liberals and israel

8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel

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If you consider yourself a

liberal«

We¶re already in agreement



We agree on basic liberal

principles

Democracy

Human Rights

The abolition of capital punishment

Gay rights

Feminism

Opposition to all forms of racism

Religious Tolerance«



Opposition to apartheid

Opposition to fascism

Concern for religious and racial

minorities

Freedom of speech

Freedom of thought

Freedom to change one¶s religion



Israel and Palestine



To many Liberals,

Israel is«

An apartheid state

Afascist state

A racist state

Even a Nazi

state



I will ask only one question«

If that is true, why

is a lifelong liberal

like myself proud to call himself

a friend of Israel?



There are two sides to every story

² especially this one«

The funeral of Muhammad

Samur, Palestine, 2001

Palestine



But only if you go on turning the

page«

Israel

Young Israeli soldiers bury a comrade



Some call Israeli soldiers Nazis.

But it pays to questionstereotypes.



Israel is painted in lurid colours.

But it¶s not all black and white.

There are no photographs like this from the Third Reich.



There is a broad consensus that Israel is an

evil, Nazi state.B

uth

ow many people takethe trouble to examine such a claim?

In a Nazi state, the soldier would shoot the little boy.



A lot of those photos show soldiers. A majority of

Israelis do national service and reserve duty.

Isthis because they are aggressors?

1948-49

1967

1973-4 1982

2006 These are all years when Israelis had to fight wars of defence

against enemies bent on their destruction. The Holocaust only ended in 1945. British internment camps

three years later.

This is the context of today¶s struggle for peace.



Israel is a democracy

It has never been ruled by a dictator

It has the liveliest multi-party system in

the world

There are no restrictions on the

opposition

The press is completely free to criticize

the government



And treats women wit

hrespect.



If not awe«

Israel¶s soldiers may be beautiful, butwomen play many other roles in society«



As businesswomen«

Jewish and Arab women at the launch of Jasmine, the Association of Businesswomen

in Israel



As politicians«

Golda Meir, Prime Minister 1969-1974



And scientists

Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, former Chief Scientist and Head of the Directorate of

Science in the Israeli Ministry of Science



Israel defends the rights of gay men and

women, Jewish and Arab alike

If you want to learn the truth about Israeli freedom,

ask a gay Arab who has taken refuge there.

Gay pride march,

Tel Aviv



I believe in human rights. In rights for women,

racial and religious minorities, gay rights, the

right to free speech and a free press.

None of these rights exist in Gaza or the West

Bank. In Lebanon, Syria or Egypt. In Saudi Arabia.

In Iran. In theG

ulf States. In Syria. As a liberal, I choose a country that gives rights

over a country that does not. If you are a liberal,

please give this some more thought.



Israel is not an apartheid state. There are no

laws th

at enforce discrimination betweenIsraeli citizens.



Or per haps you think this is truly

liberal«

Palestinian security forces use the Nazi salute.



Or th

is«

Two gay teenagers being hanged in Iran. Fascism lives on, but not in Israel.



I¶m a liberal, and photographs like that make me angry to the

core. But when did any liberals protest about such sick

behaviour in Iran? if anyone takes to the street nowadays, it¶sto condemn Israel. Just Israel. Does that seem fair to you?

There is no capital punishment in Israel.

And nobody marches with a banner like

this«



If we¶re ever going to bring peace to the Middle East, the

first step is for liberals in the West to stop demonizing

Israel and whitewashing the Arabs.

Isn¶t the Left

ashamed to

be associated

with this?



It¶s right to feel pity for the Palestinians. I do.

But don¶t Jews get any sympathy in your

liberal heart?



I¶m not asking you to believe that the Israelis are always

the good guys and the Palestinians always the bad. That

is obviously not the case.

But this soldier is weeping precisely because she is not a cold-hearted

Nazi and because a terrorist has just killed a friend of hers.



I would just like my liberal friends to stop

acting as though Hitler was right and that the

Jews are the only force of evil in the world.

Israeli soldiers play with a Palestinian boy. They never open fire on Palestinian

children deliberately. Why would they do that? Do they look like sadists?



Israelis have done more good in the world

than harm. They want the same things you

and I want: peace, human rights, justice.

Above all, they want freedom from this.

A Hizbullah rocket hits Haifa, 2006



I have included numerous photos of Israeli soldiers in

this presentation, because most Israelis serve in the

armed forces at some time or another and because themilitary is the front line between survival and genocide.

This is what a Nazi soldier looks like. This is genocide.



Since then, most Israelis have been

soldiers«



And doctors«

Israel doctors train Palestinian doctors at Medilink



But soldiers out of necessity«

"This will be a war of extermination anda momentous massacre, which will be

spoken of like the Mongolianmassacres and the Crusades.´

Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League in 1948, before theArab attacks on Israel.



Without its army, Israel would no

longer exist

"We shall not enter Palestine

with its soil covered in sand, we

shall enter it with its soil

saturated in blood´

Egyptian President GamalAbdel Nasser 1965



Israel¶s soldiers have fought against

overwhelming odds

The Zionist barrack in Palestine is about to

collapse and be destroyed. Every one of the

h

undred millionA

rabsh

as been living for th

epast nineteen years on one hope: to live to see

the day Israel is liquidated. There is no life, no

peace nor hope for the gangs of Zionism to

remain in the occupied land.

Cairo Radio (Egyptian state radio) broadcast

1967



If you were armed, who would you point your

rifle at?

Would you bless Hitler and kill the Jew? Or let your bullet find a truer mark?



For 60 years now, Israel¶s enemies have

been pointing guns and rockets at her.

An Iranian built Fajr3 missile, now in the Hizbullah arsenal and aimed at Israel.

Iran is building nuclear materials for nuclear warheads to fit one of these.



Is this really the proper liberal response to

that?



Have we lost all sense of proportion that we identify

with a theocratic, misogynist, fascist movement in

preference to a multicultural, democratic country?

Ethiopian Jews in Israel celebrate the annual Sigd festival.



It¶s time to think harder about Israel, and a lot harder

about your own biases. You don¶t have to stop

dreaming dreams for the Palestinians. You just have to

start asking about the nightmare the Israelis are going

through as well.



I don¶t ask you to love Israel or fight for her or to live

there. Only to judge her and her citizens with fairness.

Without justice there can never be peace for anyone.

In times of persecution, the Jews have nowhere else to go. Why should they, after so

long wandering, be the only people in the world to be denied a homeland? They came

to the Holy Land in peace and were greeted by enmity and violence. It¶s time to listen to

their story. Time to hear their voice every bit as loudly as you hear the voices of the

Palestinians. The Israeli voices are passionate. They call for peace and justice and

human rights. But when they are threatened by bombs and rockets, their children put on

uniforms and go into battle. No-one has the right to deny them their right to self-defence.No-one has the right to ask everything of them and nothing of the Palestinians. They are

not the best people in the world; but they are very far from the worst. Listen to them.

They have a story to tell, a story unlike the story of any other people on earth.



Presentation designed and written by

Denis MacEoin

Edited by Rufus Greenbaum

Photo 22 copyright Marco Abrar (

www.bahaipictures.com

If a copyright notice has inadvertently been omitted, or if you wishto comment about the presentation, please contact:

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