My friend Lars and fellow blogger Bjørn Stærk recently attended an anti-terrorism event in Norway and have accounts of the event here and here.
The event was widely condemned in the Norwegian press because anything "anti-terrorist" was considered equivalent to "pro-Israeli." And that, according to one local government official:
...is really a rally to support the Israeli government’s politics, which includes illegal occupation, massacres, and harassment and execution of innocent children. We will therefore call upon everyone not to attend this meeting.
At about the same time, there was a "pro-Palestinian" rally in San Francisco, which has attracted commentary (and a jarring but telling photograph) from LGF, Michael Totten and Imshin, among others.
Anybody notice a pattern here?
I've previously complained about the absence of civility within the so-called "pro-Palestine" camp, but it seems that they are shedding their inhibitions like snake skin.
I generally scoff at the conventional wisdom that Palestinians and Jews hate each other. From what I've seen, they have an easy time getting along in all kinds of situations. To be sure, there is lots of distrust and resentment, but sinat chinam, or causeless hate - in the sense that you hope that the other guy suffers a horrible death just because - I haven't seen a lot of that. It explains much more to look at this as a political conflict when all is said and done.
But when it comes to the critics of Israel, I really wonder. They seem to truly hate Israel, for no apparent reason. It's no use telling me their anger is righteous, on behalf of the plight of the Palestinians. Hating Israel doesn't make life better for a single Palestinian; if anything it makes things worse. The clear distinction between constructive criticism and shrill, hysterical hatred has long since been crossed by these guys.
I will tell you with complete conviction that it's because these people hate Jews. And they hate Jews because they have an incurable inferiority complex. I know many will dispute my premise and my belief, which is fine.
But I say they have the burden of proof, not me. If you're from a society that has hated Jews for hundreds if not thousands of years, it's up to you to prove that you're different from your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.
Interesting, I have this suspicion too that the Eurpean anti-zionism is the plain old anti-semitism resulting in big part from the pure envy.
Posted by: marek | June 17, 2004 at 05:55 PM