MILENA RAMPOLDI“Zionists hijacked Judaism”: William Hanna on his new book ‘The broken promise of a promised land’

Milena Rampoldi, ProMosaik, 27/11/2021

On 29 November 1947, the representatives of 33 countries at the UN voted Resolution 181 to divide Palestine into three entities: a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international administration for Jerusalem/Bethlehem. This resolution, supported by the two great powers, Truman's USA and Stalin's USSR, was never implemented and triggered the war, which was provoked by the unilateral proclamation of the Jewish State on 14 May 1948. To commemorate this sinister anniversary, I talked to the pro-Palestinian human rights activist based in London, William Hanna about his book “The broken promise of a promised land”, telling openly the truth on Judaism, Zionism, occupation, and violation of human rights of the Palestinians. A brave and true book.

Why did you choose the title THE BROKEN PROMISE OF A PROMISED LAND for your new book?

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, — the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine — with the pledge that Israel would “foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Then without any compunction or delay, Zionist Israel began — and has continued to do so ever since — the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population: a “catastrophe” known as the Nakba, which involved the barbaric and traumatic dispossession of an estimated 750,000 refugees —with some 530 villages destroyed and approximately 13,000 Palestinians killed  — and the uprooting of two-thirds of the Palestinian Arab population and their society. Yet despite this being a core Palestinian grievance, the Nakba continues to be whitewashed or denied outright by pundits, lobbyists, and even policymakers in so-called civilised and just societies allegedly committed to human rights for all. 

You show that studying history is fundamental to struggle for human rights. Why is this so important when it comes to Palestine?

The answer to this question is explicitly stated in the book’s Introduction:

 If some Jewish people wish to believe they were chosen by a non-existent god who helped with an Israelite Exodus from Egypt that never occurred and allegedly promised them the land of Canaan, then such religious beliefs, even if unfounded, still qualify as an acceptable human right. That right, however, does not come with a carte blanche authorisation for the use of fictional biblical narratives — as justification for the barbaric ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people including a heinous and deliberate targeting of children — so that a Zionist Apartheid Jewish State can claim exclusive rights to a “Promised Land” disingenuously described as a “land without a people for a people without a land.”

You talk about the Zionist hijacking of Judaism. How did these dialectics emerge inside the Jews themselves and what is the main characteristic of Zionism opposed to real Judaism and real Jewish ethics?

Fulfilment of the Zionist agenda for the colonisation of Palestine required the hijacking of Judaism which with its biblical narrative of a “chosen people” and “promised land” could be exploited to legitimise Zionism’s revisionist political objective of establishing a Jewish State with a Jewish majority on both sides of the River Jordan.

By hijacking Judaism — and claiming that only a state controlled by, and exclusive to Jews can protect them against anti-Semitism and the threat of another Holocaust — Zionism deviously managed to instigate the gradual erosion of Judaism’s “ethical monotheism” which with the Torah’s commandments and subsequent literature sets out the rules about justice, equality before the law, loving-kindness, social welfare, and the ideals of peace and political freedom: commendable ideals that are not to be found in Zionism’s rabid and racist philosophy which with arrogance and impunity reflects the reality of an Apartheid Israeli State.

Zionism and Judaism is not one thing but two different things. And of course two contradicting one another. Zionism starts at the place where Judaism is destroyed . . . one thing is certain, Zionism is not a continuation or healing of wounded Judaism, but rather an uprooting.

Chaim Chassas, in the Zionist newspaper, Ha'Aretz, 1943

What is ethical journalism for you?

Ethical journalism must seek out and report on the truth, irrespective of how difficult or unpleasant that truth might be. It must ensure the information provided is accurate by either cross-checking eyewitness accounts, doing independent research, or verifying a source's credibility. Equally important, it must also balance the objective reporting strived for with the impact that such reporting might have on both the subjects of the report and elsewhere.

Why is the struggle for Palestinian rights a struggle of David against Goliath?

The Palestinian struggle is much more than that: it is a struggle against a Goliath backed by an amoral US superpower that has lost its way and is destined for self-destruction.

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world — a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. . . No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we’ll kill you.

Hunter S. Thomson (1937 - 2005), American journalist and author

Tell us something about the Temple Mount Obsession you treat in your book?

In order to achieve its political and social objectives, Zionism had to not only brainwash Jews into believing “they had a right to the Holy Land as epitomised by Temple Mount”, but also to coerce the rest of the world into accepting that it was promised by God Himself to his Chosen People.

Which are the 3 main statements of this book and how can ethical journalism be promoted?

Irrespective of any claims of some god having promised Canaan to the Jewish people (Genesis 15:18-21), the irrefutable fact remains that biblical Israel and today’s “Jewish State” are two distinct concepts with the former being a myth, and the latter a consequence of the 1917 British government sanction — deceptively dubbed The Balfour Declaration but actually authored by Leopold Amery, a Zionist Briton of Jewish background — for what resulted in the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians so as to establish a “national home for the Jewish people.”

The term does not necessarily signify mass killings . . . more often [genocide] refers to a coordinated plan aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups so that these groups wither and die like plants that have suffered a blight. The end may be accomplished by the forced disintegration of political and social institutions, of the culture of the people, of their language, their national feelings and their religion. It may be accomplished by wiping out all basis of personal security, liberty, health and dignity. When these means fail the machine gun can always be utilised as a last resort. Genocide is directed against a national group as an entity and the attack on individuals is only secondary to the annihilation of the national group to which they belong.

Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), Polish-Jewish jurist, who in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, coined the word “genocide” and subsequently served with the team of Americans working to prepare the Nuremberg trials.

It is highly probable that the bulk of the Jew’s ancestors “never” lived in Palestine “at all,” which witnesses the power of historical assertion over fact.

H. G. Wells, (1866-1946), English writer in many genres including history, satire, and social commentary, The Outline of History

The promotion of any ethical concept requires that the promoters themselves must be ethical. Consequently, when you consider the fact that the majority of mainstream media organisations are controlled by a coterie of questionable characters like Rupert Murdoch — owner of News Corp and creator of the infamous Fox News Channel — you quickly realise that having ethical journalism is but a dream that will never materialise.

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