by YORGOS MITRALIAS
We republish the following text because it is now even more timely and even more useful than when it was first published in August 2021. Why? Because Netanyahu and his government are doing everything they can to fully confirm what Einstein had already observed and publicly denounced in 1948: That Menachem Begin and his Likud friends, of whom Netanyahu is the ideological heir and faithful follower of their policies, are “fascists”, “racists”, “criminals” and “terrorists” who will inevitably lead Israel to its “final destruction”.
We have no doubt that if he were alive today, Einstein would be at the forefront of the demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, hand in hand with the brave young Jews of If Not Now, and he would be very proud of them. And that he would agree with another great Jew, the only surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the co-founder of the legendary Polish Solidarnosc labor union, Marek Edelman, when he compared the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to the Palestinian struggle.
Of course, it is no coincidence that photographs of the actions of the Jewish pro-Palestinian If Not Now movement illustrated our text more than two years ago. Since then, hundreds of other young Jews have joined the ranks of this anti-Zionist movement, which is now capable of mobilizing thousands of demonstrators almost everywhere in the United States, to the extent that the great lady of the Palestinian people, Hanan Ashrawi, praised If Not Now on Al Jazeera (10/29/23), emphasizing how valuable its struggle is for the Palestinians at this terrible moment in their history. Surely, this exemplary struggle of his is much more than a mere ray of hope now that it is almost midnight in our century …
What would you say if the notorious racist and anti-semite prime minister of Hungary Victor Orban accused Einstein of … anti-semitism? And Hanna Arendt as well? Together with the most iconic author of Holocaust literature Primo Levi? Unimaginable and unrealistic? Not at all. On the contrary, that is exactly what is happening today, and – what is more – it is happening on a global scale. Moreover, such attacks do not come only from people like Orban, but from a host of distinguished racists and anti-semites who, with the blessings of a variety of political establishments, use that label to destroy their political opponents – usually left-wing anti-fascists and anti-racists !…
This is not a marginal or topical phenomenon. It is part of a real war machinery set up over the last 3-4 years by the political structures of the right, the extreme right and even of social democracy to wipe out their progressive present or future rivals. Among them Jeremy Corbyn in the UK (who in the end was exterminated), Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France (who survived but was severely ‘injured’) or Jewish American Berni Sanders in the US (who fought back and managed to scare them off thanks to the mobilization of radicalized young American Jews).
In all these cases, even the slightest criticism of Israel’s policies or the slightest support for the rights of the Palestinian people led to an all-out political and media attack on the ‘culprit’, getting close to a public lynching, accusing him of being … anti-semite! And as if that were not enough, several of the many right-wing governments of the European Union or in the United States have recently taken a further step: they have passed laws that – in the name of fighting anti-semitism – forbid or criminalize any criticism of the brutal policies of (far right) governments of Israel… Jews won’t be free until Palestinians are
And so, the fact that the only criterion for the definition of modern anti-semitism turns out to be the attitude towards Israel and its governments has led to the following tragicomic situation: We witness the various Netanyahu’s and their supporters to honour as “partners of Israel” and “strategic allies” notorious racists and anti-semites of the far right, such as the leaders of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, such as the former president of the United States Donald Trump, European politicians belonging to the far right like Salvini, Wilders and De Winter or American Evangelists and so many others, while at the same time famous anti-racists and anti-fascists – many of whom are actually … Jewish (!) – are denounced as “anti-semites”, even though they have spent most of their lifetime fighting against anti-semites such as the present “friends of Israel”.
That is why the “strategic ally” and great friend of Netanyahu and of his political descendants, the prime minister of Hungary Victor Orban, could very well accuse and bring to trial today the Jew Alberto Einstein on charges of anti-semitismm because he had dared to send the following “scandalous” open letter to the New York Times, 73 years ago:
CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt) more