Trying to buy acceptance by selling their souls
By Stephen Schulman
Many moons ago, in fact in 1963, I had the dubious honour of being called up for compulsory military service in the South African Defence Forces. Basic training took place in Potchefstroom, in a large camp, 1200 km away from my birthplace of Cape Town. Recruits came from all sectors of SA society: Afrikaners, English speakers and a few Jews. We were all shapes and sizes, straight-laced and oddball, roughnecks and cultured. Most I have forgotten, but one particular individual remains in my memory.
Frankie hailed from Durban. He was short, to put it mildly, not good looking and a singularly unpleasant character. He also had, as he deeply felt, the misfortune to having been born a Jew: a sad state of affairs to which he set about to actively correct. Frankie would take great pains in declaring to all and sundry that not only did he not identify with his religion but disassociated himself from its practice. On Friday nights when the Jewish soldiers were taken to the synagogue for the service and then often invited for supper at the homes of the congregants – a welcome short break from army drudgery – Frankie out of solidarity with, and trying to be ‘one of the guys’ would stay on the base. To the best of my recollection, even when Passover arrived, forfeiting more than a week’s holiday leave, he demonstratively remained there.
Did he succeed in being accepted as ‘one of them’? Did he manage to slough off his born identity and meld with the greater group? Did this concerted effort boost his popularity? Not really. His toadying and groveling were of no avail and his efforts to ingratiate himself with the non-Jewish majority earned him no respect and no exalted status. Frankie’s nickname was ‘Ikey’, the little Jew who was seen by all as a bit of a curiosity. He was a sad, pitiable individual.
Why write about such an insignificant person? Simply because today, with this avalanche of wide spread antisemitism engulfing all Jews irrespective of their views and affiliations, there are many little ‘Ikeys’ running around, hoping for acceptance, and seeking to prove to one and all that they, unlike their co-religionists: are progressive, liberal, anti-racist, enlightened anti-Zionists, endowed with an elevated moral status and heightened sensitivity.
The Jewish Council of Australia, (JCA) formed in February 2024 is an excellent example of this pathetic genre. It purports to represent a growing number of Jewry and bleats the old hackneyed tropes that:
“The aim of Zionism — as with other versions of settler colonialism in countries like Australia — is to replace the indigenous people on their land with settlers. A lot of early Zionist ideologues were very open about this fact; the point was to conquer the land. The early Zionist project culminated in the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their land during the Nakba”.
This pathetic and deeply flawed generalization, ignoring history, archeology and the Bible is a typical example of this stunted ideology blinding its believers to reality.
There has been a huge rise in antisemitism in Australia, but one of the esteemed cofounders of this organization in a prime example of warped logic and self-deception claims:
“The harassment of Jews has come from fervent supporters of the Israeli government among the Jewish community as well as from “more blatant and openly violent” neo-Nazis”
Shortly after October 7th, on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, there was a mass demonstration of Muslims in support of and in jubilation joyously celebrating the massacre with shouts of “Gas the Jews” and other virulently antisemitic slogans. Naturally, in their eyes, the Muslims who were there and the leftist students at the universities harassing and intimidating Jewish students were as pure as the driven snow. And lest we forget, all those Hamas and Hezbollah flags at the anti-Israel demonstrations. Who were their supporters that were waving them? Were they the “fervent supporters of the Israeli government among the Jewish community”?
The organization’s mission statement that “We are committed to the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world), calling out injustice, challenging assumptions and promoting debate” is an exercise in unashamed hypocrisy, blatant bias and pure pusillanimity. Hamas and Hezbollah are universally proscribed terror organizations whose covenant openly declares their aim of destroying the state of Israel. On October 7th 2023, Hamas invaded Israel indulging in acts of brutality and sadism that flew in the face of all civilized behaviour and shocked the world. Twelve hundred innocent people both Jews and Muslims of all ages and gender were murdered in an organized orgy of rape, sodomy, torture, maiming, burning alive and mass shootings. Two hundred and fifty more ranging from infants to infirm old people were kidnapped, held and are still being held in inhumane conditions. They have been starved, subjected to physical and psychological torture and many have been murdered.
What has been the reaction of the enlightened council’s founders to these atrocities? Not a bleat or a squeak in condemnation. The silence of the grave. Do Jewish lives not matter? Where is your much vaunted tikkun olam and calling out injustice? Where is your social conscience? Is it only limited to finding reasons to besmirch Israel? The world is rife with injustice and persecution. China persecutes the Uyghur people and is engaged in carrying out their cultural genocide. It persecutes the Falun Gong sect and engages in organ harvesting. It supports the evil regime of North Korea notorious for its human rights violations. Why your silence? But then, pragmatism dictates keeping your mouths shut. After all, Communist China is an important trading partner with big investments in Australia, most sensitive to any criticism and swift to react. We wouldn’t like to ruffle its feathers, would we? What about the millions of children starving in the Sudan? Hamas in clear contravention of norms has used and is using hospitals, schools and private homes as launch pads for attacks against Israel. Its warehouses are overflowing with food and medicines that were destined for and stolen from the civilian population, but never a word said, your only criticism has ever been against Israel. Your actions carry the strong stench of hypocrisy.
South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) is an organization in a similar mould whose lengthy and wearying mission statement/catechism contains an odious concoction of all too well worn poisonous ideological tropes, distortions and deliberate lies that easily outdoes the Australian one. For all of us who do not have the fortitude to wade through this self righteous, verbose swamp, its content can be summed up in a few words: Israel, an apartheid state, is the pawn of Western imperialist, colonialist powers and Zionism is a corrosive force that corrupts and destroys. A few choice examples from the catechism: Zionism “is built on inequality, exclusion, settler-colonialism and violent ethnic cleansing and asserts an ethnic supremacy which is fundamentally racist.” It also demands that all Jews place the state of Israel at the centre of Jewish existence, distorting and destroying other cherished parts of Jewish identity.”
Israel is also quite obviously an apartheid state, for “it also discriminates against Mizrachi, Arab and African Jews. SAJFP rejects the unfounded assumption that all Jews are white or access white privilege.” – a statement so ridiculous and twisted that it is beneath all contempt.
A prime example of ideological contortionism: “Zionism is not Judaism and the effort to conflate the two is itself a form of antisemitism because it reduces a diverse and dynamic cultural and religious group to a nation state.”
While the organization states: “SAJFP takes an anti- violence position” they also: “support the rights of the Palestinians to resist their oppression” and since they view: “the occupation of Palestine as violence”, they consequently “support the rights of the Palestinians to rise up against these (and other forms) of violence.” It doesn’t require much effort to read between the lines and see why the SAJFP, true to form, has shockingly remained silent about and tacitly condoned the October 7th massacre.
Amongst other of their organized activities, on the 9th August, the SAJFP dutifully picketed the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre because they felt it did not relate to the “genocide” in Gaza where they likened the behaviour of the Israeli army to that of the Nazis. In keeping with their self righteousness, the members recited the Kaddish (mourner’s prayer) for the Gaza dead. The report on their site of this event ends with: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will soon be free.” – the well-known clarion call, genocidal in intent, for the destruction of the Jewish State.
South African Jewry is currently experiencing a growing tidal wave of institutionalized and violent antisemitism that does not distinguish between the ideologies of the members of the community. SAJFP carries on its banner that: “it is fundamentally opposed to antisemitism.” Has it ever raised its voice in protest? Does their site mention any activities against or any condemnation whatsoever of this despicable phenomenon? Of course not, but if you are looking for information about BDS, cutting all ties with, sanctioning Israel and its elimination, then you have come to the right place.
The civilized world swiftly condemned the October 7th massacre and expressed its outrage and revulsion. Tragically, these two Jewish organizations, in their blind adherence to their distorted ideologies, have chosen to remain silent. They have a legitimate right to disagree with Zionism and to their opinions whatsoever. But, to willfully ignore the sadistic murder of twelve hundred of their fellow Jews, man, woman and child and the plight of another two hundred and fifty who were kidnapped and if still alive, are suffering in inhumane conditions simply because they are not on their side of the political spectrum is incomprehensible and unforgivable. It is the silence of assent. They have demonstrated an utter callousness and are devoid of one iota of compassion. They have negated their own Judaism and humanity.
Jewish history is tragically replete with so many instances of obsequious ‘little Ikeys‘bending over backwards to placate others and how they ended. Jewish humour reflects its history, the Jewish condition and its accumulated wisdom. It is mainly in a low key and very often is a ‘bittere gelegte‘ (Yiddish for bitter laughter) containing a poignant message that conveys unpleasant truths. There is a story of two Jews that walked into a bar. One was orthodox and a Zionist, the other was a confirmed atheist and fervent anti- Zionist and the bartender said:
“We don’t serve Jews here!”
Let all these misguided ideologues read and take heed.
About the writer:
Stephen Schulman is a graduate of the South African Jewish socialist youth movement Habonim, who immigrated to Israel in 1969 and retired in 2012 after over 40 years of English teaching. He was for many years a senior examiner for the English matriculation and co-authored two English textbooks for the upper grades in high school. Now happily retired, he spends his time between his family, his hobbies and reading to try to catch up on his ignorance.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Stephen, to add to your piece about our very ‘noble and progressive’ brethren, it took UN Women to issue a muffled condemnation of the violence and rape of Jewish women, albeit more than 50 days after the massacre of 7 October, and knowing where the UN comes from, was an extraordinary call from that source in itself.
To date, and to the best of my knowledge, not a single woman of those almost 700 hundred ‘concerned South Africa Jews’ who penned their letter, widely published in mainstream media, have been moved to comment / condemn the sexual violence against Jewish women on 10/7. One must assume that a fair percentage of those signatories are themselves women.
In contrasts the silence on the violence against Jewish women the #MeToo movement in the UK, where around 100 women have come forward accusing the now-deceased former Harrods boss of sexual abuse, and according the UK media are all being believed
These so called “liberal Jews with a conscience” should heed a lesson that is particularly close to home for South African Jewry. During the Apartheid years, many Jews were also driven by their “concience” to defend and actively support the liberation movements, while the South African Jewish Board of Deputies was regularly vilified for taking a neutral stance to the Apartheid system. The payback for those liberal Jews, many of them living in Israel and Australia, is that the very liberation movements that they went to great lengths to support , even facing improsonment, have today become leaders of the the onslaught against Israel. I’m tempted to quote much hated prime minister P.W.Botha, who coined the phrase “Total onslaught” as an apt description of what Israel is today facing, including attacks by members of our own faith, not only in South Africa and Australia, but in the United States and the United Kingdom. Understandbly, the French Jewish community which is facing its own onslaught, has not participated in pro Palestinian anti Israel protests.
Stephen, thank you for writing your article. The self-hating/anti-Zionist Jews are pathetic negative personalities, with nothing positive or constructive to say.