Friday 20 March 2009

Semittism or not?

Working as a tourist "guide" every summer for about 8 years, I've met my share of Israelis. Now, I am sure that those who have enough money to come visit Norway, aren't exactly a cross section of the Israeli people.

However.. What I see in this article, and this one goes far on the way of confirming my impression of Israelis. Judging from personal experience, news (and yes, a lot more than just the mainstream press) and books, it seems a fair share of Israelis (and very often those that have some media coverage) always shout "Anti-semittism!" every time someone criticizes Israel for anything. Or jews. Which is funny, since a lot of jews don't consider themselves Israelis.

Now, the Israel vs. Palestine conflict is not black and white, will not be solved in quite some time, and basically only has victims. That being said, I'm pretty sure the majority of people in the world would agree that building a massive wall between the two states, draws remarkable resemblance to another wall we've seen in the 20th century.

Certain things about Israel and the way they are handling the Palestine conflict, is absolutely questionable. The major difference, the way I see it, is that more "John Does" in Israel identify with their governments actions, than "John Does" on the Palestinian side identify with what the terrorists are doing.

Allright, let's just stop there. My points, which got lost somewhere along the line, is that I think Israelis, allthough somewhat justified, are crying "Wolf" far too often, resulting in real anti-semittism being shrugged off. Which is a bloody shame both for them, and the rest of the world who aren't anti-semites, or whatever the word would be..

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Some Israelis say that Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in the world, Dagbladet told us a couple of weeks ago. What about that

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  3. I think that's probably because we're one of the few countries who dare criticize Isreali politics and how they're handling the whole Gaza/Palestine issue.

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  4. I have experienced my share of anti-semitism in Norway... It has become clear to me for example that many muslims have been manipulated into hating Jews, regardless of their connection to Israel. Alot of Norwegians don't understand that, since most of them have never met a Jew. Now Israelis are very proud, expressive and direct in their manner, and Norwegians.. Well, we are not. And since no one else seems to want to acknowledge anti-semitism, Israel feels that it is their duty.

    Generally, the coverage of the conflict is very one-sided in Norway, and THATS what Isralis react on. It might be sub-conscious, but howcome Norwegian lefties, or Europeans in general, don't have massive demonstrations agains other major violations of human-rights? (Darfur comes to mind.....)

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  5. Part of the Israel vs Palestine conflict is that it's (generally speaking) terrorists on one side, and a government/military on the other. That makes taking sides very difficult. Mostly because when the Israeli military strikes back, it usually doesn't hurt the terrorists, but instead kills civilians.

    Now this goes the other way around as well. When the terrorists attack Israel, it's usually civilians who get hurt, not the military nor the government.

    The difference, like I pointed out, is that _generally speaking_, the majority in Israel support what their government and military is doing, while the majority of the palestinians condemn the terrorist actions. One can discuss at length whether or not this is how they actually feel, but none the less this is how it appears.

    When it comes to your comments in general, it's hard not to think that you are yourself Israeli or at least a jew (I don't like typing that word, it has so many connotations and so much history). First of all, I consider myself a fairly updated and balanced news follower. I don't merely watch NRK, I watch Al Jazeera, BBC etc. Saying that european news casts are leftist and/or one-sided is very ignorant. Yes, _some_ news channels are very one sided. CNN often has very one sided views, which I think is a consequence of FOX News being so one sided (the other way).

    As for Norwegians, try to remember our history as well. We've been bullied around for almost a millennium, by swedes, danes, germans and whatnot. Every time someone mentions vikings outside Scandinavia, people immediately think carnage, blodshed, raping and looting. But when it comes down to it, fairly few of the vikings did those things. Most of them were traders, merchants and explorers.

    My point is that maybe it's the Israeli culture that is taking itself a bit too serious, and having this set thought about "everyone is out to get us", which leads to misinterpreting things. I seriously doubt that the entire western world, bar USA, are just bashing the jews, rather than criticizing Israeli politics. People, in general, are usually quite understanding and tolerant. I doubt the average person (anywhere) has anything against any nation, people, color or creed. Most people are too busy getting about their daily lives.

    Personally, I think Israel retaliating against the terrorist attacks are justified. However, I strongly disagree when it comes to putting up a giant wall. I am not taking sides, because is far too hard with my lacking knowledge of the history of the region, and I condemn terrorist attacks at the strongest. But that wall symbolizes so much of what's wrong in this world.

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