The propaganda agents for Hamas - By Ben-Dror Yemini

The propaganda agents for Hamas

Op-ed: There are some Israelis who support the manipulation of the facts of the history of Israel, from the story of the Jews under Muslim rule to the very legitimacy of the state.

By Ben-Dror Yemini
Ynet News
February 28, 2015

Norway will host a conference during the week ahead on Jews under Islamic rule. A read through the lecture program reveals that the central line of the conference will be that the Jews lived wonderful lives under Muslim rule, until the Zionists came along, snatched them from their Muslim health resort, and enslaved them in Israel. I may be selling some of the participants short; perhaps someone there will have something of value to say. It's been known to happen on occasion – even in the academe.

The thing is, the main guest from Israel, the great expert on the history of the Jews under Muslim rule, who is also a great expert on the situation of the Arab Jews under the rule of the Zionists, who is also the great expert on the situation of the Muslims under Jewish rule, is – hold on to your hats – Gideon Levy.

Iraqi Jews make way to Israel

For the most part, Jews lived under Muslim rule as subjects of inferior status. Now and then there were periods, during a part of the Golden Age for example, in which Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life flourished.

When the Christians expelled the Jews from Spain, the Ottoman sultan was the one who invited them to settle in his empire. The colonial era saw another period of flourishing Jewish life under Muslim rule. These periods, however, were the exception.

Some academics have managed to turn the tables. They glorify the periods of coexistence. They hide the pogroms, the decrees, the abuse and the oppression. And they certainly hide the Jewish Nakba. The Jews didn't suffer from abuse and oppression because of Zionism. To the contrary. They became Zionists because of the abuse and oppression. But manipulating the facts will triumph once again – under the patronage of Gideon Levy and so-called academic freedom.

And while we're on the subject of the academe, it's worth mentioning that the University of Southampton in Britain will be hosting a conference in April on the very legitimacy of the State of Israel.

"This conference will be the first of its kind and constitutes a ground-breaking historical event," says the invitation, as it "concerns the legitimacy in International Law of the Jewish state of Israel."

The invitation makes it clear that the conference this time will not be dealing with Israel's actions, but "will focus on exploring themes of Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism; all of which are posed by Israel's very nature."

There's an Israeli among the organizers too - Professor Oren Ben-Dor, another one of those wild weeds, those BDS supporters, who reject the right of the Jews to a state and try to sell us the same old goods, believing that silencing Israelis who think differently is the true expression of freedom of speech and thought. And now this evil man is organizing a conference that essentially negates the existence of Israel. Hamas doesn't need a propaganda department. It already has PR agents doing the work.

Fascinating pairings

The upcoming elections are producing some fascinating pairings. Feminists are voting Shas, a prominent settler is backing Balad, and good Jews think that an Arab party is the true expression of the democratic vision. We're in an election period. There's no need for any media deception. What we have here is self-deception.

Honey drips from the lips of Ayman Odeh, head of the newly formed united Arab party. All the innocent man seeks after all is equality. The same Odeh is also chairman of the Committee Against National Service, which was established by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee. The leaders of this so-called democratic party brand young Arabs who wish to do national service – and the majority do - "lepers." The leaders of this enlightened party incited against father Gabriel Nadaf, who supports equal rights and equal obligations. Nadaf claimed at the time, and rightly so, that the Communist-Islamic coalition – known around the world as a red-green coalition, a coalition between the radical left and radical Islam - was acting against him. And this is the coalition that makes up the united Arab party.

In the Muslim world, the jihadists kill the communists. This is exactly what Hamas says in its broadcasts: "Kill the Jews, the Christians and the Communists – to the last man." Now, the Hamas supporters are sitting alongside the Communists – and it's so good to see that there are useful Jewish idiots around to jump on the bandwagon.

There's another fascinating – and no less odd – pairing. Dani Dayan, former chairman of the Yesha Council, found just the right thing to say to prove the case of the proponents of a Greater Israel: "What's the difference from a moral perspective between the settlements and the kibbutzim?" he asked. "The settlements are much better because they were established alongside the Palestinian communities, whereas kibbutzim were established on their ruins."

And in whom is this settlement-enterprise supporter placing his trust? MK Jamal Zahalka from the joint Arab list. There is indeed a common thread between Palestinian nationalism and Jewish nationalism. Both are leading us by the nose, in various ways, towards the gradual demise of the Jewish and democratic state.

George Orwell once said that there were some ideas so foolish that only intellectuals could nurture them. And here we have two examples – from the left and from the right.

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