Arthur Read’s Reviews > Jewish History, Jewish Religion, the Weight of 3000 Years > Status Update

Any support of human rights in general by a Jew which does not include the support of human rights of non-Jews whose rights are being violated by the "Jewish state" is as deceitful as the support of human rights by a Stalinist. The apparent enthusiasm displayed by American Jews during the 1950s and the 1960s in support of the Blacks in the South was motivated only by considerations of Jewish self-interest.

How else can we explain the enthusiasm displayed by so many American rabbis in support of Martin Luther King, compared with their lack of support for the rights of Palestinians? How else can we explain the glaring contradiction between the attitudes of Judaism toward non-Jews, with the support of the US Jews for the rights of the Blacks? After all, MLK & the majority of American Blacks are non-Jews.

Under present circumstances [Jews in organized Jewish groups] cannot openly express these [authentically Jewish hostile] attitudes toward non-Jews in the USA where non-Jews constitute more than 97% of the population. They compensate for this by expressing their real attitudes in their support of the "Jewish state" and the treatment it metes to the non-Jews of the Middle East.

[American and Canadian] Jewish organizations support Israel with about the same loyalty which communist parties accorded to the USSR for so long. Also, many Jews who appear to be active in defending human rights and who adopt non-conformist views on other issues do, in cases affecting Israel, display a remarkable degree of totalitarianism and are in the forefront of the defense of all Israeli policies.

According to the Talmud, Jesus was executed by a proper rabbinical court for idolatry, inciting other Jews to idolatry, & contempt of rabbinical authority. All classical Jewish sources which mention his execution are quite happy to take responsibility for it; in the Talmudic account the Romans are not even mentioned…The very name "Jesus" was 4 Jews a symbol of all that is abominable, & this tradition still persists

Judaism is imbued with a very deep hatred towards Christianity, combined with ignorance about it. This attitude was clearly aggravated by the Christian persecutions of Jews, but is largely independent of them. In fact, it dates from the time when Christianity was still weak and persecuted (not least by Jews), and it was shared by Jews who had never been persecuted by Christians or who were even helped by them.

While many Zionists reject these positions politically, their counters are based on expediency & self-interest. For ex., they argue that the oppression of Palestinians tends to corrupt Israeli society, or expulsion of the Palestinians is presently impracticable, or Israeli acts of terror may isolate Israel internationally. In principle, virtually all share the deep anti-Gentile attitudes which Judaism keenly promotes

Anyone who lives in Israel knows how deep and widespread these attitudes of hatred and cruelty towards all Gentiles are among the majority of Israeli Jews. Normally these attitudes are disguised from the outside world, but since the establishment of the State of Israel, the 1967 war and the rise of Begin, a significant minority of Jews, both in Israel and abroad, have gradually become more open about such matters.

Rabbinical authorities differ as to the precise details of the circumstances under which a Jew may rob a Gentile, but the whole debate is concerned only with the relative power of Jews and Gentiles rather than with universal considerations of justice and humanity. This may explain why so very few rabbis have protested against the robbery of Palestinian property in Israel: it was backed by overwhelming Jewish power.

Some early Jewish critics of Zionism were quick to point out that if one assumes a permanent and ahistorical incompatibility between Jews and Gentiles – an assumption shared by both Zionists and antisemites! – then to concentrate the Jews in one place would simply bring upon them the hatred of the Gentiles in that part of the world (as indeed was to happen, though for very different reasons).