Saturday, January 14, 2012

Faulty Connection

Those of you - the vast majority - who would rather gouge your eyes out than read Murdoch's Australian will have remained blissfully unaware that Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, while on his latest Israeli rambamming with Albert and the lads (see my previous post), scored a one-on-one with Benjamin Netanyahu in his office:

"Benjamin Netanyahu is cast as the ultimate 'heavy' of the Middle East. But after a long discussion in this small office, a discussion sandwiched between the Indian foreign minister and a delegation of powerful US congressmen in the afternoon, Netanyahu extends our time together for a few minutes because there's one thing he likes to show visitors. He leads me over to his window. 'You see this', he points to a small collection of stones taken from an archaeological dig. The stones are dated from nearly 3000 years ago. This is the signet ring of a Jewish official of that time. And the official's name was Netanyahu'. The Israeli leader never misses an opportunity to emphasise the long, deep connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel." (Making his case on Iran's menace, 14/1/12)

Of course this huckster never misses an opportunity to hawk his version of 'the true cross' or 'the true shroud' by way of harping on the long, deep connection of your Danbys and your Dadons to the land of Israel. He probably does it in his sleep.

To what must have been squirming embarrassment for those present possessing critical faculties more advanced than that of a retarded chimp, 'Bibi' shamelessly invoked his 'sacred' relic before the UN General Assembly last September:

"In my office in Jerusalem, there's an ancient seal. It's a signet ring of a Jewish official from the time of the Bible. The seal was found right next door to the Wailing Wall, and it dates back 2,700 years, to the time of King Hezekiah. Now there's a name of the Jewish official inscribed on the ring in Hebrew. His name was Netanyahu. That's my last name. My first, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years to Benjamon - Binyamin - the son of Jacob who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Samaria 4,000 years ago, and there's been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since."

To broadcast the fact that this faker's father was actually Benzion Mileikowsky* of Warsaw, that his grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, also of Warsaw, was a Zionist fanatic who used the name Netanyahu as his nom de plume, and that, in the Zionist fashion, Benzion jettisoned his Polish name on entering Mandate Palestine and replaced it with the Hebrew 'Netanyahu' is to assail Benjamin Netankowsky's mummery with inconvenient truths, no doubt anathema to the pious and gullible Sheridan, even assuming he'd heard them before. The truth is that Sheridan's as credulous as any gormless medieval pilgrim being shown a piece of 'the true cross' or a scrap of 'the true shroud'.

The most interesting aspect of Benjamin Netankowsky's performance, however, is not his 2,700 year-old signet ring, but that which it's supposed to signify - Sheridan's long, deep connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

Of course, this stock-in-trade of Zionist mumbo jumbo has about as much relationship with reality as Netankowsky with the ancient 'Netanyahu', or the rest of us with Adam and Eve. No matter, it's been around as long as political Zionism itself and even managed to find its way into the preamble of Britain's Mandate for Palestine, thus illustrating the fact that, for Zionists and many of their gentile supporters and dupes, incantatory versions of 'the true cross' are the real thing.

Our indispensible guide to the drafting of the Mandate is, of course, its pre-eminent historian, JMN Jeffries. Keeping in mind that it was drafted, as Jeffries puts it, "in the quiet between the Government and the Zionists, mostly by the Zionists, and then was issued under cover of the League of Nations, as though it were the result of the collected debates of the world's lawgivers," the 'historical connection' incantation first appeared in a June 1919 draft as "... recognized the historical connection of the Jews to Palestine and the claim which this gives them to find a national home in that country," suspected by Jeffries as coming from the pen of Lord Balfour. Typically, the Zionists, who, given the proverbial inch always reach for the mile, wanted the even stronger "historical title" substituted. What they got, in late 1919, was a reference to the recognition of "the historical connection with Palestine and the claim which this gives [the Jewish people] to reconstitute Palestine as their National Home (Erez Israel)." This had vanished by June 1920, with Jeffries suggesting, however, that it was more than made up for by the insertion in the draft-Treaty (with Turkey) of the Balfour Declaration, but was restored in August 1920. Following US State Department intervention, it vanished again in October, only to reappear the following month as: "Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country." In December 1920, the final draft Mandate for Palestine appeared with the foregoing clause in its preamble and was published in The Times in February 1921. In August of that year it was tabled - but not debated - in parliament, and came into being by a resolution of the Council of the League of Nations in September 1923.

"The sincerity of the business," writes Jeffries, "and the extent of the belief of the Government in this 'historic connection' plea, can be gauged from the fashion in which the phrase appeared in one draft as the basis of everything, and in the next was removed as superfluous." (Palestine: The Reality, 1939, p 531)

As its appearance in Sheridan's interview with Netankowsky indicates, the long, deep connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel mantra remains, for Zionist deadenders such as the Israeli prime minister and his fawning Australian acolyte, the very bedrock of Zionist dogma, despite the devastating assaults on its fundamental premise by such scholars as Shlomo Sand, Keith W. Whitelam and others.

Surely, no belief in medieval religious relics could have been as strong.

[* See my 24/9/11 post Benzion, My Father.]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Foreign Editor Sheridan was likely well aware of Mileikowsky/Netanyahu's east European antecedents but happy to assist with the disambiguation. In addition to predictable material about Iran and Israel's earnest efforts to promote 'Peace' with the Palestinians, Sheridan offered his readers a bit of a tease.

"But he (Netanyahu) is also intensely self-aware, full of irony and humour, constantly making jokes he then rules off the record."

But what were these 'off the record' jokes about? Did Obama and Sarkozy feature, or Clinton, the Palestinians, the ultra-Orthodox?
Perhaps the ironic humour included the one about the late 'Great Leader' Kim Jong-il who phones up President Obama saying he is willing to come to Washington to sort out all the problems between North Korea and the US but only on condition that Obama fixes it with AIPAC that he will get a longer standing ovation from Congress than Netanyahu. Obama agrees and says not only will the ovation be longer but it will be more authentic.

Anonymous said...

To all you Israel hating and Judaism history denying fanatics.

Your beliefs are so foolish.

Everywhere throughout the country of Israel today, and yes especially in the West Bank---ancient Jewish Israelite Samaria--there is abundant archaelogical evidence of the ancient Jewish people.

It is so stupid to even try to deny it.

That is one strong reason israel and ite Jewish people have survived against all odds now for so long---their love for the land.

However if one is sincere in wanting peace -from both sides--then the realization that both sets of peoples love the land, but must share it or maybe no one will have it.

That compromise has its supporters and opponents on both sides.

I support the compromise.
It is called the two state solution.

I rue the right wing religious nuts on both sides who deny any reciprocal rights for the other side.

As a propaganda sheet,merc, unfortunately you too stand with the all or nothing school.

Remember hate is very easy to stir up.
Trust and cooperation have much greater risks as rabin found out to his mortality.

MERC said...

Fascinating, but I have a few questions for you:

1) "Jewish Israel Samaria"? OK, so entertaining weird fantasies about your supposed connection with the distant past is your thing. Each to his own. Can you please explain the nature of your claim to Samaritan territory?

2) "Abundant archaeological evidence of the ancient Jewish people"? So you say, but what of the infinitely more abundant archaeological evidence of ancient non-Jewish peoples in Palestine?

3) Even if, by some miracle, you can prove you're a direct descendent of King David himself - for whom no archaeological evidence exists anyway - why should this remote historical connection confer on you any right to territory today?

MERC said...

Oh yes, I almost forgot Q4: "Two-state solution"? Do you mean an Israeli state and an Israeli settler state? Please explain.