words to rhyme with Hitler, suicide, kill, and Yassir.

[yonif]

Ping.

[SJackson]

I wonder what the lyrics of the "Palestinian national anthem" are. It's gotta be tough finding words to rhyme with Hitler, suicide, kill, and Yassir.

I'm sure he's proud of his composition.

Since you may not be fluent in arabic

...........

COMPARING TWO NATIONAL ANTHEMS

 

#1   ISRAEL'S NATIONAL ANTHEM

LYRICS TO HA-TIKVA ... "The Hope"
As long as deep in the heart,
The soul of a Jew yearns,
And forward to the East [Toward Jerusalem]
To Zion, an eye looks
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Click HERE to listen to "Hatikva"

 

..

[Proposed]
#2   ARAB-PALESTINIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM

 

LYRICS TO WHATEVER THEY CALL IT!

My country , my country
My country, the land of my grand fathers
My country, my country
My country, my nation, the nation of eternity
With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my revenge
The longing of my blood to my land and home
I have climbed the mountains and fought the wars
I have conquered the impossible, and crossed the frontiers
My country, my country, the nation of eternity
With the resolve of the winds and the fire of the guns
And the determination of my nation in the land of struggle
Palestine is my home, Palestine is my fire, Palestine is my revenge and the land of eternal
My country, my country, the nation of eternity
I swear under the shade of the flag
To my land and nation, and the fire of pain
I will live as a guerrilla, I will go on as guerrilla, I will expire as guerrilla until I will be back
My country, my country, the nation of eternity

[Nothing about Hope.  Only about blood, fighting and revenge!]

Click HERE to listen to the Arab-Palestinian National Anthem
(source of anthem http://www.palestinehistory.com )

 

CONCLUSION?

 

Perhaps Israel Has a Lot to Teach Arafat and the Arabs of "Palestine"
About Nation-Building!

.

More on "Palestinian Nationalism
and the
Real War Against Israel...

The Middle East war is not now and never was a conflict between Israelis/Jews on the one hand and Palestinians on the other. In fact, the Arab-"Palestinians", while currently the perpetrators of most of the anti-Jewish atrocities, were never a very important part of the conflict. In fact, before about 1970, virtually no one in the world considered the Middle East conflict to be one between Israelis and Palestinians. 

The term "Palestinian" itself had referred to Israeli Jews back in the 1940s, and had been slowly deconstructed and redefined to refer to the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. The Middle East Conflict was always a war by Arabs against Jews, not a conflict between Israelis and "Palestinians." The war was repackaged as a conflict between Jews and Palestinians as a public relations gimmick by the Arab fascist regimes. These regimes had never had any interest in "Palestinians," in creating a "Palestinian" state, or in "Palestinian nationalism" before 1967. That is because Palestinian nationalism did not and DOES NOT exist. The Palestinians were a regional group of Arabs having virtually no cultural nor national distinctive traits separating them from Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians. They are all basically Arabs!. 

The bulk of what are called "Palestinian Arabs" are members of families who migrated into the Land of Israel beginning in the late 19th century. Palestinian nationalism is a mislabeling of Arab nationalism. Arab nationalism exists, although it is closely bound up with Islamic nationalism and even Islamism. Palestinian nationalism, however, is a phantom. It is nothing more than genocidal hatred of Jews! 

The Arab assaults and aggressions against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1968, and 1973 had nothing to do with Palestinians. The Palestinian terror campaign would itself be easy to suppress today and eradicate if the Middle East conflict were really a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel would simply obliterate the terrorists and expel their supporters to Syria and Lebanon. The Middle East war continues because it is really an Arab-Israeli war, not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is also in large part a war between barbarism and civilization. In many ways an Islamic religious jihad against the Jews.

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[SJackson]

BTW, not to suggest that palestinians aren’t “unique” Arabs, or that there are connections to Sadaam’s Iraq or Syria, but did you know the plos flag was actually designed at the time of pre WWI Arab revolts and was for a time the official flag of the Arab Baathist Party. The PLO officially adopted it as representative of the distinct “palestinian people” after they invented themselves in 1964 or 1965.

[MissAmericanPie]

"Undaunted by the split his own government was so responsible for causing, Moissy recently published an article in the International Herald Tribune where he made the case for why Europe is indispensable for America. In his view, America cannot turn its back on Europe because "Europe is America's best protection against its own inner evils – neo-isolationist narcissism and arrogant ignorance of the way others may feel and think."

It's called freedom and independence you pot calling the kettle black putz. We need Europe like we need the Black Death. Any infection from this dysfunctional tribe of moral relativists is fatal.

We are on the short journey to the "Valley of Decision", we best be on the right side of it lest we find ourselves hiding in caves begging for mountains to fall on us. Europe had chosen it's road to destruction, I don't care how much they pout that we won't join them on that road. It's time to part company.

[veronica]

LYRICS TO WHATEVER THEY CALL IT

Great post.

[veronica]

BTTT.

[americanSoul]

There is a direct connection between Europe's anti-Semitism and its anti-Americanism. European anti-Americanism stems from cultural envy of American independence and power. Europe wants America to accept its cultural superiority and in so doing, hitch US military and financial might to European visions of social engineering and global governance. Anti-Semitism plays an enormous role in the New Europe's attempt to force the US to adhere to its cultural dictates. If the US can be convinced that Israel is the gravest danger to world peace, as the vast majority of Europeans believe, then the US will effectively abandon its right to make moral distinctions for itself and come to rely on European guidance in its application of its military might.

Israel has a moral compass and cultural ethos that is congruent with the best of America's ethos.

In short, Israel is a mini America.

Envy is the root cause of all this hatred of America and Israel.

Think about it, stand aside and think about it. 997 out of every 1000 people in the world are NOT Jewish. Yet every year some 20% of the Noble Prizes in the hard sciences (chemistry, math, physics) are awarded to the people of the Book.

When was the last time some arab got a serious Noble prize.

In the Madrassas, the "school" libraries contain many books - but only one title - the koran.

Some of the teachers, westerners report, don't even know basic arithmetic.

G-d Bless America, G-d Bless Israel, and their Soldiers.

[dennisw]

Include France in the Sampson option.

New ping list for Islamic Jihad and terrorism. 3 pings per day, every day. Some from my old ping list are on by default.

On or off let me know by freepmail. 
Easy on, easy off, via freepmail.

[americanSoul]

That is because Palestinian nationalism did not and DOES NOT exist. The Palestinians were a regional group of Arabs having virtually no cultural nor national distinctive traits separating them from Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians. They are all basically Arabs!

It is also in large part a war between barbarism and civilization. In many ways an Islamic religious jihad against the Jews.

As Victor Davis Hansen says, we, Western Civilization, will prevail.

Any further 9/11 or a WMD attack on Israel => tactical nuclear hit on Mecca, Medina, and the Aswan dam. The latter will immediately place all these sub-humans under 20 feet of water.

[liberallarry]

Theodorakis criticism is interesting;

Jews think too highly of themselves and refuse to obey the commands of their superiors.

[americanSoul]

I wonder what the lyrics of the "Palestinian national anthem" are. It's gotta be tough finding words to rhyme with Hitler, suicide, kill, and Yassir.

Well put, gallows humor indeed!

[americanSoul]

That bicycle shot is another confirmation of the truism "a picture is worth a thousand words".

[sakic]

I totally disagree with the author's premise. It's my opinion that the rise in anti-semitism in Europe can be traced to the usual suspects:

• Failing economies
• Anti-Semitism that has temporarily gone underground for 50 years because of peoples' fear of being called anti-Semitic is no longer being repressed
• And the newest part of the equation: the fear that by condemning Israel they will escape the wrath of the millions of Muslims now inhabiting a great deal of Europe.

It always comes back to fear, and with weak people, fear trumps what they know is moral.

[APRPEH]

interesting... a few minutes ago i posted this article also, (using the full title)"Column One The European Solution" . it is a good article and i am glad others see that too. however, since the full title wasnt used, my title search was useless. (everyone) please post full titles.

re: the subject - Glick is making good sense here. The mark of euro-trash power is reflected in what level of antijewism is apparent at any particular time.