The Break-Up of American Zionism and the Anti-Semitism Allegations

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

I’m aware that I’m in serious risk of doing this subject to death, but this needs to be said. I’ve put up several blogs featuring the videos of talks and interviews given by Israeli and American Jewish activists and historians – Ilan Pappe, Elizabeth Baltzer and Norman Finkelstein, laying bare the terrible history of Israel’s persecution and systematic ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population. As I’ve repeatedly said, this is because of the smears against leading figures in the Labour party that they are anti-Semites, when they are nothing of the sort, and demonstrably nothing of the sort. Ken Leninspart, when he was leader of the GLC, was notorious and reviled for his anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia stance. And if you want to read what he has to say about anti-Semitism, it’s written down in his book, Livingstone’s Labour. He decries it as one of the worst forms of…

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Norman Finkelstein on the Coming Break-Up of American Zionism: Part 1

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

I’ve put up several videos recently criticising Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and examining the growing disconnection – ‘distancing’, in the jargon of the sociologists who’ve studied it – of young American Jews with Israel. The speakers in these videos have included the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, and the American historians and activists Norman Finkelstein and Elizabeth Baltzer, both of whom are descended from Holocaust survivors. As I’ve made clear in previous posts, I’ve been prompted to do this because of the smears against leading members of the Labour party – Ken Livingstone, Naz Shah and Jackie Walker, amongst others, of anti-Semitism. Those accused are not to my knowledge anti-Semites. The above three certainly aren’t. Leninspart in his 1987 book, Livingstone’s Labour, states quite clearly that all forms of racism, whether against Blacks, Jews or the Irish, is the worst form of reaction, and needs to be opposed. Naz…

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Norman Finkelstein on the Coming Break-Up of American Zionism: Part 2

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

What changed Jewish attitudes to Israel was the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Americans saw Israel very much as a kind of outpost of American interests in the Middle East, and identified its people with great American heroes like Davey Crockett, and the struggle of the Texans for independence from Mexico. There was an equivalence between Israel’s soldiers and the heroes of the Alamo. The Israelis were invested with all the heroic values Americans believed characterised themselves, and from it being unpatriotic to support the Israelis, it became the reverse. It was super-patriotic to support them.

Crucial to this was the Israeli claim to have practised ‘purity of arms’. Unlike Vietnam, where the Americans were losing and committing terrible atrocities, the Israelis were winning without committing massacres and other breaches of human rights. This record has gradually darkened as the wars between Israel and its Arab neighbours continued. The classic case…

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Secular Talk on Donald Trump Holding All Muslims Responsible for Terror Attacks

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

This is another great piece from Secular Talk’s Kyle Kulinski taking apart some disgusting anti-Muslim comments uttered by the Trumpenfuehrer on ITV’s Good Morning show. Trump had asked rhetorically why Muslims don’t report the terrorists in their communities. Kulinski here demolishes this by showing that they do. He presents these facts:

* In 2013 a Canadian imam prevented a terrorist attack on a train by reporting the terrorists planning the attack to Canada’s finest.

* In 2015 Kenyan Muslims aboard a bus gave their hijabs to the Christian passengers to wear to prevent them from being butchered by al-Shabaab.

* During the French terror attacks last year, a Muslim waiter saved two women from being killed by leaping in front of them when the gunman was firing. He was killed, but the two ladies survived.

* Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, comprising 50 million people, has roundly condemned terrorism.

* The…

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The Problem With Biblical Inerrancy

I tend to follow Christian principles, not because I believe in the Bible, but as I sincerely wish to abide by the principles.

hessianwithteeth

As many of you know, last summer I began to look into theology. Now that I’m no longer in school, I have gotten back into it. This had led me to think about the idea that the Bible is inerrant. As an atheist, I obviously don’t believe that this is true, but most Christians do believe that the Bible is inerrant. This is incredibly problematic.

When I talk to Christians about their belief in God, or my non-belief, the Bible inevitably comes up. I don’t believe in God because I see no evidence to suggest that God exists. I want evidence before I’m willing to commit to a belief. Christians, however, often believe that they have the evidence. The problem is this evidence is not convincing to a non-Christian. Why? Because it tends to presuppose the inerrancy of the Bible. This is also a major problem with the theology I…

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