Thursday, June 07, 2007
The Jihad of Avraham Burg
Joseph Haim Brenner was an early Zionist writer and journalist. He
moved to the Land of Israel in 1909 at the age of 20. He worked as a
teacher, writer and translator. He was murdered by Arab terrorists in the
riots of 1921 (after the Balfour Declaration). Givat Brenner, the largest
kibbutz in Israel, is named after him.
Brenner once challenged the traditional definition of a Jew. The Rabbinic
definition of a Jew is one who has a Jewish mother (or who converts). Not
so, said Brenner. A Jew is not one who has a Jewish mother but rather one
who has Jewish grandchildren.
The point he was making, and making it a century ago, was that the real
test of Jewish roots is whether one's grandchildren remain Jewish. Under
that test, outside the Orthodox communities there are very few Jews left
in America.
Fast forward to the twentieth century and the Burg family. The late Dr.
Yosef Burg was one of the most prominent politicians in Israel. He was
born in 1909, the same year that Brenner came to the Land of Israel, and
died in 1999. He was a Rabbi and a scholar, holding a PhD in philosophy
from the University of Leipzig. He served for many years in the Knesset
as a representative of the National Religious Party and also was often a
cabinet minister. He served in so many Knessets that there were jokes
about him (his having first been elected by the slaves to Pharaoh in
Egypt, and the like).
As committed as Yosef Burg was to building Israel and defending it, so his
son Avraham Burg has long been committed to destroying it. Avraham Burg
is a far-leftist who used to be a Knesset member from the Israeli Labor
Party, although his views are to the left of Yossi Beilin's. Pretending
to be religious but never too much so, he always wore a yarmulke the size
of a Canadian quarter. He was active in Peace Now and in fringe
far-leftist groups. In 1995, his friends in the Labor Left got him
selected to head the Jewish Agency, a bit of a joke given his hostility to
Zionism. He later served as speaker of the Knesset, although he actually
represented Palestinians there more so than Israelis. As speaker, he
defied Israeli law and illegally went to speak before the PLO's
"parliament" in Ramallah in 2002.
Since then he has morphed into one of Israel's most extremist
"Post-Zionists" (http://www.arabworldbooks.com/arab/avraham.htm ). He
denounced Zionism in the anti-Israel Guardian
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1042071,00.html ). The
anti-Semite Pat Buchanan applauded him
(http://goliath.ecnext.com/comsite5/bin/pdinventory.pl?pdlanding=1&referid=2750&item_id=0199-1403773
). He denounced Israel as an evil entity
(http://www.haaretz.com/GA/pages/ShArtGA.jhtml?itemNo=360539 )
The journal Azure reports
(http://azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=117&search_text= ) that
Burg: 'declared Yeshayahu Leibowitz (of .Judeo-Nazis. fame) to be his
.moral compass.. Burg.s advisers Haim Ben-Shachar and Arik Carmon have
developed a plan whereby the Zionist movement would drop its focus on
Jewish immigration and concern itself with distributing .pluralistic.
Jewish material over the Internet.' He has teamed up with Yossi Beilin to
promote the latter's "Geneva Misunderstandings" to dismember Israel
(http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=36&x_article=599 ).
This past year the media reported that Burg junior had left Israel
altogether to do "business" in France. But nothing Burg did in the past
prepared anyone for his speech, reported in the press today, essentially
calling for Israel to be destroyed. Burg demands that Israel desist
altogether from defining itself as a "Jewish state".
Since nothing I do to paraphrase or summarize his statements can do them
justice, they are reprinted here in full from
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868215.html
Burg: Defining Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end
By Ari Shavit, Haaretz Correspondent
Avraham Burg, former Knesset speaker and former head of the Jewish Agency
says "to define the State of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its
end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite." In an interview in
Haaretz Weekend Magazine, he said that he is in favor of abrogating the
Law of Return and calls on everyone who can to obtain a foreign passport.
Burg, who was interviewed on the occasion of the publication of his book
"Defeating Hitler" said "the strategic mistake of Zionism was to annul the
alternatives. Israeliness has only body; it doesn't have soul."
"Judaism always prepared alternatives," says Burg, who three years after
leaving Israeli politics is now a citizen of France and a successful
businessman.
"Just as there was something astonishing about German Jewry, in America,
too, they created the potential for something astonishing. They created a
situation in which the goy can be my father and my mother and my son and
my partner," Burg says.
His book ruminates about Israel and Zionism, compares Israel and Germany,
harshly criticizes Eichmann's hanging, reflects on Judaism in the age of
globalization and remembers his father's house.
Burg said he started his book in mourning for the loss of Israel. "During
most of the writing the book's title was 'Hitler Won.' But slowly I
discovered the layer of not everything being lost. And I discovered my
father as a representative of German Jewry that was ahead of its time.
These two themes nourished the book from beginning to end." (The full
interview will be online tomorrow)
Burg probably illustrates better than anyone else in Israel the truth
of Brenner's observations.
2. The Fat'h of the PLO has asked Israel to allow armored personnel
carriers and anti-tank missiles to be delivered to it, to use against the
Hamas. Olmert is considering agreeing. After all, no chance at all that
THESE could be used to murder Jews. After all, when did the Fat'h ever
use weapons it got from Israel in the past to murder Jews?
3. Now that the Minister of Justice in Israel is standing up to the
judicial tyrants and courtroom practitioners of anti-democratic "judicial
activism", a number of initiatives are ongoing to bypass and neuter the
imperious kibitzers in Israel's Supreme Court. After the Court had
unconstitutionally revoked a Knesset law that had prohibited Palestinians
from submitting damage suits against the Israeli government in Israeli
courts, the Knesset is preparing to pass the law all over again, thumbing
its nose at the Supreme Court, and doing so with the Minister of Justice's
approval (Prof. Daniel Friedmann).
The Knesset is also planning to pull the rug out from under the
Supreme-Court-coddled radical homosexual movement in Israel. Yesterday
the Knesset passed in first reading a bill that would prohibit "Gay Pride"
parades from being held in Jerusalem.
4. For years we have been predicting that the terrorists from the
"Palestinian Authority" would eventually endanger Israeli planes landing
and taking off from Ben Gurion airport, because they would be within
shoulder-missile range of the planes. But we were much too optimistic.
The Palestinians do not need shoulder missiles. The can knock down
Israeli planes with pirate radio broadcasts. Recently a series of near
mid-air collisions have taken place at the airport because a pirate
Palestinian radio station in Ramallah broadcasts on the same frequencies
as the air traffic controllers. Finally, yesterday the air traffic
controllers had enough and shut down the airport for a few hours as an act
of protest against the safety hazards and the indifference of the
Olmertocracy.
5. Understanding the entire middle east in 3 minutes. See page 6 of
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/tribune/PDF/jt070607.pdf
6. A candidate for tenure at DePaul University?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3408801,00.html
7. Excellent piece - Boycotting the Jews of Britain:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28628
See also
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3409503,00.html
and
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3408890,00.html
8. The ISM's ties with al-Qaeda:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28601
9. After Israel implements the "Saudi peace plan" will the Women in Black
(aka Hookers in Black) be permitted to drive cars? See
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28639
for answers
10. Six Days Revisited:
http://thejewishpress.blogspot.com/2007/06/six-days-revisited.html
11. 10 excuses:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7177
12. Euro Hate rising:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180960626678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
