RRD:Due to copyright concerns I have excerpted the speech.The full speech is 2400 words(according to my word processor's word count),I have used approximately 600 words,which I believe is acceptable under fair use,assuming the speech is even protected by copyright,which may not be the case.American copyright law is maddeningly vague about Fair Use.
EJP | Voices | US Ambassador Howard Gutman: Peace in the Middle East would reduce Muslim 'anti-Semitism' in Europe
http://www.ejpress.org/article/voices/54872 "But this second problem is in my opinion different in many respects than the classic bigotry–hatred against those who are different and against minorities generally --the type of anti-Semitism that I discussed above. ....This second form of what is labeled “growing anti-Semitism” produces strange phenomena and results. Thus for example, ..... the longest and loudest ovation I have ever received in Belgium came from the high school with one of the largest percentages of students of Arab heritage. It consisted of an audience dominated by girls with head scarves and boys named Mohammed, standing and cheering boisterously for a Jewish American, .... whose father was a Holocaust survivor. ....These kids were not anti-Semitic as I have ever thought of the term. And I get a similar reaction as I engage with imans, at Iftars, and with Muslims communities throughout Belgium. And yet,....within that same school and audience at Molenbeek, among those at the same Iftars, and throu
ghout
the Muslim communities that I visit, and indeed throughout Europe, there is significant anger and resentment and, yes, perhaps sometimes hatred and indeed sometimes and all too growing intimidation and violence directed at Jews generally as a result of the continuing tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories and other Arab neighbors in the Middle East. .... And the analysis I submit is not served simply by lumping the problem with past instances of anti-Jewish beliefs and actions or those that exist today among minority haters under a uniform banner of “anti-Semitism.” ...... the largest part of the solution remains in the hands of government leaders in Israel and the Palestinian territories and Arab countries in the Middle East. It is the area where every new settlement announced in Israel,every rocket shot over a border or suicide bomber on a bus, and every retaliatory military strike exacerbates the problem and provides a setback here in Europe ....
[RRD:Note the moral equivalency between self-defense & murder]
... I said that it is both fortunate and unfortunate that the largest part of the solution for this second type of problem –too often lumped under a general banner of anti-Semitism –is in the hands of Israel, the Palestinians and Arab neighbors in the Middle East. It is fortunate because it means that, unlike traditional hatred of minorities, a path towards improving and resolving it does at least exist. It is crucial .... for the Jewish and Arab communities in Europe ....–that Mid-East peace negotiations continue, that settlements abate, and that progress towards a lasting peace be made and then such a peace be reached in the Middle East.
[RRD:Note he does not say Hamas's attacks on Israel must cease in the list of "musts"]
...."Were a lasting peace in the Middle East to be reached,were joint and cooperative Israeli-Arab attentions turned to focus instead on such serious,... threats... as Iran, this second type of ethnic tension and bigotry here in Europe ...–would clearly abate. I can envision the day when it disappears. Peace in the Middle East would indeed equate with a huge reduction of this form of labeled “anti-Semitism” here in Europe. It is at the same time somewhat unfortunate that most of the cause and thus most of the solution for tension and hatred in Europe, for growing problems at Belgian universities, for epithets in the streets, rest with governments and people a continent away. For, in some respect, citizens, parents, religious and community leaders here in Europe can simply try to promote understanding and patience, while ensuring law enforcement serves its mission, without being able fully to address the most root causes and most efficient cures. "...
RRD:I have deliberately quoted as much as I think can be reasonably covered under fair use so that I will not be able to be accused of "plucking sentences out of context" by Gutman's apologists.
(And of course if I reprint the whole thing IN context I will be accused of the theft of intellectual property by Gutman's apologists).Meanwhile the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium is offering rationalizations for anti-semitism.
But I digress.
Let us begin with this beaut:
"But the longest and loudest ovation I have ever received in Belgium came from the high school with one of the largest percentages of students of Arab heritage. It was in Molenbeek. It consisted of an audience dominated by girls with head scarves and boys named Mohammed, standing and cheering boisterously for a Jewish American,.... whose father was a Holocaust survivor. ....These kids were not anti-Semitic as I have ever thought of the term. And I get a similar reaction as I engage with imans, at Iftars, and with Muslims communities throughout Belgium."
RRD:And a African-American who went around promoting the Lost Cause Narrative would get standing ovations from Neo-Confederates.And a Jewish Sonderkommando would receive thanks from the Nazis for helping to hunt down and murder jewish men women and children.Would this "prove" that the neo-confederates are not racist,and that the nazis are not anti-semites?The reason Gutman is welcomed,is because useful idiots,house slaves,and collaborators are always welcomed by bigots,as they serve their purposes.
"Robert!Are you saying that Howard Gutman the U.S.-Ambassasdor-to-Belgium-whose-father-was-a-HOLOCAUST-SURVIVOR-is-like-a-African-American-who-defends-the-Confederacy!"
Absolutely.
The fact that Gutman is a son of a Holocaust Survivor makes him all the more depraved."But what if his father defends him!"Then his father is either a fool defending a self-hating jew out of some deluded parental loyalty,or is himself a self-hating jew.
Let us not be naive.
There were all kinds of people:moral,immoral,virtuous,depraved,& everything in between in the camps.
None deserved death.
But self-hating jews were there alongside the righteous.
The Nazis did not pick and choose.The fact that someone survived the Holocaust should make it all the more INEXCUSABLE for them to whitewash the rabid,insane,anti-semitism of the Muslims,much less invoking their status as a Holocaust Survivor to lend credence to their denial of Muslim Anti-semitism.(fn1)
(I should note,that I am simply pointing out that if Gutman's father defended him,he should be condemned,for all I know Gutman's father is outraged,or,if dead,turning over in his grave.)
But even if one were naive enough to give such a person the benefit of the doubt:What of it?
Being in a death camp does not alter the irrefutable and overwhelming evidence of Muslim anti-semitism.
This brings us to the Honorable Ambassador's assertion that anti-semitism was caused by the Israel-Palestinian conflict and would subside if the conflict abated.
There are two viable theories pertaining to the origins of Muslim Anti-Semitism.
I will call them the "Bostom thesis",& the "Küntzel/Lewis thesis".
In "The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History" (fn2),Andrew Bostom argues that there is a long history of anti-semitism in the Muslim world,dating back centuries.
By contrast both Matthias Küntzel (fn3) and Bernard Lewis(writing separately) have argued that virulent anti-semitism was not in widespread existence among Muslims (or at least not at levels comparable to that of the west)until it was imported by the Nazis through the Muslim Brotherhood & the Baath parties.
For the purposes of this discussion however the key is that they both demonstrate that Muslim anti-semitism PREDATES the EXISTENCE of Israel,much less the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
If widespread Muslim anti-semitism predates the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza,how then,can it be resolved by Israel ending settlements?
Of course the belief that peace can be achieved as long as Hamas is power is itself delusional.
Let us examine Hamas.
From Hamas's charter:
"The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him"
"The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people's livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream ."
"(Jews) control of the world media (and use their) wealth to stir revolutions ...They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions." "There was no war that broke out anywhere without their (Jews') fingerprints on it."
From:
Anti-Semitism at Core of Hamas Charter
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4877_62.htm RRD:Yep,Muslim Anti-Semitism sure is different from "traditional anti-semitism".Yeah,see,all the Jews have to do is stop controlling the world and starting all them wars & stuff, and the Muslims will love'em to death.
But this is "just the charter",surely Hamas members don't actually believe this.Lets see what else the "non-traditionally anti-semitic" Hamas members have to say.
"We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs." (Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip commenting on the killing of Osama Bin Laden, May 2, 2011)
See also:
Hamas condemns killing of holy warrior bin Laden | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/02/binladen-palestinians-hamas-idUSLDE... "Whoever is killed by a Jew receives the reward of two martyrs, because the very thing that the Jews did to the prophets was done to him. "The Jews are the most despicable and contemptible nation to crawl upon the face of the Earth, because they have displayed hostility to Allah. "Allah will kill the Jews in the hell of the world to come, just like they killed the believers in the hell of this world. "The Jews kill anyone who believes in Allah. They do not want to see any peace whatsoever on Earth." (Sermon delivered by 'Atallah Abu Al-Subh, former Hamas minister of culture, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV, April 8, 2011, translation by MEMRI).
"We cannot agree to a programme that is intended to poison the minds of our children Holocaust studies in refugee camps is a contemptible plot and serves the Zionist entity with a goal of creating a reality and telling stories in order to justify acts of slaughter against the Palestinian people." (Statement from Hamas Ministry of Refugee Affairs on U.N. Relief and Works Agency plan to include Holocaust education in the curriculum taught Palestinian refugees, February 28, 2011)
"The lie of the Zionist Holocaust crumbles with countless holocausts committed by the Zionists in Beit Hanoun, al-Fakhoura school and other places in Palestine." (Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, speaking at a memorial service for Palestinians killed during the 2008 Israeli war in Gaza, January 6, 2011)
"Palestine is Islamic,and not an Islamic emirate, from the river to the sea, that unites the Palestinians. Jews have no right in it, with the exception of those who lived on the land of Palestine before World War I." (Hamas official Halil Al-Hayya, Al-Hayat newspaper, November 11, 2010)
"We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land. ... "
"Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy. " (Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, Future News TV, June 15, 2010, Source: MEMRI.org)
Hamas "must lay the foundation for a tomorrow without Zionists." (Hamas leader Mahmoud a-Zahar, Al-Aqsa TV, January 4, 2009)
"We are stronger, and more determined, and have more will, and we will hold onto our rights even more than before." (Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, December 28, 2008)
"This is the time for the third uprising... Resistance will continue through suicide missions." (Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal, Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2008)
"Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood." (Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, calling for a resumption of suicide attacks on Gaza radio, December 27, 2008)
"Israel will pay a heavy price for its crimes against the Palestinians. Israel's actions enhance our determination to pursue the path of resistance through all means available. [Israel is] committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop it." (Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, December 25, 2008)
"We won't succumb to the logic of threats made by the Zionist war criminals. Today we are prepared more than ever to foil any aggression against our people." (Leaflet issued by Izzadin Kassam, the armed wing of Hamas, December 25, 2008)
"It is our right as an occupied people to defend ourselves from the occupation by all means possible including suicide attacks." (Hamas leader Ayman Taha, December 22, 2008).
(The economic crisis is the result of) "bad administrative and financial management and a bad banking system put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby." (The Jewish lobby) "controls the U.S. elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy." (Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhum, October 7, 2008; as reported by AFP and other news agencies)
"...the Jewish faith does not wish for peace nor stability, since it is a faith that is based on murder: 'I kill, therefore I am'... Israel is based only on blood and murder in order to exist, and it will disappear, with Allah's will, through blood and Shahids [martyrs]." (Dr. Yussuf Al-Sharafi, Hamas representative, April 12, 2007; as reported by Palestinian Media Watch, April 23, 2007)
"This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our nation was tested by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation... Be certain that America is on its way to utter destruction, America is wallowing [in blood] today in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is defeated and Israel is defeated, and was defeated in Lebanon and Palestine... Make us victorious over the community of infidels... Allah, take the Jews and their allies, Allah, take the Americans and their allies... Allah, annihilate them completely and do not leave anyone of them." (Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Bahar, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, April 20, 2007; as reported by Palestinian Media Watch, April 23, 2007)
"We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. . . So be assured doctor Ayman, and all those who love Palestine like yourself, that Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path."
(Hamas statement in response to criticism by Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahri, March 12, 2007)
"[The Tel Aviv suicide bombing] is an an act of self defense... [it is] a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people." (Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, April 17, 2006)
"[Hamas will] never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state that was founded on our land." (Khaled Mashaal, Hamas leader, February 3, 2006, Al-Hayyat al-Jedida)
"[Hamas] will not change a single word in its covenant [which is calling for the destruction of Israel]." (Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader, after casting his vote in the Gaza Strip, January 25, 2006, Ha'aretz)
"They have tried to pressure Hamas to abandon resistance and to abandon arms. They tried to pressure Hamas to abandon its strategic choice in Palestine, all of Palestine. They tried to pressure Hamas to recognize the legitimacy of the occupation. But they failed... We say Hamas will not change its constant principles."
(Ismail Haniyah, Hamas leader, at an election rally in Gaza, January 20, 2006, Reuters )
"The constants and the strategy of Hamas do not change according to circumstances. Hamas will stay faithful to jihad, to resistance, to guns, to Palestine and to Jerusalem." (Ismail Haniyah, Hamas leader, at an election rally in Gaza, January 20, 2006, Gulf Daily News, Bahrain)
RRD:But wait there's this!
"Hamas is not hostile to Jews because they are Jews. We are hostile to them because they occupied our land and expelled our people.... We did not say we want to throw the Jews in the sea or feed them to sharks. We just said that there is a land called occupied Palestine. It was burglarized and it needs to be returned to the Palestinian people." (Ismail Hanieh, Hamas leader, January 18, 2006, AP )
RRD:You see,Hamas says they're not anti-semitic when speaking to a western news outlet,therefore it must be true!Why they're non-anti-semitic-anti-semites.They just enspouse anti-semitic ideas!
"She [first Hamas woman suicide bomber] is not going to be the last because the march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised, not only over the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe." (Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, at funeral of Reem Raiyshi, who murdered 4 people, January 15, 2004, AP )
"By God, we will not leave one Jew in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have. This is our land, not the Jews..." "You will have no security except outside the homeland Palestine.... We have Allah on our side, and we have the sons of the Arab and Islamic nation on our side." (Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas leader, June 10, 2003, interview with Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post )
"America is implementing Zionist Israeli policy to serve the Zionist project in Palestine. The battle America is undertaking is designed to allow Israel to remain in the Palestinian homeland...." "Zionist Israeli and Jewish policy is to strike every power emerging in the Arab and Muslim world Any country that develops power threatening to this entity (Israel), they want to smash it." (Sheik Ahmed Yassin (killed in March 2004), January 30, 2003, Teheran Times )
"Suicide attacks and jihad reinforce national unity in the ranks....Our voice is one of struggle, of jihad and of suicide....Iraq could win if it equipped its citizens with explosive belts and turned them into human bombs." (Sheik Ahmed Yassin, interview with the Muslim website Alskifa, January 10, 2003, translated by Israel Defense Forces)
"We reject this US domination and this frantic war. From our side, we concentrate on striking blows to it here in Palestine, with the aim of ironing out the Jewish entity in Palestine, which is the cause of trouble in the world..." "America... always works in favor of the existence of the Israeli entity... This is mainly due to the Zionist -Christian conviction and the 70 million Americans who follow the Protestant creed, which is in favor of Jews against the Muslims. The same applies to most of Britain's population..." "Because the Israeli and American enemies are ravaging the earth; they do not believe in anything besides power. The Ummah must adopt the principle of Jihad and fighting the enemies." (Sheik Ahmed Yassin, interview with Australian Muslim youth magazine, Nida'ul Islam, June/ July 2002)
"The Movement within two months [after the intifada broke] was able to launch qualitative operations that shook the world there are qualitative Jihad operations such as those in Natanya and Khadera. We are proud of such operations and the next days will witness better and bigger ones...." "I say that the final battle will result in our victory and that this land will reject this enemy similar to its predecessors..." "It is not a must that it would be in 2027 for it could be five years earlier or ten years later. The important thing is that the equation revolves round 2027 and the Hebrew state would end Insha'allah [God willing]." (Sheik Ahmed Yassin, interview, Palestine-info, March 2001)
Early Hamas communiques (distributed by Islamic Association for Palestine) "Come to jihad, come to jihad, come to martyrdom..." "Those thirsty for Jihad all over the world. For the sake of Allah. For liberating the land of Palestine and Jerusalem...."
"We declared and continue to declare now, that a Jew is a Jew... [do not trust them when they say they want peace because they act only] to serve their religion and their people." (Hamas communique, March 9, 1989, translated and distributed in the U.S. by the Islamic Association for Palestine)
"The Jews: killed the prophets slaughtered the innocent imprisoned our pious... NO PEACE WITH THE MURDERERS."
(Hamas communique, October 5, 1988, translated and distributed in the U.S. by the Islamic Association for Palestine)
"The Nazi Jews tried different methods..." "Let everyone know that Hamas... is only against Jews and those twisted in their manner... it realizes the Jews' methods in trying to cause hostility and friction between people..." "We should lend punches to the Jews wherever possible [to commemorate Muhammad's defeat of one of the Jewish tribes of Arabia]." (Hamas communique, September 8, 1988, translated and distributed in the U.S. by the Islamic Association for Palestine)
All from the ADL
Hamas in Their Own Words
http://www.adl.org/main_Israel/hamas_own_words.htm More links:
[A brief overview of Israels quest for peace]
Days of Violence, Days of Mourning, Days of War « Commentary Magazine
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/05/20/obama-should-study-israels-histo...
