© the other press ¢ Opinions November 5, 2003 Right Hook Crt Let’s All Hate Israel Author’ note: I write my articles more than a week prior to their publication. As a result, I have no idea of what other editorialists in this paper may write in the meantime. Please note that this article is not intended to be a rebuttal to Mcdonald Stainsby’ similarly themed article in last week’ paper. J.J. McCullough OP Columnist If there is one country that is even more unpopular with the left than the US, it is Israel. Attend any leftist rally or protest of any sort, and you're bound to see and hear vicious denunciations of the Jewish State. Left-wingers wave placards with Stars of David dripping blood, the Israel flag festooned with swastikas, and demonic cartoons of the Israeli Prime Ministers. Young Marxists decorate themselves with the kefia, the trademark Palestinian scarf popularized by Yasser Arafat. Support is pledged to the cause of the Islamic terrorists, and the very existence of Israel is denied. “End the occupation of Palestine!” ban- ners scream. Israel is an apartheid state, a racist state, a slave state, a colonial state, and a terrorist state. Everything Israel does is wrong. The history of Israel is far too com- plicated and controversial for me to attempt to go into here. Suffice it to say, the Jews have historically been among the most abused, persecuted ethnic and religious minorities in history. After the Holocaust they were finally able to reclaim a nation of their own—a privi- lege that had been long denied by the anti-Semitic feelings which governed the world’s superpowers for most of his- tory. This idea, that the Jews deserve a state of their own, is known as Zionism, and has become one of the most con- troversial political ideologies of the 20th Century. Opposition to Zionism has been two-fold, firstly by Israel’s vio- lently anti-Semitic Muslim nations, who simply don’t like Jews, and second- ly by western left-wing intellectuals who find the concept of a Jewish state in the Middle East to be fundamentally wrong. Now I’m not one of those people who go so far as to accuse the far-left of being anti-Semitic. Certainly no group on the left, even the most insane fac- tions, is advocating any sort of extermi- nation or murder of Jews, and it would be unfair for me to suggest otherwise. However, though they may not be anti- Semitic in the traditional sense, many leftists still subscribe to negative stereo- types and blanket criticisms of political Jews. Many of them see all Israelis as greedy money-grubbers, and power- hungry imperialists who manipulate and control our own governments behind closed doors. Ultimately, what it boils down to is the Jewish institu- tions that make up the State of Israel represent Western civilization—some- thing the left desperately wants to excommunicate from the Third World. The left has long rallied against Western civilization as a force of funda- mental evil in the world. After all, Western civilization killed the Indians, enslaved the Africans, and colonized whatever land was remaining. Though they accurately identify these past injus- tices, the key flaw in the left’s logic is their assumption that whatever society came before Western influences was automatically better. Thus, the primi- tive Native American societies were bet- ter than the European colonial ones, and the society of the Palestinians is better than that of the Westernized Jews. The Jews have historically been a Middle-Eastern race, but over the years, they have made homes in Europe and the United States. Israel is not a colonial country in the sense that it was not cre- ated in the self-interest of an imperial power. Nevertheless, it shares some of Western colonialism’s most admirable traits, namely the introduction of dem- ocratic values and modern ideas to a region that has historically had neither. Today, Israel is by far the freest nation for Arabs to live in. In Israel, Palestinian Muslims free to practise their own reli- gion, vote in elections, form their own political parties, create their are Suffice it to say, the Jews have historically been openly idolizes Saddam Hussein, parades around in a military uniform, and routinely crushes opposition. Arab states promote racial hegemony and state religion, while Israel touts diversi- ty and secularism as its paramount val- ues. To be sure, Israel has its fair share of religious crackpots, and due to the nation’s deeply flawed parliamentary system they often hold a disproportion- ate influence in government. But at the same time Israel is a nation that has always been committed to reform, and by any measurable standard has been getting more liberal and secular with each passing year. What I find most ironic, is that if these lefties would actually take a close look at Israel, they would probably find a nation that actually personifies their own political ideology. In many ways, Israel is a country that has most effec- tively implemented what the left has called “true socialism.” As opposed to a Soviet-style dictator- ship that tries to forcibly indoctrinate and assimilate all citi- zens into a “Marxist ideal,” Israel has small own kibbutz societies scat- newspapers, among the most tered around the and start their country in which own business- es. These are all rights that are routinely denied in Arab-run states, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and others. It’s very likely these rights would also con- tinue to be denied in a Palestinian state run by Yasser Arafat or one of his flunkies. After all, this is a man who abused, perse- cuted ethnic and religious minori- ties in history. Israelis can choose to live simple, communal lives. On the kibbutz, everyone works together on the farm, shares the output of their labours equally, and generally takes a peaceful, collectivist approach to living. To be sure, the kibbutz-style villages are small, and Israel remains a capitalist country overall. But socialism is deeply entrenched in the Israeli psyche, and continues to hold a prominent influ- ence on Israeli politics. Socialist ideolo- gy may be flawed and _ ultimately doomed to fail, but the Israelis, by mak- ing the system an individual choice in a democratic society, have come the clos- est to making the idea work. Marxists may fantasize about going to “Palestine,” and fighting hand-in-hand with their Palestinian comrades in the “liberation struggle.” But at the end of the day, these protestors will find it hard to deny that it is actually Israel that has created a society that institu- ‘ tionalizes the values they hold most sacred. But no, the obsession with the “exploited third world” continues, and the left continues to turn a blind eye to the Palestinian terrorists who mouth the right rhetoric about how this whole conflict is just one big “class struggle,” and how Israel is just some white proxy state in America’s grand master scheme to control the world. The Left needs to accept Israel’s right to exist, and acknowledge that the state has been fundamentally freer, more open, and more democratic than any other nation in the region. Eventually, a Palestinian be created. Whether or not this state will be yet another terrorist-sponsoring, Arab dic- tatorship will depend a great deal on the leftist supporters of its cause. If Israel, and the concept of western civilization that it represents continue to be held as a cancer that needs to be exterminated from the Middle East, then there is very little hope for any future Republic of Palestine. If leftists stop apologizing and making excuses for Arab terror and Islamic fundamentalism however, the Palestinian leadership may finally real- ize that modernity, tolerance, and secu- larism are the only true values that will ensure a future life of freedom and hap- piness for their people. And that will be the true legacy of Western civilization. state will i don't like America because it bosses other countries around and meddies in miata http://www. filibustercartoons.com a Page 8 hittp://www.otherpress.ca By the way, you Canadians are getting Se ne me because I'm a big important American. yBnoing9w ‘fT Aq uooyie9