J’accuse redux
I just received this from PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) this morning:
Israel must rid itself of Zionist terrorists.
On the night of September 24, Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell was wounded by a bomb put at his doorstep.
Who is Zeev Sternhell? He is an Israeli historian who has expressed empathy for the Palestinian struggle. That’s why he was attacked.
Who is Zeev Sternhell? He is a holocaust survivor who fought in three of Israel’s wars. He thinks that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is a cancer that eats the soul of Israel. That is why he was attacked.
I accuse those who instigated this attack.
I accuse those who attack so-called “dangerous left-wing intellectuals” in Israel; who call people like Zeev Sternhell “anti-Semitic,” “self-hating Jews” and “enemies of Israel”.
I accuse those in the Israeli right who forgive and turn a blind eye to fanatical settlers who break Israeli law and international law on a daily basis, who harass Palestinians, beat them and sometimes murder them.
I accuse those who performed religious rituals condemning Yitzhak Rabin to death.
I accuse right-wing extremists who say that only they represent Israel; that anybody who has a different view of what is good for Israel is an enemy who endangers Israel. They are fanatics who kill in the name of ‘ideals’.
I accuse those who condone the acts of extremists. They encourage the murderers and terrorists, such as those who attacked Zeev Sternhell.
Hate-speech is not part of legitimate democratic discourse. We know that words create reality. Calls to violence find their ways into the hearts of fanatics who put these words into practice.
For too long the Israeli Right has forgiven and promoted its extremists.
Israel needs more Zeev Sternhells, and Israel needs to rid itself of Zionist terrorists.
Adapted from “I accuse!”, written by Israeli philosopher Carlo Strenger, of Tel Aviv University and published by Israel’s leading newspaper “Ha’aretz” on Sept. 29, 2008.
For full text, see: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024899.html
(Photo of Zeev Sternhells: Hebrew University)
I assume Carlo Strenger is making a reference to the famous accusation mabe by French novelist Emile Zola on January 13, 1898, published on the front page of Paris daily newspaper l’Aurore. In his piece “J’accuse”, an open letter to the French President, Zola was accusing the French Army of antisemitism in what is now known as the Dreyfus Affair. Deyfrus was a Jewish cpatain wrongfuly convicted to life as a traitor under false accusation of espionnage.
Zola was prosecuted and sentenced to jail under criminal libel charges, but what he actually did was denouncing injustice, corruption and antisemitism. Even 100 years after the French Revolution, liberty didn’t mean that freedom of speech could openly attack the State. It seems history is repeating itself.
Dreyfus was exonarated in 1906, thanks to Zola who didn’t fear denouncing a blutent injustice and inform the public opinion.
Below a link to Zola’s “J’accuse”.
Thanks for raising our awareness and keeping us informed. That is important.
http://chameleon-translations.com/sample-Zola.shtml