Last week Israel announced it would bar two American lawmakers from entering the country. One of them wanted to visit her dying grandmother who lives there.
Reps Omar and Tlaib have long been fierce critics of the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians. Most Americans are unaware of this treatment.
I would be also, had I not worked in Saudi Arabia.
There I interacted with many Palestinian professionals: Engineers, Contractors, Architects. Even a Veterinarian (He developed Chicken farms as investments for Saudis).
These guys were not allowed to pursue their professions in Israeli-controlled Palestine.
The 11th Commandment is “Thou shalt not criticize Israel, at any time; for any reason.”
Irony
Criticize Israel and you will be quickly labeled “anti-Semitic”.
“Semite” is a term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group who speaks or spoke the Semitic languages, including Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs. The terminology is derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.
There’s more than a bit of irony here.
Ashkenazis, who control Israel, claim descendency from Israelites who left Judea during the times of the Roman Empire, some 2000 years ago. They migrated northward through Europe, eventually reaching places like Germany and Poland and intermarrying with local Europeans on the way.
Palestinians, commonly considered Arabs, descend from Israelites who remained behind. Some converted to Christianity. Most were forced to adopt Islam about 1000 years ago.
So, who are the real Semites?.
The "real Semites?"
Tomaide begins with:
“Criticize Israel and you will be quickly labeled ‘anti-Semitic;’” and after a confused explanation of the term “Semite,” he ends with a taunt:
“So, who are the real Semites?”
Apparently Tomaide is ignorant of the historic context of the term, “antiSemite.”
Awhile ago, I questioned whether it is true that to criticize the Israeli government automatically gets you labeled as an antiSemite. To find out, I reviewed a number of Israeli news sources, looking to see how the Israeli press criticizes the government. After all, could anyone think that the mainstream Israeli newspapers are antiSemitic?
What I found was informative. I found that the symbols used in Israeli anti-government political cartoons differed from the anti-Jewish stereotypes commonly displayed in cartoons published by Jew haters who cry foul when they are accurately identified as antiSemites.
Editorial criticism of the Israeli government in the Israeli press is forceful and uncompromising without resorting to the type of anti-Jewish innuendo which is apparent in much of the anti-Jewish propaganda that masquerades as legitimate political criticism.
When Tomaide issues racist, pseudoscience motifs to mansplain who is a true Semite and who is not: He is inflaming a conflict. We do not need this white man to throw gasoline on a fire.
We do not need one more voice encouraging Jews and Arabs — cousins — to hate and kill one another.
Christ said: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and I wholeheartedly agree.