Comments on: Venezuelan Synagogue Vandalizing Takes New Turn: The Culmination of a Number of Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Incidents http://www.coha.org/venezuelan-synagogue-vandalizing-takes-new-turns-in-culmination-of-a-number-of-anti-semitic-and-anti-israel-incidents/ COHA is an NGO specialized in monitoring Latin American and Canadian Relations for more than 30 years... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:22:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Joe Emersberger http://www.coha.org/venezuelan-synagogue-vandalizing-takes-new-turns-in-culmination-of-a-number-of-anti-semitic-and-anti-israel-incidents/comment-page-1/#comment-28528 Joe Emersberger Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:46:11 +0000 http://www.coha.org/?p=2764#comment-28528 COHA wrote that the Chavez denunciations of Israeli aggression in Gaza "revealingly transcends the intensity of almost every Arabic nation.." True, but mainly because key Arab states (Eygpt, Soudi Arabia, Jordan) are corrupt pro-US dictatorships. It is remarkable that COHA could miss this fact even if the the Middle East is not its area of focus. COHA makes the completely unsubstanciated claim that most people who criticize "zionism" don't know what it is and insinuate that criticism of zionism is linked to anti-Semitism ("smacks of anti-semitism" in 9 out of 10 cases" COHA said). No reference was provided of course for this bold and vague claim. There were benign forms of zionism as Noam Chomsky has sometimes pointed out. However, the variant which become dominant since at least 1948 is rooted in murderous racism towards Palestinans and massive (and ongoing) ethnic cleansing. COHA says that Chávez once said, “Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ…took all the world’s wealth for themselves.” The full quote was the following "The world has an offer for everybody but it turned out that a few minorities--the descendants of those who crucified Christ, the descendants of those who expelled Bolivar from here and also those who in a certain way crucified him in Santa Marta, there in Colombia--they took possession of the riches of the world, a minority took possession of the planet’s gold, the silver, the minerals, the water, the good lands, the oil, and they have concentrated all the riches in the hands of a few; less than 10 percent of the world population owns more than half of the riches of the world." Clearly Chavez was not singling out any ethnic group. FAIR exposed this distortion in 2006. It is surprising that COHA appears unaware of it. Most sadly, COHA reveals itself completely unaware of the facts about what Israel did in Gaza when it wrote that "But the Gaza matter was something else. “Proportional” response in military matters is a legal matter even if it is a fairly tame argument to fall back on when Hamas, at its discretion, daily launches missiles at civilian populations in Israel. " Richard Falk, the Jewish American who is Special Raportteur to the Occupied terrirtoires, stated that 1) Israel broke a truce with Hamas on November 4, 2007. 2) Until the truce was broken, rocket fire into Israel was negigable and casued no casualties. 3) It was far from clear that Hamas was responsoible for the small number of rockets fired into Israel during the truce. 4) Israel ignored calls by Hamas to extend the truce 5) Israel did not abide by terms of the truce that called for an end to a devastatinf seige on Gaza. The economic blockagde has reduced th e80% of th epeople of Gaza to live of less than $2 per day http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20150 If COHA has more relaible sources of information than Richard Falk it certainly has not provided them. Given the facts, the stance Chavez has taken against Israeli aggression does not look at all rash or ill advised - never mind anti-Semitic. On the contray it is a principled stance that could revive the reputation and fortunes of the secular Left in the Arab world in the long run. Regardless, it is a stance to be applauded. COHA wrote that the Chavez denunciations of Israeli aggression in Gaza “revealingly transcends the intensity of almost every Arabic nation..”

True, but mainly because key Arab states (Eygpt, Soudi Arabia, Jordan) are corrupt pro-US dictatorships. It is remarkable that COHA could miss this fact even if the the Middle East is not its area of focus.

COHA makes the completely unsubstanciated claim that most people who criticize “zionism” don’t know what it is and insinuate that criticism of zionism is linked to anti-Semitism (“smacks of anti-semitism” in 9 out of 10 cases” COHA said). No reference was provided of course for this bold and vague claim.

There were benign forms of zionism as Noam Chomsky has sometimes pointed out. However, the variant which become dominant since at least 1948 is rooted in murderous racism towards Palestinans and massive (and ongoing) ethnic cleansing.

COHA says that Chávez once said, “Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ…took all the world’s wealth for themselves.”

The full quote was the following

“The world has an offer for everybody but it turned out that a few minorities–the descendants of those who crucified Christ, the descendants of those who expelled Bolivar from here and also those who in a certain way crucified him in Santa Marta, there in Colombia–they took possession of the riches of the world, a minority took possession of the planet’s gold, the silver, the minerals, the water, the good lands, the oil, and they have concentrated all the riches in the hands of a few; less than 10 percent of the world population owns more than half of the riches of the world.”

Clearly Chavez was not singling out any ethnic group. FAIR exposed this distortion in 2006. It is surprising that COHA appears unaware of it.

Most sadly, COHA reveals itself completely unaware of the facts about what Israel did in Gaza when it wrote that

“But the Gaza matter was something else. “Proportional” response in military matters is a legal matter even if it is a fairly tame argument to fall back on when Hamas, at its discretion, daily launches missiles at civilian populations in Israel. ”

Richard Falk, the Jewish American who is Special Raportteur to the Occupied terrirtoires, stated that

1) Israel broke a truce with Hamas on November 4, 2007.
2) Until the truce was broken, rocket fire into Israel was negigable and casued no casualties.
3) It was far from clear that Hamas was responsoible for the small number of rockets fired into Israel during the truce.
4) Israel ignored calls by Hamas to extend the truce
5) Israel did not abide by terms of the truce that called for an end to a devastatinf seige on Gaza. The economic blockagde has reduced th e80% of th epeople of Gaza to live of less than $2 per day

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20150

If COHA has more relaible sources of information than Richard Falk it certainly has not provided them. Given the facts, the stance Chavez has taken against Israeli aggression does not look at all rash or ill advised – never mind anti-Semitic. On the contray it is a principled stance that could revive the reputation and fortunes of the secular Left in the Arab world in the long run. Regardless, it is a stance to be applauded.

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