The Israel Is Demonic Obsession. Norman Finklestein And Company

The obsession and need to demonize and delegitimize Israel is common. Because this is already a widespread sentiment, those that indulge in their demonize Israel obsession find it easy to find audiences to validate their hate filled obsession.

It is not the purpose here to defend the actions of the Israeli government. There are many things the government of Israel has done that are wrong and that should be opposed. There are many things the American government has done that are wrong. There are many things that many governments have done that are wrong. Many countries would be better off with regime change. Many countries would be better off with complete changes of government. There are far too many dictatorships in the world. There are far too many countries ruled by arrogant, cruel, greedy leaders that kill and loot at will. There are far too many religious theocracies that strangle freedom and compassion. But there is no country in the world, except for when it comes to Israel, where the goal is not regime change, not a change of government, not to reform a nation, but to destroy the entire country and ethnically cleanse its Jewish population.

All eyes on Israel and damn the rest of the world comes at a heavy price. While the hate Israel obsession rages, keeping the conflict inflamed and far from ever getting resolved, terrible things happen. All the cruel and horrific things taking place in the world get to pass virtually unnoticed and rarely opposed.

Over six million people have been killed in the Congo region alone. Many were hacked to death by machete. Countless women and girls, even babies, have been raped, murdered or made permanently disabled.

War rages in Yemen. Millions of civilians face starvation and disease. War rages in Libya, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Mali, and many other places while the world turns a blind eye.

Finklestein wants people to believe Israel is worse than North Korea in order to validate his obsession. Millions share or happily go along with this obsession despite the heavy price it exacts.

Demagogues, dictators, theocratic rulers and others know that focusing on a scapegoat means no one focuses on them. Having an external target means no one focuses on their shortcomings and deficiencies. People are easier to manipulate and fool when they are directed towards an enemy to hate. Others have made careers, fame and/or fortune by having a scapegoat, knowing that the more widely despised is the scapegoat, the easier it is to attract an audience and following.

Destroy Israel and commit genocide against the Jews, following in the footsteps of Hitler, is actively pursued by Iran, by its Lebanese Hezbollah army, by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and many others. It is not imagined by someone paranoid. It is real, no matter how many in their eagerness to delegitimize Israel pretend that it does not exist. Hamas, Iran. Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others declare openly and often their goal to exterminate Jewish Israelis. They make it clear that their religious beliefs  compels them to wage war against the Jews, and that there can be no solution to the conflict other than the complete destruction of Israel and the establishment of yet another religious theocracy that the world needs like a hole in the head. Even the former prime minister of  Malaysia, a country far from Israel, wants Muslims united in a war against the Jews. Many so called leftists pretend this does not exist because it is does not conform with their biased narrative that Israel is bad and those that are war with Israel are angels. Antisemitism or the hatred of Jews, must be made to appear insignificant in order for the myth to persist that Israel operates without cause against threats that are not real.

The genocidal actions and rhetoric against Israel are not uncommon. What is common is how commonly they are ignored.

The fact that Finklestein's parents were holocaust survivors and that he is Jewish born does not give him special insight into Israel or into antisemitism that others lack. Most Jews whose parents were in the holocaust do not despise the state of Israel. Many Jews that do experience antisemitism have to wonder how a man that has made a career inciting against Israel and demonizing Israel lectures on antisemitism and argues that it is virtually nonexistent. In 1994 a suicide bomber blew up a Jewish Community Center in Argentina. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to be responsible for the attack that killed 85 people and wounded another 300. No matter how clear in words and actions jihadists and other extremists and supremacists make clear that they want Jews dead, using Israel as the excuse for their hate, none of it resonates for many North Americans and others that have lived sheltered lives and are clueless about the world around.

Many so called leftists justify and support the actions of Islamic jihadists despite the incredibly reactionary, supremacist, bigotry of violent Islamic jihad. Finklestein's justification for the Charlie Hebdo murderers is an example.

The demonize Israel crowd wants Israel destroyed or at least weakened into an indefensible nation. Jihadists and the enemies of Israel are celebrated. The hundreds of thousands of missiles directed against Israel, the costly tunnels built to wage war and infiltrate, the jihadists acts of murder and martyrdom are whitewashed or encouraged.

In their Orwellian universe, Israel must be made to appear as a demonic actor, never as a nation with the legitimate right to exist with secure borders. The war against Israel and the effort to destroy it is disregarded. This way, Israel appears as a violent, irrational nation operating in a vacuum.

Whether or not Israel exists, the jihadist threats remain. Boko Haram in Nigeria kills by the thousands. Abu Sayaf in parts of the south Philippines beheads and terrorizes. Al-Shabaab terrorizes in Somalia and Kenya. Mali, Libya, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, South Thailand, Yemen, Iraq and many more places are drenched in blood from jihadists.

Most Israelis originated from the middle east or North Africa, not Europe, where many were ethnically cleansed and forced out of lands where they had lived for centuries or even for thousands of years. Jews from Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, British controlled Palestine, Algeria, Afghanistan,  and elsewhere are still alive, as are their descendants. They can tell their story of why there needs to be an Israel, and why they defend Israel's right to exist. They can tell a side of the story that the Finklestein crowd conveniently ignores in its eagerness to delegitimize Israel and paint a one sided, demonic narrative.

Finklestein, a privileged American, does not speak for the Jews from North Africa and the middle east or for the average Israeli.  He blissfully remains focused on only seeing or believing what he wants to see and believe, excluding the narratives that puncture holes in his.

If Israel is destroyed, as many of its enemies desire, and if Jewish Israelis are forced to leave, assuming they are not massacred as Hezbollah, Hamas and many other jihadists desire, many cannot return to places that they or their parents or grandparents left. The Jews that originated in places like Yemen, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere, would be slaughtered or persecuted at best if they were forced to go these lands full of hatred for Jews. Jews that used to live in what was called Palestine under British rule, and before that Ottoman empire rule, know that if Israel is destroyed, they as Palestinians will not be safe.

All over the middle east and North Africa, religious minorities are persecuted. Bahai's and others are persecuted in Iran. Yazidis and many middle east Christians have been slaughtered. Coptic Christians are persecuted in Egypt. Persecution or discrimination against religious minorities is widespread not just in the middle east and North Africa, but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and many other places.

Many people, in their hatred for Jews, make sure that this hatred is manifested in hatred for the one small Jewish state in the world. Everything else that happens in the world, the terrible treatment of religious minorities in many countries, the wars and terror that take place daily, the bigotry and religious violence that keeps the world washed in blood, the poverty and misery that so many face, the severe environmental destruction and pollution that is destroying the world, nuclear weapons, and all the other terrible things taking place in the world are ignored.

The WW2 destruction of Europe, with over 50 million people killed following leaders obsessed with killing Jews, should have taught where where antisemitism leads.

Israel has been a UN recognized state for over 70 years. Millions of Israelis have grown up on that soil. The goal to see them driven out, or to see their state become an indefensible shell of a state that is completely vulnerable to genocidal enemies, does nothing but ensure years more of senseless bloodshed and suffering.

Ignoring the genocidal ambitions of those that wish to destroy Israel should not mean uncritical support for Israel. All countries, all governments, all organizations, all religions and religious institutions should be subject to criticism, scrutiny and questioning. Resolving this long standing conflict defies easy solutions, but one thing is for certain, more of the same; hate, violence, incitement, demonizing the other side, religious bigotry and intolerance, war and terror only brings more misery and bloodshed. Everything that can be done to build bridges and mutual acceptance is a step in the right direction. Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Central African Republic, Darfur, Mali, Northern Nigeria and Afghanistan are but a few examples of how war, religious intolerance, and violence spin out of control, creating unimaginable suffering. This must not be allowed to happen.

One way or another, the only solution to the conflict is for Israelis and Arabs to learn to live with one another in peace. Those that promote peace between the different peoples are to be applauded. Those that incite hatred, those that encourage bigotry and violence, those that pursue terror, those that demonize and demean must be opposed, no matter who they are or from what side.