Do you remember Eric Hoffer?
He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns
fornewspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish
American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after
writing nine books and winning the US Presidential Medal of Freedom.
His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized
as a classic.
This article was written 40 years ago!!! Some things never change .
ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION
by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted
to any other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations are allowed to drive out thousands, even millions of
people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and
Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a
million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and
no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the
displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel
must take back every single one so that they can destroy the Jewish State..
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is
victorious, it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia.
But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with
America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a
peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron
ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world and always will be . If Israel
survives,it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources.
Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more
on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israelis to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will
it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.