Reply to an unsolicited begging e-mail from some
pro Israeli Organisation
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Dear Sir/Madam,
Today I received your junk mail urging me to send you money to 'fight
anti-Semitism'. Whilst the cases of attacks you mention constitute personal
tragedies for those involved I think that one needs to consider the
reasons behind such 'terrorist' attacks. I have done this and it seems
that the attacks on Jews are not committed out of anti-Semitism but
from anti-Israeli feelings which unfortunately are misdirected against
the innocent just as Israeli attacks on Palestinians kill (far far more)
innocents and just as the U.S. invasion of Iraq has killed almost ten
thousand innocent Iraqis.
As I'm sure you re aware, the Palestinian people are living under an
occupying dictatorship. They have had their lands incrementally stolen
from them, their voting rights and even their rights of movement removed,
their homes bulldozed and innocent members of their community killed
in numbers that far, far outweigh Jewish deaths. These are the facts
that go unreported in the media and I'm afraid I could not give money
to keep these facts still more hidden. My heart goes out to the families
of those killed both by suicide bomber and by Israeli security forces
but mostly to the Palestinian underdogs, trampled by the power of the
U.S. backed Israeli government and security forces.
Your attempt to imply that Moslem fundamentalism is a direct attack
on Judaism is an attempt to mislead. The attack is no more an attack
on Jews than bin Laden's attack on America was due to his being jealous
of America's Wal-Mart stores. You may pretend the truth is this simplistic
but it's not. Such generalizations remind me of nothing less than the
Nazi generalization and scapegoating of the Jews in the thirties. Moslems
are no more hiding round every corner with a bomb now than the Jews
were infiltrating German society to undermine it then. When a government
systematically degrades, humiliates and steals from a people as America
has done world-wide and Israel has in Palestine the unfortunate fact
is that eventually those you persecute will hit back. The French resistance
is a fine example of fighting back against the Nazis. The Nazis classed
them as terrorists.
For you to act as though these attacks come from nowhere or from a generalized
hatred of Jews is ludicrous and malicious. For you to act as though
the media is ganging up on or ignoring you is outrageous.
Please do not send me any more literature. I did NOT ask you to contact
me in the first place and I would be grateful if you would refrain from
doing so again.
Yours,
Phil Rose
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