Eric Hoffer was a American social philosopher. He was born in 1902
and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential
Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was
Widely recognized as a classic.
ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION
By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations
Are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is
no refugee problem. Russian did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it.
Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman.
Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says
a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have
become eternal refugees.
Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold
Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any
Committed by the Nazis.
Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms.
But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the
Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.
Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should
Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June he
would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to
save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth
the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world
when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But
when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break of diplomatic relations with America
because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was
slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings,
and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely
because of Jewish efforts and Jewish resources. Yet at this moment
Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel
Than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have
Happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to
Realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so
will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon
us.
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