Sam Sedaei, a self-proclaimed "International Civil Resistance Trainer," has written a
nonsensical article for the Huffington Post that asserts that
people who support Israel are anti-semites.
Say what?
Israel was established following World War II and the wake of horrific crimes against the Jews by the Nazis and other axis powers. It was created as a Jewish state based on the rationale on the part of advocates of modern Zionism that historically, Jewish people have always been the subject of persecution, and hence, they can never be safe anywhere else but in a Jewish homeland.
The same people who are vigorous supporters of Zionism are also the ones who speak out fiercely against any action that implies a deep-seated hostility toward Jews. But if one thinks about it, this is counter-intuitive. The very reason why Israel is a Jewish state--a theocracy, like Iran, rather than a melting pot democracy like the United States, or Turkey--is because Zionism itself is based on the notion that Jewish people are different in some sense than non-Jews. Why else would one believe that Jews and only Jews can never be safe anywhere in the world and must have their own homeland? Ins't [sic] one really then arguing that there is something that is different about Jews, which makes them subjects to persecution?
How much stupidity can fit in such a small space?
First of all, Israel is no theocracy. It is not governed by Jewish religious law. The fact that Sedaei makes this assertion as fact shows his ignorance right off the bat.
Secondly, this is a neat inversion of truth. If Jews have been persecuted by others throughout history (undeniable fact) and if Jews want to stop that from happening (undeniable fact) then the Jews must think they are special and different by wanting some measure of self-determination to protect themselves from being slaughtered (ridiculous.) No, Sam, it is
the people who hate the Jews who are saying that Jews are different.
Thirdly, the implication that Zionism says that "Jews and only Jews" must have their own homeland is a straw man. Why would Zionism be against a homeland for Kurds, Armenians, Tibetans or any other persecuted, cohesive group?
And here is the second question: Those who support Israel as a Jewish state are also the most vocal in their condemnation of anti-Semitism. But once again, those two are also contradictory concepts. How can one at once argue that there should be no anti-Semitism and then claim that anti-Semitism is the reason why Israel should forever be a Jewish State? How can one at once pretend to fight anti-Semitism with the implied belief that it can be eradicated and then support a state that was created with the justification that anti-Semitism can never be eradicated elsewhere in the world and accepts anti-Semitism as an ineffaceable human phenomenon?
Sedaei is saying that people who are working to eliminate bigotry in this world
cannot do anything concrete to protect the people being persecuted - because any practical steps would imply that the bigotry will never be eliminated, which is in his twisted mind a contradiction.
The idea that one can try both to protect the persecuted from being slaughtered at the same time that one tries to convince the slaughterers to become nice, peaceful people is perfectly consistent, and not contradictory at all. It would be like saying that a school bully cannot be punished as well as given sensitivity training, because punishment implies that he cannot be changed while the training would.
Meanwhile, let the kids on the playground be terrorized.
I wonder - would Sedaei say that his exact same arguments would mean he is against Kurdish independence?After all, by the fact that they want their own country it implies that they think they are special, right? How déclassé.
He drives his non-point home by asking these supposedly pointed questions meant to uncover the huge hypocrisy of Zionists:
Nonetheless, the real questions are for those who accuse Helen Thomas of anti-Semitism. Do these individuals believe anti-Semitism can ever be eradicated?
Not in the foreseeable future.
If they do, how can they support Israel as a permanently Jewish state?
Because even if it does happen, it won't happen for a very long time.
And if they believe Jews must have special rights in the Jewish state, are they saying that Jews are inherently different in some way from non-Jews?
No, they are saying that Jews should enjoy
the exact same rights as other nations do in their own respective countries.
Doesn't that make them the real anti-Semites?
No, but these questions make me wonder about other people.
Apparently, Sedaei thinks that people who have breast cancer should not get mastectomies, because that implies a belief that breast cancer can never be cured. It is therefore hypocritical to separate the cancer from the body rather than to work really, really hard to eradicate it.
Better to be "consistent" and let the cancer kill you, because only then would you have the respect of idiots like Sedaei.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Elder of Ziyon
