Trudy Gold
The Great Libel: The Nazification of Israel, Part 1

​​Trudy Gold - The Great Libel: The Nazification of Israel, Part 1

- This is quite a tough presentation to give, and I think it’s going to be quite a tough presentation to receive because this presentation, and I’m going to be doing two more, not next week, but the week after, because it’s such an important subject and I don’t want to hurry it, it’s going to take me three sessions to properly look at how this extraordinary libel occurred. The fact that Israel is now regarded, in many left-wing circles, almost as a Nazi state. How that, in many ways, the Jews, who were the only people, millions of people suffered during the Shoah. Millions of people suffered during World War II, indescribable suffering, whole swathes of population destroyed. Think of the treatment of the Russian prisoners, think of the treatment of Slavs, think of the treatment of homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses. But the Jews were the only people where birth was sentence of death. Even the Roma who suffered so terribly in the insane racism that was Nazism, only those who had dared to mix their blood with that of the Aryan died. It was insanity. We will never quite grasp the depths of that insanity. So how is it that Jews who were the major victims, and of course after the war, nearly a million survivors went to the Jewish state. How is it that Israel is now seen, as I said, by many on the left, particularly the extreme left. as a racist fascist state? And also, which is coming along more and more and more, that Jews cannot possibly be victims of racism? Because not only are they white, of course they’re not just white, but I’m talking stereotyped now because the left is just as stereotyped as the right. So Jews cannot be victims, and in fact, they are considered as perpetrators. So what unbelievable illogical gymnastics have been perpetrated, so we actually arrive at this appalling level of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism? I don’t want to deflect from the extreme right.

I’m not diminishing the horror that is the extreme right. But today I’m not discussing it. And what we can do though, is actually trace the history of this revolting distortion. And as I began to say last week, it begins in the Soviet Union. Now, if you recall, Russia with Gromyko’s speech at the United Nations, Stalin put the weight of the Soviet block behind the establishment of the state of Israel. There was an extraordinary passage in “The Daily Worker”, which I read to you, totally in support of the Jewish state, because at that stage, what did Stalin think? He thought at the very best he would have an ally. After all, Israel, the people who who actually came to power in Israel were left wing Zionists. They were very left wing. There have been all sorts of agreements between Jews in Palestine and groups in Russia. There was a lot of work done between the two groups. Ben-Gurion was extremely left. And consequently, Stalin thought at the very best he would have an ally in the Middle East against Western imperialism and colonialism. Think of the end of the British mandate. And at the very worst, he would have a neutral country, because we are into the Cold War by 1948. And it’s going to hot up. It’s going to hot up into Korea. And if you think about the governments that were in the Arab world, they were feudal monarchies. Now, there’s no way that the Russians could do business with feudal monarchies. However, certain things happened under Stalin after the war that changed things. And of course the first important event was Golda’s visit to Moscow when he realised, when 50,000 young people came out to greet her when she went to the synagogue in Moscow.

And after all, never forget religion is dead in Russia. And yet all these young people come out to greet her. He realises he’s still got a Jewish problem. And then it spins out into a horrible case in Hungary. It then spins out into Czechoslovakia and the terrible Slansky trial, where during the Slansky trial, remember of that trial, of the 13 people who were put on trial, 11 of them were Jewish. Slansky, of course was a Jew. And the Soviet advisor to the trial said this, “You are a dirty Jew. That’s what you are. Israel is your real fatherland. And you’ve sold out socialism to your bosses, the Zionist and imperious leaders of world Jewry. Soon we will have to exterminate all your kind.” So already there is a turnabout. And then of course the doctors’ plot. And some historians actually believe that Stalin was going to work on a huge pogrom, who knows where it would lead to, when he died. And who takes his place, Khrushchev. Now Khrushchev another character very much in the party. A little bit about his background, he took over from Stalin and he’s going to replace Stalin from 1953 to 1964 when he himself is replaced in a coup. What he does do is he denounces Stalin’s crimes. He did some very interesting things. He actually said that the doctors’ plot was a fabrication. He sponsored the early space programme. And many of you will remember the Cuban Missile Crisis when the world was on the brink. He did negotiate with the West to bring down the tensions. But in terms of relationships with the Jews, and this is where it gets very, very complicated. Why? Because regimes in the Arab world were changing. Can we see the next slide? Farouk is replaced by Gamal Abdul Nasser.

He, with a group of military officers, participated in a bloodless coup in July, 1952 and took Farouk off the throne. Of course, Farouk the great playboy. And his famous quote when he abdicated, he said, “By the year 2000, there will only being five kings in the world, club, spades, diamonds, hearts, and the king of England.” So he goes off to his playboy life leaving Colonel Naguib and then Nasser takes over and he has a dream. He wants to be the new Saladin. He wants to be the undisputed leader of the Arab world. He wants to bring all the Arab peoples together and he wants to influence the world of Africa and the world of Islam. Now of course, his view of Israel, Israel was seen as an unlawful entity that had been backed by the West. Of course the Nakba, which has just had its day in the United Nations. It regards Israel’s existence itself as a crime against the Arab nation. And it’s Nasser, who in 1964 is going to create the PLO, with Shukeiri at its head. And at that stage, he rejected any peaceful solution. And after 1952, Egypt becomes the El Dorado of former Nazis. Nasser even emphasised the protocols of the elders of Zion. He said 300 Zionists govern the fate of the European continent. “No one takes”, I’m quoting “Seriously the lies about 6 million Jews. Ben-Gurion has killed as many Arabs as Hitler killed Jews.” We know that by 1954 there were over 6,000 ex-Nazis in Egypt. It was a colony of German expats, military security portfolio.

One of the most monstrous was a guy called Johann von Leers. He’d written, he’d been one of Goebbels’ bright young things. He’d written 27 anti-Semitic books for Goebbels. He becomes the leading anti-Israel propagandist for Nasser. He later, he is very close to Haj Amin al-Husseini, he converts to Islam. And in fact, when he was interviewed in 1965 by a “Toronto Star” journalist, he came up with huge tirades against the Jews. So basically what’s happening in Egypt, you already have a very strong anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist lobby. And now with Russia looking for allies in the Middle East, particularly under Khrushchev, you are going to see also the coming together of these terrible strands of basically of Jew hatred. Now, going back to Khrushchev, Khrushchev is becoming more and more involved in the Arab camp. One of the things he did, which I think is very important for you to understand Soviet policy at the time, he blocked a monument at Babi Yar. All of you will know Yevtushenko’s poem, “Babi Yar”, which in fact, I remember Professor Pima did a whole session on it. So those of you who haven’t heard it, you can always get it by inquiring from Lauren or Emily. And basically the poem is censored. And when it appeared in 1961, which is the 20th anniversary of the massacre, this is in an official Soviet organised journal “Literature and Life”. This is Alexi Merkel. He accused Yevtushenko of having forgotten the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Russians “with his pygmy spittle.” Reminds Yevtushenko, it was Russia that quote “blocked the embracer with her own body.” Storikov, another important Russian polemicist. “Why does Yevtushenko refrain from discussing the tragedy of those who abandoned their Soviet motherland to choose life as a Jew in general in Israel?” Because don’t forget that to the Soviet Union, the whole notion, there were so many Jews, as I explained the other day, involved in the Communist Party. And they were the ones who dreamt of an international body, but they were the ones of course that later on most of them are going to be purged.

And now Khrushchev, not only is he courting the Arab camp, but Israel is becoming more and more of a problem. Can we go on please? Yeah. Phil, the other night gave a brilliant lecture on the reparations agreement with Nazi Germany, with beg your pardon, with Germany. In 1953, the reparations agreement was finally signed that Israel would benefit as an heir to the victims. Of course, individuals will also be recompensated, but Israel would benefit as heir to the victims, not just in money, but in goods and in all, and those of you who visited Israel in the early years will remember just how swarming Israel was with German equipment, German machinery. Israel had no natural resources. Israel had to absorb by, you know, by 1951, 600,000 at the beginning, by 1951, 2 and a quarter million, Israel had to absorb them. Israel had to create a state, so they needed the money. There was terrible demonstrations outside the Knesset and many, many people were violently against it. Do you deal with the devil? So the reparations agreement, I want to go on please. And then, Suez. In 1956, the Israeli forces threw in their lot with Britain and with France. And of course it was an unbelievable military victory, but in many ways it was a propaganda disaster. Go on, please, ‘cause then I want to pull it all together. The Kasztner trial, which we’ve covered before. What was the Kasztner trial all about? You’ll remember that Kasztner was a member of the rescue committee in Hungary, and he was one of the men who was sent for by Eichmann in April, 1944. And he was offered the remaining Jews, he was offered basically the blood for good steel. If he could persuade, if the Zionists could persuade the West to give them concessions in terms of goods, then he was prepared to release Hungarian Jewry. Kasztner, Brandt his colleague, went off to relay the offer.

Kasztner was given the appalling task. He asked for a token and he was given two trains and he had to make the decisions. And all the work shows us that in fact, he was pretty even handed. Some wealthy Jews did go on it because the Nazis wanted their money and they’d done a secret deal, but in the main, Kasztner took ordinary folk. He said later on “I’m going to create a Noah’s ark.” He saw himself as a hero. And when he went to Israel, he became part of the Israeli government on a lower level. And he was libelled by a Hungarian survivor who said that he had colluded with the Nazis. Now, in fact, it was a terrible, terrible case. And what it shows us just how deep and dark this murkiness is, because in the end I can say to you that I would’ve done anything to save my family. I discussed this with close friends of mine who are survivors, and they really do say to me, you can pass judgement on the perpetrators. You can pass judgement on the Allies if you like, but don’t pass judgement on people who are in hell. Can we go on to the next slide please? The Eichmann trial. In 1960, Eichmann is captured. He was number one on the target list because if you think, Hitler had committed suicide, Himmler had committed suicide, Heidrich had been assassinated by Czech partisans. Eichmann was the number one target and he’s brought to Israel. And a trial is enacted, which really was to show the world what had happened to the Jewish people. Now why am I bringing this all up? Because what is going to be done with it in Soviet Russia. Can we go on, please? This was a comment in Pravda in February, 1962, as a response to the Eichmann trial, “Israel removed the main witness to world Zionism and its dealings with the Nazis.”

What is happening in Russian propaganda, Remember, Russia is a totalitarian state. “Izvestia,” and “Pravda” which by the way means the truth. For a long time it was edited by Trotsky before they came into power. They were building up the notion that Israel had gone into collusion, that the Jews in Palestine, the Jews, the Zionists, had colluded with the Nazis in their own destruction. It begins as early as this, and they’re going to go back, taking the Kasztner affair, taking the reparations agreement, taking the Eichmann trial and also the Haavara Agreement. You’ll remember that back in 1933, the Zionist leader, Haim Arlosoroff, had gone to Germany to negotiate with the head of the Reichs Bank, the transfer of people and property from Germany to Palestine, saving lives. But in the horror that was the Shoah, in the aftermath of the Shoah, there were so many people that you know, these incredibly difficult ghastly decisions that people make. And now you are going to see how they are twisted. Could we go on please? This is “Izvestia”. I couldn’t get hold of the cartoon unfortunately, but it was a picture of a Nazi and an Israeli soldier. “I recommend these weapons, tried and tested and used in Auschwitz and the Warsaw ghetto.” Again, going back to the Shoah itself. And of course there are closer and closer relations with the Arabs and the third world. Between 1958 and 1961, Nasser created the United Arab Republic bringing together Syria and Egypt. He wants a Pan Arab world.

In 1964, he creates the pillar PLO under an acre lawyer called Ahmed Shukeiri. Now, in 1965 in the United Nations on the 14th of October, the Soviet Union demanded that Zionism, Nazism and Neo-Nazism should be classed as racial crimes. So the pushing, the pushing, the pushing. The world is gradually changing. Important to remember at this stage that Africa, the emerging African nations, there are more Israeli advisors in Africa per capita than any other nation in the world. They are teaching soilless culture. Just think all the horrible, horribly difficult things that Israel had to do to try and make the desert bloom. They think they can be useful in Africa and consequently they’re working in the African continent. But more and more the game between the two superpowers for hegemony in the world. Where does one turn? And Russia, particularly with the kind of regimes now in the Arab world, Idris fell in 1961 to be replaced by Gaddafi. In 1958, the monarchy fell in Iraq to be replaced by Saddam Hussein. Now these people, they are not religious. They are secularists, they are Arab secularists and they are socialists. So consequently it’s going to be much easier for the Russians to find allies with them. And Israel is going more and more into the Western camp. And let’s have a look at the next slide please.

Who doesn’t remember the sixties? It’s said that if you do remember them, you weren’t really there. But certainly, I know that in many parts of the world, and we’ve got a large audience tonight of different countries. But certainly if you were in Britain and you were lucky enough to be an educated woman, you would’ve thought that the world had changed for the better because it’s also the music revolution, it’s the notions of freedom after that terrible war. By the time we get to the 1960s, there’s much more of a notion of freedom and liberalism and also it spreads on the university campuses. And it’s going to go further. The CND movement had been created in 1958, young movements, young protests. And at the extreme end, it leads also to some of the more fanatical of the young people from country to country to country turning against Western imperialism. And you have organisations like the PLO, which I’ve already mentioned, the Japanese Red Army, the Baader-Meinhof group, the IRA, they’re all kind of coming together out of the protest movements of the sixties. Now, on one level, the protest movements, they began as something quite healthy. But unfortunately like most revolutions, they need to be pulled back. And out of them came a lot of extremism. And then something happened in the Middle East. Bearing in mind that by 1967 Russian weaponry was absolutely at its peak in Syria and in Egypt. And the Syrian regime was weak. Russia to shore it all up asks the Egyptians to begin sabre rattling. And it’s all going to erupt into 1967, the Six-Day War. Can we see the slide please? Yeah. The Six-Day War.

When tiny little Israel conquered the West Bank, and of course Ariel Sharon against orders, he crosses the Sinai. It is an unbelievable victory. And I’m sure many of you remember Goran blowing the shofar at the western wall. I can remember the first day of the Six-Day War, no news came out of Israel. And of course propaganda from the Arab world, 80% of Tel Aviv has been destroyed, et cetera, et cetera. And of course what happened was that it was an absolutely extraordinary victory. But in terms of Russia and the Arabs, it is a complete watershed. Can we go on please? This is “Pravda”, the 6th of June, 1967. “The genocidal Israel is a Nazi state. Moshe Dayan is a pupil of Hitler.” Can we go on please? This is the Soviet representative at the United Nations. And remember, this is the country that had sponsored Israel, the creation of Israel and was the first country, America gave them de facto recognition, the Russians were the first country to give them de facto and de jure. “The over-weening aggressors have taken over the notorious Nazi theories of Leibensraum. How monstrous that these devices of Nazi brigands, condemned by military tribunal in 1946, have have been revived by a government claiming to represent a people who suffered so bitterly at the hands of the Nazis.” What happens is between 1967 and 1989, the fall of communism, there is a 22 year campaign in the Russian media, which of course is going to permeate through to the Trotskyite West, particularly Britain actually. And I’ll be talking about that next week, to promote Zionism as the great invisible power who was everywhere. You’ve got to remember the Six-Day War was a total victory. Not only the Russian equipment was all captured, how on earth did it happen?

So Nasser put about that the Israelis, 'cause if you think about it, the Israeli flyers those incredible missions, they said the Americans were flying with them, that the Jews in America were behind it. And gradually what comes out of the Arab world and is fueled by the propaganda from Russia, that Zionism is the great power whose reach is everywhere. Israel becomes the centre of some world conspiracy. They reinvent the protocols. But Israel and America, the American Jewry are at the centre. They control the world through, The Jews control the world through America and Israel, politics, finance, press, and all communications in America. So it’s the Soviet polemicists who are going to invest in the systematic Nazification and ironically, they’re called Zionologists. They even have their own department. And tragically some of them were Jewish. And also they need to prove, in order to completely blacken the name of Israel, that the Zionists had collaborated in the destruction of their own people to create a state. It had already begun, as I showed you, but after 1967, it’s going to be bashed home all the time. The Zionists are the evil ones who collaborate, who actually collaborate in working with the Nazis, using things like, as I’ve already mentioned, Haavara, the Kasztner affair, the fact that Eichmann went to Palestine in 1937, he was the expert on the Jews. Anything where there was some sort of talking. And let’s face it, I’ve already said, frankly, if it was my family, I would’ve talked to the devil and I’m sure many of you online would. And the fact also that Jews were powerless. That’s one of the tragedies.

And because it is such a deep, dark issue that has hurt so many of us. And I know from comments that I’ve had from so many of you online, it’s your families we’re talking about. So consequently, it’s one of the rawest things that anyone can pick at. So, according to Zionology, as they called it, it really begins, what were the reparations about? What is the supplying of weapons about? And of course it’s repeated. This is repeated on Moscow radio. They are often accused in the Soviet press of obliterating Arab villages, quote, “Just as the Nazis flattened Adichi, the pure blooded warriors of Israel to the execution of Hitler, to US aggressors in Vietnam.” This is Korneyev, one of Zionologists. “Zionists want to pull off a coup by presenting aggressive and racist Israel as a fighter for justice in the eyes of the world.” He said, “Eichmann visited Palestine in 1937 to secure the agreement for the creation of a pro-Nazi state.” This is absolute calumny. Later on, Brezhnev in a speech to graduates of the Soviet Military Academy, “In their atrocities against the Arabs, they want to copy the crimes of the Hitlerites.” This is what Robert Wistrich, what he had to say about this. “In its flagrant vulgarity, the new propaganda assault soon achieved Nazi era characteristics. The Soviet public was saturated with racist canard.” And the media is portraying, and this is going to be very problematic for Jews living in Russia. “They portray Jews throughout the world as engaged in a Zionist conspiracy.” Again, and this is a quote from the historian Paul Johnson.

“The main media portrayed Jewish and Israeli leaders engaged in a worldwide conspiracy along the lines of the old protocols of the elders of Zion.” The 5th of August 67. This is “Sylvestius Latvia”. This is the main paper of Latvia, Communist Latvia, “An international Cosa Nostra with a common centre, a common programme and common funds.” Always Israel is referred to as a terrorist regime. Even Entebbe, it was called an act of aggression against Rwanda. “The Moscow Daily”, “Genocide has been practised in Israel from the first days of the state.” This is a TASS English language broadcast. “In 1944, Eichmann and one of the Jewish leaders, Kasztner signed an agreement on Hungarian Jews guaranteeing the life of 600 prominent Jews while condemning to death 800,000 without sufficient money to pay for their lives.” And I can go on and on and on. Now, can we go on to the next slide please? Arafat. Arafat had been born to Palestinian parents in Cairo, he studied at the Fuad University in Cairo. He came from one of the premier Palestinian families. He’d fought alongside the Muslim Brotherhood in the '48 war. And after the war, he returned to Egypt and he became president of the General Union of Palestinian students. In the late fifties, he founded Fatah, which was a paramilitary organisation operating in several countries. Now, in 1967, he joined the PLO and by 1969 he is chair of the Palestinian National Council. After the Six-Day War, remember Nasser fails to in any way, negotiate. He takes a totally nihilistic approach.

Jordan did want to negotiate, but King Hussein was assured that if he, and this comes out in his own book, Hussein wrote his autobiography, he was assured by Nasser that he would die if he tried. And remember his grandfather, Abdullah had died trying to make peace, having tried to make peace with Israel. So what happens is Arafat goes to Jordan, he sets up camp in Jordan, clashes with Hussein’s government. In fact, his band of brigands, they murdered moderate Arabs and they made life incredibly difficult for Hussein’s government. Black September, he kicks them out and they go to Lebanon. Up until that time, Lebanon has been, if you like, the playground of the Arab world, it had been left alone and now of course it’s going to be used to attack Israel. Now, of course, later on we’ll be going back to him, but something else is happening in Russia. Can we go on please? The Refusenik movement. Now, many Jews wanted to get out of Russia. During the Cold War, and I’ve already given you that quote at the time of the Slansky trial, Jews were potentially seen as traitors. Many encountered systematic anti-Semitism. There was no attempt to engage in cultural or religious life because we are one people. Now the same thing had happened to Christians, by the way. “Religion is the opium of the masses”, said Karl Marx. So basically, I remember I went to teach in Russia in the mid eighties. We taught Refuseniks, this was an extraordinary programme. Martin Gilbert was going over there teaching them Jewish history and they took away his visa and they came to the centre where there were a dozen of us and he said, “Go once a year, you’ll get away with it.” And it was one of the most profound experiences of my life.

I was there for Hanukkah and they made me light the candles in a window. And because the minute you became a Refusenik, what happens is the minute you applied for an exit visa, you lost your job and you had then to take a menial job or face a charge of social parasitism. So you’ve got this terrible ban on emigration. And at the same time, you are a non-person in the Soviet Union. And these incredible people, and I know many, I’m sure many of you online, would be involved with the campaign for Soviet Jewry from country to country to country. There were an extraordinary amount of applications post 67 to go to Israel. But particularly after 67, their lives are intolerable. There was incredibly, as far as the Refuseniks are concerned, this is where strong international pressure did work. Between 1960 and 1970, only 4,000 visas were given. But between 1970 and 1980, a quarter of a million, and of course in 1974 when Russia needed a trade deal, the Jackson Amendment, if a country restricted freedom of emigration, America would not trade favourably. So it meant that more Jews could get out, also applied to Hungarians wanting to get out of Hungary, Romanians, et cetera, et cetera. So the point is, the Refusenik movement for Jews left behind in Russia, there were some who became very, very anti-Zionist, even Zionologists. There were some who were committed communists, but for many Jews, they were in limbo because antisemitism is in the press all the time. And the equation of Zionism with racism and the equation of Zionism with Hitlerism, and that’s the point, the Nazification of the Jewish state. Can we go on please? There you go. “Genocide has been practised in Israel since the first day of the state.”

There are hundreds and hundreds such as this. I just had to choose. I didn’t have to comb. Believe me, there is so much. Could you go on please? Thank you. “The Zionist collaboration with the Nazis led to the catastrophe which cost the lives of 6 million.” That’s TASS actually blaming the Jews for the destruction of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. Do you see what’s happened? Do you see now how this has begun to infect the left, the extreme left in the West? Can we go on please? This is TASS English broadcast “Eichmann and one of the Jewish leaders, Kasztner,” I’ve already told you this, but it’s important. “Signed an agreement on a Hungarian Jews guaranteeing the life of 600 prominent Jews while condemning to death 800,000 without sufficient money to pay for their lives.” That is such a cruel, evil thing to do. Can you go on please? This is Korneyev, one of the Zionologists “While Slavic peoples Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Belarus sought to rescue Jews, their own Zionist leadership abandoned them, Jews doomed children who were rescued by the Soviets.” Go on please. And here you have it, Arafat at the United Nations because what happens November the 10th, 1975. That date should echo with you. It is Kristallnacht. The United Nations is going to pass a motion equating race, equating Zionism with racism. Now, I should also have mentioned that back in '67, most countries in Africa or the Arab world, the Russian bloc, they all broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. Consequently, Israel is becoming more and more isolated and thrown more and more into the American camp.

Quoting here from Wistrich, “Zionism, the political movement that created Israel, the legitimate expression of Jewish collective identity was in contravention of the post-colonial world’s greatest crime, racism. It gave anti-Zionists a new boost of confidence on what to build their campaign endorsement at the United Nations.” Now basically, this all began in the Soviet Union. It was a two year effort on the part of the communist bloc and Arab states and also some of the African states, which in December, 1973, the General Assembly passed a resolution on Apartheid that condemned the unholy alliance between Portuguese colonialism, South African Apartheid and Zionism. So it’s already there. And what happens is the resolution is passed. Can we see the map? Yeah. Can we make it as big as possible? 72 vote in favour of the motion. You see the sponsoring countries. 35 against, the Western world basically. And 37 abstentions. Can we see Chaim Herzog please next. This is Chaim Herzog, a little on him. I’m sure you all know his story. An extraordinary man. He was Irish born. His father had been the chief rabbi of Ireland, Izak Herzog. He comes to Israel, he becomes a politician, a general, he was a brilliant lawyer. And of course became the sixth president of Israel. During the war, he came at the end, during the war, he was commissioned into the intelligence corp in Britain. And in 1945, he participated in the liberation of the camps. He actually identified a captured German soldier as Himmler. He left the British army in 1947 as a major. 1948 he comes to Israel.

1948 to 50 he’s head of IDF military intelligence and 48 to 50, 50 to 54, he’s a defence attache in Washington. He retires from the IDF in 62. And then he is the permanent representative at the UN. And this is what he has to say, “For us, the Jewish people, this resolution is based on hatred, falsehood, and arrogance. It’s devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we will treat it as such.” He is an extraordinary man. Personally, he was brother-in-law to Abba Eban. He and Abba Eban married two sisters and his son, one of his four sons, one of his four children, of course becomes chairman of the Labour Party and the Jewish Agency and is now president. He the only father-son presidency in Israel’s history. So he actually symbolically tears up the piece of paper. Now let’s have a look at another hero. Daniel Monihan, the United States ambassador to the UN, A Democrat. He was a very strong supporter of Israel, and this is what he said. He said, “The resolution against Zionism not only affected Israel, but all Zionists, which include the majority of American Jews.” And he says this, at the United Nations, “The United Nations is about to make anti-Semitism international law. The UN, which began its life as an anti-Nazi alliance, is 30 years later on its way to becoming the world’s centre of anti-Semitism.” And there you have it. Zionism is racism. Now, of course, from then on, you can just imagine what is going to be said in the Russian press. So this is Lev Korneyev, who as another Zionologist, he drew a distinction between the mass murder of poor Jewish workers and the Jewish millionaires who were the accomplices of the Nazis. And he goes on “Worse still the Slavic peoples, Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and Belarus. All the Jews are deserted by their own leadership.”

This is from August, 1975. “The leaders of Zionism and the big Jewish bourgeoisie were in collusion with the Hitlerites.” This is “Pragda”. “It’s no longer a secret that Zionist capital helped to strengthen Hitler’s regime in Germany and the fascist preparations to attack the Soviet Union.” This is the Haavara deal, taking a grain of a speck and making it into a collaboration. “Notwithstanding the fact that the Hitlerites had murdered and burned hundreds of thousands of Jewish workers and poor people, the Zionist leaders continued to collaborate with the fascists. The leaders of Zionism took care of only chosen people of rich families.” This is another Zionologist, a man called Solodor. “Zionist leadership regarded millions of Jews in Eastern Europe as economic and moral dust. Weizmann and Ben-Gurion, the arch criminals, sacrificed 6 million useless Jews for Israel’s future. Wanted only young people with the poison of fanatical nationalism and fit for armed attacks on the native population of Palestine.” Let me repeat this. “Zionist leadership regarded millions of Jews in Eastern Europe as economic and moral dust. Weizmann and Ben-Gurion, the arch criminals, sacrificed 6 million useless Jews for Israel’s future. Wanted only young people with the poison of fanatical nationalism and fit for armed attack on the native population of Palestine.” Those of you who have studied this period will know that in 1937, when Weizmann gave evidence before the appeal commission, he begged, he said, “At least there are 6 million Jews in the east who are going to die.

At least,” This is '37. “At least let’s save the young.” And the twisting of that by the Zionologists, they knew Jewish history. They have twisted it, they twist and they twist and they take a grain of truth. And it’s all going to be on the London stage in a play called “Perdition”. But more about that next time. This is another Zionologist, DI Sokya. In 1976. “The Zionists doomed the Jews including children to death in the gas chambers. Whereas Soviet soldiers rescued them.” Vladimir Semi, “The chosen ones were removed from the train, Kasztner, "To save the cream of the nation.” This is Ivanov. “In accordance with an agreement with the Hitlerites, the latter herded Jews either into the ovens or the kibbutz in the land of Canaan.” And of course, it’s going to get far worse after, in 1977, Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel. It’s going to get even worse. Now, this is Korneyev. Korneyev, “The Zionists wanted to pull off a coup by presenting aggressive and racist Israel,” because now they can do it, the UN has said Zionism is racism. That was finally rescinded in 1991 in the time of George Bush. And actually the Russians backed it at that stage. But then communism fell. “The Zionist wanted to pull off a coup by presenting aggressive and racist Israel as a fighter for justice in the eyes of the world. And again, he talks a lot about Eichmann’s visit to Palestine to secure the agreement for the creation of a pro-Nazi state. Now this is the third edition of the 32 volume "Great Soviets Encyclopaedia” about Zionism. “Zionism is racism. It is military chauvinism.

It’s anti-communist and anti-Soviet. It’s anti-human reactionary essence of Zionism, overt and covert, fights against freedom of movement.” So if you are a kid looking at an encyclopaedia, this is what you would read. “International Zionist organisations own major financial funds, partly through Jewish monopolists, collected by mandatory Jewish charities, also influences and controls media outlets in the West, serves as a front squad of colonialism and Neocolonialism.” You see, it’s now is after '67, it’s Israel and America, exacerbated by the 73 War. “International Zionism actively participates in the fight against national liberation movements of the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Zionism is a tool used by Jews and America for racist imperialism.” This is Yuri Ivanov, in his book, “Beware Zionism.” “Modern Zionism is the ideology of organisation and the practical politics of a wealthy Jewish bourgeoisie, which has closely allied itself with monopoly circles in America and other imperialist countries. The main content of Zionism is bellicose chauvinism and anti-communism.” It’s interesting, the Soviet leaders said, “We’re not anti-Semitic. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitic.” And they pointed out that many notable Zionologists were Jews. But of course, you know, that’s a trick that the left use today as well. The extreme left. They say, because Lenni Brenner’s Jewish, because Isaac Deutscher was Jewish, therefore, in fact, John McDonald is quoted as saying that, “How can the left be anti-Semitic? Because Marx was a Jew and Trotsky was a Jew.”

In fact, I think it’s enough. I think you’ve got the picture. As I said, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of this kind of rubbish. I thank Robert Wistrich for his work in this. And also Dave Rich is coming in next week and he’s going to be, the week after next, I believe he’s going to be in conversation with about this. And I’ll be coming back the week after with two more on this because I think it’s such an important era for us to look at. But I’m now going to show you a few cartoons, which just illustrate the point that I have been making. There you see Brezhnev, and I’ve already quoted that “In their atrocities against the Arabs.” Here we go. Let’s have a look. These are just, you see how the swastika and the star of David are entwined. I think you can now understand why people on the extreme lefts have these views. This is what they have been fed. And it’s all post '67. It’s going to filter into the West through the Trotskyites. And now unfortunately, it’s common currency on the left. so what I’m going to talk about in my next session on this particular issue, I’m going to talk about what happens in the Lebanon and how that’s going to lead to another terrible upswing. And then I’m going to take it, I’m going to use Britain as my case study because Britain is a warning to America on this one. So shall we have a look at the questions?

Q&A and Comments:

This is from Shelly, Great article in the May Atlantic by Dara Horn. She is a wonderful writer.

Is Holocaust education making anti-Semitism worse? It has a lot about the museum where I live. Of course, everybody loves like Jews. I think anti-Semitism on the extreme left is much worse than on the extreme right. After the Holocaust there is no logical argument for the latter. Unfortunately, though there’s a lot of people who still support the extreme right. Julian, be careful of being logical. It usually comes across as ridiculous or in denial of history or both. Left wing antisemitism hijacks the psychology of the underdog and pain and suffering. In other words, the old theory that Jews run the world was debunked by the Holocaust. If it were true, the Holocaust could not have happened. Whereas the left wing claim that Palestinians suffer more than the Jews, there’s not been a universally accepted rebuttal to that. And so they milk it for all it’s worth wherever they can. In summary, there is no public mental space left for right-wing antisemitism to exist in. But there is for left-wing antisemitism. While one virus may be near extinction, the other continues to mutate into multiple dangerous concoctions. It’s very interesting what you’ve written, Julian. But I must say, I’m going to think about that very carefully. Do not discount the right, be careful, think America, what’s going on in the extreme right of America.

Q: Can you comment on the rumours that the US is thinking of changing the IRA definition?

A: I’d need to see what it is, Louise, before I could make any comment. I don’t understand what happened between '48 Soviet support for Israel in the early sixties.

Ron, it’s quite simple. Basically when Golda visits Russia, they realise they’ve still got a Jewish problem. And then, how’d you get inside the mind of Stalin? And then you see the Slansky trials where they use ruthless Jewish cosmopolitanism and Trotskyism. Then the doctors’ plot. And then with Khrushchev, think Cold War, they’re looking for allies in the Arab world, the old feudal regimes fall in Egypt, in Libya, in Syria, Iraq, they’re replaced by nationalists who are socialists. And they now play with the Arabs. This is about world hegemony. So that’s how it happens. And also, there was a problem about Jews in Russia because one of the other issues, the Holocaust must not be seen to be a greater tragedy than anyone else’s. Russia had to absorb Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles. Do you know how many of them were fascist collaborators? So the Jews were never singled out as a victim group. Think Babi Yar, everybody suffered. It was the great Soviet endeavour against fascism. The fact that the Soviets and the Russians were allied, the Soviets and the Nazis were allied in June 41 is another story. But you remember Goebbels on the great lie. If you tell it often enough people believe it. There is no free media in Russia.

Q: Why did Moshe die?

A: Arlene, I’m going to have to check that out.

On a tour of Cairo in the 1990s, we were told by the Egyptian guide that the Arabs won the Six-Day War. Yeah, well actually if they had, if you think about it, the humiliation of ‘73 was not as great. And that’s what brought Sadat to the table. But he paid with his life.

Alan, I was a volunteer together with about 1200 South Africans and about 4,000 Brits coming to Israel working on a Kibbutz. What a life changing experience. Yeah, I was there too, Alan, 1967. Yeah. It was an extraordinary time to be there and to be young. Yes, of course, I didn’t bring in Poland. 1968 Poland. Absolutely appalling what happened. We don’t need another fifth column from Gavonka. Yes, it’s in every Soviet, in every country of Soviet sphere of influence. You know, 50% of the communist party after the war were of Jewish birth. Same in Checko. Same in so many of the countries. Look, I will say until I’m purple, the majority of Jews were never communists, but a disproportionate number of the leadership was.

One of your posters shown of demonstrations translate to “Russia is our mother. If only we were orphans.” A friend of mine whose father was involved with Ben-Gurion told me that her father was horrified when he heard her chanting the Schmaier refrain, which translates to Stalin and our father, Russia, our mother, and we want to be orphans. It rhymes in Hebrew. I too was horrified when she chanted this refrain and she cannot believe she was so brainwashed. Yes. You know, I remember after communism fell and I had young students from Russia came to classes and I remember I was giving a lecture on the Bund and also on the Black hundreds. The Bunds was the Jewish socialist organisation. The Bund was the Tsarist fascist union. And this young girl who was incredibly clever, she said, “But weren’t they the same sort of fascist organisation?” She’d had a Soviet education.

This is Pearl. I visited Refuseniks in Moscow, Leningrad during my winter break from school in December, January. They were the bravest people, many who publicly tested their status. Not only did they lose their jobs, their children were expelled from some very prestigious schools. Luckily, many of the families I visited eventually got their visas and left for Israeli and the USA. Yes, they were incredible. Do you know, I remember when I was lecturing at a home of Refuseniks, I lectured for four hours. Nobody could ever take that in the West. Two hours translation. Okay? And at the end the chairman said, “Go home and tell the Jews of London to be Jews for us.” And you know, they wanted me to light the menorah for them in the window so their neighbours could see. They were so brave. Yeah. Karen, I was one of 200,000 Canadian and American Jews who marched on Washington, free Soviet Jews. Our Canadian contingent met Sharansky. A very proud moment to be Jewish. Yes. I’m so glad that there are so many good memories coming. On a cruise from Mosca Omar to Alexandra Egypt. We cruised down the Suez canal. Pointed out on shore were Egyptian monuments, their fallen soldiers during the Six-Day War, also rusting hulls from Egyptian ships. Yeah.

Q: If the Soviets saved Jewish children, why did so many Jews who were saved or their children want leave the USSR?

A: Shelly. Shelly. It was propaganda. Yes, you can make the case that the Russian army was unbelievably brave, but do you see how it’s all twisted? And do you know how many of his generals Stalin executed? And how many soldiers who’d had contact with the West were murdered? You’re dealing with a man who killed 40 million people. Hope you did not forget the Irish diplomat, Connor Cruise O'Brien, who was a firm friend of Israel. Yes. No, Israel has had her friends. Has friends, and has had friends.

Q: What was Israel doing to counter this?

A: That is a very, very, very good question, Marilyn. You know, I don’t want to go there. I think at some stage I’m going to ask Carly to recommend someone to come and talk about this.

Q: Can we really say that modern anti-Semitism on the far left is simply a result of Soviet anti-Semitism? Is there not to extent, which is manifested organically in the West too?

A: Yes, of course Ollie. And if you actually look at the history, it begins with good old Karl Marx. But what I think is fascinating, if you’re going to see how all this information is first going to be taken up by the Trotskyites next time, that’s a very good point. When a member of the public reads these poisonous lies, why would they not believe them? The truth needs to be stated again and again and again. The truth is not of course, and does not go without saying.

I suggest to avoid this type of sarcasm. Oh yeah, right. I kill Palestinians. Of course Israel is a Nazi state. Listen, Serena, it’s such a terrible problem. The image of Israel. I always think of Howard Jacobson’s, great line. “They cannot forgive us the Holocaust.” You see up until 1967 in the West Israel’s a victim. Yeah, the victim state. But all of a sudden the Jews win. They win that war. You know, Saul Bellow said that if Israel had lost the war, the world would’ve sent 30,000 blankets to the surviving Jewish orphans.

Oh, this is from Manny. Chaim Herzog’s wife, Aura completed a BA in mathematics and physics at the University of Witwatersrand in Joburg. And I believe her sister was married to Abba Eban.

Is that not correct? The problem is, this is Ron, the problem is, it’s so easy today to disseminate any lie that you want to create. I heard from an imam that Moses was not a Jew but a Muslim. Dream it and someone will believe it. Yeah. As Wistrich said, I shouldn’t tell you our last conversation, he actually said to me, “Trudy, the enlightenment is a blip. Get over it.” I cannot, I do not want to believe that.

Louise, Connor Cruise O'Brien’s son, Donald, lovely man. Now deceased, was married to a Jewish woman, Rita Cruise O'Brien.

Rosie. When you say America, that includes South, Central and North America. It’s not USA alone. Yeah. I reported to the police one of these cartoons. The police investigated and wanted me to be a witness at the trial. Apparently the people were also potential terrorists.

Q: Was Harold Wilson anti-Israel?

A: No, Barry, he wasn’t. But I’ll talk about that. Monty, Dara Horn is a brilliant writer. I totally, totally agree with you. She’s one of the best. Sometime later says Marvin, Eisenhower regretted his stance on the Suez.

Q: Lynn and Rodney. Can Israel and the Jews ever win a propaganda war? Does Israel even try?

A: That’s why I want to bring an expert in on it. You got to remember, Israel did have other problems to deal with. She had to gather the exiles. She had to build up a state without natural resources. She was constantly at war with her neighbours. I mean, and in a way, there is a stream in Zionism. Remember what Netanyahu said when he went to Paris at the time of those terrible attacks, what did he say to the grieving Jews? “Come home.”

Q: In addition to Israel, how do our numerous Jewish organisation permit the allegation to go uncontested?

A: Oh, they do contest them all the time. There are so many organisations. Maybe one of the problems is that we don’t come enough together on this. And it’s terrible on the campus. It’s terrible in some schools now. I can only talk about England 'cause that’s the only country I know in any depth. And all I know is Jews are like everybody else. We quarrel with each other. We don’t actually come up with a serious plan with many organisations involved.

No, there are 300 Holocaust museums throughout the world and it has not made one dent in anti-Semitism. And my beef at the moment is in Britain, they’re going to build a Holocaust memorial at Parliament. I just do not, they’re going to 120 million they’re talking about. What about real education? What about changing the syllabus, not just about the Jews? What about a humanities education? What about empathy? Sorry, don’t get me on one. Anyway, I think that’s it. I’m sorry it was a tough one to take, but it’s important. So actually on Thursday I’m interviewing Sahad Heli. He is part Jewish, part Muslim. In fact, his grandfather was the man who gave up Jerusalem in 1967. He comes from a prominent family and he is the only moderate he’s the only Palestinian accredited by Yad Vashem as a Holocaust educator. He lives in England. He’s a remarkable man and I’m going to have the pleasure of interviewing him at five o'clock on Thursday. Emily, thank you.

Thank you all. I’m sorry it’s been tough going. And I think we really, you know, maybe there is something, maybe there’s still something we can all do. Take care, everyone.