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Today's
Stories
July
19, 2004
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
Green Party in Reverse
Website
of the Day
Michael Moore and Israel: Blind or a Coward?
June
30, 2004
Kurt Nimmo
Nicholson
Baker's Checkpoint: a New Kind of Anger About Bush
Tariq
Ali
Getting Away with Murder in Iraq
Jennifer
Van Bergen
Bush and the Detainees
Douglas
Valentine
Apotheosis of the Psychopaths: Instead of Fahrenheit 9/11, Rescreen
The Quiet American
David
Price
Fahrenheit 9/11 Through the McCain-Feingold Looking Glass
Roger
Normand
America's Criminal Occupation of Iraq
Stan
Cox
Sanitized for Your Protection: Ashcroft's
War on Art
Henry
David Thoreau
On the Futility of Bush v. Kerry: All Voting is a Kind of Gaming
Ben
Tripp
Who Dast Call Him Liar: a Rebuttal to Nicholas Kristof
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
July
19, 2004
The
Hoax of Paris
Marie
and the Ghosts
By
URI AVNERY
Sometimes a trivial episode throws a
revealing light on a grave public disease.
A classic example: the Captain
of Koepenick. On the face of it, it was a minor criminal incident:
in 1906, a shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt was released from prison,
after serving a sentence for forgery. To get work he needed a
passport, which, as a former convict, he could not get.
So he went to a junk shop and
bought the uniform of an army captain, commandeered some soldiers
in the street, took them to Koepenick, a Berlin suburb, arrested
the mayor and confiscated the blank passports. Since he was well-known
to the police, he was soon arrested.
All Europe laughed at this
exposure of the situation in Germany, where anyone wearing a
uniform was a king and every army officer a demigod.
In the classic film about the
episode, the news was brought to the Kaiser (the same Kaiser
Wilhelm II who had earlier met with Theodor Herzl in Jerusalem).
For a long moment, the courtiers held their breath. Then the
Kaiser burst out laughing, and the relieved courtiers joined
in.
It wasn't really a laughing
matter, because eight years later the unbridled German militarism
was one of the causes of World War I.
A week ago, a young Frenchwoman
called Marie Leonie caused an uproar. According to her, six youngsters
"with a North African look" attacked her in a Paris
train, grabbed her purse and, (wrongly) believing her to be Jewish
because she lives in the well-to-do 16th arrondissement, tore
her clothes and painted swastikas on her belly. They then overturned
her baby carriage - all this while 20 other passengers looked
on without lifting a finger to help her.
France waxed hysterical with
rage and guilt. The leaders of the republic, from President Jacques
Chirac down, blamed themselves and promised to put the fight
against anti-Semitism at the top of the national agenda. All
the newspapers displayed giant headlines about the nation's shame,
together with profound background-pieces about the groundswell
of anti-Semitism. Jewish organizations in France and throughout
the world accused European society of a frightening resurgence
of anti-Semitism and invoked memories of the Holocaust. The
Israeli media had a field-day, telling all Jews that they would
find safety only in Israel.
I had my doubts from the first
moment. After my 40 years as the editor of a magazine specializing
in investigative journalism, I have developed a keen nose for
phony stories. This one was manifestly implausible. I am convinced
that the French investigators doubted it from the beginning.
But who would dare to raise any doubts in the face of a runaway
public hysteria?
And then, suddenly, the whole
story collapsed. Not a single eye-witness came forward. The station
cameras did not show any sign of the occurrence. It became known
that the young woman had made false statements to the police
in the past. Two days after the uproar, the woman broke down
and admitted the truth: the whole thing was an invention.
Like the Captain of Koepenick,
who trained the spotlight on Prussian militarism, so did Marie
Leonie direct the light at the anti-anti-Semitic hysteria in
Europe, an irrational phenomenon that turns experienced politicians
into fools, makes serious newspapers go crazy and allows all
kinds of ugly manipulations.
In order to inject a measure
of logic and sanity into the matter, one has to begin by distinguishing
between different phenomena.
There is indeed some real anti-Semitism.
It is deeply embedded in European-Christian civilization. It
does exist today, as it always did. This is a hatred of Jews
because they are Jews, irrespective of who and what else they
are rich or poor, capitalists or communists, supporters
or critics of Israel, corrupt or honest. One of its expressions,
for example, is the painting of swastikas on tombstones, an idiotic
act that any disturbed juvenile can carry out on his own.
I don't believe that this kind
of anti-Semitism has increased in recent years. Perhaps it is
has lost some of its shame with the passing of the years since
the Holocaust. In the present situation, it is not dangerous.
A quite different phenomenon
is the North-African war conducted on European soil. Young Muslims
from North Africa are battling young Jews from North Africa.
That started back home, when the Jews supported the French regime
against the freedom fighters. In the last phase, the Jewish underground
organization was the mainstay of the opposition to the liberation
of Algeria. (The organization was set up by Israeli agents to
defend the Jews, but the leaders gradually migrated to Israel
and the organization was left in the hands of the most rabid
Arab-haters.)
Now this confrontation has
become a local offshoot of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Muslims are enflamed by TV pictures of the oppression and
humiliation enforced by our soldiers in the occupied territories,
while the Jewish organizations support the Sharon government.
Most Jews in France are emigrants from North Africa. This causes
many incidents and creates the impression that anti-Semitism
is on the rise.
Our government is pouring petrol
on the flames by instructing its representatives around the world
to stigmatize all criticism of its actions as anti-Semitism.
This way it sticks the label of anti-Semitism on the entire world,
from the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice
to humanitarian organizations.
It is easy to create this confusion
when one does not differentiate between "Jewish" and
"Israeli". Everything becomes mixed up: anti-Semitism,
anti-Zionism, criticism of Israel, criticism of Sharon. Such
a mix-up is convenient for those interested in manipulations,
but it not good for the Jews. "Jew" and "Israeli"
are not the same.
Israel is a state like any
other state. It was indeed created by Jews and a majority of
its citizens are Jews. But Israel is an independent and separate
entity. It is permissible (and, in my opinion, desirable) to
criticize the policy of our government, much as it is permissible
for us to criticize that of any other state. There is no necessary
connection between such criticism and anti-Semitism.
True, the Jews in Israel have
a strong affinity with Jews all over the world, and these have
an affinity with Israel. That is quite natural, and much like
the affinity that many people in Australia and Canada feel for
Britain. But this does not mean that Jews around the world must
automatically support every act of the Israeli government in
a kind of Pavlovian reflex. That is convenient for the Israeli
government, but not necessarily good for Israel. It is certainly
bad for the Jews.
We are Israelis. We created
this state in order to be masters of our own destiny. We want
to be like any other people, indeed, like the best of them. We
are responsible for our actions, and nobody who is not a citizen
of Israel bears any responsibility for them.
The Jewish citizens of France
are responsible for the actions of the French government that
they vote for, and perhaps for the actions of the Jewish community
to which they belong. They are not responsible for our actions.
They do not have to defend our actions at all costs. If they
want to criticize them, they are welcome.
When there is a clear and
clean separation, anti-Semitism will remain in Europe as marginal
a phenomenon as it has been since the Holocaust. And if we Israelis
succeed in returning to the road to peace, the attitude towards
Israel will return to what it was after Oslo, when the whole
world saluted us.
If the disturbed Frenchwoman's
hoax helps us overcome the hysteria and return to a sane approach
to this matter, than she deserves our blessing.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist
with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The
Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He is also
a contributor to CounterPunch's hot new book The
Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at: avnery@counterpunch.org.
Weekend Edition
Features for July 17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
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