I will be blogging a little less frequently in February as I have a lot of work to get done ahead of my trip to Israel. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say when I get back and I’ll update the blog whenever possible in the meantime.
Here is my latest column for Jewish News:
As a blogger and keen Facebook user I am well aware of the power that the online world has to draw attention to good causes. However, I’m also becoming aware of the downside of that power. When I first signed up to Facebook (strange to think it once didn’t exist, no?) I was immediately bombarded with environmentalist web-links from a couple of users. When I questioned some of their simplistic, scaremongering propaganda they replied that if we didn’t all stop what we were doing to the planet ‘right now’ then the human race would be wiped out within a few years.
I wondered why, if they truly believed that, their effort to prevent this consisted merely of pasting YouTube links and clicking the word ‘forward’. Surely if they thought we were all done for they would be acting a bit more urgently than that? Look at the suffragettes. They went on hunger strikes, stepped in front of huge, galloping horses and chained themselves to railings – and this just to win the right to vote. I say ‘just’ not to undermine the importance of their quest, but compared to saving the very future of the planet theirs was a lesser issue.
Not that Greens are alone in such a curious contrast between message and effort. My inbox is often bombarded with links about Islam. I do not doubt there is a grave problem with extremist Islam, but much of what I receive is simply hysterical and effortlessly-debunked nonsense. Like with the climate-change hysterics, if one questions any of it one is faced with apocalyptic warnings that we will all be either nuked to smithereens or living under fascist shariah law within a few years. And once more it is hard not to wonder why, if the proponents really believe what they say about this impending catastrophe, they can only be bothered to send a few videos featuring the ridiculous Geert Wilders to their friends’ email addresses.
If I believed half of what they and the environmentalists claim I would be shouting it from the rooftops, chaining myself to Parliament and embarking on a to-the-death hunger strike, not just lazily clicking the ‘forward button’ on my computer screen a couple of times a week. Still, let them get their doomsday fantasies out of their system online, I suppose. The modern day equivalent of those loons who used to walk up and down the high street with their ‘End Is Nigh’ sandwich boards, it’s better that such people stay indoors.
People I wish would get out a bit more are those who support Israel. The decrease in Hamas rocket-fire that came about as a result of Operation Cast Lead was most welcome, and over here there was an additional positive outcome: the increased activism of those who love the Jewish state and wish to defend it from unfair demonisation. I recall three inspiring pro-Israel demonstrations in London in little over a week: at the Israeli Embassy, at Trafalgar Square and at the Iranian Embassy.
For one week, many of us became like the Zionist Federation’s ever-heroic and tireless Jonathan Hoffman, getting off our backsides and defending Israel with actions as well as words. Our events made many passers-by think about the issue, and meant a lot to people in Israel. The contrast between our peaceful, respectful vigils and the hate-mongering mobs on the other side did not go un-noted by many of the British public either.
But all too quickly the urgency diminished. Once again Facebook is awash with people who will mourn anti-Israel sentiment in Britain, but look the other way when an opportunity arises to change it. Online consciousness-raising has an important part to play. As a pro-Israel blogger I believe that strongly. But there is so much more we could be doing – writing a status update is a good start but this is a movement that needs less armchair activism and more Jonathan Hoffmanism!
(If you are not in the newspaper’s catchment area you can read it in full online here.)
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Great blog. I only wish you could put out the link on twitter without the bit.ly and use a different, non terror-linked (i.e., ly=Lybia) url shortener.
When are you coming to our beautiful Holy Land?
Thank you Sarah. I will look into a different shortener for Twitter in future.
I am in your beautiful Holy Land in last week of February. Quick trip, whizzing round Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Efrat.
Facebookism – LOL
Duvidl too has a problem with Facebook. He can hardly pry his sheyne maedel off it for long enough to use the PC to comment on Oy Va Goy’s great blog.
Thanks Duvid. Your comments are always great too! Any new songs lined up for CifWatch?
Was I alone in nearly smashing up my TV after the Trafalgar Square demo when the BBC (who else!) showed only the Naturei Karta counter demo on at least, the bulletin I saw.
hi Chas,
I think this is a really interesting column – I have always been slightly puzzled by the ‘click… that’s my work saving the world done’ mentality.
Please send my love to all of Tel Aviv.
Ah so not so much philosemitic as Islamophilic, this week eh Chaz? Fair play to you for your nuances though
Now that you mention it Chas, I have written one about someone called “Shameless”, who you must know of. He is certainly no favourite of Israelis. Perhaps you will allow me to post it here first. Doubtless any Tel Avivi will help, so the meaning is not lost in translation. Here goes:
He’s been working as a Sheygetz
(To the tune of “I’ve been working on the Railroad.”)
(Hat tip: US tradition)
He’s been working as a Sheygetz.
The Yidelach say Oy vey.
He goes by the name of “Shameless,”
At Cif called “Shay”.
When the Stalinists come calling,
Oh so early in the morn,
Over themselves they are falling,
When Shay gets gets the horn.
Chorus: Shay gets gets the horn,
Shay gets gets the horn.
Bella comes to blow his horn.
Shay gets gets the horn,
Shay gets gets the horn,
Brian too will blow his horn.
DS Al Coda
Chas,
You are so wrong about Geert. Your remark last February that you link to here that Geert (who loves Israel and lived there for 2 years) reminds you more and more of the odious Israel-hating and Hamas-loving Galloway is nasty.
Geert is no egoist. He is under 24-hour police protection (which after what happened to Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands is clearly needed)and I wish that we in the UK had politicians with the sense, spine and self-sacrifice that he has.
I doubt that you will allow this comment with the following link to Pat Condell on YouTube but will be delighted if you did. It outlines what is really going on in the Netherlands.
Publish it and let your readers decide for themselves!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ZUZ9CPZII&feature=player_embedded
Shalom.
Shalom Paul.
Of course I’ll allow your comment!
You say the February post is ’so wrong’ but you don’t counter a single one of its assertions:
Has he called for a ban on the Koran? Yes.
Has he considered an alliance with an antisemitic party? Yes.
So where was I wrong?
You say he is no egotist, yet your only evidence is that he lives under 24-hour police protection which is totally irrelevant.
Shalom Chas and thanks for publishing my comments in full.
OK, I will gladly attempt to counter your assertions.
You say that…
Billions of people have read Koran for thousands of years and used what they have read only for joyful good.
I would like to see evidence of this. What possible ‘joyful good’ could come out of a book that calls Jews ‘pigs and apes’ and calls for the destruction of non-muslims?
Everybody should watch Geert’s short movie ‘Fitna’ (available to view for free at http://www.themoviefitna.com/?page_id=47) for more detail on what the Koran teaches and how some followers of mohammed put it into practice. Of course, survivors from 9/11 and 7/7 need not watch ‘Fitna’ to find this out.
Liberals take a pride in saying that all opinions should be expressed and no literature banned but when such literature is so filled with hatred and aggression and is being used as a basis to destroy you it is not a virtue to defend it, it is lethal. A utopian society created by man in which everybody lives together in peace and harmony as wished for in John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ is a delusion and is no harmless delusion when it means those who value freedom drop their guard in pursuit of it against those who would annihilate them. We are talking about the difference between Churchill and Chamberlain and we all know what was at stake then.
If one would stop short of actually banning the Koran (I personally would be glad to see the back of it) then at least one should see it for what it is and call it what it is. Thankfully, there have been and are today many Muslims who don’t practice what mohammed and his vile book preaches but they are not faithful to mohammed or the Koran.
You say that…
Wilders’ argument also implicitly excuses those who promote and commit evil in the book’s name: not their fault, your honour, they just read a bad book.
That’s your opinion and I find no plausibility in it. I don’t see how his argument implicitly excuses those who practice the teachings of the Koran. Geert has always stressed that his battle is not with those who wish to integrate with and positively participate in the society of The Netherlands but is against those who wish to destroy Western civilization. He therefore obviously draws a distinction between those who choose to ignore the Korans injunctions and those who choose to carry them out and therefore shows that he believes they have a choice and have no excuse.
You say that…
he claims to be pro-Israel but is considering an alliance with an antisemitic party in Belgium. Classy.
Well, the respected syndicated journalist Diane West (who wrote ‘The death of the grown-up’) met with leaders of the party and this is what she wrote in an article for the excellent Mideast Outpost…
…Indeed, their statements on Israel are more supportive than any European party I know of. As Vanhecke put it in a recent speech, “They call us ‘intolerant’ because we oppose intolerance. They call us ‘fascists’ because we oppose Islamo-fascism. They call us ‘the children of holocaust perpetrators,’ because we oppose Islamists who are preparing a new holocaust against the Jews.’”
The full article can be found here http://mideastoutpost.com/archives/000513.html
You say that…
Rather, he appears to crave controversy, conflict, increased division and – above all – his martyred position centre-stage.
and that you…
… save my admiration for the likes of brave Muslims like Ed Hussain…
and then you absurdly and, in my view, nastily draw a simililarity between Geert, a lover and supporter of Israel and oposer of the Islamists and Gerorge Galloway a nhater of Israel and lover of Jihadists!
Neither you nor I can judge Geert’s inner motivations. All we can do is listen to his words and view his actions and then decide to stand with him or against him. The man has an Islamic death-sentence against him (which as already shown in the Netherlands with Theo Van Gogh is no idle threat) and needs 24-hour police protection. This is not irrelevant as you state. Have you ever wondered what it would be like for a man and his family to have a death threat against them and need to be manned by police 24-hours a day? He also is at serious risk of being imprisoned for 2 years if the Dutch liberal establishment is successful in prosecuting him for speaking the truth. Here is a man who professes love for Israel and all it stands for, is against the Islamic totalitarian ideology that is moving against Europe and is prepared to speak out and suffer death threats and lose his and his family’s privacy and freedom. I would respectfully suggest that these are evidences not of a man who has a ‘preening agenda’ as you put it but are evidences of a man of truth, courage and conviction who is sorely needed in these perilous times. You criticize those who activism only involves just lazily clicking the ‘forward button’ on their computer screens a couple of times a week. Well from what I hear and see, Geert is man who has shown that he is not that. He is prepared to put his head above the parapet and defy the stifling politically correct positions of the overwhelming majority of deluded, spineless and self-serving European politicians and stand up and fight for truth and for freedom.
Yet rather than for Geert, you say that you save your admiration for men such as Ed Hussain. This is a man who draws a moral equivalence between Palestinian human bomb attacks and Israel’s operation in Gaza (the excellent Melanie Philips’ revealing article addressing this can be found here http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3197296/on-the-other-side-from-civilisation.thtml)
I respectfully but strongly suggest that you should not be admiring the kind of man who spouts this kind of totalitarian propaganda and finding absurd and ugly similarities between Geert and the noxious Galloway but instead you should be loudly supporting Geert who is a man who stands with Israel and against the lies and hated of the Islamists.
Shalom v’ Shanah Tovah.
Thanks Paul, I’m enjoying your input a lot. That’s a hearty defence and put like that I agree with lots of what you say. Since I wrote that Feb 09 post I have learned more about Ed Hussain which has modified my view of him somewhat.
I’d only differ on a few points…
I would like to see evidence of this.
Why don’t you show me evidence that it’s not true?
Of course, survivors from 9/11 and 7/7 need not watch ‘Fitna’ to find this out.
Absolutely. And on a similar note to the previous point, how representative of Muslims worldwide would you say the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorists are?
On the Koran question I am not deluded or believing in some sort of utopian harmony. I just don’t think that we should ban the Koran. Okay, maybe you do. How would you go about this? Remove the books at gunpoint from the homes of peaceful Muslims? Burn the books in public squares?
and then you absurdly and, in my view, nastily draw a simililarity between Geert, a lover and supporter of Israel and oposer of the Islamists and Gerorge Galloway a nhater of Israel and lover of Jihadists!
I don’t believe they share politics but they share plenty in style. Both are vain, self-promoting men who thrive on division, attention and whipping up rabble.
The man has an Islamic death-sentence against him (which as already shown in the Netherlands with Theo Van Gogh is no idle threat) and needs 24-hour police protection. This is not irrelevant as you state.
I didn’t suggest it was irrelevant generally, I just said it was irrelevant over whether he is an egotist. And next time I hear him – or his supporters – complaining about freedom of expression, I’ll remember how he – and they – want to ban a book.
But Wilders needs more supporters like you, who can defend him like you have here.
I appreciate your kind words.
It seems like we strongly disagree on the issue and have expressed strong views but nevertheless have remained polite and civil. How terribly British!
Shalom.
Oy!
Rather than finishing with ‘Shalom v’ Shanah Tovah’ I should have said ‘Shalom v’ Shavuah Tov’.
Not that I wouldn’t wish you a good year too but I meant to wish you a good week as the Sabbath has just finished and we are therefore at the beginning of a new week not a new year!
Shalom v’ Shavuah Tov!
And to you, sir!