A Zionist on Iranian Television
What was interesting about this broadcast was the contribution made by Tony Saunois, the aforementioned international secretary of the Committee for a Workers’ International. I had expected him to launch into a tirade about the fascist state of Israel but to my astonishment he asserted that Israelis also suffer, endure poverty, and have difficult lives under attack from hostile neighbors.
Even more intriguing was a comment made by a young Muslim audience member to me after the broadcast had finished. It is a view that is widely held by a significant spectrum of Britons. He said, “You do appreciate Israel is the only nation on earth created by a people seeking a state based on one religion.” Foolishly I reminded him of the Holocaust and the fact that Israel had emerged out of the ashes of Auschwitz. I should have known better than to bring in the Shoah, because it is a red rag to a bull in many circles. Its mention provokes cries of “so why did the Arabs have to suffer displacement and slaughter because of something in Europe that had nothing to do with them?” — sure, nothing to do with the Arabs who flocked to the grand mufti’s call to join the SS — and declamations of “it is racist that Jews only allow Jews to emigrate to Israel.” (Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries are advertising for Christian, Jewish, and Hindu immigrants, or haven’t you been paying attention?)
The panel’s Peter Jay reflected a major proportion of British public opinion: that Israel was born out of land stolen from Arabs, that the rampaging Jews massacred vast swathes of Arab enclaves, and that the religious Jewish nature of Israel is an impediment to the peace of the region. The young audience member who challenged me about the religious nature of Israel ought to have been taught that Pakistan was born out of the determined and obsessive demands of Mohammed Ali Jinna, but as we are hearing that 82% of Muslim schools in Britain are running a radical curriculum, I am not surprised by his notions. The British media obsession with Israel is never accompanied by a companion story about the creation of Muslim Pakistan, the partition of which resulted in one million deaths in India and in the new Islamic nation.
The Iranian TV production was recorded in the same time frame as an “alternative carol service” written by an “anonymous Jewish parody writer” was performed at St. James’s Church Piccadilly on November 26 and sponsored by Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods. Organized by Deborah Fink, a near-maniacal Jewish critic of Israel, the event caused a storm of controversy across the British religious world; its juxtaposition with my appearance on Iranian television left me wondering if there is anyone out there who supports the continuing existence of the tiny Jewish state. Compounded by the carol concert was a piece by the British novelist Jeanette Winterson, who in an article about the Christmas story in the Times of December 12 lumped Israel with the Taliban and al-Qaeda: “The likes of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Sarah Palin and apocalyptic evangelism, that George W. Bush calls himself a Christian, and that Israel as a nation state believes as fervently in armed conflict as it does in the omnipotence of God, makes religion of any brand seem foolish and dangerous.”
Inasmuch as the Syrian on my TV panel, Mr. Armanazi (no jokes, please, about “IamaNazi”), feels Washington is controlled by Zionists and that American Jews have all the money — well, not after Bernie Madoff with their cash — and Jeanette tells the Times readership that Israelis are foremost in the world in God-worship, perhaps she would like to live in Saudi Arabia for a few days and see how far she gets as a Christian.
As 2009 dawns it is a stunning commentary on the European and British media that despite the existence of scores of huge Muslim and Arab countries, the belief that Jews and Zionists run America and the world, and that Israel is a giant sore on the face of the Middle East, continues to be perpetuated. Nine years ago, Keith Graves of Sky News stood on the Golan Heights on New Year’s Eve holding up a bottle of Israeli wine and expressed his hunch that, all being well, next year in this time this would be Syrian wine. Nine years on and still drinking award-winning Israeli wine, I am glad I had the opportunity on, of all places, Iranian television to state the case for Israel and to de-demonize American Jewry.
I wish Barack Obama luck in “rebooting” Muslim-American relations. We all hope he can take up the thankless task of doing good deeds for their ungrateful countries, as did George W. Bush. In turn I hope a well-meaning Obama does not end up getting someone’s boots thrown at him, too.
All we did was try to clean up the mess we made in 2005 when we left Hamas in charge of Gaza.
And yet some people have the ignorance to do this!
How can we let this pass?
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i’m christian and i was allowed to immigrate to israel (thanks to my arab wife). not that it will make one shred of difference to anyone regurgitating the propaganda.
It is understandable that the Iranian and Syrian panel members are ignorant of the facts. But Peter Gay has no excuse. You should have attacked him on his ignorance of the facts and put him in his place.
The Church of England anyone? Hello. All of Europe was until very recently nothing but countries for Christians… specifically Catholics for hundreds of years.
No. Israel is not the only country created by people based on one religion. What an ignorant statetment.
You say: The panel’s Peter Jay reflected a major proportion of British public opinion
Jay reflects the opinions of the Guardian-reading classes. I doubt that 1% of the British ever read that newspaper. Most Brits dismiss his opinions, the Guardians, and those of the BBC as a load of rubbish.
Michael,
Yes, I see your point. I think the media here -including Sky and the anguished Julian Mannion of ITN — create the impression that all of Britain wants Israel to sink into the sea.
One other general observation: Ahmadinejad gave the ‘Alternative Christmas message’ on Channel Four Television, creating a huge uproar, but he also appeared on Larry King for an hour. For all intents and purposes Larry is a proud Jew and I suspect a Zionist. Interesting pairing.
I think a psychiatrist would have a field day with Mahmoud A.
Having lived in Israel for 6 years, I can attest to the fact that 1,000,000 Russians (mainly non-Jews) now live there and have complete freedom to worship as non-Jews, as do the thousands of foreign workers, diplomats, tourists. Every magazine and newspapers lists synagogues, churches and mosques with the times of services. I wouls love to get a hold of a Saudi paper that does the same.
Mr Jay’s commentary from the “Press TV” program are breathtaking, how one so rich in educational and worldly experience could be simultaneously so willfully ignorant. Obviously his experience with us was skewed by racial/religious/cultural biases, I guess that’s his loss and the loss (by his ignorant attitude) of the UK (having such a compromised representative individual representing Her Majesty’s Government). I guess the old Monty Python sketches about inbred upper class “twits” had some truth to it
I don’t think it’s willful ignorance, necessarily. It is simply a matter of where one’s priorities lie.
Those of us who are more angst-ridden about the whys and moral equivalence of the rights and wrongs humans do to one another throughout history — those folks are simply predisposed to decide who is right and who is wrong, and make judgments accordingly. Jay’s thought process clearly goes no further than that, and he’s simply choosing a side. Some say Israel is a war criminal, some say Palestinians are war criminals. No doubt both sides have a legitimate beef of one sort or another.
Others of us understand that the real evil in this world is not the collection of bad actors who do wrong, as that is merely a question of perspective; rather, it is when a weaker party who believing themselves righteously wronged cannot accept defeat, and worse, cannot acknowledge the ultimately futility of their efforts to seek redress. They therefore willfully place themselves in a perpetual cycle of non-civilization — witness continued feeble efforts to retaliate against a vastly militarily superior foe by targeting civilians, the hopeless joke of the “intifada”, etc. etc. Such that life cannot move on. That, my friends, is uncivilized — and unfortunately requires uncivilized methods to deal with. Hamas and their ilk have a legitimate beef (seen from their perspective) about land. But their inability to accept the balance of power in concert with their own military impotence requires that they be eradicated. The group of persons I mentioned above can never be made to understand this and would freely apply the term “holocaust” as it befits their opinions on who is “right” vs. “wrong”. But the latter rightly recognize that civilization (by very definition) occasionally requires brutal methods by the strong applied to the weak to ensure that civilization can actually exist. And in this case, the sooner the better in my opinion.
If the world cannot realize that the very existence of a group like Hamas (that vows destruction of Israel but can never attain this goal) runs counter to civilization, then it is the world that will eventually become uncivilized.
Let’s see: The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Organization of the Islamic Congress (more than 50 nations that self-identify as Muslim). Can you imagine a Congress of the Christian Congress, or a Congress of the Jewish Congress. Oh yeah, there is one country that self-identifies as Jewish, and for many in the world that is one too many.
The world is upside down and our leaders just don’t get it.
How do you keep a straight face when listening to that rubbish?
I can solve peace in Israel and Palestine for all time. Today is 1/2/09. Let’s announce that america will explode all of its aging nuetron bombs scheduled for decommission directly over the Temple Mount and what the heck Calvary hill just to be fair on 1/02/10.
We of course will provide funding to relocate all in the blast radius to other lands before the big boom. The goal will be to ensure nothing can live in the Holy Land except the Angels thus protecting it form the corrupting influence of a humanity damned to Hell eventually any ways.
You may say this is nuts but I say it is the only thing that will stop the bloodshed over that land.
What is the name and date of the program ? I’d like to see it.
LennyB, as much as I wish what you wrote wasn’t true, I’m certain it is. It seems that the farther removed Western Civilization gets from its origins, the more it forgets what must have been not just obvious, but a building block of civilization.
Look at what it took for Germany and Japan to live with their defeats. Compare Germany post WWI, where they were not decisively and mercilessly destroyed, thus allowing the “stabbed in the back” fiction to fester, and post WWII, where there was absolutely no doubt as to the victors and the submitting vanquished.
“compassionate” warfare is ultimately far more cruel and costly than total war. If you let your enemy think they have a chance, you prolong the war. Ironically, merciless and unyielding total war is more merciful. Not only that, but in those purulent Arab cultures they take mercy as a sign of weakness, and Israel attempting to be civilized is just seen as a lack of commitment.
I hope Israel will kill and kill and kill until the last HAMAS fighter is feeding worms.
RE: …Israel is the only nation on earth created by a people seeking a state based on one religion…
Pakistan preceeded Israel as a modern state specifically created by a people based on one religion.
Wikipedia: “It (Pakistan) was a part of British Raj from 1858 to 1947, when the Pakistan Movement for a state for Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League resulted in the independence and creation of the state of Pakistan…”
Israel declared independence in May of 1948.
Muslims are barbarians and anti-civilization. It is too bad, and it sucks, but there it is, nevertheless.
the barbarity of the Muslim and Islam is apparent and the source of their hatred is obvious. what is truly frightening are the useful idiots in the MSM and elsewhere in the west. these too must be stopped, the west needs laws which require balanced reporting from MSM outlets or they lose their license to indoctinate with propaganda.
“Israel is the only nation on earth created by a people seeking a state based on one religion”
No. Look at Saudi Arabia, all citizens MUST be Muslim – no other religion is allowed. So what if it isn’t official? There are many countries in our world today that are just like Saudi Arabia. Israel, on the other hand, has Muslims, Christians, and civilians of many other religions.
7: I agree with you. I’ve been to Israel many times and every time I come there I am amazed at what a beautiful and modern country it is. Honestly, it’s no wonder so many people around the world hate Israel, the way Israel looks in the media is nothing like it is in real life. It’s sad how Israel is always shown as violent when it is really protecting itself from the enemies that are all around. Israel must protect itself every day, I don’t think that’s something that the West understands :/
Israel doesn’t burst into the homes and churches of Israeli Christians (or even Muslims) and kill them because they aren’t toting the state religion. Israel promotes freedom and prosperity and its people are reputed to be kind and warm-hearted by just about everyone I know who has ever visited the country.
Which sharia-law based Arab nation does the same; tolerating other religions and encouraging freedom?
Answer: None.
i don’t know about the zionists have all the money thing but has anyone stopped to think about all the arab oil money . they could create a utopia in the palestinian state if they really wanted to just from the daily interest generated from all their wealth