Let’s go over Orla Guerlin’s remarks on the BBC from Yad Vashem:
Over images of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, in which photographs and names of victims of the Nazi genocide are displayed, Guerin said, “In Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names, images of the dead. Young soldiers troop in to share the binding tragedy of the Jewish people.”
“The State of Israel is now a regional power,” she added. “For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”
There is a hint that Yad Vashem is being instrumentalized by the Israeli government. It is being used as a “binding tragedy” for the Jewish people, represented here not “by housewives and children and old men, some of them the descendants of Holocaust victims” who come to Yad Vashem, but only by “young soldiers” – a subliminal hint that Israel is a militarized little Sparta. And in Orla Guerin’s worldview, it is not Judaism, not the Torah or Talmud, not several thousand years of Jewish history, but the Holocaust alone that is the “binding tragedy of the Jewish people.” And according to Guerin, the Israeli “fixation” on the Holocaust has led them to think of themselves as permanently in a war for their “survival” that is a figment of their overheated imaginations.
Much worse followed. Guerin describes Israel as a “regional power.” Guerin has always liked to emphasize Israel’s military might, as part of her complaint that this “mighty” state – so small it can hardly be discerned on any world map, and only eight miles wide at its narrowest point in the pre-1967 armistice lines that Guerin thinks it must again squeeze into – ought to be more magnanimous toward the poor Palestinians. Let’s remember that the total area of the 22 Arab states in more than one thousand times that of tiny Israel. Let’s also remind Guerin that Israel has had to fight three major wars for its survival (1948-49, 1967, 1973) and several smaller campaigns in the Sinai (1957), in Gaza (2004, 2008-2009), in Lebanon against the PLO (1982) and Hezbollah (2006), as well as fight terrorism day in day out, year after year. In 2019 alone, the Shin Bet prevented 560 attacks on Israeli citizens. For nearly two years Hamas has been conducting the Great March of Return, sending incendiary kites into Israel that have set fire to tens of thousands of acres; the terror group has also lobbed missiles into towns in southern Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has seen its terror tunnels discovered and destroyed by Israel but at the same time, Iran has been helping to improve the precision of the 140,000 missiles Hezbollah has already received from Tehran, given to the terror group for future use against Israel. And Iran has been building its own bases in Syria from which it hopes to threaten Israel.
Israel has its hands full with state and non-state actors who wish to harm it, but for Orla Guerin, it’s a “regional power” with few worries. She doesn’t mention that Iran, with its vast oil wealth, which has enabled it to build a formidable stockpile of advanced weaponry, and with a population ten times that of Israel, has repeatedly threatened to destroy the Jewish state; the regime holds endless rallies where tens, even hundreds, of thousands chant “Death to Israel.” There is Turkey, once a friend and now an enemy of Israel, whose leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has proposed that a pan-Islamic army be formed to “destroy Israel.” That is Israel’s reality. It has to work constantly to protect its people from attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. It has to prevent Iran from building permanent bases in Syria. And while it has done much to slow down Iran’s nuclear program, from the Stuxnet virus that caused centrifuges to speed up and self-destruct, to the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists, Israel cannot let up in its efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Orla Guerin doesn’t take such threats, from Iran and Turkey as well as from the Arab terrorist groups, to heart, but the Israelis can’t afford her blithe indifference.
Despite its remarkable feats of military derring-do, Israel can never let its guard down. Its leaders wake up each morning to find out how many terrorist attacks have been foiled the day before, and how many succeeded. They are filled in on what threats against Israel have been made this week in Tehran, in Istanbul, or what plots against Israelis have been hatched in a cafe in Beirut or Baghdad, or London, or Paris. They worry about the new precision guided missiles that Hezbollah has just taken delivery of from Iran. And they ask themselves, constantly, how many of the 22 members of the Arab League, and how many of the 57 states in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, must Israel worry about today? And next year? And the year after next?
But for Orla Guerin, Israel is not in real danger. The Jewish state likes to think of itself, and to present itself to the world, as under constant mortal threat. But according to Guerin it’s nonsense, a calculated wallowing in false fears; Israel holds up for the world the spectre of the Holocaust, but it has no real worries. Israel is mighty, while the Palestinians are the helpless ones, their lands taken from them, and now “occupied” by Bible-crazed Jewish settlers who have the gall to want the world to feel sorry for them. But where’s this great threat Israelis supposedly face? How many Israelis died as a result of the Great March of Return? One. And how many Palestinian who took part in those peaceful protests were killed by Israelis? 267. Orla Guerin asks: What more do you need to know?
“For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”
No, Israel has not “occupied Palestinian territories.” After the Six-Day War, Israel was finally in a position to enforce the legal claim it had always had, based on the Mandate for Palestine itself. And furthermore, it has an independent claim based on U.N. Resolution 242, and its author Lord Caradon, to “secure” — that is, “defensible” — boundaries, which meant there would be territorial adjustments based on Israel’s determination of its security needs. Guerin doesn’t know or care about the Mandate for Palestine, or U.N. Resolution 242. Her mind was made up long ago. She’s chosen her side. She’s never wavered. The West Bank is now and forever “Palestinian.”
And then there is that last, vile sentence: “But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.” For Orla Guerin, it doesn’t matter that Israel has had to fight more wars, in its short history, than any other country on earth. These Israelis want pretend they are still being persecuted, still under some kind of genocidal threat. Orla Guerin is heartily sick of these Israelis who want everyone to view everything through the prism of the Holocaust. How dare they worry about their persecution and survival? It’s the Palestinians who are being persecuted; it’s the Palestinians who may not survive. Israelis are both neurotic and cruel. Neurotic, because they have no real security worries but think, or pretend to think, that they do. They have tanks, they have planes, they have helicopters, they have drones, they have nuclear submarines. What more do they need? Their worries are baseless. And Israelis are cruel, because Israel is a mighty power, and it’s the poor Palestinians who are helpless, whose land has been taken, and held onto, by Israel, without any justification whatsoever.
Yes, Israel still wants the world to feel sorry for it, to think that the country’s survival is at stake. Orla Guerin won’t stand for that nonsense. She’s not going to pass on Israeli propaganda. She’s going to tell the truth, even if the Jewish lobby complains to the BBC executives: Israel hasn’t much to worry about. Oh, there may be a tunnel or two – only to bring in goods the Israelis won’t let them have, like building materials– but those tunnels have all been easily discovered and destroyed. And a few missiles are occasionally lobbed from Gaza into Israel, but they always land harmlessly in some open field. And let’s not forget that every Israeli home has a bomb shelter, so they wouldn’t have to worry in any case – unlike the Palestinians, who have no shelters and no place to run. And with that kind of constant pressure on the Palestinians, there is always bound to be someone, maddened with rage and grief over his people’s misery, who lashes out. That’s why every so often there’s a stabbing of a soldier at a bus stop, or of a policeman in the Old City. But that’s about it. And that soldier, that policeman, are seen by the Palestinians as the face of an oppressive and militarized state. “For god’s sake,” Orla Guerin wants to shout at these Israelis wallowing in self-pity, “it’s Holocaust this and Holocaust that. Persecution. Survival. That was a long time ago. Get over it. And stop making life miserable for the Palestinians. Jews suffered during the Holocaust, and so they have a special responsibility to behave decently toward the Palestinians, instead of emulating the behavior of those who once tormented you. And that’s what I have reported on, and I will continue to report on.”
jewdog says
I understand that Holocaust commemorations are important in terms of preserving historical memory, but to be honest, I find a lot of the anti-anti-semitism talk somewhat obnoxious. It would seem that everyone claims to hate anti-semitism, and that would include such moral exemplars as Recep Erdogan, “The Squad” wackos, and of course that judenrat Bernie Sanders, and even the Mullahs I’m sure would protest that they are as pure as Mohammed’s wife (one of them anyway)…etc etc
Thus, we are left with a lot of meaningless self-righteous fluff. You can tell it’s meaningless when these self-proclaimed boy scouts start accusing people like Donald Trump and Victor Orban of being anti-semites, or the AfD in Germany (which has taken the lead in trying to ban Hezbollah). I guess that makes me one too. Yawn.
mortimer says
JD, anti-Semitism was around a long time. I support two Jewish organizations that protect Jews against discrimination. Without those ‘boyscout’ volunteers, the anti-Semities would be emboldened to persecute more. I attend many protests and rallies in the defense of Jews. I am sad how few Jews attend these events which frankly are of personal benefit to them as well. Their freedom from persecution is being defended. It is short-sighted not to admit the importance of defending Jews from slanderous speech and unequal treatment. It is boring to prevent crime, but showing your face on a picket line is effective and attending meetings is something our opponents count and evaluate.
James Lincoln says
Excellent points, mortimer.
And I commend your support of Jewish organizations – to protect them against discrimination.
mneidoff says
They weaponize hypocrisy
jewdog says
Exactly. Thanks.
R Russell says
BBC continues to be anti-Semitic
mneidoff says
This is such a spot on, well stated article. Thank you Hugh!
gravenimage says
+1
Carpediadem says
Agree heartily. Fitzgerald is a knowledgeable and erudite treasure.
gravenimage says
Yes–so glad to see him contributing regularly to Jihad Watch.
STJOHNOFGRAFTON says
Those hypocrites signalling their virtue from the anti-semitism bandwagon whilst deliberately ignoring the real causes.
gravenimage says
“The State of Israel is now a regional power,” she added. “For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”
………………..
I guess Orla Guerin hopes that no one knows that the entire Muslim world hates the existence of Israel, and that many are committed to waging violent Jihad against her people. Both Hamas and Fatah have the destruction of Israel in their charters, and Iran regularly screams “Death to Israel!” and vows to wipe her off the map.