Things are clearly heating up in the Middle-East again: a US-Israeli attack on Iran appears to be in the final stages of planning. Israel, which has finally clearly given up any pretense of being a civilized, never mind democratic, state, is now preventing dissident American Jews like Finkelstein or Chomsky from entering Israel. Former DIA and CIA analyst Philip Giraldi is suggesting that Israel may have to strike at Iran before August. Finally, Israeli forces have murdered humanitarian workers during what can be called either an act of piracy or war in international waters against the Freedom Flotilla and Turkey. Turkey and Israel now appear to be on collision course and it is unclear what the outcome of this latest confrontation might be.
Professor John J. Mearsheimer has recently presented an absolutely fascinating talk about the prospects for Israel and Palestine in the mid to long term. In a presentation entitled “The Future of Palestine: Righteous Jews vs. the New Afrikaners” Mearsheimer’s prediction is summed up in this paragraph:
“Contrary to the wishes of the Obama administration and most Americans – to include many American Jews – Israel is not going to allow the Palestinians to have a viable state of their own in Gaza and the West Bank. Regrettably, the two-state solution is now a fantasy. Instead, those territories will be incorporated into a “Greater Israel,” which will be an apartheid state bearing a marked resemblance to white-ruled South Africa. Nevertheless, a Jewish apartheid state is not politically viable over the long term. In the end, it will become a democratic bi-national state, whose politics will be dominated by its Palestinian citizens. In other words, it will cease being a Jewish state, which will mean the end of the Zionist dream”.
Mearsheimer basically believes that Israeli Jews do not want a Two-State solution, and I agree with him on that point. He also believes that Israel will not be able to massacre and expel enough Palestinians and the US Jews will not support an Apartheid state in the long term. These two latter assumptions needs to be looked at in the context of the recent developments in the region,
The humiliating defeat at the hands of about 1000 second-rate Hezbollah fighters (the elite Hezbollah units were kept north of the Litani river) in 2006 left the Israeli deterrence potential in tatters. Worse, the three-week long Gaza massacre of late 2008 – early 2009 did nothing to restore the prestige (?) or credibility of the Israeli military. Neither Iran, nor Hezbollah nor Hamas have any fear of Israel and its ‘massacre potential’.
Lebanon is now clearly “Hezbollah territory” and there is nothing at all Israel can do in the foreseeable future to change this. The massive US-Israeli operation “birth of a new Middle-East” to co-opt Lebanon via its “Cedar Revolution,” the Hariri murder, and the Syrian withdrawal has ended in total failure. Egypt is, for the time being, under the boot of the Mubarak dictatorship, but the regime is clearly threatened by the situation in Gaza as the population of Egypt looks in disgust at how the Egyptian government has turned into a Shin Bet franchise. There is no reason at all to suspect that the Mubarak regime is eternal. In fact, it is probably a safe bet to assume that, eventually, it will be threatened by Islamist forces.
While nobody seriously believes that Iran is developing nuclear weapons right under the nose of the IAEA and its inspectors, Iran is becoming a real regional power and it is doing so while openly defying both Israel and the USA and that is far more dangerous to the US-Israeli Empire than any nuclear weapon.
In Israel itself, a vast majority of Israeli Jews have reached what Gilad Atzmon has called a “point of no return”. 94% of them approved of the Gaza massacre and there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to suspect that they are now having second thoughts. Just one look at the images of the Israeli crowds rejoicing over their “naval victory” over the Freedom Flotilla and it becomes clear that Atzmon is absolutely correct.
Unsurprisingly, Israel’s public image in the world is in tatters and world opinion is finally seeing Israel for what it is: an abominable experiment in imperialism, colonialism, racism and Fascism. The more the Israelis try to “teach the Arabs a lesson” by engaging in all sorts of atrocities, the more reviled that state is.
The exception to this quasi universal disgust with Israel is, of course, the USA, where the Zionists are now in total control of the White House, Congress and the corporate media. It is hard to imagine, but the Obama administration might well turn out to be even more subservient to Israel than the Neocon controlled Bush The Lesser’s administration was: Rahm Emanuel is the “new Dick Cheney” but the latter was at least only a ruthless opportunist, not an ideologue a-la-Trotsky like Emanuel clearly is.
As for US public opinion, it is wholly irrelevant on any foreign policy issues. Each time Americans vote for something, they get the exact opposite and, yet, nobody seriously protests.
How long this control of the USA by Zionist interests will last is anybody’s guess, but with the current economic crisis turning into a catastrophe, time is running out for Israel and some dramatic action needs to be taken by the Israeli leaders to stop the slow-motion weakening and eventual collapse of their “ethnically pure” state. If they want to prevent this outcome, Jewish leaders need to take dramatic action very soon. Mearsheimer believes that two factors will greatly restrict their margin of freedom:
a) the Israelis cannot kill or expel all the Palestinians
b) American Jews will not support a Jewish Apartheid regime in Israel.
I think that both of these assumptions are fundamentally mistaken.
The Gaza massacre has clearly shown that the vast majority of Israeli Jews are willing to commit any number of atrocities in what they would refer to as “self-defense” or in defense of self-perceived “existential interests of the Jewish state of Israel.” Not only that, but I would argue that most Israelis see the extermination of Palestinians as a vital necessity for their own survival. Why? Because of all of the horrors they themselves have inflicted on the native Palestinians since the creation of the “Jewish state.”
This is a well-known phenomenon in history, sociology and politics. The perpetrators of atrocities project themselves onto their victims and then become terrified of possible retaliation. Having watched the IDF bombard Gaza with White Phosphorus from specially organized sighting platforms (with drinks, snacks and binoculars), the Israeli Jews expect absolutely no mercy whatsoever from the Palestinians should the latter ever become free. Just like White Americans were terrified of their Black slaves revolting and killing them, the Israeli Jews have recurrent nightmares about a “second Holocaust” happening at the hands of the native population of Palestine and the rest of the Middle-East.
Israeli Jews have shown no mercy, no humanity, towards the Palestinians whatsoever and they expect none in return (regardless of what Palestinians might or might not feel).
It is true that the IDF has not killed all Gazans yet. Not even close, in fact. But that is not due to any kind of humanity, but only to the fact that this is politically impossible, at least for the time being. But, as I have shown above, the views on Israel are becoming increasingly polarized: the world at large loathes Israel while the US Government literally worships Jews and Israelis irrespective of what the latter are actually doing.
That is what is crucial here – there is probably very little Israel can do at this point in time to ingratiate itself with most of the planet, and there is definitely nothing the Israelis can do to alienate the US elites. So the argument that the Israelis cannot commit genocide in Palestine because of the political costs of such a crime is really not true any more. The arrogance and hubris with which the Israelis have insulted the Turks over and over again clearly shows that they don’t care one bit about what anybody thinks. As long as they have the USA as a protector, the Israelis think they can afford to ignore the rest of mankind.
To simply assume that the Israelis are not capable of a Rwandan-style genocide in Palestine is extremely naive, in particular if a major massacre of Palestinians is committed concurrently with a war against Iran, when all the corporate media will be watching the events in Iran and when the Israeli propaganda machine will have no problem justifying a military operation to kill and/or expel most, if not all, Palestinians under the heading of “self-defense” and “preventing another Holocaust.”
What about an overtly Apartheid-like regime in Israel. Would US Jews oppose it?
Contrary to the delusions of visceral Jew-haters, American Jews are a very diverse lot. It is enough to read all the “oy veh’s!” about intermarriage in US Jewish magazines and websites to realize that the so-called Jewish community is not nearly as monolithic as it often appears to be. Still, there is a powerful tribal reflex at work in most American Jews, including non-religious ones, and the binary world view of “us and them” has left a deep mark on most American Jews. Such a view is carefully and systematically maintained by an endless stream of discussions and in the media about the “Holocaust” and “anti-Semitism”. Add to this all the propaganda about terrorism, and you get a Jewish populace that is mentally “circling the wagons”.
Of course – some American Jews see straight through that nonsense, but what happens with them next is crucial to our argument: they break off their ties with the “psychological shtetl” of Jewish tribalism and re-join the rest of mankind. They do so either on their own initiative, or because they are firmly shown to the door. Tellingly, over 7’000+ of them have already been listed on the so called SHIT list (Self-Hating and Israel-Threatening list of Jews); one can, of course, dismiss such a list as the action of loonies, which it is, but the mindset is clear – Jews critical of Israel or Zionism are traitors who need to be ostracized and expelled from the tribe.
This is thing which Mearsheimer is missing: “J Street” notwithstanding, the more American Jews emancipates themselves from the oppressive confines of their “mental shtetl” of Jewish tribalism, the less influence they will have over other American Jews. The result of this constant process of “purification” is truly frightening: the hate of the other, the paranoid fear of a 2nd Holocaust, the active support for any and all atrocities committed in the name of Israel – all of these have now become core defining elements of the US Jewish ethos. Thus we are faced with a great paradox: for all their superficial differences, US and Israeli Jews are very much alike in one crucial aspect: they suffer from unmistakable signs of sociopathic/antisocial personality disorder.
The term sociopath (or psychopath) is mostly used as an insult, yet it has a precise medical meaning. Here is the list of the traits exhibited by psychopaths of the “aggressive narcissist” type according to the famous Hare Psychopathy Checklist:
1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow affect
7. Callous/lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Is that not an excellent description of the Israeli ethos?
It goes without saying that this list was developed to diagnose individuals, not social or cultural groups, and the comparison can only go so far. Still, does that list not strike you as a perfect description of the Israeli mindset? Does it not also fit the US Zionists like a glove?
Still not convinced?
Check out this list of the traits of a dissocial personality disorder according to the World Health Organization:
1. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
2. Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.
3. Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships.
4. Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.
5. Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
6. Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.
7. Persistent irritability.
(Note that according to the WHO, it takes only three such traits to be diagnosed as being dissocial).
It really does not matter whether we refer to it as sociopathy, psychopathy or dissocial personality disorder. What is crucial here is to understand that collectively, if not individually, the vast majority of Israeli and American Jews clearly display unmistakable signs of a what we could call a “collective personality disorder” and that it would be therefore extremely naive to expect them to act in in accordance with what sane people would consider a rational manner.
As soon as we factor in the fact that a large majority of Israeli and American Jews display all the signs of well developed personality disorder we can make sense of behavior which otherwise would seem just bizarre, criminal or self-defeating. Take for example the fact that 94% of Israeli Jews approved of the way the Gaza massacre was executed. That is a clear example of the kind of “lack of empathy” which sociopaths or dissocial individuals display. Or take the systematic violation of all norms of international law. Is that not a case of a “gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules and obligations”. And does the famous statement of Rabbi Yaacov Perrin “”One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail” not qualify as an extreme example of a “grandiose sense of self-worth?” Norman Finkelstein is quite correct when he says that Israel is a “lunatic state”. That is quite literally true.
If we now look again at Mearsheimer’s two assumptions (#1: Israelis cannot kill or expel all the Palestinians and #2: American Jews will not support a Jewish Apartheid regime in Israel) we can clearly see how deeply flawed they are. While “normal” people are unlikely to engage in mass murder or support racist repression, people with a “aggressive narcissist” disorder run amok are, in fact, very likely to support both.
What this means for the Middle-East is that Israel cannot be expected to act as a “rational actor”. No matter what the Palestinians will say or do, the Israelis will view them as an existential threat. No matter what Iran does, Israel will also view it as an existential threat.
To the Israelis the notion “one man one vote”, when applied to both Jews and Palestinians, does not mean just the loss of their “identity”, but a “2nd Holocaust”, something which they will accept under no circumstances. In their paranoid mind, to demand democracy for non-Jews in Israel is nothing less than demanding a collective suicide and that they will oppose by all, and I mean all, means.
Remember, Israeli Jews have shown no humanity at all to the Palestinians, and they are therefore quite certain that should the Palestinians ever be allowed to rule over them, even by casting an election ballot, that will result in a “2nd Holocaust”.
Likewise, the very idea that Iran might one day, even in the distant future, acquire a nuclear weapon, even a single one, also immediately conjures images of a “2nd Holocaust” in the Israeli collective mind. As for the argument that even if Iran acquired one or many nuclear devices and delivery vehicles, it would never dare to use them against Israel since Israel has several hundered such nuclear systems, and since the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised that the USA would “obliterate Iran” if it attacked Israel (nevermind that the USA has no treaty of any kind with Israel), this argument is worthless for the Israelis. First, because they expect the “Mullahs” of being just as crazy as they are, and second, because in their eyes a Jewish life has an almost infinite value whereas the life of a non-Jew is essentially worthless (that is what Rabbinical Judaism, that creation of the sect of the Pharisees, teaches in numerous passages of the Talmud). Mutual assured destruction just does not make sense if you assume that your opponent is utterly insane and if you believe that your opponent’s life is worthless too.
Bottom line: the Israelis will attempt to either kill or expel the vast majority of Palestinians currently living in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper and they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against any state or force which would threaten their ability to do so.
The case of American Jews is somewhat different. Except for a very few truly crazy characters, most of them realize that they are under no personal threat whatsoever, nor is their community in the USA. The key to understanding the outlook of American Jews is to realize a simple thing: neither Judaism, nor Zionism is really central to their identity. Most American Jews are either secular or very superficially religious: only 16% attend synagogue at least once a month, only 1/6th of them maintain a kosher diet, and even a short visit to pretty much any US Jewish website will convince you that “intermarriage” and “apostasy” are major issues in the Jewish community. Yet, 80% of US Jews also claim a “strong connection” to Judaism. What does this mean? If it’s not Judaism as a religion, and if it is not Zionism (or they would be living in Israel), then what is left?
What is left is what the Israeli investigative journalist Shraga Elam calls the “Holocaust Religion”, which Gilad Atzmon describes in the following manner:
‘The Holocaust’ is far more than historical narrative, it indeed contains most of the essential religious elements: it has its priests (Simon Wiesenthal, Elie Wiesel, Deborah Lipstadt, etc.) and prophets (Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and those who warn about the Iranian Judeocide to come). It has its commandments and dogmas (‘never again’, ‘six million’, etc.). It has its rituals (memorial days, Pilgrimage to Auschwitz etc.). It establishes an esoteric symbolic order (kapo, gas chambers, chimneys, dust, Musselmann, etc.). It has its shrines and temples (Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum and now the UN). If this is not enough, the Holocaust religion is also maintained by a massive economic network and global financial infrastructures (Holocaust industry a la Norman Finkelstein). Most interestingly, the Holocaust religion is coherent enough to define the new ‘antichrists’ (the Deniers) and it is powerful enough to persecute them (Holocaust denial laws).
At the center of this religion’s dogmatic theology is the truly terrifying notion that each “goy” is a potential Himmler and that the only thing which can prevent an otherwise almost inevitable “2nd Holocaust” are only two things: eternal Jewish vigilance and Jewish power.
This Holocaust religion is what is really at the core of identity of US Jews and its power is such that it can elicit the most contradictory behavior from otherwise very sane American Jews. A perfect example of the latter is the case of the only socialist in Congress, Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who has had a long track of rather progressive views, but who actually voted for a resolution supporting the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006. This resolution actually included the following words:
“…recognizes Israel’s longstanding commitment to minimizing civilian loss and welcomes Israel’s continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties.“
How does a putative “socialist” suddenly find a way to praise “ Israel’s longstanding commitment to minimizing civilian loss”?! The fear of AIPAC cannot explain that (Sanders openly opposed the war on Iraq). Nor is Sanders known to be a religious Jew, or a big supporter of Zionism. And yet, on this crucial vote, he voted against everything he supposedly stands for. Amazing, no?
In a tragic sense, the case of Sander is emblematic of most US Jews. Yes, most of them are liberals (at least in the US meaning of the word), and most of them care about human and civil rights. But when it comes to Israel, they are either supporters or, at best, they remain strangely silent, looking away from what is happening there.
It is quite true that the mass murder in Lebanon in 2006, followed by the mass murder in Gaza in 2008-2009, the current blockade of Gaza and the daily systematic and wholesale violation of basic human rights in occupied Palestine are having an impact on many American Jews1. However, as I mentioned earlier, most of them would rather leave than “fight from within” and face the hateful mob and its accusations of being a “moser”, a “meshumad” or their modern and secular equivalent: a “self-hating Jew”. At a time when a Zionist with stellar credentials like Richard Goldstone can be called an “anti-Semite” by no less than an Israeli Minister, who would want to speak up against Zionist crimes? Sure, courageous dissidents like Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Philip Weiss or Max Blumenthal will stand up and denounce the likes of Dershowitz or Lieberman, but most will just quietly leave in disgust.
For most US Jews the unconditional support for Israel and its policies is not a political choice, it is an existential issue, almost a soteriological one: be it because Israeli Jews need to be saved from the evil Arabs and Muslims worldwide, or because Israel needs to be preserved as a “Jewish state” in case the local goyim bare their fangs and re-start the gas chambers – the support for Israel is not something which US Jews are ever going to seriously reconsider.
Paradoxically, the fact that Israel has become a pariah state and that Zionism is, yet again, seen as a violent and ugly form or racism (UN resolutions abrogating each other notwithstanding), makes diaspora Jews not less, but even more pro-Israeli. They see the worldwide opposition to Israeli polices and Zionist ideas as a clear sign of a resurgent “new anti-Semitism”. Just like in Bertold Brecht’s nightmares, most Jews sincerely believe that “”The belly is still fertile that gave birth to the vile beast“2 – and no amount of evidence to the contrary will change that. Since Israel has no friends (well, besides the USA, of course, and some politicians in Europe), then who will help it?
Botton line: hearing the distant voice of Hillel the Elder saying “If I am not for myself, who will be? And when I am for myself, what am ‘I’? And if not now, when?” most diaspora Jews will also “circle the wagon” and defend Israel no matter what, quite literally.
The situation for Israel is deteriorating very rapidly: Israel is losing on all fronts simultaneously: military, political, demographic, public image, social and economic – all the signs of a soon-to-come Götterdämmerung (“Teufeldämmerung” ?) are at hand and Ahmadinejad is absolutely correct when he says that Israel “is aware that it has reached the end of the line and will soon fade away from the earth”.
Take for example the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions): while its economic impact on Israel is negligible, its public-relations effect is huge: by raising the comparison between Israel and South African Apartheid, the BDS movement is achieving the delegitimization of the “Jewish state” which the Zionists greatly fear. Why? Because the real effect of the BDS movement is to make the unconditional support for Israel very costly for European and US politicians. Not now, not yet – but in the long run, support for Israel will become as socially unacceptable as the support for Apartheid South Africa.
With the current ruling elites in Europe and the USA, Israel is quite safe since these elites will always put their subservience to Israel above the will of their peoples. So for the immediate and near future, this diffuse danger will not materialize into a specific threat. But combined with a severe economic crisis, this frustration might just combine with a general alienation from the ruling elites and result in an eventual overthrow of the Zionist ruling elite. That is the real danger: not the elites turning away from their unconditional support for Israel, but these elites being overthrown in the course of a collapse of the socio-political system currently in power. In other words, not a change in government – which happens in the West on a regular basis, but a change in regime – something which has never happened in the history of the United States.
This is one of the reasons why the ruling elite in the USA is so terrified of the 9/11 Truth movement. If the general public would somehow truly become aware of the fact that 9/11 was, indeed an “inside job” this would delegitimize not only the current government or the Administration of George Bush Jr., but the entire structure of power. And once that regime crumbles, the blowback against the decades of abuse, exploitation and deception of the American people by the Zionists will be truly massive. This is the “big fear” behind all the curtailment of civil rights in the post 9/11 USA.
The regimes in Israel and the USA have gone from allies to accomplices and they are locked together into a “do or die” dynamic in which both regimes need to either maintain total control over as much of our planet as possible or perish. The irony, of course, is that this misguided “survival strategy” puts these two regimes or, should I say, this single bi-national regime, on a collision course with the rest of the planet. Bush’s idiotic slogan about “you are either with us or against us” is now becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy and it appears that nobody, besides a small plutocratic elite, is with the USA and Israel.
Barring some totally unforeseen development, we should expect that neither Israel nor the USA will in any way soften or otherwise alter their course. Israel will pursue a mix of two fundamental policies: external aggression and internal slow-motion genocide against the Palestinians. At the same time, both the USA and Israel will become weaker and weaker, not only in military terms, but also in political terms. This will lead them into a desperate attempt to “restore order” and go on the offensive against their enemies.
An attack against Iran is therefore inevitable. As is the use of nuclear weapons by Israel at some point in time. And even though both of these lunacies will fail to accomplish their stated objectives, both of them are inevitable simply because these are all the cards left in the US-Israeli Empire’s hands.
On the Palestinians side the only viable strategy is extremely simple: the Palestinians need to return to the “three no’s” of the 1967 Khartoum Resolution: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it.” Furthermore, at least the third of the three no’s should be extended to the USA itself (what is the point of “negotiating” with Rahm Emanuel and his minions?).
The Palestinians simply have no other option. Peace with those who see your extermination as a vital necessity and who view your very existence as an “existential threat” is pointless. “Recognizing Israel” simply means agreeing to the genocide of Palestinians. And, needless to say, there is absolutely nothing to negotiate about. Sadly, the situation in the Middle-East is one example of something exceedingly rare in international relations: a real zero-sum game in which any gain by one side entails a loss for the other side. In such a situation there is only one possible outcome: a complete and comprehensive victory by one side over the other.
On one side, we have the last openly racist state on the planet which has also succeeded in taking all the key power centers of a superpower like the USA and on the other – we have the rest of the planet and the very notions of decency, humanity, democracy, freedom, truth, justice and peace. In a deep sense, we are all Palestinians and we must globalize the Intifada. And, of course, we will prevail simply because what Israel stands for is inherently inhuman and evil and nothing can be truly built on evil. The Soviet Union had far more nuclear weapons than Israel will ever have, yet it was defeated by the combined action of innumerable factors which all contributed to its downfall. The same thing will happen to the “Jewish state of Israel”. One need not be steeped in the Three Laws of Dialectics to realize how unstable the current situation is: the writing is on the wall for Israel as a “Jewish state” with all that this abominable concept entails. Just like all the other abominable and anti-human ideologies which caused the deaths of millions of people in the 20th century, Zionism will eventually defeats itself and cause the collapse of the nations which embraced it.
The Saker
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1 Hardcore Jew-haters and assorted racists can deny that ad nauseam, but Jews are humans “just like us”: they have the same basic conscience (what the Church Fathers called the “Law of the Heart”), the same inner sense of right and wrong, and to assume otherwise is mimicking the worst racism of the Pharisees, Talmudists and Kabbalists who believe that God had created “real humans” and “apparent humans”. From a Christian perspective, to deny the common humanity of all races (assuming there is such a thing as a ‘race’, which I personally doubt very much) is a modern version of the Iconoclast heresy: a denial of the image of God in all humans (Christianity see all humans as living icons in image, but not in likeness. [I apologize for this digression which I include solely for the benefit of those who daydream about some “Western Christian civilization” while they themselves subscribe to racist views which are nothing short of a grievous heresy from a traditional Christian point of view].
2“Der Bauch, aus dem das Boese kroch, ist fruchtbar noch”
Fascinating analysis, VS.
Kevin MacDonald is no geostrategist, but he sees American Jewry in similar terms. You may be interested in his assessment:
Kevin MacDonald: Flotilla fallout
“Israel’s supporters in the US never tire of playing the role of innocent victim. They will continue to do so, as indicated by the statements of AIPAC and the ADL. But such rhetoric is so far out of touch with reality that at some point politically aware Americans must realize that US support for Israel is based on nothing more than Jewish power with no moral justification at all. That doesn’t mean that the lobby will lose its power, but at least we will all know that it’s about power, and can’t be intellectually justified.
In turn, that may well help Americans to see Jews in a more realistic light–not as morally blameless victims, but as cynical and ruthlessly self-interested ethnic actors . The egregious double standard in which Jews profess to be dedicated to democracy, ethnic tolerance and human rights in the US while supporting a vicious ethnonationalism in Israel will be more and more difficult to hide.”
Excellent article, Saker. Your article is strongly critical of Israel, and I can only agree with you. But I also congratulate you for distancing from the Jewish haters and antisemites. Israeli supporters want to show that everyone who criticize their state are antisemite, and this is also one of their strongest “arguments”, that anyyone who stands against Israel is an antisemite who wants to reopen the gas chambers.
Zerkes, regarding your comment from the other thread, do you think Erdogan is using the crisis with Israel to outmaneuver the military and the security establishment? I mean put them in a position where they have to side either with their own government and public or side with Israel?
Sorry for the off topic comment.
Hi V:
I watched the entire Mearsheimer analysis back when you originally posted it, and even wrote a critical analysis of it which somehow got lost in the blogger.com system since it never appeared as a comment… Anyway, I think your analysis is missing one crucial factor: There appears to be a growing contingent of what we may call “post-zionists”. These are folks who see what we may call zionism in the narrow sense as more and more of an anachronism that is getting in the way of 21st century imperialism and capitalism. The fact that Mearsheimer and other voices are even allowed a mainstream platform from which to speak — that would have been unthinkable 20 or so years ago — is one sign of this.
In fact, I would not be surpised if the post-zionists in the power structure decided to create a scenario to let Israel die and create a drama out of it. Israel is getting in the way of making money; Israel is getting in the way of American power; and, ironically, that includes Zionist power! Here, we are using ‘zionism’ in the broad sense, as opposed to the narrow sense. The global aims of Zionism in the broad sense are far bigger than what a few extremist apocalyptic settlers have in mind.
Put another way: Isreal is now getting in the way of Zionism! The Jews have a homeland: It’s called the United States of America. America is the world’s foremost power and instrument for dominating resources and amassing wealth. Isreal has outlived its usefulness as far as that is concerned. No one will state this directly of course, but look at all the criticism of Israel coming from post-zionists in the American mainstream.
I don’t go as far as Chomsky in suggesting that Isreal is a mere tool of American empire; nor do I think that Isreal/narrow-sense zionism controls everything in the US. It’s a true symbiotic and dialectical relationship. Presently, Zionism in the broad sense has become so meshed with American power that it no longer needs its original host, Palestine.
In any case, regardless of what the narrow-minded crackpots that rule Israel decide, the consequences for American/Zionist power and prestige are far too great to allow Isreal to massacre the Palestinians a la Rwanda. The American military has already subtly warned Israel about overreaching.
Today, in the internet and blogger age, the world can walk and chew gum at the same time. Headlines of war will not distract from headlines of ethnic cleansing and massacre. Isreal may still dominate the American political space, but it no longer has a monopoly on the media space. And post-zionism as a part of the imperialist political space is only growing, though it still has a way to go and it’s too early to say if that trend will be successfull. It is, however, a strong projection of Zionism in the broad sense.
So our analyses need to keep up with the shift that Zionism is undergoing. Consider the global possibilities and opportunities of a zionism that no longer has Israel to drag it down. Whether the narrow-sense zionists can stop this from happening remains very much an open question.
The anlysis in my previous comment applies to the apartheid state reaction as well:
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An attack against Iran is therefore inevitable. As is the use of nuclear weapons by Israel at some point in time. And even though both of these lunacies will fail to accomplish their stated objectives, both of them are inevitable simply because these are all the cards left in the US-Israeli Empire’s hands.
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There is another card, a wild card: Let Israel hang itself, then create a drama
out of the Third Diaspora. Don’t underestimate just how much the oppressed peoples of the world will rush to worship America once the Israel problem is solved. Now that it has become symbiotically united with America, Zionism in the broad and long-term sense wins BIG if Israel disappears. It is time to start analyzing this point more and to stay ahead of the game, so to speak.
Here is an example of post-zionist thinking. It’s way more subtle than it appears at first. Rosenberg, an important Zionist, is almost preparing the reader for a world without Isreal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/are-israels-friends-tryin_b_595896.html
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I do not mean to slight the Palestinians by ignoring their plight. But this column is not about them. Besides, thanks to Israeli policies, one can have no doubt that they will be fine in the end. It is Israel, not the Palestinians, that is going down the tubes. All the Palestinians have to do is cover their heads, stay away from Israeli soldiers, and watch Israel unravel. It is Israel that I’m worried about today. At this rate, it will not survive. And its so-called friends will be responsible. Take a bow.
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I think this is all a game in the service of the broader Zionist agenda; Rosenberg is no Chomsky. But don’t be surprised as the upcoming possible fall of Isreal is skillfully turned to Zionism’s long-term advantage.
Saker,
You speak of an Israeli nuclear attack on Iran. How can a nonnuclear state withstand a nuclear attack? And yet, I do not get the impression that Iran’s leadership is worried in the slightest. Any thoughts on that?
I realize this is a tad unrelated, but you might be interested in reading the latest Zionist hasbara:
Breaking: 40 of the “Peace Activists” on Gaza Flotilla Are Al-Qaeda
“The IDF website reported:
In a special meeting of the Security Cabinet it was disclosed that a group of 40 people on board the Mavi Marmara with no identification papers belong to Al Qaeda.”
I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read this.
@ ishamid: whatever the plans for the future of the current power elites in the USA, I do not believe that the USA can survive as a superpower for much longer. The only thing the USA could do to save itself would cut off the weight which is currently making it sink: Israel. And considering the iron grip the Zionists have upon the USA, that just ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. The Zionists are a parasite which will kill its host. It’s crazy, but its in their nature.
@Lysander: How can a nonnuclear state withstand a nuclear attack?
Just like Lebanon survived the 2006 war. Nuclear weapons are not inherently different from any other weapons, at least not from a military/techincal point of view. They yield a bigger explosion, and in some cases, they can create radioactive fallout. But even rain can do a lot to wash that of. If literally thousands of weapons are used, then, of course, we enter into the real of lunacy, but if only 10-20 are used, then it’s really not that different from any other bombing. The one realm where nukes are dramatically different is the POLICIAL aspect. If the Israelis shoot their nukes at Iran, Iran will survive these strikes. But the political repercussions for Israel will be truly apocalyptic as once that last “ultimate weapon” is used, the Jews will have nothing left to scare the Middle-East with. More than anything, nuclear weapons are a liability, really. They are almost impossible to use politically, they are very high-value targets, and their use makes you into an instant pariah. Trust me, the Israeli nukes are vastly over-rated. Their main function is psychological, both the the Israelis themselves who can think of them and mantrically repeat “never again, never again, never again” and for the rest of the Middle-East whom they are suppose to terrify.
@Nationalist: yeah – next they are gonna tell us that Osama Bin-Laden was commanding these ships from a cave in Afghanistan, and that all the passengers were child-pornographers and notorious anti-Semites. LOL!
Lysander, I have a feeling you are correct on your guess. Pushing the military away from Israel would mean it’s one step closer to be owned by the Gulen movement. Having said this, I also need to state that Erdogan’s party (AK) is not that uniform. Earlier today there was a fight between AK Party and the opposition parties because the opposition parties drafted a letter which condemns Israel’s attack and calls for reduction or suspension of economic and military ties with Israel. AK Party proposed removal of that very statement from the note before it would sign. The opposition parties stood their grounds and after a quarrel of a few hours, AK Party had to give in a sign the note.
We shall see what happens next.
This may sound a little bit off to some of you but one thing you must keep in mind is that Erdogan’s party has full support of the US. It may very well be that the US is actually having a proxy wrestle with Israel through Turkey.
Zerkes
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@ ishamid: whatever the plans for the future of the current power elites in the USA, I do not believe that the USA can survive as a superpower for much longer. The only thing the USA could do to save itself would cut off the weight which is currently making it sink: Israel. And considering the iron grip the Zionists have upon the USA, that just ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. The Zionists are a parasite which will kill its host. It’s crazy, but its in their nature.
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Hmm… I think you missed the point of my analysis completely :-) Zionism is undergoing the pangs of a paradigm shift, one that may very well doom old-fashioned zionism in the narrow settler sense. Even in the broad sense Zionism is a parasite, but there is a chance that it may jettison its old Palestinian host. That is the part of what’s going on behind the scenes of American and Israeli zionism today. It may very well be that narrow zionism will win the short-term battle, but recognizing the shifting gears of the broader zionist movement is something that merits serious discussion.
Edward Peck was on MSNBC today… the sympathetic coverage he received is yet another example of post-zionism/broad-zionism at work. There is a real battle going on within zionism itself, and the outcome is yet to be decided…
@ishamid:Hmm… I think you missed the point of my analysis completely :-)
That may well be the case, although I see another possible explanation: maybe I just don’t agree with it ;-)
Ishamid, could you explain to me what “Zionism in a broad sense” means? I don’t get it. “Narrow-sense Zionism” is the only one I know, i.e., that the Jews own Palestine, that they have some kind of right (historical or divine, depending on the interpretation) to that land, and this is the only Zionism I know. I can’t figure what Zionism would be without Palestine/Israel.
Zerkes
“This may sound a little bit off to some of you but one thing you must keep in mind is that Erdogan’s party has full support of the US. It may very well be that the US is actually having a proxy wrestle with Israel through Turkey.”
Wow! I had not thought of that at all. On thinking on it, it is plausible. Many have written about Israel being an actual liability to US strategic and imperial interests (and it certainly is.) And yet, due to the strength of the lobby, there is nothing these realists can do about it here. Enter Turkey…makes sense, but I have to think it through.
Hi Carlo,
Before Palestine there was Uganda and other candidates for the Zionist project. The spirit of Zionism is not as wedded to Palestine as many think. It just so happened that Palestine provided the best vehicle at the time for the implementation of the project. In the course of the struggle to implement that project, the global order of the world moved beyond nationalism: corporations are becoming bigger than and replacing nations. And European Jewry has found a safe and secure homeland in the US where it enjoys equality, freedom and opportunity to the fullest in every sphere of life. Israel is becoming an anachronism and an obstacle in the way of American corporate, multinational power. Since Zionism is now so emeshed with that, American power is roughly
equivalent to Zionist power; the Jews are safe and sound in the US, so who needs Israel? The apocalyptic nuts in Palestine are uterly inimical to the original secular vision of the founders of zionism as well; carbetbaggers — you might say — riding on the coattails of a vision Orthodox Jewry originally villified — and a minority of the Orthodox still do so, God bless ’em’.
Put simply: Zionism in the broad sense is a _secular_ movement to ensure the security of the Jewish people and to dominate a significant portion of the resources and wealth of the world at large for that people. German and Italian Fascism were largely the same in spirit, but landlocked within their respective geography-based cultures. Because Jewry possesses no natural “homeland” so to speak, zionism must embed itself within another entity. Hence the unnatural state of Israel on the most convenient vehicle of the time, Palestine. But make no mistake: Zionist ideology in spirit is bigger than Palestine. The “religious” nuts in Israel don’t get this, of course.
Ironically, European Jewry has much more naturally embedded itself within the US than in Israel, and Israel is becoming an anachronism. Thus it is no accident that more and more of American Jewry are turning against it. NOT the principled anti-zionists like Chomsky and Finklestein, but committed zionists. Some of these zionist power elites in the US are also seeing that Israel is becoming an anachronism. This is becoming more obvious with each passing year. With Israel out of the way, the path to domination of resources through the arms of American power becomes that much more feasible.
I’m not predicting definitely that this broad-sense zionism will indeed win out in the inter-zionist struggle that is so clearly going on right now, only that it is a possible outcome to watch out for. But the fact that there IS an inter-zionist debate going on seems undeniable, and I’m a bit surprised that V did not catch it first ;-)
Israel may indeed — not definitely, but possibly — pass away within another
generation; broad-sense zionists will help to make it happen if it does,
and take full advantage of its passing.
@V
Of course it may be the case that you strongly disagree with me; I just did not see anything in your disagreement that indicated that you understood where I was coming from ;-)
I have to say this is the best analysis I have read concerning the Israeli/Jewish psych……
Saker,
you make some good points here but I think you are completely off the rails on at least 3 points:
1. Troofers. These people are loons. You discredit yourself by giving them any credence. Accept the reality: saudi suicide operatives performed the operation.
2. Iran attack. Seymour Hersh said that if the Iraq attack went well, it would have been Syria and then Iran.
But the Iraq attacked failed. They cant attack Iran. They (US/Israel) are beaten and they know it.
3. Two-state solution. It’s become extremely popular to abandon this, but it’s still essentially the only hope available.
The Palestinians are committed to two-state. As Avnery says, they would sign in an instant if it was offered. What it needs is US/Israel to agree to it.
@Bernard: Troofers. These people are loons. You discredit yourself by giving them any credence
But Bernard, I am a absolutely convinced and committed “truther” myself :-) I guess I will have to live with the “discredit” of being a “loon” myself, but I will not foresake my views because somebody suggests that they would go well with a tinfoil hat.
Besides, I like being off the rails. Rails are pre-drawn tracks from which one must not, can not, deviate. I much rather make my own tracks as I go, using my own judgement and conscience. And if that causes the “on the rails” people to deride me – then so be it :-)
Kind regards,
The Saker
Turkish police killed another kid. A 14 year old boy was run over by an armored police vehicle and killed.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=230
Three politicians were each sentenced to 6 months in prison because they spoke in Kurdish during elections propaganda back in 2009.
An yesterday, the military cobra choppers were bombing a park in middle of the city in Tunceli (Dersim) under the pretext of bombing PKK guerrillas.
These didn’t happen in Israel, this is Turkey.
Zerkes
Turkish police killed another kid. A 14 year old boy was run over by an armored police vehicle and killed.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=230
Three politicians were each sentenced to 6 months in prison because they spoke in Kurdish during elections propaganda back in 2009.
An yesterday, the military cobra choppers were bombing a park in middle of the city in Tunceli (Dersim) under the pretext of bombing PKK guerrillas.
These didn’t happen in Israel, this is Turkey.
Zerkes
Thanks, Zerkes. Given our anger at the US/Israeli empire, we tend to forget or overlook the faults of its opponents. But a possible advantage of Turkey’s change if policy regarding Israel (assuming there is a real change) is that the pro-Israel forces will now try to highlight each and every Turkish misdeed. Before, they were happy to bury them on Turkey’s behalf.
Another question, Zerkes. I heard somwhere that two of the ten people murdered on the flotilla were Kurdish. Do you know if that is true?
These didn’t happen in Israel, this is Turkey.
Zerkes
I am just curious, does this “didn’t happen in Israel” make what Israel did to the Flotilla okay with you Zerkes?
@Lysander, Turkey and change? Perhaps. We can only hope but I doubt it. Let’s just say I will believe it when I see it.
Yes, two of the dead were Kurdish and in fact the person leading the IHH effort, a Turkish guy, said it himself that Kurds were the most courageous and “fought” the hardest against the Israeli soldiers boarding the ship (look at today’s Taraf but it’s in Turkish).
Anonymous@10:06
Yes, the natural languages are ambiguous by their very nature and yes I am not the best with words our there but I think the best thing to do is to let you use your brain and answer that question yourself. If I have to grant an answer that question, well… That means we have a problem ;-)
Serkeftin,
Zerkes
@anonymous10:16PM: I am just curious, does this “didn’t happen in Israel” make what Israel did to the Flotilla okay with you Zerkes?
Zerkes has been posting here for quite a while now and he never indicated that he was indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians. What bothers him is, I think, the double standards in which the entire world is up in arms each time the Israelis butcher the Palestinians but nobody cares when the Turks butcher the Kurds. I think that he has got a point here. When is the last time we saw *ANY* news about Kurdistan or the conflict there?
Kind regards,
The Saker
@ The Saker’s June 4, 2010 4:30 PM posting:
Thanks for clarifying Saker. Definitely, even amongst the Muslims, there are double standards involved. Though Islamically, double standards are not acceptable.