3. The Hamas electoral victory, Hugo Chavez, and the American Jewish Congress, by G.S.
22nd February 2006
Posting 3. to General (no specific category), by George Salzman
Subject: Re: John V. Whitbeck, Roma and USQuagmire
From: George Salzman <>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:51:26 -0600
To: Bill Templer <>
CC: Jack Rosen <>,
David Smith <>,
Benjamin Melançon <>,
Mazin Qumsiyeh <>,
James Herod <>
Oaxaca, Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the Whitbeck article, “De-demonize Hamas and Support Democracy” which I did see earlier on Quagmire. In fact, yesterday morning when the deluge of Quagmire mail began I immediately wrote to Samia Saleh <> and got onto option 3, which allows me to look at the list archives and to post, but doesn’t mail me anything. I’m not interested in all the details of stuff that doesn’t give me substantially more understanding, and will rely on learning about what I want to know from my own browsing and a few folks who alert me from time to time, you among them. … I began to read your article on the Roma at www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue40/Templer40.htm, and intend to finish it to learn more. It’s impressive to me how much you manage to do.
Nancy called my attention to an article in Al Jazeera, namely
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4FE8ED0B-FEEF-4DB6-8A6C-43BD993992D3.htm
Venezuela ready to receive Hamas, Aljazeera
Monday 13 February 2006, 23:44 Makka Time, 20:44 GMT
Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel said Hamas is welcomeVenezuela has said it will welcome leaders from Hamas “with pleasure” if they visit the country as part of a South American tour after victory in Palestinian elections.
Asked whether the Venezuelan government will receive the Islamic resistance group, Jose Vicente Rangel, the country’s vice-president, told reporters on Monday: “Of course we will. What is the problem?
“If they come, with pleasure. They’ve just won an election.”
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have insisted they would not deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in aid unless the group recognises Israel and renounces violence.
Hamas, responsible for scores of deadly attacks against Israelis, has refused to abandon its calls for Israel’s destruction or give up its weapons.
The United States and Europe consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.
Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s president, frequently criticises what he calls US imperialist dominance in world affairs and has often expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
The leftist leader has said his government will be one of the first to recognise an independent Palestinian state.
Rangel said this month that Hamas was expected to visit Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela as part of a regional tour to celebrate its electoral victory.
On Monday, he said he did not know when Hamas would arrive because the visit was not confirmed.
Hamas unwelcome
The New York-based American Jewish Congress has urged Latin American countries not to welcome Hamas.
Jack Rosen, the chairman of the Jewish group, said on Thursday: “Prematurely granting Hamas an international reception is not pro-Palestinian, or pro-peace,” and would endorse its anti-Semitic views, violent tactics and denial of Israel’s right to exist.
Until it renounces those ideas and actions, “Hamas should remain in the diplomatic deep freeze,” he said.
Moscow offered to meet this month with Hamas leaders.
AP
When I read that article, I shot off a vitriolic note to Jack Rosen, namely
Subject: An expression of disgust
From: George Salzman <>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 20:26:34 -0600
To: Jack Rosen <>
Oaxaca, Thursday, February 16, 2006
Dear Mr. Rosen,
I read with great pleasure the article, “Venezuela ready to receive Hamas”, which is at: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4FE8ED0B-FEEF-4DB6-8A6C-43BD993992D3.htm.
I am an 80-year old American Jew, a veteran of World War II, grandfather of five American children, who is absolutely disgusted with the Jewish scum that has found its greedy vulgar way into positions of power and influence in the United States and in the State of Israel. It is because of pigs like you, and you are not alone — there are fellow pigs of yours of all denominations, all nationalities, all religions, all ethnicities — that is, it’s not your Jewish birth that makes you disgusting, it’s what you have become as an adult excrescence of the human species — it’s because of the Jewish pigs like you that there are probably now even billions of people in the world who “hate the Jews.” Of course they ought to discriminate between people like you and people unlike you of Jewish birth, but in not doing so they are like those Jews to whom all Arabs are subhuman.
I am doing what I can to turn public opinion in the U.S. away from its backing of the Jewish State in its conquest of the Palestinians, and am hopeful of success in my lifetime.
Sincerely,
George Salzman
I got in return an unsigned note, probably not written by Jack Rosen but put together by some 20-something who works in the communications office of the AJC. Here it is:
Subject: RE: An expression of disgust
From: Communications, AJCongress <>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:38:58 -0500
To: George Salzman <>
You have a disturbed view of reality, my friend. It is a pity on you that you’ve maintained such a high level of anger and frustration all of these years and that you’ve lost all sense of truth and justice. Jews have enough enemies for no good reason; your tirade just fuels the fires of hate, and the self hatred is abysmal.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The illogic of this unsigned note is glaring, and I’ve thought of perhaps shredding it apart, publicly. Soon after I sent it off, I got an e-mail that referred to Chavez, namely:
Subject: RE: New posting. What does the Hamas electoral victory mean? Reflections and a tale of love.
From: David Smith <>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:26:00 -0500 (EST)
To: George Salzman <>
What’s your take on Chavez of Venezuela? I love the guy. You’re closer down there and the best I have is the Huffington Post.com in English here in Baltimore, MD.
D Smith
Subject: RE: New posting. What does the Hamas electoral victory mean? Reflections and a tale of love.
From: George Salzman <>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:38:13 -0600
To: David Smith <>
CC: Benjamin Melançon <>
Oaxaca, Sunday, February 19, 2006
Hi David,
I’m really enthused about his movement towards solidifying with other Latin American countries and standing up, at least rhetorically, to the pricks you’re closest to (i.e geographically). I see a fair amount of negative comments about his regime, and I’m sure many of them are true (like people having appointments not because they are professionally competent but because they are Chavistas), but I think we ought to cut him some slack — like the Zapatistas, you can’t do everything all at once, and they must deal with the society as it exists, largely a legacy from the past. So, I too love the guy. Just between us, and Ben Melançon who’s just set up a weblog for me (it’s at http://georgesalzman.org) on which I’ll post your note, here’s a small bit of venom I shot out the other day, which touches on Chavez and Hamas (and the unsigned reply), but first the instigating news article:
Not sure I’ll do anything with this exchange, though the illogic of the “answer” is perhaps worth tearing apart. So for now, it’s not public. If you have a way of finding out Jack Rosen’s yearly income, I’d love to know it. Ben, I’ve got to ask you some questions about the blog, but David’s e-mail interrupted me temporarily. Now I’m off to do my daily exercise, as the heat of the day dies down. I think the blog may be lively.
Adios amigos,
George
Bill, what I’ve been thinking about is the possible usefulness of an effort to get large numbers of American (and British and Israeli) Jews to write scathing public letters to honchos like Jack Rosen and others who work to obscure the conquest of the Palestinians. These particular Jews, bathing in money and greedy for what they see as “Jewish success” in a brutal world, deserve to be hated. I would include here also the Israeli officials to whom Mazin Qumsiyeh <> urges people to write respectful letters asking for justice for Palestinians. These people should be scorned, not respected, officials though they may be. I believe Mazin may be mistaken in urging respectful requests. His goal, of course, is to have Israeli officials know that many people in America disapprove of what’s being done to the Palestinians, with the hope that that will influence their actions. In fact, they will know about the disapproval (and either give a damn or not) whether the letters are respectful or condemnatory.
As you are well aware, I hate people who knowingly prosper on the blood of other people. I think we should encourage “selective anti-Semitism”, along with “selective hatred” not just of “dirty Jews”, but of “dirty Italians”, “dirty Catholics” (like the former Cardinal Spellman of New York who blessed the Americans killing “Gooks” in Vietnam), and so on down the line. Such people (Ratzinger among them) should be “outed” so that everyone knows them for what they truly are. I guess that’s why I tend to like Counterpunch www.counterpunch.com/, because it doesn’t pull its punches.
All the best,
George