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On Shair's viewsSunday 18 Aug 2002
author: Samer Elatrash
Comment on Shamir’s views
From Samer Elatrash, Solidarity for the Liberation of Palestine (SLP – Montreal)
The lack of elementary principles in Israel Shamir’s article “Rock of Dissent” is surpassed only by Shamir’s apparent attempt to impress us with his capacity for monumental tactical stupidity. Shamir, however, is not an unintelligent man, and one cannot but help the impression that his absurd arguments were intended in bad faith. In a single evening, the convergence of white supremacists in Washington on August 24th can, can counteract a year’s worth of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and propaganda. On that day, Zionist extremists will be spared the effort to stun us with their perverted logic that equates anti-Zionism and opposition to Israel with antisemitism, a time-honoured pillar of Zionist propaganda. The neo-Nazis will conduct that job much more convincingly, and if we were to follow Shamir’s advice and leave them be (or better yet, work with them and gently correct some of their “erroneous ideas”), we would play right into the hands of Zionist extremism.
Shamir questions the lack of vehemence directed towards supporters of Israel by antifascists: “I wonder why this militant antifascist network did not go out to confront gatherings and demonstrations of Judeo-Nazis…not even Israeli settlers, as racist as anybody, were ever described as ‘racist scum’’. It is true that there are self styled antifascists who have convinced themselves that street brawls with neo-Nazis are the epitome of anti-racism, while simultaneously working with far more dangerous and despicable organizations such as Bnai Brith and the Anti Defamation League (the President of ARA-McGill in Montreal, which is not to be confused with the immeasurably more sensible ARA-Montreal, proudly informed me that he is an ardent Zionist). Zionists are indeed dangerous racists, and I would be hard pressed to cite a single Israeli Cabinet meeting in which the government did not contrive to subjugate the Palestinians.
As I write this, the Israeli government is subjecting 3 million Palestinian to a most brutal and callous occupation, in which home demolitions, curfews, closures, assassinations and massacres are a feature of day-to-day life. Their impunity can in part be attributed to the Israeli government’s capability of portraying Israel as a victim of Muslim fanaticism and antisemetism. Pro-Israel activists in the States and Canada have conducted effective campaigns against activists who oppose Israeli policies and Zionism, as well as journalists who report on the occupation with a modicum of truth, by libelling them as antisemites. As I mentioned, equating opposition to Israel with antisemitism is an old and effective tactic, so when Israel Shamir argues that we should ally ourselves with antisemites, he is in reality proposing that we hand ourselves to the Zionist extremists on a silver platter. Even if we were to accept Shamir’s puerile principles, which suggest that the ‘right’ thing to do is to knock out ‘Judeo-Nazis’ every time they demonstrate, I would point out this would backfire precisely because we have not effectively demolished the notion that anti-Zionism is no different from antisemitism. Acting on Shamir’s advice would only strengthen this notion.
In other circumstances, it would be wise to let Shamir kick up all the dirt he wants in his sandbox. The reality is that we have a responsibility to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people by all necessary means that would not harm our cause and set it back. This means that we have to tirelessly combat Zionist efforts to legitimize the barbaric treatment of the Palestinians, efforts that Shamir wants us to confirm by allying ourselves to organized antisemites. In the meanwhile, I am sure that many Palestinians would express their gratitude to Shamir if he were to refrain from trying to sabotage our efforts and confine himself to his conspiracy theory writings, in which he excels.