Israel Shamir

From Wikinfo

Jump to: navigation, search
File:Shamir.jpg
Israel Shamir

Israel Shamir is a writer and journalist who is known as a controversial anti-Zionist. He is a citizen of Sweden, where his legal name is Adam Ermash [1] (previously J�ran Jermas). He was born Adam Israel Shamir in Russia. He also maintains a residence in Jaffa, Israel

Contents

Shamir's account

The following account comes from his home page[2]:

Shamir was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, in 1950. A grandson of a professor of mathematics and a descendant of a Rabbi from Tiberias, Palestine, he studied at the School of the Academy of Sciences, and read Math and Law at Novosibirsk University. In 1969, he moved to Israel, served as paratrooper in the army and fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

After his military service he resumed his study of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but abandoned the legal profession in pursuit of a career as a journalist and writer. He got his first taste of journalism with Israel Radio, and later went freelance. His varied assignments included covering Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the last stages of the war in South East Asia. In 1975, Shamir joined the BBC and moved to London. In 1977-79 he wrote for the Israeli daily Maariv and other papers from Japan. While in Tokyo, he wrote Travels with My Son, his first book, and translated a number of Japanese classics.

After returning to Israel in 1980, Shamir wrote for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz and the newspaper Al Hamish:mar, and worked in the Knesset as the spokesman for Mapam (a Socialist Israeli political party). He translated the works of Shmuel Yosef Agnon, to Russian. His work was published and reprinted many times in both Israel and in Russia. His most popular work, The Pine and the Olive, the story of Palestine/Israel, was published in 1988. Its cover carried a painting by the Ramallah painter, Nabil Anani. It was republished in an updated version in 2004 by Ultraculture, Moscow.

As the First Intifada began, Shamir had left Israel for Russia, where he covered the eventful years 1989-1993. While in Moscow, he reported for Haaretz, but was fired for publishing an article calling for the return the Palestinian refugees and the rebuilding of their ruined villages. He wrote for various Russian newspapers and magazines, including the daily Pravda and the weekly Zavtra. In 1993, he returned to Israel and settled in Jaffa. He wrote for Russian newspapers both in Israel and Russia and contributed to various literary magazines. During this period, he also worked on a new translation of the Odyssey, which was published in 2000 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In response to the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Shamir abandoned his literary occupation and resumed his work as a journalist.

In 2003 Shamir stated publicly that he had converted to Greek Orthodox Christianity.[3]

Shamir's account questioned

In 2003, journalists working for Monitor in Norway and Expo in Sweden began to investigate Shamir's background. They discovered several anomalies. Whereas the CV suggested that he had worked for the BBC in London and later for Haaretz in Israel (while stationed in Moscow), the journalists could only confirm that he had submitted a handful of freelance articles to Haaretz. They also discovered that he was a Swedish citizen since 1992, which wasn't mentioned in his CV, and that, according to the Swedish authorities, he had been living in Stockholm, Sweden during periods when he was supposed to be in Israel and Russia according to his CV. However, it is well-known that Shamir does maintain a home in Jaffa, Israel. Many people have visited him there and his neighbors know him well. [4][5][6]

Shamir's response

Shamir responded to Roland Rance, who questioned many aspects of his career, by saying, "Rance's article can be summarised in a few words: 'Shamir is not a Jew'." In the same piece Shamir also indicates that "my great-great-grandfather, was a well-known rabbi in Tiberias, and his son established a synagogue in his name in Stockholm, Sweden. The plaque is still there to be seen."[7]

In another piece, responding to the same issue, Shamir appears to confirm his use of the nom de plume: "I may be known as Samir in Jordan, or Irmas in Sweden, or Mirosami in Japan, or Smirnov in Russia, and even as Jersma in the Netherlands, while my real name is Israel Adam Shamir; it is quite irrelevant; as irrelevant as the "real name" of Leon Trotsky (Bernstein) or of Ariel Sharon (Schneidman) or of Andre Maurois (Wilhelm Herzog) or of Salman Rushdie when he was in hiding in Bienfait, Saskatchewan, living under an assumed name."[8]

Career

In the early 1990s Shamir appears to have been based in Moscow, where he wrote several articles for Russian publications under the name "Robert David".

In an article from 1991 in Jerusalem Post Mikhail Agursky (bio) reflected on, what he saw as, Shamir's double identity. According to Agursky, Shamir was associated with far-left groups in Israel and denounced Russian right-wing nationalists for being anti-Jewish. At the same time he became associated with anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish right-wing groups in Russia. Agursky recounted how Shamir, under the name "Robert David", had written an article for a Russian right-wing magazine where Andrei Sakharov was denounced as a harmful Zionist agent. Agursky proceeded to give the following account of Shamir's background:

As Israel Shamir (Shmerling), he came to Israel in the late 1960s from Novosibirsk and soon became an extreme leftist. He acquired an excellent command of Hebrew and published many articles in Ha'aretz, Al Hamishmar, and also The Jerusalem Post. He was also a Knesset spokesman for Mapam for some time. At the end of 1980 he published a violent article against Russian nationalism in Ha'aretz, accusing supporters of Solzhenitsyn of being the Jewish people's worst enemies. What was not known to Mapam and to other Israeli leftists and liberals was that Shamir also had close contacts with the Western and Israeli right. Shamir now lives in Moscow under the name of Robert David; and, under his own name, he now loses no opportunity to claim that Zionists are the worst enemy of the Russian people, and to call Russian liberals Zionist agents. He equates Zionism with fascism and racism. He glorified Saddam Hussein and indirectly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.[9]

According to an IPS story from August 14, 1992, Shamir was at that time associated with the group around Alexander Prokhanov and contributed to his extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic paper Dyen (spelled "Djim" in the IPS story). According to IPS, citing "Israeli sources", Shamir only "lived briefly in Israel", before returning to Russia. However, Shamir now maintains a home in Jaffa and has lived there for many years.

When Dyen (meaning "today") was closed down by the Russian authorities, Prokhanov reopened it under the name Zavtra (meaning "tomorrow"). In recent years, Shamir has been a regular contributor, using his given name, "Israel Shamir". [10] [11]

Outside Russian right-wing circles, Shamir appears to have been little known until 2001, when he set up his website and changed his name to J�ran Jermas.[12][13][14][15]

According to the Swedish authorities[16], Shamir lived in Sweden from 1984 to 1993, when he emigrated to Russia. In 1998 he again became a permanent resident of Sweden, which he still remains when he is not in Israel. He became a Swedish citizen in 1992. [17] [18] According to the CV on Shamir's homepage, he lived in Israel from 1980 to 1989, in Russia from 1989 to 1993, and then again in Jaffa, Israel since 1993. Few things are certain about Shamir's case, other than that he is Jewish, lives in Israel and Sweden, is a Leftist who maintains ties to the Right and has changed names and residences a number of times in his life.

Shamir is a founding Director of the Lausanne Based One Democratic State in Israel/Palestine[19]. He is also on the current Board of Advisors of Deir Yassin Remembered[20], an organization devoted to establishing a suitable memorial to the Victims of the Deir Yassin Massacre at the Village of Deir Yassin in 1948.

Shamir's controversial views

Jewish-Christian relations

Shamir is a strong believer that Jews should abandon Judaism and convert to Christianity. In The Marxists and the Lobby - Part II he states that "There is no tainted blood - acceptance of Christ is the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. For the Jewish problem is an ideological, not a biological problem."[21] In his essay of April 15, 2001 called Take Two, he claims that Jesus "was hated by the Supply-side bankers and economist of his day. They sentenced him to death and the Empire obliged and carried out the execution, in order to keep peace with these all-important forces."

He concludes by stating "The Jewish supremacy forces and the greed worshippers united again to crucify Christ. The US, this New Rome, again gives hand and agrees to become the executioner. Now it is our turn to decide... Two thousand years ago, the spirit of brotherhood rose again, to give hope for the second joust. If he is defeated again, we all shall become forever slaves to our faceless masters. They will destroy the Mother Earth herself, turn her into waste lands of Mordor."[22]

In his "Christmas Greetings to the Hellenes", Shamir addresses the Greek Orthodox Christian Community, and reveals that he was baptized. He deplores the fact that Hebrew speaking Israelis converts join the Catholic Church and the growing Evangelical Churches rather than the Greek Orthodox churches, claiming the Orthodox Church does not try to serve the Christian Hebrew-Speaking community, and that this is "a source of great regret" because "[t]he Jews are forever fighting Christ and the Church; there is no chance for peace in the Holy Land unless the position of the Synagogue is undermined and the Jews saved by the Church."

He also states that Vatican II and the Evangelical Churches "agreed to the idea of Two Covenants... Thus they came to the weird idea of Two Chosen Peoples - Israel of flesh and the Church. The Orthodox Church is still safe from this dangerous heresy. Only the Orthodox Church can offer true salvation to the Jews escaping their supremacist creed."[23]

Anti-Semitism

Although critics charge that Shamir makes frequent use of anti-Semitic stereotypes in his writings, a proper analysis shows that in many articles, only about 5-10% can be considered anti-Semitic. Others see Shamir as misguided or just wrong; still others regard him as a Jweish provocateur. Other critics see him as irresponsible and careless with his words. Few observers feel that Shamir wishes actual harm to come to the Jews.

To Shamir, there is something "something deeply pervert [sic]" about people who fight anti-Semitism. As he sees it, radical anti-Semitism may have a powerful effect in shifting public opinion, since, in Shamir's view, "Joe Public" will always "take his middle ground" between two opposite opinions. Therefore, by pushing anti-Semitism to the limits, opinions that were previously seen as anti-Semitic will be seen as "in the middle" and thereby become acceptable to the general public.[24]. This is one of the aspects of Shamir's views that some critics regard as irresponsible, careless, heedless, or poorly thought-out.

Blood Libel

In Bloodcurdling Libel Shamir discusses the blood libels against Jews, false accusations that Jews sacrifice Christians, especially children, and use their blood in religious rituals. Shamir argues that many of these accusations were in fact true. According to Shamir, they are believed to be false mainly because Jews automatically assume that such accusations against other Jews are false. He also states that the phrase blood libel is a "Jewish battle cry", which is used by Jews as a group to further their agenda, and especially to stifle legitimate criticism of Jews.

Shamir suggests that the kidnappings and ritual murders of Christians are carried out by a small group of Jewish "deviants", "magicians and sorcerers who would use human blood to wash off sins or to hasten Salvation". He maintains that these deviants have been protected by other Jews who automatically assumed their innocence. At one point Shamir appears to go even further, arguing that the testimony in medieval blood libel cases by Jews who had converted to Christianity has been unduly discarded.

This would seem to imply that he believes in the entire conspiracy theory about Jews murdering Christian children in secret rituals (as some converts testified), and that the practice was secretly sanctioned by the Jewish leadership (and not just carried out by deviants). On the other hand, Shamir never makes these claims explicitly in his text, and he does allow that "it is possible that the connection of blood sacrifices and matzo of Passover or homentash of Purim is but a popular belief." [25]

Jewish Conspiracy

In The Spiders Web, Shamir says that, as part of a bigger and more dangerous Judaic conspiracy, Jews dominate the media (a well-attested fact in the US media), and that in the United Kingdom the media is controlled by "extreme Judeophiles," (which also has a lot of evidence to back it up). Note that Shamir claims that the British media is controlled not by Jews but by Judeophiles, mostly Gentiles, an important difference. He says Sunday Times articles are "part of a Judaic conspiracy to besmirch Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims". Shamir also subscribes to some wild conspiracy theories that are discounted by most qualified scholars.

For instance, he says it is "quite possible" that the Beslan school massacre, genocide in Sudan, the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks, the terror attacks on Istanbul synagogues, and the August 31, 2004 suicide bombings on buses in Beersheba (for which Hamas claimed responsibility), were all "False flag" operations carried out by the Mossad. He also claims that powerful Jewish organisation" like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center, "are prominent tools for establishing the police state".

It is important to note that SPLC is not a Jewish organization, but that it works closely with the ADL and other Jewish advocacy groups. What Shamir means is that the SPLC and the ADL in overreacting in their anti-racist mania, are being censorious. Further, both groups advocate hate speech laws that many Shamir feels are totalitarian. Shamir says that "The ADL, a Judaic tool of ideological control, runs a network of informers, spies after activists and thinkers and supports every oppressive undertaking of the US Government". There is actually a lot of good evidence to support the claim that the ADL works closely with the FBI.

Further,the ADL conducted a spy ring on US activists for decades with FBI help. He says that proof of Judaic conspiracy is what he sees as "the concerted Judaic drive to bomb Iran", and proposes "a new definition of a true member of Jewry (as opposed to an individual and reluctant Jew) - it's one who wants to bomb Iran."[26] There is good evidence that the drive for military action against Iran by the US is being spearheaded by US Jewish organizations.

The Jewish Lobby

In The Marxists and The Lobby, Shamir says that the Jewish Lobby is a hard fact, and claims that "the Jewish Lobby is not a 'small group of pro-Zionist Jews', but an extremely powerful group of billionaires, media lords, and their supporters from the left to the right, from the New York Times to the Nation, from Wolfowitz of Pentagon to Rabbi Lerner of Tikkun. Shamir closes by stating that "Lyndon La Rouche the Democrat and Pat Buchanan the Republican should be supported in their fight against the Jewish Lobby."[27].

What Shamir means by this is that the plight of the Palestinians and the danger of Jewish domination of US and world poltics, economics, and military power is so great that supporters of the Palestinians should be willing to make allies with all who oppose the lobby in order to help the Palestinians. Shamir says that "Nazis are not good", but a temporary alliance with fascists is less dangerous than allowing the Lobby to run amok, destroy the Palestinians and damage the rest of the world.

In another text, Shamir seems downplay the importance of the Jewish lobby and writes:

The American Jews created Hollywood, and Hollywood made vengeance its main subject. In a way, American cinema is an expression of the Jewish collective subconscious, and it was the main factor in creation of the American psyche. From Hollywood, vengefulness flew all over the earth, and certainly helped to create the world we inhabit. In other words, there was no need for a conspiracy. Rather immature America could not withstand the impact of Jewish mentality, and she became a Jewish State, the big sister of Israel[---]This explanation allows us to answer the question we posted previously, does America support Israel because of the Jewish lobby or because of the 'true interest of American corporations'. The answer is, the Jewish lobby is a superfluous body supportive of Israeli right-wing, while America as a whole is a grander Jewish state with interests outside the Middle East as well.[28]
What Shamir means in this passage is that he believes, like Karl Marx predicted over 100 years ago, that the US has become a Jewish country. In a Jewish country, the activity of a Jewish Lobby itself would not be so important.

Poisoning Wells

In Poisoning Wells, Shamir states "For over a millennium, we Jews were connected in the European popular mind with well-poisoning, to great chagrin of our ancestors. Now, the fantasies of past become true, as some dark minds turn tales of old into today's reality." He claims a link between "Jewish behavior in Palestine and the Jewish behavior elsewhere" both in time and space: "Abba Kovner, a Jewish socialist (?) leader, had tried to poison the sources of Rein... He has received the virulent potion from a man who became afterwards the President of Israel." He claims that today a "mighty Jewish propaganda machine" promotes concepts "applied in past, notably by Adolf Hitler in his Mein Kampf, against the Jews". [29]

ZOG

In an article entitled The Shadow of Zog, Shamir promotes the notion that the American government acts at the behest of Zionists, using the imagery of the "Zionist Occupation Government" (ZOG) conspiracy theory; for example, he states that "[t]he Occupation Regime in Iraq was installed by the US army in the interests of Zionists, and it may be rightly called ZOG, Zionist Occupation Government if anything".

In his view, ZOG is a "slave of Mammon, a servant of the Shadow, he is helping the Dark force fulfill its metaphysical task, to blot out the Light of Christ and to turn our world into Godless desert. That is why he sends bulldozers to wipe out flowers in Palestine, sends troops to sack Baghdad and Damascus, threatens Paris and Moscow, perverts Christianity."[30]

On Religion and the Palestine Conflict

Shamir does not believe in the separation of church and state and has written:
Separation of Church and state, this much vaunted accomplishment of the French revolution and even more of the US founding fathers, cut off the anchors of the Western society and it drifted straight towards the rocks.[---] People live together united by an idea; this idea may (or indeed should) be their common worship and uniting communion.[31]

He has not made clear what kind of national church he envisages for Palestine, but Shamir's vision requires that the Jews abandon Judaism and convert to Greek Orthodox Christianity, or as Shamir puts it: "acceptance of Christ is the Final Solution of the Jewish Question"[32] (This refers to all Jews, not just the ones living in Israel.)

Opposition to migration

In a discussion with US Marxist historian Noel Ignatiev, Shamir declared
I share with national-socialists the belief in the existence of "organic units", but I do not consider the "nation" to be the basic organic body, nor "race" as the building element, nor "blood" as a defining factor. In my view, the organic unit is a much smaller territorial unit than the present "nation" is. For instance, in the US I would envisage New England, Dixie or the Mid-West as organic bodies. Maybe I am mistaken, and even smaller units states, regions are also organic in your country. In France, the provinces like Bretagne and Provence are organic bodies; in Germany, Bavaria, Saxony and other federal 'lands' (ie, l�nder). [---] That is why (and not because of "blood dilution", as is the case with NS), I am against migration between organic units: for instance, a Parisian's migration to rural Bretagne is as bad as a Virginia Black's migration into Montana. Your racial problem is mainly a problem of migration between organic units.[33]

In his 2003 essay on this subject, On the Move, Shamir denounces large-scale immigration to Europe as part of the "Mammonite" strategy to undermine society.

Immigration destroys cohesiveness of the host society. Mammonites do not like their society being cohesive, they prefer it thinnish and liquescent, so it would be easier to drink it up. That is why Mammonites support immigration. Immigrants conceive them as their natural allies and fail to comprehend that the Mammonites like them as vampires like fresh blood. [---] Zionism is a local disease. Its big brother, Mammonitis, is a world-wide plague, that wants to turn the world into a " Big Israel", with shopping malls and destroyed villages, settlements for the chosen few, and many-many refugees as a source of cheap labour. Zionists ruined nature of Palestine, Mammonites ruin the world environment. Zionists uprooted Palestinians, Mammonites uproot all.[34]

Links with the Far-Right

Shamir is an active supporter of coalition and interaction of Far Left and Far Right.

In Poisoning Wells, Shamir repeats: "The Jews and non-Jews would be able to live together happily, after the Jewish supremacy trend will be vanquished. However, until it is achieved, we, the friends of Palestine, should seek understanding and cooperation with all possible allies, black, white, red, green or rainbow, as blessed are the seekers of peace."[35]

Accusations of anti-Semitism

Two prominent Arab activists, Ali Abunimah and Hussein Ibish, have written an open letter regarding Shamir's Anti-semitism being unhelpful to the Palestinian cause. They cite a number of 'serious concerns' about Shamir's Anti-semitism, including this passage:

The Jewish supremacy forces and the greed worshippers united again to crucify Christ. The US, this New Rome, again gives hand and agrees to become the executioner. Now it is our turn to decide.[36]

They conclude by stating:

We do not have any need for some of what Israel Shamir is introducing into the discourse on behalf of Palestinian rights, which increasingly includes elements of traditional European anti-Semitic rhetoric. Such sentiments will harm, not help, the cause. We urge all our friends in the movement for Palestinian rights to seriously consider the long-term effects this rhetoric will have on the cause, and act accordingly.[37]

In November 2005, the French publisher of Shamir's book L'autre Visage D'isra�l (The Other Face of Israel), Abdelila Cherifi Alaoui, was sentenced to 3 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of �10000 as well as �12000 in damages. He must also pay �1500 to the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism. Alaoui was found guilty of "incitement to discrimination, exhortation to hate and violence" by the regional court of Nanterre. The court found that Shamir was attached to the standard kind of ancient anti-Semitism, where the "Jews", always in plural, were portrayed as dominators of the world in line with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which Shamir referred to as "a political pamphlet".

Bibliography

Books

  • Flowers of Galilee (in English), Dandelion 2004, ISBN 1-893302-78-4.
  • Pardes, Surge Books 2005 ISBN 1-4196-0601-8.
  • Our Lady of Sorrows, Surge Books 2005 ISBN 1-4196-0835-5.
  • Pine and Olive, (in Russian), Wahlstrom Publications, 1987.
  • Travel to Egypt, (in Russian) Tel-Aviv, 1981.
  • Obscure sites of Planet Earth, (in Russian) Glagol, Moscow, 1996.
  • Xozyaeva Diskursa, (Masters of Discourse, in Russian) Gilea, Moscow 2003.
  • Unknown Title 2d edition (in Russian) Ultracultura, Moscow 2004.
  • Carri armati e ulivi della Palestina � Il fragore del silenzio (Tanks and olives in Palestine, in Italian) � Editrice C.T.R. Pistoia 2002.
  • Blomar fr� Galilea. Essay fr� kanten av avgrunnen, (in Neo-Norwegian) Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo, 2002 [translated by Hans Olav Brendberg].
  • L'autre Visage d'Isra�l, (in French) �ditions Balland-Blanche, Paris 2003.
  • L'autre Visage d'Isra�l, (in French) �ditions Al Qalam, Paris 2004.
  • Pardes (in French) Paris �ditions Al Qalam, 2005.
  • Blommor i Galil�en, (in Swedish), Alhambra, Malmo 2004 (�vers. av Ingvar Rydberg). [38]
  • La lluvia verde de Yassouf (in Spanish), Ojeda, Barcelona 2004.
  • Rasszista Allam or Racist State, (in Hungarian) Kairosz, Budapest 2004 ISBN 963 9484 90 3.
  • Blumen aus Galil�a, (in German), Promedia, Wien 2005 ISBN 3-85371-231-2.

Translations

  • S.Y.Agnon, In the Heart of the Seas, Wahlstrom Publication, Jerusalem-Stockholm,1981 S.Y.Agnon, In the Heart of the *Seas, Raduga, Moscow, 1991.
  • S.Y.Agnon, In the prime of her life, Panorama, Moscow, 1996 ISBN 45-85220-487-0.
  • S.Y.Agnon, Collected Stories, Gesharim, Jerusalem 2004 ISBN 5-93273-148-6.
  • J.Joyce Sirens, Cyclops (chapters from Ulysses ), 22 magazine Tel-Aviv, 1984.
  • J.Joyce Sirens, Cyclops (chapters from Ulysses), �Vremja i my �, New York.
  • J.Joyce Sirens, Cyclops (chapters from Ulysses), Anthology � The Blue Laguna (Kuzminsky ed.).
  • J.Joyce Sirens, Cyclops (chapters from Ulysses), Raduga, Moscow, 2000 ISBN 5-05-005113-4.
  • H. Herzog, Arab-Israeli Wars, OPI publication, London, 1986 [39] republished Moscow 2004. [40]
  • R. Chandler, Playback, Tel Aviv, 1986.
  • G. Mocked, Metamorphoses, Leningrad, 1992.
  • Homer, Odyssey, Aletheia, St. Petersburg, 2000.
  • Abraham Zacuto, The Book of Lineage, 608 pages, Zacuto Foundation 2006

ISBN 1-4196-1893-8 English annotated translation of medieval Hebrew chronicles.

External links

Persondata
NAME Shamir, Israel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jermas, J�ran
SHORT DESCRIPTION Swedish writer, journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Novosibirsk, Siberia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
[[fr:Isra�l Shamir]]

References

Retrieved from "http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Israel_Shamir"
Personal tools
In other languages