Boycotts Nowadays Jews Boycott Arabs Blumenthal

Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, by Max Blumenthal. 2013

Jews Can Be Just as Prejudiced Against Their Minority Group (Israeli Arabs) as Poles Presumably Were Prejudiced Against Their Jewish Minority

Author Blumenthal repeatedly mentions the Deir Yassin massacre (p. 56, 194, 199), in which Arab civilians had been summarily murdered by Irgun guerrillas.

The student of Polish-Jewish relations may be amazed at the parallels which exist with modern-day Israel and prewar Poland, and I write my review from that angle. For example:

THE PALESTINIAN DEMOGRAPHIC “PROBLEM” IN ISRAEL—LIKE THE JEWISH DEMOGRAPHIC “PROBLEM” ON PRE-WWI POLISH SOIL

The demographics in Israel are such that the Palestinian population is rapidly increasing. (p. 355). Blumenthal points out that birth control was banned in Israel until the late 1950’s, and that abortion was illegal until 1976, all to ensure a high Israeli Jewish birthrate. (p. 314).

The informed reader may wish to compare these concerns with earlier Polish ones. The Jewish share of the local population, of Russian-ruled Poland, had almost doubled in 1800-1900 (from 8% to 15%), prompting the Jewish-maligned Dmowski to express his concern about Jewish demographics.

EVIDENTLY, MOST ISRAELI JEWS ARE PREJUDICED

What about majority Israeli opinion? Blumenthal cites a 2006 poll, from an article in HA’ARETZ, which states that 68% of Jews would refuse to live in the same building with an Arab. (p. 416). And yet Poles are endlessly portrayed, by Jews, as a horribly intolerant people.

ENDEKS BOYCOTTED JEWS. AND NOW JEWS BOYCOTT ARABS

Blumenthal mentions street-level “enforcers” in Israel. These ensure the boycotting of businesses that employ Arabs and the punishment of Israeli landlords that rent to non-Jews. (p. 317). And yet, in history books, we never hear the end of those big bad Endeks and ONR “enforcers”, and the boycotts they led of Jews in pre-WWII Poland!

ISRAELI JEWS LEAVING ISRAEL. WHY?

The author discusses the high emigration rate from Israel. He suggests that this stems less from fear of terrorism and more from the social and economic problems in Israel. (p. 408). How much of this emigration is driven by the actual or perceived intolerance that exists in Israel?

THE AUTHOR A SELF-HATING JEW?

Some reviewers have characterized Max Blumenthal, and other Jews who major in criticizing Israel, as self-hating Jews. Could it be, instead, that Blumenthal, and others like him, are leftists first and Jews second? This would be comparable to the way that some Poles (e. g, the neo-Stalinists and the LEWACTWO) are leftists first and Poles second.

JEWS THEMSELVES SOMETIMES EQUATE OTHER JEWS WITH NAZIS

Some of the leftist Jewish attacks on Israel have been very strident. For instance, Yeshayahu Leibowitz went as far as using the term “Judeo-Nazis”, and even compared Justice Moshe Landau (the one who had sentenced Adolf Eichmann to death) to a Nazi. (p. 268). And, then again, there are those LEWAKS who scurrilously equate Roman Dmowski and the Endeks with the German Nazis. Oh, well…