Norwegian novelist excoriates ‘God’s chosen’
Previously published 8/11/06
Republished in light of the Norway Massacre.
And the list of grudges israelis bear Norwegians grows longer by the minute...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Norwegian novelist excoriates ‘God’s chosen’
But, not without consequence.
"For the first time in my life I have begun to look over my shoulder," Gaarder said after his article was published in Aftenposten [last] Saturday.
The article, titled "God's chosen people" has since been compared with Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf".
"The last few days have been tough. The language in the debate has been so hard that I have been frightened," Gaarder, best known for the novel Sophie's World, told newspaper Dagbladet.
"Being compared to "Mein Kampf" and called an anti-Semite was the hardest. That hurt me. My conscience drove me to write a text urging Israel to reconcile - it is far from anti-Semitic," Gaarder said.
This guy is no lightweight, either. According to the blog, Sirocco, Jostein Gaarder is the author of Sophie’s World (26m copies sold, printed in 53 languages) and Aftenposten is Norway’s paper of record, making his essay a formidable threat to the state of Israel.
The following is an excerpt from an unofficial translation at Sirocco:
He goes on to acknowledge Europe's deep responsibility for Jewish suffering, but says that Israel "has massacred its own legitimacy."“There is no turning back. It is time to learn a new lesson: We do no longer recognize the state of Israel. We could not recognize the South African apartheid regime, nor did we recognize the Afghan Taliban regime. Then there were many who did not recognize Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or the Serbs’ ethnic cleansing. We must now get used to the idea: The state of Israel in its current form is history.
We do not believe in the notion of God’s chosen people. We laugh at this people’s fancies and weep over its misdeeds. To act as God’s chosen people is not only stupid and arrogant, but a crime against humanity. We call it racism.
There are limits to our patience, and there are limits to our tolerance. We do not believe in divine promises as justification for occupation and apartheid. We have left the Middle Ages behind. We laugh uneasily at those who still believe that the God of flora, fauna, and galaxies has selected one people in particular as his favorite and given it funny stone tablets, burning bushes, and a license to kill.
We call child murderers ‘child murderers’ and will never accept that such have a divine or historic mandate excusing their outrages. We say but this: Shame on all apartheid, shame on ethnic cleansing, shame on every terrorist strike against civilians, be it carried out by Hamas, Hizballah, or the state of Israel!”
He alludes to boycotting Israeli goods and deplores the images of little Israeli girls signing bombs. Finally, he chastises Israel for failing to learn from human history and warns of dire consequences.
For two thousand years, we have rehearsed the syllabus of humanism, but Israel does not listen . . .Read it yourself - It will go down in history as one of the harshest castigations of the state of Israel and its ideology of chosen-ness.* * *
If the entire Israeli nation should fall to its own devices and parts of the population have to flee the occupied areas into another diaspora, then we say: May the surroundings stay calm and show them mercy.
You might also want to read the perspective at Xymphora, where I stumbled on to this story.
This is truly a watershed moment. Where it goes from here is unclear. But, Gaarder is right, there is no turning back.
posted by qrswave @ Friday, August 11, 2006
8 Comments:
Gaarder is also right aboout not turning his back from here on out.
Oh... After rereading that I realize it looks like a threat toward Gaarder. Not my intention. I meant he need look over his shoulder for he has, it would appear, written a book that may require a body guard.
Indeed, its a great piece of writing, presenting many challeging thoughts and needs to be approached with an open mind.
Yeah, read about it when it happened, it's surprising just how many people are willing to stand up for truth now.
By the way, if you haven't read Sophie's World, it's brilliant. I read it a lifetime ago and never forgot it. I don't think Gaarder ever matched it.
As for xymph - the analysis was radical even by his standards.
Indeed, it is a rare event when an esteemed author is willing to risk his professional reputation for the sake of personal opinion. Mr. Gaarder's bravery in expressing opposition and unfavorable views on Israel's latest Lebanese aggression is admirable but it is not "anti-Semitic". The tired, old rhetorical anti-Semite accusation when "Jew", "Jewish", or "Israel" is used in conjunction with constructive criticism is slowly losing its power to control and manipulate the world. Nonetheless, Zionist Israel perpetuated this myth to the point of absurdity. Mr. Gaarder's opinions on Israel, although harsh, clearly states what the majority most likely believe, but are too intimidated to express.
Thank you qrswave for sharing this article.
This piece is awesome! Thank you qrswave!
You people are funny (in a sick twisted kind of way).
Did you knnow that Hilter invited the leader of the Muslim cult "extremists" to germany to explain his plan to get rid of the jews. The Muslim extremist even got his own germans to send out & kill jews (fun fun fun).
Hilter recognised that the Nazi Ideal & the Muslim belief had an auful lot in common & they actually planned campains together.
All Muslims hands are covered with blood of innocent people, for if they havent murdered yet, then they have protected someone who has - they are all going to hell anyway.
The jews were here before the christians, the jews were here before the muslims. The muslim belief is spead through fear & murder.
Muslims are a plauge on Man to bring about the end of man & mankind - they are the dark were all other religeons are the light, they bring only death were others bring hope, they speak only lies where others bring truth.
I've heard in all before... grow up.
you're so infantile. I suppose it's appropriate that you name yourself playground.
No one is fooled by your incessant lies, denials, and distractions.
the gig is up - the perverted zionist tactic of murdering everyone while playing the victim is over.
Post a Comment
<< Home