Ezra Ben-Shalom
jewish state. com

23 March 2008

Jews have lived continuously in Israel for over 3,000 years, but some Anti-Semites single out the Jewish State for criticism of supposedly inadequate ties to its territory. Not surprisingly, Anglo-Saxon Australia and non-native North America escape similar critiques. After all, the real object lies in bringing down the Jew among states.

Those touched by the disease of Anti-Semitism try to dress up the State of Israel in South African clothing, persistently pressing this stark falsehood. A quick scan of current news articles reveals the extent of this calumny in current discourse. Ten days ago, U.S. National Public Radio gave anti-Zionists from the so-called Combatants for Peace exclusive access to microphones, with no Zionist voice represented. Although a Jewish anti-Zionist, Zohar Shapira, likely suffering from Identification with the Aggressor, a common mental disorder among trauma victims, repeatedly made the malicious apartheid calumny against his own Homeland, the host, Terry Gross, did not bother to ask him any probing questions about the basis for his comments; in fact, she did not pose any meaningful or challenging questions during the entire show.

Besides the millennia of documentation proving that Jews possess the world's oldest claims, which add up to territory half the size of a great lake, South Africans had apartheid, not a Fatah or Hamas-styled genocide ideology. After all, the Phased Plan for Israel's Destruction, the Arab organizations' open call for genocide against Jews, as well as schoolbooks and media propaganda that dehumanize Jews, reflect the Palestinian leadership's committed genocide policy.

This element of genocide ideology constitutes the starting point for understanding why, after Jews had accepted their unfavorable borders upon U.N. delineation, the Arab states still refused to accept even a tiny fraction of one percent of the land in the Middle East to go to any Jews. Instead, they shamelessly and openly called for a "war of extermination". Today, those who want to destroy Israel understand how phrases like that can sometimes play in the West. Thus, even as they openly discuss their intentions in Arabic, in English these génocidaires make sure to include some references to Israel constituting an apartheid state.

Clearly, the intervenants in television and radio debates want a reference point on the African continent for the Israeli-Arab problem. Zionists need to know that the génocidaires of 1959-1994 Rwanda constitute the only comparable counterparts to Arab génocidaires. The hate radio, hate school, and hate sermons of pre-1995 Rwanda mirror official policies still pursued in Palestinian Authority and Hamas territory. This case, not that of South Africa, constitutes a documented and clear parallel between African problems and Middle Eastern problems.

I have become extremely intimate with several Rwandan genocide survivors since my first time living in Rwanda. I can assure my readers that they look upon the Children of Israel with empathy, recognizing another people equally victimized by genocide ideology.

If a few South Africans such as Desmond Tutu subscribe to the apartheid state calumny, Arab génocidaires draw apparent credibility. Anyone can support genocidal propaganda. But they should think about the legacy of inclusion and forgiveness of Nelson Mandela before they choose to pour the opprobrium of genocide blood upon themselves.