Monday, July 22, 2002

Get Freud out of politics

Sigmund Freud was a distinguished Jewish intellectual with a profound influence on our civilization. The Freud Museum website (http://www.freud.org.uk/l) reflects that legacy with its archives and historical research on the life and works of Sigmund and his daughter Anna Freud. The museum is housed at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, London, the home of Sigmund Freud and his family following their escape from the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 until Anna Freud, the youngest daughter, died in 1982.

But part of the large website of the Museum is a section called "Freud Today" . There the generally academic tone of the museum goes off the rails into anti-Israel personal opinion. The "Freud Today" section has the stated goal to "show how Freud himself or psychoanalytic ways of thought might respond to everyday situations and issues of the day". In fact, it shows how the writers of the section can attempt to use Freud's name to push their own pro-Palestinian Arab propaganda.

Examples:

1. September - November 2000, "The Arab-Israeli Conflict". Reprints a suspect translation of a Freud letter rejecting a call for him to condemn Arab riots in 1929. The museum writer concludes from this that Freud would have been "gratified at the growing call within Israel itself to pull out of the occupied territories".

2. December 2000 - March 2001, "Holocaust Memorial". The museum writer turns from a discussion of the Holocaust into this statement: "That is why today, as I write this, I feel a sense of pride - as a human being - when I read the headline, 'ISRAELI ARMY DESERTED BY SOLDIERS WITH A CONSCIENCE'". This outrageous linkage between the Holocaust and the internal Israeli issue of soldiers serving in the territories is nothing more than the writer's personal opinion, yet the platform of the Freud Museum is hijacked to present these views.

There are more such instances that you can find for yourself. Fortunately this irresponsible and unprofessional activity has been noticed and an on-line petition is available to protest. You will find the petition here with more information on the offending material:

http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/Protest_Freud_Museum/

FYI,
Chuck/JIA

New Blog: In Context

Add In Context to your regular stops, for thoughtful, chewy analysis. Current topics: broken Tikkun; Palestine Media Watch.

Gedankenpundit thoughts on deportation

From Solly's comments:

...Next, listen to what Saeb Erekat has to say:

"Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat also denounced the deportation idea, calling it a war crime and violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of civilians in war zones"

Heavens! Mistreatment of civilians in a war zone? Why, next they'll be deliberately killing civilians by blowing them up, perhaps with explosives packed with shrapnel dipped in an anticoagulant to make the victims bleed more profusely!

Oh, wait. The Palestinians are doing that already.

Can you believe Mubarak?

I mean this in the rhetorical and ironic sense: This crazy is working his own Jew-hating agenda, even cutting and pasting words from Israeli pleas for peace ("He said Israel should not "waste the historic chance that exists to end the dispute and fighting and enter a new stage where people face the challenges of development and progress."") to tell his lies.
It's in this JPost article, along with his praise (with a medal, yet) for neighbor cuckoo Qadafi.

Bret Stephens in JPost: New sympathy for Israel?

This well-written piece by Stephens explores the "wave of charitable coverage of Israel," and links it to our protests. Keep it up!

Sunday, July 21, 2002

Women in Green/US

We've put up a site for the US operations of Women in Green. Visit for the latest information about the activities of this wonderful group of selfless and compassionate people. Talks by Ruth and Nadia matar, resources, and other information, all updated regularly. Check out the upcoming International Conference and Ingathering, November 13-24.

israelinsider: Free Lebanon now!

This article is a reminder that if you are looking for an oppressed people on the eastern Mediterranean shore, suffering from decades of military occupation and cruel oppression, you can find it: the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.