Fury as Israel president claims English are 'anti-semitic'

The Telegraph ^ | 7/31/10 | David Harrison and Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem

[Nachum]

Israel's president has accused the English of being anti-semitic and claimed that MPs pander to Muslim voters.

Shimon Peres said England was "deeply pro-Arab ... and anti-Israeli", adding: "They always worked against us."

He added: "There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary."

His remarks, made in an interview on a Jewish website, provoked anger from senior MPs and Jewish leaders who said the 87-year-old president had "got it wrong".

But other groups backed the former Israeli prime minister and said the number of anti-semitic incidents had risen dramatically in the UK in recent years.

[propertius]

Well spoken. Alas, I don’t think you are going to get anyone listening to you around here. I always find it extraordinary that the Israelis, subject to terror on so frequent a basis, will exult Jewish terror groups like the Irgun and the Stern Gang (there is a whole town in Israel named after Abraham Stern). This was the Stern Gang who was so blinkered in its hatred for Britain that it reached out to Hitler and later assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, who had done so much to save Jews during the Holocaust. Alas, at least when it comes to how Britain is regarded, the Jabotinsky-Irgun-Stern strain runs deep in Israeli society.

[WilliamTells]

>>> Alas, I don’t think you are going to get anyone listening to you around here.

You're undoubtedly right. But still, a counter argument is there for people to read, if they want. More people read threads that post to them, and as someone who read Free Republic for a long time before I ever replied to anything, I think people can tell when someone's genuinely making points and when someone's just venting.

With Israel, it's a shame her PR is so bad - especially the anti-semite/jew-hater rhetoric that gets thrown around at the drop of a hat.

[MarkL]

Israel's president has accused the English of being anti-semitic and claimed that MPs pander to Muslim voters.

There's some news.... Also reported, sun rises in the east, sets in the west, and water is wet.

Mark

[MarkL]

Well, if some weren’t anti-semetic, they will be now. Great way to win friends and influence people... making stereotypical comments. Moron.

Well, maybe if the Jews were just nicer, they wouldn't be hated so much /sarc... When the British were in charge there before 1948, the British would enforce the muslim mandate that any Jew publicly praying or blowing the Shofar on the High Holy Days at the western wall (where Jews were banned anyway) by turning the offender over to the muslims to be murdered.

Mark

[MarkL]

I guess I don’t understand how you can be “deeply pro-Arab” and be anti-Semitic; Arabs are a Semitic people.

True, if you believe that words actually mean something... The same sort of nonsense comes up by those who say that they're "not anti-semetic, they're just 'anti-Israel.'"

A better, more accurate, and more to the point term would be "Jew Haters."

Mark

[StolarStorm]

What would those motives be? Paranoid much? OK, I love the UK. I love visiting there. I don’t like to see the majority of them unfairly attacked. That’s my motive. Its simple.

[StolarStorm]

Agree with all that. I don't think I got called an anti-semite yet (lol), but they are coming very close... with the 'ulterior motive" comments and so forth. And just because I think its wrong to stereotype an entire people. Wow. Just wow.

Gosh, I didn't realize that not agreeing with a FEW fanatics made one a jew hater. I bet most Israelis agree with me on this topic anyway. But the fanatics spend more time venting on this forum.

[samtheman]

HearMe, I read a posted article here in FR in recent days (and failed to bookmark it) that claimed that the ORIGINAL BRITISH PLAN involved Jordan being THE “Palestinian State” but that Churchill himself stabbed the Palestinians (as well as the Israelis) in the back by giving Jordan to the “Hashemite Kings” at the last minute.

What do you know about that?

[HearMe]

If you want to learn about British duplicity and double talk and discrimination -regarding the Jews and the Land of Israel:

What was the White Paper of 1922?

Note that the British decided that No Jews Allowed east of the Jordan River but Arabs can flock unhindered to the supposed Jewish areas.

They have funny names those anti Semitic edicts from the British- White Papers.

[HearMe]

There you go.

You write that no one has called you names “yet” but you have no problem calling anyone who brings forth undisputed historical facts, fanatics.

If even Peres- as Liberal as dovish as appeasing as one can get, labels Britain as anti Israel, you can be certain most Israelis would agree that a country where someone like Tzipi Livni can not set foot in, not to mention IDF who defended their country from barbarians, because she/they would be arrested.

[StolarStorm]

That's interesting stuff and I didn't know it. But, I still think its wrong to label the entire current generation of English due to past events. In the USA, we treated blacks terribly for a very long time, but not many whites are racists anymore. Again, yes, there are knuckleheads and self serving politicians in the UK as there are everywhere. But don't label the average Brit.

I asked this question once before, and I appreciate an answer. What countries/peoples do you respect? I have just seen far more anti-whatever on these threads than "good job". Can you list out what countries are good allies of Israel? I actually am curious. No motive other than that.

[StolarStorm]

Sorry about that. I got irritated by all the innuendos of "ulterior motive" comments. People do not respond well to personal attacks... and they started in on me before I said anything at all to deserve it.

I was trying to figure out why there was a knee jerk assumption that there was more to my posts then there was (supporting a country I love). Could this be it?

There is a web site that has been mentioned on this board before... where exiled freepers sometimes go, stormfront I believe. My ID has nothing to do with that. It is a play of words from SolarStorm. I used to work at NASA and it was an area of interest. Stolar was an old work ID I used. And I combined that with Storm to create this ID.

[HearMe]

Alas, it was was only history.

This is what David Cameron said last week in Turkey.

“Let me be clear: the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable.”

“Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Do you agree with either statement or do you find them, as any objective observer should realize, revolting and one sidedly anti Israel?

[StolarStorm]

I do not agree with either statement. Personally, I think that Israel should have sank those boats rather than just raided them. They were warned not to approach Israel's zone of maritime control and Israel was within its rights. As for Gaza, it is rightfully Israel's. No different than Texas is the USA's. And last time I checked the UK still controlled North Ireland.

However, I do not consider his statements to be anti-semetic. Just as comments our Presidents have made about Russia in the past, did not make them anti-slavic.

It's politics and economics. It's not anti-semetism. Follow the money on this one...

[HearMe]

stormfront I believe

If you are being serious and not feigning ignorance, Stormfront is a virulent NAZI site of the most extreme magnitude.

[StolarStorm]

Yes I know it is. That’s why I felt the need to explain the id. But I haven’t been there so I was only basing my view on what I have heard on this forum.

[HearMe]

However, I do not consider his statements to be anti-semetic

If Gaza is a prison, the Jews are unlawful wardens and despicable human beings.

If Israel's boarding that ship was unacceptable, if Israel had no right, the Jews are wanton murderers.

If you don't believe such defamation to be anti Israel and anti Semitic, it reveals more about you.

[samtheman]

I’ll read the article you posted but I’m also interested in your specific opinion on this question:

Was Jordan “originally” slated to be the Palestinian State and did Churchill at that last minute nix the deal?

[StolarStorm]

Geeeeshh.. Maybe I just don't get what happens to people when they feel like everyone is an enemy (even if it is true). Comments about various countries actions are made every day. They don't indicate bigotry. Are we anti-Korean because the USA makes comments about North Korean atrocities? NO. Are we anti-Chinese because we talk about unfair trade? Nope. Are we anti-English because we may not like their control of North Ireland (it bugs me)? No. Maybe being surrounded by enemies makes one more sensitive to criticism of one's country...

Again, I ask, what countries and people do you feel are good allies? Any?

[HearMe]

I can’t answer your question because in the 1920’s there was no one on Earth who considered the “Palestinian Arabs” as a separate people entitled to a separate State. The birth of separate Palestinian nationalism came about in the 1960’s as a tool against Israel.

The World did now distinguish between the Arabs of the entire Mideast. Early in the century, the French and British simply carved up the Mideast, moved rulers around, and created most of the Arab nations we see today.

The Balfour Declaration pledged British to transition all of mandatory Palestine into a Jewish National Homeland with guaranteed rights for the Arab inhabitants.