Interview with Israeli-Russian author Israel Shamir

 

Israel_ShamirKourosh Ziabari – “Media took place of the Church in the godless society. If once, the Pope would send Crusaders upon a crusade, now it is done by Mr. Sulzberger of the New York Times,” Israel Shamir, a Swedish author and journalist says. Shamir made the remarks in a recent interview with the Tehran Times.

“We should build alternative news stream, including news agencies and analytic papers; it will speed up freeing us from the clutches of the Matrix,” he added.

Shamir is an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is opposed to the occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli regime and has published a number of books on the subject. His articles and books have been translated into French, German, Swedish, Russian, Italian, among other languages.

Q: On November 24, 2006, you delivered a lecture at St. Petersburg State University titled “The Tyranny of Liberalism.” In this lecture, you argued that while the liberalists claim to be against the dominance of any ideology, they think in a rather ideological way. Therefore, liberalism is itself a certain kind of ideology which Carl Schmitt believed to be more dangerous than communism. Do you agree with Schmitt? Would you please expand on that?

A: Liberalism meant different things in different times. Today it is another name for denial of God and worship of money and worldly success. It is a cruel ideology, and people all over the world reject it. Liberalism is not only an ideology, it is also a certain practice, and a very narrow one. It treats ordinary people like dirt, considers them disposable. It is a creed for top managers, never for workers. It is good for landlords, bad for tenants. It is good for bankers; it is rule of financial capital over the industrial one. It hates God and forbids Christ, because Jesus Christ, Issa al Mesih, is a way of Man to God common to Christians and Muslims. It rejects Art, and enforces its own “art” of destruction. Probably it is the most dangerous ideology the world ever knew and it is likely to destroy the world unless we stop it.

Q: What do you think about cultural imperialism, as explicated by Prof. James Petras? It seems that today, the role of the media wing of imperialist and hegemonic powers in dealing with other nations has become rather important and determining. The mainstream media help their respective governments dominate the minds and souls and depict the events and developments the way they wish. What’s your take on that?

A: Media took place of the Church in the Godless society. If once, the Pope would send Crusaders upon a crusade, now it is done by Mr Sulzberger of the New York Times. This began in mid19-th century, when the society became more democratic and there was a growing need to convince masses. Before that, a King could send his soldiers against another king without any explanation; after that, people had to be convinced that it has to be done in order to save women and kids, or rather Jews and Gays. There is a powerful image of Matrix, and many people feel that the media misleads and lies.

We should build alternative news stream, including news agencies and analytic papers; it will speed up freeing us from the clutches of the Matrix.

Q: Is there any way to resist imperialism and defeat it? After all, it’s intolerable to continue suffering the hardships the imperial powers impose on us, whether economic, social, political or even psychological. How is it possible to overcome the sophisticated machinery of imperialism?

A: Absolutely! The Talmud teaches that the Lord sends us no affliction we can’t overcome, and it is true. Imperialism must be defeated, and it will be defeated. We have now a new ally which we have not had for sixty years: the imperialists decided they do not need to take care of their own population and began to treat Americans and English, French and Germans as bad as they treated their colonial subjects. So now we can build a front against the imperialists like it was planned in 1920s, fully inclusive of their own underprivileged.

Q: Our world is experiencing a moral decline because of the dominance of materialist mindset over the public sphere and marginalization of religion. In the name of separating religion from politics, the secular states don’t allow the illuminating teachings of religion to rule the societies and as a result, morality and ethics are eliminated from human interactions. What’s your viewpoint in this regard?

A: Indeed I witnessed it now in Russia, where I have spent last winter. The most pro-Western and pro-Israel circles fight the Christian faith and Church; they encourage such affronts to public as Pussy riot, they call to kill priests, they chop down crosses and destroy icons. And naturally they prefer filth they spread on the TV. It is good that the people stand by the Church and support it. In Europe, the Church is in difficult position. In the UK, it is forbidden to wear cross; in France, it is forbidden to have a cross in class rooms. The only kind of Christians our enemies support and encourage are those who promote strife with the Muslims. We need a broad understanding for God and for Faith.

Q: Let’s deal with some important contemporary issues. What do you think about the United States’ unconditional support of the Israeli regime? The international community has so far failed to hold Israel accountable over its criminal actions, simply because it is a staunch ally of the United States. When will the time arrive for administering justice to Israel?

A: This time certainly will not arrive until the US Presidential elections are over. Though the vast majority of the US Jews vote for Democrats whatever happens, rich American Jews who supply the funds for all candidates, are voting with their dollars for Israel. So it is not easy to free the US from its subservience to their cause. In order to do it, an American administration and people should fight their own bankers and financiers, and we do not see they are ready for that. After elections, Obama will have a window of opportunity to correct their excesses, but will he use it?

Q: You have the experience of serving for the Israel Defense Forces as a paratrooper and fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. How was the general attitude of the high-ranking officials of the IDF toward the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular? From what I’ve read on different sources, the IDF troopers are trained in a way and brainwashed to consider Palestinians as inferior and low-grade creatures. Is this true? Would you please explain more about your experience with the IDF and your viewpoint toward those years?

A: In my days (say, forty years ago), Israelis still had some sympathy towards Palestinians and tried to emulate them; we wore their kaffieh and ate their hummus. Now the communities drifted apart. As the result, the army gets youngsters without any experience of peaceful encounter with Palestinians. This is very sad; it has to be changed if our aim is to create conditions for peaceful living-together.

Q: It has always wondered me how the Jews have taken control of the majority of mainstream media outlets in the U.S. and Europe. You once said that “in the US, even in Western Europe, no view can be proposed to the general public unless approved (after being  vetted and corrected) by a Jewish group.” What has really made the Jews so powerful and influential in the media? Why have the U.S. and European nations surrendered their media to the well-off Jews altogether? This is complicated question; I wrote a lot about it. Let us give there reasons.

A: The very-rich people who pay for the Matrix being produced, trust Jews because Jews (as a rule) do not have much feeling and compassion for the ordinary non-Jews. The Jewish media people are used like the Janissaries or Albanians were used by the Ottoman Caliphs; as a sort of foreigners who will not be misled by compassion. (It is interesting that the US and NATO promoted creation of an Albanian statelet in Kosovo, relying upon the pro-imperialist position of the Albanians.)
2. The very Neo-liberal matrix or ideology is “neo-Jewish” or “post-Jewish”, because it uses Jewish stereotypes: despises ordinary man, loves money, and admires Chosenness.
3. Media has owners; all important US media is owned just by five persons, all but one Jewish, and that influences their take on the world.

My attitude is like that: Jews like media; they are to media like blacks to basketball. The problem is their lack of compassion for ordinary people. If some Jews overcome this problem and identify with the ordinary people, let them work the media. But that is true for non-Jews as well: in 1989, the USSR had very few Jews in the media, but the rich guys and their Western sponsors quickly found ethnic Russians with lower-than-normal compassion and used them. The Jews came later.

So while being aware of traditional lack of compassion among Jews, we should be aware that this is not uniquely Jewish trend.

Q: Iran has been accused by Israel, the United States and their European allies of trying to build atomic bombs, while the whole world knows that Israel is the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. What’s your viewpoint regarding the claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and should be penalized for that? What’s your idea about the anti-Iran sanctions which are excessively affecting the innocent citizens?

A: As far as I know, Iranian leaders said they do not want to have nuclear weapons. Israelis do not believe them, because every one judges the world by one’s own measure. If Israelis wanted to have nuclear weapons, the Israeli leaders think, why Iranians do not? I see no problem in Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons; after all, her neighbours have A-bombs.

As an Israeli, I’ll say: we must promote better understanding and friendship between people of Iran and people of Israel/Palestine. Iranians are not our enemies; let them decide for themselves what sort of weapons they want to spend their money on.

Q: How much do you know about Iran, its culture, civilization and ancient past? Is there anything special which you want to share with the Iranian readers of this interview? Of course many Iranians appreciate your steadfast resistance and your viewpoints about the suffering of the Palestinian nation. What do you want to tell them?

A: It is long time since I visited Iran, in the last days of the Shah’s rule, but I still cherish wonderful memories of Shiraz rose gardens and of Persian poetry. Saadi and Rumi are an important part of my background and of human heritage. I like Iranian people, their strong and masculine men and their so-exotic and delightful women. I meet some Iranians in exile, and I know they also miss their beautiful land. Iranian leadership has difficult choices to make: they should allow the Syrian people to make their own choice without fear of NATO-armed intervention; they should support the brave resistance of Hezbollah, this shield of Lebanon; they should try and make peace with their neighbours Turkey and Iraq; they should play a positive role in bringing Jews and Palestinians to living together in peace and equality.

But the most important task of the Iranians is to build a just society, where labour is valued more than money; where the rich ones do not devour the poor ones, a society whose members are united in God. God bless you and let you to fulfil this task.

Excerpts of this interview were published on Tehran Times daily.