Nothing New Under the Sun

Kangaroo court is an informal pejorative term for a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc. A kangaroo court may ignore due process and come to a predetermined conclusion. Wikipedia

Those of us who are watching the proceedings at The Hague and who were born in the last century know that this is nothing new. Yet it still turns our stomach each time we witness an event like this.

In November 1974, Yassir Arafat was invited to speak before the UN General Assembly. Four

years earlier in August 1970, Arafat declared: "Our basic aim is to liberate the land from the

Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. We are not concerned with what took place in June 1967 or in eliminating the consequences of the June war. The Palestinian revolution's basic concern is the uprooting of the Zionist entity from our land and liberating it."- Gilbert, Martin (1998). Israel: a history. Doubleday

In what a sounded like a threat of intensified guerrilla activity if the Palestine Liberation

Organization's proposal for a Palestianian state was not accepted, Mr. Arafat

said toward the end of his speech:

“I have come bearing an olive branch and freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive

branch fall from my hands.” https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/14/archives/dramatic-session-plo-head-says-he-bears-olive-branch-and-guerrilla.html

Four months later, as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was preparing to set off on his latest Middle Eastern peace mission, seeking further agreement between Egypt and Israel, Palestinian commandos launched a spectacular act of terrorism against the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv. The operation was publicly claimed by the PLO and spelled out the purpose of the action in a public statement. It was intended to remind Dr. Kissinger—and therefore Egypt and Israel—that there could be no peace in the Middle East without the Palestinians.

History repeats itself today.

A year later, on November 10, 1975 the UN General Assmebly adopted UN Resolution 3379 which "Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination".

To those that recall, this was a time when there was no cable news and no 24 hour news cycle. We had to get our news from our daily newspapers and the nightly news.

The 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR), also known as Durban I, was held at

the Durban International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa, under UN auspices, from 31 August to 8 September 2001. The conference covered several controversial issues,

including redress for transatlantic slavery and the second-class citizenry issue in Palestine-Israel.

In parallel to the conference, a separately held NGO Forum also produced a Declaration and

Program of its own, that was not an official Conference document, which contained language relating to Israel that the WCAR had voted to exclude from its Declaration. The official conference was strongly anti-Israel with anti-Semitic overtones. The NGO Forum was even more harsh in its anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitism. The NGO Forum which initiated Israel as an apartheid state is knwon as the "Durban Strategy." They claim that this comparison was made with the intention of causing and encouraging divestment from and boycott of Israel.

Thus the beginning of the BDS Movement.

The main points of the NGO Forums Declaration are as follows.

The determination that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination was based on: 

• The unholy alliance between South African racism and Zionism

• The racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa have a common imperialist origin... organically linked in their policy aimed at the repression of the dignity and integrity of the human being,”

• Most severely condemned Zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology.

• The principle that “international co-operation and peace require... the elimination of colonialism and neo-colonialism, foreign occupation, Zionism, Apartheid.”

Three days after Durban 1, on September 11, 2001 the world changed.

After Durban 1, the strategy of the “Zionism is Racism” movement shifted away from major international conferences to smaller grass roots activities especially on ripe university campuses. This was done as the War on Terrorism ramped up providing the anti-Israel movement a safe refuge on university campuses.

As we can see by the demonstrations held after October 7, 2023 this tactic proved highly effective.

Israel must develop a plan of action to be a more effective counter to these activities.

South Africa is a failed state. It is led by a corrupt thug whose idol is Idi Amin. The case against Israel brought by South Africa to ICCJ will only give a black eye to both. It is using classic anitsemitism to deflect its current internal problems. In the long run, Israel will not suffer from this kangaroo court. It is one more external force that is galvanizing the country.

Since 1967 we have faced a barrage of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tragedies. We witnessed the Munich Massacre on September 5, 1972, the Lod Massacre on May 30, 1972, Entebbe in July 1974, the Achille Lauro hijacking on October 7,1985, the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2005.

We remember the terrorist attack in Argentina in the 1990s and in Mumbai in 2008

And on and on as far back as we can remember.

A kangaroo court is nothing compared to what we have faced as a nation, as a people, as a religion.

It is a hard battle we are now facing and have faced since the first pioneer entered the land.

Our memories are long, since that long trek from Ur of the Chaldeans.