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I Am Anti Zionist , As I Would Have Been Anti Nazi

By Agustin Velloso

12 January, 2011
Countercurrents.org

A response to an invitation to dialogue extended by the Ambassador of Israel in Spain

Mr. Raphael Schutz
Ambassador of Israel in Spain
Vía e-mail
Madrid, 30th December 2010

Sir,
I refer to your letter, dated December 27th and sent by e-mail on the evening of the 29th, commenting on my article En estas Navidades (no) siente a un sionista a su mesa.

Although it is not significant, may I mention in the first place that it was not published on a personal blog, but on a score of reputable web pages of national and international diffusion, mainly in Latin America. You begin by writing "I have no intention of indicating all the errors it contains".

Please go ahead. You are free to do so. If this were the case, and as Iyob said to those who denigrated him, "even if it were true I had erred, this mistake would be of my own incumbency".

All the more, if I have erred, it has been of no avail; I am not Palestinian, I am not an Arab, I am not a Muslim, nor do I request or receive payment for my anti Zionism. This is a substantial difference between you and me. You defend your interests, that is to say your own and that of the Zionists. For this reason, your errors and those of your group are always under suspicion.

Nevertheless, I will not indicate these errors here, as I have done this over the years in the numerous articles I have published.

You continue with an invitation:

"The object of this letter is quite simply to invite you to a meeting with me at the Embassy or wherever you prefer. No one needs to know this meeting takes place, should this be your desire. I do not seek publicity, but dialogue, and I have no problem in meeting with an anti Zionist."

I appreciate your invitation, but it is obvious that neither you nor I have anything to offer each other with that meeting.

As Ambassador of a state that violates international law since it was established, disobeys United Nations’ resolutions, illegally occupies and colonises Arab territory, attacks defenceless civilians causing thousands of dead and injured, subjects the entire population of the Gaza Strip – more than half of whom are children – to a siege which hardly varies from that imposed by the Nazis in the concentration camps, you are of the same opinion as the people responsible for those crimes, your superiors Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Lieberman.

I am well aware of this way of thinking; everybody is, from New York to Jakarta, from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg and, of course, nobody better than the Palestinians, Lebanese and other Arab peoples.

The Zionists take great effort in convincing the whole world that Israel is a decent country. The dialogue to which you invite me is standard procedure employed by Zionists to appease the moral repulse Israel provokes daily, namely the incarnation of this way of thinking in the Middle East. I am acquainted with this too.

Perhaps this way of proceeding works with some misinformed people and maybe successful with those expecting to benefit from supporting Zionism, but for most people, myself included, no empty slogan, such as "peace process", "fight against terror", "Palestinian extremism", "painful concessions", "constructive dialogue" and others of similar contents, can even remotely conceal the reality I have mentioned above and which can be summarised as follows: Israel is a stubborn delinquent state whose existence is an affront to humanity and a danger to world peace.

I have conversed with Jews for many years, but you are the first person to approach me for dialogue. Up to now, it has been me who has approached them, because I needed to make sure I was not making mistakes in my contribution as a professor and writer to the cause of "justice and, as a consequence, peace" (Isaiah) in Palestine.

I have conversed, and I still do, with Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappé, Michael Warschawsky, activists of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, Israeli Doctors pro Human Rights, Israeli Women against the Occupation, the Sarvanim, and other Jews opposed to Zionist policies.

I read Ahad Ha’am, Martin Buber, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Simcha Flapan, Gideon Levy, Uri Avneri, Richard Falk, Richard Goldstone and other Jews to balance the Zionist propaganda which abounds.

The way of thinking and conduct of all have enlightened me regarding Zionism and how I should judge it. You therefore have nothing to offer me. I admit that I do not have anything of interest to offer you either. I consider I have replied to the final comment of your letter, what you call "the classical Zionism to which I belong". What could I contribute in that meeting? Nothing that you do not know, basically that the ideology of Zionism and Israel as its embodiment are incompatible not only with international law, but more importantly with the human and political rights of Palestinians and world peace.

Although I do not consider the possibility of continuing as you suggest at the end of your letter, I have no objection to you knowing I am anti Zionist in today’s world, as I would have been anti Nazi had I lived in Europe during the Thirties and Forties of the 20th Century, and anti Spanish had I lived during the Edict of Expulsion from Granada.

In any case, I will always be pro Jew, pro Palestinian, pro Human Being. My Jewish blood, which according to Tarbut Sefarad is mine through my mother (my second surname is Santisteban), has no influence in this attitude.

Regards,

Agustín Velloso

Mr. Agustin Velloso Santisteban

Via e-mail

Madrid, 27th December 2010

Dear Mr Velloso Santisteban:

I have read your note "En estas Navidades (no) siente a un sionista a su mesa" published in your blog last 16th December.

I have no intention of indicating all the errors it contains. The object of this letter is quite simply to invite you to a meeting with me at the Embassy or wherever you prefer. No one needs to know this meeting takes place, should this be your desire. I do not seek publicity, but dialogue, and I have no problem in meeting with an anti Zionist.

Just a comment about your note: you introduce yourself as anti-Zionist, then let me ask you: What is Zionism? If this entails preventing Palestinians right to self-determination and to live as free people in their own country, then I would not consider myself a Zionist either.

The classical Zionism to which I belong is nothing but our right, the right of the Jewish people, to self-determination in our own state. If you are against this right, we have nothing more to talk about, but you should ask yourself -and I hope you do it with sincerity- why you are against this right when many other people around the world do enjoy this right, and why you deny the existence of approximately 50 Muslim countries but negate one single national state for the Jewish people. That is all for now, it is up to you to continue further discussion.

Yours,

Raphael Schutz

Ambassador of Israel in Spain

** Translated from Spanish by Agustin Velloso

 




 


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