Love and Peace

here

have fun

My guess is that Israel and Palestine receive all this attention because a great many people, outside the conflict itself, have used this conflict for their own purposes, and have therefore flooded each and every aspect of the conflict with an excessive amount of symbolism. As an example, if Arab leaders want to deflect attention from the weaknesses of their own regimes, then casting undo attention on Israel is a good way of doing that. Or Jews, in some circles, may cast aspersions against Palestinians, as a way of supporting thier belief in illegal settlements or a Greater Israel.

Of course, the Holy Land is holy to a great many people, and what happens there is necessarily of consequence to people all over the world. But it comes to a point when the symbolism of it all can be a bit stifling, to say the least, and can paralyze the key players from doing what they need to do to point to the possibility of peace.

What is the solution? We may well have to look at what we believe through the filter of common sense. Instead of jumping to false belief and then rationalizing why we’re right, why not use rationality in the first place to bring us to what is worth believing in? Just because you believe in something, doesn’t make it true.

I also disagree with the other commentors that seem to accuse Esra’a of saying that the Holocaust it wasn’t terrible. On the contrary, to me her point is that is not the only case of horribleness in our world and that she’s very frustrated those other cases of horribleness also don’t get similar levels of attention.

As for my freedom of speech comment, I am trying to get at what defines, for you, freedom of speech. I have come across many people who define this extremely differently.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from being insulted. So, therefore, a parent and school board that called you a terrorist was exercising their freedom of speech. This is also not a case of censorship, contrary to Wladimir’s comment – censorhip implies an action by a official government body not a private citizen. Clearly, this parent couldn’t actually censor Esra’a since Esra’a returned from the US and blogged about it here.

we are living hard times with people trying to full the arb-isreali conflict,muslim-rest of the world conflic, iran -arab conflict ,sunni-shiaa conflict , racism has reached new levels ,no more white man-black man ,but we-them level ,and we most fight it every were and in every nationality

Esra’a keep the good work ,my idea is the bad people are big,rich and powerful ,but we can make a great fight against them ,so they will not enjoy their powers

Your experiences only prove to me that human rights are used for political goals only.

Wladimir of all the commenters here (who are either Israeli or Jewish and therefore appear to be very defensive) you are the only one who actually got my point, so thank you. No one is better than abusing human rights or taking advantage of defenders of human rights for self-serving goals than Israel and Iran, and my experience proved this spot on, from start to finish of this Summit. People can defend their ideologies all they want, but none of them were actually there, where the agenda and terminology was definite and clear which disturbed several of us independent activists who found this appalling.

not to mention what happened to Azmi Bishara.

Freedom of speech is one thing, but talking to the enemy (hizbulla) during war, accepting campaign money from them and telling them to shoot further inland where there are less Arabs and more Jews (since about half of the injured on the israeli side were israeli arabs) goes way beyond free speech, not just for an ellected government official, but for anyone be he muslim or jewish.

Azmi Bsara should have been shot on grounds of treason or maybe beheaded as they tend to do in Arab countries over less acite crimes

Are you implying that these other innocent individuals don’t deserve attention, despite some having a presence there, a presence that was not honored? You find my post in their favor offensive?

Not at all. I think that these various groups are more deserving of attention. In the media, the conference is painted as just a battle between participating delegates (which if the Ahmadinejad speech is any indicator, contains only a few European countries) and NGO’s whom many Israelis don’t appreciate, versus people who want to delegitimize Israel bashers as hypocritical and racist. There is hardly any mention of any other issues being discussed. It seems that you were praticipating in the side events for NGOs rather than where state delegates were participating. Anyway, since in your post, much of what you discuss relates with equating Israel as just as bad as every other country in the Middle East, all the other victimized people that are much deserving of attention, are sort of passed over.

hardly any of them are part of “Zionists Against Occupation”

I wrote “Zionists against occupation”, not the organization, just general characterization of liberal Zionists Israelis and Jews.

I linked you to many of them before

I’m sorry, I don’t always click the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail ” button. I usually look back at posts that are still on the front page.

At least one of these authors and “intellectuals” lost his job in a university and was denied entry to the USA, not to mention what happened to Azmi Bishara.

I don’t know which professor you are talking about since you didn’t name him or her. Regarding Bishara, he’s a good example for my point. He spoke at the memorial of Hafez al-Assad. In Jewish eyes, it would be like a critic of Israel speaking at the memorial of Ahmadinjad in the future after he passed away. No matter how honestly critical you are of Israel, if you are surrounded with characters such as Hafez or Ahmadinejad, your reputation with the Israeli Left will decline. So if you say Israel is bad, when everybody hears Ahmadinjad saying that Israel is really bad, the current environment will place you two together, hence losing your prominence on other issues such as Bahai rights.

After saying that, Bishara is a coward. He was investigated, not put on trial. He told the police he’ll be leaving for a few days and never came back. If the police really had to him, they wouldn’t have let him leave. A true hero would brave the Israeli Justice system.

Historicly, when to groups are in conflict, whether at armed war or at a diplomatic skirmish (such as in Durban II), the group in the middle which identifies as a part of both groups and sympathizes with the enemy of where they live, that middle group tends to disappear. For example in the early centuries of the Common Era, there used to be a group of Hebrews that followed traditions of Judaism and Christianity. But since the middle group wasn’t fully accepted by the two opposing factions, it disappeared. The only reason that Israeli Arabs exist is because of the liberal democratic institutions and the people that support them in Israel. If it wasn’t for the Israeli Supreme Court, there wouldn’t be any Arab parties in the Knesset.

Unfortunately, because of the current environment of the UN, where pressure needs to be pushed can’t be done because of political agendas and tyranny in much of the East. I guess you can say the same about US defence of Israel in the UN, the only difference is that one side is influenced by the people, and the other is influenced by regime who aren’t and can’t be held accountable by their citizens.

In other words, isn’t there at least some justification, in your view, for the obsession you perceive with regard to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment?

In terms of “The” Holocaust, I would agree that there have been, and continue to be, other holocausts around the world. I have tried to document these in some of my posts. However, here again, there are legitimate reasons why people seem to single out this one Holocaust in particular. You can say, on a very basic level, that Jewish writers, teachers, and film makers have had a greater opportunity to get the word out. That is true. But on a deeper level, could it be that what happened to the Jews does stand out in human history as unique, and has therefore become a kind of symbol for the idea of genocide, and holocaust?

As you know, in a relatively short period of time, one third of all Jewry, was singled out for mass murder, simply for being Jewish. Germany was supposed to be a civilized nation, but all notions of civility broke down in one fell swoop, and the foces of evil were let loose.

You look at the Holocaust and wonder; why the preoccupation with an historical event, when actual instances of holocaust are taking place even as we speak? But I have a different take on the matter. I would say that by giving the Holocaust symbolic status, and by personalizing it emotionally through books and films, we acutally bring attention to the other atrocities of which you speak, and sensitize people to these outrages, in ways that would not have been possible if the Holocaust were treated as just another historical event. In other words, we do justice to victims all around the world, by doing justice to the vicitims of the Holocaust, which still stands, in my opinion, as one of the single greatest evils perpetrated by the hand of man.

Firstly, I agree with your statement that criticism of Israel is not automatically anti-Semitism. However, there are plenty of cases where criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism. To criticize the idea of the State of Israel is indeed anti-Semitism. To deny the right of a national group, the Jews in this case, to self determination is anti-Semitism. The Jews have a right to a country just like French, Kurds, and Palestinians do. To be discriminating in deciding who has this right is anti-Semitism. I find it sad that the term anti-Semitism is thrown around in such a carefree manner, but no side is blameless for failing to recognize criticism of Israel when it truly is anti-Semitic. On that note, I disagree with your assertion that Israelis and Jews cannot be anti-Semitic. No group is exempt of the ability to hold bigoted views, regardless of who those views pertain to.

Secondly, I would argue that it is not just pro Israel groups which unfairly focus on Israel. Anti-Israel groups do as well. In fact, a lot of the world seems to. When I saw coverage of the unprecedented amount of protesters who protested during the recent conflict in Gaza, I wondered why I had not seen such protests against Russian actions in Georgia, where 872 Georgians are listed as missing and where there were widespread reports of looting rape and abductions. Similarly, comparatively few people seem to care about what is happening in Darfur. I cannot seem to understand why so many people, with no personal connection, care about such a small area of the world when so many of these same people do not seem to give a damn about the many cases of human suffering elsewhere. I do not buy, for a second, the argument that all of these people care about human rights when they care only about the rights of certain humans.

Thirdly, there is indeed such a thing as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the name given to the genocide of Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, Communists, Gays and others by Nazi Germany. To my knowledge, and feel free to correct me on this, there is no other commonly used English phrase used to refer to the genocide committed by Nazi Germany. The English term you are looking for is genocide. I am not exactly sure where you found your definition of holocaust from, but I would wholeheartedly agree with you that the definition you gave was the commonly used one for a time. In fact, Winston Churchill used it to refer to the Armenian Genocide. But, that definition is not any more applicable than others. Similarly, another definition mentions the use of fire, which would probably exclude the Rwandan Genocide from being called a holocaust. The original Greek word simply means a whole burnt sacrificial offering to a god. This definition would certainly exclude all of the genocides you mentioned as well as the Holocaust. Consequently, your argument about using the strict definition of the word to the exclusion of all others seems a bit silly to me.

Finally, I invite you to back up your claim that Israel threatened to “nuke” Iran.

I am interested to hear why you think the fact that you were not allowed to speak at the Texas school is a violation of your free speech rights.

I don’t really care what anyone calls it to be honest. I was referred to as a “terrorist” who posed a danger to their children, simply because of certain views which are absolutely legitimate. I never simply claimed I was denied free speech, it’s an example that falls under that category somewhere. Some kids did claim that it was a violation of my “rights” which they thought I should have had despite what the school board decided. Instead, the school board, and some paranoid parent gave their kids the most awful, hateful message, what are they even being educated for if they are not allowed to be exposed to “Axis of Evil” foreigners? They actually thought I was going to kill them.

I am interested to hear why you think the fact that you were not allowed to speak at the Texas school is a violation of your free speech rights.

It seems to me that is the epitome of free speech – a parent at the school (wrongfully so in my opinion) had an issue with you as a possible speaker, voiced that opinion, and then the relative authority made a decision. To me, one private citizen expressing concerns about a speaker at the school she pays for her child to attend is an example of her exercising her free speech rights. I agree that it was unfortunate that you were not allowed to speak at the school, but I do not see how this is a violation of your free speech rights.

Now, if the Texas government had somehow prevented you from speaking in a private forum, this would be a different story and would certainly be a violation of your free speech rights.

In fact, this reminds me of a previous article on MEY’s comment policy – no one is actually entitled to be able to post here, and some comments are not allowed (for very good reason). The same principle is true of the Texas school (although, as I said before, I do not agree with their concerns and do think you should have been allowed to speak).

The video shows a Palestinian doctor tortured and scapegoated by Libya try to make his case, unfortunately, the Libyan delegate is the one in charge of the conference.

I don’t deny this, and have made this implication somewhere in the post itself. It doesn’t make my point any more different. Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia et al do it all the time to cover up for their own crimes, which we expose and act upon on a daily basis, but Israel and many organizations like UN Watch are also guilty of silencing any criticism of Israel (as legitimate as many are) with claims of anti-Semitisim, or with outright attacks, which is really what this conference was all about.

I think your approach in dealing with the lack of attention on other victimized people (Darfurians, Kurds, Bahais etc.) is problematic.

Are you implying that these other innocent individuals don’t deserve attention, despite some having a presence there, a presence that was not honored? You find my post in their favor offensive? They deserved every minute of this Summit. Some got very few, others got no attention whatsoever. This entire “show” was about anti-Semiticism, highlighting the fact that any criticism of Israel is vastly “inappropriate,” while we have conflicts actually going on that are claiming the lives of millions.

I don’t see the logic in portraying Israel and Israelis as somehow more important than anyone else, despite being in the best and most luxurious position as opposed to the many victims who are living in abysmal conditions amidst REAL genocide today as opposed to a memory of a historical one.

Also, every time you mention that you care about human rights in the Middle East, you equate what is happening in Israel and Palestine as the same as what happens everywhere else in the ME.

I don’t “mention” that I care about human rights in the Middle East. I fight for it every day of my life, as do many others, my colleagues and I simply choose our battles by seeing which abuses don’t get any attention and which do. Hence why we focus on Kurds and Baha’is from an Arab and Muslim perspective, and hopefully now more on Darfur.

And if you say that Israel is no where near as bad as Iran for example, your criticism of Israel wouldn’t get the ears and backing except from Zionists against occupation

False. There are diverse blogs from around the world where my views on Israel is pretty much echoed by even many Jews and Israelis, both on this site and on sites such as Jewschool, where hardly any of them are part of “Zionists Against Occupation” (which is just one out of at least a dozen Israeli or Jewish organizations that wholeheartedly support Palestinian human rights and critical of Israel’s violent aggression.) I linked you to many of them before, as well as a list of organizations in Israel that fight for Palestinians and receive much flack for it from the Israeli government and the IDF, as well as nationalist bigots. I am surprised you didn’t check them out.

There are several high profile intellectuals and authors from Israel who are critical of the government who are surprised when people think that they are being persecuted in Israel.

False. At least one of these authors and “intellectuals” lost his job in a university and was denied entry to the USA, not to mention what happened to Azmi Bishara. Peaceful protesters in Israel have been attacked and threatened by police for simply questioning the government. Soldiers imprisoned and severely mocked for refusing to serve in the military for moral reasons. This isn’t a false picture, this is the reality of Israel, as many Israelis will also tell you. Check out Eva’s posts, a peace activist in Israel who has been attacked consistently and threatened for her views. She lives in Israel fulltime, as does her historian husband, who has been attacked and verbally abused by people who disagree with his views towards Palestinian human rights, which he witnesses first hand. I have seen how people in Israel treat them, Eva posted photos of some attacks, our site was even hacked (and traced back to Israel) simply because of such posts. Very disturbing.

On a different matter, Bahrain is an interesting situation right now. Majority Shiite, but ruled by Sunni which have put the Jewish community in a high position, to the dismay of Shiites deserving of more opportunities. Here is the NYTimes article about this. What do you think of this?

Also, every time you mention that you care about human rights in the Middle East, you equate what is happening in Israel and Palestine as the same as what happens everywhere else in the ME. Since the ME Arab and Persian state delegates are all talking about Israel, your voice is sort of in an agreement with what they say and by the time your voice talks about everybody else, your voice is drowned out.

You can’t talk about violations of human rights in the USA in the same sentence as violations of human rights in the ME. There are several high profile intellectuals and authors from Israel who are critical of the government who are surprised when people think that they are being persecuted in Israel. Compare how much it takes for a person to do to be charged with treason in Israel (note: elected Arab officials regularly sympathize with the enemy including supporting Iran having a nuke) with how much it takes to be charged with treason everywhere else. By and large, Israel is more like countries in the West than in the ME.

And if you say that Israel is no where near as bad as Iran for example, your criticism of Israel wouldn’t get the ears and backing except from Zionists against occupation( or two-state supporters).

Frankly, I think you are painting a false picture about Israel. (Who in Israel threatened Iran with a nuke?) Didn’t Walt or Mearshimer speak at Hebrew Univ.?