Anti Zionism is Anti Semitism

brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
edited September 2006 in A Moving Train
Dont listen to me..."Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism"

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
"Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.

"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.

"The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.

"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.

This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.

"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism.

"The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!

"My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate antisemitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and a revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled--as others have been--into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to these heartfelt principles that you and I share.

Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."

From M.L. King Jr., "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend," Saturday Review_XLVII (Aug. 1967)

Listen to him
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Comments

  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,319
    "All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land." -MLK, Jr
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Kenny Olav wrote:
    "All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land." -MLK, Jr
    How is a speech by MLK faith based politics?
    ______________
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  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    Ever watch the show American Gladiators? I am not even exaggerating one bit when I say that I sat down and had a long conversation with Sabre one night at a cigar bar in the irvine spectrum center. He's one of the black guys from the show. We had a long debate about this and that. Anyway, this thread just reminds me of when he said that the MLK speech on boondocks was one of the greatest moments in TV history. If you haven't seen that episode of the boondocks, it has a scene where MLK gets up in front of a church congregation and starts ruthlessly slagging the state of black culture these days. And I'm sure MLK would make that speech today if he were around. He and Larry Elder would whip the black population into shape.
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    sponger wrote:
    Ever watch the show American Gladiators? I am not even exaggerating one bit when I say that I sat down and had a long conversation with Sabre one night at a cigar bar in the irvine spectrum center. He's one of the black guys from the show. We had a long debate about this and that. Anyway, this thread just reminds me of when he said that the MLK speech on boondocks was one of the greatest moments in TV history. If you haven't seen that episode of the boondocks, it has a scene where MLK gets up in front of a church congregation and starts ruthlessly slagging the state of black culture these days. And I'm sure MLK would make that speech today if he were around. He and Larry Elder would whip the black population into shape.
    was one smart dude
    ______________
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  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Just because a guy makes one great speech doesn't mean they all are.

    Personally I think that speech is ignorant.

    MLK is obviously a bigot himself. Assuming that all mankind believes in god or should and therefor god's law is man's law. It is not so, I find it highly prejudice. I no longer respect Mr. King as I did before. In a world where all people were created equal there is no god's people.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Just because a guy makes one great speech doesn't mean they all are.

    Personally I think that speech is ignorant.

    MLK is obviously a bigot himself. Assuming that all mankind believes in god or should and therefor god's law is man's law. It is not so, I find it highly prejudice. I no longer respect Mr. King as I did before. In a world where all people were created equal there is no god's people.

    I never thought Id see the day when MLK was called a racist. I guess anyone who stands up for Jews is a racist then....
    ______________
    Irvine 1992, Las Vegas 1993, Mountain View 1994, San Diego 1995, Los Angeles 1996, Los Angeles 1998, Moutain View 1999, San Bernadino 2000, Los Angeles 2000, Irvine 2003, Irvine 2003, Moutain View 2003, Santa Barbara 2003, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006, Santa Barbara 2006
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    brianjd wrote:
    I guess anyone who stands up for Jews is a racist then....


    Not everyone who stands up for jews does so because jews are "god's chosen people."
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    brianjd wrote:
    I never thought Id see the day when MLK was called a racist. I guess anyone who stands up for Jews is a racist then....

    I'm not calling him racist for standing up for jews. He's prejudice for using god's law as an arguement. Trying to justify Zionism by saying they are God's people. I have no god. God does not exist in my mind. Get it? He only exists in MLK's mind and your mind.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • prismprism Posts: 2,440
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Just because a guy makes one great speech doesn't mean they all are.

    Personally I think that speech is ignorant.

    MLK is obviously a bigot himself. Assuming that all mankind believes in god or should and therefor god's law is man's law. It is not so, I find it highly prejudice. I no longer respect Mr. King as I did before. In a world where all people were created equal there is no god's people.

    I agree that it's ignorant. notice that nowhere in that speech did he mention the displacement of the Palestinian Arabs that had been living there for centuries? in fact he never even mentions them at all...as if these people didn't even exist....
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    angels share laughter
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I'm not calling him racist for standing up for jews. He's prejudice for using god's law as an arguement. Trying to justify Zionism by saying they are God's people. I have no god. God does not exist in my mind. Get it? He only exists in MLK's mind and your mind.
    has less to do with the content of the speech. Dr. King was a reverend after all and the Bible contains a new and an old testament. he was reflecting his opinion and casting in terms of his religious beliefts. they wre his views. im not a person who believes in the bible either nor do i believe that any one people on this earth is chosen over another. we are all gods children. this was simply a man stating his opinion that hate can take many different forms.
    ______________
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  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    prism wrote:
    I agree that it's ignorant. notice that nowhere in that speech did he mention the displacement of the Palestinian Arabs that had been living there for centuries? in fact he never even mentions them at all...as if these people didn't even exist....


    You mean the ones that left voluntarily?
  • Yeah, it's his opinion. And an ignorant one at that. I'm not trying to take away anything that MLK did for minorities in the US; he did much. But that speech you posted is just what some people said before me: ignorant and prejudice. I'm not going to be fooled into thinking that MLK was infallible and that everything he said rang of truth.
    Using God as justification for anything will not and should not float on a diplomatic level. The ancient conflict in the holy land will not be solved by simply handing it over to it's rightful people.
    What's funny is that he uses Jewish texts to prove they are have rightful claim to the land. I can write down on a piece of paper that god told me that I have claim to your computer. I can even have a group of people that believe what I wrote. I bet you won't give it to me.
    Using the word "methinks" in your message board posts doesn't make you look smart.
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Americans never cease to amaze me...
    ______________
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    prism wrote:
    I agree that it's ignorant. notice that nowhere in that speech did he mention the displacement of the Palestinian Arabs that had been living there for centuries? in fact he never even mentions them at all...as if these people didn't even exist....
    Last time I checked the Arabs including the Palestinians attacked the jews in 1948 causing their own displacement.
    ______________
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  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    And let's not forget that the jews bought that land from the ottomans, brits, and, yes, palestinians. They didn't just parachute in.
  • ~~~~Sorry, wrong thread~~~~
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    sponger wrote:
    And let's not forget that the jews bought that land from the ottomans, brits, and, yes, palestinians. They didn't just parachute in.
    Are we going to start getting ZOG comments next? I knew this topic would flesh out all the militia types on this board.
    ______________
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  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    brianjd wrote:
    Are we going to start getting ZOG comments next? I knew this topic would flesh out all the militia types on this board.

    wtf are you talking about? You think I have something against people buying land?
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    They didn't buy the land from anyone. It was given to them by Brittain. But Brittain also promised the Palestinians would be sovereign if they helped overthrow the Ottoman's. The war in 1948 was when Israel decalred independance, officially stealing the land from those who fought for it.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    Ahnimus wrote:
    They didn't buy the land from anyone. It was given to them by Brittain.

    Wow. Who did you hear that from? You seem too informed to really believe a statement like that.
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    sponger wrote:
    Wow. Who did you hear that from? You seem too informed to really believe a statement like that.

    The Balfour Declaration was a letter dated November 2, 1917, from the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization. The letter stated the position, agreed at a British Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, with the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there. It is also interesting to note that later Joseph Stalin set up the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Asiatic Russia, which still exists today.

    One of the main Jewish figures who negotiated the granting of the declaration was Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leading spokesman for organized Zionism in Britain. During the first meeting between Chaim Weizmann and Balfour, in 1906, the Unionist leader was impressed by Weizman's personality. Balfour asked Weizmann why Palestine—and Palestine alone—could be the basis for Zionism. "Anything else would be idolatry", Weizmann protested, adding: "Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?" "But Dr. Weizmann", Balfour retorted, "we have London", to which Weizmann rejoined, "That is true, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."[1]

    In his November, 2002 interview with the New Statesman magazine, the UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has blamed Britain's imperial past for many of the modern political problems, including the Arab-Israeli conflict. [3]

    "The Balfour declaration and the contradictory assurances which were being given to Palestinians in private at the same time as they were being given to the Israelis—again, an interesting history for us, but not an honourable one," he said.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration,_1917

    The Mandate for Palestine, also known as the Mandate of Palestine or British Mandate of Palestine, was a territory in the Middle East comprising modern Jordan and Israel with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, which the League of Nations entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I as a Mandate Territory.

    Before the end of World War I, Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The British, under General Allenby during the Arab Revolt stirred up by the British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence, defeated the Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land was administered by the British for the remainder of the war. The British military administration ended starvation with the aid of food supplies from Egypt, successfully fought typhus and cholera epidemics and significantly improved the water supply to Jerusalem. They reduced corruption by paying the Arab and Jewish judges higher salaries. Communications were improved by new railway and telegraph lines.

    The United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by the Versailles Peace Conference which established the League of Nations in 1919 and appointed Herbert Samuel, a former Postmaster General in the British cabinet, who was instrumental in drafting the Balfour Declaration, as its first High Commissioner in Palestine. During World War I the British had made two promises regarding territory in the Middle East. Britain had promised the local Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British; and Britain had promised to create and foster a Jewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Text:_League_of_Nations_Palestine_Mandate
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    Nowhere in that does it say that jews were handed that land. It merely states that the land was declared a "jewish homeland."

    Again, you seem too well-informed to be unaware of the massive land purchases by the jews beginning in the late 1800's and tapering off in the 1940's with the writing of the white paper, which was a british law banning the further sale of land to jews in palestine. Is this selective research on your part?
  • brianjd wrote:
    "Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism"

    - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    ". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
    "Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.

    "Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.

    "The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.

    "How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.

    This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.

    "And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism.

    "The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!

    "My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate antisemitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and a revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled--as others have been--into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to these heartfelt principles that you and I share.

    Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."

    From M.L. King Jr., "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend," Saturday Review_XLVII (Aug. 1967)

    Thought I'd post my answer in the relevant thread too:

    He talks about how anti-semites can camouflage themselves as anti-zionists as that doesnt sound as bad. Which they probably do.

    But I suppose the extension of this is supposed to be Zionism = Jews = Israel (the state) so that anyone uttering a bad word about Israel the state is also anti-semite, or a criticism of zionism is anti-semite. Bollocks. I have nothing against jews, but I have problems with Israeli state policies, and I have problems with an expansionist ultra-nationalistic zionism. Same way, I have nothing against americans, infact I deeply admire many of them, but I have problems with their state's policies. With "jews" I admire several of the jewish intellectuals that has laid the foundation for sociology among others. Many great thinkers, and I respect other religions somewhat (although I'm no fan of religion in general). BUT I have some pretty heavy criticisms aimed at the state of Israel and how it handles things. Am I an anti-semite?

    Peace
    Dan
    "YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death

    "Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
  • brianjd wrote:
    Last time I checked the Arabs including the Palestinians attacked the jews in 1948 causing their own displacement.

    I'm not even arguing who should be in there, I'm just saying using god as justification is wrong.
    brianjd wrote:
    Americans never cease to amaze me...
    What a rude, prejudice comment. I'm sure many religious Americans will agree with you. Why do you expect non-believers to accept your god-driven justification?
    Using the word "methinks" in your message board posts doesn't make you look smart.
  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    sponger wrote:
    wtf are you talking about? You think I have something against people buying land?
    I took your comment in the wront context.
    ______________
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Ahnimus wrote:
    They didn't buy the land from anyone. It was given to them by Brittain. But Brittain also promised the Palestinians would be sovereign if they helped overthrow the Ottoman's. The war in 1948 was when Israel decalred independance, officially stealing the land from those who fought for it.
    They stole the land that belonged to Britain and NOT the Palestinians after defeating the combined arab armies? Interesting logic
    ______________
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    hailhail82 wrote:
    I'm not even arguing who should be in there, I'm just saying using god as justification is wrong.


    What a rude, prejudice comment. I'm sure many religious Americans will agree with you. Why do you expect non-believers to accept your god-driven justification?
    I dont know where your getting that from. Peronsally I am agnostic. Perhaps direct your venom at MLK. It was his words I posted
    ______________
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Thought I'd post my answer in the relevant thread too:

    He talks about how anti-semites can camouflage themselves as anti-zionists as that doesnt sound as bad. Which they probably do.

    But I suppose the extension of this is supposed to be Zionism = Jews = Israel (the state) so that anyone uttering a bad word about Israel the state is also anti-semite, or a criticism of zionism is anti-semite. Bollocks. I have nothing against jews, but I have problems with Israeli state policies, and I have problems with an expansionist ultra-nationalistic zionism. Same way, I have nothing against americans, infact I deeply admire many of them, but I have problems with their state's policies. With "jews" I admire several of the jewish intellectuals that has laid the foundation for sociology among others. Many great thinkers, and I respect other religions somewhat (although I'm no fan of religion in general). BUT I have some pretty heavy criticisms aimed at the state of Israel and how it handles things. Am I an anti-semite?

    Peace
    Dan
    Thats for you to decide. I think MLK was simply saying that after the Holocaust it is no longer ok to hate jews for being jews. Some people, and some found on this board, have used the word Zionist or their purported hate for Zionistis as a way of expressing what is truly anti semitism disguised as anti Zionism. I think that is what the speech meant and that is why I posted it. Whether it applies to you is up to you. Based on your comments I dont think so but cant say the same for some others on this board.
    ______________
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  • brianjdbrianjd Posts: 201
    Ahnimus wrote:
    The Balfour Declaration was a letter dated November 2, 1917, from the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization. The letter stated the position, agreed at a British Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, with the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there. It is also interesting to note that later Joseph Stalin set up the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Asiatic Russia, which still exists today.

    One of the main Jewish figures who negotiated the granting of the declaration was Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leading spokesman for organized Zionism in Britain. During the first meeting between Chaim Weizmann and Balfour, in 1906, the Unionist leader was impressed by Weizman's personality. Balfour asked Weizmann why Palestine—and Palestine alone—could be the basis for Zionism. "Anything else would be idolatry", Weizmann protested, adding: "Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?" "But Dr. Weizmann", Balfour retorted, "we have London", to which Weizmann rejoined, "That is true, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."[1]

    In his November, 2002 interview with the New Statesman magazine, the UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has blamed Britain's imperial past for many of the modern political problems, including the Arab-Israeli conflict. [3]

    "The Balfour declaration and the contradictory assurances which were being given to Palestinians in private at the same time as they were being given to the Israelis—again, an interesting history for us, but not an honourable one," he said.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration,_1917

    The Mandate for Palestine, also known as the Mandate of Palestine or British Mandate of Palestine, was a territory in the Middle East comprising modern Jordan and Israel with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, which the League of Nations entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I as a Mandate Territory.

    Before the end of World War I, Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The British, under General Allenby during the Arab Revolt stirred up by the British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence, defeated the Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land was administered by the British for the remainder of the war. The British military administration ended starvation with the aid of food supplies from Egypt, successfully fought typhus and cholera epidemics and significantly improved the water supply to Jerusalem. They reduced corruption by paying the Arab and Jewish judges higher salaries. Communications were improved by new railway and telegraph lines.

    The United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by the Versailles Peace Conference which established the League of Nations in 1919 and appointed Herbert Samuel, a former Postmaster General in the British cabinet, who was instrumental in drafting the Balfour Declaration, as its first High Commissioner in Palestine. During World War I the British had made two promises regarding territory in the Middle East. Britain had promised the local Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British; and Britain had promised to create and foster a Jewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Text:_League_of_Nations_Palestine_Mandate
    is actually correct on this sliver of history. the palestinians were to have state but when they and united arab countires decided they were entitled to more than the UN gratned them, they violated international decree for the first time and invaded newly independent Israel and were roundly defeated by a rag tag group of jews. So, in short, they fucked it up for themselves
    ______________
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  • VERY interesting read, that one.
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