The subterranean world

There are some standard tropes about Jews which recur in antisemitic discourse in different contexts and countries, and have done so for centuries. They normally include, for example, that Jews are atypically cruel and bloodthirsty, particularly towards children; that they view non-Jews as somehow sub-human; that they conspire together to use their financial power to manipulate unsuspecting non-Jews; that they create wars and send non-Jews to fight and die in those wars, for Jewish purposes; that the Talmud mandates them to behave in this way; and so forth. It is remarkable how easily and frequently these ideas can be found in the present day, especially if you substitute "Zionist" or "Zionist Jew" for "Jew".

This post contains just three examples of this from the past week, although there are many others, which have been written about previously on this and other blogs. Firstly, Khalid Amayreh writes of a "Jewish-controlled media" and how "most Jews [are] mass murderers, certified war criminals, child killers, land thieves and pathological professional liars." Secondly, Ken O'Keefe talks of "some very dangerous teachings within the Talmud in particular that makes the non-Jew, gentile, goy, essentially non-human." Thirdly, Gilad Atzmon says that Zionism has bought "the entire Western political system" and sends British and American troops to die in foreign wars. There are more details of each below, for those who can stomach it.

 Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist whose writings we reported on last month; specifically, those which appear to support ideas of a Talmudic "Judeo-Nazism"; Holocaust Denial; the Blood Libel; and a global Jewish conspiracy.

Amayreh has now written an article, "Muslims need to tackle Jewish Islamophobia", in which he claims that Jews pay "Muslim renegades" to "malign Islam"; that "Zionist agents" fabricate antisemitic incidents to blame on Muslims; and that "most Jews" are "mass murderers, certified war criminals, child killers, land thieves and pathological professional liars." Here are some extracts from the article:

From Sydney to California , Zionist Jews are spreading venomous hatred against Islam. A few years ago, we were witnessing mere instances and isolated occurrences of Jewish hatred and/or fear of Islam and Muslims. Now, it is very much morbid mass hysteria sustained by rampant and unrelenting incitement and distortion of facts.

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This virulent Jewish Islamophobia is by no means confined to the American arena, where the Jewish-controlled media and show biz have been inciting against Islam for ages.

In Europe, Zionist Jews have been encouraging European neo-fascism as long as the ultimate target is Muslims, not Jews. The messages go like this: Islam is about to take over Europe, wake up before it is too late!!

In many instances, Zionist agents fabricated anti-Semitic incidents, like scrawling anti-Jewish epithets or even setting Jewish property on fire, and blamed it on Muslims

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Moreover, in many instances certain Jewish circles have courted Muslim renegades, given them money, in order to use them as mouthpieces to malign Islam. This is very much similar to Jewish apostates who converted to Christianity in medieval Europe and were used by the Church to malign Judaism and its practices, ultimately leading to pogroms against Jewish communities.

Jewish Islamophobia is much more than a mere protest phenomenon against Muslim opposition to Nazi-like Israeli policies in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and South Lebanon . It is actually a deliberate, organized effort aimed at besmirching Islam and hurting the feelings of Muslims by vilifying Islam's symbols such as the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him). Just think of any Islamophobic group anywhere in the world today, and you will find that some Zionist Jews stand behind it in terms of financial backing or political support.

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Indeed, contrary to common misunderstandings, Islam is not against Jews as Jews. Islam never lumped Jews in one category and has always sought to make a careful distinction between  good Jews and bad Jews, e.g. God-fearing Jews who truly follow the teachings of the Torah, on the one hand,  and, on the other,  those duplicitous, dishonest and disobedient Jews who views [sic] the rest of mankind as cattle.

In the final analysis, we all know that Jews lived their golden age under the rule of Islam whether in Egypt, or Iraq or southern Spain. This situation, more or less, continued until the advent of the cancer of Zionism in the 20th century. The creation of the evil state of Israel in Palestine in 1948 helped spread this cancer in the Middle East and beyond as most Jews were effectively transformed by Zionism into worshipers [sic] of the  modern golden calf known as Israel. This satanic calf  has effectively morphed Jews, or most Jews, into mass murderers, certified war criminals, child killers, land thieves and pathological professional liars.

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Israeli Nazism has a fixation, namely controlling the world by controlling governments and regimes, as is already the case in the United States, Canada and several other western countries.

Needless to say, the main obstacle hindering the consummation of Zionist global hegemony is the Muslims the world, or more correctly the vital Muslim forces that are mindful of the task of shielding the dignity of Muslim peoples from the ghoul of Zio-Nazism.

Who would publish such an article, which talks of "Zionist global hegemony", "Jewish-controlled media" and slanders "most Jews" as child killers and liars - rhetoric that in the past, people would assume to be neo-Nazi propaganda?

It was first published by the Palestine Information Center, which is generally viewed as affiliated to Hamas, although it does not declare any official connection. It was then reproduced by the "Information Office" of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades; Ikhwanweb, which describes itself as "The Muslim Brotherhood's Official English web site"; the AhlulBayt News Agency, an Iranian Shia website; the website of the Iranian state radio broadcaster, IRIB; and various blogs, including Palestine Free Voice and Uprooted Palestinians.

This is what passes for acceptable discourse about Jews, in these parts.

Here is Ken O'Keefe, one of the Gaza flotillistas, who also thinks he knows how to differentiate good Jews from bad Jews:

Jews and Muslims and Christians and any other section of society have the capacity to be destructive or constructive.  With regard to the Zionist extremists who have their way with Israeli policy, there is a deep sense of entitlement and some very dangerous teachings within the Talmud in particular that makes the non-Jew, gentile, goy, essentially non-human.  The Jew of this ilk is bound to treat the non-Jew as such, and that segment of the Jewish population in Israel has the most power.  What this translates to is the Jewish people are seeing their religion being hijacked.  I know good Jewish people, I know destructive Jews, but Judaism itself is not the problem.  However, I would argue that Jews of conscience must speak out, and do so in increasing numbers.  That is what is required to take your religion back and become a constructive contributor to society.

This kind of thinking is the mirror image of the Islamophobic trope that the Quran compels Muslims to be violent, or to hate and kill non-Muslims. It is an argument usually propounded by people with little knowledge or understanding of the religious traditions they traduce. (I do not know if O'Keefe has spent time in a yeshiva, but I doubt it). Perhaps his hosts at the Islamic Forum of Europe can ask him, when he speaks there on 24th July, about the validity of extracting and essentialising isolated religious verses to explain the behaviour of religious believers today.

The precise explanation is, anyway, meaningless. Amayreh claims the "good Jews" are the ones who follow the Torah. O'Keefe's argument is the reverse: he says that the bad Jews are the ones who follow the Talmud. None of this makes sense, but then it doesn't need to. It is what Anthony Julius describes as "an affair of ignorance, stupidity, and baleful prejudice."

Finally, here is Gilad Atzmon, in a speech delivered to a meeting at London's Friends House (for which O'Keefe was billed as Master of Ceremonies), claiming that Zionism is "a global movement with global interests", to which end it has "[bought] the entire Western political system", and that British soldiers are dying in "Zionist wars":

8.1 Zionism vowed initially to collect Jews from around the world and to bring them to Palestine. It was inspired by the idea of a national home in a ‘promised land.’

8.2 This is definitely not the case anymore. Zionism took a different route. It actually expects the Diaspora Jews to mount pressure on Western governments and media. Wolfowitz was very productive in shaping America’s interests and desires, as was David Aaronovitch in championing ‘moral interventionist’ wars in The Times, David Miliband  fulfilled his duty fighting to amend British Universal Jurisdiction within the British cabinet to allow Israeli war criminals to visit this Kingdom. Alan Dershowitz  managed to transform the  American academic world into a Yeshiva. Haim Saban, the Israeli American tycoon, bankrolls the Democratic party when he isn’t buying American media outlets or funding a new think tank.

8.3 The Israelis realised a long time ago that it is far cheaper to buy the entire Western political system than buy a single tank.

8.4 Zionism has become a global movement with global interests.

8.4.1 It drifted from the discourse of ‘promised land’ into the politics of ‘promised planet’

8.5 Consequently, British and American soldiers are dying in growing numbers fighting Zionist wars.

8.6 More concerning is the fact that British and American people have been made  complicit in a genocide driven by Zionists.

8.7 However, the most troubling issue here is the fact that Brits and Americans are  driven by an Old Testament vindictive ideology, namely an ‘eye for an eye’. One would have expected that considering the Christian foundation of Britain and the USA these countries would be inspired by compassionate Christian ideas such as ‘love your neighbour’ and ‘turn the other cheek.’

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11 It doesn’t take a genius to gather that the proponent of these precepts in our midsts are devoted Zionists. It doesn’t take a genius to gather that Wolfowitz’s Doctrine lead to the war in Iraq. It is literally transparent that the ‘moral interventionism’ that is advocated by David Miliband, Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen is a pretext for violence. It is not exactly a  secret that when Britain was taken into illegal Iraq war,  Lord Levy, a Zionist by admission, was Labour's No 1 fund raiser.

These examples are not limited to one community or political standpoint: Amayreh is a Palestinian, Atzmon an ex-Jew and O'Keefe an American leftist. They are joined together by a discourse which separates anti-Zionism from pro-Palestinianism, while erasing the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Claims of Talmudic justifications for alleged Jewish cruelty do not offer practical or political help for Palestinians, nor do conspiracy theories about Jewish politicians or journalists with Jewish names, agitating for wars in Muslim countries. These ideas cannot be categorised merely as criticism of Israel, unless the meaning of the words "criticism and "Israel" are to be stretched beyond comprehension.

In a much-quoted passage, Norman Cohn, in his seminal Warrant for Genocide, located antisemitism in:

..a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics for the benefit of the ignorant and superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, captures and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people, who thereupon take leave of sanity and responsibility. And it occasionally happens that this underworld becomes a political power and changes the course of history.

It would be an exaggeration to claim that this underworld and its fantasies have assumed this kind of influence in Britain: these remain marginal views which gain a hearing, still, only on the fringes. (The situation is different in those countries where Islamist movements hold mass appeal). But there are parts of the UK anti-Zionist scene where these ideas can be expressed unopposed, and even meet approval. There are also diluted version of these ideas - of the omnipotent lobby, for example - that circulate as common-sense knowledge in the mainstream. This is not the first time we have pointed this out, and it is unlikely to be the last.