Pilar Rahola Speaks Out on European Anti-Israel Bias

By Published On: October 20, 2008

pilar Rahola.jpg
Pilar Rahola

Threats, slander and lost friends have not deterred Spanish-Catalan journalist Pilar Rahola from forcefully expressing her views about the anti-Israel media and academe in Spain and Europe, the link between anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, the European left (of which she is a part), and more.

Her candor continues in a recent interview with Ha’aretz. An excerpt:

“I don’t see myself as a defender of Israel,” she points out, “but as a defender of the truth. I have a great deal of criticism of various decisions of the Israeli government. I don’t like what Israel has done over the years. But there’s a very big difference between rational criticism of the government, of various activities of the government, and unbridled and criminal attacks against Israel’s very essence.” …

In the conflict in the Middle East … most European intellectuals stop thinking and only repeat empty cliches. This anti-Israel bias of both the left and the media is a disguise for anti-Semitism. No other country is the target of such hatred and of such belligerent criticism. No other country receives repeated threats to its existence from other members of the United Nations, while the world remains silent. The reasons for that can be found in both distant and recent history. …

… our deviant way of dealing with [guilt about the Spanish inquisition and the Holocaust] is to attack Israel, of all countries. Because the worse Israel is, the less guilty we are. The attacks against Israel are our way of clearing our conscience, and that’s something I definitely can’t accept. …

Meanwhile, unfortunately, anyone who is not anti-Israel immediately becomes suspect.

You can read the entire fascinating interview here.

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