Hey guys, It's been many months since anyone's posted in this group. I
just checked and we have 22 members. Not bad! Anyway, since this group
is about being free to say anything, including controversial things,
I'll send out something I just wrote. Feel free to comment if you
choose. And feel free to pass it around.

The Anti-Semite's Pledge
© 2006 by Aaron Minsky *

Just because I oppose the state of Israel, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I believe that Israel does not have a right to exist, I
am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I support those who would destroy Israel and "throw the
Jews into the sea", I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I support those who teach the hatred of Jews to their
children, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I support those who actively plot to murder, and actually
murder, Jewish women and children, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that hundreds of thousands of Jews fled for their
lives from Arab countries and the Soviet Union, finding guaranteed
asylum in Israel, yet I still feel that there never should have been
an Israel for them to flee to, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that during World War II Jews were turned away
from many countries, including the United States, and sent back to
Germany to certain death, yet I still oppose a safe haven for Jews in
this world, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I find it irrelevant that the Jews existed as a nation in
the land of Israel for 1,500 years, and are the only people in history
to ever have had an independent state on that land, and to ever have
had Jerusalem as a capitol, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I do not feel that after 2,000 years of expulsions,
persecution, and pogroms in Europe and the Middle East the Jews
deserve a homeland, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I do not feel that even after the Holocaust the Jews
deserve a homeland, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I oppose the right of the Jews to have a land, an army,
and the ability to defend themselves from those who would finish
Hitler's work, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I call the victims of the Nazis: Nazis, and compare their
leaders to Hitler when they defend themselves against Palestinians who
were allies of Hitler, and still openly call for their destruction,
and actually murder Jews today in horrific terrorist acts, I am not an
anti-Semite.

Just because I know that Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the
Koran, yet is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible, and that
Muslims bow toward Mecca when they pray, while Jews pray toward
Jerusalem, and that the return to Zion figures prominently in the
daily and festival Jewish prayer services, and not at all in the
Muslim services, yet I still believe that the Muslims who knowingly
built a mosque on top of the site of the Jewish Temple should have the
eternal right to possess that land and prevent Jews from ever
returning there, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I call Islam "a religion of peace", even though Muslims
are constantly killing Jews (and others) and glorifying those who do,
I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I call Islam "a religion of peace" even though it calls
for perpetual Jihad against all non Muslims and claims that those who
kill non Muslims (derisively called "Infidels") will go to heaven to
have sex with 72 virgins, while I call Judaism a "primitive" religion
even though it calls for a world of peace, and claims that entry into
heaven is based on moral behavior, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I am constantly calling on Israel to give back land it
has won in defensive wars, land from which it was attacked, while not
calling for any other country on earth to give back land, even land
won in offensive wars, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because Israel was given back to the Jews by a vote in the United
Nations, yet I claim they "stole" the land from the Arabs, I am not an
anti-Semite.

Just because I accuse Israel of human rights violations, massacres,
and indiscriminate bloodshed, while turning a blind eye to the never
ending murder of Jews by Arabs since 1948 and before, I am not an
anti-Semite.

Just because I raise the killing of any one person by a Jew higher
than the millions of people worldwide who are killed by Muslims,
Christians and others year by year, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I call all military actions by Israel, even if they are
in self defense, "barbaric", "terrorism", etc., yet never call the
actions of Arabs against Jews by those names, even if they are
unprovoked and cause extreme pain and suffering, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I call those who attack America or Europe "terrorists",
but call those who attack Israel, or kill Jews throughout the world
"militants", or "combatants", or "the resistance", I am not an
anti-Semite.

Just because I would not allow one bomb to fall on my country without
demanding a strong military response, yet I expect Israel to allow
itself to constantly be bombed, and if it does respond, I demand that
it respond "proportionately", I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I believe the figure of 6 million Jews is too high for
the amount of Jews killed in the Holocaust and think that this is
really important, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I believe there were many "Holocausts" and the Jews have
turned their suffering into an industry to take advantage of the guilt
of others, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because school textbooks in Saudi Arabia contain the following
quotes, "The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine
are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus", "They are
the Jews, whom God has cursed", yet I blame the Jews for the hatred
that exists in the middle east, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I accuse Israel of being an "apartheid state", even
though Israeli Arabs are full citizens and even serve in the
government, while no Jews are allowed to serve in any Arab government,
and most Arab states kicked out all of the Jews who did live there, I
am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that many Arabs do not want Jews, or any non
Muslims, to even set foot on "Muslim soil", and that all non Muslims
are banned from Mecca or Medina, yet I don't accuse any Arab states of
"apartheid", I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that under Jordanian rule, Jews were banned from
East Jerusalem, yet under Jewish rule people of all faiths are allowed
to visit and live in Jerusalem, yet I did not call for the
"internationalization" of Jerusalem under Jordanian control, but call
for it under Israeli control, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because the PLO and Hamas charters call for the destruction of
Israel and the killing of Jews, yet I support these groups, I am not
an anti-Semite.

Just because the Hamas charter contains many anti-Semitic canards
taken directly from the Czarist Russian forgery, "The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion", accusing the Jews of controlling the media and the
banks, and being behind of all of the world wars, yet I support Hamas
in their "struggle" against "the Zionist entity", I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that the land of Israel is as important to Judaism
as Mecca is to Islam, and Jesus is to Christianity, yet I still feel
that the Jews should not be allowed to have a country there, I am not
an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that the land of Israel is filled with Jewish
historical sites such as the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, Massada,
the tomb of Rachel, the graves of the Jewish prophets, yet I call the
Jews "Europeans" and accuse them of "colonialism", I am not an
anti-Semite.

Just because I know that most of the Arabs who fled Israel, did so
because they were told by the leaders of the surrounding Arab
countries that the Jews would all be killed and then they would be
able to return to an Arab Palestine, yet when that did not occur, they
were not allowed to immigrate into the Arab countries of their
brethren, but were kept in refuge camps for generations, in order to
fill them with hatred, and keep them as pawns to attack the Jewish
State, yet I ignore all that and blame "Israeli intransigence" for the
problems in the middle east, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I support the "right of self determination" for the
Tibetans, the Nicaraguans, and virtually every other ethnic group in
the world, except the Jews, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that without a Jewish State the Jews will be in
the same helpless position they were in before World War II, and I
oppose the continuance of a Jewish State, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that without Israel, the Jews could be rounded up
again in the future and genocide could be carried out against them,
and I oppose the continuance of Israel, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I know that history tends to repeat itself if precautions
are not taken, yet reject allowing the Jews to take the precautions
necessary to prevent a future Holocaust, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I think that Judaism has no place in the modern world, I
am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I think Jews have no place in the modern world, I am not
an anti-Semite.

Just because I think the Jews are behind most, if not all, of the
world's problems, I am not an anti-Semite.

Just because I tell stereotypical Jewish jokes, and call Jews names, I
am not an anti-Semite.

Let's face it...just because I hate those damn Jews and wish them all
dead, I am STILL not an anti-Semite!
----------------------

* Aaron Minsky (aka rock cellist Von Cello) is the author of "Beyond
Faith", a book that explains the rationale behind Orthodox Judaism and
compares traditional Judaism to other religions, philosophies. and
disciplines. He is also a published composer with Oxford, a Yamaha
Artist, and in Who's Who in America and the International Who's Who.
See http://www.voncello.com for more information.