British Academic "proves" Israel isn't racist Print E-mail
Wednesday, 01 November 2006

This is the most amusing post that I have seen which tries it’s best to show Israel in the best light. But, I’m actually cracking up here that the individual who tries his best to “prove” Israel is not a racist state is an Academic from Goldsmiths College, University of London. None other than David Hirsh “oi punk, your anti-Semitic”. Is this the best the Zionists can bring out?

Here’s his bio:

David Hirsh, the Editor of Engage, is a lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London.  He wrote Law against Genocide: Cosmopolitan Trials (GlassHouse 2004), which won the BSA Philip Abrams Prize for the best first book in sociology in 2004.  David is currently working on antisemitism and anti-Zionism; nationalism and cosmopolitanism; cosmopolitan and international law; human rights; ethnic cleansing and genocide; Israel/Palestine and fundamentalism.  David played a leading role in the campaign to reverse the AUT boycott of Israeli universities.

Here what David Hirsh “oi punk, your Anti-Semitic” says which "proves" Israel isn’t a racist state:

If Israel is a “Nazi” or “racist” state, then how could it be that someone is charged with incitement by the Jerusalem District Attorney for arguing that Arabs should be expelled from the Occupied Territories and for threatening genocidal violence against them?

Okay, let’s get to business and see if David Hirch “oi punk, your anti-Semitic” has “proved” that Israel isn’t a racist or a nazi state.

I’ll let others do the writing so lets tackle the first one.

Is Israel a racist state, we will compare Israel with South Africa (when it was an apartheid state):

The following list, paraphrased from Dr. Davis’s observations, offers some sobering food for thought:

1. Israel: The Apartheid Wall (which the government labels a “Security Wall”) forces communities apart and unlawfully grabs land.

South Africa: Segregated Bantustans, officially (but falsely) called “Independent Homelands,” forced millions of African blacks to be herded into artificial landlocked reserves.

2. Israel: Jewish residents in West Jerusalem who need government services face a relatively short wait in air-conditioned comfort. In East Jerusalem, Palestinians begin queuing in the middle of the night, or pay someone else to do so, for a remote chance of being served. Once the sun comes up, they wait for hours outside in the heat before an iron-grilled gate for what should be routine requests, such as; identity documents, birth registrations, death certificates, etc. They often go home empty-handed.

South Africa: In Johannesburg, whites, blacks and mixed-race “coloureds” were directed to separate entrances of government offices, such as the Home Affairs Ministry, and given service — or not — entirely according to their skin colour.

3. Israel: East Jerusalem imposes strict territorial classifications on Palestinian residents that dictate who you can marry, where you can live, where you can go to school, even where (or if) you can get into a hospital.

South Africa: South Africa had similar classifications, based on race; regarding who one could marry, where one could live, where one was to attend school, or be admitted to hospital.

4. Israel: Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, which is often also the city of their birth, are nevertheless classified only as immigrants with “permanent resident” status there — not as citizens in their own right.

South Africa: Most of the black population were treated not as citizens of the cities and townships where they were born, but as citizens of distant ancestral homelands that many (as well as their parents, even grandparents) had never visited.

5. Israel: It is now the only western society to deny construction permits to people solely on the grounds of race.

South Africa: Under Apartheid, construction permits were issued or denied on the basis of race.

6. Israel: Urban planning has been intentionally been directed toward the political objective of eliminating all Palestinian presence from the country’s urban landscape, especially in Jerusalem where the inequality of Jewish and Palestinian sectors increases substantially with every passing year.

South Africa: Under Apartheid, the “group area” planning system targeted blacks in a similar way, with the goal of moving them into invisibility, away from white centres of population.

7. Israel: Through the Jewish National Fund and the Israeli Lands Authority, successive Israeli governments have reserved 93% of the land for Jews only: much of this land was expropriated by the state from original Arab owners without compensation.

South Africa: In colonial and Apartheid South Africa, 87% of the land was reserved for whites. The Population Registration Act categorized South Africans according to an array of racial definitions which, among other things, determined who would be permitted to live on white-reserved lands.

8. Israel: Israel maintains separate schools for Arabs and Jews on the grounds of language differences, but many Israeli Arab parents have challenged this segregation system as a cover for systematic state- sanctioned discrimination.

South Africa: Separate and unequal education systems were a central part of the Apartheid regime’s strategy to limit black children to lives of subservient manual labour in mines, factories and fields. In many parts of post-Apartheid South Africa, the education system still has not recovered.

9. Israel: Israelis who marry Palestinians are not allowed to bring their spouses to live with them in the Jews-only part of the country.

South Africa: During the mid-1980s, the Komani Case successfully challenged the Apartheid “pass laws” that broke up black families by preventing rural spouses from joining husbands or wives who worked in towns.

10. Israel: Most Israeli Jews believe they are the Chosen People, God’s Elect, and claim that the Torah (Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament) justifies their racism and Zionist exclusivity.

South Africa: The Dutch Reformed Church also used the Old Testament to legitimize Apartheid and to assert white Afrikaaner superiority. And based on the Dutch colonists’ victory over the Zulus at the battle of Blood River, they continued to believe that God sided with whites.

11. Israel and South Africa: Under both regimes, the repressed populations have been demonized as “terrorists” to justify ever- greater violations of their human and civil rights. Both regimes have tried to convince the rest of the world of the absurdly false logic that the victims are to blame for violence the state meted out to them. Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid Israel are prime examples of how terrorist states try to absolve themselves by blaming their victims.

12. White South Africa and Israel have both painted themselves as enclaves of democratic civilization, defending the front line of Western values. Ironically, however, both governments have often demanded that the rest of the world judge them by the standards of neighbors from which they claimed to be protecting the “free world.”

13. Israel is rapidly constructing a parallel network of West Bank roads for Palestinians, who are barred from using the many existing (and superior) routes reserved for Jews only. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, describes this system as bearing clear similarities to Apartheid’s exclusionary and isolating alternate road system that existed in racist South Africa.

14. Israel: The so-called Security Wall (really an Apartheid wall) is another land-grab to draw even more of the Occupied Territories permanently away from Palestinians, depriving them of community, livelihood, education, and resources.

South Africa: Apartheid was all about keeping the best parts of the country for whites only and herding blacks into the least habitable, least desirable, and least serviced parts of the country.

15. Israel and South Africa: In Israel, Palestinians are almost daily being dispossessed of their houses, fields and orchards by state- ordered bulldozing. During the heyday of South African Apartheid, population relocation programs also resulted in property destruction, but not on the same scale as that inflicted in the West Bank against Palestinians.

Now, for the second one. Is Israel a Nazi State, I’ll let DesertPeace (A Jewish Brother who is based in Jerusalem):

Zionists get very defensive when a comparison is made to the present situation in Occupied Palestine to that of the Jews living under nazi occupation. In that light, I will not add any commentary here, except to ask one question…. CAN YOU SEE THE SIMILARITIES???

Children and adult prisoners

Children under the age of around 12 were generally deemed unfit for work and were therefore immediately taken to the gas chambers. However, death may have been preferable because those who were allowed to work were treated with equal contempt by the SS.

Upon having their prisoner ID tattooed on them, the children were sent to work in either a factory, quarry, or some other strenuous and monotonous place of work. Their shifts lasted from 10 to 14 hours. After the day’s work was finished, the children were subjected to incredibly long roll calls, during which some even died. This routine continued for what could be months until the prisoners were either sent to the gas chambers or died from malnourishment or exhaustion.

Between the time of registration into the camp and death, prisoners were subjected to a number of demeaning and torturous ordeals. Prisoners were often beaten, whipped, or hung from beams with their hands behind them. This ordeal was done with their feet just inches from the ground. Prisoners were also regularly shot so that the SS could maintain a feeling of control.

These dreadful ordeals combined to create a genuinely miserable experience within the camps. As a result, many inmates embraced or welcomed death.

The following is taken from THIS report on Israeli prisons. Thanks to Sabbah for originally posting this segment.

Forced labor for Palestinian children in Israeli prison

Many Palestinian children in Israeli Telmond Prison are being exploited by “forced labor in which they must work eight hours for a few shekels,” as reported by the Prisoners Information Center.

One of the children made a statement after his release. “The prison administration has forced all prisoners in Telmond Prison to work eight hours for very low wages.” He went on to say, “The Israeli soldiers come to the chambers at seven and force us to go with our legs tied with chains.” The child added that his job was to stand under guard and pack plastic spoons in boxes.

Even injured political prisoners are forced to work, according to Friday’s Nablus-based report. A former prisoner stated, “I had a broken bone but the soldiers forced me out of my cell to work anyway, without any consideration for the pain.”

There are approximately 375 Palestinians in Telmond Prison, with most of them being children. The oldest Palestinian in Telmond is 22 years old. The child laborers are given two meals per 24 hours, one at 11:00 pm and another at 6:00 am.

Israeli prison officials also attempt to extract information from children regarding members of the armed resistance and engage in frequent psychological abuse

According to the Information Center there are 200 children less than 16 years old in Israeli prisons begin subjected to some of the worst forms of exploitation and humiliation. A total of 376 Palestinian children are currently imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention camps.

Source: Jihad and the city




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Readers have left 8 comments.
George: Quote

This article is so factually incorrect and so bad that it is hard to even work out where to start. The Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem live in Palestine and are not Israeli citizens. It would be a illegal for Israel to confer upon them Israeli citizen unless they choose to apply for it. Were Israel to do so Israel would be formally incorporating East Jerusalem into the state of Israel. Therefore the process differences between Israelis resident in East Jerusalem (illegally as settlers?) and Palestinian citizens wishing to enter Israel are paralleled in other countries and are to be expected.The Wall should be repositioned according to the judgement along the Green Line, but that is as far as the judgement goes. If Israel were to relocate it there it would not be illegal, neither would closing the crossing points to non-Israelis.The constraint upon Israelis bringing in Palestinian spouses from the Territories in fact merely applied to these people the constraints that others had always faced. It should be remembered that the present Palestinian government regards itself at war with Israel and thus these Palestinian spouses are in fact enemy nationals are far as Israel is concerned.
Israel is not obliged by any law to provide Palestinians citizens resident in the West Bank or Gaza with access to the Israeli hospital system, any more than the USA is obliged to provide medical services to any UK national who presents themselves at their border.

The constant repetition of this absurd allegation that Israeli is like former S. Africa merely serves to polarise communities that desperately need to start a meaningful dialogue. Of course if you see yourself engaged in an existential conflict against the other side (Israeli or Palestinian) then dialogue is a pointless waste of time.
(1) 2006-11-02 09:32:02
Kathy: Quote

They can lie to themselves but we who are more enlightened know the truth. Even within Israel amongst the Jewish population, there is racism. Those with darker coloured skin are second class citizens. Ooops, deja vu, hasn't this happened before, in Germany perhaps?

I have seen programmes where Iranian Jews who were conned into going to Israel to boost the numbers of Jews, now say that they would rather have remained in Iran as their life was better there. If they can treat fellow Jews in this way then the Muslims and Christians have no chance.

Perhaps they do not class themselves as racist because this is the norm for them.
(2) 2006-11-02 10:27:46
Roger Gooding: Quote

The Nazis persecuted the Jews and killed millions
The Jews now appear to be treating Muslims in a similar way, especially in Palastime (where Christians also suffer the same fate) and Lebanon (some Christians there as well)
I have a number of Christian friends who believe that Chritians in the UK will suffer the same fate at the hands of Muslims at some time in the future.(Chrstian already suffer persecution for exercising their faith in a number of Muslim controlled countries.
Why does this have to happen? Muslims, Christians and Jews have quite a lot in common . We all worship the same one true God for a start.
(3) 2006-11-02 17:41:07
Shazy: Quote

So are we so much better?
The Palestinian Constitution defines a Palestinian as a person with a Palestinian father. Women do not have the right to pass down their national identity to their children. Women are described as being subordinate beings to men and thus denied equality.
The same document defines itself as being of Islamic origin and informed and directed by Islam. It does not clarify whether under this new constitution Jews descended from people born outside of Palestine after 1917 but having been resident since are Palestinians or can acquire Palestinian citizenship. This is a major issue if a single state is to be brought about as from 1948 until 1964 no Jew could obtain Palestinian citizenship or legally reside in any part of Palestine according to the Palestinian leadership. Then from 1964 onward until now only Jews descended from people registered as permanent residents could obtain citizenship. Whereas for non-Jews the citizenship requirements were two years residency.
The PNA still deny Jews the right to live in their areas and demand that all Jews are removed.
We have got to stop creating this stupid fiction that we are somehow so much better than the Jews when we clearly are not. Until we do this we cannot expect the Jews to listen to our pleas for a peaceful solution.
(4) 2006-11-02 20:46:26
Akil: Quote

Salaamz,

There is something very wrong with the dating system of the comments on this site. How come comments are being post in months of 2007? We are still about 2 months from the beginning of 2007. Someone please check up on this problem.
(5) 2006-11-05 16:29:53
Shazy: Quote

To say that what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is comparable with what the Nazis did to the Jews and other during WW2 is to display either a terrible understanding of present evenst and history or a deliberate decision to misrepresent facts. Despite the awfulness of Israeli actions, they are not gassing anyone, they haven't committed any massacre of a par with Baba Yar and they haven't conducted executions like those in Lidice, Czechoslovakia.
99% of the victims of the Nazis were unarmed and did not participate in any form of resistance. They went like lambs to slaughter. In fact the first significant act of resistance was in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.

The Palestinians have actively pursued a number of courses militarily. They continue to do so.

BTW there are proportionally more Muslims in the IDF than Muslims in the British Army. Tom Hurndall was shot down by a Bedouin Muslim. The use of the word Jews instead of Israeli fails to recognise that some Jews are anti-Zionist.
(6) 2006-11-06 14:40:23
Shazy: Quote

Roger Gooding - Well your comments how that Christians can be as paranoid as Muslims and Jews.

Let's get one thing really clear shall we - there is not a holocaust going on against the Palestinians. The Nazis and their allies killed 6 million Jews between 09/1939 and 06/1945. This equalled to 33% of all Jews alive in 1939. Therefore had the Nazis been allowed to continue they might have killed all the Jews in 15 years or less as their effeiciency improved over time.
The Israelis have occupied the West Bank and Gaza, and arguable all of western Palestine since 1967. The Palestinian population has grown in that tinme significantly several universities have been built, slums cleared, univeral education for boys and girls, etc. Hardly the environment that the Nazis constructed in the occupied lands.
The Israelis can be very very brutal, and it's not really surprising given the violence started in the 1920's and has continued on and on. One day someone might stop shooting and try giving peace a chance but its a long way off.

As for Christians in the Middle East. They are leaving because of fear and threats. Soon if things continue there will be no Christians in Bethlehem. Prof Habib of Beirut Uni has higlighted the real possibility of the return to Dar al Dhimmi and the violence that entailed. But most of all the Christians will leave because western Christians wont stand up for them.
(7) 2006-11-06 20:49:09
Jason Smith: Quote

ITS ISREAL'S FAULT!

David Ben Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel and as leader
was instrumental in the founding of the state of Israel at the expiration of the British Mandate. Here follows quotes from David Ben Gurion:

"Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."
-- David Ben Gurion, quoted in The Jewish Paradox, by Nahum Goldmann, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978, p. 99.

"Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country."
-- David Ben Gurion, quoted on pp 91-2 of Chomsky's Fateful Triangle, which appears in Simha Flapan's "Zionism and the Palestinians pp 141-2 citing a 1938 speech."

So you see even Ben Gurion quietly admits that it was the Zionists who were the aggressors, the ones who violated the sanctity of the Palestinian Home Land and continue to persecute and Oppress the Natives to this day. You know they say there's no smoke without fire and that nothing happens in a vacuum.

How on earth did the Israelis and their powerful allies in the West expect the Palestinians to feel and react to the injustices? Did they expect the Israeli actions to win hearts and minds and every other body piece, did they expect rose pedals at the feet of the Israeli soldiers and the accompanying settlers. You see what the West and Israel fail to understand is that it is aggression, persecution and tyranny that breeds hatred, resentment and a violent reaction. The Palestinians are Humans not Machines; kick a human in the teeth it hurts. There wasn’t any reaction from the Palestinians without Israeli actions. ISREAL is at fault and clearly in the WRONG!

I am English, if my country was attacked like this I too would react in exactly the same way as Hammas. The only resolution to the Israeli Palestinian problem is to peacefully dismantle the State of Israel and to hand back sovereignty to its Native population, the Palestinians. The Jews could still live there but under absolute Palestinian sovereignty.
(8) 2006-11-07 19:30:15
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