By Michael Kuttner…
The Jewish New Year has only just commenced and we already have experienced a taste of what will undoubtedly be another vintage onslaught of double standards served up by practioners of sanctimonious hypocrisy.
Adding to the excruciating experience is the sad spectacle of officials who claim that their Jewish birthright somehow gives them an automatic license to pontificate about Israel.
It is amazing how time after time those whose identification with anything meaningfully Jewish is non existent or peripheral emerge from the woodwork and burst into the media.
Even more frustrating is when these individuals have been appointed to prominent political positions and therefore feel an overwhelming urge to prove their loyalty by swatting supporters of the Jewish State.
The excuse that “as a Jew” or “as a descendant of Holocaust survivors” somehow gives them a divine right to condemn and sanction Israel is a chutzpah.
One of the worst aspects is the craven responses of many in communal leadership roles to this increasingly blatant display of enmity.
Take for example a report from the USA in which twenty Jewish Leaders have announced their support for Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate candidate. He is a vocal opponent of military aid to Israel and claims that the IDF committed “genocide” in Gaza.
The twenty “leaders” express “concern” over the candidate’s views but then go on to claim that he has been misrepresented and his Israel hate is “not really as bad as reported.” This weak kneed response to Israel bashing merely encourages the haters and inciters and is a perfect reflection of the pitiful state of communal leadership. If this response is an indication of future non action then the prognosis for the mid terms and beyond is dire.
Those on the extreme fringes, whether left or right, who are making a bid for majority influence are undoubtedly encouraged by the pareve responses to their lunacy.
The Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel who is a Jewish Democrat told a private gathering of Jewish Democrats that “their community should place global needs and the livability of the planet above their own self interest and future.”
She further compounded her confused lack of Jewish historical knowledge by invoking a totally screwed up comparison with Queen Esther. She compared the current situation to Biblical Queen Esther by suggesting that “Jewish people need to follow her path and sacrifice the comfort, safety, security and even the very future of our own people in exchange to save the rest of humanity.”
This clarion call for Jewish voters to stick with a rapidly evolving anti Israel/Zionist/Jewish political party even at the risk to their own future must surely rank as a classic case of self induced suicide.
Proof, if indeed any more proof is required of the dead end street which the majority of American Jews are now hurtling down is provided by a recent survey. This shows that despite a clear and evident agenda by the increasingly virulent anti Israel “Democrat progressives,” 67% of American Jewish voters intend to vote Democrat in the forthcoming mid terms.
Presumably these respondents would rather vote a future “death wish” instead of voting for a Republican. In an electoral system which only provides two choices, both of which may be poisonous, the only alternative should be to abstain. The fact that 67% still prefer to cast their ballot for a candidate who threatens their community is appalling yet symptomatic of the problems we face.
One just has to look at what happened in the New York mayoral contest to see where matters are headed in the rest of the country.
For a glimpse at double standards on steroids one has to look no further than what is happening in the United Kingdom these days.
The world’s oldest surviving colonial occupier has had the most experience at settling territories in all parts of the globe and in many of these places subduing and often eliminating native indigenous populations. Once upon a time in the recent past the sun never set on the British Empire.
Until as recent as 1966 overseas occupied territories came under the control of the Colonial Office in London. Today, overseas areas still occupied by the UK are the concern of the more politically correct named Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It may sound much more kosher but it still represents the same colonial mind set.
Some things never change and amongst these is the inbuilt and endemic hostility towards Jewish sovereignty that has characterized the British Foreign Office since its control of the Palestine Mandate. The Balfour Declaration and San Remo Agreement not withstanding, the betrayal of the pledge for restored Jewish sovereignty was quickly thwarted by the perfidious British. Hacking off all of the territory east of the River Jordan as a gift to their Arab friends was only the start of a continuing campaign to scuttle a restored Jewish State.
The anti Jewish rhetoric and actions of Labour Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin was the forerunner of subsequent policies against Israel.
One of the best ways to wage a campaign of condemnation and sanctions is to put responsibility for these policies in the hands of a compliant politician who can claim some sort of Jewish affinity. It does not matter whether it is the UK, USA or some other democratic country, the nominated official will always need to prove his or her super loyalty to each and every anti Israel decision.
Therefore, when Ed Miliband was appointed Labour Foreign Secretary under the premiership of Andy Burnham, I predicted that negative actions would follow. It is not just that Miliband is hard left but his affiliation with anything meaningfully Jewish is non existent.
This is the perfect script for him and others like him to preface their anti Israel rhetoric with the infamous phrase “as a Jew” or “as a descendant of Holocaust survivors.” This gives them the apparent excuse to launch off into policies which garner applause from the usual opponents of Israel and guarantees them the adoration of the hard left and anti Jew haters of the hard right.
It came as no surprise when Miliband stood up in the House of Commons and launched off into a speech which delighted all Israel/Zionist haters. He tried to prove his pure credentials by asserting at the very beginning of his speech that he was “a proud British Jew” which presumably then provided him with an excuse to launch into a tirade of lies and false assertions.
The problem of course is that Miliband remains estranged from anything remotely Jewish and just used this description in order to deflect criticism which he knew would follow.
In a gratuitous gesture towards the majority of Labour Party MPs and of course the growing Islamic voting constituencies he made sure to trot out the old “ethnic cleansing” libel. He failed to explain how the aims of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iran and other jihadist terror groups do not qualify as any sort of ethnic cleansing. He is mute about the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Islamic countries. He is silent about the “pay for slay” policy of fake “Palestine.”
Condemning Jews for living in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan, all termed “illegally occupied Palestinian territories” garnered enthusiastic approval from many sections of the Commons. The decision of the UK Government to boycott, sanction and condemn goods and services as well as any advertising from areas which have seen a legal Jewish presence for three thousand years is the height of hypocrisy.
Here is a list of what is today called “British Overseas territories” but which not so long ago were described as colonies. Please note that these places originally had no connection to the UK and were never connected ethnically, religiously or historically to the colonial power which occupied them.
Anguilla – Bermuda – British Antarctic territory – British Indian Ocean territory – British Virgin Islands – Cayman Islands – Falkland Islands – Gibraltar – Montserrat – Pitcairn Islands – Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cunha – South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – British Military bases in Cyprus – Turks and Caicos Islands.
A more blatant act of hypocrisy would be hard to find as the UK now condemns and sanctions Jews living in their ancestral homeland.
Hamas applauded the UK move and stated that it didn’t go far enough.
Iran greeted Miliband’s settlement sanctions as “a step towards the end of Israel.”
Miliband, the “proud British Jew” may feel happy and joyful as he instigates anti Israel policies but in reality he is following in the footsteps of others like him who have planted the poisonous seeds of Jew hate. The “lethal crop” which will inevitably follow and, in fact, is already spreading rapidly will not spare him. Those Jews who think that by slandering Israel, acceptance and applause will follow are seriously deluded.
They should remember the fate of “proud German Jews” and “proud French Jews” in the not so distant past.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel.
[This article was originally published on J-Wire and is reproduced here with permission from Michael Kuttner.]
