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“Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can be used to disallow terror as a means of war... We are very far from any moral hesitations when concerned with the national struggle. First and foremost, terror is for us a part of the political war appropriate for the circumstances of today...”

— Yitzhak Shamir
Israeli Prime Minister, Zionist terrorist
in an August 1943 article titled “Terror”, written for Hazit
the journal of Lehi, the terrorist organization he belonged to

Albert Einstein
Condemns Israeli Nazis

Prominent Jews’ December, 1948 Letter To New York Times

http://www.rense.com/general27/let.htm

Below is a copy in its entirety of a very important letter to the New York Times from Jewish intellectuals including Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and Sidney Hook that appeared on December 4, 1948. While it is quoted from in brief on several web sites, it appears nowhere in its entirety, and it deserves to be disseminated as it originally appears.

— John Wheat Gibson
August 2, 2002

Letters to the New York Times
December 4, 1948

New Palestine Party Visit of Menachem Begin and Aims of Political Movement Discussed

TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.

Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement.

The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.

Attack on Arab Village

A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants — 240 men, women, and children — and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin.

The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.

Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model. During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute. The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots.

Discrepancies Seen

The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a “Leader State” is the goal.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin. The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.

(signed)

ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ, HANNAH ARENDT, ABRAHAM BRICK, RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO, ALBERT EINSTEIN, HERMAN EISEN, M.D., HAYIM FINEMAN, M. GALLEN, M.D., H.H. HARRIS, ZELIG S. HARRIS, SIDNEY HOOK, FRED KARUSH, BRURIA KAUFMAN, IRMA L. LINDHEIM, NACHMAN MAISEL, SEYMOUR MELMAN, MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY, SAMUEL PITLICK, FRITZ ROHRLICH, LOUIS P. ROCKER, RUTH SAGIS, ITZHAK SANKOWSKY, I.J. SHOENBERG, SAMUEL SHUMAN, M. SINGER, IRMA WOLFE, STEFAN WOLFE

New York, Dec. 2, 1948

Source notes: Laura Nader gave a copy of the microfilmed NYT to Anne Lipow in April [2002]. (Nader has been using it in her class at UC). The copy was illegible in parts and the first column was cut off; Laura’s original was the same. Anne and UC Anthropology Librarian Suzanne Calpestri then tried to retrieve an electronic version of the letter. It appears nowhere in its entirety on the Internet, and is not in any NYT electronic archive accessible to UC Librarians (i.e., it doesn’t exist). Suzanne made another copy from a different microfilm; it solved the mystery of the missing first column but this copy was also “dirty” in other areas. Neither copy was scannable using OCR, so I typed it in by hand exactly the way it appeared in the original, and have proofed it carefully. However, the spelling of some of the signatories was unclear in the microfilmed originals, so there may be a few errors in this rendition. It would be nice if someone were to annotate the list of signatories, so that those less-familiar names could be placed in context. At any rate, this clearly belongs IN FULL TEXT on the web for distribution to as many people as possible. Please circulate this among anyone you think may be interested; I think it especially belongs in the hands of those friends and family members who are still reluctant to criticize the Israeli government.

Source info:
Jenny Lipow, Berkeley, CA
John Wheat Gibson

Related pages

American/Israeli Terrorism of the Palestinian People

A description of the sadistic nature and scope of Israeli state terrorism, with related sites for more information.

An American Heroine, Murdered by Israelis

Israel’s State Terrorism
by Dr. Lev Grinberg

The Israeli Connection To 9-11

Zionism is Jewish Naziism: A Photo Essay on Israeli State Terrorism

Ariel Sharon: The Jewish Hitler

Return of the Terrorist: The Crimes of Ariel Sharon

Bibliography:
Racist Zionism: Israeli Apartheid

Western State Terrorism
Alexander George, editor; essays by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Gerry O’Sullivan and others

The infamous quote by Yitzhak Shamir, at the top of this page, is given in Western State Terrorism, chapter 2: International Terrorism: Image and Reality, by Noam Chomsky, section 6, and note 36. See chapter sections 4 through 8 for heavily-censored (in America) information on the historical realities of Israeli state terrorism.

The Jenin Massacre:

The Jenin Massacre

Massacre at Jenin: “I now know the smell of death...”

Immortal Heroes of Jenin

Eyewitness Jenin: Evidence of a Massacre

The Israelis are Guilty of Mass Murder in Jenin

Israeli War Crimes at Jenin

Human Rights Watch report excerpts

“Sanity was buried alive...” at Jenin

Related sites

Zionism’s legacy of ethnic cleansing
Part 1: Israel and the Palestinian right of return
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jan2001/pal1-j22.shtml

“While many Palestinians fled to avoid the war [of 1948], most left out of fear of what might happen to them at the hands of Zionist terrorists. One of the most notorious incidents was the Deir Yassin massacre where 250 men, women and children were murdered in cold blood by Menachem Begin’s Irgun group, as it went from house to house to drive out the Palestinians.”

Zionism’s legacy of ethnic cleansing
Part 2: Israeli expansion creates more Palestinian refugees
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jan2001/pal2-j23.shtml

“The tragic irony of the Zionist solution to the oppression of the Jewish people — traditionally and historically connected with a struggle for tolerance and freedom — has been the brutal suppression of another oppressed people [the Palestinians]. In consequence, the right-wing forces cultivated by the Zionist state now threaten to reproduce within Israel the same conditions of dictatorship and civil war from which an earlier generation of Jews fled.”

Zionism and Israeli Apartheid
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7891/index_zion1.html

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.”

— Golda Meir
Delusional Israeli Prime Minister
Statement to The Sunday Times
June 15, 1969

Land Without a People (online chapter)
Chapter 1 of
The Palestinian Catastrophe:
The 1948 Expulsion of a People From Their Homeland
by Michael Palumbo
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7891/Palumbo_chptr1.html

JewsNotZionists.org
http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/

“There are in fact many Jewish movements, groups and organizations whose ideology regarding Zionism and the so-called ‘State of Israel’ is that of the unadulterated Torah position that any form of Zionism is heresy and that the existence of the so-called ‘State of Israel’ is illegitimate.”

Neturei Karta - Jews United Against Zionism
http://www.netureikarta.org/

“In addition to condemning the central heresy of Zionism, we also reject its policy of aggression against all peoples. Today this cruelty manifests itself primarily in the brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. We proclaim that this inhuman policy is in violation of the Torah.

“NKI seeks peace and reconciliation with all peoples and nations. This is especially needed in our relations towards the Islamic world where Zionism has for 53 years done so much to ruin Jewish - Muslim understanding.

“We welcome the assistance of all men of good will and stand ready to assist all whose agenda coincides with ours.”

Indict Ariel Sharon
Justice for the Victims of Sabra & Shatila
http://indictsharon.net/

“IndictSharon.net is the website of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra & Shatila, offering news on the case lodged in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israelis and Lebanese responsible for the massacre, killing, rape and disappearance of civilians that took place in Beirut between 16 and 18 September 1982 in the camps of Sabra and Shatila and the surrounding area.”

Palestine Media Watch
http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/index.asp

“The purpose of Palestine Media Watch is to fight anti-Palestinian bias in the US media and to call for giving Palestinian views greater room for expression.

“Palestine Media Watch is a grass-roots media watch group established on October 5, 2000 to help fight US media bias against Palestinians via direct action: writing letters and making phone calls. Our strength is in the commitment of our dedicated members — our gadflies — who day after day, through their informed letters to newspapers, work for a more balanced, more humane, and more informed portrayal of the Middle East conflict.”

The Electronic Intifada
http://electronicintifada.net/new.html

“A Resource for Countering Myth, Distortion and Spin from the Israeli Media War Machine.”

“The Electronic Intifada project is a focused network of pro-Palestinian activists with a history of Internet and media activism. The project aims to focus on just one aspect of the struggle, the war in the media for a representation of the Palestinian point of view.”

Institute for Palestine Studies
http://www.ipsjps.org/

“The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS), founded in Beirut in 1963, is an independent nonprofit research and publication center, not affiliated with any political organization or government. IPS promotes research, analysis, and documentation on the Arab-Israeli conflict and its peaceful resolution.”

Palestine Chronicle
News and Commentary from Palestine, the Middle East, and Beyond...
http://palestinechronicle.com/

“Palestine Chronicle is an independent internet magazine, dedicated to addressing issues and offering perspectives rarely seen in mainstream western media. These issues include the plight and welfare of Palestinian refugees, as well as other displaced and oppressed people around the world.”

Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace
http://www.ccmep.org/

Media-censored information and photos documenting the efforts of private American citizens to protect the Palestinian people and protest Israeli state terrorism — within Israel itself.

Palestine Daily
daily news and current events
http://www.palestinedaily.com/

A great deal of news and information, with related links and sections on Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Palestine and the Middle East in general.

Resources about Palestine
http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/html/topics_Palestine.shtml

“A collection of talks, interviews and other materials to help broaden your knowledge of the Palestine issue.” Includes video and audio interviews with Palestinian people and peace workers.

MER - Mid East Realities
http://www.middleeast.org/

“MER’s purpose is to distill and present the most incisive and honest, the most insightful and independent, information and analysis about what is really going on in today’s Middle East as well as in Washington about the Middle East.”

The Zionist Terror Network (online book)
http://www.ihr.org/books/ztn.html

“This booklet documents the background and criminal activities of Jewish Zionist terrorist groups, and especially the Jewish Defense League. Particular emphasis is given here to terror — including murder — against ‘thought criminals’ who question the Holocaust story that six million Jews were systematically killed during the Second World War.

“Zionist terrorists openly proclaim an arrogant Jewish-supremacist ideology and acknowledge their readiness to use violence against those who disagree with them. With a well-documented record of bigotry and crime, they pose a serious danger to our society, and to men and women everywhere who treasure freedom.”

Palestine Section : Massacres that world conscience ignored, savagery that surpasses nazis
http://www.ummah.com/inewsletter/massacres/palestine/

Horrifying photographs of Israeli atrocities. Israeli soldiers truly are Jewish Nazis. You will have no doubt about it when you actually see what they have done to people.

Boycott Israel Campaign
http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html

“People of good conscience have chosen to boycott israeli products and companies supporting the zionist entity. ... We have carried out extensive research to identify the guilty companies. All our findings are provided here.”

SUSTAIN:
Stop US Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now
http://www.sustaincampaign.org/

“SUSTAIN is a non-hierarchical, grassroots organization committed to supporting and sustaining the Palestinian movement for justice, human rights and self-determination.

“The United States government supports Israeli violations of Palestinian national and human rights militarily, economically, and ideologically. The most tangible form of this support is the massive tax-funded aid that goes to Israel. We are committed to building a campaign against US military and economic aid to Israel so that US tax-dollars do not support the abuse of human rights.”

Israeli Aggression, Militarism, and Terror
http://www.zundelsite.org/english/israeli_terror/

Excerpts from several books dealing with Israeli state terrorism:

• Our Man in Damascus
• A Nation On Trial
• Israel’s Sacred Terrorism
• What Price Israel?
• Every Prince a Spy
• The Fateful Triangle
• The Lobby
• The Zionist Connection

Jews and the White Slave Trade
by Dr. William Pierce
http://www.jeffsarchive.com/primer/Jews%20and%20the%20White%20Slave%20Trade.htm

“I don’t mean to imply that the Jews were the only ones at fault in the White slave trade. Gentile politicians and police officials gladly accepted bribes from the Jews and in return allowed them to carry on their dirty business. And in the United States non-Jewish criminal elements such as the [Italian/Sicilian] Mafia collaborated with the Jews or even ran their own White slave operations. But the trade in White slaves from eastern Europe has been an exclusively Jewish activity for the last 200 years.”

“...tens of thousands of pretty but naive young Russian and Ukrainian women are being swept up by the Jewish gangs — called ‘Russian’ gangs by the New York Times — and shipped off to a life of misery and degradation in Turkey, Pakistan, Thailand, and Israel, as well as to countries in Western Europe, where Jews also control organized crime. The young women, unable to find work in Russia or Ukraine or Poland and facing a bleak future in countries ravaged by decades of communism, are eager for any chance at a better life. They respond to advertisements that offer them work abroad as receptionists or secretaries and also promise free training and transportation. When the girls arrive at their destinations, however, they find something quite different — but by then it is too late. ...

“The White slave trade is big business in Israel. Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 40,000 Ukrainian women under the age of 30 are taken from Ukraine each year. Some of these women respond to advertisements promising employment abroad, like Irina did, and some are simply kidnapped and smuggled out of the country. Those who try to escape from their Jewish captors are treated brutally. Often they are butchered in front of other captive women to keep the others terrified into doing whatever they are told.”

Return of the Terrorist:
The Crimes of Ariel Sharon
http://www.counterpunch.org/sharon.html

“Sharon’s history offers a monochromatic record of moral corruption, with a documented record of war crimes going back to the early 1950s.”

“In 1953 he was given command of Unit 101, whose....purpose was that of instilling terror by the infliction of discriminate, murderous violence not only on able bodied fighters but on the young, the old, the helpless.”

Human rights groups condemn Israel for assassinations and indiscriminate killing
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/idf-f23.shtml

“On December 31, IDF [Israeli Defense Force] fire in the Haret al-Sheikh neighbourhood of Hebron injured 18-year-old Arit al-Qawasma in the right shoulder and face while she was in her bedroom. As she was being evacuated from the house, IDF fire killed 11-year-old Muath Abu Hadwan and wounded another boy. The IDF also shot 13-year-old Abir Salameh in the stomach as she went to feed her chickens.”

Israel’s war measures and the legacy of Zionism
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/oct2000/mide-o16.shtml

“Israel was established through a military struggle to wrest control of the land from its Arab inhabitants, beginning with a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation that drove more than three quarters of a million Palestinian Arabs from their homes.

“The founding principle of the Israeli state was the assertion of the ethnic and religious interests of Jews over those of Arab Muslims. Any criticism of this inherently anti-democratic and repressive standpoint was denounced by Israel’s Zionist rulers and their apologists as an expression of anti-Semitism.

“In order to justify Israel’s creation, Zionist leaders for 40 years denied the very existence of a Palestinian people. Their central slogan was: ‘A land without people for a people without land.’ In official proclamations, the land that became Israel was portrayed as largely uninhabited prior to the arrival of Jewish settlers [invaders].”

WSWS : News & Analysis : Israel and Palestine
http://www.wsws.org/sections/category/news/me-peace.shtml

This is the index page for an extensive collection of news articles and high-quality analysis. The articles deal with both the brutal Israeli terrorism and oppression of the Palestinian people, and the internal condition of Jewish Israeli society itself.

The political dead end of Labour Zionism:
Part 1 — The origins and class character of political Zionism
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/zio1-a05.shtml

“The core premise of Zionism was that Jews everywhere constituted a single nation with permanent and exclusive rights to occupy Palestine land. This was embodied in the slogan, ‘A land without people for a people without land.’

“But Palestine was not an uninhabited territory. A Zionist state for the Jews in Palestine could only be established at the expense of the existing population. The very conception of the Zionist state was based upon profoundly undemocratic principles: the denial of the rights of non-Jews already living there.”

Part 2 — The convergence of the Labour Zionists and Revisionist Zionism
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/zio2-a06.shtml

Part 3 — The June 1967 “Six Day War” — A turning point in the evolution of Israel
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/zio3-a07.shtml

“The Zionist utopia of a national state in which the Jews of the world could find liberty, equality and social justice has been realised in the form of a capitalist entity created through the dispossession of another people.

“It has been maintained through brutal wars and repression beyond Israel’s borders, and mounting social inequality at home. As the murderous actions of the extreme right-wing zealots cultivated by the Zionist state have shown, there is a real danger that Israel will itself reproduce the very conditions of dictatorship and civil war from which earlier generations of European Jews had fled.”