Wednesday, 22 April 2009

The Devils of Anti-Semitism and the Angels of Racism


The Devils of Anti-Semitism and the Angels of Racism

Nasri Sayegh - Assafir
April 22, 2009

“Us and the West are on two banks,” prominent Lebanese political analyst Nasri Sayegh wrote.

‘We have our viewpoint on racism and they have their own say. The dispute is chronic and the reasons diverge. They have their reasons and we have ours. When they tackle racism, they exclude Israel; when we address racism we start from the fact of the rise of Israel. They choose to condemn anti-Semitism and racism and exclude Israel and Zionism; an irrevocable exclusion that no ‘sane’ westerner would dare to overstep. Our choices to condemn racism however cover Israel and whoever supports it.

It’s as if we’ve been living on two planets for a long time.

What Iranian President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad said during the anti-racism conference in Geneva, accusing Israel of racism suppression and cruelty, was in harmony with the unofficial Arab description. We also accept and endorse what he (Ahmadinejad) announced about exploiting the Nazi holocaust to justify aggression and settlements. And what he pointed to, that Europe had pushed the Jews to go to Palestine, was right and we have been burned by it.

Consequently, as well, came the acrid, insulting and spiteful reaction of the inhabitants of the western planet that took the form of the withdrawal of 23 European states (from the conference). The reason is that, for them, Israel is a democratic angel, racism free and innocent of cruelty and violence.

Why this deep discord?

There has been no such thing in the Arab history, until the creation of Israel, called ‘the Jewish question’. This issue is a western specialty, European in particular.

Jacques Attali, advisor to former French President François Mitterrand points out to two Jewish tracks in his book (The Jews, the World and Money); one in the Arab world and another in the European continent. Jews, with Arab Muslims and Christians, had lived their golden days. They had been, since Caliphate Omar until the fall of Andalusia, financial authorities, monetary references, commercial convoys, philosophers and even commanders of Muslim armies, like the Jewish commander of the Muslim army that had defeated Christian princes in Andalusia in 18 days and then when he died his son inherited him.

In contrast, the history of the Jews in Europe, from the middle ages to the holocaust, was utter racism.
For instance, the witness on this bloody era of Jewish persecution is the princes, the Popes and the churches that deemed the Jews the demons of Earth. If a cholera epidemic spread they would accuse the Jews, if the prince lost a battle they would kill the Jews, if a certain community went bankrupt they would expel the Jews. Thus the number of the inhabitants of Europe rose year after year, except for the Jews whose numbers decreased because of seasonal genocide.

Modern history records that Jews in Iraq for example, after the British had occupied it, had been leaders of revolutions, parties, printers, journals and trades. They had been Arabs until the creation of Israel. Jews in the Ottoman era had controlled trade and commercial convoys from Kandahar to Tangiers on the Atlantic.

The West had excessively spilled the blood of the Jews, while in Arab states, they had been part and parcel of the scientific, cultural and religious movement, although they (Jews) had excelled in managing money and usury, what led some to take a negative stance since money and ethics are dissociated.

The Arabs problem is with zionist Israel, not with the Jews.
Arab racist comments, which are condemned, are no match for a settlement, a war or the necessity for an irrevocable acknowledgment that Israel is a Jewish state for Jews so let the Palestinians go the desert or the sea.

The West and us...we are not from the same world.
The main reason is Israel.
Israel is the penance for their sins. It is our punishment for our weakness and innocence.

No neutrality on this matter.

Europe that is anti-racist with its people is distinctively racist with Arabs because of its immoral and political stance on the legitimacy of the (zionist) entity, the purity of zionism and the innocent zionist wars on Arabs.

This is why what Ahmadinejad had said was not enough and what the Europeans had done was very normal...and very racist."

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