A Lethal Disease

This commentary was written and sent to PRIMER by Sheri Angel.

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There is an ancient disease that science, for all its sophistication, has failed to cure. This toxic sickness attacks the mind. Those afflicted are incapable of self-evaluation, refuse to assume responsibility for their actions and blame everyone but themselves. Those infected are repulsed by compassion and tolerance. They seek out groups who share their hate-based world view. Perspective rapidly becomes distorted and there is an obsessive drive to spread the sickness.

This disease traditionally begins with the Jewish nation being used as a scapegoat, but it never ends there. Once the Jews have been dealt with, the enemy steps out from behind their smokescreen and aggressively confront a surprised and unprepared world.

Mass infection of hate occurred in Germany in the 1930s. The Second World War resulted in the death of six million Jews and the nations of the world lost an estimated one hundred million people.

In 1986, Eric Hoffer, an American social philosopher wrote, "I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us."

Yet the nations do not heed Mr. Hoffer's intuition. A more recent example of mass infection can be traced to Durban, South Africa, in 2001. This time, Palestinian Arabs hijacked the United Nations world conference against racism and xenophobia and spread the anti-Semitism affliction to the international delegates from where it was rapidly metastasized around the world. This was hysterically abetted by the so-called human rights establishment. One of the tragic results is that the rampant ethnic murder and human slavery that should have been the focus in Durban continue to plague Nations like Sudan, the Congo and other countries. To this day, hundreds of thousands are dying in these regions.

What is the Amnesty International position on these violations of human rights? Why does the Ford Foundation, Human rights Watch (HRW) and Oxfam which were so vocal and influential at Durban, not exploit their considerable powers to highlight an avoidable cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe caused by a power crazed Robert Mugabe or condemn suicidal killers who discharge their lethal belts among innocents the world over.

This lack of concern from humanitarian organizations is confusing, especially since they spend so much time harassing the tiny nation of Israel, which is confronted by fanatics who wish to destroy it.

The UN role in this travesty is revealing. The number of resolutions brought by the United Nations against Israel compared with any other Nation is so lopsided that one could easily assume that this is their sole raison d'etre.

We are bombarded by media headlines obsessed with Israel. Where is the screaming bold print about beheadings in Riyadh? Why is there no equivalent outrage when Hamas tortures fellow Arabs, when missiles aimed at Israeli homes fall short and kills two young sisters in the Gaza Strip? When Shi'ites kills Sunnis or when a nuclear North Korea threatens South Korea?

The media coverage of Sri Lanka is so shoddy that we have to look to Baroness Deach's speech in the House of Lords to hear of 'the terrible attacks on the Tamils, the hospital under siege, the killing of 70,000 people and of thousands more who are trapped and displaced from their homes.' She wonders why 'this has attracted little opprobrium and no calls for the obliteration of Sri Lanka or talk of its brutalization.' She noted that the charges of "disproportionate" against Israel were not made in relation to other wars that we have recently experienced; Kosovo, Georgia, Iraq or even Afghanistan, where people have died in their thousands. The Baroness asks appropriate questions.

'Durban II' will launch the next stage of spite and hatred, the 'hidden' agenda will be to raise Jew/Israeli hatred around the world to a greater intensity. The World Conference against Racism is to be held in Geneva on April 20-24.

Gerald Steinberg, executive director of the watchdog NGO Monitor feels that this time round, it is unlikely that the NGO's will have a strong showing but that the governments of Iran and Libya who are heading the governmental forum will adopt the same language used by the NGO's at Durban 2001. Israel and Canada have already decided to boycott and the Americans are presently unsure of their participation.

We are likely to hear South Africans like Bishop Tutu and others who experienced the miraculous change from an exclusively white government to a 'Rainbow Nation' betray their history in an attempt to blacken Israel with the inaccurate apartheid label.

In all probability renewed efforts to pass a pernicious resolution equating Zionism to racism, which failed in 2001, will be reintroduced.

For generations, promoting anti-Semitism (today often camouflaged in anti-Israeli terminology) has been the habitual tool used to sidetrack the nations from detecting impending danger. It would be worthwhile to learn from past mistakes. When Jews are selected for loathsome propaganda attacks, there is sure to be a genuine worldwide incoming threat. The international community should be alerted to its fast approaching enemy.

70 years ago it was Hitler's ambitions for Germany. This time, it's the advancement of a new world order, the expansion of a Global Islamic Empire.