Israel has been having its
own internal debate about
the significance of the
Paris killings this month,
with concerns quite separate
from those being expressed
in Europe. While Europeans
are mired in debates about
free speech and the role of
Islam in secular societies,
Israelis generally – and
their prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, in
particular – view the
attacks as confirming
Israel’s place as the only
safe haven for Jews around
the world.
The 17 deaths in Paris
have reinforced Israeli
suspicions that Europe, with
its rapidly growing Muslim
population, is being dragged
into a clash of
civilisations that it is
ill-equipped to combat. More
specifically, the targeting
of a kosher supermarket that
killed four Jews has
heightened a belief that
Jews outside Israel are in
mortal danger.
If surveys are to be
believed, such anxieties are
shared in Europe’s Jewish
communities. One published
last week found that 56 per
cent of British Jews think
anti-semitism in Britain now
is comparable to the 1930s.
As one calmer Israeli
analyst pointed out, the
findings suggested “a
disconnect from reality
which borders on hysteria”.
Such fears have been
stoked by images like the
one posted on Facebook last
week by the Israeli embassy
in Dublin, showing the Mona
Lisa wearing a hijab and
carrying a large rocket. The
line underneath read:
“Israel is the last frontier
of the free world.”
In similar vein, the Arab
affairs correspondent on
Israel’s Channel 10
broadcast a fear-mongering
“investigation” from London
supposedly proving that the
city was overrun with
jihadis.
The hysteria is echoed by
Israeli politicians, not
least Mr Netanyahu. Since
the Paris attacks, he has
repeated warnings of a
“poisonous” Islam conquering
the West – ignoring the
reality that Europe,
including France, is far
safer for Jews than Israel
has proved.
Politicians on both the
left and right have parroted
his message that European
Jews know “in their hearts
that they have only one
country”. Israel apparently
persuaded the families of
the four Jewish victims of
that: they were flown to
Israel to be buried in
Jerusalem.
In contrast, the burial
in Paris of Ahmed Merabet,
the Muslim policeman also
killed by the gunmen, sent a
message of French unity,
noted a French Jewish
leader. This was the moment,
he added, for his community
to say: “We will be buried
here, just like everyone
else. We are French and we
have not given up.”
Mr Netanyahu has other
ideas. At a time when the
number of Jewish migrants
from France is already
rocketing, he has
established a ministerial
committee to find ways to
induce yet more to come to
Israel.
It was widely reported in
Israel that the French
president, Francois Hollande,
had appealed to Mr Netanyahu
not to participate in the
solidarity rally in Paris a
week ago, fearful that he
would use the occasion to
exacerbate tensions in
France. Mr Netanyahu ignored
the request.
He had good reason to
want to be there, not least
to grandstand with world
leaders during Israel’s
election campaign. In
addition, proselytising for
his claim that the so-called
Judeo-Christian West is on a
collision course with Islam
usefully places him on the
side of the angels as he
tries to build a Greater
Israel, crushing Palestinian
ambitions for statehood.
But it would be wrong to
view Mr Netanyahu’s argument
as solely opportunistic. It
is underpinned by an
authentic worldview, even if
one with paradoxical
antecedents.
His approach is embodied
in recent efforts – delayed
because of the election – to
pass a basic law defining
Israel as the nation-state
of the Jewish people. That
would crown Mr Netanyahu
leader of Jews worldwide
rather than of Israeli
citizens, a fifth of whom
are Palestinian.
Such a conception of
citizenship and nationhood
is based on ethnicity, not
territory. It opposes
multiculturalism, believing
instead that loyalty to the
state derives from a tribal
attachment rather than a
civic one. It stands in
stark opposition to most
European countries’ notions
of citizenship.
As a result, the Israeli
leadership assumes that all
Palestinians, including
those who are Israeli
citizens, cannot be trusted
and that there can never be
real peace in the region.
That is why Israel has been
building iron walls
everywhere to create a
fortress Jewish state.
But the logical corollary
is that Jews too cannot be
loyal to the other states
they live in, such as
France. In Mr Netanyahu’s
conception, a Jew’s primary
bond should be to their
“true home”: the Jewish
state of Israel.
Paradoxically, that view
is shared by Europe’s
far-right, including groups
like France’s National
Front, whose popularity has
been growing on the back of
attacks like the one in
Paris. They argue that
minorities are inherently
suspect and that Europe is
better off without them.
In this regard, Mr
Netanyahu and the far-right
share much common ground. He
wants a Europe free of Jews
– as well as Muslims who
undermine Europe’s support
for Israel – because he
thinks that is in Jewish
interests. The far-right
wants the same because it
believes it will be in the
interests of a supposed
“native” white majority.
One Israeli commentator
noted pointedly that Israeli
politicians like Mr
Netanyahu were helping to
“finish the job started by
the Nazis and their Vichy
collaborators: making France
Judenrein”.
In calling for Jews to
flee after the Paris
attacks, Mr Netanyahu is
bolstering the dangerous
arguments of Europe’s
far-right.
Tagged
as:
anti-semitism,
diplomacy
9
19
1
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- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2015-01-18/netanyahu-and-europes-far-right-find-common-ground/#sthash.5HfSPgZ6.dpuf
Netanyahu and Europe’s Far
Right Find Common Ground
By Jonathan Cook
January 19, 2015 "ICH"
- " Israel has been having its own internal
debate about the significance of the Paris
killings this month, with concerns quite
separate from those being expressed in
Europe.
While Europeans are mired in debates about
free speech and the role of Islam in secular
societies, Israelis generally – and their
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in
particular – view the attacks as confirming
Israel’s place as the only safe haven for
Jews around the world.
The 17 deaths in Paris have reinforced
Israeli suspicions that Europe, with its
rapidly growing Muslim population, is being
dragged into a clash of civilisations that
it is ill-equipped to combat. More
specifically, the targeting of a kosher
supermarket that killed four Jews has
heightened a belief that Jews outside Israel
are in mortal danger.
If surveys are to be believed, such
anxieties are shared in Europe’s Jewish
communities. One published last week found
that 56 per cent of British Jews think anti-semitism
in Britain now is comparable to the 1930s.
As one calmer Israeli analyst pointed out,
the findings suggested “a disconnect from
reality which borders on hysteria”.
Such fears have been stoked by images like
the one posted on Facebook last week by the
Israeli embassy in Dublin, showing the Mona
Lisa wearing a hijab and carrying a large
rocket. The line underneath read: “Israel is
the last frontier of the free world.”
In similar vein, the Arab affairs
correspondent on Israel’s Channel 10
broadcast a fear-mongering “investigation”
from London supposedly proving that the city
was overrun with jihadis.
The hysteria is echoed by Israeli
politicians, not least Mr Netanyahu. Since
the Paris attacks, he has repeated warnings
of a “poisonous” Islam conquering the West –
ignoring the reality that Europe, including
France, is far safer for Jews than Israel
has proved.
Politicians on both the left and right have
parroted his message that European Jews know
“in their hearts that they have only one
country”. Israel apparently persuaded the
families of the four Jewish victims of that:
they were flown to Israel to be buried in
Jerusalem.
In contrast, the burial in Paris of Ahmed
Merabet, the Muslim policeman also killed by
the gunmen, sent a message of French unity,
noted a French Jewish leader. This was the
moment, he added, for his community to say:
“We will be buried here, just like everyone
else. We are French and we have not given
up.”
Mr Netanyahu has other ideas. At a time when
the number of Jewish migrants from France is
already rocketing, he has established a
ministerial committee to find ways to induce
yet more to come to Israel.
It was widely reported in Israel that the
French president, Francois Hollande, had
appealed to Mr Netanyahu not to participate
in the solidarity rally in Paris a week ago,
fearful that he would use the occasion to
exacerbate tensions in France. Mr Netanyahu
ignored the request.
He had good reason to want to be there, not
least to grandstand with world leaders
during Israel’s election campaign. In
addition, proselytising for his claim that
the so-called Judeo-Christian West is on a
collision course with Islam usefully places
him on the side of the angels as he tries to
build a Greater Israel, crushing Palestinian
ambitions for statehood.
But it would be wrong to view Mr Netanyahu’s
argument as solely opportunistic. It is
underpinned by an authentic worldview, even
if one with paradoxical antecedents.
His approach is embodied in recent efforts –
delayed because of the election – to pass a
basic law defining Israel as the
nation-state of the Jewish people. That
would crown Mr Netanyahu leader of Jews
worldwide rather than of Israeli citizens, a
fifth of whom are Palestinian.
Such a conception of citizenship and
nationhood is based on ethnicity, not
territory. It opposes multiculturalism,
believing instead that loyalty to the state
derives from a tribal attachment rather than
a civic one. It stands in stark opposition
to most European countries’ notions of
citizenship.
As a result, the Israeli leadership assumes
that all Palestinians, including those who
are Israeli citizens, cannot be trusted and
that there can never be real peace in the
region. That is why Israel has been building
iron walls everywhere to create a fortress
Jewish state.
But the logical corollary is that Jews too
cannot be loyal to the other states they
live in, such as France. In Mr Netanyahu’s
conception, a Jew’s primary bond should be
to their “true home”: the Jewish state of
Israel.
Paradoxically, that view is shared by
Europe’s far-right, including groups like
France’s National Front, whose popularity
has been growing on the back of attacks like
the one in Paris. They argue that minorities
are inherently suspect and that Europe is
better off without them.
In this regard, Mr Netanyahu and the
far-right share much common ground. He wants
a Europe free of Jews – as well as Muslims
who undermine Europe’s support for Israel –
because he thinks that is in Jewish
interests. The far-right wants the same
because it believes it will be in the
interests of a supposed “native” white
majority.
One Israeli commentator noted pointedly that
Israeli politicians like Mr Netanyahu were
helping to “finish the job started by the
Nazis and their Vichy collaborators: making
France Judenrein”.
In calling for Jews to flee after the Paris
attacks, Mr Netanyahu is bolstering the
dangerous arguments of Europe’s far-right.
Israel has been having
its own internal debate about the
significance of the Paris killings this
month, with concerns quite separate from
those being expressed in Europe.
While Europeans are
mired in debates about free speech and
the role of Islam in secular societies,
Israelis generally – and their prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in
particular – view the attacks as
confirming Israel’s place as the only
safe haven for Jews around the world.
The 17 deaths in
Paris have reinforced Israeli suspicions
that Europe, with its rapidly growing
Muslim population, is being dragged into
a clash of civilisations that it is
ill-equipped to combat. More
specifically, the targeting of a kosher
supermarket that killed four Jews has
heightened a belief that Jews outside
Israel are in mortal danger.
If surveys are to
be believed, such anxieties are shared
in Europe’s Jewish communities. One
published last week found that 56 per
cent of British Jews think anti-semitism
in Britain now is comparable to the
1930s.
As one calmer
Israeli analyst pointed out, the
findings suggested “a disconnect from
reality which borders on hysteria”.
Such fears have
been stoked by images like the one
posted on Facebook last week by the
Israeli embassy in Dublin, showing the
Mona Lisa wearing a hijab and carrying a
large rocket. The line underneath read:
“Israel is the last frontier of the free
world.”
In similar vein,
the Arab affairs correspondent on
Israel’s Channel 10 broadcast a
fear-mongering “investigation” from
London supposedly proving that the city
was overrun with jihadis.
The hysteria is
echoed by Israeli politicians, not least
Mr Netanyahu. Since the Paris attacks,
he has repeated warnings of a
“poisonous” Islam conquering the West –
ignoring the reality that Europe,
including France, is far safer for Jews
than Israel has proved.
Politicians on both
the left and right have parroted his
message that European Jews know “in
their hearts that they have only one
country”. Israel apparently persuaded
the families of the four Jewish victims
of that: they were flown to Israel to be
buried in Jerusalem.
In contrast, the
burial in Paris of Ahmed Merabet, the
Muslim policeman also killed by the
gunmen, sent a message of French unity,
noted a French Jewish leader. This was
the moment, he added, for his community
to say: “We will be buried here, just
like everyone else. We are French and we
have not given up.”
Mr Netanyahu has
other ideas. At a time when the number
of Jewish migrants from France is
already rocketing, he has established a
ministerial committee to find ways to
induce yet more to come to Israel.
It was widely
reported in Israel that the French
president, Francois Hollande, had
appealed to Mr Netanyahu not to
participate in the solidarity rally in
Paris a week ago, fearful that he would
use the occasion to exacerbate tensions
in France. Mr Netanyahu ignored the
request.
He had good reason
to want to be there, not least to
grandstand with world leaders during
Israel’s election campaign. In addition,
proselytising for his claim that the
so-called Judeo-Christian West is on a
collision course with Islam usefully
places him on the side of the angels as
he tries to build a Greater Israel,
crushing Palestinian ambitions for
statehood.
But it would be
wrong to view Mr Netanyahu’s argument as
solely opportunistic. It is underpinned
by an authentic worldview, even if one
with paradoxical antecedents.
His approach is
embodied in recent efforts – delayed
because of the election – to pass a
basic law defining Israel as the
nation-state of the Jewish people. That
would crown Mr Netanyahu leader of Jews
worldwide rather than of Israeli
citizens, a fifth of whom are
Palestinian.
Such a conception
of citizenship and nationhood is based
on ethnicity, not territory. It opposes
multiculturalism, believing instead that
loyalty to the state derives from a
tribal attachment rather than a civic
one. It stands in stark opposition to
most European countries’ notions of
citizenship.
As a result, the
Israeli leadership assumes that all
Palestinians, including those who are
Israeli citizens, cannot be trusted and
that there can never be real peace in
the region. That is why Israel has been
building iron walls everywhere to create
a fortress Jewish state.
But the logical
corollary is that Jews too cannot be
loyal to the other states they live in,
such as France. In Mr Netanyahu’s
conception, a Jew’s primary bond should
be to their “true home”: the Jewish
state of Israel.
Paradoxically, that
view is shared by Europe’s far-right,
including groups like France’s National
Front, whose popularity has been growing
on the back of attacks like the one in
Paris. They argue that minorities are
inherently suspect and that Europe is
better off without them.
In this regard, Mr
Netanyahu and the far-right share much
common ground. He wants a Europe free of
Jews – as well as Muslims who undermine
Europe’s support for Israel – because he
thinks that is in Jewish interests. The
far-right wants the same because it
believes it will be in the interests of
a supposed “native” white majority.
One Israeli
commentator noted pointedly that Israeli
politicians like Mr Netanyahu were
helping to “finish the job started by
the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators:
making France Judenrein”.
In calling for Jews
to flee after the Paris attacks, Mr
Netanyahu is bolstering the dangerous
arguments of Europe’s far-right.
- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2015-01-18/netanyahu-and-europes-far-right-find-common-ground/#sthash.5HfSPgZ6.dpuf
Israel has been having
its own internal debate about the
significance of the Paris killings this
month, with concerns quite separate from
those being expressed in Europe.
While Europeans are
mired in debates about free speech and
the role of Islam in secular societies,
Israelis generally – and their prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in
particular – view the attacks as
confirming Israel’s place as the only
safe haven for Jews around the world.
The 17 deaths in
Paris have reinforced Israeli suspicions
that Europe, with its rapidly growing
Muslim population, is being dragged into
a clash of civilisations that it is
ill-equipped to combat. More
specifically, the targeting of a kosher
supermarket that killed four Jews has
heightened a belief that Jews outside
Israel are in mortal danger.
If surveys are to
be believed, such anxieties are shared
in Europe’s Jewish communities. One
published last week found that 56 per
cent of British Jews think anti-semitism
in Britain now is comparable to the
1930s.
As one calmer
Israeli analyst pointed out, the
findings suggested “a disconnect from
reality which borders on hysteria”.
Such fears have
been stoked by images like the one
posted on Facebook last week by the
Israeli embassy in Dublin, showing the
Mona Lisa wearing a hijab and carrying a
large rocket. The line underneath read:
“Israel is the last frontier of the free
world.”
In similar vein,
the Arab affairs correspondent on
Israel’s Channel 10 broadcast a
fear-mongering “investigation” from
London supposedly proving that the city
was overrun with jihadis.
The hysteria is
echoed by Israeli politicians, not least
Mr Netanyahu. Since the Paris attacks,
he has repeated warnings of a
“poisonous” Islam conquering the West –
ignoring the reality that Europe,
including France, is far safer for Jews
than Israel has proved.
Politicians on both
the left and right have parroted his
message that European Jews know “in
their hearts that they have only one
country”. Israel apparently persuaded
the families of the four Jewish victims
of that: they were flown to Israel to be
buried in Jerusalem.
In contrast, the
burial in Paris of Ahmed Merabet, the
Muslim policeman also killed by the
gunmen, sent a message of French unity,
noted a French Jewish leader. This was
the moment, he added, for his community
to say: “We will be buried here, just
like everyone else. We are French and we
have not given up.”
Mr Netanyahu has
other ideas. At a time when the number
of Jewish migrants from France is
already rocketing, he has established a
ministerial committee to find ways to
induce yet more to come to Israel.
It was widely
reported in Israel that the French
president, Francois Hollande, had
appealed to Mr Netanyahu not to
participate in the solidarity rally in
Paris a week ago, fearful that he would
use the occasion to exacerbate tensions
in France. Mr Netanyahu ignored the
request.
He had good reason
to want to be there, not least to
grandstand with world leaders during
Israel’s election campaign. In addition,
proselytising for his claim that the
so-called Judeo-Christian West is on a
collision course with Islam usefully
places him on the side of the angels as
he tries to build a Greater Israel,
crushing Palestinian ambitions for
statehood.
But it would be
wrong to view Mr Netanyahu’s argument as
solely opportunistic. It is underpinned
by an authentic worldview, even if one
with paradoxical antecedents.
His approach is
embodied in recent efforts – delayed
because of the election – to pass a
basic law defining Israel as the
nation-state of the Jewish people. That
would crown Mr Netanyahu leader of Jews
worldwide rather than of Israeli
citizens, a fifth of whom are
Palestinian.
Such a conception
of citizenship and nationhood is based
on ethnicity, not territory. It opposes
multiculturalism, believing instead that
loyalty to the state derives from a
tribal attachment rather than a civic
one. It stands in stark opposition to
most European countries’ notions of
citizenship.
As a result, the
Israeli leadership assumes that all
Palestinians, including those who are
Israeli citizens, cannot be trusted and
that there can never be real peace in
the region. That is why Israel has been
building iron walls everywhere to create
a fortress Jewish state.
But the logical
corollary is that Jews too cannot be
loyal to the other states they live in,
such as France. In Mr Netanyahu’s
conception, a Jew’s primary bond should
be to their “true home”: the Jewish
state of Israel.
Paradoxically, that
view is shared by Europe’s far-right,
including groups like France’s National
Front, whose popularity has been growing
on the back of attacks like the one in
Paris. They argue that minorities are
inherently suspect and that Europe is
better off without them.
In this regard, Mr
Netanyahu and the far-right share much
common ground. He wants a Europe free of
Jews – as well as Muslims who undermine
Europe’s support for Israel – because he
thinks that is in Jewish interests. The
far-right wants the same because it
believes it will be in the interests of
a supposed “native” white majority.
One Israeli
commentator noted pointedly that Israeli
politicians like Mr Netanyahu were
helping to “finish the job started by
the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators:
making France Judenrein”.
In calling for Jews
to flee after the Paris attacks, Mr
Netanyahu is bolstering the dangerous
arguments of Europe’s far-right.
- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2015-01-18/netanyahu-and-europes-far-right-find-common-ground/#sthash.5HfSPgZ6.dpuf
Jonathan Cook is a
Nazareth- based journalist and winner of
the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for
Journalism - See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2015-01-18/netanyahu-and-europes-far-right-find-common-ground/#sthash.5HfSPgZ6.dpuf
Jonathan Cook is a
Nazareth- based journalist and winner of the
Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism
-
http://www.jonathan-cook.net
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