Albert Camus on antisemitism

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Albert Camus. He understood what anti-Semitism and the denial of anti-Semitism (in the meantime packaged as anti-Zionism) are :

"In your every day life, you can be sure you will invariably come across a Frenchman who, incidentally, is likely to be intelligent and who will tell you that Jews exaggerate. Naturally, he has a Jewish friend, who at least … He does not, in the least, approve of the torture and burning of millions of Jews. Nevertheless, he thinks that Jews exaggerate and that they are wrong to stick together, even though their solidarity is the result of their concentration camp experience."

A. Camus (1913-1960), French writer and philosopher
"La Contagion", Combat, 10.5.1947. Quoted in La France et les Juifs : De 1789 à nos jours, by Michel Winock, Seuil, 2004

Translated by P.

Freedom of expression belongs to professors and students alike, by Amnon Rubinstein

"Academics cannot seek shelter behind their much-touted freedom, while denying the students' right to express their own opinions. If what is alleged in Ha'aretz is true, then these TAU professors are violating the law."

Source: The Jerusalem Post

According to a recent report in Ha'aretz, students at Tel Aviv University are complaining bitterly about leftist professors. The students are said to be hurt by the professors' positions, "but are afraid to express contrary views, lest this harm their grades."

So wrote Prof. Nira Hativa, head of the university's center for advancement of teaching. She added that in many end-of-year feedback forms, students complained about professors who "attack the state of Israel, the IDF, the Zionist movement and even worse than that." She also added that the complaints allege that "Leftist professors, as distinct from rightist ones, feel absolutely free to express their political views, even when there is no relevance whatsoever to the subject they teach." The head of the university's student union tells of similar student complaints, and the talkbacks to this news item - whatever their credibility - also told about students who are afraid to argue with such professors.

THIS NEWS item did not surprise me. A small group of anti-Zionist, anti-Israel faculty members has turned Tel Aviv University into a podium from which to broadcast their political propaganda.

Two notable instances: a group of 30 professors signed a pro-Iranian petition last year warning against Israeli and American designs and "adventurism" against the Islamic Republic, without even mentioning its president's threat to wipe Israel off the map and his Holocaust-denying outbursts. The second example was a conference held by the Tel Aviv Law School in which the subject was the alleged mistreatment of "political prisoners" (i.e. convicted Palestinian terrorists) that invited, as guest speaker, a released prisoner sentenced to 27 years in jail for throwing a bomb into a Jewish civilian bus. This is not academic freedom. This is using academic podiums to deliver Israel-bashing propaganda.

When I taught at Columbia University, I could see how TAU guest professors would stoke the flames of anti-Israel rhetoric; one of them insisted that the university show the film Jenin, Jenin, which charges Israel with perpetrating a famously imaginary massacre. The usual defense of these TAU excesses is that all professors are entitled to academic freedom. This is inherently true in principle. Academic freedom, a special niche of the freedom of speech principle enshrined in Israeli law, should incorporate marginal and iconoclastic views. This is especially true in a society like Israel which suffers from a constant state of emergency and stress.

But academic freedom, like all human rights, is not unlimited. Austrian and German courts rightly decided that Holocaust denial is not protected speech; Jean Paul Sartre went further, believing that all anti-Semitic expressions are unprotected by the right to freedom of speech. A call to boycott Israel, such as was made by a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University's political science department, is certainly unprotected, in a similar way to the Supreme Court's ruling that a party which seeks the destruction of Israel cannot run in the Knesset elections.

But there is one further point: academics cannot seek shelter behind their much-touted freedom, while denying the students' right to express their own opinions. If what is alleged in Ha'aretz is true, then these TAU professors are violating the law. Article 5 of the Student's Rights Law states this explicitly: "Every student has the freedom to express his views and opinions as to the contents of the syllabus and the values incorporated therein." In other words, the students, too, have a measure of academic freedom. If the allegations made by the students - probably mainly in TAU's social sciences departments - are true, the university is violating the students' lawful rights.

The writer is a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a former education minister and Knesset member, as well as the recipient of the 2006 Israel Prize in Law.
http://www.amnonrubinstein.org/

Anti-semitism: seminar on Norway held in Jerusalem

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

JCPA seminar 19 November 2009

by Manfred Gerstenfeld (excerpts)

I asked myself what would have happened if I had to give a lecture on Norway, Switzerland and the Swiss in Norway. I looked in Google and I did not see any way to fill half an hour.

When speaking about Norway, Israel and the Jews, however, there is so much material that one wonders where to start. Israel is far away from Norway. It has as many inhabitants as Switzerland, on which you find very little in the Norwegian papers. On the other hand part of the Norwegian elite, which falsely calls itself progressive, is obsessed with another small country, Israel. This includes the leftwing government, many media, NGOs and part of the academic world. There are at most 1 300 Jews in Norway, of which 700 are organized in two communities, Oslo and Trondheim. They also are subject to the obsessive attention of the Norwegian elite.

A Short Quiz

The subject of today is complex and difficult to handle in a short time span. So, let’s try to get into the mood quickly with a little quiz.

First question: What is the name of the only country in Europe where, during the restitution negotiations at the end of the previous century, government officials threatened a Jewish member of the Government commission of inquiry and tapped her phone. Who was the person threatened? (Norway, Berit Reisel)

Second question: What is the name of the king who granted the St. Olav Order to an artist who had drawn Israeli Prime Minister Olmert as a Nazi and who was the artist? (King Harald V of Norway to Finn Graf slide 1)

Who was the member of the Nobel Peace Prize committee who, in 2002, wanted to take back the Nobel Prize for Peace, if possible, from Shimon Peres, and what was her background? (Hanna Kvanmo of the Socialist Left Party – she was condemned to a jail sentence after the Second World War as a collaborator of Nazi Germany because she had served as a nurse with the German troops on the Eastern front.)

What is the name of the first rector of a European state university to use university money to finance a series of anti-Israeli propaganda lectures and what is the name of that university? (Torbjorn Digernes of NTNU Trondheim)

Trade Union and Media : I could have spent the entire time on this presentation with similar questions. The Norwegian trade union LO was among the first trade unions to call for a boycott of Israel in 2002. The then leader Gerd-Liv Valla later had to resign because of her misbehavior on other matters. In 2009 the current leader of that trade union Roar Flathens attacked only one country in his 1 May speech this year – of course it was Israel.

Another Obsession: No anti-Semitism : Besides the obsession with Israel, there is another obsession in Norway which concerns the Jewish people. That is the obsessive way in which one is told by many Norwegians that there is no anti-Semitism in Norway.

The wealth gained from oil and gas has enabled the Norwegian government to build a new mythology. Norway may be small in population, but it is great in charitable, humanitarian aid. This is what I call Norway’s "humanitarian mask." As Gerald Steinberg and Yael Beck show in an article in my upcoming book in Norwegian, under the heading "humanitarian aid" Norway provides substantial funds to Palestinian and other NGOs which incite against Israel.
Read the whole article HERE

Another Year of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism in Norway, Manfred Gerstenfeld

UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd’s biased discourse, by Véronique Chemla

On October 15, 2009, the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd gave a biased press conference at the CAPE (Foreign Press Centre) headquarters, in Paris (France). She generally underlined Israel’s responsibility for Gazans’ difficult life under “blockade and occupation”. She also drew a revisionist parallel between Israel’s Cast Lead Operation and the Holocaust. She generally presented the Palestinian narrative as the truth.

On October 15, 2009, I hurried to attend UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd’s press conference in Paris.

Oops! I arrived about ten minutes late. The audience was scattered.

“Blockade, occupation” and revisionism

Ms Abu Zayd was raising the alarm over the 7 million dollars’ deficit gap which corresponds to its general expenses (education, health and social services). With about 29 0000 employees, UNRWA is “responsible for 4.6 million refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the occupied territory”.
Read the whole report HERE

Related :
- EU MPs urged to rethink Palestinian refugee issue and UNRWA policies
- Japanese lawmaker calls for reduction in funding to UNRWA

EU official Günter Verheugen says Israel should enjoy the same status as Norway

"Israel is for the EU not a country like the others. There is no other country in the world with whom we have such visible and invisible links. Israel is part of our own history, our own culture and our own life."

BRUSSELS (EJP, article by Yossi Lempkowicz) - An EU senior official said the European Union should upgrade its political and economic relations with Israel – frozen after the Gaza war in January - and grant this country the same status enjoyed by Norway.

Speaking at an event dinner organized Tuesday in Brussels to mark the 50 years of diplomatic relations between the EU and Israel, Günter Verheugen, German Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry, said: "We should give Israel a long-term and clear credible European perspective".

The process of upgrading the EU's relations with Israel, decided last year, was put "on hold" after Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza and linked to the restart of Mideast peace talks. While not an EU member state, Norway required to adopt much EU legislation due to its participation in the European Economic Area (EEA), through the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The country has also chosen for participation in many of the EU’s programmes, institutions and activities.

"Israel is for the EU not a country like the others. There is no other country in the world with whom we have such visible and invisible links. Israel is part of our own history, our own culture and our own life," Verheugen said.

"We cannot deliver hard security to Israel but we can strengthen our economic and political relations", Verheugen, who described himself as "definitely pro-Israel", added.

At the event, organized by the Mission of Israel to the EU and the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation, Stanley Fischer, Governer of the Bank of Israel, emphasized the "resilience" of his country’s economy, which has been less hit by the crisis, and said the success and vitality of the high tech sector in Israel "should be an example for Europe where it has been less successful".

Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Ran Curiel, said EU-Israel relations are based on a long shared history of the Jewish people and Europe "with its lights and shadows".

"We have much more in common than what may seem to separate us. The long-term interests of Israel and Europe are identical especially when it comes to the future of the Middle East. Israel and Europe both seek peace, stability and development."

He noted that the political dialogue between Israel and Europe has improved substantially in the last couple of years. The EU and Israel are linked by an association agreement since 1995, which came into force in 2000. The EU is Israel’s main trading partner and Israel participates in several EU programs. Israel hopes that the upgrade of its relations with the EU would take place during Spain’s EU presidency in the first semester of 2010.

62% of Europeans believe Jews enrich their culture

Percentage of Europeans who think that Jews make a positive impact on the culture of their country :

Netherlands - 71.8%
UK - 71.5%
Germany - 68.8%
France - 60.6%
Hungary - 57.3%
Portugal - 51.9%
Poland - 51.2%
Italy - 49.7%

Average of positive views : 61.9%
____________
Source: Islam in Europe (HLN and Domradio)

EU: 54% think Islam is intolerant

50.4% of Europeans think their country has too many immigrants. In general, half of the Europeans have prejudices against immigrants, religious groups or minorities, according to a German report that questioned 8,000 Europeans in 8 countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and Hungary).

The response varies considerably from country to country. 27.1% of Poles think there are too many immigrants, compared with 46% in the Netherlands and 62.4% in Italy.

54.4% of the respondents said that Islam was an intolerant religion. 22% thought that most Muslims justify terrorism. About Jews people were more positive: 62% thought that Jews enrich the culture. 24.4% think Jews have too much influence in their country. 31.1% think that there's a natural hierarchy between Blacks and Whites.

42.6% reject equal rights for gays and think homosexuality is immoral. In East-European countries there's the most enmity towards gays, in the Netherlands, the least. 88% of Poles think that gays and lesbians shouldn't be able to get married, in the Netherlands 83% think that they should.

60.2% of Europeans (87% of Poles) support traditional gender roles and think that women should take their role as mothers and housewives more seriously.

The survey was conducted by the Institut für interdisziplinäre Konflikt- und Gewaltforschung of the University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Massimo D’Alema, anti-Israel’ Italian politician to become EU Foreign Minister ?

"What strikes me is that the most reasonable sectors of Israeli politics are not adequately supported by the more democratic Jewish world." (Massimo D’Alema)

With candidates like this one, the constant bickering and lack of consensus, no wonder European citizens are disappointed with the whole idea of the European Union ...

Source: article by Yossi Lempkowicz in the EJP

An Italian politician perceived as "anti-Israeli and anti-American" has emerged as frontrunner for the post of future EU Foreign Minister after British David Milliband killed off speculation that he would be interested, saying he prefers to serve for Britain.

Leftist Massimo D’Alema, a former Foreign Minister in the Italian government then led by Romano Prodi, is supported by the group of European Socialists and Social Democrats. But the designation of the new head of the EU foreign policy depends very much on who will become the first President of the European Union, a job created under the Lisbon Treaty, the EU’s reform blueprint which is expected to come into force on December 1. [...]

The current Swedish EU presidency under Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has called for an emergency summit in Brussels next Thursday to settle the question of the designation of the two posts. Reinfeldt announced that after taking soundings from the other 26 heads of government this week, there was no sign of a consensus. [...] Gordon Brown is said to be still pushing for Tony Blair to be given the job of President but despite Europe’s Social Democrats backing for Massimo D'Alema, it is not clear if the Prime Minister, one of Europe's few Social Democratic Prime Ministers (as Labour party chief), will vote for him. The new eastern European member states are opposed to D'Alema because of his Communist past.

D'Alema, 60, is a member of Italy's main opposition party, the centre-left Democratic Party, but has apparently the backing of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2008 after Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition, won the elections.

During that time, he was at the center of several polemics with the Italian Jewish community and Israel’s embassy in Rome for his stance and statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Foreign Minister, "he didn’t miss a single occasion to criticize Israel", a Jewish community leader in Rome has said. "On several occasions he stated his position in favour of talks with Hamas and Hezbollah," according to Ricardo Pacifici. In 2007, D’Alema criticized the Jewish community by saying: "What strikes me is that the most reasonable sectors of Israeli politics are not adequately supported by the more democratic Jewish world".

According to The Guardian newspaper, the Israeli embassy in Brussels is understood to have voiced objections to a possible D'Alema appointment as foreign policy chief.