Know Your Foe

Judaism, Jews, Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the state of Israel. Who’s the bad guy?

Judaism is of course a religion, centred on the Torah. Jewish religious tradition ascribes authorship of the Torah to Moses. A Jew is a member of a Jewish people originating from ancient Middle East. This group of people are also sometimes referred to as Semites. Throughout the middle ages and into the 20th century, most of the European world agreed that Jews constituted a distinct nation. This concept of nation does not require that a nation have either a territory or a government, but rather, it identifies a nation as any distinct group of people with a common language and culture. Only in the 19th century did it become common to assume that each nation should have its own distinct government; this lead to Zionism.

Zionism is an international movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine. Jewish leaders formally organized the Zionist movement in 1897 calling for the restoration of the Jewish national home in Palestine. Why Palestine? Many Jewish prayers speak of Jerusalem, Zion and the Land of Israel. Also not to forget Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, is a major tenet of Judaism. The Hebrew language, the Torah, laws in the Talmud, the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays and festivals all originated there. Jews pray toward Jerusalem and recite the words “next year in Jerusalem” in their prayer. Jewish religion, culture and history make clear that it is only in the land of Palestine; now Israel that the Jewish commonwealth can be built.

Palestine was in the early 1900s temporarily administered by Britain. Many Brits were sympathetic towards the then peaceful Zionist movement. Back then, the whole world, Europe in particular had a particular disliking towards Jews. This lead to the Balfour Declaration. A key point in this Declaration allowed unlimited amount of Jews back into the Holy Land. Here they could find sanctuary against Anti-Semitism or any form of hostility against Jews through out Europe and Russia. This resulted in an increased Zionist immigration from various parts of the world, which ultimately succeeded in superseding in numbers, the veteran Orthodox dwellers.

For the Arabs, the Balfour Declaration was perceived as an act of dishonesty, as the cooperation that had been going on between Arabs and the British during the World War 1 and in the Hijaz region against Ottoman supremacy. Britain gave conflicting promises to the Jews and the Arabs. They promised the Arabs to help establish a united Arab country, reaching from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. They of course double crossed the Arabs and went ahead with the promise to the Jews.

In his letter leading to this declaration, Arthur James Balfour wrote; "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Before the Balfour Declaration, Orthodox Jews resided in the Holy Land enjoyed tranquil and cordial relations with the non-Jewish population there. The Zionist movement sought to endow the Jews with a nationalistic character which was heretofore strange to Orthodox Jews. It sought to deprive them of their historically religious character of faith, adherence to the Torah and the coming of the Messiah. Instead the Zionist movement substituted these with a nationalistic ideology and the possibility of establishing a Jewish national homeland.

Orthodox Jewry all over the world and the Orthodox Community in the Holy Land in particular, immediately sensed in this stage of Zionist success, the threat of grave danger for the religious future of Jews. This lead to numerous letters to the United Nations by not only the Arab leaders, but also Orthodox Jewish Community; all opposing to the establishment of a Jewish state. All of which fell to deaf ears. Riots and violence grew at large due to Britain’s conflicting promises and this lead to Britain handing over the administration of Palestine over to the UN. The State of Israel was formally partition and sanction by UN on November 29, 1947.

The Arab nations opposed the establishment of 2 states in Palestine from the very beginning. Not only were they opposing to the partition idea, but as shown by the map illustration, the initial UN partition too was extremely bias. This caused an uproar in the Arab community and immediately proclaimed a 3-day strike on Israel, just 2 days after the UN partition plan. Over the years, this lead to countless wars and military strikes by both Israel and the Arabs. Israel however had the backing of the United States, Britain and also France and this enabled them to not only defend the waves of Arab attacks, but also occupy or steal more Palestinian land. Note that Jerusalem was initially never part of Israel based on the UN partition plan. When Russia invaded Afghanistan in the early 80s, they where chastised by the Americans and the rest of the world. A more severe course of action was seen when Iraq invaded Kuwait in the early 90s. The Americans took immediate action by attacking Iraq. This is not the same whenever Israel invades Palestinian land.

Here’s an analogy to help you understand more. Imagine that one day Singapore invades Malaysia and manages to get control of our land. Peninsula Malaysia is now Singaporean territory except for Kuala Lumpur, Taiping, Seremban, Puchong and Petaling Jaya. Malaysians were given the choice either to flee and seek refuge in Thailand and Indonesia or stay in those 5 designated areas. After some time, Singapore realises the huge potential Kuala Lumpur has and they one day decide to take over KL as well! Those who oppose can either flee or be dubbed as terrorist to justify an extermination exercise. Of course after every extermination exercise, people would be unhappy and angry; therefore here comes another excuse to tighten border security. Border securities are so tight that a simple journey from Seremban to Puchong may take up to 40 hours! Imagine that. Just like Palestine, Malaysia too was once governed by Britain. I guess it’s not too hard to imagine now.

Currently, all Palestinian borders are controlled by Israel, not just at Gaza, but the West Bank too. This includes access routes into Jordan and Egypt as well. Palestinians are not free to roam about in their own land, or whatever little that is left of it. Since they controlled the borders, Israel has rationed and restricted the supply of food, medicine, building materials and other basic humanitarian necessities; all on claims to block the smuggling of weapons into Palestine.

There are 2 main political parties in Palestine; Hamas and Fatah. As much as Israel likes to discredit them, Hamas is a political party elected by the people of Gaza. They are not a terrorist organization. Just like any other political party, Hamas comprises of many professionals (lawyers, doctors) and reputable leaders too. Besides having a military wing, up to 90% of Hamas's work and resources are spent on social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Hamas has established hospitals, schools, and libraries, and provided other social services.

Ever since Hamas was elected, Gaza has been deliberately blockaded by Israel. There is a shortage of everything in Gaza. Food, medical supplies, infant formulas right until building materials; all have been blocked to be delivered in Gaza. Gaza has been dubbed as the world’s biggest prison as people are not free in there. Israel claims that it was Hamas’s countless rocket fire that started this war. What was not reported in the media was the Israeli blockade that went on despite a cease fire agreement which conditions includes a lift on all blockades. The Israeli blockade was the instigator of war. Wasn’t it a clear signal that the Israeli blockade is an attack on the innocent? This attack was more deadly than all of Hamas’s rockets combined.

Here’s another analogy. Malaysia supplies fresh water to Singapore as the island nation does not have their own fresh water source. If one day, for some strange reason Malaysia were to cut entirely the supply of water to Singapore, how do you think they would react? Now multiply that by 1000 as in Gaza, everything was blocked! Can you now understand why the people are frustrated there?

I have seen many mixed reactions as a result of my blog. I hope these little scribbles of mine can shed more light on who our real enemies are. I am a father and a husband who vows to protect my family from any harm. I am a son who is in gratitude to my parents as they made me the man I am today. I am a brother to my siblings who I would do anything for. I am a patriot to this county that I love and cherish. I don’t care who you are or which group you represent, take the above away from me or my brothers and you are a terrorist and shall forever be my foe.

Boycott Coke... switch to Pepsi

From 1966 onward Coca-Cola has been a staunch supporter of Israel.

In 1997 the Government of Israel Economic Mission honored Coca-Cola at the Israel Trade Award Dinner for its continued support of Israel for the last 30 years and for refusing to abide by the Arab League boycott of Israel.

In contrast Pepsi abided by the Arab League boycott of Israel which ended in May 1991, after 1992 Pepsi is also trading in Israel.

In 2001 the Coca-Cola World Headquarters hosted and was the main sponsor of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala.

It has ben revealed that Coca-Cola Israel sponsors training programs for its workers on subjects including the Israeli-Arab conflict. The course content is created by a company funded by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government.

In February 2002, Coca-Cola teamed up with "Friends of Israel" and National Hillel to co-sponsor a lecture given by the infamous Zionist correspondent Linda Gradstein at the University of Minnesota.

In July 2002, it has been announced that Coca-Cola, in return for millions in incentives from the Israeli government, is to build a new plant on stolen Palestinian land at Kiryat Gat.

In October 2005, Coca-Cola increased its investment in Israel by buying a 51 percent controlling interest in the Tavor Winery.

Prior to 1992, Pepsi had backed the other horse, choosing to service the lucrative Coke-less Arab markets in the boycott days. For its decision to stay out of Israel (and thus itself avoid being placed on the Arab League's blacklist), Pepsi faced continued criticism in the United States. In certain circles it was considered politically incorrect to be seen drinking Pepsi.

The Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith investigated claims that Pepsi was participating in the boycott of Israel. U.S. law prohibited American companies from taking part in this boycott, but the law was vague, and outright violations were hard to pin down. Nothing ever came of the investigations, and Pepsi was never placed on the American government's list of violators.

Boycotts & Blacklist: Does it really work?

Yes it does. Here’s how.

In the late 1940s, the Arab League declared a complete boycott on all Israeli products. This was known as the Arab League Blacklist. It was done in protest to the illegal occupation of the Zionist movement on Palestinian land.

The blacklist, as it evolved in the early 50s, is divided into three components. The primary boycott prohibits direct trade between Israel and the Arab nations. The secondary boycott is directed at companies that do business with Israel. The tertiary boycott involves the blacklisting of firms that trade with other companies that do business with Israel.

Throughout the infamous Arab League Blacklist period, Israel’s economical situation was bad. Many multinational companies from through out the world refused to work with Israel for fear being enlisted into the infamous blacklist. Once in, these companies could no longer trade or market their products in oil rich Arab land.

A great example of the power of this blacklist was in the early 60’s. Back then, Renault was the world’s no. 6 car maker. It cancelled its contract with an Israeli firm to assemble its cars in Israel. Reason: fear of an Arab boycott!

The Arabs' economic blockade of Israel has probably caused Israel more injury than Arab armies did in all its wars. Back then, it has effectively deterred Israel's plans to set itself up as an industrial nucleus to serve Middle East markets. Such well-known U.S. firms as Philco Corp., Standard Oil, British-Shell and Socony Mobil Oil Co., all back then have removed themselves from the Arab League blacklist by deciding that doing business in Israel is uneconomic. Even in the late 50’s, when Elizabeth Taylor bought $100,000 worth of Israeli bonds, the United Arab Republic banned any further showing of her films. The ban even applied to her future movies.

The US and EU oppose this blacklist and did all they could to prevent it from taking place. In 1977, Congress prohibited U.S. companies from cooperating with the Arab boycott. The World Trade Organization also did its bid to stop this blacklist by ensuring that its members cease all boycotts as a condition to entering the WTO.

Saudi Arabia was forced to end this blacklist in 2005 as required by the WTO. The other Arab League members slowly followed. However so, the Arab League members continued to support this black list via less obvious approaches.

Nowadays, government initiated boycotts or blacklists are a difficult thing to administer. However so, self imposed boycott maybe as equally or even more potent than the famous boycott of the 60s. Imagine this; the total global Muslim population is said to have exceeded 1.8 billion in 2007. If the self-imposed boycott message is rightfully delivered, we may have a boycott of close to a quarter of the world’s population. Furthermore, the neutrals or anti-violence population may also join in making the boycott close to a third of the world’s population. That surely sends shivers down any consumer driven establishment.

Self imposed boycott may seem difficult to do for some. There are thousands of companies and millions more products out there in the market today. How are we to sort the bad ones out from the good? Finding made in Israel products is easy. All one has to do is look out for the 729 bar code number. If the bar code of a specific product starts with 729, this means it is made in Israel. Most manufacturing companies have found a way around this; manufacture their products out of Israel. Though manufactured out of Israel, profits earned from these merchandises are still channelled into Israel, funding their iron claw means. Israel’s strong economy is a reason why they are able to procure state of the art weaponries to continue their killings. What about the other western based companies that support and fund the Zionist movement? How do we identify them?

There is no sure way how to do this. One way is to do a little research. The information age has enabled us to access answers in ways not imagined possible 50 years ago. Researching on a specific product or company is easier than you may think. With the right connectivity, in just under 10 minutes, you can obtain enough information to make the correct civil minded and peace loving decision. If you are too lazy to do that, than keep your eyes and ears open. Be it from blogs like this, newspaper articles, radio, television, word of mouth or urges from pro-peace leaders; do keep a look out.

Do also have a positive attitude to this. Some may feel one person may not make a difference on a global scale. Wrong again. Each and every one of our choices has a global butterfly effect. Making the correct decision or making a switch is not too difficult to do either. Instead of Coke, drink Pepsi; instead of Johnson & Johnson, why not try Procter & Gamble and instead of Starbucks choose Coffee Bean. By staying united and positive towards this boycott, we can make a difference. Our affirmative actions and correct choices help this cause in a far greater scale than you can imagine. Each and every one of us has a role to play and each and every one of our voices can be heard via the choices we make. Spread this message, make the right decision and put a stop to this slaughter and lets us play a role to end the violence.