ICJP Friendship Award: speech by Pierluigi Battista
lunedì 14 maggio 2012 English 0 commenti
On the occasion of the presentation of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP)
“FRIENDSHIP AWARD”
for his commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism and against the delegitimization of the State of Israel
Hosted by
Italian Minister on Foreign Affairs
Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata
May 14, 2012
Villa Madama, Rome
I wrote the book: “Letter to an anti-Zionsit friend” because I’m astonished at the lack of the most basic information about the State of Israel. But I’m also appalled by the tendency of people, even progressive ones – to accept the heap of lies about “Zionism” that has become stratified over time.
I know many good people who are moved by Schindler’s List. But they have no reaction when Ahmadinejad convenes the international meeting of nazi-negationist supporters in Teheran, who rave about the “Auschwitz lie”. I know several well-meaning people who are filled with indignation if a tattooed skinhead, with his shaved and empty head, yells obscenities against the Jews. But there is no outcry if a witch-hunt against Zionist Jews starts in Durban, under the aegis of the United Nations. I know many nice people who wouldn’t say anything inappropriate about Marc Chagall, about Woody Allen or about the Marx brothers. But they are delirious about the “dominant Jewish race” that would like to cruelly oppress the Palestinian victims. I know many good people who don’t know anything. Who don’t want to know. Who are by now used to or responding to Pavlovian cultural impulses to represent Israel as a haven of murderers.
When I started this book, I thought that some rational discourse would counteract the anti-Zionist instinct, which too often hides an anti-Semitic impulse. This occurred at the time of the Flotilla - supplied by the Turks – which was designed to break into Israel’s territorial waters in a hostile way to support Hamas’ terrorists, who do not recognized Israel’s right to exist. The supporters of those villains didn’t even know that in Turkey, it’s a crime even to mention the massacre of Armenians in 1915-16. They don’t even know that Turkey treated and still treats Kurds with oppressive and brutal means: much more than the poor Palestinian victims. I tried to explain they were wrong.
I wrote this book because I’m not Jewish. And because it’s not necessary to be Jewish to defend the State of Israel’s right to exist. It’s not out of a feeling of belonging but to trace back denied and poorly known facts. I always pose this question to those who demonize Israel and describe it as a brutal State which denies the rights of the Palestinians: “How come wasn’t a Palestinian State born between 1948 and 1967?”
And then I ask another question: “How were Palestinian refugees treated by their Arab friends before and after 1967” and I stress afterwards but also before. “Are you aware of the horrors of Black September in Jordan? Are you aware of the role of Syria in the massacre in the Tal el Zatar camp?” But above all: “Are you aware that if the Palestinians had accepted the UN partition plan, today there would be two people and two States?”. There was no need to have so many wars and so much bloodshed if the Arabs and the Palestinians had accepted the right of Israel to exist. Very few people are aware of all this. Very few want to know.
I know nice people who think that Grass is right when he says that Israel is threatening peace and that Ahmadinejad is just a “bragger”, an inoffensive “chatterbox”, like a drunk in a bar. They don’t want to understand that Iran wants the atomic bomb to annihilate Israel. It is possible to agree or disagree with the policies of the Israeli governments. This is the democracy that exists in liberal-democratic Western countries and in Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. But it’s not possible to deny that Iran is working hard to obtain an atomic bomb as an arm of final destruction to erase the presence of the Jews and of the State of Israel. If Grass supports it, he is intellectually dishonest. Those who agree with him are either ignorant or are in bad faith. It is possible to argue on everything, but not on real and unquestionable facts. Iran’s objective is explicit and openly declared and asserted. He is not bragging at all. I don’t believe a book can stop bias. But it’s necessary to insist. And I ask Jewish people around the world to avoid surrendering. This is a just cause, a civil rights cause. A fight to have a fundamental right recognized.
I wanted the fourth cover of my book to feature a sentence taken from another letter to “an anti-Zionsit friend” from a more authoritative author. It was written by Martin Luther King, a giant in the battle for human rights and against any form of race, religion and gender discrimination. The sentence reads: “Let my words echo in the depth of your soul: when people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews”. There is nothing else to add.
ABOUT PIERLUIGI BATTISTA:
Pierluigi Battista is a renowned journalist, author and anchorman. He started his career writing for the monthly “MondOperaio” and “Pagina”. The he worked for “L’Espresso”. In 1988, he started to write for the weekly “Epoca”. Two years later, he moved to the daily “La Stampa”, as columnist and responsible for the editorial office of Rome.
In 1966, he became deputy editor of Giuliano Ferrara at the weekly “Panorama”.
In 2004, he hosted on RAI1 the political talk show “Batti e Ribatti”. He also hosted at LA7, three editions of the TV show “Altra Storia”.
From 2005 to 2009, he is deputy editor of Italian leading daily “Il Corriere della Sera”, in charge of cultural pages.
He wrote several books and received many awards for his journalistic and intellectual work. Among his latest books there are “The conformists. The extinction of the Italian intellectuals” (2010) and “Letter to an anti-Zionists friends” (2011), both released by Rizzoli.