Dr Sandra Nasr ( lecturer in Middle East and human rights politics, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Western Australia) (2015) : “Zionism, the ideological project to secure a Jewish homeland, relies upon notions of separateness, superiority and entitlement. It finds its origins in the ‘promise’ believed to have been made by God to ‘His people’ – Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites. According to this belief, they were to take the land by force, kill anyone who resisted, and take for slaves those who did not fight back (except in more distant towns which should just be cleansed). Biblical Theologian Professor Michael Prior called this ‘ethnic cleansing’, where God’s Covenant with the Israelites “was integrally linked with the mandate to exterminate the indigenous peoples…
Notions of ‘racial’ superiority are contained in Jewish scriptures and Rabbinical pronouncements have the effect of relegating ‘the other’ to a standard which is sub-human and, therefore, not deserving of the same considerations that are reserved for one’s ‘own kind’. The status as God’s ‘Chosen People’, who are superior to all others, in receipt of ‘The Covenant’ and His gift of a ‘Promised Land’ cleansed of its previous inhabitants makes for a very attractive concept, and a dangerous one. Modern-day Israelites found practical and ideological expression of this concept in Zionism. This is evident in the words made famous by Golda Meir, later an Israeli PM, referring to Palestine as ‘a land without a people for a people without a land’. This statement clearly relegated Palestinians to a non-people…
Given that the Zionist project is essentially a colonial plan, it is unsurprising, as Michael Prior noted, that it drew upon assumptions of European racial and cultural superiority. Congruent with this guiding concept, the method of establishment and expansion of Israel has relied upon the overwhelming use of force and terror tactics to expel these inconvenient ‘non-people’ from their homes and villages and then prevent their return, as articulated in Plan D…
Although Israel is a signatory of the UN Charter, which acknowledges a commitment to the principles of non-acquisition of territory by force and respect for the protections afforded to all people contained within international law, Israel continues to view itself as above such mundane matters; particularly when it comes to the ‘non-people’ it subjugates through its policies and practices of occupation” Dr. Sandra Nasr, “Delegitimising through Dehumanisation: Palestinian ‘human’ rights denied”, London School of Economics and Political Science, 3 December 2015: https://archive.is/HSoC4#selection-167.0-445.65 ).
[Editor’s note: Dr Sandra Nasr, lecturer in Middle East politics at Notre Dame University, Western Australia, published this article on the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) website. It uncontroversially linked Old Testament Biblical imperatives of violent occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the first millennium BC to Zionist colonialism and gross human rights abuse in Palestine today. Dr Nasr was immediately attacked and falsely defamed by Zionists and the Fairfax-owned WA Today as “racist” and “anti-semitic” and the article was removed from the LSE website. To its shame, rather than defend Dr Nasr, Notre Dame said it “apologizes” for her article which it is now “addressing”.
This is the sorry statement by Notre Dame University (Australia): “The opinions and comments expressed by Dr Sandra Nasr were not endorsed or sanctioned by the University and do not, in any way, represent the views of The University of Notre Dame Australia. The University expresses its disappointment and apologises that comments causing such offence have been associated with it. Notre Dame is addressing this issue in accordance with its relevant processes and will not make any further comment until these have been duly followed" (see Heather McNeill and Colin Cortbus, “Perth university lecturer Dr Sandra Nasr in hot water over anti-semitic article”, WA Today: 11 Decemebr 2015: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-university-lecturer-dr-sandra-nasr-in-hot-water-over-antisemitic-article-20151211-gllhqk.html#ixzz3u9GScOPO ).
If anything, Dr Sandra Nasr's article is remarkable for its restraint. Thus it refers to and documents repeated expressions of “racial superiority” and “ethnic cleansing” in the Old Testament but in relation to present-day Palestine merely talks of human rights abuse and “Delegitimising through Dehumanisation: Palestinian “human” rights denied” by the Zionists ruling all of Palestine today (plus a largely ethnically cleansed slab of Syria). Censorship of Dr Nasr's article contributes to ongoing censorship of the awful realities of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide by nuclear terrorist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel – the racist Zionists (RZs) have now ethnically cleansed 90% of the land of Palestine and of 12 million Palestinians, 6 million are forbidden to step foot in their own country, 4.3 million exist without human rights as prisoners without charge or trial in the blockaded Gaza Concentration Camp (1.8 million) or in West Bank Bantustan ghettoes (2.5 million), and only 1.7 million Palestinians Israelis (14% of Palestinians and 28% of Palestinian subjects of Apartheid Israel) are permitted to vote for the government ruling all of Palestine, albeit as Third Class citizens under Nazi-style Apartheid laws. 2 million Palestinians have been killed by violence (0.1 million) or by violently-imposed deprivation (1.9 million) since 1936, a Palestinian Genocide that is part of an horrendous Muslim Holocaust and Muslim Genocide (see Gideon Polya, "Open Letter to VC, Notre Dame Australia & Director, LSE (UK) re Zionist & pro-Zionist attack on academic free speech", Gideon Polya Writing, 17 December 2015:
https://sites.google.com/site/gideonpolyawriting/2015-12-17 and Gideon Polya, “Academic Free Speech Under Zionist Attack At Notre Dame Australia And LSE, UK”, Countercurrents, 16 December, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya161215.htm ).