Oregon daily emerald., May 13, 1971, Page 8, Image 8

[ Commentary
Lee Feldman
Zionism and the Jewish people
Lee Feldman is a graduate student in
economics and a former editor of Aspects,
a local communist magazine.
Being an American Jew, or Jewish
American, my interest in the Middle East
is probably more acute than most gentile
Americans. My support of the Arab
liberation movement, specifically, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palenstine, is a complete reversal of prior
feelings. Why is this so?
1 grew up on the south side of Chicago.
The neighborhood was predominantly
Jewish, with a lot of Irish and Poles in it. I
was equally aware of being a Jew as I was
of being an American, maybe more so
towards being a Jew. Jewsish culture was
relatively mild in our household. Judaism
as a religion dominated Jewishness as a
culture, but a sufficient number of
relatives were steeped in Jewish culture
for me to assimilate a Jewish soul.
I studied Hebrew and was trained in
Jewish history and culture at a Reform
Jewish “Sunday School.” I fought in
Jewish Irish and Jewish Polish neigh
borhood battles. I hold in contempt non
Jews who use such phrases as “I Jewed
him down,” “I got Jewed,” "Some of my
best friends are Jews,” “The Jews are
‘this’ or ‘that’." I could go on into further
refinement of my degree of Jewishness but
I'm sure that this short autobiography is
enough to imply that my original view of
Israel was positive.
Today Israel is very different in my
eyes A brief examination of Israel must
begin with Zionism. Zionism is Jewish
nationalism as defined by Jewish Capital.
All the other slogans of “Jewish
homeland,” “return to the Promised
Land,” etc. are emotional rhetoric used by
Jewish Capital to exploit the sufferings of
Jews and the associated guilt, if any, of
non-Jews for their crimes against the Jews
(anti-Semitism, No Jews Allowed, ghetto
walls, pogroms, Nazi genocide) for the
benefit of Jewish Capital. So, by the end of
World War II, the Zionists were able to
begin their seizure of Palestine and set up
their haven for Jewish Capital.
From barbaric Europe it was easy to
recruit a Jewish army to “liberate” the
Holy Land and ‘“fulfill God’s promise to
Moses.” The atrocities of the Stern Gang,
Irgun, and Palmach of the Haganah are
another bright chapter of international
capitalism. The Stem Gang were out and
out murderers. On down the line, the
Haganah were the “voice of reason” and
public relations experts for selling this
“war of liberation” to world opinion.
By 1948 Israel was a reality and
Jewish refugees from Europe “came
home.” Hundreds of thousands of
Palestinian Arabs were uprooted and
evicted from their land to be flung into a
life of misery. Jewish Capital now had land
and labor to complete its prerequisites for
further profit. In addition, its labor was
highly nationalistic, a bonus for Jewish
Capital to step right into fascism. Zionism
did in fact become Jewish fascism.
It is a well-known law of economics
(hat Capital must expand and invest its
surplus (profits). Jewish Capital is no
exception. The ever increasing frontiers of
Israel are just another fact of capitalism.
People should also know of Israeli use of
napalm, of Israeli officers in Vietnam to
observe the Americans, of Israeli dealings
with the white racists of South Africa, and
of the poor economic status of darker
skinned non-European Jews within Israel.
These are facts, Zionist facts!
What do you hear?
Now, if you talk to an Israeli stalwart,
what do you hear? “Look what we’ve done
with the land.” Have you ever heard a
white South African? Behind all this lies
racist Capital and its exclusive ownership
of technology and resources. Given land
and labor, Capital flourishes and develops.
But look at the socialist countries that
have flourished and developed without
capitalist exploitation. “But I’m a
socialist! Gold Meir is a socialist! ” There
are all kinds of socialists. The word
“Nazi” comes from Nazional Socialist,
Hitler’s party, the national socialists. In
the U.S. today there is socialism among
the rich. GM subsidizes Life magazine by
buying advertising space. “We want
peace.” The Israeli bandits steal land,
steal more land, then ask for peace. I’m
sure that General Custer and all his
predecessors and descendants at one time
or another said that all that they wanted
was peace. “The Grand Mufti of
Jerusalem called for a Holy War! We must
defend ourselves. The Grand Mufti sided
with Hitler!” The Grand Mufti is a pig.
King Hussein and King Feisal are
feudalists. They mouth their anti-Israeli
slop to cover their oppression of the people
of Jordon and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia
is like saying the United States of Nixon
America, Saudi being the family name of
King Feisal.
These Arab dogs are as great an
enemy of the Arab people as Moshe
Dayan. Ask a Popular Front commando
the next time you see one. “Don’t listen to
this man, he’s not a Jew! He’s ashamed to
be a Jew! To be a Jew is to be a Zionist! ’
The “final solution” to the “Jewish
Problem” as defined by the Israeli hero.
I’ve never let any Jew-baiting Chicago
goon hit me up without laying it back on
him. Where was this Israeli hero when I
needed him in the streets and alleys of
Chicago? Over in Palestine bullying
defenseless Arab peasants, I guess. Fool
Israeli, to be a Jew is to have a sense of
justice and oppose all forms of oppression.
It’s the Zionists who have erected a new,
armed, expanding ghetto in the Middle
East. It’s the Zionists who perversely
thrive on pogrom paranoia as they seek to
justify their aggression against their
Semite brothers. You’ve got a lot of nerve
to call yourself a Jew.
Today the Middle East seethes of war
and all the misery and suffering of war. In
the refugee camps and among the slowly
awakening Israeli working class a new
Palentine is pregnant. Jews and Arabs are
Semites. The new Palestine, a nation of
Semites, will smash the Zionists and Arab
reactionaries. The brave commandos of
the Popular Front deserve our support. In
the spirit of Semitic solidarity, our new
baby is named after Leila Khaled, the
beautiful Palestinian commando. Fly
Leila, Fly! Light up the Sky! Free
Palestine!
Mariy Bennett part IV
Domestic reaction to escalation
This In the las! in a series of four articles.
The critical question that the
government asks each time it considers
another escalation of the war is. can we
afford (and minimize) the domestic
response? Lyndon Johnson gambled time
and again and couldn't hold the
White House* Nixon giving a new look—
Vietnamization- to the same war policy
has done better While the reaction to
Cambodia somewhat jolted the govern
ment it emerged relatively unrestricted by
the domestic political situation
The news blackout and the restraint
from using large amounts of American
troops during the latotian invasion shows
the lessons Nixon and Kissinger learned
from Cambodia. It also points out how
conscious and weary of domestic response
they art* Since Tricky Dick took office
most of his statements about de-escalation
have been carefully timed to deflate anti
war protest Witness his speech on
November 3, 1969, days before the
Moratorium he announced token troop
withdrawals and all but said the war has
ended
What puts added credibility to threats
of new escalation is that Nixon thinks he
can do it without political turmoil at home.
Vietnamization making the war less
visible to the American public has solved
that problem of "domestic reaction" by
making the war "acceptable;” so think
Nixon and his advisors. 'Hie l~iotian in
vasion seems to verify this Despite the
fact that Newsweek says 73 per cent of the
American population want a total with
drawal by June of this year, hardly a
demonstration was mounted, a rock
thrown, or voices heard as the U.S.
AKVN troops, planes, and helicopters
invaded 1 -aos
To put the implications of this bluntly:
the only deterrent to a new escalation and
possible attempt to completely destroy life
in N Vietnam is the American people la*t
there be no misunderstanding. Vietnam
will win! As Pham Van Dong has said:
"No matter what perfidious designs they
may nurture, no matter what crafty moves
they may make, and no matter what
quantity of bombs and shells they use, the
U.S. imperialists can never shake the iron
will of the Vietnamese people to fight them
until complete victory.” How long this
genocidal war will drag on depnds on the
movement in this country—-the extent of
the suffering and dying and the destruction
of their land and culture that the Viet
namese will endure in their struggle
against U.S. imperialism—hinges on the
American people. The Vietnamese clearly
recognize this as they have appealed
directly to the American people to mount
demonstrations, actions, and protests
which will force the U.S. out of Indo-China;
or else the rulers of the American Empire
will face widespread and continuous crisis
at home. Recall history. French in
volvement in Indo-China only halted with
military defeat at Dien Bien Phu and
political crisis which shook French society
to its foundations. From Madame Binh's
statement to the American people we can
infer that there may well be a new of
fensive in the cities and countryside of S.
Vietnam before the rainy season this
summer She says, “therefore at the
present juncture, the youths and students
of S. Vietnam wish to co-ordinate their
actions with their American friends, in
playing the role of motive force in the fight
of our two peoples, for compelling the
Pentagon brass hats to put an end to the
criminal war that has caused so much
suffering to our two peoples, and the
checking the Nixon administration's
maneuvers of war extension ”
To end genocide in Southeast Asia will
take much more than marches, pickets,
and peace referendums though these
things play an important part in building
and sustaining the anti-war, anti
imperialist movement; the decisive
factor will be if the domestic costs of
continued escalation widespread political
turmoil, disruption of the normal func
tioning ot me society's institutions,
thousands of people in the streets of
America are so great that this govern
ment will be forced to commit itself to a
policy of total withdrawal.
We must put our bodies between the
U S. war machine and the peoples of Indo
china this May. In both words and actions
the war criminals who run this country
must understand: if the government does
not stop the war, we will stop the govern
ment.
These sources were used for this article:
“Operation Total Victory” Banning
Garrett, Pacific Studies Center 2-71
"Oiling the Escalator” Gabriel Kolko,
New Republic 3-13-71
“Murder in Laos” Daniel Ellsberg, N.Y.
Review of Books 3-11
"Vietnam and the Pacific Rim Strategy”
Peter Wiley, Leviathan 6-69
Letters
A
J
New speak vocabulary
Student—A person registered at the
University who makes use of the Student
Union facilities. Attending class is not a
requirement.
A nonstudent—A person not registered
at the University who makes use of
Student Union facilities.
The community—Two or more non
students.
The people—Combination of students
and non-students.
Third World peoples—Two or more
students from Africa (except for “whites”
from South Africa or Rhodesia), Middle
East (except for Israel), Asia (except
Taiwan), or Latin America, regardless of
their personal class status, income or life
style (that is, regardless of whether they
drive a Mercetkes-Benz or not).
The movement—Any combination of
two or more of above claiming to speak for
the Community, the People, and Third
World Peoples.
Enemy—Any individual—student,
non-student or what not—or combination
of individuals who have displeased me
lately and can be linked up rhetorically to
symbolic names representing generally
the “power structure.” (eg.. Nixon
Agnew. etc ).
Power structure—Those in possession
of the things I lack but desire.
Revolutionary consciousness—
Wearing a movement button Higher
levels of consciousness, applicable for
men: button plus mustache; still higher
level—button, mustache, beard. For
women—combat boots and extra buttons
(of women’s liberation, for example).
Revolutionary act—Oral or am
bulatory behavior which would put fear in
the heart of educational administrators.
An educational administrator—A
person easily frightened (ability to ad
minister is not a requirement.).
Martyrdom—Getting yourself locked
up in jail for at least an overnight.
Progressive—Providing bail money
for the martyrs.
Education—Having read the little Red
Book.
Higher Education—Ability to quote
from little Red Book.
Activist—Comes in various degrees of
intensity but one who at least distributes
leaflets and posts them on walls, elevator
doors, etc.
A leader—one who at least writes the
leaflets distributed by activists.
Sense of humor—Ability to read above
with a smile. Joseph R. Fiszman
Dept of Political Science
Note
The Emerald will hold endorsement in
terviews for all candidates in the ASl'O
elections Sunday starting at 11 a.m. Ap
pointments may be made by calling the
Emerald secretary at ext. 3712.