Can You Be a Leftist and Not Be an AntiSemite?

One of the baffling issues of this world, one that I can never hope to understand, is why so many on the left support the Palestinian cause against the Israelis. No matter where in history you go back to as a starting point to try to justify the position and rights of one party or the other, any reasonable person sees the hopelessness of any other starting point but the UN action creating the partition into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state in 1947.

The Palestinians and the Arab states around them did not accept the UN action, and five times raised armies to invade Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. Five times they were sent off whimpering and shaking their fists as they ran. Ever since the defeats of the regular armies, the Palestinians have tried in every way they could, through terrorism, deceit and propaganda, to exterminate the Israelis.

Now, having gained some understanding of Islam since 9/11, I fully realize that every Muslim is taught to hate Jews as people who are lower than animals. It says so over and over again in their Koran and in their current preachings, so I have some understanding of their hatred, their desire to kill them and their antipathy to sharing any part of the world with them. But do leftists share this passionate anti-Semitism? Does this explain the unfathomable?

And will what is happening now in Gaza (described in excerpts below by Charles Krauthammer) change any liberal minds of this prejudice? I hope so. We have enough antiSemites in Europe (left over from the Nazi era) to deal with, thank you.


Sunday, Jul. 2, 2006
Remember What Happened Here
Gaza is freed, yet Gaza wages war. That reveals the Palestinians' true agenda
By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

“What is so remarkable about the current wave of violence in Gaza is that the event at the origin of the "cycle" is not at all historical, but very contemporary. The event is not buried in the mists of history. It occurred less than one year ago. Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel left Gaza. Every Jew, every soldier, every military installation, every remnant of Israeli occupation was uprooted and taken away.

How do the Palestinians respond? What have they done with Gaza, the first Palestinian territory in history to be independent, something neither the Ottomans nor the British nor the Egyptians nor the Jordanians, all of whom ruled Palestinians before the Israelis, ever permitted? On the very day of Israel's final pullout, the Palestinians began firing rockets out of Gaza into Israeli towns on the other side of the border. And remember: those are attacks not on settlers but on civilians in Israel proper, the pre-1967 Israel that the international community recognizes as legitimately part of sovereign Israel, a member state of the U.N. A thousand rockets have fallen since.

For what possible reason? Before the withdrawal, attacks across the border could have been rationalized with the usual Palestinian mantra of occupation, settlements and so on. But what can one say after the withdrawal?

The logic for those continued attacks is to be found in the so-called phase plan adopted in 1974 by the Palestine National Council in Cairo. Realizing that they would never be able to destroy Israel in one fell swoop, the Palestinians adopted a graduated plan to wipe out Israel. First, accept any territory given to them in any part of historic Palestine. Then, use that sanctuary to wage war until Israel is destroyed.

So in 2005 the Palestinians are given Gaza, free of any Jews. Do they begin building the state they say they want, constructing schools and roads and hospitals? No. They launch rockets at civilians and dig a 300-yard tunnel under the border to attack Israeli soldiers and bring back a hostage." Time Magazine

Here also is a 2005 report from Israel National News:

Abbas Approves Monthly Grant To Families of Suicide Bombers
Sunday, December 11, 2005 / 10 Kislev 5766

”The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has approved a new law, providing monetary grants to the families of suicide bombers.

Abbas gave his approval just six days ago, a day before a suicide bomber struck the HaSharon Mall in Netanya, killing five Israelis and wounding scores of others.

The legislation refers to the suicide terrorists as shahids (martyrs), a term generally applied to a person who dies in an operation fighting against Israel.

Under the new law, the terrorist’s family will be paid a base sum of $250 per month. The law takes into account extended family arrangements commonplace in Arab societies. The families of married terrorists are entitled to an additional $50 per month, and $15 are added for each child, $25 for each parent, and $15 for each brother who lived with the terrorist prior to his death.

The monies, to be paid out of the general budget of the Palestinian Authority, are significant sums for average Arab families living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

Both Israel and the United States have taken legal action in recent years to shut down organizations that distribute money to the families of terrorists, especially suicide bombers.

The budget of the Palestinian Authority is largely subsidized by grants from European nations and the United States.

Israel also regularly transfers money to the PA. Much of that money is collected as customs duties on goods entering Israel bound for the PA, or for Arabs living under its jurisdiction.” Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com