Semite?? Who is a Semite??
One of the myths that has been perpetrated on the world is that only
Jews are semites. This is totally inaccurate. Unfortunately, the ADL
(the Anti-Defamation League) has made a fortune in donations and has
conned most media networks and most people in the world into believing
this untruth.
I
f one looks into the history of the word, “semite”, it has to do with a
language group and no more. The semitic languages are, at least
according to most linguistic experts, Amharic (spoken in Ethiopia and
Eritrea, the lands once known as Abyssinia), Arabic (spoken in all the
Arab countries and in many Muslim countries because it is the language
of the Qur’an), Hebrew (spoken in Israel and by some Jews and others
outside of Israel), Aramaic (spoken primarily by the Chaldeans of Iraq
and by some Catholic and Maronite Christians in the world, at least in
their church services if not in their homes or business) and Syriac
(spoken by a few in various parts of Syria and in the Middle East).
Incidentally, according to most linguists, Abraham, the father of the
Jews and Arabs, spoke Aramaic, that was the language of the land at the
time, not Hebrew.
T
o get back to facts about semites, Jews, language and genetics, let me
go futher. The actual genetic Jews were born in the Middle East and are
known as Sephardic Jews. These Jews did speak a semitic language, Hebrew
, from their earliest incarnation, but also, some at the time of
Christ, also spoke Aramaic, Arabic and Amharic because of their location
in Jerusalem and other Middle Eastern cities such as what is now Addis
Abbabba, Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus. One rarely hears a Sephardic Jew
yelling, ”anti-semite” because he knows better and because he is aware
of his own history within semitic language speaking lands.
L
et me be clear about another important matter; I am not touting for
people who are anti-Jewish or anti-Arab, or anti-any ethnic or racial
group; those people who stereotype or attack others based on their race
or ethnicity are dead wrong and should be condemned-so too should those
who abuse labels and use them wrongly to stop others from being
justifiably critical should also be condemned (and in this case, I am
referring to the ADL and other groups of that sort who label people with
impunity and carelessness, sometimes wrecking their careers, their
reputations, their businesses and their lives!)
T
hus, when a person from the ADL calls someone who is critical of
Israel, Zionists or Zionism, an “anti-semite”, this is pure nonsense.
The person speaking is simply critical of Israel or Zionism. Also, if a
person speaks against an Arab, and as I pointed out, Arabs speak a
semitic language, he may be anti-Arab, but he is not “anti-semitic.”. In
both cases, the person may be anti-zionist or may be a racist and be
anti-Jewish or anti-Arab, but the person is SIMPLY NOT ANTI-SEMITIC .
T
his abuse of the term and our language reached new heights recently
when some of the Zionists in the American media began saying that Robert
Novak, himself a Jew, was “anti-semitic.” First of all, most of those
Ashkenazim Jews who were born and raised in America, such as Paul
Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Feith, are not even Jews genetically
because they are descended from Slavic tribes, who converted to Judaism
and whose native language was Slavic and whose first language in America
has been English, as was the case of Robert Novak. I am not saying all
Ashkenazim are not Jews, but the way some of them behave is certainly
not in the way Moses brought Judaism from God through the Torah. One has
but to look at the haters and war-mongers in the Bush circle of
influence and this is evident; no God would want them to be associated
with his name. Thus, as a friend of mine, Rabbi Shmuel Handelman put it,
"They may call themsevles Jews, but I doubt very much if I'd call them
that, and if I did, I'd say they were the worst of what any person might
be. I'd rather not be associated with them."
H
owever, Novak is intelligent and educated enough to know the difference
between a Jew, a Zionist and what semitic actually is! An excellent and
accurate source for this history is Arthur Koestler (himself an
Ashkenazi), THE THIRTEENTH TRIBE . The ADL
and others have attacked, and continue attacking this book, but scholars
know of its truth. The book is difficult to find, but one may find it
with tenacity. This is not a condemnation of Ashkenazis and their intent
to convert to Judaism, but it does mean they have enough genetic DNA in
them not to have the same feelings about Judaism and life in the Middle
East as do the Sephardic genetic Jews.
U
nfortunately, the misuse of the label, “anti-semitic” and its
consequences have been so bad that even presidents, senators,
congresspeople, media giants and all others in the world cringe at being
labeled, “anti-semitic” by some Zionist, Israeli or ignorant religious,
media or social group. Little do they know they are being victimized by
charlatans of the language who have found a label that they throw
around with impunity and for which there has been little or no
come-back. Those who read this article and do further research may now
correct those who speak this nonsense-they can throw this nonsense back
in the faces of the ignorant or the charlatans..
I
t is time our media people and non-linguistically literate “scholars”,
politicians, religious leaders and others became educated about the
truths about “semitic” and its misuse (intentional or unintentional)..
If not, we’ll keep allowing charlatans to abuse our language and to
continue their name-calling, abusing others, including Jews, Arabs,
Americans, Brits and others case, I am referring those individuals and
groups who label people with impunity and carelessness, sometimes
wrecking their careers, their reputations, their businesses and their
lives!) by calling them “anti-semites” if they speak against Israel (
which is not a semitic state) or Zionists (a political group, not
exclusively Jewish and which has nothing to do with semitic).
U
ntil we clean up our language and stop this incorrect name-calling at
the whim of a few politically ambitious and unscrupulous people, we
shall remain victims of a misuse of a legitimate language categorization
that has been abused for the benefit of a few.
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