Smoking Socks Award

The Smoking Socks award is awarded to a letter writer in a South African paper whose funky smelling socks have induced him/her into a bout of prejudiced stupidity.

And once again the winner is the South African Minister of Anti-Zionism Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils.

Kasrils has written a letter to the Mail & Guardian in response to a column by Joel Pollack which replied to the Kasrils column of the previous week entitled "The Myths of Zionism." 

A while ago I followed another incident where Kasrils also needed to get the last word in. It's always the same thing with Ronnie. He writes an anti-Zionist tirade which is featured in an opinion piece. Supporters of Israel then respond (typically via letters). Ronnie then replies with a letter of his own, ensuring that he gets the first and last words.

Zionist myths rooted in racism Joel Pollak, in “More Palestinian than the Palestinians” (February 3), is correct that every nation has its own myths. But Zionist myth, like apartheid myth, is particularly exclusivist and racist, which is why it requires the scrutiny it has received. Rabbi David Hoffman (Letters, February 3) and Pollak predictably espouse the mythology that my article identifies. Hoffman equates objections to Zionism and Israel as “invariably containing anti-Semitic nuance”, and claims I have fallen into it. The smear is typical of the Zionist movement’s attempts to rubbish any objective criticism of Israel’s apartheid policies or the fallacies at the core of Zionism. Similarly, Pollak quotes Amos Oz’s definition of Zionism as “the idea that those Jews who regard themselves as people, not just as a religion, are entitled to have a homeland in their home country”. This claim to Palestine as the home country of the Jewish people ignores the fact that numerous kingdoms cohabited the Holy Land over the centuries, and before the creation of the State of Israel, Jews owned a mere 6,5% of historic Palestine. In the case of Israel, myths have not been a positive binding force, as Pollak believes, but the basis on which a nation has been built at the expense of an existing nation, which has since been subjected to severe repression, human rights abuses, and the continued confiscation of land and natural resources. -- Ronnie Kasrils

Red Ronnie really thinks he is onto something here in saying that the Jews only owned 6.5% of pre-Israel Palestine. He used the same argument in his original article. (Propaganda - keep repeating the same rhetoric until it serves your agenda.)

Red Ronnie again doesn't mention that the British Mandatory power owned 70% of the land and this reverted to Israel after the British left. Ronnie doesn't mention this because he wants you to assume that the rest of the land was owned by Arabs. 

Note: Jews actually owned 8.6% of the land and Arabs that became Israeli citizens owned 3.3% of the land. 16.9% of the land was owned by Arabs who fled when the Arab armies invaded. Some of this land was bought by Jews and some of it was taken by Israel as part of the absentee landlord ruling.

View previous Smoking Socks Award winners here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Comments

[mike]

Old Ronnie is busy basing Israel; one wonders where he finds the time to look after South Africa’s security. It’s not surprising that al-Qa’eda is thought to consider South Africa a safe hang out.

The ‘all Zionists label all criticism of Israel anti-Semitism’ slur is really getting old. I think the debate on both sides is diminished by resorting to name calling. I wish we could just deal with the facts.

And finally the land issue. How he distorts the truth with selective statistics! Its an old propaganda trick Ronnie must have picked up in the old USSR. I once did extensive research on this whole land issue. I totally agree with Steven’s figures. I would just like to add so detail. That 3,3% is Arab private ownership. 12% of Israel and the territories is held by the Arab Waqk (The Waqk is a Muslim religious trust that holds land on behalf of the Muslim world, similar to the JNF).

The return of Jewish to Israel is the first time in history that a nation has had to repurchase its own land. Spain like every other country was liberated from Islamic imperialism by force, not by a commercial transaction. It is also true that the JNF paid particularly inflated prices fort he arid land they purchased. Sorry Ronnie the land point is a non starter.

Ronnie then makes the ridiculous point that many nations have occupied the Holy land and thus Jews have no special claim. What a stupid argument. Is Ronnie saying that a foreign occupier has the same rights to the land as the indigenous people? Don’t think his liberation buddies in say Zimbabwe would like that idea. Come on.

I wish Red Ronnie would stick to what he is good at and leave foreign policy to those with the necessary skills and knowledge. He just embarrasses himself and South Africa

[Gary]

Kasrils is clearly obsessed with a relentless hatred against Israel and her people.
Everytime I read his rantings against Israel and Zionism , I feel nauseated and angry.
His positions attempt to delegitimize Israel's very existance , as well as being an apologist for Arab terror against Jews in Israel.
His positions are indentical to those of Hamas and Ahmadinejad. He is completely heartless, lacking any compassion for Jewish women and children murdered by the Palestinian terrorists in Israel.

Furthermore whatever he says , Kasrils cares nothing about human rights , as illustrated by his enthusiastic support for the Mugabe regime and his unrepentant Stalinism.
The world needs more Stalinists like it needs a hole in the head.