Posted on 04/30/2008 2:40:24 PM PDT by Alouette
'We cannot celebrate birthday of state founded on terrorism… which engages in ethnic cleansing,' says group of prominent British Jews, saying time has come to recognize 'Naqba' as Palestinian equivalent to Holocaust
Hagit Klaiman Published: 04.30.08, 20:11 / Israel Jewish Scene
On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day and a week before Israel marks its 60th Independence Day, a group of over 100 British Jews comprised of well-known academics, writers, actors and other public figures has launched a scathing attack against the Jewish state.
'We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary,' proclaimed the letter carried by the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday. Among the signatures of those claiming Israel forced 70,000 Palestinians into a Death March in 1948 are Prof. Haim Bresheeth, a professor at the University of East London who organized the call for an academic boycott against Israel, playwright Harold Pinter, Attorney Daniel Machover, who filed a lawsuit against Maj. Gen. Doron Almog, and Stephen Fry.
"We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land," say the letter writers. "We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations. We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East."
"In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March. We will not be celebrating," the letter continues.
"In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right. We will not be celebrating."
'Israel responsible for attacks on Sderot'
In an interview with Ynet Prof. Haim Bresheeth rejected any claim that the letter was in any way anti-Semitic. "I don't understand why the signatories are being accused of anti-Semitism and support of terrorism. None of those who attached their names to the letter supports harming civilians or senseless victims on both sides," he said.
"We want Israel and the Palestinians to live side by side in peace, without missiles, without Qassams and without warplanes hovering above. I want to live in Palestine, without killing on both sides.
"Israel is unwilling to talk to Hamas, which won the democratic elections. Hamas on the other hand, is willing to talk to Israel so long as it withdraws from all the territories."
Bresheeth accused Israel as being responsible for the situation in the territories: "The real terror is the one Israel has inflicted on the Palestinians for 40 years now, the terrorism of a strong state against a relatively weak organization. We are pushing the Palestinians into a corner where they have no choice by the attacks. We must not do this, the fact that the government of Israel cannot ensure the safety of its residents and the safety of Sderot is solely its own fault."
Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, responded to the letter : "Israel is a democratic nation where anyone can speak their mind and freely criticize anything with virtually no restraints, but when a group such as this one, of Jews and former Israelis, sums up 60 years of Israeli existence with hate slogans like these – they deserve to be denounced and even ostracized.
"We are proud of the marvelous achievements Israel and the Jewish people have accomplished in our 60 years of existence and we will not allow this harebrained group to spoil our celebration."
OK, so bugger off then!
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Soap!
I would suppose that in the future they are going to find out the real meaning of “ethnic cleansing”. By then it will be too late.
Do you ever wonder how the “Intellectuals”, the “Intelligentsia”, the “Enlightened”, the “Academia”.. or at least those who refer to themselves by such titles...are the ones who most unerringly sink, nay, *dive* to the most self destructive, inhumane, and vilest depths of the recorded human experience?
They should have been gassed. And yes, I am a Jew. If I meet a single one of these scumbags on a NYC street I will spit in their face.
In honor of Israel's reverence for human rights?
We all know what Orwell said about intellectuals.
Italy’s being invaded by Muslim illegal immigrants. Let me know how well these Catholics do against Muslims. All in all the Jews of Israel know how to deal with Muslims better than the European nations being invaded by them. Britain is the European hub of Jihadist Islam and French Muslims go on car arson rampages
What “well known actors” are participating in this protest?
what friggin Idiots....bet they live in Notting Hill, not Golder’s Green
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Where we differ is that one of us seems to view ethnic dominance as a categorical imperative, and one does not. I am not a bit happy about the islamisation of Europe. I am not about to advocate genocide as the, um, solution.
St. Augustine is quoted as saying “God doesn’t need my lies.” He doesn’t need murders either.
Somewhere in your disconnected reply you are saying Catholics and Christians of Europe must yield to the Muslim invasion. Force of arms should not be used to stop them. Your addle brain word for self defense is genocide. The false prophet Muhammad likes your ideas
1. As to what you say I'm saying: BS.
2. Resisting Muslim invasion and recourse to arms are not identical categories.
3. Catholics are Christians.
Your addle brain word for self defense is genocide.
Genocide is a word for using force of arms to preserve (or achieve) ethnic dominance. Addle-brained is when you spin this as self-defense.
Let’s be clear about some things. You and I recognise a law that forbids murder. In my tradition, the prohibition of murder implies the right to self-defense. Not because killing is a fine thing, but because one has the right (and the duty) to prevent the crime of murder whenever possible — whether against me, you, Europe, or even against Joe Arab.
If non-Muslim Europe and America and Israel are worried about losing the demographic race, let them have more babies and fewer abortions. If not, let them give up the pretense that a non-islamic future is what they desire, for the truth is that above all what they crave is the gratification of selfish appetites, here, now.
You grandiosely use abortion as an excuse
Staving off Jiahdists is genocide in your book. Because Jews are doing it in Israel. You are reading out of the perverted playbook of the left. You like it when the Muslism assault the Jews of Israel and make life tough. You like it (won’t resist) when Muslims take over your Catholic/Christian Europe via immigration and sucking off the welfare system the natives fund. Your end game is to yield always to Islam to avoid accusations of murder.
I don’t get it
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