Bumping into history - @MidEastTruth

Bumping into history

By Gil Troy
The Canadian Jewish News
July 31, 2003

I was an honest writer who was walking down the street one day when he bumped into history,” the Oscar-winning screenwriter Ben Hecht would recall about his Jewish awakening in the 1930s. Until then, Hecht had indulged himself, worshipping art and entertainment. But the Nazi threat to Jews and democracy transformed him. Unlike his peers, he did not wallow. Angered, he became an activist.

Although today’s situation is less dire than the 1930s, some of us have also responded rationally with anger and activism. There have been many wake-up calls – from the Palestinians’ turn away from negotiation and toward violence in September 2000 to the Islamicists’ mass-murders of Sept. 11, 2001; from Hezbollah’s kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers near Lebanon to the kidnapping – and beheading – of journalist Daniel Pearl; from the UN’s orgy of anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-racism in Durban, South Africa, to the anti-Semitism exposed behind “mere” anti-Zionism when rioters who squelched Israeli finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right to speak at Concordia University threw pennies at Jews; from the world’s unfair denunciation of Israel when it responded aggressively to Palestinian terrorism to the world’s unfair denunciation of America when it responded aggressively to Islamic terrorism.

Those of us who have responded have often found our positions caricatured and condemned. In the last three years – and especially since I publicly proclaimed that I am a Zionist – I have been called a racist, a Nazi, a propagandist, a hypocrite, a fanatic, a false prophet, right of centre, and out of the mainstream. I get bombarded with illiterate e-mails from fake addresses, such as nauseatedwithzionistlies@aol.com, fedupwithzionists@yahoo.com and damtheusrulers@hotmail.com. Even more depressing are the well-written rants that degenerate into crude anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism and are signed by people who lack the shame to hide their names.

These attacks are badges of honour – proof my feeble attempts to defend the right ideals are annoying the “right” people. The perverse charges of Nazism and racism, damning Jews and Americans with their enemies’ sins by inverting reality, do not merit consideration (although I wonder why when Jews condemn suicide bombings, we are “racists,” but when Saudi Arabians finally do, they’re heroes).

I plead “guilty” to many charges:

If appreciating American democracy, though imperfect, makes me a “propagandist,” I plead guilty to viewing worthy ideals in proper perspective.

If contrasting Israeli culture’s yearning for peace with Palestinian political culture’s deification of death – which lionizes PA President Yasser Arafat and other mass-murderers – and if distinguishing innocent victims from suicide bombers makes me a “hypocrite,” I plead guilty to rooting my judgments in reality, proportionality, and morality.

If having zero-tolerance for anti-Semitism and refusing to judge Israel by unrealistic standards makes me a “fanatic,” so be it. Moderation and democracy need more passionate advocates.

If testifying to terrorism’s evils, wherever practised and regardless of rationale, makes me a “false prophet,” I hope I am also a soothsayer, foreseeing the eradication of this evil and a return to sanity, with no thanks to a complacent world.

If championing fundamental liberal ideals of free speech, religious tolerance, democracy, rule of law, fair play, and the right of civil disagreement, let alone the right of Israelis to enter pizzerias in peace, makes me “right of centre,” then show me how to join the “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

And if disagreeing with the conventional wisdom among reporters, academics, and Canadian and European elites boots me “out of the mainstream,” there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Atlanta’s mayor in the 1960s, Ivan Allen Jr., said, “If there wasn’t a race issue, I could play golf every afternoon.” If there weren’t so many unreasonable attacks on Israel, the United States, and western civilization, I could stay hidden in my archives. But in mobilizing, we must not simply fight our enemies. We must celebrate the joys of Judaism, the blessings of Zionism, the magic of Israel and the importance of the West’s democratic and liberal ideals, even while acknowledging shortcomings, criticizing imperfections and pushing harder to fulfil our ideals.

And we need more people, more galvanized moderates, more infuriated liberals, to stop playing golf, to bump into history, to risk criticism and to fight in today’s multi-front war against terrorism and for democracy.

Gil Troy is a professor of history at McGill University and author of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today.

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