Fragments on 9/11 Truth, Justice, and Peace from a "Young" Jewish Intellectual, Part One
This is a repost from Apt.911b by Shumonik, who graciously gave me permission. I, for one, very much welcome input from pro-peace self-identified Jews on this site!
Part One: Breaking the Silence Barrier
"My column will include voices so often excluded, people whose views
the media mostly ignore, issues they distort and even ridicule."— Amy
Goodman from her first piece for her weekly column "Breaking the Sound
Barrier"
“Of course, there will be those who demand silent obedience. We
expect that from the ultra-right, and anyone with a little familiarity
with history will expect it from some left intellectuals as well,
perhaps in an even more virulent form. But it is important not to be
intimidated by hysterical ranting and lies and to keep as closely as
one can to the course of truth and honesty and concern for the human
consequences of what one does, or fails to do. All truisms, but worth
bearing in mind. Beyond the truisms, we turn to specific questions, for
inquiry and for action.â€â€”Noam Chomsky from the last page in his
pamphlet “9-11â€
I start with these statements from two prominent public
intellectuals because, beyond both being Jewish people, their words
hint at a matured, compassionate and wise Jewish approach to engaging
the world. I also bring them up, in resonance with my namesake
Jeremiah, to point out the latent hypocrisy and failure, so far, of
these two Jewish heavyweights of public life to live up to their
powerful words in relationship to the Truth of 9-11, just as the
ancient Hebrews failed at many points to live up to the potent words of
the Torah before ultimately bringing forth many of its profound
teachings into our present world.
I include the words “so far†because any attempt to invoke the name
of a prophet such as Jeremiah is not about freezing people, or a
people, in time and projecting it inevitably forwards, but about a
notice and warning of the dire consequences of omissive and dismissive
hypocrisy, and, more importantly, a catalyst for the opening of
possibility. Transformation is the desired result of any proper
Jeremiad.
Despite common and simplistic notions of the interminable Jewish
tendency towards suffering and existential hopelessness, we Jews hold
with deep care the possibility for Redemption at any moment. Yes, some
of it is always delayed, but its pulsing presence is repeatedly being
traced in the little over-comings and larger transcendences of our
lives. I should say at the outset that I consider myself to be a Jewish
man, Ashkenazi by blood, who draws deeply from my Jewish roots in my
spiritual and philosophical outlook.
Before I go too far philosophically and psychologically, let me be
clear about my belief in regards to the Jewish and/or Israeli role in
9-11. We, ‘Da Joos, didn’t do it any more than the Christians or the
Muslims did it. However, Jewish people, or at least people who call
themselves "Jews" have played important roles in the wide spectrum of
the 9-11 attacks and their aftermath. At the very least, people who
call themselves ‘Jewish’ and have great allegiance to a certain image
of ‘Israel’ have played an overwhelming role in the 'intellectual'
justifications and reasoning behind the War on (or of) Terror. And,
from my perspective, this overwhelming ‘Jewish’ presence on the side of
those propagating the myth-drenched War on Terror is inversely
proportional to the underwhelming presence of real, forthright Jewish
intellectual weight on the side of the 9-11 Truth movement.
Thus far, there has largely been a simplistic type of thinking
around this issue: "Da Joos did it" versus "shh, don't talk about
Israel, people will associate 9-11 Truth with anti-Semitism." Real talk
has been lost in the gulf. That is why this essay points to the great
void of public Jewish intellectuals who grapple with 9-11 Truth from an
open and proud Jewish perspective. There was some really good work in
the book “9/11 and American Empire: Christians, Jews and Muslims Speak
Out,†edited by Kevin Barrett, John Cobb and Sandra Lubarsky. But
overall, not much above a hushed whisper has been consistently
expressed from people who openly proclaim and stress their Jewishness
while pointing to the clear aspect of a ‘Jewish’ and/or ‘Israeli’ role
in 9-11 and the aftermath.
It shows the crazy “doublespeak†state of our language right now
that the word "anti-Semitism" is used to squash talk about Israel, when
the large majority of people actually in the ruling elite in Israel are
not technically Semitic. I have made the point before that the War on
Terror fueled by the Big Lie of 9-11 is an anti-Semitic endeavor, being
that Arabs are Semitic people. To be more honest and accurate, we
should talk of “anti-Jewishness†and there definitely is that spectre
on the fringes of the 9-11 truth movement.
The issue of talking about "Jewishness" in relation to geo-politics
and 9-11 points to the crucial need for a thick and complex
understanding of people, institutions, religious groups, nations. The
whole "The Jews did it," “The Muslims did it,†"The military did it,"
"The US government did it" scenario-building enterprise is dead in the
water and we need a much more sophisticated thought process that allows
us to call out bigoted and, frankly, stupid analysis while allowing
real talk about real people and real forces in our world.
The people who architected the attacks of September of ’01 are not
‘Jewish’ any more than they are ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim,’ or in that
case, ‘American,’ ‘Israeli’ or ‘British.’ The people who architected
9-11 are from an international, or more accurately, trans-national
criminal over-class of fascists, supremacists and oligarchs. And they
can come in any color, creed or proclaimed nationality or religion.
However, as I suggested earlier, the neo-con ideology that helps
drive this global, criminal project, represents a confluence of British
and American Imperialists along with a large number of Israeli Zionist
Supremacists. Additionally, the enemy image necessary for Western
societies to muster the necessary will for the Global Domination
Project articulated by everybody from neo-con intellectual Puba Leo
Strauss to American Cultural Imperialist Samuel Huntington and
Realpolitik pundit and practitioner Zbigniew Brezinski, is unusually
torqued and acute in the Jewish psyche. Having been the recipient of
that projected enemy image persistently throughout our history, there
has been a certain taking on of that mantle among the Jewish peoples.
Similar to Tupac Shakur’s proclamation of “It’s Just Me Against the
World,†the Jewish Diaspora has a tendency to take a “It’s Just We
Against the World†stance.
At the very same time, the wiser and more mature aspects of the
Jewish psyche have transmuted historical ostracism into deeper
compassion for the suffering of others and the need for justice.
Evidence of this is the large number of Jewish people who were involved
in the civil rights movement.
A Jew is a person of God. And the Torah and our history as a people
have taught us that an essential part of being a “person of God†is to
seek justice for all people. It's time, in my mind for we Jews of good
faith to call out the impostors who seem more like Nazis than Jews in
their ideologies about Palestinians as savages and their actions in
support of a total war to dominate the Arab world. Because, as
evidenced by the European Holocaust, more ethically devastating than
the horrific actions of a small criminal cabal, is the silence of way
too many of the rest of us ‘good’ people.
An attempt at being authentically Jewish, especially at times of
moral crisis, necessitates the possibility of speaking one’s conscience
in the face of oppressive, violent and, potentially, catastrophic
silence.
To come in Part 2-“What can Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality bring to the 9-11 Truth and Justice Dialogue?â€
Beautiful
the only objection I have is the use of "more like Nazis than Jews" -- as if both were mutually exclusive.
Great start Shumonik. You
Great start Shumonik.
You wrote:
“Similar to Tupac Shakur’s proclamation of “It’s Just Me Against the World,†the Jewish Diaspora has a tendency to take a “It’s Just We Against the World†stance.â€
And this must end. It’s self-defeating and self-perpetuating and it leads to the sort of insanity represented by Israel’s “Samson optionâ€.
“The Samson Option is terminology used to explain Israel's intention to use its nuclear arsenal as an ultimate defense strategy if its leaders feel threatened enough to think they have no alternative. It comes from the biblical Samson said to have used his great strength to bring down the pillars of a Philistine temple, downing its roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistine tormentors. It's a strategy saying if you try killing me, we'll all die together, or put another way, we'll all go together when we go. Richard Wagner had his apocalyptic version in the last of his four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen - Gotterdammerung, or Twilight of the Gods based on Norse mythology referring to a prophesied war of the Gods resulting in the end of the world.â€
The great irony, of course, is that Israel relies entirely on so-called “anti-semitism†for its continued existence (at least in the current, wretched, apartheid form). It is therefore not in the best interests of Israeli leaders to curtail anti-semitism, but rather to exaggerate and foment it. The same goes for the ADL.
Every once in awhile a story will appear in the newspaper describing a Jewish cemetery painted with swastikas – not by Neo-Nazis, it turns out, but by a “disturbed†Jewish person. Just recently a Jewish professor was caught spray-painting his own car with swastikas.
These may be miniature false flag operations or simply the logical outcome of an extreme persecution complex. The point is that something is very wrong here and needs to be addressed.
I recall that Greg Palast, upon being challenged by Steven Jones to retract his slanderous statements, tried to side-step the issue by quizzing Jones about whether he felt 911 was a Zionist plot. Is this why Palast has ignored 911 truth? Because he feels the truth would lead to a resurgence in “anti-semitism� If so, I can’t imagine anything more cowardly. There is a holocaust of Muslims unfolding before our very eyes due to the blood libel of 911. Placing one’s “tribe†before the rest of the human race is the way of the Nazi, not the progressive or the man of God.
“At the very least, people who call themselves ‘Jewish’ and have great allegiance to a certain image of ‘Israel’ have played an overwhelming role in the 'intellectual' justifications and reasoning behind the War on (or of) Terror. And, from my perspective, this overwhelming ‘Jewish’ presence on the side of those propagating the myth-drenched War on Terror is inversely proportional to the underwhelming presence of real, forthright Jewish intellectual weight on the side of the 9-11 Truth movement.â€
Indeed. In addressing this issue the Zionist role cannot be ignored. The phrase “war on terror†first appeared in a book by Netanyahu. The PNAC documents were essentially a recycling of “A Clean Breakâ€. The Israeli company Odigo issued a warning several hours before the attacks, indicating precise foreknowledge. The Dancing Israelies were caught red handed. Oded Yinon called for the balkanization of the entire Middle East in his “Strategy for Israel in the 1980’sâ€.
Many 911 truthers have tried – unsuccessfully – to ignore the obvious role Israel played in the 911 attacks. They have done this due to fear of being labeled “anti-semeticâ€. The media has played its part, trying to conflate investigation of these facts with “anti-Semitism†and an all-encompassing “da jooz did it†theory. Shortly after 911 a story was circulated that no Jews showed up for work that day. My hunch is that the story was penned not by some “anti-semite†from Stormfront but rather a disinformation specialist out of Tel Aviv or the Pentagon. All attempts to debunk 911 truth have invariably mentioned this canard while ignoring, for example, Urban Moving Systems and Odigo.
The Loose Change crowd (on whose forum it is verboten to discuss Israeli involvement in any depth) as well as the film Press for Truth (and indeed 99% of 911 truth videos in general) are a testament to the success of this strategy. We can harp on about alleged Pakistani war transfers to our heart’s content, but mention Israel and you’re a foaming at the mouth neo-nazi.
“It shows the crazy “doublespeak†state of our language right now that the word "anti-Semitism" is used to squash talk about Israel, when the large majority of people actually in the ruling elite in Israel are not technically Semitic.â€
Indeed, you’ll notice that the term “anti-Semitic†has been placed in quotes throughout this reply. The biggest anti-semites on the planet are characters like Dershowitz and Pipes. There are people with a pathological hatred of all things Jewish, but I have a feeling they are not nearly so numerous as the ADL would have us believe. Indeed, it was recently discovered (upon his death) that the leader of the Neo-Nazi movement in Germany was actually an MI6 agent.
“However, as I suggested earlier, the neo-con ideology that helps drive this global, criminal project, represents a confluence of British and American Imperialists along with a large number of Israeli Zionist Supremacists.â€
Quite so. I have never bought-in to the either/or theory and think it is simplistic, to be honest. It is not a question of “either†the Zionists carried out 911 “or†the certain factions in the American government. What we see here is a confluence of interests. False flag operations (and their close cousin, the provocateur) have been around forever. You can go back a hundred years ago and find brazen provocateur actions infesting the labor movement. Haymarket is a good example. The “Black Hand†in Spain (which attempted, unsuccessfully, to discredit the bourgeoning anarchist movement) is another.
If Israel had never existed I believe 911 or something very like would have occurred anyway. America has been an imperial power virtually since its inception. War is health of the state, and imperialism is the inevitable final stage of state capitalism. War is competition writ large. With the end of the Cold War and emerging threats in the form of climate change, economic turmoil, resource depletion, an emerging Superpower in China (and perhaps most importantly, a rapidly expanding global justice movement) a new enemy image was needed to frighten the populace into accepting slavery and supporting empire.
The Zionists, for their part, saw it as a golden opportunity to equate Palestine as an appendage of “Al-Qaeda†and take some of the pressure off their ethnic cleansing campaign. Their long-standing plans to balkanize the middle east, dismantle any potential rival in the region and make way for “Greater Israel†could also be realized.
One thing you didn’t touch upon (or only briefly) which I think is important is the concept of Jewish supremacy. I do not think that fundamentalist Judaism should be exempt from criticism any less than fundamentalist Christianity or radical Islam. The common thread is that the most important tenets of the religion are ignored while hateful, supremacist, literalist and exclusionary dogmas held up as the highest virtue.
I look forward to part II.
one's tribe
Placing one’s “tribe†before the rest of the human race is the way of the Nazi, not the progressive or the man of God.
 i just said almost the exact same words to my friend yesterday on way home from very interesting interfaith event! thanks, Danse...and Shumonik, and Casseia
Baraka time again
Shortly after 911 a story was circulated that no Jews showed up for work that day. My hunch is that the story was penned not by some “anti-semite†from Stormfront but rather a disinformation specialist out of Tel Aviv or the Pentagon. All attempts to debunk 911 truth have invariably mentioned this canard while ignoring, for example, Urban Moving Systems and Odigo.
http://www.amiribaraka.com/blew.html
nice to see Shumonik writing!
definitely a good voice in a dialogue.
Thank You Jeremiah and Danse
for your eloquent, soul-searching and rational presentations on these difficult subjects. It is good to see that there are concerned citizens in the 9/11 Truth Movement and elsewhere who are trying to tackle these subjects intelligently and hate-free, with a simple desire for truth and justice. And thanks so much Casseia for posting Shumonik's piece here. I also look forward to Part Two.
You're welcome
You're welcome Lazlo.Â
And thanks right back for your tremendous piece "Wired for Terror". Â Â