Simply Answering Michael Collon's "Ten Big Lies"
Michel Collon, a Belgian journalist and author,has recounted "10 big lies" spread by Western media in order to "justify the existence and actions of Israel", which are concisely presented below:
Michel Collon is amazingly myopic and ignorant about his own 10 points. here I refute them.
1. The first lie is that Israel was established in reaction to the massacre of Jews during the World War II.
This notion is completely wrong. Israel is in fact a domineering project which was approved in the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, when nationalist Jews decided to occupy Palestine.
1.The Zionist Congress in Basel 1897 resolved to set up a Jewish homeland not a Jewish republic in Turkish Lower Syria. A homeland is not a separate Jewish political entity but a haven where Jews can live and worship unmolested.
2. The second justification for establishing and legitimizing Israel is that the Jews are returning to their forefathers' land, from where they had been driven away in 70 A.D.
This is a tale. I have spoken to the famous Israeli historian Shlomo Sand and other historians and they all believe that there has been no "exodus," so "return" is meaningless. The people living in Palestine have not left their land in the ancient era. In fact the descendents of Jews residing in Palestine are the people who are currently living in Palestine. Those who claim they want to return to their lands originate for Western and Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. Sand says there is no Jewish nation. The Jews do not have common history, language or culture. The only common thing between them is their religion, and religion does not make a nation.
2. Michel Colon is very confused here.He denies there was an exodus from Israel.Is he talking about Moses and the Exodus from Egypt of which currently there is only speculative evidence or that The destruction of Jerusalem and the ending of Judea, impelled the Jews to seek refuge across Europe and Asia. That was no exodus and it is fully documented. It should be noted that Jews were not driven away from their forefathers land. Religion does make a nation.
The Jews, as a religion, have a common desire tr develop lonks and return to Judea/Israel, Collon seems to imply that ancestry or genetics defines the Jew and not the religion. The Muslims Arabs/Palestinians who are descended from Jews are foremost Muslim. Same with the Christian Arabs/Palestinians.
3. The third lie is that when Jewish immigrants occupied Palestine, it was an empty and uninhibited country. However, there are documents and evidences that prove that in the 19th century the agricultural products of Palestine were exported to different countries, including France.
3 When the Zionists arrived in 1878 it was not empty or uninhabited. But it WAS sparsely poulated by many ethnic groups including Muslim and Christian Arabs, Jews, Copts, Bosnians, Greeks, Circassians, Armenians, etc Jews were the majority in Jerusalem since 1843. The desolate state of the area doesnt not exempt any exportation industries such as Jaffa oranges.
4. Fourth, some people say Palestinians left their country on their own free will.
This is another lie, which lots of people believed, including myself. Until Israeli historians like Benny Morris and Ilan Pappe said that Palestinians were driven away and banished from their lands by using force and terror.
4. At the time of the 700,000 Arabs leaving Palestine the Israeli army was 27,000 and too small to effect such an eviction certainly while fending off 5 Arab Armies.
The leaders of the 5 Arab Armies of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Transjordan requested that the 700,000 Arabs leaves their homes temporarily so that the 5 Armoes can can effect an ethnic cleansing of Jews from British Palestine and no Arabs would suffer harm. False reports from Arab radio about massacres induced money to flee. There were expulsions as well. They amounted to 800 to 10000.
5. It is said that today Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and it should be protected; it is the "government of law."
But in my opinion not only it is not the government of law; it is the only regime that no law defines its territory and boundaries. All the countries of the world have a constitution which defines their boundaries, but no such thing applies to Israel. Israel is an expansionist project which knows no boundary, and its law is completely racist; according to this law Israel is the country for Jews, and its non-Jew citizens are not considered human. Such law is a contradiction to democracy..
5. Israelis boundaries are not ruled by a law as they are the ceasefire lines from 1948. The UN has stated must these borders be negotiated . They are commonly known as the 1967 borders but really are 1948 ceasefire lines. Muslims and Christians have full rights in Israel. In fact Muslims have more rights as a citizen than any Arab state. Non-Jews are considered human. The latter statement by Michel Collon derives from falsified Talmud quotes
6. It is said that the US tries to protect democracy in the Middle East by protecting Israel. And we know that the US annual financial aid to Israel amounts to 3 billion dollars. This money is used for bombarding Israel's neighbor countries.
But America is not after establishing democracy in the Middle East; it wants the undisturbed flow of oil.
6. Any military action against certain neighbors is always preceded by aggressive enemy action. It should be noted Israel has peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt. The money sent to Israel as loans protects the fragile 13 mile wide state. No matter how thin you slice it Israel is still a democracy and Arabs are ruled by poilce states or oligarchies
7. They pretend that the US seeks an agreement between Israel and Palestine.
This is also completely wrong and a lie. EU former Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana told the Israel that "you are the 21st country of the European Union." The European weapons industries cooperate with the Israeli military industries and support them financially. But when Palestinians elected their government, Europe did not recognize it and gave the green light to Israel to attack the Gaza Strip.
7.Israel being part of Europe is a result of Arab intolerance and does not negate any peace berween Israel and Palestine.Hamas at War with israel since 1995 was elected as a minority govt and lost that mandate in civil strife with Fatah. Hamas was recognized as terroristic by r the USA and Europe in 1995 for its suicide bombings.
8. When one talks about these facts and the history of Israel and Palestine, when one reveals the US interests in this situation, they call you anti-Semite to keep you silent.
But we should say that when we criticize Israel, it is not racism or anti-Semitism. We criticize a government that does not believe in the equality of Jews, Christians and Muslims, and so destroys the peace between followers of different religions.
8. Israel is the country in the Middle East that recognizes the equality of Jews, Arabs and Christians and there are many adherents of those denominations within the State of Israel. Anti-semite, an archaic 19th century term, should be replaced by Jew hater. Its fairly easy to discern Jew hatred attacks and criticism of Israeli policies.
9. The mass media say that Palestinians cause violence and terrorism.
We say Israel army's occupation is violence, the policy that has stolen land and home from Palestinians is violence.
9. Terrorism is unprovoked and unannounced violence meant to create terror or the uncertainty of safety. That was a hallmark of the 2nd Intifada and the suicide bombings. The Israeli army is always acting to retaliate against these actions and to prevent them as well. For example the Gaza operation was preceded by phone calls and letter drops of the impending action. The element of surprise was decreased substantiably. And by providing lists of shelters and other non military targets, it saved thousands of lives from collateral damage. Israel has not stolen land as the
hilltops status are unresolved due to Palestinian inaction and there is no general home stealing policy.
10. An issue which is often raised is that there is no way for resolving this situation, and there is no solution for the hatred and the grudge caused by Israel and its accomplices.
But there is a solution. The only thing that can stop this process is the public pressure on the accomplices of Israel in the US and Europe and other parts of the world; public pressure on the mass media which refrain from telling the truth about Israel; and using the Internet or any other media out let to publish real news about Palestine.
10.Public pressure on Israel will not stop the Arab and Iranian resolve to destroy Israel; Unless there is a public pressure campaign on those countries. But what we do see instead is timidity from the world in light of the faked Arab outrage of the Muhammed drawings that is giving a green light to the importation of Sharia in non-Muslim countries.
