Post on 30-May-2018
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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If you consider yourself a
liberal«
We¶re already in agreement
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We agree on basic liberal
principles
Democracy
Human Rights
The abolition of capital punishment
Gay rights
Feminism
Opposition to all forms of racism
Religious Tolerance«
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Opposition to apartheid
Opposition to fascism
Concern for religious and racial
minorities
Freedom of speech
Freedom of thought
Freedom to change one¶s religion
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Israel and Palestine
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To many Liberals,
Israel is«
An apartheid state
Afascist state
A racist state
Even a Nazi
state
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I will ask only one question«
If that is true, why
is a lifelong liberal
like myself proud to call himself
a friend of Israel?
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There are two sides to every story
² especially this one«
The funeral of Muhammad
Samur, Palestine, 2001
Palestine
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But only if you go on turning the
page«
Israel
Young Israeli soldiers bury a comrade
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Some call Israeli soldiers Nazis.
But it pays to questionstereotypes.
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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Israel is painted in lurid colours.
But it¶s not all black and white.
There are no photographs like this from the Third Reich.
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There is a broad consensus that Israel is an
evil, Nazi state.B
uth
ow many people takethe trouble to examine such a claim?
In a Nazi state, the soldier would shoot the little boy.
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A lot of those photos show soldiers. A majority of
Israelis do national service and reserve duty.
Isthis because they are aggressors?
1948-49
1967
1973-4 1982
2006 These are all years when Israelis had to fight wars of defence
against enemies bent on their destruction. The Holocaust only ended in 1945. British internment camps
three years later.
This is the context of today¶s struggle for peace.
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Israel is a democracy
It has never been ruled by a dictator
It has the liveliest multi-party system in
the world
There are no restrictions on the
opposition
The press is completely free to criticize
the government
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And treats women wit
hrespect.
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If not awe«
Israel¶s soldiers may be beautiful, butwomen play many other roles in society«
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As businesswomen«
Jewish and Arab women at the launch of Jasmine, the Association of Businesswomen
in Israel
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As politicians«
Golda Meir, Prime Minister 1969-1974
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And scientists
Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, former Chief Scientist and Head of the Directorate of
Science in the Israeli Ministry of Science
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Israel defends the rights of gay men and
women, Jewish and Arab alike
If you want to learn the truth about Israeli freedom,
ask a gay Arab who has taken refuge there.
Gay pride march,
Tel Aviv
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I believe in human rights. In rights for women,
racial and religious minorities, gay rights, the
right to free speech and a free press.
None of these rights exist in Gaza or the West
Bank. In Lebanon, Syria or Egypt. In Saudi Arabia.
In Iran. In theG
ulf States. In Syria. As a liberal, I choose a country that gives rights
over a country that does not. If you are a liberal,
please give this some more thought.
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Israel is not an apartheid state. There are no
laws th
at enforce discrimination betweenIsraeli citizens.
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Or per haps you think this is truly
liberal«
Palestinian security forces use the Nazi salute.
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Or th
is«
Two gay teenagers being hanged in Iran. Fascism lives on, but not in Israel.
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I¶m a liberal, and photographs like that make me angry to the
core. But when did any liberals protest about such sick
behaviour in Iran? if anyone takes to the street nowadays, it¶sto condemn Israel. Just Israel. Does that seem fair to you?
There is no capital punishment in Israel.
And nobody marches with a banner like
this«
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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If we¶re ever going to bring peace to the Middle East, the
first step is for liberals in the West to stop demonizing
Israel and whitewashing the Arabs.
Isn¶t the Left
ashamed to
be associated
with this?
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It¶s right to feel pity for the Palestinians. I do.
But don¶t Jews get any sympathy in your
liberal heart?
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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I¶m not asking you to believe that the Israelis are always
the good guys and the Palestinians always the bad. That
is obviously not the case.
But this soldier is weeping precisely because she is not a cold-hearted
Nazi and because a terrorist has just killed a friend of hers.
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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I would just like my liberal friends to stop
acting as though Hitler was right and that the
Jews are the only force of evil in the world.
Israeli soldiers play with a Palestinian boy. They never open fire on Palestinian
children deliberately. Why would they do that? Do they look like sadists?
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Israelis have done more good in the world
than harm. They want the same things you
and I want: peace, human rights, justice.
Above all, they want freedom from this.
A Hizbullah rocket hits Haifa, 2006
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I have included numerous photos of Israeli soldiers in
this presentation, because most Israelis serve in the
armed forces at some time or another and because themilitary is the front line between survival and genocide.
This is what a Nazi soldier looks like. This is genocide.
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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Since then, most Israelis have been
soldiers«
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And doctors«
Israel doctors train Palestinian doctors at Medilink
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But soldiers out of necessity«
"This will be a war of extermination anda momentous massacre, which will be
spoken of like the Mongolianmassacres and the Crusades.´
Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League in 1948, before theArab attacks on Israel.
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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Without its army, Israel would no
longer exist
"We shall not enter Palestine
with its soil covered in sand, we
shall enter it with its soil
saturated in blood´
Egyptian President GamalAbdel Nasser 1965
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Israel¶s soldiers have fought against
overwhelming odds
The Zionist barrack in Palestine is about to
collapse and be destroyed. Every one of the
h
undred millionA
rabsh
as been living for th
epast nineteen years on one hope: to live to see
the day Israel is liquidated. There is no life, no
peace nor hope for the gangs of Zionism to
remain in the occupied land.
Cairo Radio (Egyptian state radio) broadcast
1967
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If you were armed, who would you point your
rifle at?
Would you bless Hitler and kill the Jew? Or let your bullet find a truer mark?
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For 60 years now, Israel¶s enemies have
been pointing guns and rockets at her.
An Iranian built Fajr3 missile, now in the Hizbullah arsenal and aimed at Israel.
Iran is building nuclear materials for nuclear warheads to fit one of these.
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Is this really the proper liberal response to
that?
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Have we lost all sense of proportion that we identify
with a theocratic, misogynist, fascist movement in
preference to a multicultural, democratic country?
Ethiopian Jews in Israel celebrate the annual Sigd festival.
8/9/2019 Liberals and Israel
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It¶s time to think harder about Israel, and a lot harder
about your own biases. You don¶t have to stop
dreaming dreams for the Palestinians. You just have to
start asking about the nightmare the Israelis are going
through as well.
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I don¶t ask you to love Israel or fight for her or to live
there. Only to judge her and her citizens with fairness.
Without justice there can never be peace for anyone.
In times of persecution, the Jews have nowhere else to go. Why should they, after so
long wandering, be the only people in the world to be denied a homeland? They came
to the Holy Land in peace and were greeted by enmity and violence. It¶s time to listen to
their story. Time to hear their voice every bit as loudly as you hear the voices of the
Palestinians. The Israeli voices are passionate. They call for peace and justice and
human rights. But when they are threatened by bombs and rockets, their children put on
uniforms and go into battle. No-one has the right to deny them their right to self-defence.No-one has the right to ask everything of them and nothing of the Palestinians. They are
not the best people in the world; but they are very far from the worst. Listen to them.
They have a story to tell, a story unlike the story of any other people on earth.
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Presentation designed and written by
Denis MacEoin
Edited by Rufus Greenbaum
Photo 22 copyright Marco Abrar (
www.bahaipictures.com
If a copyright notice has inadvertently been omitted, or if you wishto comment about the presentation, please contact:
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