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Tribalism, Racism and Projection – part 1

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We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ― Anaïs Nin

It doesn’t take a genius to see that people who are identified as Zionist and Jews are, somehow, over represented in many blunders in today’s world affairs. The pro-war, Neocon think-tanks were overwhelmingly saturated with Zionist Jews, and the ‘moral interventionist’ advocates within the media are also largely Zionist Jews. The ‘brains’ behind the so-called Bush doctrine i.e. The ‘War Against Terror’, were Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby, and if that were not enough, at the heart of the financial turmoil we also find Jewish persons, and financial institutions that are clearly recognizable as Jewish – such as the Lehman Brother, Goldman Sachs, Alan Greenspan, Bernie Madoff, and many others.

Here one must ask an obvious question – why should any Jew anywhere in the world be concerned in any way with these facts? Why should any Jewish person be concerned with actions or ideas that he or she probably has nothing to do with? Why should my Jewish neighbour, also subject to the financial turmoil and with no connection whatsoever with Madoff, Wolfowitz, David Aaronovitch or Lord ‘cash point’ Levy, be at all concerned  with current financial or imperial blunders for which he has no responsibility? Why should my Jewish musician friends who have no ties to Israel, AIPAC, CFI, CST, Nick Cohen or Alan Greenspan feel guilty for crimes or actions taken by others just because they also happen to be Jewish? Would a Frenchman or an Irishman in America feel threatened or potentially discriminated against because of revelations that a few of their expatriates had been involved in a major colossal scandal?

So, the question I raise here is a simple one: why should any Jew feel guilty for crimes that are committed by other people – people he or she does not know and is not affiliated with? And the answer is equally simple – Jewish individuals have no reason to assume responsibility for actions committed by other Jews. But the truth of the matter is, that many Jews are extremely concerned about the current blunders: some feel guilty, and many – potentially at least – feel threatened. I would say that such a reaction merits our attention.

Amongst my other sins, I regularly monitor the Jewish media, and it is obvious to me that Jewish institutions are put on alert by any scandal that is even mildly associated with Jewish protagonists or institutions. Jewish media outlets give the impression that every blunder associated with a Jew is highly likely to turn itself into a wave of vile anti-semitism.

We are left to wonder then whether the Jewish fear of anti-Semitism is actually justified, or whether it is simply driven by a ‘fantasy of destruction’.

In my latest book The Wandering Who I contend that Jewish fear of anti-Semitism is largely self-inflicted and has very little to do with the surrounding reality. Jews tend to regard themselves as a tribe and most Jews are subjected to a degree of cultural and racially driven indoctrination. On the one hand, the religion of Judaism teaches its followers that  “all of Israel are responsible for one another” (1) (Kol Yisrael areivin zeh l’zeh); while on the other hand, the non religious, secular, emancipated Jews who identify politically, ideologically and socially as Jews they also operate within Jewish ethno-centric settings. Even within the Palestinian solidarity movement we find Jews who operate within ‘Jews only’ cells such as JBIG (Jews for Boycott Of Israeli Goods) and IJAN (International Jewish Antizionist Network). Somehow, they also feel primarily ‘responsible for one another.’

This reading of contemporary Jewish communities may reveal why many Jews are alarmed by crimes committed by other Jews – Jews whom they don’t even know.

I can think of three reasons for such a situation:

  1. Projection: Because some Jews regard themselves as a racially exclusive tribe, they tend to believe that others - non Jews - will also regard them as such. In other words, many Jews project their own ethno-centric symptoms onto the Goyim i.e. They think the Goyim are as racially driven as they are.
  2. Guilt: Because some Jews tend to regard themselves as a racially exclusive tribe, they feel guilty for not stopping those members of the tribe who are involved in some major blunders.
  3. Conjunction –- both 1 and 2.

It is increasingly clear then, that at the heart of the Jewish fear of anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish bigotry we find Jewish racial orientation, manifesting itself in various forms of projection and guilt. Though it is clear that Jews do not actually form a race, there is little doubt that Jewishness - and especially Jewish secular discourse - is racially, or at least tribally driven.  Not many people are aware of the racial tension between different Jewish communities such as Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. In Israel the blood donation of Black citizens with Ethiopian background is disposed of for ‘medical reasons.  Israel legal system is saturated with discriminatory racist and supremacist laws against the Arab and non-Jewish population.

To a certain extent then, the fear of anti-Semitism inherent to the Zionist and Jewish secular political discourse is fuelled by the belief that the ‘other,’ i.e. the Goy, may well be equally driven by a similar racist ideology.

Some Jews, it must be said, might offer reasons to reject the above explanation: they might argue that Jewish history (i.e. that endless chain of Shoas), proves that ‘the sons of Israel’ would be justified in being on a constant state of alert. Jews, they might say, should be constantly aware that their neighbours might turn against them at any given moment.

I suggest that we are dealing here with a ‘chicken and egg’ situation: while some Jews would agree among themselves that anti-Semitism is largely an ‘irrational disease’,  a few historians such as Bernard Lazare were brave and honest enough to ask why and how exactly, Jews have managed to bring so much pain on themselves.

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14 replies to this post

  1. A participant on Phil Weiss’s blog posted a fascinating comment a few weeks ago. The topic was something like, When will New York Times criticize Israel, or something like that.

    The commenter wrote:
    “And not for nothing, the Times already writes too much about “all things jewish” — I know its your thing Phil, but the rest of us are getting kind of tired of hearing and reading about the “debates” or potential “debates” within the “jewish community” – as if the Jews are some sort of vanguard we need to first wait on, then follow. [emphasis added. And here's the socco boffo line:] You guys aren’t as interesting as you think. And maybe not as important to the “discussion” going forward. The cat is out of the bag and us gentiles aren’t feeling as guilty as we once did. You saw the panic in Ynet’s response to Ben Whites book and Zoabi’s forward – THAT is progress. A jewish guy writing about jewish guys as it relates to jewish people in Israel and their relations with Palestinians has the effect (even if unintended) of making I/P and “israel firsters” like Adelson etc a “jewish issue” — its not. The Times in no way offers an alternative to I/P being cast as a jewish issue – all the way down the line, from its investors/owners to its editors to its writers.”

    imo Jews keep looking over their shoulders to sniff out antisemitism to discern whether the technique is still keeping the reset of us in check. The people I know who are always looking over their shoulder are those who fear being caught in some offense.
    hmm, this leads me in a slightly different direction:
    Israel Shahak tells us that until nearly the 1900s Jews were controlled by the leaders of their own communities. Perhaps Jews have the habit of looking over their should against threats from by fellow Jews and/or the major leaders of the Jewish people.

    To leap further, or actually backward in time —
    1. H. Sacher wrote in 1919 that “zionism was born in 70AD with the Roman destruction of the temple at Jerusalem.”

    2. Martin Goodman writes in “Rome and Jerusalem” (R and J) that the fight that started the war that ended in the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem was actually a Jewish civil war. from R and J:
    “Josephus states explicitly that . . .c. 52-60, Judaean society began to disintegrate. [Goodman quotes extensively from 'Jewish War'] . . .Those narratives, in the Jewish War and Antiquities, portray a society not so much on the brink of insurrection as riven by internal dissensions and banditry. . . .”
    [Goodman next describes 20 years of banditry, including imprisonment of Eleazer, the leader of bandits who had terrorized the region, and efforts of Felix, then-governor, to clean out the bandits, banditry being not unusual and suppressing it a standard task.]

    “More unusual was the emergence of “a new species of bandit,” specific to Jerusalem, the so-called sicarii, ‘who committed murders in broad daylight [by mingling with the crowd, etc.] Then, when [the victim fell], the murderers joined in the cries of indignation and, through their plausible behavior, were never discovered. The panic created was more alarming than the calamity itself . . .Men kept watch . . .on enemies and would not trust even their friends . . .’
    Josephus’ vivid description suggests terrorism within Jewish society rather than revolt against Rome . . .” (pp 388-389)

    On Feb 9, 2012, in an MSNBC video interview, Ronen Bergman spoke boldly of Israel’s practice of targeted assassinations which “Israel has carried out almost since it was established” and with less hesitancy “than even the cruelest tyrant, like Stalin or Saddam Hussein.”

    This is a complicated thought process, I know, but Bergman’s comments terrified me. I’m scared to death that should I or someone I love — and I love the Iranian people — dare to speak out against Israel’s actions either in Palestine or in my country, the US, they will be sicarii-ed (note to Bergman: assassination is an Arab word & practice). This means that I am fearful of dealing with anyone who is Jewish because, as Josephus wrote, in the face of sicarii/Bergman terrorism ” ‘Men kept watch . . .on enemies and would not trust even their friends . . .’”

    The actions that Bergman endorses and valorizes are the actions of a few, but as Bergman states in the video, most times the assassinations are “blue and white” — they are carried out by “Israelis; they are carried out by Jews.”

    So we goyim become fearful of ALL Jews, and Jews become fearful of non-Jews AND Jews, because they know that the acts of a few of those who call themselves leaders of the Jews have deliberately caused us all to be fearful.

  2. PS speaking of Phil Weiss, Gilad. Weiss & Horowitz, the blog’s owners, announced a “lull” in their blog as they ‘vacation.’
    This lull was announced the day after they returned from a large BDS conference in Philadelphia, and before they had posted significant reviews of their activities at the conference.
    The BDS conference drew heavy fire from big hitters in the zionist and Jewish community — Jewish chairmen of major cable companies; Dershowitz; others attacked the BDS conference in major ways, even posting fliers with photos relating to Kristallnacht.
    My tinfoil hat wondered if Weiss & Horowitz are being Goldstoned.

  4. thanks for the link, Gilad.
    as I understand Jesus, he taught to move beyond your own self-interest.

    tx for the link to WHTT’s Roots of Christian Zionism (Scofield bible) http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/the-roots-of-christian-zionism-how-scofield-sowed-seeds-of-a.html

    Amy Jill Levine is attempting the same thing with the New Testament — the zionization of Christianity into a warmaking machine.

    Chris Hedges speaks powerfully about “ChristoFascists.”

    Chris Hedges and Gilad Atzmon in the same room. Thunder and Lightening!

    • ‘Jesus taught us to move beyond your own self-interest’- indeed ‘so we nailed him to the cross’. The Crucifixion is a symptomatic to Jewish identity politics. It represents an inherent lack of capacity to self reflect and it is also bring to light the role of Jewish power. The recent PSC AGM Crucifixion of Francis Clark Lowes was a symbolic repetition. Pontius Pilatus Hugh Lanning followed the orders of the AZZ crowed (Tony Greenstein and Naomi Idrissi) together with one Islamophobic blog. However, my interpretation may be wrong. It is also more than likely that Hugh Lanning succumbed to Talmudic ideology. He may as well believe in censorship of the most elementary freedoms.

      • Ha ha! Like the analogy and couldn’t resist posting a visual interpretation. True, AZZ high priests Greenstein and Idrissi regarded Francis as they do others, a “rabble rouser”. They view him as a danger and threat to their position. After a period of time hoping he would quieten down, they decided to find a “more permanent solution to their problem.” The fear of Francis’ “half-witted fans getting out of control” and exposing the AZZ game plan was too much to bare, so the wheels were set in motion:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_oT9J3Siiw

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