Australian Islamist Monitor

It has been a year since the Maqsood Alshams scandal, which forced the cancellation of an anti-Israel conference that was to have been held in the New South Wales Parliament House.  It was a victory over the Israel-hating forces in Australia and one that many of us hoped would provide a template for future actions worldwide.  Unfortunately, we did not use our experience to fight on elsewhere; our foes, on the other hand, might have learned from their bloodied noses.

Alshams had become a darling of the Australian left and, like them, packaged his vitriol in human rights terms.  The conference he convened would “debate” the question of charging Israel with war crimes for its actions in Gaza during Operation Defensive Shield; though a look at the participants and their sentiments makes it clear that the results of this “debate” were pre-determined.  So having been fawned over by Australian academics and buoyed by the fact that he was holding his anti-Israel hate-fest in a government building, Alshams pressed his perceived advantage; but his hubris proved to be his own undoing.  I received one of Alshams’ anti-Israel emails about the conference, which also called for international intervention to save the poor, poor people of Gaza.  Normally, I do not respond to emails like that.  What’s the point, as the authors refuse to entertain anything that conflicts with their own worldview; especially when it comes to Israel.

This one was different, however.  First, it came from Australia, and Australians should know of the high regard in which most Americans hold them for their honesty, courage, and forthrightness.  Beyond that, the propaganda war over Israel is essentially lost in Western Europe and only in its early stages in the United States; but it is full-blown Down Under.  Second, this email was not sent to seemingly countless and random addresses, but targeted to a smaller audience, including media.  And third, Alshams cloaked his entire screed in disingenuous human rights terms; which as a real human rights activist I find insulting.  But far more important than that, the

use of faux human rights language is a key element of the propaganda war against Israel and the Islamist war against civilization itself.

So, I replied, “Why didn´t these same people cry for ´international intervention´ when the Palestinians--and Hamas in particular--thanked Israel for leaving Gaza by making it a terrorist base to lob missiles onto civilian populations in Southern Israel  Where were these same people when Israeli civilians were facing constant rocket attack from Hamas and its allies?”

And so did Alshams, “The simple answer is that you the Jews are real motherf****….you guys are simply assholes….Jews like you are the dirty scums.”

I noticed that he did not “reply to all,” and felt that such passion should be shared with the entire group; which I did.  Significantly, Alshams later tried to defend his remarks by saying his was “intoxicated and angry”; but his actions in sending them to me alone reveal that he knew exactly what he was doing.  (He also phoned me later and repeated them.)  He and his ilk try to fashion their positions exclusively in compassionate terms, avoiding their anti-Jewish motives.  This would have blown their cover.  Even the most elementary—honest—reading of history exposes their anti-Jewish vitriol as far more salient than any pro-Palestinian sentiments.  (How much sense does their demand to pre-1967 conditions make?  Does anyone remember there being peace before 1967?)  So after concerted effort with several Australians got the Sydney Morning Herald to pick up the story, the participants were forced to dissociate themselves from Alshams and his bigotry.  The conference was cancelled.

Following our success, I suggested to several Jewish groups that we use our experience as a model for further actions going forward.  Almost all of the anti-Israel rhetoric in academia, at human rights forums, and in public debate uses the language of human rights to intimidate those who might suggest that there is merit to a pro-Israel point of view; and they have been very successful in that.  They also have been proactive in denying any sort of anti-Semitic motives, even accusing their opponents of throwing out that label to any who criticize Israel.  Of course, we know that claim is equally disingenuous, since we are far more likely to hear accusations of Islamophobia hurled at anyone who is openly pro-Israel.  But, again, it has worked to summarily dismiss any suggestions that anti-Semitic motives underlie their positions.

What happened with the Alshams scandal was that we were able to expose those motives with the opposition’s own words.  As a result, the panoply of fellow travelers who identify themselves as nothing but uber compassionate—academics, self-styled human rights advocates, and leftists—had no choice but to dissociate themselves from the unmasked hatred of their erstwhile allies.  For all their bluster, harsh language, and fist shaking, that complex of individuals will turn tail and run if it appears they too might be painted as fellow bigots or condemned with their buddies’ own hateful words.  To be sure, in this case, Alshams might have handed us the tools of his own unmasking.  Nonetheless, conference backers at first tried to dissociate themselves while still contending that the conference itself was worthy.  It therefore took continued efforts to prevent them from slithering out of their own maze of contradictions.  Moreover, since anti-Semitism really is the fuel that drives the anti-Israel engine, similar evidence is available for the taking in other situations.  All it takes is commitment and a little bit of organized and concerted effort.

While we have not learned from that experience, our enemies apparently have, enlisting characters they believe are immune to charges of anti-Semitism.  Thus, they have organized the Washington group, J-Street, which embraces every anti-Israel position, warmly welcomes every “respectable” Israel hater, yet calls itself “pro-Israel.”  A recent J-Street event, openly intended to spread its message to more Jewish college students, is being hosted by the Jewish students’ association, Hillel, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  In addition to being a highly thought of Ivy League school, Penn also boasts of sizeable Jewish population.  When Aaron Klein broke the story, he identified the most passionate anti-Israel speakers who had names like Alpert (she compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to genocide in Darfur), Ratzman (who has accused Israel of ethnic cleansing), and Waskow (who has strongly defended the discredited Goldstone report that accuses Israel of war crimes).  Speaking of that terribly biased report, legal scholar Alan Dershowitz called Richard Goldstone, “a traitor using his Jewishness to malign Israel.”

Still, there is a wide berth between open Jew haters like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and this rogue’s gallery of anti-Israel Jews; and their truly anti-Jewish motives are available to us.  All we need to do is use them and do so relentlessly to achieve the same results we did last year in Sydney.

 

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Dr. Richard L. Benkin is an American human rights activist.  In 2005, he freed pro-Israel Muslim, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury from imprisonment and torture in Bangladesh, who continues to publish pro-Israel news and opinion from inside the Muslim world.  In addition to continuing to help keep Choudhury free, Benkin currently is fighting to stop the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh by Islamists and their allies.
 

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