Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: l'antisemitismo degli intellettuali

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4229653,00.html
 
 
Academia’s Jew haters
 
Op-ed: Academic world has become vehicle for promoting anti-Semitic
libel in guise of anti-Zionism
 
Asaf Romirowsky
 
In a recent lecture at the University of Oslo, Norwegian sociologist
Professor Johan Galtung claimed there was a possible connection
between the terrorist responsible for the massacre of youths in Norway
last summer and the Mossad. “The Jews control US media, and divert for
the sake of Israel,” he said. Galtung added that one of the factors
behind the anti-Semitic sentiment that led to Auschwitz was the fact
that Jews held influential positions in German society. He also
recommended reading the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Coming from one of the founders of the discipline called “Peace
Studies and Conflict Resolution,” as well as a founder of the
international Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Galtung’s remarks were
both shocking and depressingly familiar.
It is under the guise of peace that Galtung launched a ferocious
ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel. A neo-Marxist scholar, he has
spent much of his career perpetuating the notion that Israel is a
colonial state, a concept that was later adopted and popularized by
the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said.
In a 1971 article “The Middle East and Theory of Conflict,” published
in the Journal of Peace Research, Galtung wrote that “Israel was
conceived in sin, born in sin and grew up in sin.” He described the
Balfour Declaration (and the UN Partition Proposal) as one of “the
most tragic mistakes of recent history,” and blamed Israel for
starting and fueling the conflict. His views have not deviated from
this but have only become more hostile, not to mention bizarre and
conspiratorial.
History and culture matter, but Galtung demonstrates how, in the hands
of intellectuals, “sin” matters more, and academic “peace studies”
becomes a means to recycle anti-Semitic forgeries and conspiracies.
Galtung’s approval of the Protocols is especially horrendous. Though
demonstrated as a forgery almost a century ago, the book continues to
circulate throughout the world and has spawned its own spin-offs of
Jewish conspiracies.
As Bernard Lewis explained, the American spin-off was “specially
designed for an American audience, a speech by Benjamin Franklin
urging the Founding Fathers not to admit Jews to the new republic, and
warning them of the dire consequences if they disregarded his words.
The speech is a total fabrication, but was not without its effect. A
less troublesome and widely used method was simply to assign a Jewish
origin to anyone whom it was desired to discredit, and then to use
that person to discredit the Jews.”
Khomeini, Hitler, pre-eminent Islamist intellectual Sayyid Qutb and
Arafat all cited the Protocols as history and inspiration. Indeed,
Galtung places himself in enlightened company. And his accusation that
Israel may have secretly behind the terrible massacre of teenagers by
a Norwegian far-right killer combines both the traditional view of
Jews as conspirators with a Jewish blood libel.
Galtung’s view may be especially disturbing but evidence suggests they
are far from uncommon among European academics. For example, in the
past we have seen 123 academicians sign an open letter, published in
Britain’s The Guardian, calling for a moratorium on all cultural links
with Israel. Recently, the University of Paris 8 closed its doors for
two days to avoid taking a stance against a planned conference against
the Jewish State.
Harassment of Israeli speakers and Jewish supporters of Israel is
spreading. Israeli historian Benny Morris was assaulted by a mob after
a lecture in London. Criticism of Israel has long since turned into
demonization and calls for its extinction. This unique treatment
signified anti-Semitism.
Academia at large has made Jews the canary in the coal mine. If
universities are indicators of social trends, and anti-Semitism is
becoming more acceptable - in the guise of anti-Zionism - then there
is a problem society-wide.

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