The Invention of New Hebrews

Places of origin and original surnames of prominent Zionists

Many people watching the news coming out of the Near East would presume that Hebrew has been the language spoken by Jewish people throughout history.

But for nearly 2,000 years, Hebrew was as dead as Latin – and much like Latin, was spoken fluently by only a tiny percentage of educated people, and then used mostly in a religious context.

People of the Jewish faith were spread over much of the world, and usually spoke the language of their country of birth – just as Catholics could be found speaking Spanish, Gaelic, Italian, French, German, and dozens of other languages.

Other than specialist scholars, only Catholic priests tended to have a good grasp of Latin, and only rabbis tended to have a good grasp of Hebrew.

Over many centuries, the Sephardic Jews of Iberia spoke languages including Arabic, Old Spanish, Old Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, and Ladino – the latter also known as Judaeo-Spanish.

The most well-known language spoken by many Jews past and present is “Yiddish”, a name which is more or less a dialectical variation on the German word for “Jewish” (“Jüdisch”, in which the German “J” is pronounced like an English “Y”).

Yiddish is essentially German, with a smattering of words from Slavic and Romance languages, along with a sprinkling of Hebrew, Aramaic, and other loan words from the many countries through which the Ashkenazi Jews had passed over the centuries.

The actual Hebrew language spoken by Israeli politicians in contemporary news bulletins is a language brought back from the dead – mostly by 19th and 20th century Zionist settler-colonisers of Palestine.

And all of the Israeli leaders and politicians of the 20th century with names like Netanyahu, Ben-Gurion, Shamir, etc. represent a Zionist ideological desire to carry names which harken back to an ancient time (2,000 years ago) when land and language were still together under the Kingdoms of Israel and Judea.

Apologists for Zionism and Israel’s illegal settlements claim ceaselessly that “Jews are indigenous to Israel, we cannot be colonisers in our own land”.

This is an absurd and illogical argument.

Something equivalent would involve millions of Irish-Americans today claiming a birthright to colonise and settle the entire island of Ireland – Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – while basing their claim on the territory held by High King Brian Boru in 1014 CE.

Political and demographic changes have occurred in the 1,000 years since Brian Boru‘s armies won the Battle of Clontarf.  The original Irish remain, but the island has also endured invasions of Normans, Elizabethans, Scottish, English, and Welsh settler-colonisers, and absorbed many other immigrant peoples including Flemish, Palatine Germans, French Huguenots, members of the Quaker community, and of course Jewish and Romani people.

The Irish have witnessed and taken part in sundry rebellions, uprisings, and wars in the three hundred years since some of their ancestors emigrated to places like France and America.

Imagine the UK becoming embroiled in a war somewhere, and they take their eye off the ball in Northern Ireland.  Imagine a couple of million Catholic Irish-Americans from Chicago and Boston rocking-up in County Antrim tomorrow, saying “This belonged to the O’Neill family 500 years ago. All non-Catholics and non-Gaels out.”

Ridiculous, right?  People from thousands of miles away, steeped in USA culture for decades and even centuries, now ordering people who’ve lived in a place for 400 years to get the hell out based on a territorial claim made by a king centuries ago…

Imagine these Irish-Americans from Chicago and Boston then clearing entire towns and villages all over Ulster through ceaseless campaigns of violence and terrorism?  Violence and terrorism directed not only at the Irish Protestant community, but at ANY group daring to oppose their “return to the homeland”?

Imagine the entire American military machine (along with billions upon billions in American and Irish-American funding), being put at their disposal as they bulldoze Belfast and rip up crop fields.

Imagine them giving themselves Gaelic names…

Behold the son of Eire, Frank Gillespie of Chicago.  Oops. I mean Proinsias Mac Giolla Easpaig.

“Netanyahu” my arse.

I’ll leave you, dear readers, with the text of an open letter sent to The New York Times by Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, and other prominent, decent, and admirable Jewish people in 1948, the year in which Israel unilaterally declared its independent statehood.  Just three years after the horrors of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, these people had the moral courage to speak out when they saw wickedness and injustice being perpetrated by their own people.

*****

TO THE EDITORS OF NEW YORK TIMES:

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.

Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement.

The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.

Attack on Arab Village

A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants (240 men, women, and children) and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin.

The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.

Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model.

During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.

The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots.

Discrepancies Seen

The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a “Leader State” is the goal.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin.

The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.

ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ,
HANNAH ARENDT,
ABRAHAM BRICK,
RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO,
ALBERT EINSTEIN,
HERMAN EISEN, M.D.,
HAYIM FINEMAN, M. GALLEN, M.D.,
H.H. HARRIS,
ZELIG S. HARRIS,
SIDNEY HOOK,
FRED KARUSH,
BRURIA KAUFMAN,
IRMA L. LINDHEIM,
NACHMAN MAISEL,
SEYMOUR MELMAN,
MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D.,
HARRY M. OSLINSKY,
SAMUEL PITLICK,
FRITZ ROHRLICH,
LOUIS P. ROCKER,
RUTH SAGIS,
ITZHAK SANKOWSKY,
I.J. SHOENBERG,
SAMUEL SHUMAN,
M. SINGER,
IRMA WOLFE,
STEFAN WOLFE.

New York, Dec. 2, 1948