Redacted Tonight #340 – The Truth About Anti-Semitism

8 comments

1. Is it anti-semitic to point out that Israeli abuse of Palestinians is de facto genocide, as defined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, Polish Jewish jurist, and adopted as definitive by the Nuremberg courts ? :-

   By “genocide” we mean the destruction of an ethnic group…. Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups…. (Axis Rule in Occupied Europe ix. 79)

   This is one of the more recent definitions.

   2016 John Cox, historian :-
   Genocide is the attempt to destroy any recognised, stable, and permanent group as it is defined by the perpetrator: [It] is a concerted effort to eliminate its individual members and to destroy the group’s ability to maintain its social and cultural cohesion and, thus, its existence as a group. The perpetrators’ genocidal goals — i.e., intent, which is central to the 1948 UN definition but is often analysed too legalistically and narrowly, can be uncovered by examining policies, actions, and outcomes.

   UN convention enacted in 1951
   Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as
   … any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:
   (a) Killing members of the group;
   (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
   (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
   (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
   (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
   — Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[5]
   Article 3 defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention:
   (a) Genocide;
   (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
   (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
   (d) Attempt to commit genocide;
   (e) Complicity in genocide.
   — Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 3[5]

2. Thanks Lauren!

3. Thank you for being the funny voice of reason!

4. Perhaps because of its misuse, anti-Semitic may well have come to mean anti-Jewish. But the definitely of Semite is “a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs.” Might be a point to make in future.

5. Thanks!!

6. Thank you!!

7. Always edifying humor. I don’t even post the Redacted URL link to my To Do list. Activities are promptly preempted for Redacted.

8. Lee, you are sooooo damn funny! “Everyone will be walkin’ around knowin’ stuff”! I love ya, man! Most importantly, you bring truth to media via your inimitable humor. Meanwhile, I urge you to get and read the radically different book, NOT-TWO IS PEACE. You’ll see the real bottom line of how humanity got this way and the only real way we can (and hopefully will) get out of it–and peacefully. Many blessings to you, Lee.