Is Israel a normal country?
The old anti-Semitic slogan, promoted by the Nazi newspaper Der Stuermer, that 'the Jews are our misfortune' has been given new currency by the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians.
By Ian BurumaIsrael's decision in May to drop commandos onto a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists was brutal. The killing of nine civilians by those commandos was a terrible consequence. Israel's blockade of Gaza and occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank, not to mention the road blocks, destruction of homes and other daily torments of the Palestinians, are also a form of institutionalized inhumanity.
Nevertheless, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's description of the Israeli raid on the activists' boat as "an attack on the conscience of humanity" which "deserves every kind of curse," and as a "turning point in history" after which "nothing will be the same," seems hysterical. Whatever one thinks of various Israeli governments (and I don't think much of the current one ), reactions to Israeli government-sponsored violence tend to be much fiercer - not just in Turkey - than reactions to crimes committed by the leaders of other countries, with the exception perhaps of the United States. But then, in the minds of many critics, the two countries are often conflated.
Israel has never done anything comparable to the late Syrian leader Hafez Assad's 1982 massacre of more than 20,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama. Far more Muslims are still being murdered by fellow Muslims than by Israelis, or indeed by Americans. And if one thinks of the death toll wreaked by the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo - more than 4 million - talking of turning points in history, after the killing of nine people, sounds a little absurd.
But none of that seems to count as much as what Israel does.
So is it true, as many defenders of Israel claim, that the Jewish state is judged by different standards than other countries? I believe that it is. But, while anti-Semitism certainly plays a part, it may not be the main reason.
Especially after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, many Europeans, I suspect, sighed with relief that Jews could be aggressors, too. Jewish brutality relieved the burden of wartime guilt. Eagerness to overcome this guilt might even have prompted some people to exaggerate Israeli aggression. The old anti-Semitic slogan, promoted by the Nazi newspaper Der Stuermer, that "the Jews are our misfortune," has been given new currency by the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians.
There are other reasons, however, for the double standard directed at Israel. One is what the liberal Israeli philosopher and peace activist Avishai Margalit has termed "moral racism." The bloodlust of an African or Asian people is not taken as seriously that of a European - or other white - people. After all, some might say (and many more might think ), what can one expect from savages? They don't know any better.
This is, of course, a deeply colonial sentiment, and the legacy of colonialism works against Israel in another way, too. As was true of apartheid-era South Africa, Israel reminds people of the sins of Western imperialism. Israel is regarded in the Middle East, as well as by many people in the West, as a colony led by white people (despite the fact that many prominent Israelis have their roots in Tehran, Fez or Baghdad ). The Palestinians are seen as colonial subjects, and the longer Israel continues to occupy Arab territories, the more this perception will be confirmed.
Finally, Israel is still a democracy, and as such should not be judged by the same standards as dictatorships. We must expect more of Benjamin Netanyahu's government than of, say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime in Iran - not because Jews are morally superior to Persians, but because Netanyahu was freely elected and is subject to the rule of law, whereas Ahmadinejad has helped to destroy whatever was democratic about Iran. In a sense, to hold Israel to the highest standards is to pay it the compliment of being treated like a normal democracy.
If some critics of Israel refuse to treat it as a normal country, however, the same is true of some of Israel's staunchest defenders. Special pleading for Israel as a nation of victims - the natural heirs of the targets of Nazi mass murder - is another way to apply a double standard. The French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was right to criticize Erdogan for overreacting to the raid on the "Gaza freedom flotilla." But, by adding that Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is a best-seller in Turkey, he implied that Erdogan's Turks are modern-day Nazis.
Israel as a nation of victims is, in fact, contrary to its founders' creed. They wanted to create a new nation, a normal nation, a nation of good Jewish soldiers and farmers, different from the powerless Jews who fell victim to European persecution. It was only later, starting perhaps with the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961, that the Holocaust became a staple of state propaganda. Later still, under such leaders as Menachem Begin, military enterprises were justified by references to the Nazi genocide.
That all Jews, including Israeli Jews, should remain haunted by a horrible past is understandable. But it must never be used to justify aggression against others. Israel is an immensely powerful country - freer, richer and better armed than all of its neighbors. Holding its leaders to account for their actions is essential, not only to protect Palestinians from brutality, but to preserve the freedom of Israelis. Allowing the past to cloud our critical faculties undermines Israeli democracy, and will have further dangerous consequences in the future.
Ian Buruma is professor of democracy and human rights at Bard College. His latest book is "Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents."
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
are you blind? or you think the rest of us are blind? "Israel as a nation of victims is, in fact, contrary to its founders' creed????????????????"
An excellent article that hits a nerve that needs to be exposed. First, not all Israelis are in agreement with the polcies towards Gaza and the Palestinians, who are emprisoned there. Those Israelis are not labled anti-semitic as they are Jews, yet other non-Jews who criticize the Israeli Government's policies are immediately dismissed as anti-semitics. Being a non-Jew I often feel the pressure to keep my opinions to myself less I be labled a Jew Hater, which I never have been and never will be. There is a terrible American affliction, and I am an American, which has been passed onto Israel, i.e. the idea of the exceptional status of one's country. To me labeling one's country as superior and exceptional, is no better than the Nazis considering themselves the exceptional (Master) race. No one person or country is exceptional to our Maker. The fact that Israel holds itself exceptional re Gaza, and worse yet, acknowledgement of its nuclear arms and refusal to abide by international control over these weapons of mass destruction is unacceptable. How can Israel expect the rest of the civliized world to condemn Iran re its nuclean intentions while not holding Israel equally accountable for its actions. What has Israel to fear from admitting the truth? You cannot believe how much higher the other nations of the world will hold the State of Israel for such an brave, bold move. I hope to live to see the day.
are also democracies,yet they have killed millions of people throughout their history-many times more than Israel has killed in its sixty years of existance in the modern era .However,they are not judged by those "highest standards" to which Israel is expected to by judged.This is another indication that the world does not accept Israel as a normal country.A normal country does have the right to defend itself in the way it chooses,not in the way others dictate to it. After all,nobody has ever threatened France,the UK,or Spain with "wipping off the map" and even in all the wars that these countries were involved in,nobody said of the other "this will be a war of annihilation" ,nor has anybody ever questionned these countries' right to exist.........
Regarding a single French philosopher's view on what is or what isn't a best-seller in Turkey and his racist comments on the Turks might be good moral for some in Israel considering the current status of relations between the two countries, but there are many more views from a variety of non-Arab / non-Muslim countries, in that Israel resembles Nazi Germany with its actions and its logic to show military brutality instead of politics and that "antisemitic" word is used more often as an excuse for these actions than anything else. Israel should be judged to what it actually is along with its actions against others and not with the current light-handed approaches that the world is showing it... maybe Israel considers itself above other inhabitants of this planet, now where have we seen that before? Being an democratic country in 'theory' means absolutely nothing if in practice the country resembles something else completely.
I have never heard a more sober assesment.
Israel should be proud not be a normal country. As a newer nation it should strive to better than the old counrties & should learn from their mistakes. I am always confused as to why the nation of Israel & it's religion are always paraded in the media in parallel. Britain, where I live, is a Christian country, but it's very rarely mentioned in conection with our politics or our military engagements. Nations should be judged on their actions & should always be aware of this. Killing 9 people on the Turkish boat was not good, not because it was a bad PR move, but because life should be sacred and nations should only take life if there is no other course available. It is nonsense to compare the loss of 9 lives to the millions killed by monsters such as Hitler, Stalin & Pol Pot, but it's still 9 lives too many. Come on Israel, start living up to the higher ideals your nation was founded upon and the tenets of Judaism, which also deplore the taking of life. Find another way to solve problems other than killing.
Imagine the circumstances reversed: what would Turkey do if Israelis supportive of the PKK set out to break Turkey's ability to prevent weapons being shipped to that terrorist organization? Or how about an even more incendiary example: Armenian activists creating a disturbance intended to draw attention to Turkish killing of Armenians in the early 20th century, provoke a reaction to make this Turkish government appear no different than the one that committed those killings. Would the Turkish government have permitted it to occur? Or overturned its policy in response, as Turkey is now demanding of Israel? Israel's choices in the flotilla incident don't seem to me surprising -- it has a legitimate concern about weapons being shipped to Hamas in Gaza, had a policy in place of searching ships bound for Gaza, had warned the Turkish government it would intercept the ships, had offered to deliver the aid once it had been searched.
dream on...
If I may add one more reason for Israel's special status to those noted by Ian Buruma, we Jews have for hundreds of years loudly and proudly proclaimed that we were more moral, ethical and just than our non-Jewish tormentors; if the history of nations is any guide, that was probably true. In time, in spite of all the hate and detestation aimed our way, I think that the Gentiles came to believe that. The Jewish family was immune, so Europeans thought, to the peccadilloes and greater sins suffered by the surrounding communities. So, with our entry into the open air and out of the ghettos, we are discovered to be subject to no less a degree than anyone else to all the evils of the modern world. We were placed, and placed ourselves, on a blood stained pedestal, and now we have fallen off. But we are not allowed to fall off, we are demanded to be whiter than white, purer than the most pure and free of all sin. But that is beyond our power, we are not able to do so; we cannot and do not want to wear again the crown of thorns, which was never ours to wear in the first place. All of which does not mean that we are any less responsible for our actions, and inaction, than other nations, redeemed, or not.
Get your knowledge! The incident may not havve happened without a gullible audience! MANIPULATION OF THE PRESS: The Flotilla!!! How many of the Flotilla's crews were Palestinians? Many were not!!!! They were individuals or groups of individuals presenting their own agendas!!!! There are two types of wars. Very sadly, there are conflicts that are settled by bullets and tanks, and there are wars fought in the media. I'm writing this article from the perspective of an American immigrant to Israel of three years. However, I do have forty years experience as a "media spinner". The Press can be a valuable and dangerous weapon. The incident of the ships entering Israel's territorial waters is another example of supporters claiming to represent the Palestinian cause, but actually may not. These individuals and groups of individuals spoke for themselves. They claimed to speak for "The Palestinians" even though many Palestinian including President Abbas claimed otherwise. Sadly, the perception of much of the world is that Israel is a military state. I find this unfortunate because this is not true. Since the founding of the state, Israel has been busy conducting wars of bullets and tanks confronting every Arab nation surrounding its' borders.. Israel has always been a small nation surrounded by an enemy many times its' size. Yet the nation enjoys one of the world's highest standard of living and is a budding yet imperfect democracy. Manipulation of the media contributes to this distortion. The most basic responsibility and right of national leadership is self defense. The President of the USA is considered the commander in chief. His primary duty is to defend his nation. For example, the leaders of America, including Obama, feel that the presence of 150,000 soldiers in Iraq and 40,000 in Afghanistan is protecting the American citizen. This is in response to just one major terrorist attack within the continental USA. We have been attacked thousands of times since the first day of our existence. Yet, much of the world brands Israel as an aggressor. The leaders of the Arab League rejected the 1947 United Nations resolution granting statehood to the Jews and Muslims in Palestine. Many of these leaders felt the need to prevent implementation through acts of war. The first act of war was the Arab League invasion in 1948. The Palestinian exodus was the result. The Myth of the Nagba: The Palestinian Exodus: Time Magazine of May 3, 1948, reported from Haifa: "The mass evacuation, prompted partly by fear, partly by orders of Arab leaders, left the Arab quarter of Haifa a ghost city. More than pride and defiance was behind the Arab orders. By withdrawing Arab workers, their leaders hoped to paralyze Haifa. Jewish leaders said wishfully: "They'll be back in a few days. Already some are returning." On the day that Israel declared its independence (May 15, 1948), Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, at Cairo press conference, (reported in the New York Times, May 16, 1948) declared "jihad", a holy war. He said that the Arab states rejected partition and intended to set up a "United State of Palestine." The Arab League and committee governed the West Bank and Gaza until the 1967 war, while the Palestinians lived in refugee camps in abstract poverty. The Arab league's justification was that the Palestinians should only gain control of any part of Palestine only when all of it was liberated! The people of Israel have been forced to cope with this mentality since 1948. Efforts within this region have been made to confront this mentality both by the people of Israel and the people of Palestine. I don't understand why the media neglects this other side of life in our regionl, the side that tries to settle differences with words and not weapons? I have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in some of these efforts. blogs.rj.org/reform/.../update-from-haifa-jews-christi.html -prayer vigil during war in Gaza hiram7.wordpress.com/.../earl-shugermans-corner-the-focolare-movement/ -retreat at Christian Kibbutz video.google.com/videoplay?docid... -youth sports event at Haifa beach Run 4 Unity
What are your qualifications to write about this subject? Please post them. Earl in Haifa
Israel is in a very bad shape, the occupation has corrupted this country, but it is still a democracy. Also, as you pointed out, Israel never killed 20 000 people in a month, like Hafez El Assad in Hama. One can also talk about the Sri Lankan repression of the Tamil rebellion ehich killed 20 000 people in 4 months last year, or Russia's terrible oppression of the Chechens which in less than 20 years, killed more people than during the whole Arab-Israeli conflict which started in 48. By the way, never the Chechens, the Kurds or the Tamils wanted to destroy any state, they are just asking for independence. Israel is in a unique situation, let's not forget it.
yes israel is seen as a western enclave at the heart of the arab world
How can a nation-state built on lies, deception, myth, terrorism, military might, intrigue, and other artificial means ever be considered normal (or legitimate)? Unless you have been totally brainwashed by Zionist ideology and political socialization, one should know better because you are living a lie and making the world around you an even worse place.
the world just looks at darfur and the congo and sighs. they live in a different world from us, they are not like us at all, they have different values and a different mindset. we are a lot more "civilized" than they are. until fairly recently, every muslim nation was lumped into this same "non-civilized" category. turkey, maybe the uae and kuwait have somewhat risen out of it. when israel, self-proclaimed "only democracy in the middle east" and a "sharer of western values" acts in horrible, racist ways, we are shocked because it proves that maybe our way of thinking isn't all that civilized either. sure, we westerners have a bloody historical trail, but that was supposed to be behind us. israel and also america's current crimes bring back bad memories and prove that we haven't advanced nearly as far as we thought we had.