620 Jack Straw blames Lobby for Wars; media censors it. Lasse Wilhelmson, "the most hated man in Sweden"

Jack Straw blames Lobby for Wars; media censors it. Lasse Wilhelmson,
"the most hated man in Sweden"

Newsletter published on 3 November 2013

(1) Jack Straw blames Lobby for Wars, but Mainstream media censors this
(2) JTA Oct 27, 7:18am: Britain’s Jack Straw: Jewish funds wrecking
Mideast peace possibilities
(3) JTA Oct 27, 9:42am: Former British Foreign secretary: Jewish money
prevents peace
(4) Forward: Biggest Barrier To Peace is 'Unlimited' Funds Given to
AIPAC, Says Jack Straw
(5) Israel National News: British Ex-Foreign Secretary Blames 'Jewish
Money' for Conflict
(6) Jerusalem Post: British MP decries ‘unlimited’ Jewish funds as
destroying Mideast peace
(7) Times of Israel: Ex-UK FM: ‘Unlimited’ Jewish funds control US
policy, block Mideast peace
(8) Haaretz: Jack Straw denies that his comments on 'Jewish money' were
anti-Semitic
(9) Jewish News UK: Straw says he probably said that Jewish funds were
“huge not unlimited"
(10) Jerusalem Post: Straw equivocates, under attack
(11) Jerusalem Post Editorial: Straw endorses Mearsheimer and Walt canard
(12) Lasse Wilhelmson, "the most hated man in Sweden"

(1) Jack Straw blames Lobby for Wars, but Mainstream media censors this
- by Peter Myers, November 3, 2013

Jack Straw, Britain's former Foreign Secretary and Jewish himself,
recently blamed "unlimited" Jewish funds given to AIPAC, for continued
wars in the Middle East.

His statements were widely reported in the Jewish media, and in
"anti-Semitic" media, but ignored by "Mainstream" media. The latter did
report (about Oct 25) that Straw intended to resign from partliament at
the 2015 election; and did report his attack on Union vote-rigging in
British Labour.

Thus is the public denied information about who rules our"democracies"
and who shapes our minds.

To check the above,
- while this matter is still recent, search Google News for  "jack
straw" "aipac". Use the double-quotes exactly as shown, to force Google
to exclude extraneous material. Check which media show up in the hits
- also search Google News for  "jack straw" "unlimited". Try adding
"aipac" as well
- now search Google (Web, not News) for the same search strings; you can
specify a time period (eg "last month").

"I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the media …,"
commented former Israeli Knesset member Einat Wilf, was at the debate in
the House of Commons, and posted Straw’s remarks on Facebook.

Don't miss item 12, about Lasse Wilhelmson, "the most hated man in Sweden".

(2) JTA Oct 27, 7:18am: Britain’s Jack Straw: Jewish funds wrecking
Mideast peace possibilities

http://www.jta.org/2013/10/27/news-opinion/world/jack-straw-decries-unlimited-jewish-funds-as-destroying-mideast-peace

Britain’s Jack Straw: Jewish funds wrecking Mideast peace possibilities

October 27, 2013 7:18am

(JTA) — Jack Straw, a British lawmaker and former foreign secretary,
said “unlimited” funds available to U.S. Jewish groups are used to
control American policy in the Middle East.

The comments reportedly were made last week during a debate in the
British Parliament’s House of Commons. Former Israeli Knesset member
Einat Wilf was at the debate and posted Straw’s remarks on her Facebook
page.

Straw said, according to Wilf, that the greatest obstacles to peace
between Israel and the Palestinians and her Arab neighbors are the
“unlimited” funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the
United States, as well as Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel.

“I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the media …,” Wilf
added on her Facebook status.

Straw announced Friday that he would step down as a Parliament member
from the Labor Party at the 2015 general election. He has served in
Parliament  since 1979.

He was home secretary and foreign secretary under Prime Minister Tony
Blair, and as secretary of state of justice under Prime Minister Gordon
Brown.

(3) JTA Oct 27, 9:42am: Former British Foreign secretary: Jewish money
prevents peace

Former British Foreign secretary: Jewish money prevents peace

Jack Straw says in parliament debate 'unlimited' funds available to
Jewish groups in US used to control America's Mideast policy; adds
Germany's 'obsession' with defending Israel another obstacle for peace

Published: 10.27.13, 09:42 / Israel News

Former British Foreign Secretary and Labor MP Jack Straw made harsh
anti-Semitics statements during a British parliament debate last week,
Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Listing the greatest obstacles to peace, Straw said that unlimited”
funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the US are used to
control and divert American policy in the region.

Straw, who served as foreign secretary in Tony Blair's government in
2001-2006, further claimed that Germany’s “obsession” with defending
Israel was also a contributing factor to failure to achieve peace.

The former British official made the comments during the Round Table
Global Diplomatic Forum in the British House of Commons. Also in
attendance were former Israeli Knesset Member Einat Wilf and the
Palestinian ambassador to London who accused Israel of "cultural
genocide" and "ethnic cleansing."

"It was appalling to listen to Britain's former foreign secretary," Dr.
Wilf said. "His remarks reflect prejudice of the worst kind. We're used
to hearing groundless accusations from Palestinian envoys but I thought
British diplomats, including former ones, were still capable of a
measure of rational thought.

"Throughout the debate I reiterated that the origin of the conflict was
the Arab and Palestinian unwillingness to accept the Jewish people's
legitimate right to a state of their own, and that as long as that
willingness is absent there will be no true solution."

The former MK further remarked, "At least the Palestinian representative
and I could agree that we both want a speedy divorce."

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Straw said Friday he would step
down as a member of parliament at the 2015 general election.

The lawmaker for the Labor Party, now in opposition, has served
continuously as an MP since 1979, representing the town of Blackburn in
northwest England.

He has recently expressed favorability towards the new Iranian president
Hassan Rohani. “You could do business with him, and we were able to do
business with him,” Straw told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. “I very
profoundly believe that (this) is a new chance for proper negotiations.”

“President Rohani is an Iranian and he represents Iran’s national
interest, so people have got to factor that in, and it’s entirely right
that he should do that,” Straw said.

AFP contributed to this report

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4445810,00.html

(4) Forward: Biggest Barrier To Peace is 'Unlimited' Funds Given to
AIPAC, Says Jack Straw

http://forward.com/articles/186301/biggest-barrier-to-peace-is-unlimited-funds-given/

Biggest Barrier To Peace is 'Unlimited' Funds Given to AIPAC, Says Jack
Straw

Ex-British Foreign Secretary To Quit Parliament

By JTA

Published October 27, 2013.

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said during a debate in the
British parliament that “unlimited” funds available to Jewish
organizations and AIPAC in the U.S. are used to control American policy
in the Middle East.

The comments reportedly were made last week during the Round Table
Global Diplomatic Forum in the British House of Commons.

Former Israeli Knesset Member Einat Wilf was in attendance at the debate
and posted Straw’s comments on her Facebook page.

Straw said, according to Wilf, that the greatest obstacles to peace
between Israel and the Palestinians and her Arab neighbors are the
“unlimited” funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the
U.S., as well as Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel.

“I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the media…,” Wilf
added on her Facebook status.

Straw announced Friday that he would step down as a member of Parliament
from the Labor Party at the upcoming 2015 general election. He has
served in Parliament continuously since 1979. Straw served as both Home
Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair, and as
Secretary of State of Justice under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

(5) Israel National News: British Ex-Foreign Secretary Blames 'Jewish
Money' for Conflict

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173240

British Ex-Foreign Secretary Blames 'Jewish Money' for Conflict

Former British FM blamed ‘unlimited’ Jewish, Zionist funds for conflict.
Former MK: He forgot Jewish control of the media.

By Maayana Miskin

First Publish: 10/27/2013, 12:32 PM

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has reportedly blamed Jewish
groups with “unlimited” funds for the Israeli-Arab conflict.

“I nearly fell off my rickety British chair today when former UK Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw spoke at the Round Table Global Diplomatic Forum in
the British House of Commons. Listing the greatest obstacles to peace,
he said "unlimited" funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in
the US are used to control and divert American policy in the region,”
former Member of Knesset Einat Wilf reported on her Facebook page.

Straw also blamed “Germany's ‘obsession’ with defending Israel,” she
said, adding, “I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the
media...”

Straw has a history of offending Israeli leaders with his remarks on the
Israeli-Arab conflict. In 2003, he angered the Foreign Ministry by
comparing Israel to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

In 2006, he said the world should be as concerned with disabling
Israel’s nuclear capabilities, as it is with Iran’s nuclear program.

Under Straw, Britain’s foreign ministry considered maintaining
diplomatic ties with members of Hamas, a terrorist group which openly
states that its goal is Israel’s destruction.

(6) Jerusalem Post: British MP decries ‘unlimited’ Jewish funds as
destroying Mideast peace

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/British-MP-decries-unlimited-Jewish-funds-as-destroying-Mideast-peace-329843

British MP decries ‘unlimited’ Jewish funds as destroying Mideast peace

By JTA

10/27/2013 14:55

According to former MK Einat Wilf, Jack Straw said at House of Commons
debate that greatest obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian peace include
Germany's "obsession" with defending Israel.

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said during a debate in the
British parliament that “unlimited” funds available to Jewish
organizations and AIPAC in the US are used to control American policy in
the Middle East.

The comments reportedly were made last week during the Round Table
Global Diplomatic Forum in the British House of Commons.

Former Israeli Knesset Member Einat Wilf was in attendance at the debate
and posted Straw’s comments on her Facebook page.

Straw said, according to Wilf, that the greatest obstacles to peace
between Israel and the Palestinians and her Arab neighbors are the
“unlimited” funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the US,
as well as Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel.

“I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the media…,” Wilf
added on her Facebook status.

Straw announced Friday that he would step down as a member of Parliament
from the Labor Party at the upcoming 2015 general election. He has
served in Parliament continuously since 1979. Straw served as both Home
Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair, and as
Secretary of State of Justice under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

(7) Times of Israel: Ex-UK FM: ‘Unlimited’ Jewish funds control US
policy, block Mideast peace

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-uk-fm-unlimited-jewish-funds-control-us-policy-block-mideast-peace/

Ex-UK FM: ‘Unlimited’ Jewish funds control US policy, block Mideast peace

Jack Straw unleashes anti-Semitic diatribe at forum held in House of
Commons, according to former MK Einat Wilf

By JTA and Times of Israel staff

October 27, 2013, 3:44 pm 92

{photo} Jack Straw (far left) and Einat Wilf (far right) pictured at
last week's Round Table Global Diplomatic Forum at the House of Commons
{end}

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reportedly said during a
debate in the British parliament that “unlimited” funds available to
Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the US are used to control American
policy in the Middle East.

The comments were made last week during the Round Table Global
Diplomatic Forum in the British House of Commons, according to former
Knesset member Einat Wilf.

Wilf was participating in the debate and posted what she said were
Straw’s comments on her Facebook page.

Straw said, according to Wilf, that the greatest obstacles to peace
between Israel and the Palestinians and her Arab neighbors are the
“unlimited” funds available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the US,
as well as Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel. Jack Straw
(photo credit: Ministry of Justice, UK / Wikipedia Commons)

Jack Straw (photo credit: Ministry of Justice, UK / Wikipedia Commons)

Wrote Wilf: “I nearly fell off my rickety British chair today when
former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spoke at the Round Table Global
Diplomatic Forum in the British House of Commons. Listing the greatest
obstacles to peace, he said ‘unlimited’ funds available to Jewish
organizations and AIPAC in the US are used to control and divert
American policy in the region and that Germany’s ‘obsession’ with
defending Israel were the problem.

“I guess he neglected to mention Jewish control of the media….”

Wilf told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Sunday that “It was
appalling to listen to Britain’s former foreign secretary. His remarks
reflect prejudice of the worst kind.” She added: “We’re used to hearing
groundless accusations from Palestinian envoys but I thought British
diplomats, including former ones, were still capable of a measure of
rational thought.”

Wilf, a member of Knesset from 2010 to 2013 (Labor, and then the
breakaway Independence party), said she repeatedly stressed in the
debate that the root of the conflict lay in the Palestinian and Arab
refusal to accept Israel’s sovereign legitimacy as a Jewish state.
“Throughout the debate I reiterated that the origin of the conflict was
the Arab and Palestinian unwillingness to accept the Jewish people’s
legitimate right to a state of their own, and that as long as that
willingness is absent there will be no true solution.”

Straw announced Friday that he would step down as a member of Parliament
from the Labor Party at the upcoming 2015 general election. He has
served in Parliament continuously since 1979. Straw served as both home
secretary and foreign secretary under prime minister Tony Blair, and as
justice secretary under prime minister Gordon Brown.

Straw, who has noted that his Blackburn constituency has some 25,000
Muslim residents and 23 mosques, has made anti-Israel comments in the
past. In June, on a BBC radio program, he declared that Israel “has no
territorial ambitions apart from stealing the land of the Palestinians.”
When he was foreign secretary in 2001 he reportedly made comments that
appeared to legitimize Palestinian terrorism, prompting then prime
minister Ariel Sharon to cancel a meeting with him.

(8) Haaretz: Jack Straw denies that his comments on 'Jewish money' were
anti-Semitic

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.554902

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Cheshvan 25, 5774

Ex-U.K. FM denies anti-Semitic remarks on 'Jewish money'

Jack Straw says he has always 'strongly supported' Israel 'and its right
to live in peace and security.'

By Anshel Pfeffer | 19:54 28.10.13 | 1

Former British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has denied making
"anti-Semitic" comments
at an event last week at the House of Commons in London. Former Member
of Knesset Einat Wilf accused Straw of saying in a Middle East seminar
that “unlimited” funds are available to Jewish organizations - such AIPAC.

(9) Jewish News UK: Straw says he probably said that Jewish funds were
“huge not unlimited"

http://jewishnews.co.uk/straw-rejects-claim-he-blamed-jewish-groups-for-middle-east-conflict

Straw rejects claim he blamed Jewish groups for Middle East conflict

October 28, 2013

By Stephen Oryszczuk

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has hit back at criticism that he
identified the “unlimited” funds of American Jewish groups as being one
of the main obstacles to peace in the Middle East.

Straw, who announced that he was stepping down from parliament three
days after the remarks, forcefully denied accusations of prejudice
levelled at him by an Israeli participant in the House of Commons debate
on 22 October.

Dr Einat Wilf, a fellow speaker at the round table debate and former
member of the Knesset, said after the event that Straw had engaged in
“an anti-Semitic rant” that “reflects prejudice of the worst kind”.

However Straw hit back, saying there was “no justification whatever” for
such claims.

“I am not remotely anti-Semitic, quite the reverse,” said Straw. “I have
all my life strongly supported the state of Israel and its right to live
in peace and security.”

Wilf said the Blackburn MP – many of whose constituents are Muslim –
claimed that funds available to American Jewish groups such as AIPAC
were being used to control US policy in the Middle East, and that
Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel was another major impediment
to peace.

“I almost fell off my rickety British chair,” said Wilf. “I guess he
neglected to mention Jewish control of the media…”

Straw said he could not remember whether he said American Jewish
organisations’ funds were unlimited or not.  “My recollection is that I
said they were huge not unlimited,” he said.

Equally, the Blackburn MP – many of whose constituents are Muslim –
could not confirm whether he said Jewish groups’ funding of politicians
and candidates was among the greatest obstacles to peace. “I cannot now
recall whether I said that AIPAC et al was an obstacle to peace or a
major obstacle,” he told the Jewish News.

The contentious remarks were made during a Round Table Global Diplomatic
Forum, attended by Shadow Minister for the Middle East Ian Lucas MP and
Prof. Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK.

Straw said: “I spoke of the problems which faced President Obama from
AIPAC and the Israeli lobby more generally… Under US political funding
rules (or their absence) huge sums were spent by AIPAC in support of
some politicians/candidates, and against others.”

Straw concluded: “None of this is anti-Semitic. There are plenty of
people in Israel who take a similar view to me.”

However, his explanation did not appease everyone, with Israeli
Ambassador Daniel Taub castigating Straw for his comments.

“These comments fall in a very troubling tradition of attributing
support for Israel to a sinister exercise of Jewish power,” said Taub.

“Particularly striking is the refusal to consider that support for
Israel may arise, not as a result of pressure from some mysterious
cabal, but simply from the recognition that, within the current turmoil
in the Middle East, Israel remains an island of stability, irrevocably
committed to democracy, free speech and the rule of law. ”

Upon her return to Israel, Wilf said: “It was appalling to listen to
Britain’s former foreign secretary. His remarks reflect prejudice of the
worst kind. We’re used to hearing groundless accusations from
Palestinian envoys but I thought British diplomats were still capable of
a measure of rational thought.”

Straw, who was Foreign Secretary at the time of the joint US-UK invasion
of Iraq, has had a history of making remarks seen as anti-Israel.

On BBC Radio Radio 4's flagship ‘Today’ programme on 14 June, Straw is
reported to have said that Israel had “a most extensive nuclear weapons
capability” and was “stealing the land of the Palestinians”.

(10) Jerusalem Post: Straw equivocates, under attack

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Jack-Straw-to-Post-I-am-not-remotely-anti-Semitic-330008

Jack Straw to ‘Post’: ‘I am not remotely anti-Semitic’

By HENRY ROME

10/28/2013 22:42

UK Zionist federation says former foreign secretary’s remarks "go far
beyond criticism of Israel."

Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw said on Monday that there
was “no justification” in describing comments he had made in the House
of Commons, which criticized AIPAC and Israeli foreign policy, as
anti-Semitic.

Straw faced a sharp response from the Zionist Federation of Great
Britain and Ireland, which said his comments “echo some of the oldest
and ugliest prejudices about ‘Jewish power’ and go far beyond mere
criticism of Israel.”

“[The comments] would be unacceptable in any context, but for a sitting
Member of Parliament to do so in the House of Commons is especially
troubling, given that his status will give credence and respectability
to beliefs that would otherwise be dismissed as bigoted nonsense,”
federation chairman Paul Charney said in a statement to The Jerusalem Post.

Straw’s comments at a panel hosted at the House of Commons last week
were originally reported by former MK Einat Wilf, another panelist. She
announced in a Facebook post and in subsequent interviews that Straw had
said that AIPAC’s political clout and “unlimited” funding were prime
obstructions to the peace process. She also said Straw claimed that
Germany has an “obsession” with defending Israel.

In his statement to the Post on Monday, Straw did not deny making those
comments.

But he strongly pushed back against claims that his criticism was
anti-Semitic.

“I am not remotely anti-Semitic,” he said.

“Quite the reverse. I have all my life strongly supported the State of
Israel and its right to live in peace and security.”

Straw reiterated his concerns about Israeli policy, making three points.

First, Israeli settlement building on “Palestinian land … amounted to
‘theft’ of Palestinians’ land,” he stated.

Second, Straw argued that Germany historically has stood in the way of
stronger European Union action against settlement building: “One of the
difficulties in gaining EU agreement for this has, in the past, been the
attitude of Germany, who for understandable reasons have been reluctant
to be out of line with the government of Israel.

That said, I think I noted that the EU’s attitude had changed, and there
are now restrictions imposed by the EU on goods from the settlements.”

Finally, Straw said that political funding rules in the United States
allow lobbying organizations in the US, such as AIPAC, to exercise a
large amount of influence in support of, or against, political candidates.

Straw did not say that AIPAC has “unlimited” funding or that Germany had
an “obsession” with Israel – as Wilf had claimed – and he did not
directly link AIPAC to obstruction of Middle East peace.

But neither did he deny making those comments last week.

Wilf said on Sunday that Straw’s remarks reflected the new anti-Semitism
in Europe.

Straw was excoriated on Jewish websites for his comments, dubbed by some
as an “anti- Semitic rant.” Straw dismissed those concerns.

“None of this is anti-Semitic,” he said.

“There are plenty of people in Israel who take a similar view to me –
not least (as I do) because they believe that the current approach of
the government of Israel will weaken the position of the State of Israel
in the medium- and long-term.”

(11) Jerusalem Post Editorial: Straw endorses Mearsheimer and Walt canard

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Straw-canard-330002

Straw canard

By JPOST EDITORIAL

10/28/2013 22:03

Straw’s attack on AIPAC follows in the footsteps of John Mearsheimer and
Stephen Walt who in 2007 published The Israel Lobby and US Foreign
Policy.

Yet again, the well-known canard that a near-omnipotent American Jewish
cabal is running US policies in the Middle East, particularly vis-à-vis
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was trotted out. The one doing the
trotting out this time was former British foreign secretary Jack Straw.

On Tuesday, October 22 during a gathering in the British House of
Commons, according to former MK Einat Wilf, Straw told those present
that AIPAC ’s “unlimited” funding and intimidation of American
politicians is one of the main barriers to peace between Israelis and
Palestinians.

Ironically, in May 2003 it was none other than Straw who was accused,
along with Labor cabinet member Peter Mandelson and special envoy to the
Middle East Lord Michael Levy of being part of a “Jewish cabal”
influencing then-prime minister Tony Blair’s policies, including his
decision to invade Iraq together with the US. Apparently, one of Straw’s
grandfathers is Jewish. The accusation was leveled at Straw and the
others by Labor MP Tam Dalyell in an interview in Vanity Fair.

Now, apparently, it is Straw’s turn to fight back using the same
ammunition. Straw’s attack on AIPAC follows in the footsteps of John
Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt who in 2007 published The Israel Lobby and
US Foreign Policy.

Indeed, Straw, responding Monday in an e-mail to The Jerusalem Post’s
Henry Rome, noted that his comments about AIPAC ’s influence on US
policy are essentially based on Mearsheimer’s and Walt’s book. Straw
also notes that in his 2012 memoir Last Man Standing he quotes in pages
445- 447 from these two men’s “critical study of AIPAC .”

Walt and Mearsheimer claimed that highly effective Jewish lobbyists,
together with a group of influential neocons and Evangelical Christian
groups, were essentially bullying consecutive US Congresses and
governments into supporting Israel – including its “military aggression”
and “human rights abuses” – despite the fact that doing so was against
US interests.

Specifically, Mearsheimer and Walt argued that this lobby, which
includes AIPAC , uses the purportedly ample campaign contributions at
its disposal to coerce pro-Israel policymaking in Congress.

Straw fails to mention in his e-mail to the Post, however, that many
critics both within academia and without, have pointed to the multitudes
of flaws in Mearsheimer’s and Walt’s book, raising serious questions
regarding their motivations – and Straw’s. Maya Spitzer, a student at
the University of Pennsylvanian helpfully collected these many
criticisms in an undergraduate honors thesis available online entitled
The Other Pro-Israel Lobby: The Meirsheimer and Walt Controversy and the
Rise of J Street.

For instance, Columbia professor Robert Lieberman, who noted the two
men’s bad methodology, their faulty research design, and the incongruity
of their claims with scholarly consensus on the American political
system, also criticized their tendency to exaggerate the impact of
campaign contributions on pro-Israel policymaking. The two men overlook
the fact, for instance, that the vast majority of pro-Israel funds go to
Democratic candidates, which suggests that pro-Israel money would have
paltry influence over Republican governments. Yet it was precisely the
Bush administration that was accused by Walt and Mearsheimer of being so
utterly under the control of the pro-Israel lobby. Also, pro-Israel
donations have at times remained flat while overall campaign donations
have soared, diminishing the relative weight of pro-Israel dollars in
campaign coffers. Also, the two bring no evidence to back up their claim
that the pro-Israel lobby, including AIPAC , has used contributions to
effectively launch “revenge campaigns” against candidates deemed to be
not sufficiently pro-Israel. What’s more, scholarly literature has
widely disproved the claim that campaign contributions guarantee
influence. They also conflate Jewish and pro-Israel campaign donations,
exaggerating the true amount of pro-Israel donations.

If these insidious claims and many others made by Walt and Meirsheimer
and others like them have been so thoroughly discredited, why do people
like Straw continue to repeat them? Why, is AIPAC singled out as the
main barrier to peace between Israel and the Palestinians and not other
factors such as Palestinian intransigence, radicalism and incitement?
Isn’t it possible that US congressmen support Israel because they
identify with Israel and not because they are being bribed or coerced?
Back in 2003 when Straw himself was accused of being a part of a Jewish
cabal his spokesman to the BBC the following: “These remarks are too
unworthy to be worth a comment.”

Perhaps we have already said too much.

(12) Lasse Wilhelmson, "the most hated man in Sweden"

I did not see Lasse's email for about 2 weeks, because it was in the
Spam Folder.

Google added a note "Why is this message in Spam? We've found that lots
of messages from bredband.net are spam. Learn more"

But when I forwarded the email back to Lasse, that note from Google did
not show up. Clever, aren't they?

From: Lasse Wilhelmson <lassewilhelmson@bredband.net> Date: 14
September 2013 19:00

http://www.deliberation.info/lasse-wilhelmson-portrait-tells-many-tales/

Lasse Wilhelmson: A Portrait That Tells Many Tales

by Ariadna Theokopoulos on September 5, 2013

Lasse Wilhelmson is one of my top favorite thinkers, writers and human
beings. His thoughts about the actual portrait he reproduces and
describes also achieves a poignant self-portrait of the remarkable man
he is. The essay also appeared on Atzmon’s site. It should appear widely
and be read everywhere.

A Portrait that Tells Many Tales

By Lasse Wilhelmson

{visit the above webpage to see the pictures}

Picture: writer Lasse Wilhelmson

This is a portrait of me in my writing corner with some of the many
books I have bought over the past ten years, mainly off the internet;
books that are about history, but not the history told by the victors of
Europe’s two world wars. A portrait of a blue-eyed, curly-haired little
boy can be seen too, along with an old Swedish country sideboard.

Four Books

You can identify them in the bookcase in the picture. The Jewish Century
(2004) by Juri Slezkine, a Jewish-born American professor of history
with roots in Russia. It is probably one of the most important books
ever written, as he himself says, if you wish to understand 20th century
history. According to Slezkine, this is impossible unless you comprehend
the Jewish influence. Everything from the Russian ”revolution” to
European education, culture and science is dealt with in this book which
also includes many statistics.

The next book is The Israel Lobby, and US Foreign Policy (2007) by two
of America’s most prestigious academics, John J Mearsheimer, professor
of political science and Stephen M Walt, professor of international
politics. It came to be the classic that broke the official silence
surrounding all discussions concerning Israeli and Jewish influence on
US foreign policy.

Between these two, is my own book Is the World Upside Down? (2009). It
contains a selection of my articles about the Palestinian issue, Zionism
and the neocolonial wars waged in the first decades of the 21st century.
They are arranged in order by time which makes it possible to follow how
my earlier opinions, partly Jewish-Marxist, have changed as a result of
a changing world and my in-depth studies.

The red book, The Wandering Who? (2011), is by Gilad Atzmon. He grew up
in a rightwing Zionist home in Israel, where he did his military
service; twenty years ago he chose exile in London where he now lives
with his family. He has, perhaps like no other, deconstructed Jewish
mentality which he sometimes calls Jewishness or Jewish ideology. Atzmon
is also an informed philosopher and one of the world’s best jazz
musicians, his favourite instrument is the saxophone.

Atzmon’s upbringing and experiences are very different from mine. I
found him on the internet twelve years ago. I read one of his early
articles and was astonished to find that I had a soul-mate, albeit
several sizes larger than myself, apart from our ages. This was when I
had just written my first long essay, perhaps my most significant,
dealing among other things with Moses Hess and Karl Marx: Zionism – More
than Traditional Colonialism and Apartheid.

The Swedish marxist Jan Myrdal had always been my intellectual
role-model up until then. Now Gilad Atzmon replaced him.

Boy in Picture Laden with Symbols

The portrait of the little boy is my older brother Börje who died
tragically in an accident when he was only four years old. He was the
first child of the marriage between my Jewish mother and my Swedish
father, a marriage that had to wait many years due to the Jewish
family’s reluctance to accept marriage to a non-Jew for a daughter.
Hence, in many ways Börje became a heavily laden symbol for my own
family line. The portrait is painted by Jewish artist Lotte Lazerstein
who fled from Germany before the onset of the Second World War. She was
given refuge and assistance by my parents in our home and initially
supported herself as a portrait painter.

The portrait of me and Börje also symbolises the beginning of the end of
my mother’s Jewish family line in Sweden. Neither of my sisters, nor our
children and grand-children are Jews. We are all secular Swedes, many
traditionally confirmed in the Christian church. As the oldest child, I
was the only one that worried about my Jewishness, and this led to me
spending several years in Israel at the beginning of the sixties, but
also to my involvement in the Palestinian question later in life. Due to
my experiences, I eventually chose not to identify myself as a Jew at
all. I was also liberated from a mind encumbered with Marxist thinking
as the two are linked. I now had the opportunity to view religions and
ideologies in a more independent and traditionally humanitarian way.

Börje has also played a very different part in my life. I inherited his
portrait because I was the only sibling who knew him when he was alive,
and as a child had prayed to God many times to bring him back to life.
He has always had a special place in my heart, in my own life, and I
have had his portrait on the wall for all my descendants to see. I have
always said to them: Look at Börje, he is our Jewish inheritance,
especially his eyes that are typically Semitic.

Or so I thought, until one summer I read Arthur Koestler’s book The
Thirteenth Tribe. I realised that my Jewish inheritance was not Semitic,
nor was its historic homeland in Palestine, but in Khazaria where the
north Turkish population converted to Judaism in AD 740. At that time,
Khazaria was a super power situated between the Black Sea and the
Caspian Sea along the Silk Road, and its people had clear Mongolian
features. This was the summer of 2001, just before the terror attack on
World Trade Center, 911.

The Eyes of Börje and of the beholder

When I returned to my home in Täby from our summer house, I looked with
new eyes at the portrait of Börje and suddenly saw the width between his
almond-shaped eyes and the special fold of skin at his nose. What I
thought I had seen all my life was not Semitic at all but Mongolian –
that is to say Khazaric. And indeed my grandmother came from Grodnow, a
town in what was then southern Poland, now Belarus, and had a majority
population of Jews. Her ancestors had migrated from Khazaria to southern
Russia and eastern Europe when the super power disintegrated sometime
during the 11th century. Does anyone wonder where all Europe’s Jews came
from?

Koestler’s book and how it changed my perception of Börje’s eyes was
probably one of the most significant occurrences for my decision to
abandon my Jewish identification – one of many I have always had
throughout my life. Realising the crucial role that ”the eye of the
beholder” can play for someone who believes they can see, affected me
greatly.

The Country sideboard

The brown sideboard seen in the background of the picture comes from my
father’s Swedish family. I know little about them other than that the
family was small and that my paternal grandfather worked as a farmhand
in Nynäshamn and started a family in Stockholm where he worked as a
turner. One day I hope to have the time to look more closely at my
father’s side of the family.

Picture: The Artist Markus Andersson

Markus is one of the few well-schooled painters of oils in Sweden today,
but he also paints watercolours. Like many artists from all over the
world, he has visited the well-known Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum many
times to learn his craft and exchange ideas. Personally, I am not a
great fan of Nerdrum’s occasionally necrophobic imagery. Markus paints
portraits, but also in the romantic landscape style and is deeply rooted
in his Swedish heritage as told in traditional Tales of Gods and Viking
legends. Markus is also inspired by Anders Zorn’s pictures of women.
Many of his works have a special, warm, aching and down-to-earth tone
that captures the Swedish soul. His brush also forms gossamer-light
Nordic landscapes.

How We Found Each Other

Markus and I both love the simple and earthbound life, nature, animals
and wooden houses heated with logs, and carpentry. These are things that
create quick friendships. And we soon realised that both of us had been
appointed ideological pariahs by the Swedish so-called journalist and
culture elite. Markus had been the target of a campaign that dismissed
him as a dark-brown racist, almost a Nazi. Mainly because of the
portrait of Christer Pettersson, but also his overall choice of subjects.

His most ”spectacular” work is a series of Swedish scapegoats, the
paintings that attracted me. Especially the one of Christer Pettersson,
the alleged assassin of prime minister Olof Palme who was acquitted. The
painting is a masterpiece and one he has been well-paid for. Probably
far too little which certainly remains to be seen.

An oil painter who paints realistic romantic landscapes and rune stones
instead of modernist and abstract motifs… he must be slightly dubious?
His work was dismissed as simple kitsch by Katrine Kielos in the tabloid
Expressen. As far as I know the first time she has acted as an art
critic. She now writes leading articles in the tabloid Aftonbladet,
spreading politically correct opinions to the people. For my part, it
has always been about accusations of ”antisemitism” and suchlike. But I
have responded to this elsewhere.

I knew nothing of Markus’s background as ideological pariah before our
paths crossed. We talked a lot when he was painting me. I did most of
the talking, Markus is a quiet and unassuming person, and moreover he
was busy trying to catch his model’s personal features. We spoke of art,
painting, politics and ideologies, money and economy, exercise and
physical training and last but not least poultry keeping.

I went to art school myself as a small child. I had forgotten all about
it, but the smell of turpentine in Markus’s studio jogged my memory. My
ambitious mother wanted me to become an artist or an architect. But I
studied and worked with psychology and pedagogy in various environments.
I never managed to explain this “occupation” to my paternal grandfather
who was an illiterate pedlar.

The Painting without a Name

Markus usually gives his paintings names and we discussed this
occasionally. Our hilarious suggestion of a title for my portrait was:
”Nazi” paints ”Antisemite”, or ”Nazi kitsch painter paints Holocaust-
denying antisemite”. But that can wait. We both agreed – or perhaps
quietly hoped – that this picture in the light of history, would
eventually become a treasure. Although neither of us thought it likely
in our lifetimes.

Chickens and ”Clucking”

In the aftermath of Åsa Linderborg’s hysterical naming and shaming of me
as ”Jew-hater” and ”Holocaust-denier” in Aftonbladet at the end of
November 2012, I wrote a small story. Åsa’s outburst was triggered by
the fact that young TV presenter of the European Song Contest, Gina
Dirawi who is of Palestinian origin, had mentioned my book Is the World
Upside Down? on her popular blog and suggested it was suitable ”for
evening reading”.

The title of my story was ”Åsa’s clucking and Gina’s ”antisemitic”
chickens”. Eventually Gina, after suffering many attacks, defended her
terrible deed by saying that she had only read the first nine pages of
my book. So, she hadn’t even finished the first article about my
struggle with municipal red-tape in order to keep my chickens. Probably
the most readable article I have ever written …

Of course Markus and Anna will buy a brood of Hedemora chickens once the
chicks have grown a bit. To replace the ”multicultural” brood they have
at the moment. Oddly enough, I have recently got to know two more people
who keep Hedemora chickens. I like them very much too, even in other ways.

These stories were written the evening after I had fetched the painting
from the glazier, framed and ready.

Täby on the 3rd of June 2013.