I’m disappointed that instead of encouraging debate, Achmat seeks rather to censor it. Benjamin is due to participate in a panel discussion with human rights lawyer Shlomo Zachary that will be chaired by one of Achmat’s co-delegates, Judge Dennis Davis, on a recent anti-Israel mission.
In a rather sensational manner, Achmat has called Benjamin an “architect of the war on Palestinian people”. This is the same Benjamin who was instrumental in having Israel withdraw completely from Gaza.
Let’s consider the most recent war in Gaza. Achmat aggressively changes Israel’s aims to suite his political posturing. A war on Hamas becomes not just a war on Gaza, but a war on the Palestinian people.
In employing this sensationalist language, Achmat changes the context of the conflict. He does this because without this manipulation, his stance that Benjamin should not be invited to speak at Limmud is untenable.
Achmat certainly does not fall into the category of human rights activist who have a sole and obsessive focus on Israel. His human rights credentials are real. His activism has been spread far and wide, focusing primarily on addressing injustice in South Africa. But when Israel is involved an excretion of moral blindness creeps in.
In this case Achmat is not just campaigning to prevent Israel from being heard, it’s a campaign to restrict the freedom of Jews in this country from identifying with mainstream Israel. He would presumably explain this stance as stemming from an opposition to many of Israel’s policies. But given his history of activism, he is also opposed to the policies of Hamas. Gay rights, separation between religion and state, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, minority rights etc, are all values that Israel has, which Hamas doesn't have. Yet Achmat seeks to censor an Israeli, after having remained silent when Hamas members and former PLO terrorists have visited South Africa.
He accuses Benjamin of masterminding a series of extra-judicial killings – but what about the brutal slaying of Fatah activists and alleged Israeli conspirators by Hamas? Why were these issues not raised when Hamas members have entered South Africa?
It’s a pity that a man of Achmat’s impeccable human rights credentials has chosen to try to stifle the freedom to make one’s case by his attempts to bully South African Jewry into boycotting this year’s Limmud programme.
I hope Achmat rethinks his position and views the programme at Limmud as a chance for debate rather than as an opportunity to paint the conflict as a black and white affair in which only one side deserves the privilege of being heard. He should be praising Limmud as a programme that challenges the mainstream views in the Jewish community. He should be encouraging the Muslim community to run a similar event where diverse opinions often opposing those of the mainstream can be heard and debated. And he should start with an apology to South African Jewry for his unfair calls pressuring us into boycotting the event.
In Der Judenstaat, published in 1896, Theodor Herzl wrote, ‘if only we begin to carry out the plans (for a Jewish state), anti-Semitism would stop at once and for ever. For it is the conclusion of peace.’
He ends with the following words:
‘The Jews who wish for a state shall have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes.
The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.’
He died, tragically, just eight years later, aged 44. Never knowing how his vision would, in many ways, become the antithesis of that for which he had worked and striven so hard and for so long, that he eventually died prematurely.
Just over a century later, anti-Semitism has not stopped nor declined, and there is no peace. The world is not freed by Jewish liberty nor magnified by Israel’s greatness.
Rather we are damaged and diminished by Israel’s weakness and its continued propensity to destabilize the entire region, and thereby the world. Expropriating land, Palestinian land, is not 'for the good of humanity'. On the contrary, it will likely lead us all into war.
Thankfully, Theodor Herzl will never know.
Posted by: GD river | July 27, 2009 at 09:32
GD, how does Israel destabilise the region? By withdrawing from Gaza and then allowing Hamas to fire rockets into its sovereign?
Does Israel destabilise the region by affording more rights to Palestinian citizens of Israel than Palestinians are afforded in any other Arab world where they might reside?
Israel's weaknesses are all too real, but they do not destabilise the region. The detest for the miniscule Jewish state is what destabilises the region.
The lack of democracy in the Arab world is what destabilises the region.
The militant Islam is what destabilises the region.
The Arab riches of oil which allows them to subjugate their people instead of uplifting them with an open society is what destabilises the region.
Over 5 times more Arabs were killed in a couple of days in Hama by Syrian dictator Assad than number of Palestinians killed by Israelis in both intifadas. That destabilises the region.
We are damaged and diminished by Israel's failures? No, we are damaged and diminished by the Arab world's failures.
The fact that the world has not stopped hating Jews is not out failure. It's the world's.
Posted by: Steve | July 27, 2009 at 09:50
Monday, July 27, 2009
The popular "Rogatka" (slingshot) nightclub in Tel Aviv is refusing entry to IDF soldiers in uniform.
IDF Uniforms are associated with oppression and genocide, and the IDF's violence is the reason for all violence in Israel, explained the club's workers.
"It's nothing personal, but ideological. Your uniforms symbolize genocide and violence." they were told by club employees and guests.
Posted by: GD river | July 27, 2009 at 14:35
And your point is?
That a diversity of opinion is allowed and tolerated in Israel but not in its neighbours?
Judging by the benchmark that you ascribe to Israel, as the fundamental destabiliser in the region, one would imagine that the response to this will be at least as violent as the suppression of Iranian protestors.
When people can stand in the centre of town and lawfully protest against their own government without fear of government reprisal, you have a free society.
Unfortunately, people in the Arab world cannot publicly protest their own governments because they live in a fear society.
In a protest in Diepsloot the other day, South Africans carried posters saying that the ANC is worse than the AWB. Are we now to believe that this is so?
Israeli leftwing activists are entitled to their dramatic opinions just as protestors in South Africa are. But their opinions are not necessarily correct just because they make the newspaper.
Posted by: Steve | July 27, 2009 at 15:20
And your point is, I take it, that oppression and genocide are OK - as you take great care not to mention those issues but prefer to write about 'a free society'instead.
Let us be blunt: killing is killing. No amount of propaganda or tolerating a 'diversity of opinion'will changes the facts. Killing is killing. Civilians are civilians and a war crime is a war crime.
I have no doubt that the then Defense minister and Prime minister responsible will eventually be brought before an international court to answer those charges.
Posted by: G D river | July 27, 2009 at 16:21
Are you saying G D that there is an Israeli plan to exterminate the Palestinians?
Also do you agree that Hamas and Hezbollah rocket fire on Israeli civilian areas would also qualify as a war crime?
Posted by: Ariel | July 27, 2009 at 19:02
GD,
I imagine you mean well and believe that your are standing up for the Palestinians but you do their cause no justice by fabricating claims.
Where oh where is this genocide you allege?
Can you honestly show any drastic, or even slight, drop in the Palestinian population as happens with real genocides?
If Israel is so bad, why don't you rely on real atrocities instead of having to invent them?
Posted by: Steve | July 27, 2009 at 19:07
Achmat has also shown his own vile racism and hate by saying that "95% of Israelis are racists".
What other nation could you make such racist statements about!
Posted by: Gary | July 27, 2009 at 20:56
IAS writes: "I hope Achmat rethinks his position and views the programme at Limmud as a chance for debate rather than..."
This is naive, Achmat is anti-Semitic, so why would he rethink his position? Achmat walks like an anti-Semitic duck, talks like an anti-Semitic duck just like his TAC buddies Geffen and Isaacs. He says the same things about Israel that honest anti-Semites say. Maybe it's 'cause he's anti-Semitic you think? No I guess it's just one of those amazing coincidences instead.
Or is it only ok to call Achmat the Jew-hater that he is if he ever slipped up, and dropped the cover term of Israel, and just said what he really means? Namely castigating Jews as Jews - instead of hiding behind the cover language of anti-Israelism.
God forbid anybody point out that the only country in the Middle-East that a gay man like Achmat can live in freedom in and with the law giving full civil rights to gays is gasp shock....Israel, not Egypt, Syria, Iran or Gaza territory, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the rest.
Posted by: Lawrence | July 28, 2009 at 09:57
A decision by America to allow Israel to attack Iran could well prove to be the start of WWIII and the worst foreign policy error of the 21st century. Once ICBMs are fired from Israel, with or without nuclear warheads, then everyone living today could suffer the consequences.
Iran’s likely response to an unprovoked attack, will be to close the Straits of Hormuz meaning the global price of oil will double or quadruple; stock markets around the world will crash; Iranian cells in the US and Europe will activate; Iran will fire long-range missiles at Israel who will then have no option but to escalate the conflict with a massive nuclear strike that will turn the entire Gulf region into a giant fireball.
From Alaska to Mexico and from London to Oman and Karachi, the eventual consequences are unknown - but the world will have changed and we will all have to bear the cost of scarce oil, sky-high prices, falling investments and damaged economies.
To this scenario must be added the massive loss of life through the use of nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction with the resultant contaminating radiation and genetic damage.
All this because one single politician, from a country that hasn't initiated a war with anyone for hundreds of years, indulged in rhetorical hyperbole which has been used as an excuse by others to further a self-serving, nationalist agenda to retain hegemony in the region.
In the early 1960s, US Secretary of Defence, the late Robert McNamara made a similar foreign policy error of enormous magnitude which resulted in over 4 million deaths that included 58,000 Americans. It took him more than 20 years to admit to his catastrophic error. He died, racked with guilt and remorse.
However, in that terribly tragic and futile conflict, no nuclear WMD were deployed by either side. Today, would be very different.
We need to use our voice to prevent this so-called pre-emptive attack. We need to talk and negotiate – not to bomb, kill and terminate the lives of thousands of innocent men, woman and children.
Posted by: COLINDALE London | July 28, 2009 at 12:34
I knew it...the loony left would be protesting for the Ahamdinejad/Khamenei regime...disgusting sows.
Posted by: Gary | July 28, 2009 at 13:54
I won't comment on Zackie Achmat, but I will on David Benjamin. David's father is the late Reform Rabbi Meir Benjamin who served many years at Temple Israel in Cape Town. David was a senior leader of the Reform Zionist Jewish youth movement Maginim (now called Netzer)during the 1980s which I attended. Maginim was very liberal both on SA and Israeli issues (e.g. I remember being taught Nkosi Sikileli long before this was legal). I have not kept in touch with David, therefore I can't speak on his stance on Israeli policies and politics, but I remember him as a very moral person. As I will be attending Limmud I am very keen to hear what he has to say and I will challenge him if I feel his views are immoral. This is the point of Limmud to listen and engage in discussion, I therefore hope that Zackie Achmat will attend to debate the issues.
Posted by: Greg | July 28, 2009 at 15:06
You're right Colin. Much better for only 6m provocative jhoos to net nuked than for WWIII to happen. Much like Gaza, much better for a few pesky sea pedestrians to get a few hand made rockety toy type things than for all those poor Gazans to suffer collective punishment and be murdered in their thousands because of some silly little political charter.
Thanks for putting it all in perspective.
Posted by: Religious Fundamentalist 1 | July 28, 2009 at 15:08
Yes Colin
Iran hasn't initiated a war for hundreds of years. Nor has Iraq. When Iraq and Iran faught for over 10 years and killed more Muslims than Israel has ever come close to killing it was because of the US and Israel because WE OUGHT NEVER TO BLAME ARABS OR MUSLIMS FOR ANYTHING.
Posted by: Braam | July 28, 2009 at 15:18
Even if Iran's nuclear wepons programme could be stopped without a single shot being fired those far-left pieces of detritus oppose disarming Iran because they want to see Israel destroyed-Such is thethorough and unmitigated evil of the radical left.
Posted by: Gary | July 28, 2009 at 15:30
Killing children and never apologising for it, in fact making excuses why those children deserved to die, such is the "thorough and unmitigated evil" of the Zionist lunatics on this site and elsewhere. Gary you and your ilk are beyond disgusting so put a big fat sock in it, you miserable morsel of effluent. You are an oaf, a bully, and a moronic degenerate, much like the rest of the Zionist scum on this site. You talk tough, but you couldn't last two seconds in the same situation as what the Palestinians have been subjected to for decades by the racist Israelis, some of whose policies make the Nationalist Party look like a group of "radical lefties". You are, furthermore, paranoid to such a ridiculous degree that I wonder whether or not you're actually trying to caricature the typical Zionist mindset.
Isn't it strange that troglodytes like Gary will bang on ceaselessly about Iran's POTENTIAL to acquire a nuclear weapon, without making refernce to the fact that Israel is the only nuclear armed country in the Middle East, with, according to Time Magazine, around 80 nukes. Some estimates put their arsenal at closer to 200 nuclear weapons. Because Gary has the intellect of a day old head of cabbage, he also probably doesn't know that according to a US National Intelligence Estimate released in late 2007, Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons programme, which hardly came off the ground in any case, in 2003. But I suppose for the Garys of this world, facts matter not a jot, nor does logic, intelligence, or anything resembling a meaningful idea not gleaned from far right fantasists.
Braam, you were absolutely right on the money up until that last capitalised screed. The Iran-Iraq war was absolutely orchestrated by the United States, who supplied both sides with weapons to extend the conflict to see how many muslims would get killed, although US planners would argue that there was some significant geo-political strategy amidst all that wanton carnage. Saddam Hussein was brought to power by the US government, and was a staunch ally right until the point he disobeyed orders, which has always been the real sin in the eyes of US elites, rather than anything as pedestrian as human rights violations or a lack of democracy.
Posted by: David Zinn | July 29, 2009 at 14:09
David, you demonstrate the weakness of your arguments when most of your comment is just personally attacks on Gary. We like debate on this site but not personal attacks.
If Iran has stopped its nuclear program as you claim why is the international community still so concerned about it acquiring nuclear weapons? Recently even the former head of the IAEA said he believed Iran was on the path to nuclear capability. He is not exactly known for his tough talk or pro Israel views.
Posted by: Mike | July 29, 2009 at 16:02
Considering Gary's disgraceful slander against the entire spectrum of left wing thought, I believe I was rather reserved in my denunciations. When someone starts calling the "radical left", meaning those who are opposed to imperialism and in favour of international law, as I am, evil then all bets are off, I'm afraid. I will continue to denounce such individuals until my final breath has been exhaled.
Please provide evidence of your claims, Mike. And please also explain why Iran can't have nuclear weapons but Israel can?
Posted by: David Zinn | July 29, 2009 at 16:22
you mean you will continue to denocunce such individuals i=until you are burning in hell, with Arafat, Hilter, Pol Pot, Stalin, you diseased maniac, Davbid Zinn.
'Anti-Imperialism' today means support for disctators and terrorists such as Ahmedinejad and Khamenei, the regimes of North Korea, Syria, Libya,Zimbabwe etc and child-killing terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Have you ever stepped out of your stuffy university office and actaully expereinced terror that Israelis are threatned with, you college infested parasite?
Posted by: Gary | July 29, 2009 at 17:47
I suppose the question really is why shouldn't Israel have nukes?
I think Iran shouldn't because they display a willingness to use them. They have made public their aims to destroy Israel, they are ruled by a bunch of religious maniacs, and often have parades showcasing their missiles.
No nation that entertains these sick parades should be trusted with nuclear power.
David probably hates religion, but only Christianity and Judaism because it is American. He doesn't mind Islam because it is not American. He isn't keen on trusting democratic and liberal Christians in the US with nukes or liberal, democratic and secular Jews in Israel with nukes, but crazed Islamists who believe in the return of the hidden/12th Imam - that's ok!
He hates the repression of the democracy in the US. But he doesn't mind the repression of the tyranny in the Arab world.
There probably isn't an event in the world that he doesn't blame on the Americans. Every Arab wrong, every Arab suppression of rights, every Arab crime, torture, foul deed or other - yip, he will just blame America.
I've been on blogs where these type of people hibernate. We call them trolls and usually say you shouldn't feed them. You won't change his mind. He is deeply disillusioned, and depressed. He probably has never made love to a woman he is attracted to and takes it out on the Americans whom he is jealous of. He is also probably unfit and battles bad cholestrol.
So he is too unhappy a person to have an open mind and listen to other points of view.
Sorry David, I do apologise if anything i have said is incorrect.
Sterkte!
Posted by: Braam | July 29, 2009 at 19:46
"America is to blame for crime in South Africa"
"America is to blame for Islamic extremism"
"America is to blame for my high cholestrol"
"America is to blame for my poor sex life"
"America is to blame for Israel"
"America is to blame for the girls that wouldn't love me"
Posted by: David Zinn | July 29, 2009 at 19:50
Above comment was actually me. Had you all fooled there I bet!
Posted by: Braam | July 29, 2009 at 19:50
Actually Braam I think David Zinn, a caricature of the Jew-hating leftwing fascist who thinks himself a champion of liberalism, human rights and non-racism probably blames crime in SA, his poor sex life and Islamic extremism on the Joooooos. That's what Jew-hatred boils down to at the end of the day - projecting one's own frustrations, failings and disappointments on the oldest scapegoat in Western society.
Posted by: Lawrence | July 29, 2009 at 20:03
Lawrence, the next thing Zinn will say is that he is a Jew himself, we ceretianly have enough scummy far-left Israel-burning Jews around.
Or else he'll "say that his best friend Golderg is Jewish and 'he hates Israel as much as I do".
Posted by: Gary | July 29, 2009 at 20:41
Oh, no of course Zinn doesnt hate Jews he only hates 'Zionists' and Israelis. Leftwing anti-Semites a re cleverer than rightwing anti-Semites (and more dangerous) because they never forget the Z codeword.
Isnt the hypocrisy of people who say 'we dont hate Jews, only Zionists' sickening? What they are saying is that they only hate Jews who live in Israel, therefore they are not anti-Semitic. That is like saying you only hate Blacks who live in South Africa, not in any other country, therefore you are not racist. The Amalekite attitude of the Jews are ok as long as they stay out of the Holy Land.
Posted by: Gary | July 29, 2009 at 20:45
David here is an article on Mohamed ElBaradei's comments about iran
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/06/17/iran-denies-wanting-nuclear-weapons/
Posted by: Mike | July 29, 2009 at 21:13
I think the name calling on all side now is not helpful.
Posted by: Mike | July 29, 2009 at 21:13
So guys, what happened to the comments about Zachie Achmat's stupid and manipulative statements? The original posting by Mike or Steve was excellent, but you all got so sidetracked. Stick to the subject. It was the issue of this blog posting.
Mike and Steve, it would be most interesting to know how many hits you get on your site and if your readership extends beyond the few usual commentators as shown above.
Posted by: Shmuel ben David | July 30, 2009 at 06:37
Gary, you are a degenerate piece of human garbage, plain and simple. You're a liar, can't even spell correctly, and have the intellect of a burnt tyre. You have the disgusting audacity to accuse Zachie Achmat of "vile racism and hate" when he is one of the greatest South Africans alive today, someone who has saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives. You could live ten million lifetimes and not do a fraction as much for your fellow man as Zachie Achmat does in a single day. You don't desreve to flush his toilet or work in his garden, you miserable heap of parrot droppings. Zachie Achmat's finger nail is worth more than a million Garys any day of the week. I've heard more enlightened comments from people in vegetative states, you brash brutish braindead blunder.
As for Braam, well judging by your Afrikaans name I will conclude that you are an Afrikaner nationalist who fully supported the Nationalist Party for years during the Apartheid era as they proceeded to butcher black people and make their lives a living hell, so your support for Israel where they do exactly the same, if not worse, to the Palestinians is definitely a logical extension of your sick racist views. You, and the lowly likes of Gary, bang on about how bad all these other regimes are but when it comes to Israel nothing the Israelis do is ever wrong. To slightly alter something you wrote earlier "WE OUGHT NEVER TO BLAME JEWS OR ISRAELIS FOR ANYTHING", which is clearly what you and your brainless ilk think.
You've probably also never made love to a woman who wasn't related to you and no doubt blame the Arabs and blacks for your incontinence, impotence, haemorrhoids, and any number of ailments you are afflicted with or might suffer from in the future.
While we're on the subject of unfounded assumptions, based on a short comment posted on a Zionst website, how's life in Oranje these days, Braam? Been hanging out with old ET and his AWB buddies much, lately? Still keeping your comb in your sock and banding about the k-word, you undoubtedly corpulent, braaivleis-loving, beer swilling, rugby watching, old-South African-flag-waving poltroon? Not that you'll know what that last word means, being a barely literate backwards barbarian with an IQ of an old chewed slipper.
You did say one correct thing, however, namely that I do indeed "hate religion", all of them, obviously including the vile Islam. After that last statement I can just see the cogs turning ever so slowly in that miniscule brain of yours trying to figure out into which category I should now be placed in, considering how I've just shattered your pathetic preconptions. Take your time, old Braamie boy, we know that your types aren't the quickest wits around. Shamepies, man, you is having big problems with all these new informations, hey. Go chew on some vetkoek and have a double coronary while you're at, you subhuman swamp-dwelling scumbag.
Mike
Considering that you've smeared me with some of the most vile names and accusations imaginable, even equating me to people who call Obama the n-word and calling me a c--t, I don't think you're in any position to lecture others about name-calling. Also, why is it that Gary and Braam can say the most vile, dishonest and despicable things imaginable yet you don't reprimand them, while you specifically target me for rebuke? I suppose this is just another case of Zionist hypocrisy where the Zionist brigade can say whatever they want, to whomever they want, but should the other side respond then anything goes in terms of lies and hurling abuse. I've come to expect this sort of double standard as it seems to come instinctively to anyone claiming to be a Zionist, or supporting the Zionist enterprise.
Thanks at least for providing some substantiation for your claim, rare among the Zionist faction. How about this recent Reuters article about Iran supposedly developing a nuclear weapon, published Friday 3rd July and entitled "No sign Iran seeks nuclear arms: new IAEA head", available at http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL312024420090703?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0.
In the article ElBaradei is quoted as claining "it was his 'gut feeling' Iran was seeking the ability to produce nuclear arms, if it desired, as an 'insurance policy' against perceived threats", while the new head Yukiya Amano is quoted as stating "I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this".
Similar to the much touted "Green Revolution" and claims of voter fraud in the recent elections in Iran, almost all information about the country emanating from Western media sources is pure propaganda and not to be trusted. Though knowing how little time Zionists have for facts and reality, I suppose it's a waste of time pointing out that you're being duped by corporate-controlled media, the same media that hardly ever finds fault with your beloved Israel.
Posted by: David Zinn | July 30, 2009 at 10:26
By the by, old Braamie boy, I'm over 6'2, am actually too thin if anything, go to gym about 3 to 4 times a week, and am the picture of health. Not to brag, but I almost never get sick, have never had any major health problems in my life, excluding asthma perhaps which is no longer much of a problem, and don't have even the faintest whiff of high cholestoral or blood pressure. Considering that I donate blood usually every two months or so, which means my blood pressure is tested prior to having the needle go in, I have actually been told my blood pressure is a little too low. In short, everything you wrote about my health problems, like all the other nasty unfounded comments, is completely false. I take it you were simply indulging in what psychologists call projection, in other words your own miserably pitiful life was on full display for all to see, couched in insults aimed at my person. Quite a pathetic display of masculine insecurity there, not that you and your pseudo-macho types have every really been particularly impressive as men in any case.
Posted by: David Zinn | July 30, 2009 at 10:36
Gary's amazing use of the English language includes such sterling attempts at spelling as "ceretianly", "a re", "actaully" and "threatned", not to mention his woeful use of the word "cleverer". His reference to my supposed station as a university professor is yet another example of insecurity, this time of the intellectual variety as Gary is no doubt an uneducated half-wit who couldn't formulate a coherent or original thought if he spent all day ruminating, or even twenty years doing the same.
I find his reference to the "child-killing terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah" almost too shameless for words, considering that the IDF is the premier "child-killing" terrorist group in the Middle East. During Operation Cast Lead 300 Palestinian children were massacred, whereas just 13 Israelis in total died during the conflict, four of them from fellow Israelis. Gary's support for the child-killing regime in Israel means that him and all those who support the Israeli government are supporters of child murder. Glad we have that sorted out and can now invalidate any claims of morality that the disgusting monster Gary may want to claim in future.
Posted by: David Zinn | July 30, 2009 at 10:46
LMAO, an original thought?
Shit like you, Zinn, actually are simply following an article of faith in your neo-Stalinist nihilistic far-left academic circles that never differ from each other on a single issue, and follow the party line every time.
It's an article of faith to hate Israel and Israelis for you and your fellow pseudo-intellectuals at your universities, and NGOs without actually bothering to think things through.
The spelling errors were typos you malignant narcissistic whoreson, through typing fast because I don't have the time to sit on blogs all day.
I actually read an average of three books a week and read authors who actually know something about the Middle East and international politics and who think for themselves, not just following the neo-Stalinist left academic party line.
Im very aware of what my people have gone through in exile and after their return to their own ancient land which left-fascist detritus like you want to make judenrein.
I dont care what you think of me, but you are worse than Hitler and his Nazis. They did not pretend to be virtuous unlike you and your leftists who want to see 5 million Jews subjected to genocide but claim it is in the name of 'human rights' and 'social justice'.
The Jews are not going to go quietly again whether you and your fellow college infested parasites like it or not.
We will defend our land whatever it takes and will define our own borders.
If you enter Israel with the intent of harming her you will be wiped out, if you terrorize Israel you will be wiped out.
And your intellectual snobbery cannot change that. It makes me sick to be breathing the same air as Satanic detritus like you.
Posted by: Gary | July 30, 2009 at 11:23
Mike and Steve, this is a forum for discussion that is not allowed on the mainstream media because of it's domination by Hamas/Hezbollah/Islamo-Fascist supporting leftwing elites.
What is the point of hosting hate-mongering Zionophobic genocidal Pol Pot wannabes like David Zinn?
Would you host a Neo-Nazi?
Then why host a Zionocidal neo-Stalinist?
Is there no one on the left that is beyond the pale for this blog.
Posted by: Gary | July 30, 2009 at 11:29
As the stubborn refusal of the Inquisition in Spain and Italy caused the men of the Inquisition to presecute Galileo and to burn elsewhere at the stake hundreds of men whose only offence was that they clasehed with their lords and masters of the Catholic Church.
This role is played troday by the academic left.
The academic left rage at the idea of people exploring knowlegde for themselves, outside of university structures and without the guidance of leftwing university professors.
This is why they hate books that will not be featured in the coursework for Middle East studies, those that gives a different take to the staple anti-Israel propaganda.
And that is why they hate people who aim at free enquiry beyond the lies told by their college professors, and the approved works of Chomsky and Finkelstein.
Posted by: Gary | July 30, 2009 at 12:30
David Zinn, I often rebuke the Zionists on this site for name calling. There is no double standard.
Posted by: Mike | July 30, 2009 at 15:54
Shmuel ben David,
The comments are not reflective of the readership. In fact this post was picked up by a big international online newspaper that sometimes uses our stuff. Its has got lots of coverage in cyberspace.
Posted by: Mike | July 30, 2009 at 15:56
Shmuel
We got sidetracked because 'Colin' posted a pro-Iranian regime article and I response to that and stated my opinion that Zackie Achmat is a vile racist. David Zinn could not bear his icons , Achmat and Achmadinejad to be criticized and so he began name calling. I returned the compliment.
We are dealing with someone here who says that the killing of Israeli children by Arab terrorists are justified because 'Palestinians are desperate".
Zinn also attacked the protests against the Ahmadinejad regime by suggesting it was a western plot.
These are the type of people who acted as apologists for Pol Pot and Stalin. Zinn had made clear his racist feelings towards all Israelis and yet because he is a big fancy university professor it is I who needs to takes abuse.
Posted by: Gary | July 30, 2009 at 16:44
Mike comments:
"I think the name calling on all side now is not helpful."
Mike predictably engages in mealy-mouthed moral equivalence here, and this is not helpful. Calling Zinn a Jew-hater is simply an accurate description of what he is. How is calling a Jew-hater a Jew-hater name-calling? Is calling a neo-Nazi or a Hezbollah terrorist a Jew-hating fascist name-calling? Is calling Bob Mugabe a ruthless thug and dicatator name-calling? Is calling Ahmandinjehad a Jew-hating fanatic name-calling? Is calling a rose is a rose is a rose name-calling?
Mike and Steve continue to set the bar so low on anti-Semitism that one of their professed purposes of this blog - of combating anti-Semitism in SA - becomes meaningless, even an unfunny joke. What does Zinn actually have to say about Jews - oh sorry I mean Zionists and Israel - to qualify as a Jew-hater? Where do Mike and Steve draw the line -at Holocaust denial, at dancing in the streets in celebration of successful terrorist attacks on Jews in Israel? Where exactly do Mike and Steve draw the line on anti-Semitism; or is it simply ok to parrot the most outrageous lies and vilifications about the Jew nation, engage in the most blatant whitewashing and justification of Islamic terror, so long as one doesn't use the J word in one's anti-Israel screeds? If Zinn is not a Jew-hater then I have good news, leftwing anti-Semitism does not exist. Hoo now that's a relief I tell you. For a minute there I was worried.
Of course, both Mike and Steve fail to consider the fact that Achmat is a Jew-hater, and calling him the Jew-hater that he is, Mike considers "unhelpful". Actually what is unhelpful is the continued eggshell walking on Leftwing anti-Semitism by IAS, it only adds to the problem, it is a hindrance in combating modern anti-Semitism in SA and the Western world. False politeness and special pleading with anti-Semites is not going to make them any less anti-Semitic.
On the contrary, refusing to acknowledge anti-Semites of the Achmat and Zinn variety for what they are, simply because they don't wear swastika armbands and celebrate Ahmandinjehad's birthday even as they share in the anti-Zionism of neo-Nazis and all Muslim fanatics including Ahmandinjehad (oh wait I forgot I'm not allowed to point out the obvious), exacerabates the very problem of anti-Semitism that IAS professes to be opposed to. Achmat and Zinn and their ilk are not going to stop lying about Israel and Jews (yes Jews) - in other words they are not going to stop being anti-Semitic - simply because IAS refuses to recognise them as anti-Semitic, even though Achmat's and Zinn's anti-Semitism is so obvious and in-your-face.
Mike seems to think that if we just pointblank refuse to acknowledge leftwing Jew-haters for the Jew-haters that they are, then these anti-Semites will really cease to be anti-Semitic. This is simply wishful thinking and denial. Worse, it is simply pathetic. Cravenly mollycoddling anti-Semites is not going to soften or lessen their anti-Semitism one little bit. It never has in the past, and it won't in the present and the future.
Mike if I call HAMAS uh.... terrorists, is that name-calling? Should I call them guerillas or resistance fighters instead? Would that be more helpful?
Posted by: Lawrence | July 31, 2009 at 08:18
I follow you VIA GFC and I love your blog!
Posted by: bags mulberry | October 22, 2011 at 14:58