Israel Shahak

Dr. Israel Shahak (born Israel Himmelstaub, 28 April 1933 – 2 July 2001) was an 'Israeli' professor of organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Holocaust survivor, an intellectual of liberal political bent, and a civil-rights advocate and activist on behalf of both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). For twenty years, he headed the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights (1970–90) and was a public critic of the policies of the governments of Israel. As a public intellectual, Shahak's works about Judaism proved controversial, especially the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (1994).

Said comments specifically about Jewish History, Jewish Religion as a powerful contribution to the study of Judaism and rabbinical and Talmudic traditions and its associated scholarship. In summary, he describes this work:

Shahak shows that the obscure, narrowly chauvinist prescriptions against various undesirable Others are to be found in Judaism (as well of course as other monotheistic traditions) but he also then goes on to show the continuity between those and the way Israel treats Palestinians, Christians and other non-Jews. A devastating portrait of prejudice, hypocrisy and religious intolerance emerges.

About his other writing, Said also emphasized Shahak's willingness to criticize Palestinian policies, addressing "the PLO's sloppiness, its ignorance of Israel, its inability to resolutely oppose Israel, its shabby compromises and cult of personality, its general lack of seriousness." Template:Sfn

In his book review, Werner Cohn said that Shahak was making "grotesque charges" and that specific passages in Jewish History, Jewish Religion are without foundation:Template:Sfn

Some are just funny. He says (pp. 23-4) that "Jewish children are actually taught" to utter a ritual curse when passing a non-Jewish cemetery.Template:Efn He also tells us (p. 34) that "both before and after a meal, a pious Jew ritually washes his hands....On one of these two occasions he is worshiping God... but on the other he is worshiping Satan..." I did take the trouble to question my orthodox rabbi nephew to find what might be behind such tall tales. He had no clue. If orthodox Jews were actually taught such hateful things, surely someone would have heard. Whom is Dr. Shahak kidding?.Template:Efn

The remark regarding children passing a cemetery occurs in Shahak's discussion of passages modified by rabbis who, under pressure from antisemitic Christian authorities such as those in Tzarist Russia, altered the texts, while keeping private copies of the originals which, according to Shahak were restored as the proper manuscript readings and published in Israel after the founding of the state of Israel.Template:Sfn

Samuel Heilman writing for the Review of Middle East Studies gave a negative review and proposed to dispose the book "into the same dustbin as the infamous anti-Jewish tract and fraud, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

Critical reception

As a public intellectual, Israel Shahak was accused by Zionists of fabricating the incidents he reported, of blaming the victim, of distorting the normative meaning of Jewish religious texts, and of misrepresenting Jewish belief and law.Template:Sfn Paul Bogdanor claimed that Shahak "regaled his audience with a stream of outrageous libels, ludicrous fabrications, and transparent hoaxes. As each successive allegation was exposed and discredited, he would simply proceed to a new invention."Template:Sfn Ari Alexander, co-founder of the Children of Abraham Organization for Jewish–Islamic dialogue, said that, despite the use of Shahak's works by neo-Nazis and anti-Israel organisations in Arab countries:

The texts that Shahak cites are real (though Shahak's sporadic use of footnotes makes it difficult to check all of them). Often, the interpretation [by Shahak] of these texts is debatable, and their prominence in Judaism negligible, but, nonetheless, they are part of Jewish tradition, and, therefore, cannot be ignored.Template:Sfn

Accusations of being an antisemite were among the responses to Shahak's works about Judaism and the Talmud.Template:Sfn In that vein, in The Talmud in Anti-Semitic Polemics, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) listed Shahak as one of four authors of antisemitic polemics, and Bogdanor said that in his works, Shahak was "recycling Soviet anti-Semitic propaganda".Template:Sfn Werner Cohn said, "without question, he is the world's most conspicuous Jewish anti-Semite.... Like the Nazis before him, Shahak specialized in defaming the Talmud. In fact, he has made it his life's work to popularize the anti–Talmud ruminations of the eighteenth-century German anti-Semite, Johann Eisenmenger".Template:Sfn Emanuele Ottolenghi, reviewing Alexander and Bogdanor's book, argued that Jews such as Shahak, George Steiner, Tanya Reinhart, Tony Judt, Avi Shlaim, Seymour Hersh and Daniel Boyarin act as enablers for antisemites, because the rhetoric of antisemitic Jews plays a "crucial role... in excusing, condoning, and — in effect — abetting anti-Semitism." In his opinion, "Anti-Semites rely on Jews to confirm their prejudice: If Jews recur to such language, and advocate such policies, how can anyone be accused of anti-Semitism, for making the same arguments?... The mechanism through which an anti-Semitic accusation becomes respectable once a Jew endorses it is not limited to Israel's new historians.... Israel Shahak made the comparison between Israel and Nazism respectable — all the while describing Judaism according to the medieval canons of the blood libel".Template:Sfn

The journalist Dan Rickman argues that

Shahak ignores [the dialectical nature and humanist] aspects of the sources. Further, through overstating his case, his analysis fits into anti-Semitic traditions of such accusations against the Talmud. Copies of the Talmud have been burned, and the text of the Talmud that is studied today is still heavily censored. Shahak's view that chauvinism in these sources in any way 'justifies' anti-Semitism is also very troubling. However, I do believe that his trenchant critique of Judaism is, tragically, not without some force. The contemporary situation is that we do see some modern Orthodox rabbis utilise xenophobic sources in modern rulings. Orthodox rabbis in organisations such as Rabbis for Human Rights are sadly the exception rather than the rule.Template:Sfn

Death

Shahak died of diabetes in July 2001 and was buried in Giv'at Shaul cemetery, Jerusalem.Template:Sfn His death was the occasion of tribute and criticism; the Bar-Ilan University historian Haim Genizi, said that "Shahak's extreme anti-Israeli statements were welcomed by the PLO, and [were] widely circulated in pro–Arab circles", in detriment to the interests of the State of Israel.Template:Sfn Gore Vidal said Shahak was "the latest, if not the last, of the great prophets",Template:Sfn regarding the influence of religion upon the civil law of society. Norton Mezvinsky, said that his friend and collaborator was "a rare intellectual giant and a superior humanist"; in that vein, Edward Said said that Shahak was "a very brave man who should be honored for his services to humanity."Template:Sfn An obituary in Haaretz called him "the scourge of nationalists".Template:Sfn

Christopher Hitchens considered Shahak a "dear friend and comrade... [who was] a brilliant and devoted student of the archaeology of Jerusalem and Palestine", who, "during his chairmanship of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, set a personal example that would be very difficult to emulate."Template:Sfn Alexander Cockburn, writing in Antiwar.com, described Shahak the intellectual, the "tireless translator and erudite foot-noter... a singular man, an original."Template:Sfn Allan C. Brownfeld, of the American Council for Judaism, recalled a humanist who actively opposed "racism and oppression in any form and in any country"; that Shahak possessed a "genuinely prophetic Jewish voice, one which ardently advocated democracy and human rights."Template:Sfn In an obituary, the journalist Elfi Pallis called Shahak essentially "an old-fashioned liberal" in principle, thought, and action.Template:Sfn Moreover, Michel Warschawski said that Israel Shahak was "the last Israeli liberal", who was "above all, one of the last philosophers of the eighteenth-century school of enlightenment, rationalism, and liberalism, in the American meaning of the concept."

Publications

Books

• Israel Shahak, (ed.), The Non-Jew in the Jewish State; a collection of Documents, Jerusalem, 1975
• Israel Shahak (ed), Begin & Co as they really are, Glasgow 1977
• Israel Shahak and Noam Chomsky, Israel's Global Role: Weapons for Repression (Studies in Geophysical Optics and Remote Sensing), Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Inc., April 1982, paperback, Template:ISBN
• Israel Shahak, Israel's Global Role : Weapons for Repression (Special Reports, No. 4), Association of Arab-American University Graduates, 1982, paperback
• Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years: Pluto Press, London, 1994, Template:ISBN; Pluto Press, London, 2008, Template:ISBN
• Israel Shahak, Open Secrets: Israeli Foreign and Nuclear Policies, Pluto Press, London, 1997
• Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel (Pluto Middle Eastern Series), Pluto Press (UK), October, 1999, hardcover, 176 pages, Template:ISBN; trade paperback, Pluto Press, (UK), October, 1999, Template:ISBN; 2nd edition with new introduction by Norton Mezvinsky, trade paperback July, 2004, 224 pages

Articles

• What Are My Opinions? March - April 1975 The Link - Volume 8, Issue 2
• The Racist nature of Zionism and of the Zionistic State of Israel The Link, volume 8, issue 5 Winter 1975
• The `Historical Right' and the Other Holocaust, in Journal of Palestine Studies, 10, no. 3 (Spr. 1981): 27-34
• The Zionist Plan for the Middle East (a translation of Oded Yinon’s “A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties” or the "Yinon Plan" , Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Inc., October 1982, paperback, Template:ISBN
• Israeli Apartheid and the Intifada, in Race and Class,[1] 1988: Volume 30, no. 1: 1-13.
• AFL-CIO Pension Funds Invested In Faltering Israeli Institutions December 1988, Page 17 WRMEA.
• A History of the Concept of `Transfer' in Zionism, in Journal of Palestine Studies, 18, no. 3 (Spr. 1989): 22-37.
• Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: Comparing the Hebrew and US Press Extra! Summer 1989
• Shamir's Manipulation of American Jewish Groups: A Disaster For All January 1991, Page 6 WRMEA
• Soviet Immigration Deprives Israelis of Housing and Arabs of Jobs January 1991, Page 27 WRMEA
• Journalists Link Israeli Financial Woes to Shamir-Bush Confrontation January 1991, Page 67 WRMEA
• Letter from Jerusalem Lies of Our Times, February 1991, p. 8.
• The Israeli Occupation Three Years After the Intifada March 1991, Page 27 WRMEA
• Israel Will Withdraw Only Under Pressure July 1991, Page 20 WRMEA
• Internal Criticism of Racism Would Be Called "Anti-Semitic" Outside Israel August/September 1991, Page 23 WRMEA
• Israel Uses Increased US Aid to Prepare 1992 Attack on Syria October 1991, Page 19 WRMEA
• Why Israel Can Never Repay the Loans to be Guaranteed by the US November 1991, Page 17 WRMEA
• America "No Longer Under Our Rule": Israelis Discuss Collapse of US Lobby December/January 1991/92, Page 11, WRMEA
• The Occupied Territories' True Ruler: Israel's Corrupt and Inefficient Shabak February 1993, Page 28, WRMEA
• With Iraq Neutralized, Israelis Seek Catalyst for War With Iran April/May 1993, Page 15 WRMEA
• Can Religious Settlers Scuttle an Israeli-Palestinian Peace? By July/August 1993, Page 11
• Oslo Agreement Makes PLO Israel's Enforcer November/December 1993, Page 7-16 WRMEA
• Israeli Cultivation of Cuba Reflects Contempt for U.S. Policies January 1994, Page 18 WRMEA
• Israel's State-Assisted Terrorism: "Settlers" as Armed Combatants February/March 1994, Page 16 WRMEA
• Poverty, Religious Instruction Breed Xenophobia in Israel July/August 1994, Page 19 WRMEA
• Settling the West Bank and Israeli Domestic Politics April/May 1995, Pages 15, 108-110 WRMEA
• Downturn in Rabin's Popularity Has Several Causes March 1995, pgs. 11, 97-98 WRMEA
• Israel's Discriminatory Practices Are Rooted in Jewish Religious Law July/August 1995, pgs. 18, 119 WRMEA
• What Will Likud Do When It Comes to Power in Israel? December 1995, Pages 18, 82 WRMEA
• Rabin's Murder Spotlights Religious Influence in Israeli Police and Army January 1996, pgs. 8, 97-98 WRMEA
• The Real Israeli Interests in Lebanon, in WRMEA, July 1996, pgs. 19, 11
• Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu November/December 1996, pages 19, 106 WRMEA
• A Practical Look at Settlements From the Israeli Point of View March 1998, Pages 8, 86 WRMEA
• Israel Shahak Articles, list of articles and interviews with Shahak in Middle East Policy Journal
• Israel Shahak comments & articles in The New York Review of Books

Interviews

• An Interview with Israel Shahak, interview in Journal of Palestine Studies, 4, no. 3 (Spr. 1975): 3-20.
• No Change in Zion, interview in Journal of Palestine Studies, 7, no. 3 (Spr. 1978): 3-16.

Sources

• Israel Shahak. 26 July 2001. 
• Israel and Anti-Gentile Traditions.  MyJewishLearning.com
• Anti-Zionism: Analytical Reflections.  Amana Books . ISBN 978-0-915-59773-4.
• The Jewish Divide Over Israel: Accusers and Defenders.  Transaction Publishers. pp. 115–134 . ISBN 978-0-7658-0327-6.
• Christopher Hitchens and the racist Jewish court. 4 February 2008. 
• With Israel Shahak's Death, A Prophetic Voice Is Stilled. October 2001. 
• Remembering Israel Shahak. 13 July 2001.  Antiwar.com
• The Jews are Bad!. Autumn 1994.  Israel Horizons
• Partners in Hate: Noam Chomsky and the Holocaust Deniers.  Avukah Press. pp. 115–134 . ISBN 978-0-964-58970-4.
• Green March, Black September (RLE Israel and Palestine): The Story of the Palestinian Arabs.  Routledge. pp. 115–134 . ISBN 9781317444510.
• Journey out of Zionism: The Radicalization of an Israeli Pacifist. . pp. 59–72
• Gentile and Stranger in Jewish Law. 3 December 1997.  Movement for Torah Judaism. pp. 47–53
• Religion in the Middle East: the fundamental problem. 3 December 1997. 
• The Holocaust, Israel, and Canadian Protestant Churches.  McGill-Queen's Press . ISBN 978-0-773-57039-9.
• Open Secrets: Israeli Nuclear and Foreign Policies.  Pluto Press . ISBN 978-0-745-31151-7.
• Israel Shahak, 1933-2001. 23 July 2001.  Template:Dead link
• Hitch-22: A Memoir.  Hachette UK . ISBN 978-0-446-56896-8.
• God is Not Great.  Atlantic Books . ISBN 978-0-771-041433.
• In memory of Lord Jakobovits - A Sage in the Tradition of the Prophets. 1 November 1999. 
• A MODERN BLOOD LIBEL —: L'Affaire Shahak. Summer 1966. . pp. 58–65
• Prof. Israel Shahak, Scourge of Nationalists, Laid to Rest. 17 July 2001. 
• In Memoriam: Israel Shahak (1933-2001). September 2001. 
• Scourge of Everyone. 12 July 2001. 
• The War of the Jews. 20 September 2006. 
• Israel Shahak Belsen survivor who attacked Israel's treatment of Palestinians. 6 July 2001. 
• Anti-Semitic Groups Maintain Talmud Websites. 17 September 1999. 
• Review of Anti-Zionism: Analytical Reflections. June 1989. 
• Israel Shahak: a voice of controversy. 17 May 2009. 
• Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years.  Pluto Press. pp. ix–xiv . ISBN 978-0-745-30819-7.
• Judaism and Global Survival.  Lantern Books . ISBN 978-1-930051-87-4.
• 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East.  Macmillan Publishers . ISBN 978-1-429-91167-2.
• Template:Cite magazine
• Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years.  Pluto Press . ISBN 978-0-7453-0819-7.
• Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years.  Pluto Press . ISBN 978-0-745-30819-7.
• Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.  Pluto Press
• Shabbat and Gentile Lives.  Musar movement.
• Sweden.  Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
• The Talmud in Anti-Semitic Polemics.  Anti-Defamation League.  Template:Small, Anti-Defamation League, February 2003.
• Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years.  Pluto Press . ISBN 978-0-745-30819-7.

The Yinon Plan

The Yinon Plan was a document written in Hebrew by Oded Yinon. It was translated into English in 1982 by the anti-Zionist activist Israel Shahak.

Shahak writes in the foreword:

In an highly revealing article published in the World Zionist Organization periodical, Kivunim, Oded Yinon advocates that Israeli strategy in the 1980s aims to redraw the map of the Middle East, fragment the Arab states, and become, in effect, a regional superpower.

It is noted in a prefatory passage:

This essay originally appeared in Hebrew in KIVUNIM (Directions), A Journal for Judaism and Zionism; Issue No, 14--Winter, 5742, February 1982, Editor: Yoram Beck. Editorial Committee: Eli Eyal, Yoram Beck, Amnon Hadari, Yohanan Manor, Elieser Schweid. Published by the Department of Publicity/The World Zionist Organization, Jerusalem.