25/04/2009 I see Israel a very strange state
Jihad el-Khazen – Al Hayat
April 22, 2009-04-25
 
Al-Manar.com.lb is not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
 
 
 
The United States and four of its allies, along with Israel, boycotted the United Nations World Conference against Racism, or Durban II.
 
Every single word mentioned in the title of the conference - racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance - speaks of Israel and its criminal policies. Therefore, it was not unusual for the first 2001 Durban Conference to focus on Israel, a task to be carried on in the second Geneva conference.
 
Strangely, well-known countries stand against "singling out" Israel although
it is condemned by the majority of the countries around the world. In addition, to focus on other countries or issues does not alleviate Israel's guilt or invalidate its condemnation.
 
This condemnation is not restricted to the Arabs and Muslims. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which groups 57 countries from all over the world, condemns Israel. The U.N. General Assembly too condemns Israel once or more almost every year, with the objection of the United States, Israel, Micronesia, or similar South Pacific Island states.
 
" In the face of six countries and some islands there is the entire world and thousands of civil society organizations in the East and the West. They all condemn Israel, along with U.N. organizations and committees "
Jihad el-Khazen
 
The countries endorsing Israel become accomplices in the crimes it perpetrates. There is no room to mention every country in this column, and I probably do not need to refer to the U.S. role in arming and funding Israel, as well as protecting it with the veto, which enables it to maintain occupation, murder, and destruction. As for Germany, I understand that it is trying to distance itself from its Nazi past, one of the main reasons behind the scourge of Israel. Then, there is Australia, a state established by criminals banished from Britain. I would not say its stance reflects a pact of "honor among thieves," since Australia was also stolen from its population, but I would say that the Australian government headed by Kevin Rudd assumes regular anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stances.
 
In the face of six countries and some islands there is the entire world and thousands of civil society organizations in the East and the West. They all condemn Israel, along with U.N. organizations and committees.
 
Equally important is that thousands of Jews around the world, and in Israel itself, condemn Israel. Following the barbaric attack on the Gaza Strip I have read letters published in dailies and written by prominent Jews around the world, in addition to articles in different media, including some of the Israeli press such as Haaretz. I have also registered growing appeals to boycott Israel, also made by Jewish scholars and activists around the world.
 
Those Jews should be mentioned and thanked. Their anti-Israeli stances have a greater impact than the boycott of Christian Churches in the U.S. and Europe. It is because they give precedence to their humanity over Israel's aggressiveness even though they are Israelis.
 
" These words certainly apply to Israel more than to any other country in the world. It alone kills women and children and then hides behind the Holocaust "
El-Khazen
 
In my opinion, Israel pursues very strange policies. It espoused the Jewish Left, but after 1977 it gradually shifted toward the radical Right, without this Right constituting a majority in Israel. Indeed, every public opinion poll shows that the majority are centrists and peace seekers. Yet, we see Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu rule.
 
Such leaders and the Likudniks in the U.S. cannot cover up Israel's crimes and the world condemnation no matter how much they try. We see them focus on Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and try to scare people of him, although the Iranian president had merely spoken out. He did not kill the Jews, unlike Nazi Germany and its allies, nor did he kill Palestinian women and children, as has been doing the state of the survivors of Nazism and their descendants on a daily basis. Although I disagree with the Iranian president over the majority of issues, I believe that he was not mistaken when he said that Israel was a racist state. It is so and even more.
 
I leave the readers with two opinions on the Geneva conference. Pope Benedict XVI praised the conference, urging countries around the globe to join forces in order to eliminate all forms of racism, discrimination, and intolerance. Israeli President Shimon Peres felt hurt, as this conference, which coincided with the commemoration of the Holocaust, had Ahmedinejad as a keynote speaker. He believes that "in Iran people are hanged because they are suspected of God knows what - nothing. There is a center of hate, of blood, of terror."
 
These words certainly apply to Israel more than to any other country in the world. It alone kills women and children and then hides behind the Holocaust.
 
I do not mean to compare between the Pope and Peres the deceiver so as not to insult the former, but I say that Israel is condemned in the tribunal of international opinion before it is in Durban I and Durban II. The countries that boycotted the anti-racism conference are accomplices in the crimes it perpetrates regardless of the excuses they give to justify non-participation.