Trond Andresen is an academic working with cybernetics at NTNU in Trondheim. He was a longstanding member of the socialist RV/Rødt but left the party after attracting negative publicity for, among others, a letter to the communist daily Klassekampen (Class war) on Saturday, January 3rd. There are limits then, even for a party where prominent members may distort the Holocaust by comparing Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto. Read the original letter here, on Raseri.no (Raseri=Rage). Unauthorized translation below.
Israeli psychness
Women are supposed to be, on average, more empathic than men. Therefore it is interesting to observe Israel’s foreign minister Tzipi Livni or the departing ambassador to Norway Miryam Shomrat on TV, when they answer questions concerning the war against Gaza. I am not referring to compulsory answers of the “civilian losses are regrettable”-kind. Look instead at their face and body language: These are women who do not care. They are just tired of this hassle over the arabs. They suffer from a huge mental deficit which they share with the majority of Israeli jews (According to a recent survey more than 2/3 support the bombing of Gaza): They can only to a minor extent feel compassion with others than members of the group to which they themselves belong.
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It is completely forbidden to analyze idiosyncratic aspects of the jews. Yes, just to indicate that there area any common features, both in and outside of Israel, is a risky business. This is judged to be “anti-semittism”. Pretty consicious, since the jews themselves are very conscious of idiosyncracies which they find prevalent in their own ethnic group, and often discuss this in their own media and organizations.
“Everybody is after us, and we are traumatized by tre Holocaust” is a wellknown part of the jewish demeanour. Precisely this is something we need to discuss – it is necessary to derail criticism against Israel. It hides another – and today far more important feature: the perception of one self as the smartest thing since sliced bread, not just demonstrated through technological supremacy, but also through scientific contributions and success in business. If many arabs and afticans have a minority-complex, many jews have the opposite: a supremacy complex. For them it is not disagreeable that every jewish death must be paid for with one hundred or more dead Palestinians -which is what is happening now.
It is therefore naive to appeal to Israel and the majority of the world’s jews about the sufferings of the Palestinians. They do not much care. They are incredibly strong militarily, politically and financially successful and are fully aware of this. And Israel is supported by the very powerful and wealthy jewish lobby in the USA, which makes it impossible for any American politician to reach the summit or remain in position without kneeling for Israel. Obama had to too. Why on earth should they grant their adversary anything at all?
On this background I believe one must be able to say to jews in Israel, the USA and elsewhere that “many in your ethnic group suffer from a serious case of empathydeficieny”. Hopefully, after a while increasingly many will start to be ashamed over this ethnocentricity. This is not short-time project. But I believe this is what it takes in order to start to untie the knot. And just so it is said: what I suggest is not anti-Semitism – it is an offer of necessary help to achieve insight.
