Sunday, July 30, 2006
Oren Ben-Dor's additional insight
Letters
Published: 29 July 2006
Sir: My article "Who is the Real Terrorist in the Middle East?" (26 July) was about the relationship between stifling debate about the immoral core of the Jewish state and the cycle of hatred and violence, the unfolding of which we witness. I make one additional point.
The ideology of the Jewish state means all existing and future descendants of Jewish people worldwide have more rights in historic Palestine than the indigenous Arabs. This makes Israel unique. What other state decrees that many of its own citizens have less stake than millions of potential immigrants?
The colonisation of Palestine is also unique: discussion of this past injustice is inadmissible lest it expose the present immoral statehood. Yet, Israel is hailed as a paragon of democracy in the Middle East. How does Israel get away with its ethnocratic statehood despite its moral resemblance to apartheid-era South-Africa?
In the article, I argued that conscious or unconscious instigation of violence which nourishes victim mentality helps to stir debate away from the core immorality of the Jewish state. I should also emphasis that many non-Israeli Jews, most of whom are perfectly happy as minorities in their respective states, willingly volunteer as missionaries of this victim narrative.
When they are perceived as apologists for Israeli actions justified in the Jewish name, and encounter hostility, this reaction again helps to reinforce their victim narrative.
DR OREN BEN-DOR
Published: 29 July 2006
Sir: My article "Who is the Real Terrorist in the Middle East?" (26 July) was about the relationship between stifling debate about the immoral core of the Jewish state and the cycle of hatred and violence, the unfolding of which we witness. I make one additional point.
The ideology of the Jewish state means all existing and future descendants of Jewish people worldwide have more rights in historic Palestine than the indigenous Arabs. This makes Israel unique. What other state decrees that many of its own citizens have less stake than millions of potential immigrants?
The colonisation of Palestine is also unique: discussion of this past injustice is inadmissible lest it expose the present immoral statehood. Yet, Israel is hailed as a paragon of democracy in the Middle East. How does Israel get away with its ethnocratic statehood despite its moral resemblance to apartheid-era South-Africa?
In the article, I argued that conscious or unconscious instigation of violence which nourishes victim mentality helps to stir debate away from the core immorality of the Jewish state. I should also emphasis that many non-Israeli Jews, most of whom are perfectly happy as minorities in their respective states, willingly volunteer as missionaries of this victim narrative.
When they are perceived as apologists for Israeli actions justified in the Jewish name, and encounter hostility, this reaction again helps to reinforce their victim narrative.
DR OREN BEN-DOR
