This week, Pat Sidely, Ronnie Kasrils and their anti-Israel Jewish friends stepped up their propaganda war against Israel and mainstream South African Jewry. Their declaration of ‘conscience’ has been expanded to include not only South Africans of Jewish descent but those of Lebanese as well. The text of the declaration has also been sharpened. (M&G: Lebanese Join Jews for Peace.)
Embarrassingly the petition which has now expanded its target to the 30000 South African Lebanese Christians has only received 137 names after running for over 3 weeks! Two weeks ago when the petition was limited to only Jews there were 72 names. Now after including South African Lebanese they have added a whopping 65 new names!
The new version is misleadingly (and verbosely for that matter) entitled ‘A call to replace the terror of war with peaceful negotiations in the Middle East, from South Africans of Lebanese and Jewish descent’. (Read the full text of the petition including all names that have signed it at this link.)
It deliberately attempts to blur the distinction between Israel’s legitimate war of self-defence and Hezbollah’s unlawful acts of terrorism. Moreover, it demonstrates child-like reasoning, designating the protagonists in this conflict as either peace-loving ‘negotiationists’ (the good guys) or bloodthirsty war hawks (the bad guys). These silly ‘intellectuals’ and mediocre attention-seeking MPs just don’t seem to get that freedom sometimes has to be fought for.
This leaner and meaner declaration is unequivocal in its apportionment of blame for this latest Middle Eastern conflagration. No, Hezbollah is not the culprit even though they launched an unprovoked attack across an international border against another sovereign state. No, Iran is not the culprit for supplying an internationally outlawed terrorist group with long range missiles. And no, Syria who is providing shelter and logistical support for this latest jihad against the Jews is also not the culprit. Of course, it’s Israel, stupid!
Pete Sadie, the South African Lebanese collecting the Lebanese signatures for this petition felt that the statement should also add that "the shooting of rockets by Hezbollah into Israel should also stop". His reason? “Because he wants more Jews to support it.”
Its completely absurd. Sadie feels that the statement should add that the firing of Hezbollah rockets should stop, not because of any moral concerns but merely because he wants more Jews to support his silly petition. And yet he still supports the petition even though it doesn’t say what he thinks it should!
The declaration reads:
‘We South Africans of Lebanese and Jewish descent condemn the escalating conflict in the Middle East which has been intensified by Israel's totally disproportionate use of violence and callous disregard for innocent Lebanese lives. The victims of this war are civilians, including hundreds of children, who neither support attacks upon nor wish any harm to the people of Israel. We question the Israeli state's misguided belief that Jewish survival can be achieved by aggressively destroying the life and property of her neighbours. These actions against a sovereign state are neither justifiable nor acceptable and threaten to unleash a spiral of counter-violence rather than peace in the Middle East.’ |
I would love to know how these pompous arm chair pundits believe peace can be achieved between the Jewish state and radical Islam? How can Israel negotiate with an organisation whose sole goal is its destruction. What could it possibly offer other than its own political suicide to appease Islamist terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah? Unfortunately there can be no détente with radical Islam. Like the Allies during the Second World War and the West during the cold war, Israel has no choice but to eliminate this psychotic enemy before it eliminates us.
In spite of all of the above, the most disingenuous part of this declaration is its reference to a quote from Jeremiah.
‘The prophet Jeremiah, could have been addressing our times when he said, "…my eyes stream with tears day and night without rest, For my people are deeply wounded and are badly hurt, When I go out into the fields I see the bodies of men killed in war; When I go into the towns I see people starving to death… Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed? We waited for peace, to no avail; For a time of healing, but terror came instead."’ |
What would ‘Jews’ who long ago traded their Siddurs for Das Kapital care for the teachings of the prophets of Israel? This reference is a crude propaganda ploy that serves only to create the veneer of an authentic Jewish declaration.
These people, many of whom have no Jewish identity at best and an anti-Jewish one at worst, are masquerading as the moral representatives of South African Jewry. We cannot allow this sham to continue. It is the responsibility of all of us who care about being Jewish to denounce this fraud. By signing the real South African Jewish Declaration of Conscience, we declare publicly that we will not allow these pseudo Jews to dishonestly speak in our name.
Click here to sign the real South African Jewish Declaration of Conscience.
What we really need to know - even here in South Africa
The world is at war, not officially, but nonetheless we are at war with terror.
The overwhelming majority of us have nothing to do with the twisted ideological aspirations of various militant groups, but we have to constantly bear witness to the loss of life through acts of murder and mayhem; we have to endure radical changes to our lifestyles because the totalitarian tactics of terror are all pervasive.
How do we combat this plague which has descended upon us? Do we take up arms? Do we lend our voices of dissent to media networks and outspoken lobbyists? Do we form vigilante groups to combat these terror cells? Do we march in protest against terror? Do we try to change the mindsets of our enemies?
The answer is far more benign. We do very little, but we maintain vigilance and espouse cautious optimism. The powers that be would like to appease us that they have everything safely under wraps – but do they? Do the leading world powers have this rampant terrorist threat under control? Are the leaders of Democratic nations able to quell the aspirations of militant groups, hell-bent on the destruction of peace loving citizens of these countries?
We can’t keep sweeping these issues under the carpet; we can’t keep these questions out of newspapers and digital media news sites like www.reporter.co.za anymore. In this era of trying to be politically correct while simultaneously serving a particular agenda, media networks must reflect the will of the people. These are the most pressing concerns affecting citizens of the free world and we want our leaders to be held accountable to us – the people who elected them to office. It would be exceptionally foolhardy to think that here in South Africa we are immune to the scourge of international terror. That would be the first mistake. Recollections of the Planet Hollywood bombing in Cape Town and the Pipe Bombs which tore through the nation aren’t as distant a memory as one would hope. It only takes a second for this type of conflagration to flare up again.
Recently a plot of unthinkable evil was foiled; a sinister scheme that would make 9/11 look like a walk in the park: several terrorists tried to smuggle the components of liquid explosives aboard airliners flying between the United Kingdom and the United States. Whatever your feelings are regarding the US and the UK, you cannot condone acts of terror which are purposely targeted against civilians. Only an absolute coward whose mind has been infiltrated by the tentacles of hatred would consider killing innocent civilians. These terrorist atrocities were foiled, but many more plans are afoot. The rabid hatred which these militants are primed with runs so deep that even indoctrination is too weak a word to describe the brainwashing they have undergone.
It is not only correct for the media to publicise this type of story, but it is the moral obligation of an unbiased media network to hammer the perpetrators of such cowardly and criminal conduct. We cannot for one second allow complacency to wash over us; this terrorist threat is alive and well and it is being fuelled by the fires of hatred. It is so prevalent that it threatens to tear through the very moral fibre of our lives. Those espousing the idea of terrorism against the west have at their core an iniquity of such unimaginable proportions; their lifeblood is fuelled with such vitriol and malice that they see no other way to live out their miserable existence.
Perhaps it is high time that the news media stopped running the plethora of ditsy stories of little consequence and actually started running stories which impact heavily on people’s lives and those of their loved ones. Issues such as global terror are real. They are brewing in our midst and they seek to drive further wedges between nations. The non-publication of stories such as this one will only compel me and others like me into pushing even harder to get this message across. There are people out there who want to expose the truth about what is fuelling this hatred, people like Wayne Kopping who directed Obsession. While many of us are not ready to hear the message, it is imperative that the message is heard because only then will we know why we are constantly faced with the threat of the Sword of Damocles over our heads!
Posted by: brett chatz | August 14, 2006 at 22:13
Give please. Good soldiers never pass up a chance to eat or sleep. They never know how much they'll be called on to do before the next chance.
I am from Congo and also now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "Huntington manufacturer in a acceleration 6,351 years and was come in a 'flyout, becoming him to train his tailwhips, 342 companies."
Regards :o Habib.
Posted by: Habib | September 05, 2009 at 11:44