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MidEastTruth Forum Index   Gil Troy is an American academic. He received his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from Harvard University and is a professor of History at McGill University.
The author of eleven books, nine of which concern American presidential history, and one of which concerns his own and others' "Jewish identity," he contributes regularly to a variety of publications and appears frequently in the media as a commentator and analyst on subjects relating to history and politics. Twitter: @GilTroy. Website: www.giltroy.com.

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Posted by editor

  
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PostMon Oct 27, 2003 3:13 pm     An Internet Version of the Nazi Yellow Star    


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THE IVORY TOWER

An Internet Version of the Nazi Yellow Star

By Gil Troy
Forward Magazine
October 17, 2003

One American history student recently wrote me that, following a link from the Web log Little Green Footballs, he noticed my "name on a list of 'known Jews.' Does it disturb or frighten you to be bluntly characterized as a 'Zionist American Jew,'" he asked, "or do you take a degree of pride in your apparent notoriety among Palestinian activists?"

Clicking onto the Web log I discovered a site in high dudgeon. Over 280 people had responded to the news that "Students at University College Cork in Ireland have put together a list of well-known authors and speakers who are Jews." Calling it a "shameful database," Little Green Footballs quoted one reader who pronounced it the "Internet version of the Nazi yellow star."

A few clicks later, I found the "Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign" Web site listing 149 American Jews, from Elliot Abrams to Mortimer Zuckerman. Most names were designated "American Jew"; 23 were "anti-Zionist American Jew"; 18 of us, including, Abrams, Zuckerman, Wolf Blitzer, Arthur Hertzberg, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, were labeled "Zionist American Jew." A few merited their own categories, including the "Hardline Zionist Israeli American Jew" Martin Kramer, the "Moderate Zionist American Jew" Michael Lerner and the "neo-con American Jew" Martin Peretz.

I first thought of Richard Nixon's "enemies list" rather than a virtual "yellow star." I remembered Lesley Stahl reporting in her memoir about CBS News that correspondent Daniel Schorr "loved" being on Nixon's list — it "was a badge of honor." Yet along with my perverse pride came a slight tremor of dread. "Is this hate list a hit list?", I wondered. If Palestinians gain glory from targeting pizzerias and murdering infants, what would stop them from targeting an academic, however obscure I might be?

The more I perused the list, the more confused I became. The list had dead Jews and live Jews, including the banker Felix Warburg and the screenwriter Ben Hecht. I realized this was a vast database listing articles related to "Palestinian Solidarity," with pungent commentary on pro-Zionist pieces. There were also lists of Palestinians, Europeans, Israeli Jews — some deemed Zionist, others not — categorized by subject as well as by nationality and political orientation. All this was an effort to fight the media bias these activists perceived — in favor of Israel.

As an educator, I wanted to pronounce the site benign. "Our side" has Jewish Agency databases detailing the history of Zionism, and Daniel Pipes's "Campus Watch" database monitoring classroom bias. How can I begrudge Palestinian activists their research project?

Yet that reaction, too, was not satisfying. There was something about the tone and wording, the use of "Zionist" as a pejorative, that was menacing. Being outed on this Web site as a "Zionist American Jew" lacked the warmth and lyricism of my proudly proclaiming "I am a Zionist." Part of it had to do with the list's ugly reductionism — boiling people down to their national origins and then branding them "kosher" or "unkosher," as it were. There was something a bit too European about the need to identify reporters such as CBS's Bob Simon and NPR's Terry Gross as "American Jew," Wolf Blitzer as "Zionist American Jew" when the relevance was unclear.

Moreover, after Daniel Pearl's captors beheaded him because they deemed him a "ZAJ" rather than an "AJ" or simply an American, such labels promulgated in Europe by Palestinian supporters spring from poisoned sources. In an immoral universe where being a Zionist is a capital crime, being identified as such becomes a death threat.

The Web site rests on a seedbed of hate, broadcasting hostility to the Jewish state, hijacking symbols to make Jaffa Oranges manifestations of "apartheid" policies to be boycotted, rather than fruits of a people's renewal. In the 1970s, pro-Palestinian European hijackers selected Jews from non-Jews at Entebbe. Today, Palestinians and their European supporters often target Jews indiscriminately, with aggressive rhetoric feeding vicious violence. Addicted to their status as victims, allergic to taking responsibility for their actions' implications, too many pro-Palestinians will ignore the fact that such lists fester in a context of glorified thuggery.

The cult of the suicide bomber, the way the virus of violence infects support for the Palestinian cause, can make a supposedly academic Web site seem menacing, not only to "paranoid" Jews, but to the hundreds of outraged non-Jews on the Little Green Footballs Web log, and to my concerned student. When the Web site's section of "Palestinian Protest Chants" exhorts people: "We don't care what you say, Intifada all the way!" and when that Intifada has murdered 900 innocents, doubting their intentions makes sense.

My student asked me if I was scared or proud. I am both — as well as sad and angry. I resent the bloody intifada the Palestinians have unleashed against Israelis, and I resent the worldwide intellectual and ideological intifada fostering that violence which is scarring my home turf, the university. I hate the polarizing effect on discourse about the Middle East, the emotion that squelches candid analysis on both sides. And I despise the whiff of menace hovering about the intellectual intifada-ists, given the constant rhetorical attacks against "Americans and Jews" and the global reach terrorists and antisemites have demonstrated.

So, I will wear my listing as a ZAJ with pride. And I will urge leaders who are merely listed as "American Jews" to support Israel more passionately to get bumped up into my more exclusive category. But when I next move, I am sorry to say, my home phone number will be unlisted.


Gil Troy is the author of "Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today" (Bronfman Jewish Education Centre).


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Posted by Monterdale

  
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PostFri Oct 31, 2003 1:39 pm     Being labeled a Zionist    


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I have thought about this since I was about 5 or 6 years old. I am now 57, so it has been a very long time. I come from a conservative Christian family and consider myself a true Christian....and a Zionist!!! My friends know that I am staunchly pro-Israel and have served with the Volunteer IDF in Haifa for 4 weeks back in the 1980's. If I were not married and with certain family responsibilities, I would be in Israel today helping in whatever way possible to bring comfort to the victims of terrorism. I've lived in Kibutzim....traveled the beautiful country of Israel....and love the People of Moses.

All this to say: there is a group of conservative Christians who love and defend Israel. We travel to Israel even now to show our support and spend money there to aid the economy. And, G-d forbid! , that there should be any anti-semitism here in this country (I know there is but I'm talking about the kind sweeping Europe right now)....we are prepared to risk our lives to shelter and help the Jews.

I do not say this without counting the cost. I have thought for many years what I would do if something like the Anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime should ever rise it's ugly head in our country. So, please take this as a word of comfort!! You are loved and cared for by many Christians here in the USA and around the world!

It is unfortunate that because of the mis-trust...often well placed mis-trust....that the Jews have of Christians...that we do not have closer ties with each other. If we as strong Jews and Christians do not hold together, there is likely to be a holocaust right here in the US...and that will come from the far Left and the many young people who are not being taught the basics of our faith...the Ten Commandments. When that moral and religous code is gone from our society, there will be no absolute law with which to measure all the laws fo our county.

Thank you for reading this lengthy message. Please hear my heart and know that you are not alone!

Shalom...and Next Year in Jerusalem!


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Posted by Elisheba

  
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MidEastTruth.com - the first 13 yearsMidEastTruth.com
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What is Palestine? Who are the Palestinians?
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PostMon Nov 03, 2003 9:45 am        


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One paragraph from Mr. Troy's article is:

"Moreover, after Daniel Pearl's captors beheaded him because they deemed him a "ZAJ" rather than an "AJ" or simply an American, such labels promulgated in Europe by Palestinian supporters spring from poisoned sources. In an immoral universe where being a Zionist is a capital crime, being identified as such becomes a death threat. "

After reading "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?", I wonder ...

Everyone should read that book...


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