A very small wonderful group of politicians, intellectuals, journalists, youngsters, have helped day after day to mobilize forces, fund-raising, printing and spreading leaflets and materials, calling to MPs and VIPs in Europe and of course mostly in Italy. Beyond the continuous presence of Sharon in my office and mine in the Parliament, we have an entire little group of press officers and Pr volunteering. The people that have worked with me have done it for free, out of love for Israel, and now we are anxiously fixing the last details, recall, translations etc.
A wonderful daily newspaper, Il Foglio, has collected with our help a series of article about the delegitimization of Israel and is printing them day after day with the logo and the date of our demonstration. We are surprised of the simpathy and the attention we collected in these days by MPs, Ministers, writers, journalists, citizens. The collection of names of people that want speak at what we called a 'Rhetorical Marathon' - which means a series of 5 minutes speeches - is so long that we worry about the real possibility of giving the floor to everybody.
You will find hereby the invitation and the first article that has been printed on 'Il Foglio' on the issue.
Hoping and working for the best, we promise to keep you updated. And if by chance you are in Rome on Thursday, come with us to say 'enough of the double standard, enough of the delegitimization of Israel!'.
DEMONSTRATION
Thursday, October 7 at 18:00 at the Temple of Hadrian (Tempio di Adriano), Piazza di Pietra, Rome
WHY YOU MUST BE THERE
Because it is necessary to put an end to the barrage of lies that are thrown on
Israel every day;
Because Israel is the only country that is being attacked for whatever it does:
whether its athletes are participating in a tournament,
whether its films competing in an international film festival,
or whether it is defending its people from missile and terrorist attacks;
Because at this event, politicians, intellectuals, and young people who want the
truth about Israel will participate from all over Europe.
ENOUGH OF THE DOUBLE STANDARD!
80% OF THE UN RESOLUTIONS OF CONDEMNATION ARE AGAINST ISRAEL
Why doesn’t the UN care when Iran hangs homosexuals and stones women, in Darfur a massacre is takes place in silence, and in China justice is to be shot in the head?
Promoters of the initiative: Fiamma Nirenstein, journalist and MP, Vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; Giuliano Ferrara, editor in chief of 'Il Foglio' daily; French philosopher Shmuel Trigano; Dutch MEP Bastiaan Belder (Epp); German MP Gert Weisskirchen (Spd); president of the Jewish Community of Rome Riccardo Pacifici; professor and writer Giorgio Israel; journalists Giuseppe Caldarola, Angelo Pezzana,Daniele Scalise, Carlo Panella; producer of musical events David Zard; Anita Friedman, president, 'Appuntamento a Gerusalemme'.
Among the people who have joined the initiative: José Maria Aznar, President of 'Friends of Israel Initiative'; Nobel Prize and Senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini; professor and Senator Umberto Veronesi; writer Roberto Saviano, author of 'Gomorrah'; Israeli historian Benny Morris; Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN; Israeli Brigadier General (Res) Yosef Kuperwasser; Israeli Vice PM Silvan Shalom; Yuli Edelstein, Israeli Minister of Public Diplocacy and Diaspora Affairs; Franco Frattini, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Bruce Bawer, author of 'While Europe slept'; Melanie Phillips, journalist; Phyllis Chesler, professor emerita of psychology and women' studies at the College of Staten Island; Amir Fakhravar, Iranian dissident in exile; Farid Ghadry, President of Syrian Reform Party; Russian Senator Vladimir Sloutsker; Members of the European Parliament: Hannu Takkula (Finland), Marco Scurria (Italy), Bastiaan Belder (NL), Corina Cretu (Romania), Pablo Arias (Spain), Magdi Cristiano Allam (Italy), Antonio Lopez Istùriz (Spain);Tomas Sandell, Director of the Europan Coalition for Israel (Finland); Mara Carfagna, Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities; Renato Brunetta, Italian Minister of Public Administration; Gideon Meir, Israeli Ambassador to Italy; writers Nicolai Lilin, Rosa Matteucci; singers Lucio Dalla, Massimo Ranieri, Chiara Iezzi, Raiz (ex 'Almamegretta'); film director Cristina Comencini; Giorgio Albertazzi; film producer Riccardo Tozzi (Cattleya); Davood Karimi, President of Association of Iranian Political Refugees in Italy; Dounia Ettaib, President of Arab Women in Italy; editors in chief of the newspapers, 'Libero' (Maurizio Belpietro), 'Il Tempo' (Mario Sechi), 'L'Occidentale' (Giancarlo Loquenzi), 'Il Riformista' (Antonio Polito), 'Libertiamo.it' (Carmelo Palma); journalists Paolo Mieli, Massimo Bordin, Toni Capuozzo, Alain Elkann, Ernesto Galli Della Loggia, Maria Latella, Pierluigi Battista, Barbara Palombelli; many MPs from all the political parties, among them: Walter Veltroni, Furio Colombo, Enrico Pianetta, Francesco Rutelli, Italo Bocchino, Gianni Vernetti, Benedetto Della Vedova, Giovanna Melandri, Fabrizio Cicchitto, Ferdinando Adornato, Gaetano Quagliariello, Margherita Boniver and many others.
The de-legitimization of Israel comes from all latitudes and without any restraints. Israel, the most openly threatened country in the world, is condemned by the international institutions and media for whatever it does, whether it is seeking to defend itself from terrorist attacks, trying to stop the supply of weapons to Gaza, or simply doing the normal activities that any democratic country does.
Its scientific, cultural, social, economic, and sport achievements are constantly boycotted, even with violence. The double standard is the normal standard applied to Israel: the UN, dedicating to it 80% of its resolutions, condemn Israel at every step, while countries that systematically violate human rights and commit massacres, are never punished.
But a large part of the public opinion is tired of this lie: the de-legitimization of Israel undermines democracy, corrupts international institutions that should protect peace and fight against terrorism. It legitimates oppressive and violent cultures against women, homosexuals and freedom of thought. In fact, it justifies anti-democratic cultures. For this reason we want to say 'enough' to all the lies about Israel and to claim that Europe loves Israel and wants it living in peace.
Info: www.truthforisrael.eu
Against the de-legitimization of Israel and Appeasement with Iran
Interview with Fiamma Nirenstein, by Giulio Meotti Il Foglio daily, September 25, 2010
A demonstration 'For the truth, for Israel' as the United Nations increases the delegitimization of the Jewish State and new 'humanitarian' shipments are ready to break the isolation of Hamas.
A 'rhetorical marathon' - a series of 5 minutes speeches - will be held on October 7 at the Temple of Hadrian (Tempio di Adriano) in Rome, starting at 18:00. MPs from all the political parties, intellectuals, journalists, artists, from Italy and other countries of Europe, including the editor of daily 'Il Foglio' Giuliano Ferrara, Paolo Mieli, former editor of 'Il Corriere della Sera', writer Roberto Saviano, Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni, philosopher Shmuel Trigano, Farid Ghadry, President of the Syrian Reform Party and Gen. Yosef Kuperwasser, will attend it. Opening the event will be José María Aznar, former Spanish prime minister and president of 'Friends of Israel'.
Promoter of the initiative is Fiamma Nirenstein, deputy of the PDL (People of Freedom Party) and journalist. 'We want to warn the European public of the existential threat that Iran and its friends Hamas and Hezbollah pose to Israel on a daily basis' says Nirenstein. 'The Iranian denial of Israel's right to exist is the backdrop of its strategy. The UN has become the sounding board of Ahmadinejad's dangerous nonsense. Appeasement is the only reaction of the United States and this of course increases Islamic fervor. The number of Hezbollah’s missiles and weapons has grown dramatically and Hamas can now hit Tel Aviv. Ahmadinejad can announce the end of Israel in an international summit, and all the West does is shake his hand. And piece by piece, bit by bit, they are destroying the structure of universalism and natural justice that arose after World War II'.
As a second point there is the enormous work of cultural delegitimization being carried out by Western intellectuals together with the Islamic extremists. 'The story starts with Arafat’s trip to Vietnam in the 1970s, when the Palestinian leader asked General Giap how to make the Palestinian issue as universal and of as of equal importance worldwide as Vietnam. Giap told Arafat: Just do what we did: go and conquer the intellectuals'.
'Archaeologist Barkai has told me that denial of the Jewish roots of Jerusalem is worse than denying the Holocaust. And look at how successful the Palestinian operation of cultural conquest has been, even if this is a paradoxical lie. Delegitimizing the very presence of Israel in an area that is the homeland of the Jewish people, the same land that laid the basis for the history of humanity, is absurd. It is an expression of the refusal to recognize Israel's historic right to found and make its homeland flourish in that area. It is an historic right, because the Jewish people were born there, lived there for centuries; it is there that they founded monotheism, a moral law that has generated democracy and prosperity. For the Arabs, and not only for the Palestinians, the Jewish presence in the area is deemed illegal and evil, forever. Israel is ready to recognize a Palestinian State. It's time that the Arab world is willing to recognize a Jewish State'.
Israel is overwhelmed by a tsunami of delegitimization, 'that makes use of the pure invention of cruelty, racism, persecution, a desire for conquest and a scorn for peace that never existed. Look at the Freedom Flotilla recent episode: all over the world, the media immediately spread the idea that Israel wanted to attack and kill a group of pacifists'. Delegitimization even involves sports: 'A group of Israeli tennis players was only allowed to play behind closed doors in a Swedish stadium. In Hannover, an Israeli dance group was stoned by demonstrators shouting 'Juden Raus'. In Turkey, a volleyball game was surrounded by a violent rally shouting at the police: 'Don't be the watchdogs of the Zionists, Allah will punish you'. The British Trade Union has called to boycott Israel. A major Swedish newspaper wrote that the Israeli soldiers kill young Palestinians to harvest their organs. European supermarkets have more than once decided to boycott Israeli goods. The Israeli movies are ousted from international festivals. Scientific discoveries, technological products are systematically boycotted. Israeli academics are expelled from European universities and conferences. For years, Israel has been seeing rockets hitting its civilian population and nobody says a word. An Israeli politician cannot land in London without risking jail. Amnesty International and the UN attack Israel every day, as does the Human Rights Council. Nobody raises an eyebrow to the fact that Spain bars gay Israelis from participating in a gay pride parade in Madrid'.
It is Israel's very right to exist that is being questioned. 'It is the basic right of self defense that has been denied. Practically speaking, the UN has condemned Israel to death several times, denying its right to self-defense. And this put all of us in danger, because self-defense is a vital right for everybody. The world should be ashamed when it left the Israelis alone, during the Second Intifada, to be killed in cafes, supermarkets and restaurants. I even remember when a woman suicide bomber killed an entire group just waiting at the bus station and her personality was praised by the press. This monstrous morality has been poured all over Europe, where anti-Semitism has grown in all of its cities. The sense itself of any anti-racist struggle is destroyed when you call Israel 'racist'. We mustn't forget Durban. The hatred for Israel has corrupted our civilization'.
The demonstration also wants to clearly show the gift of what Israel stands for. 'De-legitimization also springs from the envy of the contemporary world over the precious gift of identity and morality that the Jewish nation gives the world every single day. An Israeli boy full of life and desire to have fun, to dance, to travel, is at the same time enormously concerned about protecting his homeland, his family and culture. A famous plastic surgeon, Arieh Eldad, a settler, worked days and nights, for months without ever leaving the hospital to save a Palestinian child burned by an explosion. In Gaza, Jewish farmers picked cherry tomatoes and hothouse flowers until the very last second they were forced to leave their homes. Israel is a lighthouse of life, when life is the most endangered value of our times. And therefore, the most envied while it flows in the veins of a people constantly under threat'." (source)
