Dublin: Holocaust survivor speaks out against Israel & the Siege of Gaza, endorses Boycott campaign

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | feature Tuesday February 02, 2010 09:33 by Kev - IPSC (pers cap)

Meeting addressed by Dr. Hajo Meyer, Dr. Haidar Eid and Sara Kreshnar

Dr.Hajo Meyer - Holocaust survivor

On Saturday 30th January Auschwitz survivor Dr. Hajo Meyer, Dr. Haidar Eid of the Islamic University in Gaza and Sara Kershnar of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) addressed a standing room only crowd of over 140 people in the Central Hotel in Dublin. The public meeting, entitled “The Misuse of the Holocaust for Political Purposes”, was organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) as part of a high profile speaking tour hosted by IJAN and the Scottish PSC.

Related Links:
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Global BDS Movement
Dr. Haidar Eid

-- We hope to have a video of the meeting up soon - please check here or the IPSC website in the next week or so, thanks.--

First to speak was Dr. Haidar Eid who addressed the audience via video from besieged Gaza – which he has been unable to leave for several years. He gave a harrowing description of the situation in Gaza today. He reported that one year after Israel’s brutal assault on the region which left over 1,400 people, thousands injured and thousands more homeless, and destroyed the infrastructure of Gaza, the Israeli blockade is still preventing even basic rebuilding supplies from entering the strip.

Dr. Eid called on people in Ireland to do all they can to help end the siege and the untold suffering that is part and parcel of it. Quoting famed Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, he described Israel’s actions towards the people of Palestine as being a “slow-motion genocide”. He ended by calling for the stepping up of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

Dr. Meyer, who 65 years ago survived ten months in the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, then spoke to the rapt crowd.

Reflecting on the fact that it was the end of Holocaust Memorial Week, he despaired of the use of the Holocaust as a political weapon wielded by the state of Israel and its supporters to silence critics of that Apartheid regime. He called this the ‘Holocaust Religion’, of which Elie Wiesel was High Priest. Indeed, the doctor opened by saying that Israel was not a Jewish state in any sense he understood, it was in fact a Zionist state and that Zionism was the antipode of pre-WWII liberal Judaism.

Dr. Meyer said: “Pre-World War Two Judaism was humanitarian and universalistic in outlook, under which all humans were considered equal.” The doctor contrasted this with political Zionism, “as it now exists in practice, which is xenophobic, nationalist, colonialist and racist. It is an ideology that seeks the maximum number of Palestinians concentrated onto the smallest amount of land”.

Commenting on what he viewed as the fallacious idea that the existence of the State of Israel was a ‘protector’ of Jews, the doctor pointed out that “the existence of the Chinese State has never prevented a single anti-Chinese pogrom in Indonesia for example”.

Dr. Meyer further went on to say that the lesson modern Zionism wants people to learn from the Holocaust is that “we Jews have a monopoly on suffering. Therefore, whatever we do to the Palestinians – or anyone else - however horrible, is less that what we suffered” and therefore excusable.

The doctor pointed to a recent address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN in which he invoked the Nazi Holocaust and the numbers tattooed on survivors’ arms in a propaganda speech justifying an attack on Iran.

Dr. Meyer contrasted this with the lesson he learned from the Nazi Holocaust, which was that “only those who are themselves dehumanised can attempt to dehumanise others, for example to inflict sufferings such as collective punishment. I personally never want to inflict suffering on anybody.”

Dr. Meyer continued by saying that “Israel has not the slightest wish to make peace – to Israel peace is an entirely ambivalent term, its means only the peace and freedom to continue carrying out its crimes against the Palestinian people”, and as such, he fully supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel as a progressive non-violent method of international resistance to Israeli crimes.

Dr. Meyer commented: “Israel is a world champion at pretending to be an enlightened civilised nation – and nowhere more so than in the realms of academia and the arts. And therefore the BDS campaign, especially in the areas of the cultural and academic boycott, is one of the most effective weapons at our disposal”.

Dr. Meyer concluded by making clear that “Israelis should not be dehumanised. However, Israel is dehumanising itself through its treatment of Palestinians, and this will be its downfall.”

Following on, Sara Kershnar, spoke about the global work of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network of which both she and Dr. Meyer are members. For more information on JIAN, please see http://www.ijsn.net Ms. Kershnar also reiterated the call for the BDS campaign, and along with IPSC Chairperson Dr. David Landy, highlighted the growing opposition to the Zionist state of Israel amongst Jewish communities worldwide.

In a final rousing contribution from the floor, Mick Napier of the Scottish PSC reminded everyone present that in the dark days of South African Apartheid in the 1980s, the news that Irish women working for Dunnes Stores were on strike for refusing to handle South African goods, while a small but important act of resistance in Ireland, had a huge positive effect among anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa and worldwide. Mr. Napier concluded that there was no reason why Ireland shouldn’t again be able to play such a role in helping bring about the defeat of Israeli Apartheid today.

In summing up the meeting, Dr. Landy, speaking from the chair, urged people to not just go home with a sense of anger, but to convert that anger into action and get involved in pro-Palestine activism and the BDS movement in this country through the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He pointed out that the IPSC is a multi-faceted campaign that works at grassroots, civil society and political lobbying levels and seeks to build the widest possible support in Irish society for the Palestinian cause – and there is always room for new members in the campaign. For more information on the IPSC please see http://www.ipsc.ie.

After the Q&A session, the meeting, which was the final event in the IPSC’s national Gaza: A Month of Remembrance program, finished with a long and enthusiastic standing ovation for the speakers.

L-R: Dr David Landy (IPSC Chairperson), Dr. Hajo Meyer (IJAN), Sara Kershnar (IJAN) and Dr. Haidar Eid (via video from Gaza)

Dr. Haidar Eid of the Islamic University in Gaza address the audience from Gaza

Sara Kershnar

A section of the audience, with Dr. Meyer's partner Chris in front, second from the right