University Wire
April 13, 2005 Wednesday
Slander by former Malaysian leader degrades Jewish feats and efforts
By David Keyes, Daily Bruin; SOURCE: UCLA
LOS ANGELES
Jews control the world. They have infiltrated the top echelons of
American politics. They dictate policy and tirelessly pursue their
“Jewish” agendas.
While this is mostly untrue, I only wish it were so.
Far from being ashamed, I proudly salute the prominence, prestige and
vast contributions of the Jewish people.
In fact, my people are so beautiful and so ethical that I wish we
controlled more. Much good will come of our extended inclusion in
society and politics.
Former Malaysian Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad recently reiterated
the age-old canard that Jews rule the world.
What could he have meant by such a statement? Do Jews not deserve
power? Surely it is bigoted to mark people of a certain faith as
unacceptable for assuming prominent positions.
To treat Jews specifically by a double standard is an attribute of
anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
Beyond the stupidity of such a statement, it is flat out ignorant.
Jewish contributions to the world are as numerous as they are
wonderful. They should be cherished — not stigmatized and repelled.
>From the shackles of Egyptian enslavement to the Holocaust, Jews have
suffered a long and arduous history.
And throughout it all we have found refuge in belief, customs, debate
and upright morality.
Based on our own suffering, the Jewish people have gained a unique
insight into the anguish of the weak, the cruelty of absolutist
ideology and the consequences of indifference to evil.
>From the beginning, Jews have been among the leading voices
denouncing genocide and crimes against humanity.
Starting in 1915, America shamefully looked away as over 1 million
Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Empire.
The United States chose neutrality and silence, hardly issuing a
whimper of disapproval.
It was up to Henry Morgenthau, Sr. — a Jew — to vociferously oppose
the Armenian Genocide. As American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire,
Morgenthau spoke out against the viciousness of Mehmed Talaat, the
Turkish interior minister, and the flaccidity of American
policymakers.
Similarly, the United States barely condemned the Khmer Rouge and
their notorious killing fields on which 2 million Cambodians died.
Later, America even supported that same genocidal regime.
But a brave few, led by Jewish Congressman Stephen Solarz, were
outraged at the pathetic response to the genocide.
Solarz drew upon his people’s history in the Holocaust to understand
such evil. He spent a year and a half trying to pass a resolution in
the House urging President Carter to stop the killings.
Israel, the Jewish homeland, was in fact the first country to speak
of the Cambodian genocide in the United States. Jewish New York Times
columnist William Safire assiduously called on the world to act
against the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.
Christopher Hitchens, another writer of Jewish descent, remains one
of the foremost Kurdish sympathizers and supporters. While the world
stood by as Kurds were massacred by Saddam Hussein’s poison gas,
Hitchens advocated well-deserved Kurdish autonomy, protection and
human rights.
Of course, this is not to say that every Jew is a good person. Good
and bad people obviously exist among every faith.
Nor is this to say that Jews are better than anyone else.
In the final analysis, it is one’s actions, not gender, religion or
nationality, that matters most.
That said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with patriotic and
believing Jews attaining positions of power in America or anywhere
else.
What, for example, do Jews do with our supposed vast sums of money?
We donate to charity.
In one year alone, in the 1990s, the “United Jewish Appeal raised
more money than any other charity in America, including the Salvation
Army, American Red Cross, Catholic Charities and the American Cancer
Society,” according to one study.
Jews also put their brains to great use. Vitamins and the vaccine for
polio were invented by Jews. Forty percent of America’s Nobel Prize
winners in science and economics have been Jews as well.
Not bad for a people that constitute about 2 percent of the American
populace.
Perhaps most importantly, it is directly from Jewish tradition and
the Hebrew Bible that the world received the basis for our system of
Western ethics — not to mention the radical idea of absolute
monotheism.
The lessons of Jewish history have taught us great justice, morality
and a keen understanding of humanity.
Just as the prophets did in ancient times, today’s Jews serve as a
conscience to the world.
Anti-Semitic slander, such as comments from Malaysia’s former prime
minister, are utter rubbish and only do a disservice to the world.
>From the Ten Commandments to advocating human rights, the Jewish
people’s deeds and accomplishments should be celebrated and emulated
by all.