It’s official, I have now been labeled the worst possible
thing that anyone can be labeled and anyone who thought I was a decent enough
chap, will now do their best to stay away from me. Thanks to my internet troll,
I am officially an “Anti-Semite.”
The label of “Anti-Smite” isn’t just an ordinary label like being called a “racist” or a “sexist” or even an “ageist.” This label has consequences. I can, probably, kiss goodbye all my aspirations of being “someone” in the financial industry and should I be in any Western European country or America, I better keep my head low lest someone dig up my insignificant blog and use it against me.
For the record, I am not particularly pro or anti any
particular party. As a matter of disclosure, I have family that is Jewish and
at the same time, my career highlight has been due to the Arabs (working for
the Saudi Government in 2006 for the visit of the late Crown Prince Sultan to Singapore
and later covering the IMF meeting in Singapore for Arab News, that very same
year). If you read what I actually write, you’ll notice that what I have said
is not particularly new and pretty obvious.
So, what happened? How did I end up with this dreadful
label tied to my name. Well, the answer is simple. I have written a few pieces
that have been critical of Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip and also the
Western world’s unconditional support. That action, as a former Egyptian
ambassador once told me, “Is very dangerous.”
So, why is being labeled an “antisemite” such a bad
thing? Well, if you look at the way the term is used, it is taken to mean that
one is “Anti-Jewish,” and given that the Jews suffered one of the worst holocausts
known to humanity, nobody should want to be known as “hating” the Jews. However,
if you look the way that where this term is used most often, its often used to
talk about anyone who is critical of Israel and her policies.
However, whilst this term is used to describe anyone
who is “Anti-Israel” and “Anti-Jewish,” is it really right to use the term is
such a manner? Does it actually help anyone, including Jews and Israel that the
term is slammed around whenever the topic of Israel is raised?
Let us start with, what do we understand by the term “Semite.”
How can you be an “Antisemite” if you don’t know what a Semite is in the first
place. There are several facts that describe a Semite like the fact that the
Semites are defined as “decedents of Shem, one of the sons of Noah (He who
built the Ark).” Then there’s the simple definition as provided by the Merriam-Webster
Dictionary:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Semite
Then, there’s the issue of how “Semitic” are the Israeli
people? Well, if you were to do a simple Googe search as to where do most Israeli’s
get their DNA from, you’ll find that around half of Israeli Jews are decedents
of European Settlers.
So, once again, if you look at the strictest terms of what defines a “samite,” its clear that the Palestinians have a stronger term on the term “Semitic” and the consequential “anti-Semite” than the Israelis do.
Hebrew and Arabic actually share the same roots. The simplest
example comes from the common greeting and reply of “Salaam Alaykum” and “Alaykum
Salaam” in Arabic, which is “Shalom Aleichem” and “Aleichem Shalom” in Hebrew. Talk
to enough Jews and Arabs, and you’ll find that minus the extremist, neither side
has a particularly irrational hatred of the other.
However, what everyone who watches Fauda (An Israeli
TV series) and reads Haaretz (An Israeli newspaper) will tell you, one group is
literally being screwed over by the other. Temperatures are so high that it would
be political suicide for any Arab leader to voice anything friendly to Israel.
You cannot claim to be a supporter of the Jewish
People or Israel if you throw inaccurate and meaningless labels like “Anti-Semite”
at anyone who points out that the side with all the power needs to bring down
the temperatures so that the problem gets solved. Refusing to do so makes you
an “anti-Semite.”
