Although they might not have been the first terrorists, the Sicarii wrote the book on terrorism. Rejecting everything but their narrow view of the world, they believed their inner might could defeat the invincible Romans and they killed coreligionists who refused to continue the battle. By using concealed daggers to dispatch their foes, they acquired the name Sicarii. In effect, they were a suicide prone sect who didn’t mind taking fellow Jews with them to death. The Sicarii played a principal role in provoking the Roman onslaught against the Jewish population in Jerusalem and in the eventual destruction of the city. Their identifying characteristics: victimhood, no compromises, use of daggers to resolve issues, generating hate, and creating victims. Sicarrii continued among the Jews for centuries with false Messiahs and troubling figures who defied authority in losing causes, with their revolts eventually leading to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
History tells us that populations never learn from history and proceed to commit the same mistakes. The Jews have followed this principal; Sicarii have been prevalent throughout Jewish history and have often brought tragedy to Jewish populations. In modern times, the initial Zionist thrust resembled the Sicarii actions. Although their philosophy had little appeal to most the Jewish people of the late 19th century, Zionists behaved as if they spoke for the Jews, and their actions threatened them:
The first Zionist Congress (1887) was to have taken place in Munich, Germany. However, due to considerable opposition by the local community leadership, both Orthodox and Reform, it was decided to transfer the proceedings to Basel, Switzerland. Theodore Herzl acted as chairperson of the Congress which was attended by some 200 participants.” (ED: Only 69 were delegates)
By contrast, Reform Judaism’s (representing most of American Jews at that time) 1885 Pittsburgh Platform called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith: “instead of a nation, the Pittsburgh Platform envisions Jews as a religious community within a nation. For this reason, there was an explicit rejection of Zionism, which was viewed as unnecessary because American Jews were at home in America.”
Rather than benefiting world Jewry, the Zionist message endangered it. Nations were uncertain about their Jewish citizens, who were portrayed by Zionists as having different consciences and mind-sets. Zionism presented Jews as having allegiance to an external ideal, willing to leave their native country if the opportunity became available. By 1914 the original Zionism had become a stagnant adventure, but the Balfour Declaration and the allied victory in World War I revived the Zionist mission. Despite the revival and the establishment of the state of Israel, it’s unproven that the original Zionism succeeded or even has a continued presence.
The Jews who immigrated to Israel immediately after 1948 arrived for mainly economic and political reasons and not to fulfill a Zionist mission. Israel even claims the massive number of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East (Mizrahi) did not arrive voluntarily, but were forced out of their homes. Zionism has not persuaded a great number of Jews to leave their western nations, not deterred them from greatly participating in their nations’ economic and social gains and not prevented them from integrating themselves into their nations’ cultures. The Economist (Jan. 11, 2007) mentions that only 17% of American Jews regard themselves as pro-Zionist and only 57% say that “caring about Israel is a very important. Even if Israel were not primarily a Jewish nation, but politically similar to other western nations and willing to give the immigrants special advantages, the Russian, East European, Soviet, North African and Middle East Jews might have opted to leave their homes and move to any democratic nation in the Middle East, Jewish or non-Jewish.
The modern Sicarii, those who claim to speak for the Jewish people but are bringing them to eventual decline, have replaced metal daggers with character assassination, defamation, attacking words, wounding innuendos and bludgeoning malice towards their fellow Jews. They have a unique focus of utmost loyalty to the state of Israel. Jews who don’t share their views and refuse to profess similar loyalty receive their daggers of condemnation.
Historical, scientific and archaeological findings and knowledge, none of which support a great Hebrew civilization, Jewish legal claims to the Levant, and singular heritage to Jerusalem, contradict the Sicarii focus. Nevertheless, the Sicarii consider fellow Jews who are educated with this knowledge as stupid and deceived traitors and unleash their wrath to intimidate and silence them. Preposterous expressions, such as ‘self-hating’ Jews, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, and all those who are antagonistic to Israel are anti-Semites, exhibit a lexicon of hate that guides their actions. The over-used epithets expose the Sicarii’s lack of facts, reality and logic to support their arguments. The rights of others – no consideration at all. The insulting and ugly epithets fuel anti-Jewish feeling by characterizing them as examples of of Jewish baseness, Jewish lack of regard for others, and Jewish feelings of superiority. The Sicarii promote the misrepresentations they rally against, but which they actually need to validate their existence.
Sicarii websites unashamedly list fellow ‘self-hating’ Jews.
These websites pit Jew against Jew, upset innocent persons and degrade the Jewish populations. Some individuals, who note the exceptional quality of many on the lists, have asked to be placed on it. However, the lists are not jokes, but an insult to the Jewish people. Words beget violence and the more radical Sicarii are driven to violence. The attacks on Tikkun magazine’s Rabbi Lerner are well- known examples of this violence.
An array of well known and consistent dagger throwers in universities, radio, television and print media target those who criticize Israel by trying to curtail professorial tenure, halt publication of books, prevent production of plays and sidetrack printing of articles. These attackers don’t dialogue or debate issues. They are not interested in truth or reality. Declaiming, “we are always right,” they engage in character assassination, slander and defamation to subdue their rivals. Most disconcerting is their use of the World War II Holocaust to advance their agenda. In addition to appointing themselves as the voice of live Jews, the Sicarii assume themselves to be the voice of dead Jews.
A true story of a typical Sicarious:
Seated at breakfast in a Jerusalem hostel, a forty year old English woman explains why she is a new arrival in the West Bank settlement Ma’ale Adumim. She never felt at home in an England filled with anti-Semites. Here, in Israel she feels she has come home. Turn to an American who is asked if he feels the same. He explains he never faced anti-Semitism in his life and never felt anything else but being an American. His words enrage the British expatriate who leaps up and shouts: “No, first you are a Jew. Then, you are an American.”
It is natural that many Jews regard their birth nation as their primary and remain separated from Israel. Many regard Israeli laws to be intolerant, not protective of minorities and somewhat comparable to the Nazi Nuremberg laws. Since Jews can only be married in Israel by orthodox rites, Jews cannot receive an intermarriage ceremony within the state. And although the term right of return refers to a principle of international law and gives any person the right to return or re-enter his country of origin, the Israeli Right of Return only permits foreign Jews to immediately gain citizenship and does not permit return of non-Jews, such as Palestinian refugees. An Israel, according to the so-called Nakba law, must wholeheartedly and unreservedly celebrate the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Any groups or institutions that mourn the event, which was accompanied by the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arab residents from their homes – the Nakba, or Catastrophe – or that deny the state’s “Jewish and democratic nature” can now be denied state funds. The Citizenship Law allows the state to revoke citizenship and imprison anyone convicted of acting against “the sovereignty of the state”.
Fifty rabbis signed a declaration calling for Jews not to let Arabs rent apartments in their communities. The state owns almost all the land and, except for special situations, refuses land sales to non-Jews. In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt noted similarity between the racist foundation of the state of Israel and the 1935 Nuremberg laws. Both laws were based on an idea of Judaism as a race, not as a religious practice, regardless of whether individuals identified themselves as a Jew or belonged to the Jewish religious community. Many Jews refuse to accept the rationalization that the oppression of the Palestinian people is a temporary measure brought about by Israel’s security considerations. They see no reason to be drawn into the conflict in which they have no part. Not so with the new Sicarii.
Three huge granite stones rest comfortably on the top of Midbar Sinai Street, in Givat Havatzim, Jerusalem’s northernmost district. Cut to specification, the imposing stones represent one of several preparations by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement’s to erect a Third Temple on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Since the Islamic Wafq owns and controls all the property on the Haram al-Sharif, by what means can these stones be transferred to the Temple Mount and how can a Temple be constructed there? Not by any legal means. The stones are a provocation, which the Israel government refuses to halt. Since the Sicarii now have the occupation forces on their side, it becomes obvious they will be more threatening. In ancient times, their efforts contributed to the destruction of Jerusalem. Now it could be the entire Middle East.
” Their identifying characteristics: victimhood, no compromises, use of daggers to resolve issues, generating hate, and creating victims.”
You do realize you are describing Palestinian Arabs to a T, don’t you?
The article is idiotic. No one is censoring Jews who criticize Israel – somehow you managed to get this little screed published. It is far more difficult to adopt an uncompromising Zionist attitude in any public venue than an anti-Zionist one.
And, by the way, if Israel had existed ten years earlier, millions of Jews might have been saved. And in fact hundreds of thousands of Jews from Arab countries (and others) were indeed saved by Israel.
But for some reason those facts are a bit too inconvenient for anti-Zionists who prefer to whine about their supposed victimhood.
“Rather than benefiting world Jewry, the Zionist message endangered it. Nations were uncertain about their Jewish citizens, who were portrayed by Zionists as having different consciences and mind-sets.”
You might have a point if everything was hunky dory for Jews up until 1948, or possibly 1887. But the fact is that Jews were subject to this sort of persecution and suspicion for hundreds if not thousands of years before Zionism took root. The reasonable conclusion is that Zionism is just an excuse for anti-Semites and not the actual reason for their anti-Semitism.
Anyway, there is a qualitative difference between physically assaulting someone and publicly criticizing them. If you don’t understand the difference, then you are the one who is attempting to squash dissent.
While there should be an end to the suffering of the Palestinian refugees, large scale return to Israel of a population so different from the Jewish population culturally and socially, and harboring memories of the “disaster” and claims that justice requires a full return, is not the right solution.
By contrast, Reform Judaism’s (representing most of American Jews at that time) 1885 Pittsburgh Platform called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith: “instead of a nation, the Pittsburgh Platform envisions Jews as a religious community within a nation. For this reason, there was an explicit rejection of Zionism, which was viewed as unnecessary because American Jews were at home in America.”
Jews are a nation. For example, consider the Ashkenazim. This is an ethnic group that share the same DNA that is different from other ethnic groups. Therefore, a Jew would still be a Jew even if he converts to a different faith. Thus, the perspective of the Reform Judaism as mentioned above is incorrect and self-debasing. Zionism is the correct view. Jews are a nation. A Jew is a Jew first, then a citizen of his respective country second. And, he is always reminded of his status!
By contrast, Reform Judaism’s (representing most of American Jews at that time) 1885 Pittsburgh Platform called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith: “instead of a nation, the Pittsburgh Platform envisions Jews as a religious community within a nation. For this reason, there was an explicit rejection of Zionism, which was viewed as unnecessary because American Jews were at home in America.”
Jews are a nation. For example, consider the Ashkenazim. This is an ethnic group that share the same DNA that is different from other ethnic groups. Therefore, a Jew would still be a Jew even if he converts to a different faith. Thus, the perspective of the Reform Judaism as mentioned above is incorrect and self-debasing. Zionism is the correct view. Jews are a nation. A Jew is a Jew first, then a citizen of his respective country second. And, he is always reminded of his status!
This article is something of a crock. Zionism has never destroyed Jews. The lack of a homeland where they would not be persecuted by Christians, Muslims and atheists has been the cause of countless Jewish deaths.
Equating the Sicarii with Zionism shows a true lack of understanding, an inability to research history with an open mind, if not a brainwashing, of the author.
Oh, I see. This Lieberman guy is posting this article that he has written all over the web.
Sorry, but it is badly researched, and there are many factual errors. Not worth the space it takes up.