The derangement of the world

Dixon

Yep...but where is it leading? To me its all one big source of both astonishment and despair at the iredeemable stupidity of human nature. I feel almost that I want no part of this species, the sick joke that it is just now seeming to reveal itself to be. Thousands of years of civilisation leads to this...utter irrationality.

david elder

Williamm Shawcross deserves a medal for saying the unsayable. He identifies the spite and bloody-mindedness repeatedly exhibited by 'liberal' and 'tolerant' folk when it comes to Israel.

Viv Evans

It is indeed a derangement of the world, aided and abetted by far too many hacks in the MSM in the Western 'free' media and by the politicians in those countries.
If Israel must be held to a higher standard than any other nation on earth - what about holding our own politicians and MSM to a fraction of such standards and demand that the crimes against humanity committed by Islamists are reported and vilified to the same extent as any action of Israel is?

Darfur? Pakistan? Iraq? Iran? Somalia? Are those being killed there by Islamists not human beings? Are they of lesser 'value' than Gazans?
Sadly, it would seems so.

MartinW

No rational person can deny the truth of what you and William Shawcross have said. In contrast, the statements by our government and the new Foreign Secretary in advocating the end to the blockade of Gaza ports are simply appalling and extraordinary. Especially now that we hear Iran is offering to escort the next wave of 'aid' boats. How does Hague think weapons shipment will be preventing with unblockaded Gaza ports?

Jonathan Karmi

Dixon - you ask where the derangement of the world is leading. Well, it's leading to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons and a much higher risk of them being used in our lifetime.

gchap1

You do see demonstrations against fanatical Islam in the UK. Ironically, the EDL's protests are proudly met with force by the Anti-Nazi League. So, the Anti-Nazi League are in favour of the fascism inherent in Islamist idealogy then? Where are the ANL when Islamists march on London chanting their obscene death-threats and waving their highly inflammatory banners?

Mr D.

Melanie, you are a self-described defender of authentically liberal values against the backdrop of trying to destroy them from within (your own words). But I whole heartedly agree-the defence of Israel is fundamentally a progressive issue. Rather the contortionist sentiment is not utterly irrational beyond belief since the unprogressive Left align themselves with rife anti-America, Anti-Israel agenda. They (I am convinced through design rather than ignorance) give sympathy to whatever cause lends the most fetishism and victim status-even although many progressives will be hard pressed to find anything in the Palestinian cause that they actually agree with.

At university, I knew people who bought into the anti-Israel spin, spurred on by dubious academics. They honestly believed themselves liberal but attained one of the most illiberal positions on the Jewish state-handing out stickers to 'boycott Israeli goods' and so on. Is it any wonder that 'left' wing mavericks (nothing of the sort) like George Galloway actually have said 'Hamas has never been a terrorist organisation'. Or the other day when I was in town and the Palestinian Solidaritary group were out with venom at the 'attack on the peace flotilla'. This despite by then, the massive amounts of evidence to suggest that this flotilla was not at all pacificist in nature and was designed as a shameful propaganda exercise to encourage violence.

An upside down, irrational world indeed. It is not just rank hypocrisy but utterly frightening for the future of liberty and the free world where the distortions of Israel will bring us.

phil

I think a lot of the problem is that Israel makes little attempt to counter the propaganda -It has become fashionable for those like the BBC to interview Israel bashers like the Irish lady activist yesterday on the news ,with no rebuttal by an Israeli source -nor do we see much help from the embassy ,only last week I wrote to show support and never even received an acknowledgement.I hasten to add that I did not require praise ,but their lack of public relations at times is astonishing .
-----
We cannot blame everyone else and not consider what is being done to fester this insane ,can I say anti-Semitism ,or is it just Israel bashing .I must say that in most cases when I hear criticism it is against Israel and not against the Jewish people .Blaming everyone else will not help Israel,s cause ,something must be done to allay the perception of arrogance which is rife .If someone like myself who is a loyal supporter of Israel finds fault with the way Israel presents itself,something is likely to be wrong . The BBC which never misses a chance to criticise Israel bears a heavy responsibility for what is happening ,but its nothing new is it ? Thank goodness for Melanie ,Douglas Murray ,Andrew Roberts and Kelvin Mckenzie together with a few good people like them who bravely stand their ground .

Chiang Mai Chris

For speaking out like this Pilar Rahola will doubtless be getting a lot less dinner invitations from his old left wing pals. I've been down that street, no loss if you ask me.

The questions he asks though boil down to this: why the unholy alliance between the Euro-left and the Islmamists? It's just a simple case of sharing the same aim and that is the overthrow of the West. The Euro-left should try to remember what happened to the socialists and communists when the Ayatollah 'Smiling-Boy' Khomeini took over in Iran. They had formed an alliance to oppose the Shah. But when they succeeded and Shah went the left just went up in a cloud of holy smoke.

annabel

Melanie:

thank you for the informative and enlightening comments you have posted here in recent days.

Although I am not Jewish, I have always admired an industrious and courageous people who created their country from a desert and have defended it with such heroism.

I'd be interested to hear how others cope with attempting to defend Israel in conversation with friends, one of them very dear to me who regard me as some kind of nutcase for attempting to put the Israeli case. To my shame, I find myself simply skirting round the subject; it really is like talking to the deaf. And yet, if people don't speak up, the lies simply become accepted truths.

Does anyone else find themselves feeling isolated, despairing and dismayed at the depressing combination of ignorance and self-righteousness that enemies of Israel display?

gary ashton

dixon - yes i really understand. it is truely amazing that this what civilization has come to.

over here in sydney paul mcgough, the sydney morning herald middle east journalist (with the palistinian girlfriend) who was on board one of the ships is getting lots of exposure on youth radio where he tells how the idf are now photo manipulating images to make it look like they were attacked.
unbelievable. first they use israels history against them, now they take the present and invert it.
these people are disgusting.

tiki

The world is on it's way going to the "philistines, IF it continues to follow the hatefull 'Pied Piper of Palestine'. Whenever in history, there was this popular blind, histeric hate for Jews = Israel, it ended in 'tragedy and destruction, as it will this time. Only in the end, the Jews/Israel, ALWAYS came out better, stronger and more powerfull. NOBODY in history has ever (and never will) succeeded to destroy the Jews/Israel, and we all know how much they all tried. That's why they call the Jews the CHOSEN PEOPLE, because somebody much stronger than all those 'Jew/Israel haters is watching over them, and his name is NOT Mohammed. What's happening now is 'nothing new for Israel/Jews and will only result in the 'demise of those who started it, because in the end 'good and truth will ALWAYS prevail over 'evil and lies!

Joshua

The world isn't deranged at all. It knows exactly what it is doing. The world is not mad but evil.

patrick

Ms Phillips if you want an answer to all of those "why's" then get you friends in the Israeli government to list an itinerary of all the equipment offloaded from the peace flotilla. This will then prove if this was a terror flotilla as you claim or a peace flotilla as the rest of the world it seems to think it was. Iron bars, pick axe handles and knives don't count as weapons of mass destruction. I can promise you there were no rockets or explosives because we would have heard by now but merely aid for the people in Gaza why you can't see this really puzzles me. The Israeli hard line government has brought this PR disaster on its own people. What happened to your more moderate leaders of old?

phil

I think a lot of the problem is that Israel makes little attempt to counter the propaganda -It has become fashionable for those like the BBC to interview Israel bashers like the Irish lady activist yesterday on the news ,with no rebuttal by an Israeli source -nor do we see much help from the embassy ,only last week I wrote to show support and never even received an acknowledgement.I hasten to add that I did not require praise ,but their lack of public relations at times is astonishing .
-----
We cannot blame everyone else and not consider what is being done to fester this insane ,can I say anti-Semitism ,or is it just Israel bashing .I must say that in most cases when I hear criticism it is against Israel and not against the Jewish people .Blaming everyone else will not help Israel,s cause ,something must be done to allay the perception of arrogance which is rife .If someone like myself who is a loyal supporter of Israel finds fault with the way Israel presents itself,something is likely to be wrong . The BBC which never misses a chance to criticise Israel bears a heavy responsibility for what is happening ,but its nothing new is it ? Thank goodness for Melanie ,Douglas Murray ,Andrew Roberts and Kelvin Mckenzie together with a few good people like them who bravely stand their ground .
---
Annabel ,you are far from alone ,the ignorance of facts is amazing ,partly I am sure because many people are too lazy or too busy to find out the truth and as I have written above Israel does not do enough to justify itself ,possibly because it feels it is a waste of time -Do not despair ,I think you know you are right -shalom .

Stuart Seacole Smith

No doubt access to arab oil plays a large part in driving the west's ultimately self-destructive pro-islamic behaviour. Which pathetically enough often translates into anti-Israel bias and rhetoric.

But of course there is more to it than that, and I often struggle to grasp what this toxic mix of interacting factors is.

In terms of what drives western politicians of the left (and which seems to be an increasingly powerful consideration for the right as well), it seems to me that some decades of deeply misguided immigration policy, based in turn on equally deeply misguided western beliefs that faith-based extremism will always be overcome by rational self interest may be at least partly behind it.

Western politicians are almost to a man absolutely soil-their-trousers terrified of offending the muslim/islamic minorities that they have so wisely installed, lest they go berserk.

None have the courage to address fundamental underlying contradictions in society, partly because it would involve an admission of having played a part in sabotaging our own societies, and partly because of the usual short-termist "not on my watch" mentality.

If anything, I find the western press even harder to make out on this issue than the politicians. But some element of fear of becoming a target for angry islamists and spittle-flecked politically correct left-wing bile merchants probably plays a role.

I see the fact that the pro-islam/ anti-israel agenda is largely driven by the left partly as a product of their need to picture themselves as "progressive", "brave", "movers and shakers", "open minded", and any number of other misleading and superficially positive sounding things that (rather perversely) make them feel good about themselves.

Bottom line, a nebulous drifting confused mish-mash of double-talk and wrong thinking, undoubtedly with a revolting dollop of unspoken anti-semitism stirred in for good measure. To a large extent it's barely distinguishable from mass lunacy as far as I'm concerned.

Makes me so very proud.

Nim Chimpsky

Well said, again, Melanie. (This from a Marxist, btw, just so you know.)

Looking for the positive in all this, we might have a real moment now where we can bring this hypocrisy and exceptionalism to light once and for all - and thereby snatch a critical advance from an apparently disastrous defeat. Maybe too optimistic? But what better moment could we have to so easily prove the case?

@Annabel - yes, I sometimes share that despair, especially with friends with whom the topic raises temperatures.

How to cope? hmmm - facts and tenderness? And more facts. Just give them the Hamas charter to read - that should do it. If it doesn't, likely you don't really want them as friends.

Dr Michael Salt

Don't dispair.

The Jew-haters will fail, as they always do.

PS The BBC contribution to this pogrom is simply bizarre. Why? I don't get it.

NicoleS

Annabel: "Does anyone else find themselves feeling isolated, despairing and dismayed at the depressing combination of ignorance and self-righteousness that enemies of Israel display?" All the time. Good on you for not going along with it. It is hard to convince people how wrong they are but sometimes just piping up to say you don't agree with the consensus helps to make the bigots think again. Keep exposing that smugness and ignorance, it becomes almost enjoyable after a while..

Bob

Ironically, the anti-Israel sentiment that is pouring forth from the vast majority of the Left and the MSN will only make the situation in Gaza much worse. If the Left truly wanted to help the people in Gaza they would work alongside Israel, probably accomplishing far more through the aid of a rational partner, then they would otherwise, using a irrational partner such as the Turkish Jihadists et al. But then this isn't about the people of Gaza is it? Its about a group of psychologically immature beings who can only assume a coherent identity through the manipulation of reality. Hamas and the Left can only exist through distortion, nay, their very influence is based on the idea of the big lie (that all is Israel's fault). They know their future is tied to this lie, so what better way to play the game than by hitching their wagon to an MSN that are largely unaware of the game being played.

Bob, son of Bob

There is a hate list of superior countries which, by being superior, offend the Western left just as the light offends a vampire.
S.Rhodesia, when famine-free and successful, was at the top of their list. When this was handed over to Mugabe as a job well done, white S.Africa moved to the top. After decades of being on the receiving end of intensely focussed hate, this country was eventually set on the path to ruin and crossed off the list. That leaves Israel now at the top, but, unlike the previous two countries to occupy this position, they have to contend not only with the hate of our left, but also the hate of some Muslims (we have to be careful how we phrase things).

We ourselves are also on the same list, but a larger prey is harder to pull down and kill.

Democracy has allowed the wicked to manoeuvre themselves into positions of power.
When the landowners ruled us, politicians were drawn from the better people, or at least a cross-section. Now our leaders are drawn largely from bad people who are strongly driven by inner urges to do wicked things at home such as help criminals all the time at every opportunity they get, and to help bad people abroad. As long as the voters do not realise what is going on, the leaders can get away with it. For the ignorant masses, the Israeli issue has been simplified for them into: “do you think children should have wheelchairs and medicines from ships or not?”

Hague will one day regret what he has done by following true-left-Clegg but plastic man Cameron will not regret following behind Clegg like a little plastic boy because he has no principles to abandon.

Andrew

Interesting piece by Brendan O'Neill, and I agree with his conclusion around childish narcissism. But after the insane reporting of the recent flotillas, no-one can avoid the conclusion that anti-antisemitism is a major factor driving the building hysteria.

"European politicians, UN officials, left-wing activists, radical Islamists: all are increasingly defining their identities through their antagonism towards Israel. Like Bush, they want to escape messy, confusing domestic politics by creating a black-and-white piece of end-of-days theatre in the international arena. They want Israel reprimanded, sanctioned and possibly even invaded, not because they really care for Palestinian freedom, but in order to have their identities validated and their moral convictions ratified. The narcissism is astounding. For them, the war in the Middle East is the continuation of their politics of identity by other means".

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8963/

Farouk

As an ex muslim I fear for western civilisation. In order to appease Islam they are now ready to hand over israel. I fear millions will die and the left will look the otherway and blame the jews.

However once Israel has been eaten, the huger of Islam will turn on Europe. What then? Hand over Spain as Hamas wishes, Greece, Cyprus.
Will we continue to blame Israel in order to hand those countries over?

I'm just glad I'm 48 I've lived my lfe.

watttyler

This is how persecution works. Read Ovid's Metamorphoses, and then Kafka's. The agreessor will construct a reality about its victim. He will invite everyone else to buy into that false reality so that they see the construct too. The aggressor is relying on everyone else to be moral cowards. Instead of facing up to the aggressor, they turn on the victim.

When the victim has been dehumanised - for Gregor Samsa (probably being victimised as a jew) it was a vermin, Daphne (escaping rape) a tree, then the victim can be disposed of at the aggressor's whim (or he can let the whipped up masses do it for him).

Because the vast majority of people are moral cowards, it doesn't excuse the fact that what they are taking part in is an evil.

When I read the bible when I was a kid, and there were the warnings about grain and chaff, I wondered where on earth would all that chaff come from. Surely people would realise that they are being evil, I thought to myself. However, since I got older, of course it all makes sense, as it should to you all without me spelling it out (cue some smily faced idiot to tell me that I am fantasist - well, all this will be resolved in the end of course).

Why Israel? I think because they are God's people, and they remind all the tyrants in the world that there will be a reckoning, that there is responsibility. The Marxists (i.e. the rulers of Europe) hate Chrisianity, therefore Judaism, because it made their takeover problematic. We are just seeing the tail end of that. Equality has become the high religion.

Alright troops. Now is not the time to feel isolated. Get yourself organised. Have you cancelled your TV license yet? Or are you still giving money towards the second holocaust?

Dixon, this is no time to be despairing - that's what your enemies want. I know that there are a lot of atheists reading, so they'll have to trust me when say that I know that God doesn't desert Israel, even at the blackest hour. Have faith, and get some if you don't. In the battle between Israel and The World, Israel will win. It's already a fact; what you need to do is stand up and declare which side you are on, show them that you are a human being, noble as God made you, amongst irrational beasts that will consequently fear you; and even dear annabel, if your friends hate you for it.

Nick

Perhaps the UN could build a security fence around Israel to protect it from the outside world.

It may have the added, welcome, benefit of reducing the extra-judicial murder rate in Dubai, Lebanon, Gaza and international waters.

lindenlea

I read Pilar's piece on Nick Cohen's blog yesterday and she is correct and brave. Shawcross is again spot on. Why are people choosing not to see the truth before their eyes: the possible destruction of Israel and another Shoah, the fall of Turkey and Eygpt to islamofacism,western democracies ended by a combination of Islamism and Chinese domination. Complete nightmare but not impossible.

What amazes me in the face of all this is the Israeli spirit. It is worth following Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations to keep in touch with a spirit that is realistic and intelligent in the face of incredible odds. Surely we just have to keep on fighting with the truth.

Also living in Britain now I feel like I could be in Iran the way the BBC, a lot of the media and Cameron, Hague and David Miliband operate. The internet is easily the best source of news and of making positive connections in this current nightmare.

Thanks for all the really good work you do on this Melanie. I don't know how you sleep at night.

Carl

The problem that nobody wants to see is that a massive influx of Russians and a rise of the ultra orthodox is changing Israel - very much for the worse.

Rob-NY

When I read an anti-Israel column or speech I literally sit back and count the lies.

GT

I'll chip in from down under in NZ and say the disease has spread here as well. It's truly frightening to see the rabid nature of the Israel bashers. It is just like the symptoms of rabies.

So far I've seen two posters here who should be asking themselves; "Is that me they're talking about?" before they displayed their ignorance & bigotry. That's the really scary part of this; nothing gets through to these people. They're immune to reason.

just Louise

Phil, I agree with you re the Israeli Embassy. When I wrote to them a few years ago expressing solidarity they put me on a mailing list of "Friends" which provided useful links and information. They have since suspended this.
Hasbara efforts are poor - and there is no effective counter to the lies we see around Web. All too often it's left to courageous gentile bloggers to make the running for us.
One of these, on his blog, reports inter alia a loathsome description of Mark Regev by Lauren Booth. Have a look:
www.oyvagoy.com/2010/06/.../i-dont-care-about-israels-security/

Thucydides

Bob sob,

Where can I see this hate list? How does the "Western left" come up with its hate list of "superior" countries? What makes them superior? Or are you just a bitter old bigot who doesn't like the fact that white landowners - "better people" - no longer hold sway in south Africa and Britain?

Michael

The treatment handed out to Israel is definitely an unbalanced and irrational reaction.

Does that that mean that every criticism of Israel must be tainted as anti-semitic?

There is a clear leaning in your writing, Melanie, and that of some of the blog contributors that reflects such a view, and that is inherently unhealthy for Israel and can only help and aid her enemies.

So surely there is also a balance to be struck there?

DavidSI

Carl,
Don't understand.....How does the influx of Russians into Israel have a bearing on the deranged anti-Semitism that Melanie has written about?

Augustus

Another person who defends Israel is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Geert Wilders. In fact, Wilders could well be described as the Churchill of our time because he
doesn't cower in the face of evil and speaks the truth. he recently went on record again to defend Israel's actions against the terrorist sponsored
flotilla and the idiots in the media and world leadership who condemned Israel. He said: "It is cheap to attack Israel, and I'm certainly not going to make a cheap attack on Israel by howling in the woods with the rest of the wolves. Israel was fully justified in entering the ships to see if they were also carrying weapons." And he is right, of course, because the blockade is in complete adherence to the Oslo Accords.

Israel does allow into Gaza all necessary goods. Any right-thinking person is bound to ask,
why the need for aid convoys to Gaza? Normally you send aid to people in need, but are the Gazans in need? I haven't seen any starving Gazans. And on Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry site anyone can see the
figures: "In 2009 alone, more than 738,000 tons of food and supplies entered Gaza." Everything is there: wheat, rice, meat, fruit, vegetables, baby food, clothing, footwear. You name it, it's truckloaded in. But, of course, Africans and Afghans may be allowed to go hungry, but not Palestinians.
They are the darlings of Europe,
after all. Those 'terrible' Jews
have even considered their religious fasting month, Ramadan. So what is it that they need so much? Weapons, of course. Weapons with which to kill Jews. This so-called breaking of the blockade has nothing whatsoever to do with aid, or human rights, or neediness. Those involved are simply and unashamedly waging a political campaign in a dangerous military zone. But neither the left-wing press, nor
the useful idiot sympathizers can alter the facts: One of those killed by the Israeli action was a 39-year old Turk from Kurdistan. This man had studied in Cairo. He was a radical Muslim, and his next of kin have said that he did nothing else than pray to become a martyr. This story appeared in Turkish newspapers, but was reported nowhere in the West. Truly deranged that so many choose to be on Hamas's side. Conned indeed!

Diomalco

There are two main reasons why little venom and no action is taken against the vilest of dictatorships and both amount to self-interest.

The first is what will any country gain financially, or lose, from opposing another.

The second is how high is the risk of violet retaliation in the form of terrorism or outright war.

Any criticism of Israel is made in the sure knowledge that there has not, so far, been an instance of one democratic state waging war on another.

Presently the number of vested interests against Israel is greater than those supporting the country. This is unlikely to change until financial stability returns to the USA, Britain and the rest of Europe. Sadly, whatever the truth of Israel/Palentinian encounters, this is unlikely to happen for several years. Realistically, the West cannot afford the luxury of supporting Israel whilst there are huge demands for oil.

Clearly there are religious and moral considerations plus rampant hypocrisy involved but expediency will always cancel these out.

andy

it kind of makes one believe in the Bible and Satan's hatred of the apple of God's eye, doesn't it

Miv Tucker

The only serious problem with this article is that it's in the Jerusalem Post, but not The Guardian or The New York Times.

Joe Strummer

There are individuals in North Korea reduced to eating grass and the bark from trees simply to survive yet where are the self-appointed " human rights / civil rights activists" and their protests in Europe and the West ?

Like others have already quoted, in numerous examples througout the globe where genuine oppression and injustice can be found, the Western Left remain strangely silent.

This tells me and everyone else that Israel is being specifically demonised, marginalised and criminalised.

Andy

No I love Israel and so will the rest in time.

Ira

As a resident of Israel let me just make it clear that those of us who are the "regular" people who do not write for newspapers don't feel a "siege mentality" here at all. Rather, we understand what the truth is, as do the Arab men and women who come and sit next to us in our cafes and shop in the same stores. We realize that we will have to defend ourselves for many years to come - and that we are glad to do it. We realize that the lies will continue and we are glad to fight against that, too.
Great writing - keep it up.

Carl

DavidSI as you asked politely, so shall I answer: There isn't any "deranged anti-semitism" or "Jew hatred" in the populace at large, that is just what they want you to think. My post, to which you referred, showed where the real derangement is coming from.

Simeon Howell

Totally Agree the media Bias against Israel is shocking. Facts and History are ignored in place of myth and a twisted version of past events. Where was the international outcry when the deceased "good" king hussein of Jordan brutally forced the palestinians out of his land? Israel only has to lift a finger and the World is on her back! If France were to fire rockets into the UK Britain would have every right to declare war! British soldiers would defend themselves if attacked with knifes/ fire arms etc and probably without half the outcry!These are not peace activists they are misguided aiders of terrorism

lucashyde

Chiang Mai Chris - Pilar Rahola is a woman

FGFM

â˜Shut up. Go back to Auschwitzâ™

Didn't that turn out to be dubbed on the audio?

Gil

To Michael@2.33: How many times to we have to hear this clapped out nonsense that defenders of Israel believe that 'all criticism of Israel is antisemitism'.

How many times do we have to ask for proof of this and not receive it in return. Not one person I know is saying that all criticism of Israel is antisemitism but certainly much of the criticism is rabidly so.

Michael, I can shout from the rooftops that I am against many of the things that Israel does in the Territories. However, I now no longer feel I need to do so because the demonisers of Israel are calling the shots and the moderates are content to take a back seat. It would be suicidal for supporters of Israel, who disagree with its policies yet see the level of eliminationist hatred around them, to give succour to that camp.

phil

If anyone wants to know the definition of chutzpah ,just read erdogan,s lips ,a man who single handedly is dragging Turkey back into medieval times ,Ask him about the massacre of the Armenians ,now that was a real massacre ,and he dares to accuse Israel ,that is chutzpah .Deranged ? no evil .

Gil

Carl, don't you have anything constructive to say apart from nit-picking? It just shows that you are bereft of anything meaningful to say.

phil

FGFM
June 8th, 2010 4:42pm -Do you really believe that is a subject for debate ? you hardly could find a more offensive remark ,were you complaining or laughing ?.it does sound like the latter .

Frans

Excellent article. The free press journalists should be ashamed of letting themselves be used to write propaganda against Israel in stead of taking the effort to really tel and write the truth in an objective, non-judgementall way.

Wyn

The unfolding events in the Middle East and the general anti Israeli reaction to them from the usual quarters as well as from our disgraceful leaders is truly sobering. In common with some previous comments, the nature of the enmity shown to the Jews seems to be taking on Biblical proportions and anti Israeli comments here and elsewhere do not seem to be based on reality. I am not a particularly religious person but something profound seems to be going on. These events appear to be driven by something that defies our powers of perception. What is causing such illogical hatred towards one particular group of people in a tiny country that only asks to be allowed to survive?

postergirl

Israel is become the Scapegoat of the World it would seem. My Bible readings for today include Numbers 24: 9 - Blessed [of God ] is he who blesses you ( Israel ), [ who prays for and contributes to your welfare ] and cursed [ of God ]is he who curses you [ who in word, thought,or deed would bring harm upon you ] Amplified Bible. Hmm ... you can't say we haven't been warned...

Derek BLADES

Ms Phillips quotes Pilar Rahola who asks "Why don’t we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris, Barcelona? Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship? Why aren’t there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection?"

One answer is obvious. We don't like "Islamic dictatorships etc; etc.;" but the examples quoted are of rulers being nasty to their own people. The present Israeli government is being nasty to another group of people - including many whose land and homes have been seized by Israelis.

Another answer is that as a matter of fact, there are demonstrations in European countries and in the United States against the regimes mentioned by Pïlar Rahola. They just don't get much press coverage.

Raymond in DC

To FGFM: No, the "Go back to Auschwitz" remark was NOT dubbed in. It was part of a 5 minute IDF recording with lots of dead space edited out. The IDF has since released the entire recording. The reference to them standing with the Arabs and the reference to 9/11 are in there as well.

Derek Pasquill

A quotation by Emmanuel Levinas that might drive the irredeemably stupid "mental about Israel" mob over the edge:

"At the dawning of the new world, Judaism has the consciousness to possess, through its permanence, a function in the general economy of Being. No one can replace it. Someone has to exist in the world who is as old as the world. For Judaism, the great migrations of the people, the migration among people and the upheavals of history have never presented a deadly threat. It always found what remained to it. It has a painful experience of living on; its performance accustomed it to judging history and refusing to accept the verdict of a History that proclaimed itself judge.

Perhaps Jewish thought in general consists today in holding on more firmly than ever to this permanence and this eternity. Judaism has traversed history without taking up history’s causes. It has the power to judge, alone against all, the victory of visible and organized forces – if need be in order to reject them. Its head may be held high or its head may be down, but it is always stiff-necked. This temerity and this patience, which are as long as eternity itself, will perhaps be more necessary to humanity tomorrow or the day after tomorrow than they were yesterday or the day before."

Dixon

Some say I should get some faith. Well I do have faith in one thing. The best laid plans can go wrong and the future always holds surprises. Actually, thats two things. Those who orchestrate the media lie-train at present must think their plans are running smoothly. Just as the Saudis funding the Ground Zero mega-mosque must be tickled pink that their celebratory memorial to 9/11 appears to be going ahead, to be a vast insult in concrete and steel permanently fixing a finger at free people. But these plans could backfire: Maybe the mosque gets built...and becomes a focus of rebellion by the American Kuffar...maybe the "peace" fascists succeed in their traduction of Israel...but the conflagration they are laying the ground for backfires.

Because thats what its about isnt it? They are trying to create a political climate in which noone will come to Israels aid when the big balloon goes up. They almost succeeded in 1973 until the Americans came to their senses and opened the re-supply of munitions. This time, they are hoping everyone will stand back and let Israel go under.

Its a trait of the seldom-challenged that they get too overconfident. The prancing praters of Hamas, Iran and their Western buddies in the media and (shamefully) the governments of the West begin now to exhibit a dose of hubris. They are being given ever more lengths of rope to play with. Remember what happenned to Til Eulenspiegel.

Mike B.

Derek BLADES,
What about the Kurds fighting for freedom from the opressive Turkish occupation ?
Why is it that the left does not fight for Kurdish independence ?

Makevet

In among all the evil invective, often lurk grains of justified criticism that we Israelis need to address. The trouble is that in the prevailing getting-the-boot-in climate, telling the wheat from the chaff is proving ever more difficult.

zsa

Annabel,

I am not Jewish and am confronted with ignorance regarding Israel all the time. I have read books to educate myself on the conflict and I challenge bias towards Israel with facts, thus bringing to light their irrationality. I never shut up or back down and many people have decided not to like me becuase of my outspoken manner on Israel. I also fight with Jewish friends who have their heads in the sand and hope I might give some of them the courage to pull their head out of the sand and show support for Israel.
Don't be afraid to stand for what is right.

Nim Chimpsky

Part of the reason the left adopts the position it does - not just over Israel, but Rhodesia and theatres too - is because these are viewed as imperialism. This means there's a marked tendency to support the indigenous/oppressed people, even if they're (far) less than wholesome in political and social spheres.

In the case of Israel, as they view Palestinians as oppressed, they grant support - regardless of the fact Hamas are a bunch of nazi-influenced, violent islamic extremists.

That's quite a different form of anti-semitism than that emanating from the far-right, which is a visceral racial jew-hate backed by conspiracy theories of jewish world jewish domination.

Whether it actually makes much difference in effect, I doubt it tbh. But the left position is reformable, the race-hate of the far-right much less so. The confluence of these two positions is very worrying - reminds me of Stalinist position before WW2, when the ComIntern called liberal democracy "social fascism" and it took Hitler's ascension to power before the position was abandoned. The position of the left changed, not the far-right.

Trotsky's position then, seems relevant to Israel now:

"Worker-Communists, you are hundreds of thousands, millions; you cannot leave for anyplace; there are not enough passports for you. Should fascism come to power, it will ride over your skulls and spines like a terrific tank. Your salvation lies in merciless struggle. And only a fighting unity with the Social Democratic workers can bring victory. Make haste, worker-Communists, you have very little time left!"
For a Workers' United Front Against Fascism

Augustus

In a French interview in 2002, Pilar Rahola made a good job of explaining the consistently anti-Israeli stance of most European governments and media.
Talking about the indifference of Europe to the holocaust she said:

"Yes, I think that Europe was indifferent on the surface because it felt guilty within. I believe that this indifference unquestionably comes from Judeophobia. And in the ultimate paradox, the Jewish soul is part and parcel of Europe. Europe cannot be explained without its Jewish soul, but it is also explained by its hatred of Jews. Thus all repeated attempts of Europe to get rid of its Jewish soul are,
in fact, a kind of suicide.

"After the Holocaust, after Auschwitz, that is, after the ultimate stage in the destruction of the Jewish soul -
a process that lasted for centuries in Europe - Europe is shattered, many of its elements are dead, but it also has a bad conscience; it knows it is guilty. Since then, Europe has looked for and found in the Palestinian cause the expiation for its guilt. It is from this that the uncritical and Manichean attitude towards the Palestinian cause emerges - it is, primarily, the last heroic
(European) adventure. Further, the more the Jews are presented as being the evil party, the bad ones, the less difficult it is to carry the responsibility and the guilt. This is a process of collective psychology. From such a perspective there is essentially no difference between France, for example, and Spain...it is unbelievable how Europe continues to hate its Jewish soul, even after it has expelled it!"

Rip Van Winkle

Farouk @

"I'm just glad I'm 48 I've lived my live"

Age 48 is only the beginning of life.

At nearly twice your age I'm living it up in my second childhood (even leaving myself open to fellow posters).

Come, lets's get to the nitty gritty of fair play; shoulder to the wheel.

Andreas

I have a question. Do the European people honestly hate Israel this much. never mind the governments but the people. Do the people hate them. Because it seems to me that arabs are taking over Europe. And i would think most would be royally pissed about that.

Rip Van Winkle

GT @ 2.17pm

Ditto Dodzone. You agreeable for email contact? Fair play needs assistance. Give the word and then we contact Spectator. Cheers, Rip.

tiki

Derek Blades. "Current Israeli governement is being nasty to 'another group of people". Now I understand; stupid me, THAT's why all those
'rightious people of the world (including all those nice Arab dictatorships)are being soooo critical of Israel.It doesn't matter if you bomb,burn gas, shoot, loot, rape other people, as long as they are 'your own, its OK. I'v heard a lot of stupid arguments, but your's is worth "12 points".

steve

The whole world is deranged except for you, Melanie. Thanks.

just Louise

Derek Blades, you forget the rape of Tibet, Darfur and Western Sahara.

Adam B.

Annabel, yes, I know exactly what you mean. I'm not Jewish either, but we are living in an Orwellian age where casual lies and propaganda become accepted "truth", without being questioned. It is indeed tiresome to talk to ignorant people who often have big opinions, but that is the inevitable result of 30 years of lies from the MSM. However, it is indeed worth rebutting it when you come across it, and patiently explaining the truth - you even get the knack of knowing what people are going to say before they say it, and the false arguments they will employ (sometimes they are simply labouring under false notions and misinformation). However, I think events may overtake us, and change the narrative, and for that, I am optimistic for the future. And it is worth noting that although the situation in Europe is bad, the conversation in the US is quite different. It's not the same everywhere.

So keep fighting! G-d bless you for it!

Adam B.

Blades, you also forget the incursions into the DRC. And what an immoral argument to employ anyway - it's OK (or not as bad) if it's your own people you mistreat?

Mehran

As an Iranian it is dispiriting and absolutely heart-breaking to see history reaping itself - this time on a global scale. I'm old enough to remember how the so-called progressive left joined forces with the most reactionary elements of our society, namely the wretched mullahs, (what the Shah termed 'the Union of the Red and Black Reaction') to destroy the Shah's secular dictatorship and replace with a savage theocracy 100 times worse, that is at war with its own people and with the world.

I always blamed this on our third world and rather hysterical culture, which has produced a nation that is both opportunist and naive at the same time.

But how can I justify this in the 21st century Europe (and increasingly in America with its nincompoop president) that are the cradle of - if not civilisation - at least of reason, humanism and modernity? How is it possible for all those intelligent yet completely clueless 'sandal-wearing dupes' (to paraphrase Peter Hitchens slightly) to get into bed with ranting, bearded cut-throats and medieval loony-tunes? And why?

The convenient link is allegedly the 'root causes' (yawn) of the Middle East conflict - and by that they mean - they ALWAYS mean - Israel. Were Israel to simply vanish from the face of the planet tomorrow all the problems in the Middle East would be solved just like that.

It this were some kind of mental masturbation for the bearded care in the community types, or immature student poseurs or even that repulsive George Galloway it wouldn't perhaps matter so much.

But this is a nasty, insidious and truly horrifying disease that is affecting whole societies and whole nations, and if the world doesn't come to its senses soon we will be entering a new Dark Ages that will make the last one look like a walk in the park.

Mark Allinson

An understanding of the psychology of the Left provides an answer to your Why, Melanie.

The ideological Leftist is always an egotist. The self-esteem resulting from perceiving oneself as pure, good and right is the very air they breathe. Leftists have an absolute imperative to think the very best of themselves. This means that any negative impulse from below the threshold of consciousness must be repressed and denied access to conscious awareness, lest it disturbs the image of purity so strongly valued by the ego-self.

One of the unconscious methods by which the mind deals with such repression is called projection, whereby the disturbing “evil” impulse or feeling is accepted into awareness only on the condition that it is projected (like a film onto a screen) onto some external source. The object upon which the negative feelings are projected is then denounced as the true source of evil, which keeps the ego self-image pure and untainted.

The best objects for such projections are those closest to, but not identical with, the self – in the Leftists’ case one’s own culture becomes the best screen for projections. Thus we have the Western Leftist program for the destructive “critique” of their own history and philosophy.

So in the universities we see curricula based on denunciations of our evil past, such as charges of genocide in the colonies, and the amplification of “evidence” for destructive racism and sexism. The Leftist’s culture now conveniently takes all the blame and their ego (below which the denied troubling impulses still murmur) is protected, immune from all taint.

Now, few things are more central to our own culture than the Judeo-Christian tradition. It has (along with the Greek contribution) become the essence of “us”. It has formed the moral core of our culture. This makes it a perfect target for projections from the self, being very close and yet distant enough for psychological comfort. And so we see an ever-rising projection of evil onto all things Christian, and all things Jewish. The Judeo-Christian tradition thus becomes the conveniently close scapegoat for the pure ego of the Leftist.

Thus Israel, the core of the West, becomes the evil one. There is an awareness that something very close to home is “bad”, but rather than find it in the depths of the self where the feeling stirs, it is safely projected onto the culture.

The Leftist is developmentally stunted, fixated in a psychology of defensive projection for the sake of self-esteem. Only a growth in consciousness can change this situation. The ego, however, resists this growth at every turn. But perhaps a painful encounter with reality might effect this necessary growth.

Olive Tree

This is my first trip to the Melanie Phillips world, and I do love it! Melanie, you are so articulate and righ on!
However, I notice that neither you nor anyone on your blog seems to have tackled the issue of Israel from a scriptural point of view.
How odd, since Israel is nothing if it is not the center of the world!

We know from Hebrew Scriptures and also the Gospels that we are in an "end of time" scenario when good will be called bad and bad called good. We also know that Israel will be left alone by the rest of the world to fend for herself. But, while it might seem laughable to a contemporary, post modern, secular audience, we know that there will be an alliance of Russian and Iran and probably some northern African nations that will attack Israel and try to destroy her. But they will be stopped in their tracks and their eyes will melt out of their sockets. God himself will rescue Israel and punish all the nations that will come against her.
That means, yes, Melanie UK and USA and all the rest. I think it might be helpful to look at contemporary events vis a vis Israel with a "scripture" lens. It would make this worldwide madness make a lot more sense.
Some places to start are Ezekiel 38, 39 and Zechariah 12-14. Are you ready for this???
I don't know much about UK politics, but we were hoping that the new Conservative government would have some sense about Israel...I guess not, huh?

israelolivetree@yahoo.com

Rip Van Winkle

@ 2:17pm

GT, My apologies, typing error. Read "Godzone" - yeah, very tired, put D for G. Cheers, Rip.

Rip Van Winkle

Steve @ 9:44pm

STFU

William Boyd

I'm not sure that Goya shouldn't have preferred his "Murió la Verdad" to accompany your piece.

rippon

Melanie Phillips repeatedly says, “Just like the Jew-hatred of the past.”

But, assuming Phillips is referring to the Nazis and the Jewish holocaust, it isn’t “just like” the past at all.

One crucial difference is that the hatred is directed at the Israeli state for its actions, not at people for being Jewish. (If, say, the Iranians were anti-Semitic, we would hear of persecution of there significant Jewish population. But we don’t; Iranian ire is directed at the Zionist state, not at Jews.)

Moreover, Jews themselves, e.g. IJV, (people the rabid Zionists refer to as “self-hating” because that’s the only way they can attempt to rebut their arguments) are amongst Israel’s most ardent critics – partly because they feel horrified and ashamed that they might be associated with the actions of the Jewish state.

rippon

Mark Allison’s writing style is coherent, graceful and appealing to read.

The actual content, though, is pure psycho-babble garbage.

The Leftist’s motivation derives primarily from the output from numerous human rights and aid groups, e.g. Amnesty, HRW, B’Tselem, UNRWA, Oxfam.

The motivation has nothing to with the garbage Allison spouts.

gary ashton

mark- that's an excellent perspective. thank you.
explains the blindness and single mindedness of he left completely.

Julius O'Malley

Mark Allinson. Jeepers creepers, with that analysis of the psychology of the Leftist you have nailed it. Elements of what you write have been floating around in my head somewhat nebulously for decades, but you have crystallized them into a complete and coherent whole. I am humbled by your perspicacity (and believe me that's not an easy thing to do). It was worth foregoing earning an income (and putting off my haircut) this morning just to wade through this blog and read your post.

But even the "painful conflict with reality" you conclude with still often doesn't do the trick: think of those Scandinavian women who get pack-raped by local Muslim men and then, instead of being angry, "understand" - their weltanschauung, nurtured by years of, ahem, "education" remains intact. Or that French-Jewish student who got beaten up on a Parisian bus by a gang of Muslim youth and was a model of PC non-judgmental understanding. He was studying at the Sorbonne, which might explain his public position as just dissembling.

Mehran, an Iranian who thus no doubt has a close insight from direct personal or family experience as to what happens when Sharia dominates, writes:

"I[f] this were some kind of mental masturbation for the bearded care in the community types, or immature student poseurs or even that repulsive George Galloway it wouldn't perhaps matter so much."

Sadly, 30 years go it used to be confined to basically those three categories - a Marxist mindset being the common thread - plus plain old Jew-haters. The Gramscian "long march" through the institutions and structures of the West has, in the ensuing period reaped its harvest, and taken its toll; anti-Israelism is ubiquitous and rampant as ignorance and moral cowardice pervade the West.

Mehran adds "But this is a nasty, insidious and truly horrifying disease that is affecting whole societies and whole nations, and if the world doesn't come to its senses soon we will be entering a new Dark Ages that will make the last one look like a walk in the park."

Apocalyptic sounding, but if one thinks it through this succinct nutshell of Mehran's is basically right. Bravo; he should be on the lecture circuit or writing for the WSJ.

"[Not] all criticism of Israel is antisemitism but certainly much of the criticism is rabidly so" states Gil. This is of course correct, but what is interesting, compelling is when the strictly "Anti-Israel but NOT anti-Jewish" people slip up: Helen Thomas a week ago, the British diplomat in the London gym who started ranting and raving about the "f**king Jews!", the wife of that Dutch banker who hung a Palestinian flag from her balcony railing. It is useful sometimes to masquerade as holding no views on the Arab-Israeli conflict, draw people out gently and obtain their true views.

Annabel (& zsa) May I suggest you pick your battles carefully, suffer some slings and arrows of outrageous fortune rather than rise up against a sea of troubles. As Mark Allinson observed most of your dinner party Israel-bashing is ego and projection. They like the sound of their own voices. When in such a situation, I calmly state: "I can't agree with you" or "Me? I vehemently disagree with everything that's been said here for the last five minutes" And I simply refuse to be drawn. On occasion I'll state "Okay I'll discuss this subject with you if you can name the states adjoining Israel, clockwise from the north." To this I have sometimes added "And the approximate year of their creation as nation-states" You never get any takers to the second limb. What you do get is "That's irelevant to the plight of the Paestinians" etc. Of course it is supremely relevant: if people don't know the basic geography and history of the Middle East they are simply not worthy interlocutors so don't waste your energy. That said loss of friends is a consequence of having principles and one inevitably has to cut people loose, even distance oneself from family members as I have had to do.

I have had some success with this: "If Israel disarmed tomorrow, what would its neighbours do to it? If its neighbours disarmed tomorrow what what Israel do to them" The answers to both questions don't even need to be stated. Reasonable people just look back at you in pensive silence.

zsa: when you write this: "I never shut up or back down and many people have decided not to like me becuase of my outspoken manner on Israel." I must respectfully and with a degree of admiration disagree with your modus operandi. I hope you learn more subtle ways than banging your head against a brick wall. But when you write this; " I also fight with Jewish friends who have their heads in the sand and hope I might give some of them the courage to pull their head out of the sand and show support for Israel." I agree,as it is far more productive because if diaspora Jews don't defend Israel or rather apologize etc for its enemies there is no hope. I just had a success in this regard with a 50 yr old Jewish woman on the Gaza flotilla incident. She came around replying that her disagreement with her (IDF- 73 veteran brother) that she had related to me was due to him putting his position to her so aggressively whereas I put it, after a 12 hr break (so as not to make it a "Did so!" "Did not" contest of egos), calmly and "eloquently".
"Don't be afraid to stand for what is right." Indeed, but as the Chinese sages observe it is the willow that survives the storm, not the rigid tree: never agree just to avoid being unpopular, but pick your time and your place.

To illustrate just how ludicrous the standard anti-Israel position can be, seven years ago a colleague-friend of over a decade made some anti-Israel remark to me. A highly intelligent woman, a senior law professor by her mid forties after a decade or so of private practise and public service before that. I let the comment pass and months later asked her over lunch "Tell me, did you develop your pro-Palestinian position during your time at university?" She airily replied " Oh no much earlier than that" - to counter the implied suggestion she was simply a victim of student group think. "When and why?" "Oh during that war when Israel attacked its neighbours, watching it on TV. The 1973 war" " Israel was surprise-attacked in the '73 war, you're referring to the 1967 war.' "Okay, it was that one then" "So you developed your views on the Arab-Israeli conflict watching TV as a three year old?" No reply. I didn't hammer my point home, as "res ipsa loquitur": the thing speaks for itself. Strangely, or perhaps not, she occasionally lets a mildly anti-Jewish remark slip too. I will remind her though of her watching TV as a 3 year old gem if she ever mentions Israel again.

Farouk:You are entirely correct: Spain, Cyprus and Greece will be next in Europe, but after Lebanon, which has already lost sovereignty over substantial national territory and its polity. It is rare to meet a Christian Lebanese who does not support Israel and most ferociously so. Ditto the Copts (whose horrible plight in Egypt is totally ignored by the MSM) and the Nigerians from the Christian south. You state "I'm just glad I'm 48 I've lived my life". At 48 nature is finished with you so biologically you have lived your life. If you had children, however, you would think differently because how the West will be in 2040 is important to their welfare.

Augustus quotes Geert Wilders "...I'm certainly not going to make a cheap attack on Israel by howling in the woods with the rest of the wolves. Israel was fully justified in entering the ships to see if they were also carrying weapons" and adds that Israel's actions were authorised by the Oslo Accords. It doesn't get anymore straghtforward does it?

Joe Strummer posts "This [the strange silence of the Western Left about the horrific actions of odious regimes all around the world] tells me and everyone else that Israel is being specifically demonised, marginalised and criminalised" It tells Joe, but the vast majority of the West has its eyes and ears closed.

Adam B. I too noted that Blades excluded the DRC ( assumedly because it didn't fit his evasive and extraordinarly amoral "they're ony nasty to their own people" paradigm, Ta for picking it up. What's the body count in the Congo? Four million dead over ten years and counting. Its ony Ugandans and Rwandans killing, maiming and mass-raping Congolese. They're all black people so who cares - so must the logic go. With Darfur, however, it is the Arab-Muslim northerners carrying out mass-murder on the black southern Christians and animists. So the Sudanese government is "only being nasty to their own" in a very technical sense. Still the world doesn't give a rat's arse about the victims or the perps and Sudan sits on the UN's Human Rights Council which devotes itself to further demonising Israel. Marvellous!

Derek BLADES

Among many fine examples of psychowaffle, Mark Allison, June 8, came up with this classic: “This means that any negative impulse from below the threshold of consciousness must be repressed and denied access to conscious awareness, lest it disturbs the image of purity so strongly valued by the ego-self.”

If it is “below the threshold of consciousness” the person simply doesn’t know about it and the question of denying it “access to conscious awareness” does not arise.

Incidentally, what is an “ego self”? In the sentence above, could you not have said “person” instead. And if so, what do you add by saying “ego self” - other than the false impression that you know something we don’t?

The current wave of criticism of Israeli vis-à-vis Gaza is not confined to the “ideological left” that is Mark Allison’s target. Regardless of their political persuasion, most people of common sense see that the collective punishment of the population of Gaza is not only unjust but self-defeating. International pressure, not least from the Obama administration, must eventually compel Israel to lift the blockade. The longer it goes on the more will Israel’s standing in the West deteriorate and that is something Israel cannot afford.

Derek BLADES

just Louise, June 8th, makes an interesting point in reply to my observation that people tend to object more strongly to governmental brutality when it is directed at people in other countries. She tells me that I "forget the rape of Tibet, Darfur and Western Sahara."

It is quite true that all three "rapes" occasioned widespread condemnation and demonstrations in the West even though the people subject to "rape" were actually citizens of the countries concerned. I suppose the reason is that in all three cases the "rapees" were seen as ethnically distinct from the “rapers”.

Thank you for pointing that out to me.

TomTom

The grass bends the way the wind blows said Confucius. George Orwell simply described the Two Minute Hate against Goldstein....who was as the name implies....

Emmet Sweeney

Derek Blades, your explanation for the lack of demonstrations in the West against the violence of Islamic regimes - namely that these regimes merely brutalize their "own" people, is of course utter nonsense. Since when were the black and Christian peoples of southern Sudan the same people as the Arab and Muslim peoples of northern Sudan? You are clutching at staws and sounding ridiculous.

Thomas

Derek BLADES
June 9th, 2010 7:02am

Just a request for clarification:

The fighting and slaughter in sudan can certainly be characterized as civil war. But you say the invasion and genocide in Tibet were inflicted on citizens of China?

Lizzy

I wonder if that illustration reflects how you must feel sometimes, Melanie. Bless you. You are outstanding.

Lizzy

annabel and Nicole S: Yes, yes and yes - speaking up can work. I had one bull's eye when I answered an acquaintance who said Israel was the terrorist not Hamas. "I don't buy that," I said, and she stopped short and actually asked me who I read. Melanie Phillips and Mark Steyn of course!

Mjolnir de Jersiaise

The Western Liberal-Left (i.e. the political and cultural establishment) have turned away from God and the European Judaeo-Christian heritage; THAT is why they hate Israel so much. The greater The World's rejection of God, the greater becomes its hatred of Israel and the Jews. The Liberal-Left and Islam do indeed share something in common: they're both led by the Devil.

Yochai

BLADES,
If I am not mistaken, Gaza has a border with Egypt.
While Israel provides Power, Water, Oil & Gas to Gaza, Egypt provides nothing.
Why is it that no one presses Egypt to lift the blockade ?
Maybe because the target here is not the blockade but to single out Israel ?
There is limits to the lies we can accept.

Dixon

"TomTom
June 9th, 2010 7:33am
The grass bends the way the wind blows said Confucius. George Orwell simply described the Two Minute Hate against Goldstein....who was as the name implies...."

BUT, in the modern left narrative, they say Osama Bin Laden is Goldstein ("Hah , look, Orwell predicted it, people who believe he did 9/11 are sheeple" ). They also say Al Qaida doesnt exist and in some cases even that Osama Bin Laden doesnt exist, being a fabrication got up with an actor etc.

What are we to do with such "intellectuals".

Yochai

Mr. BLADES,
Of all the people in the world, one people struggles for more than hundred years to get an independent state.
It is the Kurds!
And who denies independence from the Kurds ?
Your freinds: Turkey, Iraq and Iran, the three great democratic nations that the left supports.

Dixon

Derek blades:
"Regardless of their political persuasion, most people of common sense see that the collective punishment of the population of Gaza is not only unjust but self-defeating. International pressure"

Israel provides electricity, water, sewerage and medical trea\tment for Gaza (whose inhabitants receive free treatment in Israeli hospitals, as do those of the West Bank). I would be interested to know how the provision of these services constitutes "collective punishment".

Michael White

Dear Mr Blades,

You state, regarding the Israeli-Gaza 'blockade': "The longer it goes on the more will Israel’s standing in the West deteriorate and that is something Israel cannot afford."

May I ask what your prognosis is for Israel if

(i) the 'blockade' is lifted permanently, and

(ii) Israel takes no further military action against anyone.

Thanks.

Paul

Long Live Israel

Bob, son of Bob

Thucydides – the hate-list I referred to is in people’s heads. I think the true left-wing person, as oppose to a young idealist, is born with a hatred of better people. And they retain this way of thinking even when they are rich and successful, and so they can end up, for example, as an upper class judge whose empathy clearly lies with the criminals. When they make films, they end up making ones like Avatar, always portraying the superior civilisation as the baddies.

The Gazans should remember what happened to the blacks in S.Rhodesia - the concern of the left for their rights suddenly vanished when their country was off the hate-list and set firmly on the path to ruin, and a successful food-exporter country became a place of anarchy and starvation. So the Gazans should be aware that if they get what they ask for the BBC will no longer be following them around with cameras and with tears of concern in their eyes for their rights. They will have all buzzed off like a load of flies to circle around their next target.

Nim Chimpsky – how can anyone believe in a Jewish conspiracy is a mystery to me. If there is one, it is not very successful in its control of the media, as the last time a film was made which was favourable to the Israelis was ‘Raid on Entebbe’ in 1976.
Although I suppose there is also the footage of the hate convoy on YouTube to counteract the BBC’s version.

Adam B “However, I think events may overtake us,” – I think you are right. Events can take a sudden turn. Eg the collapse of Soviet Communism was rapid and unexpected.

Mark Allinson – I think the true left such as the Liberals make up the guilt in order to make everyone else feel guilty, but as the true left themselves have no morals I do not think they experience guilt, only hate. For example, I do not notice any regret over the anarchy and starvation they caused in S.Rhodesia, and to them the removal of inequality which offends them justifies any amount of starvation and anarchy which follows. Hatred of the superior is their motive, and this leads them to hate good people, good schools (grammar school) or a good country.

Bob, son of Bob

Augustus – interesting post about Geert Wilders. Nick Griffin said on QT his was the only British party to fully support Israel’s right to defend itself. How ironic that the party connected with shame and regret to the last holocaust is the only one to stand up against those who want to inflict the second holocaust. And the BBC, with tears in their eyes over the last holocaust, do everything they can to help those who want to carry out the next holocaust.

Thucydides - do you sometimes wonder whether your name choice makes you appear wise, or merely pretentious. Were Socrates and Plato on your shortlist?

Grumpy true Zionist

Two expressions come to mind when I think of my beloved people in Israel:

IF WE DO NOT DO FOR OURSELVES THEN WHO WILL DO FOR US (remembering the six million) and

NEVER AGAIN SHALL MASADA FALL, NEVER AGAIN SHALL WE HAVE OUR BACKS AGAINST THE WALL
(this was the oath sworn by certain units up on the ramparts of Masada)

We ain't going nowhere - not back to europe,africa,america wherever, so stick the idea up where the sun don't shine.

Thomas

Derek BLADES
June 9th, 2010 7:02am

Just one clarification: you say the Tibetans were citizens of China when China invaded and coimmenced its genocide?

Thucydides

Bob sob,

Do you ever think that your posts betray you as a simpleton?
All this stuff about the left hating better people (or just good people now, I see) – they’re the arguments of a child. You didn’t answer what you meant by superior/better, but in the case of civilisations, based on your reading of Avatar, superior seems to mean “with better technology and bigger guns”.

Augustus

Derek BLADES - You appear to reason that the blockade of Gaza, which you include in the
"collective punishment" of its people by Israel, is self-defeating. But do you not realize why it is so important to Hamas to break the three-year-old blockade? Egypt is in the process of building a (not so secret) steel wall about 10km
long which will be sunken into the ground, bombproof, and therefore the smuggling of missiles through that route will be virtually impossible. That wall, purported to be supplied by America btw, will be ready in about a year. So if
Israel ceases the blockade Hamas would be free to import larger missiles with a longer range with which to attack Israel, and cause even more bloodshed and terror much further than just the border areas. That's why the Turks are planning to send a second convoy
called Freedom Flotilla 2, sometime in September, of 20 ships with more than 5,000 activists on board. You say Palestinians are unfairly suffering, but what about the peace-loving Israelis who would suffer if such Iranian rockets were to get through in future? People who don't see why the blockade is essential with Hamas in power can't be quite right in the head.

Osred

Superior, and ever improving technology (not stolen from others) is a good measure of civilisation. As is the publication of all opinions and beliefs. The degree to which women can participate in the above is also a good measure of superiority over others.

phil

Julius O'Malley
June 9th, 2010 4:35am I did try to send a post earlier about your refreshing post but it appears to have headed for the moon .In spite of being left out of your list of contributors:):) I wanted to say its really good to see that at least someone reads the heartfelt outpourings of the passionate people who do post here .It is most discouraging when one labours into the night in an attempt to make this a better world and then one,s work is ignored -ok cue for a jibe ,not from you :)
Just wanted to say thank you and pass on my compliments for using these threads for what I believe are the real purpose .We do not all have to agree with one another but we can all read and acknowledge ,and you did just that .

louis ajzenkopf

Where is it leading Dixon?
My 90 year old mother, a holocaust survivor, has been happily surfing the net since I helped her purchase her first computer two year ago. The other day, she tells me in Yiddish, my true mother tongue, that it seems the world is getting ready to murder jews again. The world has learned nothing from the holocaust.
I couldn't really answer her but only to say that today there is tv and technology that exposes geonocide. She just stared at me blankly as if to say silly boy.

Simeon

Mr Blades - I've been to Israel a couple of times and was shown houses built for the palestinians by Israel, the palestinians refused to live in them as their own respective leaders would not permit them! It is widely known that Palestinians

(Palestine-a word coined by the romans to subjugate and belittle the jews)

would be free to benefit from Israels hospitals and schools if they chose. They do not.

They inherited good infrastructure (buisnesses hotels, shops etc) from the Israelis in Gaza hamas let it all go to ruin. It is a fact that at the beginning of last century that piece of real estate today known as Israel

( Not created in 1948- or invented after the war as many believe but rather they have a legitemate 3000 year claim to the land, also there were always jews living there, even after the dispersion)

was little more than a wasteland! Just read mark twains description. The Jews returned and invested in the land legally bought land and it prospered with Gods blessing. Before this the arab people showed very little interest in the land. FACT. The surrounding arab nations were very hostile to the palestinians, They didn't want them to settle in their respective countries. Israel NEVER pushed them out, rather muslim propaganda insisted upon a hate campaign manipulating the palestinian people in the process. Promising them a land they previously never particularly wanted, in return.

Dixon

Bob Son of Bob:
"Adam B “However, I think events may overtake us,” – I think you are right. Events can take a sudden turn. Eg the collapse of Soviet Communism was rapid and unexpected."

Goes back to my faith in the unpredictability of the future. We all have our expectations blinkered by the narratives we subscribe to. But reality is not so compromised. We may subscribe to the narrative of a nuclear Iran leading to war with Israel. But it might in fact lead elsewhere.

Israel haters must warm to the notion of Iranian regional power, because,whilst overtly denying the prospect, unconsciously, they too subscribe to the same narrative of an imminent nuclear holocaust as those of us who abhorr that prospect. So it takes an act of wild imagination to consider something occurring not according to that narrative.

For example, what if the military build up now underway in the Mid-East and the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a number of countries (Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, et al ) actually leads to a war between Sunni and Shia, Arab and Persian, acting out the regional equivalent of what happenned twice in Europe in the last century. Iran is, after all, expressing a desire for Lebensraum and a return to its past Greater Persian Empire.

If such a thing were apparently about to occurr, the rest of the world would be woken out of its reverie of jew-hatred by the real prospect of its oil supplies being cut off overnight. In the face of imminent societal upheaval and the collapse of Western governments that that would bring, who in the region would they look to to preemptively sort things out? Who alone has both the reason and the ordnance with which to do so? World governments might maintain an apparent posture of dissaproval but in reality they might have to stand aside and let Israel neutralise the threat.

Wild imagining? Well, thirty years ago, the collapse of the Soviet Union was not something that anyone in even their wildest imaginings could have anticipated. It was simply inconceiveable. But it happenned.

The unimaginable does happen, its almost gurranteed to. The only thing we can say with any certainty about the future is that we do not know what it contains. Those who rub their hands with satisfaction at the apparent triumph of their undermining of Israel now may even discover that their efforts eventually play into their enemies hands. We dont know. Nor do they. Time will tell.

Derek BLADES

Yochai tells me that "Israel provides Power, Water, Oil & Gas to Gaza, Egypt provides nothing."

Israel does indeed sell electricity water and fuel to Gaza but it is not true that Egypt provides nothing. Egypt provides unimpeded access to the tunnels.

Dixon tells me that Palestinians have access to Israeli hospitals and Simeon goes one further and says that Palestinians can go to Israeli schools if they wish to.

I know of a few high profile cases of Gazans receiving treatment in Israeli hospitals but to suggest that Gazans can trot over the border at will and get treatment at Israeli hospitals and tuition at Israeli schools is clearly nonsense.

Dixon

...oh and one more unimaginable thing that might even happen, Derek Blades might quit with the sophistry and listen to reason.

kate b

The world is unhinged.

A Turkish lawyer tried to clobber an Israeli cyclist during a race....yet we only hear of a Muslim backlash.....where?

None against the stone throwing in Sweden (v. apt.... stoning)
Torched cars in Sweden/France
Kids sent to be wives in Yemen & for a life of slavery and citizenship for their spouses and hence free healthcare &.&.&.
Underpants bombers, butt bombs, car bombs, suicide bombs, bombs.

Ghadaffi talks of Turkey being the Trojan horse when it is in the EU and relishes the Balkan and Albanian soon to be entries (info courtesy of Jihad Watch).

Prince Charles says we can learn from Islamic teachings re environmental/Green issues, hmmm pictures of lush Islamic lands come to mind...not.

The world is crazy, MPs don't want to answer letters regarding the U.N. and other Islamic issues; they're too scared of the 2.9% of Muslims in the UK - now that says it all.

Adam B.

Blades, you're wrong. There are hundred of cases of Palestinians getting free medical care in Israel (why don't they go to Egypt, the country they're not firing missiles at?) And furthermore, Egypt does indeed block the tunnels, recently starting construction on an underground steel wall to block them. "Unimpeded"? Yet more misinformation, but then the truth has long departed the Israel bashing brigade.

Adam B.

Julius O'Malley, quite right. I think the death toll in DRC has now reached 7 million, in other words, it is so shamefully high, the world has stopped counting. No emergency UN debates about it, as it apparently isn't as important as 9 deaths on a flotilla operated by the Jihadi supporting IHH.

The world is upside down.

Jerry Bolton

I have been seeing this coming for quite a few years. I have not the slightest idea at what the world is mad at Jews for. I know that they are mad, but for the life of me I know not why.

Ralph pattison

Dear Miss Phillips. I wish people would read your book before commenting, I refer to Mark Allinson in particular, or should I call him Kevin Rudd. I admit to having a personal axe to grind.

DJR

One reason anti-Israel ideas is so fashionable is guilt of imperialism from the former European Empires. THey hope to absolve themselves of guilt by attacking Israel

David SI

Derek,
“I know of a few high profile cases of Gazans receiving treatment in Israeli hospitals but to suggest that Gazans can trot over the border at will and get treatment at Israeli hospitals and tuition at Israeli schools is clearly nonsense.”
That really was a buffoonish allegation to make because it can be so easily refuted online in minutes:
1.http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA59/A59_ID4-en.pdf (From the World Health Organisation - Provision of medical care to Palestinian patients in Israeli hospitals. About 30 000 patients from the West Bank have been treated in Israeli hospitals ...);
2.http://www.mererhetoric.com/2009/01/03/israeli-hospitals-treating-wounded-palestinians-plus-hamas-unleashes-another-round-of-missiles-at-israeli-schools-and-hospitals/ (Israel hospitals treating wounded Palestinians)
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56rgfAajU8I (YouTube film discussing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians from Gaza).
Derek, there are many dozens more links like these on Google all of which point to the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli hospitals….. I just took three from the first page. For me though, your comment was noteworthy; Specifically, I know that many choose to emphasize or deemphasize statistics to suit their argument but a categorical assertion – one of many that you constantly make – about something which is so patently untrue, makes your feelings about Israel as clear as they could possibly be.
I think other readers will probably take the same view.

Tommy

Melanie,
I came across this article at "Atlas Shrugs" -- I know it is believable but do you think it is true
http://tinyurl.com/2wxps49
It is certainly in keeping with previous reported incidents

Norman Clemo

Hatred of America is a powerful and a very destructive force in the world today. Some of that hatred is caused by America's mistakes, though that is not true of the rage of Islamic nihilists, a minority that nothing can assuage. For all its faults, American commitment and American sacrifice are essential to the world. As in the twentieth century, so in the twenty-first, only America has both the power and the optimism to defend the international community against what really are forces of darkness.
—WILLIAM SHAWCROSS, 2004

From David Horowitz's book " "Unholy Alliance :Radical Islam and the American Left"

Dixon

David SI referring to Derek Bladdes: "Specifically, I know that many choose to emphasize or deemphasize statistics to suit their argument but a categorical assertion – one of many that you constantly make – about something which is so patently untrue, makes your feelings about Israel as clear as they could possibly be."

Thanks for pointing out how wrong his daft assertion was with the references (I preferred not to waste my time, well aware that anyone at all curious could easily establish the factual accuracy of what you and I had said for themselves via Google) but I dont think its feelings toward Israel that are manifest in his opinions. Frankly, I sense someone who has no feelings on that or any topic. Rather, its just his wededness to what he thinks of as viewpoints that make him somehow superior to the rest of us.

This goes back to the truth of Mark Allinsons post. Though derided by some as "psycho-babble" it is a pretty orthodox analysis of the behaviour of self-styled "intellectuals" , (see Paul Johnsons eponymous book on that topic). Its all very well saying these people express Marxist ideology, but on a motivational level, that does not explain why they do so. Undoubtedly, the explanations are found in personal psychology and dynamics of human behaviour which to denounce as "psycho-babble" is merely to express ignorance of.

Keep up your explanations Mark, clear and precise.

Adam B.

David SI, thanks for the links. Now watch Blades do a disappearing act. He has also claimed in the past that the 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries all lived wonderful lives under Islam and left of their own free will (ignoring dhimmi apartheid, pogroms, and expulsions). Welcome to the Israel bashing parallel universe.

phil

Dixon
June 9th, 2010 10:51pm -some hopes .blades is only interested in providing criticism and lies about Israel ,and may well be being paid for it -he sounds to me like one from a propaganda dept .

Bob, son of Bob

Jerry Bolton – I do not think the hatred of Israel by the left such as the BBC has anything to do with Israel being Jewish. The left hated S.Rhodesia and white S.Africa just as much and that had nothing to do with Jews.
The left simply hate superior countries (including their own) which represent civilisation, and that is their only motive. As for the motive of those arabs who want the second holocaust - they want the ‘honour’ and ‘glory’ of the conquest of the lands which they regard as the symbol of the two world religions which predate theirs. To take part in the second holocaust would make them feel good about themselves and proud.

When you say ‘I know they are mad’ you are right, but you are referring to the bad people who have manoeuvred themselves into positions of power and into the TV media, and this ‘madness’ does not exist in the ignorant masses, who are busy watching Eastenders and thinking about their football team. Just as plastic-boy-Cameron and Hague allow themselves to be manipulated by true-left-Clegg, so the viewers, with a mental age of about ten, allow their view of Israel to be manipulated by the BBC. The masses would soon switch sides and fully support Israel if there was a TV channel showing the other side. And this full support would take place after about the first hour of transmission. The lies of the left transmitted for decades can easily be cancelled out by about one hour of the truth. Eg programmes like Mark Steyn’s videos on YouTube appearing on mainstream TV would do this.

That is why Obama is angry about the free speech of the internet.
Politicians can only carry on with their wicked schemes whilst the left control the TV media and Hollywood, otherwise their wickedness will soon be exposed. Full representative democracy has resulted in the stupid voting for the wicked, but one day the stupid will wake up when they are affected personally. They opened one eye after 9/11 and the London bombings, but then went back to sleep. One day events will waken them up fully.

Simeon

Mr Blades - I was refering to those wishing to call themselves palestinians living in Israel (not gaza) but as we are on the subject of schools do you think its right for the schools in gaza to teach their children the virtues of blowing up jewish children! If you want to know about nonsense ...keep watching the BBC and listening to no doubt a good pal of yours mr galloway!

Simeon

P.s mr Blades i made a mistake earlier...i happened to say that the palestinians dont make use of Israeli hospitals ..ofcourse they do and rightly so! And even as other commentators on this thread mention.. the gazans also use them! They could go to Eygpt but no rather they choose the country they despise so much.

Robin

Allow me to interfere in this interesting conversation to present you the author of an excellent book - "Battling to an end" - René Girard.

gareth

Did George Orwell's 1984 once proclaim "War is Peace" ...how absurd.
This would indeed be a nightmare scenario, where cold blooded killers could be called peace activists.

And yet.....as long as it's Israel being destroyed.....War is Peace!!!!

God help us. Hang on in there Israel.

Eve

Yes, Annabel I do sometimes feel despair as a Jew, an Israeli (and for that matter an intelligent human being) when I read some of the lies and distortions and feel the irrational hatred towards Israel but then I read Melanie Phillips and comments by people like you and it lifts my spirits. Thanks and keep it up -
not for me but for the truth

Julius O'Malley

Phil

There were many posts I didn't mention but with whom I agree: Watttyler, Bob son of Bob. One has to admit that Allinson & Mehran's were pretty special albeit for very different reasons. Annabel merited encouragement because hers was a plaintive call for it.

Israel is appalling at PR. Spokespersons: there was Dore Gold who did a great job and a really sound IDF woman called Eisenberg about 10 years ago, then Daniel Seaman for quite a while, but I think the internecine qualities of Israeli political life get in the way: two Jews, three opinions so the joke goes. A big part of the problem is that Jewish people generally and Israelis specifically are just resigned to an irrational,chronic, deluge of Jew-hatred that they believe attempts to counter it are futile. And who could blame them?

Dixon
Just as the US gave the tacit green light to Croatia to invade/occupy the ethnically Serb "Krajina" back in '92, so too will a covert green light be given to Israel to take out Iran's nuclear facilities in due course. There will be the huffing and puffing of superficial indignation and outrage, just as there was with the Israeli's taking out Saddam's Osirak nuclear facility, but even Obama and Cameron will be quietly pleased the Israeli's will do what they have to do. Self defence is the most inalienable right a nation or a person has. And if one doesn't believe that Iran's nuclear program has Israel specifically and paramountly in its sights, they are living in cloud-cuckoo land. Of course many do, we even see them posting here.

Adam B.

Eve, don't despair! You have more friends than you know.

Anat

There is little I can add that has not been said here. There is a toxic mix of antisemitism, self denial and ignorance in and by the left. Add evil and you get the point.

I could go on about abismal leadership (we are led by fools, cowareds and ignoramous.)

The last time it happend Churchil could only watch it happening and only when catastrophe hit could begin to do something about it at a terrible cost! when the war ended 50 milion have been slaughtered and two continents deatroyed.

It's like groundhog day. But this time much more dangerous.

That there are those like William Shawcross and Pilar Rahola who have the courage to say it gives one a flicker of hope - maybe not enough to illuminate but enough to keep hope that yet again evil will fail.

In the words of Edmund Burke: for evil to triumph all it takes is that good men will do nothing!
Remeber: "they came for the communists. I am not a communist I said nothing and did nothing. They came for the Jews. I am not a Jew I said and did nothing. Then they came for ME!........"

Travis

I sense the dark shadows of the coming times. There is a smell of 1938 -39 in the air.

JOHN ROOSEVELT

Derek Blades: 'One answer is obvious. We don't like "Islamic dictatorships etc; etc.;" but the examples quoted are of rulers being nasty to their own people. The present Israeli government is being nasty to another group of people "

Phew! Thank God you made that distinction. That's all right, then...

Derek, more medication?

JOHN ROOSEVELT

Julius O'Malley: a wonderful post. Music to my ears!!!