The Richard Dawkins Award will be given every year to honor an outstanding atheist whose contributions raise public awareness of the nontheist life stance; who through writings, media, the arts, film, and/or the stage advocates increased scientific knowledge; who through work or by example teaches acceptance of the nontheist philosophy; and whose public posture mirrors the uncompromising nontheist life stance of Dr. Richard Dawkins.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
"There seems to be no doubt that the settlement project has been conceived, stimulated and implemented by the Government of Israel; colonization has not been a spontaneous popular movement taking place in the face of governmentresistance or indifference. Furthermore, this policy has been energetically followed for over 30 years by all administrations from 1967 until the present time.
[Ariel] Sharon, flying over the Occupied Territories once remarked: 'Arabs should see Jewish lights every night from 500 metres."
- Weizman, Hollow Land, p.81 quoted by Ben White in Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide, p.62
'By the time that Britain had decided to get out of Palestine and hand the problem over to the United Nations, the Zionists were ready for the revolutionary moment they knew was necessary to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Effectie Zionst lobbying, paricularly in the USA, combined with ineffective strategy from the Arabs, meant that when it came to the vote, 33 nations voted in favour of partition, 10 abstained and 13 rejected the plan.
Partition was not the reasonable compromise it can sound like. The Palestinian Arabs were more than two thirds of the population of Palestine, and were a majority in all but one of the 16 sub-districts. Jews owned around 20 per cent of the cultivable land, and just over 6 per cent of the total land of Palestine.
Despite the fact that the Jews were a clear minority in terms of both population and land ownership, the Partition Plan handed over 55.5 per cent of Palestine to the proposed Jewish state (israel would later increase that by strength of arms to 78 per cent). The Palestinian Arabs would make up almost half the population of the new Jewish state, territory even set to inclue the Negev which was 1 per cent Jewish. The Jewish state would include prime agricultural land and '40 percent of Palestinian industry and major sources of the country's electrical supply.'
- Ben White in Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide p21-22
[Ariel] Sharon, flying over the Occupied Territories once remarked: 'Arabs should see Jewish lights every night from 500 metres."
- Weizman, Hollow Land, p.81 quoted by Ben White in Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide, p.62
'By the time that Britain had decided to get out of Palestine and hand the problem over to the United Nations, the Zionists were ready for the revolutionary moment they knew was necessary to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Effectie Zionst lobbying, paricularly in the USA, combined with ineffective strategy from the Arabs, meant that when it came to the vote, 33 nations voted in favour of partition, 10 abstained and 13 rejected the plan.
Partition was not the reasonable compromise it can sound like. The Palestinian Arabs were more than two thirds of the population of Palestine, and were a majority in all but one of the 16 sub-districts. Jews owned around 20 per cent of the cultivable land, and just over 6 per cent of the total land of Palestine.
Despite the fact that the Jews were a clear minority in terms of both population and land ownership, the Partition Plan handed over 55.5 per cent of Palestine to the proposed Jewish state (israel would later increase that by strength of arms to 78 per cent). The Palestinian Arabs would make up almost half the population of the new Jewish state, territory even set to inclue the Negev which was 1 per cent Jewish. The Jewish state would include prime agricultural land and '40 percent of Palestinian industry and major sources of the country's electrical supply.'
- Ben White in Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide p21-22
Friday, February 25, 2011
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011224141158174266.html
Important information on the PA, Fatah and Hamas
Important information on the PA, Fatah and Hamas
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Strange alliance of antisemitism and Zionism
"It is therefore easy for the Zionists to ignore half of the relevant facts, revert to
the segregationist stance of classical Judaism, and claim that since all Gentiles always
hate and persecute all Jews, the only solution would be to remove all the Jews bodily
and concentrate them in Palestine or Uganda or wherever. (26) Some early Jewish
critics of zionism were quick to point out that if one assumes a permanent and
ahistorical incompatibility between Jews and Gentiles an assumption shared by both
zionists and antisemites! - then to concentrate the Jews in one place would simply
bring upon them the hatred of the Gentiles in that part of the world (as indeed was to
happen, though for very different reasons)."
"
"In fact, close relations have always existed between Zionists and antisemites:
exactly like some of the European conservatives, the Zionists thought they could
ignore the 'demonic' character of antisemitism and use the antisemites for their own
purposes. Many examples of such alliances are well known. Herzl allied himself with
the notorious Count von Plehve, the antisemitic minister of Tsar Nicholas II; (27)
Jabotinsky made a pact with Petlyura, the reactionary Ukrainian leader whose forces
massacred some 100,000 Jews in 1918-21; Ben-Gurion's allies among the French
extreme right during the Algerian war included some notorious antisemites who
were, however, careful to explain that they were only against the Jews in France, not
in Israel.
Perhaps the most shocking example of this type is the delight with which some
Zionist leaders in Germany welcomed Hitler's rise to power, because they shared his
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
— 61 —
belief in the primacy of 'race' and his hostility to the assimilation of Jews among
'Aryans'. They congratulated Hitler on his triumph over the common enemy - the
forces of liberalism. Dr Joachim Prinz, a Zionist rabbi who subsequently emigrated to
the USA, where he rose to be vice-chairman of the World Jewish Congress and a
leading light in the World Zionist Organization (as well as a great friend of Golda
Meir), published in 1934 a special book, Wir Juden (We, Jews), to celebrate Hitler's
so- called German Revolution and the defeat of liberalism:
The meaning of the German Revolution for the German nation will eventually
be clear to those who have created it and formed its image. Its meaning for us must
be set forth here: the fortunes of liberalism are lost. The only form of political life
which has helped Jewish assimilation is sunk. (28)
The victory of Nazism rules out assimilation and mixed marriages as an option
for Jews. 'We are not unhappy about this,' said Dr Prinz. In the fact that Jews are
being forced to identify themselves as Jews, he sees 'the fulfillment of our desires'.
And further:
We want assimilation to be replaced by a new law: the declaration of
belonging to the Jewish nation and Jewish race. A state built upon the
principle of the purity of nation and race can only honored and respected by a Jew
who declares his belonging to his own kind. Having so declared himself, he will
never be capable of faulty loyalty towards a state. The state cannot want other Jews
but such as declare themselves as belonging to their nation. It will not want Jewish
flatterers and
[72]
crawlers. It must demand of us faith and loyalty to our own interest. For only he
who honors his own breed and his own blood can have an attitude of honor towards
the national will of other nations. (29)
The whole book is full of similar crude flatteries of Nazi ideology, glee at the
defeat of liberalism and particularly of the ideas of the French Revolution (30) a and
great expectations that, in the congenial atmosphere of the myth of the Aryan race,
Zionism and the myth of the Jewish race will also thrive.
Of course, Dr Prinz, like many other early sympathizers and allies of Nazism,
did not realize where that movement (and modern antisemitism generally) was
leading. Equally, many people at present do not realize where zionism - the
movement in which Dr Prinz was an honored figure - is tending: to a combination of
all the old hates of classical Judaism towards Gentiles and to the indiscriminate and
ahistorical use of all the persecutions of Jews throughout history in order to justify
the zionist persecution of the Palestinians.
For, insane as it sounds, it is nevertheless plain upon close examination of the
real motives of the zionists, that one of the most deep-seated ideological sources of
the Zionist establishment's persistent hostility towards the Palestinians is the fact
that they are identified in the minds of many east-European Jews with the rebellious
east-European peasants who participated in the Chmielnicki uprising and in similar
revolts - and the latter are in turn identified ahistorically with modern antisemitism
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
— 62 —
and Nazism."
- p60-62 Jewish History, Jewish religion
the segregationist stance of classical Judaism, and claim that since all Gentiles always
hate and persecute all Jews, the only solution would be to remove all the Jews bodily
and concentrate them in Palestine or Uganda or wherever. (26) Some early Jewish
critics of zionism were quick to point out that if one assumes a permanent and
ahistorical incompatibility between Jews and Gentiles an assumption shared by both
zionists and antisemites! - then to concentrate the Jews in one place would simply
bring upon them the hatred of the Gentiles in that part of the world (as indeed was to
happen, though for very different reasons)."
"
"In fact, close relations have always existed between Zionists and antisemites:
exactly like some of the European conservatives, the Zionists thought they could
ignore the 'demonic' character of antisemitism and use the antisemites for their own
purposes. Many examples of such alliances are well known. Herzl allied himself with
the notorious Count von Plehve, the antisemitic minister of Tsar Nicholas II; (27)
Jabotinsky made a pact with Petlyura, the reactionary Ukrainian leader whose forces
massacred some 100,000 Jews in 1918-21; Ben-Gurion's allies among the French
extreme right during the Algerian war included some notorious antisemites who
were, however, careful to explain that they were only against the Jews in France, not
in Israel.
Perhaps the most shocking example of this type is the delight with which some
Zionist leaders in Germany welcomed Hitler's rise to power, because they shared his
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
— 61 —
belief in the primacy of 'race' and his hostility to the assimilation of Jews among
'Aryans'. They congratulated Hitler on his triumph over the common enemy - the
forces of liberalism. Dr Joachim Prinz, a Zionist rabbi who subsequently emigrated to
the USA, where he rose to be vice-chairman of the World Jewish Congress and a
leading light in the World Zionist Organization (as well as a great friend of Golda
Meir), published in 1934 a special book, Wir Juden (We, Jews), to celebrate Hitler's
so- called German Revolution and the defeat of liberalism:
The meaning of the German Revolution for the German nation will eventually
be clear to those who have created it and formed its image. Its meaning for us must
be set forth here: the fortunes of liberalism are lost. The only form of political life
which has helped Jewish assimilation is sunk. (28)
The victory of Nazism rules out assimilation and mixed marriages as an option
for Jews. 'We are not unhappy about this,' said Dr Prinz. In the fact that Jews are
being forced to identify themselves as Jews, he sees 'the fulfillment of our desires'.
And further:
We want assimilation to be replaced by a new law: the declaration of
belonging to the Jewish nation and Jewish race. A state built upon the
principle of the purity of nation and race can only honored and respected by a Jew
who declares his belonging to his own kind. Having so declared himself, he will
never be capable of faulty loyalty towards a state. The state cannot want other Jews
but such as declare themselves as belonging to their nation. It will not want Jewish
flatterers and
[72]
crawlers. It must demand of us faith and loyalty to our own interest. For only he
who honors his own breed and his own blood can have an attitude of honor towards
the national will of other nations. (29)
The whole book is full of similar crude flatteries of Nazi ideology, glee at the
defeat of liberalism and particularly of the ideas of the French Revolution (30) a and
great expectations that, in the congenial atmosphere of the myth of the Aryan race,
Zionism and the myth of the Jewish race will also thrive.
Of course, Dr Prinz, like many other early sympathizers and allies of Nazism,
did not realize where that movement (and modern antisemitism generally) was
leading. Equally, many people at present do not realize where zionism - the
movement in which Dr Prinz was an honored figure - is tending: to a combination of
all the old hates of classical Judaism towards Gentiles and to the indiscriminate and
ahistorical use of all the persecutions of Jews throughout history in order to justify
the zionist persecution of the Palestinians.
For, insane as it sounds, it is nevertheless plain upon close examination of the
real motives of the zionists, that one of the most deep-seated ideological sources of
the Zionist establishment's persistent hostility towards the Palestinians is the fact
that they are identified in the minds of many east-European Jews with the rebellious
east-European peasants who participated in the Chmielnicki uprising and in similar
revolts - and the latter are in turn identified ahistorically with modern antisemitism
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
— 62 —
and Nazism."
- p60-62 Jewish History, Jewish religion
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Jewish Hatred of Gentiles
Anyone who lives in Israel knows how deep and widespread these attitudes of
hatred and cruelty to towards all Gentiles are among the majority of Israeli Jews.
Normally these attitudes are disguised from the outside world, but since the
establishment of the State of Israel, the 1967 war and the rise of Begin, a significant
minority of Jews, both in Israel and abroad, have gradually become more open about
such matters. In recent years the inhuman precepts according to which servitude is
the 'natural' lot of Gentiles have been publicly quoted in Israel, even on TV, by Jewish
farmers exploiting Arab labor, particularly child labor. Gush Emunim leaders have
quoted religious precepts which enjoin Jews to oppress Gentiles, as a justification of
the attempted assassination of Palestinian mayors and as divine authority for their
own plan to expel all the Arabs from Palestine.
While many zionists reject these positions politically, their standard counterarguments
are based on considerations of expediency and Jewish self-interest, rather
than on universally valid
[97] principles of humanism and ethics. For example, they argue that the exploitation
and oppression of Palestinians by Israelis tends to corrupt Israeli society, or that the
expulsion of the Palestinians is impracticable under present political conditions, or
that Israeli acts of terror against the Palestinians tend to isolate Israel internationally.
In principle, however, virtually all zionists - and in particular 'left' zionists - share the deep anti-Gentile attitudes which Orthodox Judaism keenly promotes.
Israel Shahak
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
hatred and cruelty to towards all Gentiles are among the majority of Israeli Jews.
Normally these attitudes are disguised from the outside world, but since the
establishment of the State of Israel, the 1967 war and the rise of Begin, a significant
minority of Jews, both in Israel and abroad, have gradually become more open about
such matters. In recent years the inhuman precepts according to which servitude is
the 'natural' lot of Gentiles have been publicly quoted in Israel, even on TV, by Jewish
farmers exploiting Arab labor, particularly child labor. Gush Emunim leaders have
quoted religious precepts which enjoin Jews to oppress Gentiles, as a justification of
the attempted assassination of Palestinian mayors and as divine authority for their
own plan to expel all the Arabs from Palestine.
While many zionists reject these positions politically, their standard counterarguments
are based on considerations of expediency and Jewish self-interest, rather
than on universally valid
[97] principles of humanism and ethics. For example, they argue that the exploitation
and oppression of Palestinians by Israelis tends to corrupt Israeli society, or that the
expulsion of the Palestinians is impracticable under present political conditions, or
that Israeli acts of terror against the Palestinians tend to isolate Israel internationally.
In principle, however, virtually all zionists - and in particular 'left' zionists - share the deep anti-Gentile attitudes which Orthodox Judaism keenly promotes.
Israel Shahak
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
Jewish Law & The Palestinians: Land - II
All these laws are often quoted by Israeli rabbis and their zealous followers. For
example, the law forbidding the lease of three adjoining houses to Gentiles was
solemnly quoted by a rabbinical conference held in 1979 to discuss the Camp David
treaties. The conference also declared that according to the Halakhah even the
'autonomy' that Begin was ready to offer to the Palestinians is too liberal. Such
pronouncements - which do in fact state correctly the position of the Halakhah - are
rarely contested by the Zionist 'left'.
In addition to laws such as those mentioned so far, which are directed at all
Gentiles in the Land of Israel, an even greater evil influence arises from special laws
against the ancient Canaanites and other nations who lived in Palestine before its
conquest by Joshua, as well as against the Amalekites. All those nations must be
utterly exterminated, and the Talmud and talmudic literature reiterate the genocidal
biblical exhortations with even greater vehemence. Influential rabbis, who have a
considerable following among Israeli army officers, identify the Palestinians (or even
all Arabs) with those ancient nations, so that commands like 'thou shalt save alive
nothing that breatheth'56 acquire a topical meaning. In fact, it is not uncommon for
reserve soldiers called up to do a tour of duty in the Gaza Strip to be given an
'educational lecture' in which they are told that the Palestinians of Gaza are 'like the
[92] Amalekites'. Biblical verses exhorting to genocide of the Midianite57 were
solemnly quoted by an important Israeli rabbi in justification of the Qibbiya
massacre, (58) and this pronouncement has gained wide circulation in the Israeli
army. There are many similar examples of bloodthirsty rabbinical pronouncements
against the Palestinians, based on these laws.
example, the law forbidding the lease of three adjoining houses to Gentiles was
solemnly quoted by a rabbinical conference held in 1979 to discuss the Camp David
treaties. The conference also declared that according to the Halakhah even the
'autonomy' that Begin was ready to offer to the Palestinians is too liberal. Such
pronouncements - which do in fact state correctly the position of the Halakhah - are
rarely contested by the Zionist 'left'.
In addition to laws such as those mentioned so far, which are directed at all
Gentiles in the Land of Israel, an even greater evil influence arises from special laws
against the ancient Canaanites and other nations who lived in Palestine before its
conquest by Joshua, as well as against the Amalekites. All those nations must be
utterly exterminated, and the Talmud and talmudic literature reiterate the genocidal
biblical exhortations with even greater vehemence. Influential rabbis, who have a
considerable following among Israeli army officers, identify the Palestinians (or even
all Arabs) with those ancient nations, so that commands like 'thou shalt save alive
nothing that breatheth'56 acquire a topical meaning. In fact, it is not uncommon for
reserve soldiers called up to do a tour of duty in the Gaza Strip to be given an
'educational lecture' in which they are told that the Palestinians of Gaza are 'like the
[92] Amalekites'. Biblical verses exhorting to genocide of the Midianite57 were
solemnly quoted by an important Israeli rabbi in justification of the Qibbiya
massacre, (58) and this pronouncement has gained wide circulation in the Israeli
army. There are many similar examples of bloodthirsty rabbinical pronouncements
against the Palestinians, based on these laws.
Jewish Law & Gentiles: Land
Gentiles in the Land of lsrael
In addition to the general anti-Gentile laws, the Halakhah has special laws
against Gentiles who live in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisra'el) or, in some cases,
merely pass through it. These laws are designed to promote Jewish supremacy in that
country.
The exact geographical definition of the term 'Land of Israel' is much disputed
in the Talmud and the talmudic literature, and the debate has continued in modern
times between the various shades of zionist opinion. According to the maximalist
view, the Land of Israel includes (in addition to Palestine itself) not only the whole of
Sinai, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, but also considerable parts of Turkey. (51) The
more prevalent 'minimalist' interpretation puts the northern border 'only' about half
way through Syria and Lebanon, at the latitude of Homs. This view was supported by
Ben~Gurion. However, even those who thus exclude parts of Syria-Lebanon agree
that certain special discriminatory laws (though less oppressive than in the Land of
Israel proper) apply to the Gentiles of those parts, because that territory was included
in David's kingdom. In all talmudic interpretations the Land of Israel includes
Cyprus.
I shall now list a few of the special laws concerning Gentiles in the Land of
Israel. Their connection with actual zionist practice will be quite apparent.
The Halakhah forbids Jews to sell immovable property - fields and houses - in
the Land of Israel to Gentiles. In Syria, the sale of houses (but not of fields) is
permitted.
Leasing a house in the Land of Israel to a Gentile is permitted under two
conditions. First, that the house shall not be used for habitation but for other
purposes, such as storage. Second, that three or more adjoining houses shall not be so
leased.
These and several other rules are explained as follows: ... 'so
[91] that you shall not allow them to camp on the ground, for if they do not possess
land, their sojourn there will be temporary.' (52) Even temporary Gentile presence
may only be tolerated 'when the Jews are in exile, or when the Gentiles are more
powerful than the Jews,' but when the Jews are more powerful than the Gentiles we are forbidden to let an
idolator among us; even a temporary resident or itinerant trader shall not be allowed
to pass through our land unless he accepts the seven Noahide precepts, (53) for it is
written: 'they shall not dwell in thy land' (54) that is, not even temporarily. If he
accepts the seven Noahide precepts, he becomes a resident alien (ger toshav) but it
is forbidden to grant the status of resident alien except at times when the Jubilee is
held [that is, when the Temple stands and sacrifices are offered]. However, during
times when Jubilees are not held it is forbidden to accept anyone who is not a full
convert to Judaism (ger tzedeq). (55)
It is therefore clear that - exactly as the leaders and sympathizers of Gush
Emunim say - the whole question to how the Palestinians ought to be treated is,
according to the Halakhah, simply a question of Jewish power: if Jews have sufficient
power, then it is their religious duty to expel the Palestinians.
In addition to the general anti-Gentile laws, the Halakhah has special laws
against Gentiles who live in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisra'el) or, in some cases,
merely pass through it. These laws are designed to promote Jewish supremacy in that
country.
The exact geographical definition of the term 'Land of Israel' is much disputed
in the Talmud and the talmudic literature, and the debate has continued in modern
times between the various shades of zionist opinion. According to the maximalist
view, the Land of Israel includes (in addition to Palestine itself) not only the whole of
Sinai, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, but also considerable parts of Turkey. (51) The
more prevalent 'minimalist' interpretation puts the northern border 'only' about half
way through Syria and Lebanon, at the latitude of Homs. This view was supported by
Ben~Gurion. However, even those who thus exclude parts of Syria-Lebanon agree
that certain special discriminatory laws (though less oppressive than in the Land of
Israel proper) apply to the Gentiles of those parts, because that territory was included
in David's kingdom. In all talmudic interpretations the Land of Israel includes
Cyprus.
I shall now list a few of the special laws concerning Gentiles in the Land of
Israel. Their connection with actual zionist practice will be quite apparent.
The Halakhah forbids Jews to sell immovable property - fields and houses - in
the Land of Israel to Gentiles. In Syria, the sale of houses (but not of fields) is
permitted.
Leasing a house in the Land of Israel to a Gentile is permitted under two
conditions. First, that the house shall not be used for habitation but for other
purposes, such as storage. Second, that three or more adjoining houses shall not be so
leased.
These and several other rules are explained as follows: ... 'so
[91] that you shall not allow them to camp on the ground, for if they do not possess
land, their sojourn there will be temporary.' (52) Even temporary Gentile presence
may only be tolerated 'when the Jews are in exile, or when the Gentiles are more
powerful than the Jews,' but when the Jews are more powerful than the Gentiles we are forbidden to let an
idolator among us; even a temporary resident or itinerant trader shall not be allowed
to pass through our land unless he accepts the seven Noahide precepts, (53) for it is
written: 'they shall not dwell in thy land' (54) that is, not even temporarily. If he
accepts the seven Noahide precepts, he becomes a resident alien (ger toshav) but it
is forbidden to grant the status of resident alien except at times when the Jubilee is
held [that is, when the Temple stands and sacrifices are offered]. However, during
times when Jubilees are not held it is forbidden to accept anyone who is not a full
convert to Judaism (ger tzedeq). (55)
It is therefore clear that - exactly as the leaders and sympathizers of Gush
Emunim say - the whole question to how the Palestinians ought to be treated is,
according to the Halakhah, simply a question of Jewish power: if Jews have sufficient
power, then it is their religious duty to expel the Palestinians.
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