I never meant for my blog to become political. The world seems to be upside down, and it bothers me a lot. I wanted to let people know about the craziness that I have observed, and to find out if “it’s just me”.
So, based on the fact that two of my three postings have dealt with political issues (namely the “Apartheid State” designation, and Obama), I suppose I should just accept the fact that the absurdities that bother me the most are political. And since I live in Israel, and have the privilege of ducking into a bomb shelter whenever Hamas is bored, most of that absurdity has to do with Israel vs. just about everybody.
We Jews have been accused of everything. What I find fascinating in the current state of affairs, is that so much of what Hamas and other fanatical Islamic groups accuse us of is so unoriginal. You’d think that, after 2000 years, someone would think of something new to hate us for.
One of the most infamous canards against the Jewish people is The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. All you have to do to find out about the history of this document is to do a Google search, so I won’t go into the historical details here. In short, it came out of Russia around the turn of the century (19th to 20th) in order to blame the Jews for just about everything.
I thought that it would be an interesting exercise to compare the accusations in The Protocols with what Hamas is actually saying and doing. Of course, I live in Israel, so finding a copy is not the easiest task. I could download it from a delightful website called Jew Watch, but I really don’t want to add to their view count. I sent an email to a bookstore in Jerusalem to see if they carry it, but they must think I’m some kind of crazy, because they haven’t responded.
So, I checked the catalogue at our local library here in Efrat, and this is what I found:
Goran Larsson, Fact or Fraud: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 1994
Umberto Eco, The Prague Cemetery, 2010
I took out both of them.
Of course, Eco’s book is a novel, so that will just be for fun.
Larsson’s book was published by the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies and Research, with photos and illustrations from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Larsson is a Christian who wrote this to confront the rising tide of anti-Semitism. So he clearly has an agenda, but that’s OK. Who doesn't?.
Unfortunately, his book only contains a few excerpts from The Protocols (If anyone out there has a complete copy of The Protocols, may I borrow it?). The following are examples to demonstrate how Hamas unashamedly plagiarizes the Protocols. (Maybe we could get the UN to charge them with plagiarism?).
1) From The Protocols: The Media is run by Jews:
“These newspapers, like the Hindu god Vishnu, will be possessed of hundreds of hands, each of which will be feeling the pulse of varying public opinion...If any chatterers are going to imagine that they are repeating the opinion of their party newspaper, they will in reality be repeating...the opinion which we desire.”
“When the populace noticed that it was being given all sorts of rights in the name of liberty, it imagined itself to be master, and tried to assume power. Of course, like every blind man, the mass came up against numerous obstacles. Then, as it did not wish to return to the former regime, it lays its power at our feet...We have led the nations from one disappointment to another, so that they should even renounce us in favor of the King-Despot of the blood of Zion, whom we are preparing for the world.”
OK. Now read this from the political platform of Hamas, 1988:
“The Jews have taken over the world media and financial centers. By fomenting revolutions, wars, and such movements as the Free Masons, Communism, Capitalism and Zionism, Rotary, Lions, B’nai B’rith etc. - they are subverting human society as a whole in order to bring about its destruction, propagate their own viciousness and corruption, and take over the world via such of their pet institutions as the League of Nations, the U.N., and the Security Council. Their schemes are detailed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
Really now. Communism AND Capitalism? The Rotary Club? Is this for real? What about the Boy Scouts, 4-H Club, and Future Farmers of America? And we all know how friendly the UN is to Israel. Nevertheless, PEOPLE BELIEVE THIS STUFF!
Here’s a cute little news item I just saw yesterday:
“A project management official at the Dutch National Cyber Security Center has been suspended after tweeting that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), now known as the Islamic State (IS), was a ‘Zionist plot’.
According to the English-language NL Times website the employee, Yasmina Haifi, wrote, “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It is a preconceived plan of Zionists who want to deliberately make Islam look bad.”
I assume that Haifi is educated. After all she appears to have a responsible position in a serious government agency. Also, from her name, I assume she is Muslim. But, maybe not.
So where does she get these idiotic notions? Once again, it isn’t very original - just a rewarmed and regurgitated version of the same garbage. And why would anybody believe it?
I know that I said I was only reading Umberto Eco’s book for fun. I guess I lied. Eco provides an astounding insight into the human mind, and why people believe this stuff.
Eco presents for our consideration the “Universal Form of Conspiracy”.
It’s a standard form, which states that someone is to blame for all of your troubles, and all of the world’s troubles. That “they” came from every part of the world to a secret and hidden place - “a forest clearing, a cave, a castle, a cemetery or a crypt, provided it is reasonably dark...”. There someone presents a plan to take over the world. All you have to do is fill in the blanks, depending on who your particular ogre is. “For my Grandfather it was the Jews, for the Jesuits it was the Masons, for my Garibaldian father it was the Jesuits...Who knows how many other people in this world still think they are being threatened by some conspiracy. Here’s a form to be filled out at will, by each person with his own conspiracy...if I wanted to sell a story of a conspiracy, I didn’t have to offer the buyer anything original, but simply something he already knew or could have found out more easily in other ways. People only believe what they already know, and this is the beauty of the Universal Form of Conspiracy.”
In essence, if you provide people with a familiar tale that supports what they already believe, you can get them to believe anything.
In the novel, Eco is specifically referring to a “Jesuit plot” to take over the world. They meet in an abandoned Jewish cemetery in Prague.
“By what cunning had the Jesuits decided to gather in a place that had been sacred to the Jews? And what control did they have over this place that was forgotten by everyone, and perhaps inaccessible? All questions without an answer, which would have given credibility to the story, since I reckoned that Bianco would be firmly convinced that when all the facts appear fully explainable and likely, the story is false.”
Questions without answers give credibility to a story. If the facts of a story can be verified, it is considered a fabrication.
Is anything more absurd than that?
Eureka! This explains why everybody believes Hamas, and nobody believes Israel! The craziest lies of Hamas are believed exactly because they can’t be proven!
Not only that, but I have the answer to why the Israel-Palestinian “conflict” is irresolvable. One can only resolve conflict, one can only negotiate a resolution to a grievance, if the grievance actually exists.
So long as the Palestinians accuse us of absurdities that couldn’t possibly be true, then those grievances cannot be addressed in any way, shape, or form. As long as we are accused of everything from genocide to body odor, there is nothing to negotiate about.
Fine. You think we took your land? Let’s talk about it. You think we didn’t always treat you nicely. We can talk about that, too. We’ve got some grievances against you that we can bring up as well. And they go back a few thousand years.
If you can’t come up with something real, then there’s nothing to talk about.
Okay. I said I would bring up something to show that Hamas accuses us Jews of what Hamas actually does. I’ve been going on and on, and I don’t want to take advantage of your patience. So here is one item. If you want more, just let me know.
So, are you ready for this? Directly from The Protocols:
“Metropolitan railways and underground passages will be constructed in all cities. From these subterranean places we will explode all the cities of the world with their institutions and documents.”
In March 2004, Spanish trains in Madrid were bombed by Islamists. In July 2005, the London subway system was bombed, also by Islamists. Not to mention 9/11 and The World Trade Center. And, by their own admission, and by verified fact, Hamas has been digging tunnels with the expressed intent of murdering Jews and abducting Jewish women and children to be captives. This was planned for Rosh HaShanah. It is verifiable.
So, here is my suggestion to the Israeli government. We need to make up some bald-faced lies about Hamas. We need to accuse them of murdering their own people. We need to accuse them of wanting to drive all the Jews into the sea, and then kill all the rest of us. Namely, of attempted genocide. We need to accuse them of purposely targeting civilians. We need to accuse ISIS of wanting to set up a worldwide Caliphate. We need to accuse ISIS of offering Christians the choice of conversion, the Dhimmi tax, or death!
No. That won’t work. All that can be verified. Fascinating.
Or is it just me?
