Jews, Zionism and the European Right of Blood Part IV

Jews were not the only ones who have suffered from Jus Sanguinis.

A few paragraphs above I have also mentioned that the nationality by blood model is also a model used by the Japanese. It is also important to note that the same method of defining one's legal ethnicity is utilized in China, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia and many other Asian countries. Your nationality is determined first and foremost by the way you look- Koreans and Chinese can usually tell each other apart by looking at each other's facial features. Sometimes, they overlap but most of the time, they do not. Thus, the can tell most of the time.

Similarly to the Jews born in Germany not being Germans, children of Koreans born in Japan are still not Japanese. Likewise, Chinese in Korea still continue being Chinese after three or more generations. Such blood laws are very discriminatory and have caused suffering to many people. In the early 1970ies, ethnic Chinese in Malaysia underwent a major persecution from the indigenous citizens of the country in which they were born and raised. Many thousands were killed as a result. In 1999 similar events occurred in Indonesia: many ethnic Chinese were blamed for the collapse of the Indonesian currency and suffered severe beatings. Their women were raped, their stores were plundered and many had to "go back" to China or Hong Kong. So, why were these people persecuted? Weren't they born there? They were, in fact, born there and many had lived up to four generations in Indonesia. Some have even converted to Islam. However, they did not as a rule intermarry and they did not acquire "the Indonesian blood" by doing so. Consequently, they were still Chinese in the eyes if the Indonesian population and its government. They even had documents with special numerical codes to show that they were Chinese.

During the reign of Idi Amin in Uganda, many Indians were dispossessed of their property and forced to leave the country. The same happened to many white farmers in Zimbabwe when the Blacks wanted to take the land that the Zimbabwean government decided had been 'illegally acquired'. The farmers are still referred to by the Zimbabwean president Mugabe as 'Europeans' although many were born in Africa. And if the government treats you as such, 'whatcha gonna do'? Many ended up going to Britain, just like the Jews who went back to Palestine.

After the British left Burma in the 1950ies, those residents of the country who were ethnically Indians and Pakistanis were soon stripped of the right to own companies because they "were not Burmese". A Brit or an American will probably protest and say:- "These people were born there! Ergo, they are Burmese!!!" No, no, and again no! It is not for you to decide. Who is Burmese and who is not Burmese is decided by the Burmese. Especially by the government of Burma. And if your name is not something like Su Mu and you do not have a Burmese face, you are just not Burmese. So what if you were born here? If a pregnant woman comes and gives birth in the kitchen of your house, does that make the baby in any way related to you? If a kitten is born in your house and you are a human, does that make the kitten a "human" as well? This is at totally different logic from the one applied on the streets of London, New York, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires where all races born and raised there automatically belong there.

If you are a modern politically correct American, you will probably say that the above cases of persecution are just like the internment of the Japanese Americans in camps during WWII, or like the putting of American Indians on reservations during the Great American westward expansion. I would say- not quite. The Native Americans and the Japanese-Americans were displaced and interned and some even exterminated. But the Indians were not told to " Go back to Siberia" and the Japanese-Americans were not seriously expected to " go back to Japan". They were BORN in the US. Americans and even Brits take the birth of any person in their country as something as sacred as if it is a automatic blessed right of residence bestowed by the Almighty Himself. Hence, rarely there have been recent mass expulsions of people who were born in the US or the UK.

It is no wonder then, that when a Brit or an American wants to determine a person's nationality, the first question he normally asks you is "Where ( what country) were you born ( in)?" Or "Where ( What country) are you from, originally?" Upon getting the name of the place, the British or the American person will say: "Oh, so you are (--put the name of country here and add the suffix -"ese" or "-an").

In Europe, Asia and Africa, however, there have been many expulsions (either directly ordered or encouraged) of people born in "their" respective countries but of foreign ancestry no matter how remote. It all probably stems from the fact that on these three continents people are not children of immigrants, but are mostly of a homogeneous stock who are indigenous to the place in which they live as opposed to others who are of a more recent stock and whose families have not been in the countries as long.

Precisely the same thing happened in Europe to Jews as what happened to the Chinese in Indonesia with a few exceptions- in 1999, China was still there, but Judea was not there in the early 1900s when pogroms against the Jews were happening in Eastern Europe. Also, the Chinese around the world did not rally in the support of their ethnic brothers as much as the worldwide Jewry supported the cause of solving the "Jewish exile" problem by establishing a new state in the British and/or Turkish-ruled Palestine.

A Jew looks "Semitic" to East and Central Europeans, but looks "European" to Arabs.

It is very important to note that when Jews ended up in Germany or the Russian empire, they looked extremely different (racially) from the people there. If to an Arab a local Jew looked similar to him, to a German or a Pole he did not. To them, Jews were a race, a nation from the Middle East, a bunch of foreigners who were not even Christian and who came to live in their land. In Russia they referred to the Jews as "The Hebrew Nation" and they still do so until today. A German, a Pole and a Russian can easily tell who is Jewish and who is not. The hair is different, the shape of the nose is different, the voice is different even if born there. Granted, after a few centuries in Europe the Jews started looking more European and many became very pale because of rapes and the mixture with some new Jewish converts. There even appeared Jews who were blond and blue-eyed. Still, the locals, the pure, indigenous Russians and Germans could tell that the person had Semitic blood even if blond, therefore the bulk of the Jewish population was still quite easily distinguishable to these, very ethnically homogeneous European people. Even if there were some very 'Aryan-looking' people among the Jews, the East-Central Europeans could still often notice that these were not full-blooded members of their Slavic or Germanic ethnicity.

Allow me to give you an analogy with Blacks in America. Think of people like Malcolm X or Collin Powell. They are light-skinned, and Powell, in particular, is almost completely white. However, within the context of America, and by traditional American norms, he would still be called "Black". When an average White American looks at Powell, he probably says to himself "Oh, a Black Man". Why? Well, the shape of the mouth, the nose, the mannerism, the curly hair, etc. are a dead give-away, not to mention the manner of speaking and the pitch of voice. However, if you ask a few hundred million Black Africans how they would describe Powell, you would get such answers as a "White man", "an American man" or "Muzungu"- a light-skinned foreigner. "Black" or "African" would rarely be the answer. So, depending on the observer's perspective,point of refernce and cultural background, the same person's identity would change, subject to who he would be compared to. A "mulatto" thus looks white to Africans but looks 'Black' to "white people". Because, when a human eye sees something out of the ordinary to it, it will notice differences but will take similarities for granted. All the resemblances that a “mulatto” person has with “pure Caucasians“, such as lighter skin, lighter hair, maybe, even blue eyes, will be dismissed by the eye of the Caucasian observer, as it will notice only the unusual to him African elements of the 'mulatto's' appearance. The opposite thing will happen when a black African is looking at the same hypothetical 'mulatto'. He will ignore the broad nose and the thicker lips and, instead, pay attention only to the lighter hair and the whiter skin of that person. He will thne probably conclude: “Oh, a" White Man!". A 'Muzungu'.

It was kind of like that for Jews in Europe. Even a blond, blue-eyed Jew would still have something in his facial features, the shape of the nose and the hair texture, as well as the accent, that would make the local people in Eastern Europe conclude that he was an ethnic Jew. He would be somewhat darker than a typical Pole or Czech, his hair would be thicker and curlier, the complexion would be more olive, the eyes would bulge more and not be as deep, the nose will usually have a different shape. “This is a Jew“, the East Europeans would conclude after about a second's observation.

However, to an Arab, such a light-skinned Jew would be a "Khawaja"- a European. He would not notice the fact that the nose was not the same shape as what the Germans or the Poles have, that the hair was curlier than that of Poles or Germans, that the shape of the eyes was somewhat Semitic. He will not be comparing such a Jew to a Pole. He will be comparing him to the people in his Arab village. He will only pay attention to the fact that the skin is lighter, the eyes are blue and that the person is wearing European-like ( at least not Arab-style clothes)- and the “computer “in his brain will spit out the conclusion of the observation- this is a “Khawaja “, a European!

Those European Jews who happened to travel in Arab countries would notice to their surprise that they would no longer be harassed for their Jewish look, as they were when they lived in Europe, and, instead be treated as just Europeans by the Arabs.

The difference is this, though- Malcolm X and Colin Powell would still be called "Americans" by ‘other Americans’ even though they would still be seen as Blacks, but the Jews would never be called "Russians" or "Poles" by the Russians and the Poles, and other such Europeans while at the same time ironically still be called Khawajas- Europeans by Arabs. Now, let me ask you, just how East European would these Jews really be?

To give you a visual analogy, If you ever watched the show "Starsky and Hutch" back in the seventies, then I can tell you that people in Russia or Ukraine or Lithuania look like Hutch and the Jews look like Starsky. Starsky's ( Paul Michael Glaser's ) family were Jews from Latvia and his particular Mediterranean appearance would stand out very much in Latvia. Starsky and Hutch would be two completely different racial types there. In America, they would both be "White", but in those countries, Hutch would be a "Latvian" and Starsky would be a "Jew/Hebrew"-a non -Christian stranger of a heathen Middle Eastern stock. I invite you to tour Latvia and challenge you to find even one person with a face like Paul Michael Glaser. I guarantee you that you will not, but if you do, he will be a Jew or maybe an Arab tourist there.

Some Jews there did look like Kirk Douglas, i.e. of somewhat Nordic stock, but most looked like Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, David Schwimmer, Woody Allen or Einstein- a Northern Semitic/Mediterranean look. Very different from the natives who have the same complexion and hair color as Brad Pitt or Olivia Newton John.

The bottom line is this- no matter how many generations they lived there, because of their different 'race', different religion and because they did not intermarry with the natives ( the natives for the most part would not have liked it, anyway) the Jews could never become Polish or German or Russian. Even if they converted to Christianity, they would still be called "Baptized Hebrews" for it was their descent and looks, and not their newly acquired religion or the birthplace that determined their true nationality. It is also worthy of noting here that although many Jews in the US say that their ancestors came from Russia, strictly speaking, Jews were not allowed to live in Russia proper- they were kept in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and other countries which were under the Russian control at that time. While the Russian government allowed them to live there, they were still very unwelcome and constantly suffered from physical and legal persecutions. The local churches and governments saw these Jews as a scourge of sorts and repeatedly carried our all kinds of evil propaganda against them, which resulted in pogroms, prohibitions to participate in certain professions and other kinds of injustices which left emigration as the only way out. As a result, many went to the Americas- US, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay as well as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Some settled in Britain. And those who missed the immigration quotas of the above countries, went to Palestine.

Immigrant societies in the Americas accept Jews as their own.

Those Jews who went to the United States and also, emigrated to Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, and other such countries were in for a pleasant surprise. The nationality concept in the Americas was a whole different game and very beneficial to them and their children. The indigenous population does not rule the countries there, (as it had usually been wiped out before the arrival of the Jews), so no one can tell a person born there 'to go back home'. Mostly, it is the children of immigrants from Spain, England, France and other such countries who "call the shots" in such societies. Consequently, a Jew who went to live in the US, Canada, Argentina, and other such countries became a naturalized American, Canadian, Argentinean, and their children were now full citizens and full Americans, Canadians and Argentineans. He lost the scared look that characterized Jews of Eastern Europe.

The Jews were now walking proudly and behaving confidently in their new societies. Their children were now thinking of themselves as fully-fledged members of these new countries. They quickly advanced and became honorable citizens, doctors, lawyers, mayors and politicians. No one would ever again tell them to "get out".

The same can be said about Jews who went to other ‘immigrant-ruled’ societies- S. Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Once their children were born there, their nationality became S. African, Australian, New Zealander, etc. Also, because the divisions in those countries were often along White/Black/Indigenous lines, the Jews became "Whites" and later, members of something that is called in the Americas "the native-born population". The law of Jus Solis-" born here- you are one of us"- was something that was working in favor of the children of these Jewish refugees from the Jus Sanguinis countries of Poland, Germany and Russia.

Again, the situation became similar to what it was for Jews in Arab countries a long time ago- the main thing that now distinguished Jews from other Americans, Argentineans, Canadians, Australians, etc, was, again, their religion.

Unlike an average Pole or a Russian, an average American, Canadian and Uruguayan cannot easily tell Jews from other "whites" unless they dress in religious Jewish clothes. A person from the Americas may be able to tell Blacks from Whites and, also, Hispanics and Asians, but his eye is not tuned in to the niceties that exist among different types of Caucasians. A Pole can literally tell a Jew a mile away because of the experience that he has had in his country with seeing Jews there on a daily basis. These were possibly the only obviously distinct minority in his homeland, so he leaned to recognize them. However, an average American does not have such experience. He can distinguish White Americans from African-Americans, but he cannot usually distinguish a Jew from an Italian, a Greek, a Turk and other thousands of groups that form the "White American" category. It goes the same for Latin American countries. Many Spanish and Italian descendants there seem to look "Jewish" or "Arabic", so a Jew could pass for a Spaniard or an Italian. An Indian will stand out there and a Black man would but not a Jew.

In Poland or Russia, a Jew can just be stopped on the street and often get beat up because he has a face that still looks Semitic to a local. However, in the Americas, a Black person will just see him as another "White" and a White person will also see him as another "fellow White". In short, he is just another child of immigrants- just like everybody else. Thus, the Jews found the Americas a very stable place in which to settle and, in spite of occasional religion-based discrimination, most of them successfully assimilated into the mainstream of these relatively new immigrant countries.

Ironically, though, the governments of the USA, Canada and Argentina equated people's nationalities with "what country they came from". So, when the Jews arrived in the New World, they were now seen as "Russians", "Germans" and "Poles". Up until this day, on their census documents, many American Jews put:" ancestry "Polish" or "ancestry: Russian". They could never be Polish or Russian in Poland or Russia, but they became such in America. Curious, indeed.

In Argentina also, up until today they call Hassidic Jews- "Rusos"- "Russians". Ridiculous and strange, and crazy if you ask any Old World person, but that's just the way it is there- and perfectly logical to these New World countries- "What country do you come from?" "Poland. That's it"; "You are Polish." The newly arrived Jews tried to protest and shout that they are "Jewish by nationality" because that is what the Poles and Germans considered them to be, but it would only fall on deaf ears in the New World. You are now a "Pole of Jewish Faith" in the Americas. Or Australia, or South Africa for that matter. It is, indeed, a bit funny for any European who visits the US to see American-born Jewish people with names such as Lipshitz or Weinstein proudly declaring, " I am Russian". "What kind of Russian name is that?" " And Russians do not have faces like that". Again, an average American Jew is just located too far from Eastern Europe to know of such things. Also, most native-born Americans do not even know what Russians looks like. Or, what kind of last names they have, for that matter. (By the way, a typical Russian name is "Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov", not "Abraham Goldenstein"). God bless the American ignorance!

American Jews now participate in "heritage tours" going to Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to see where their grandparents came from. However, technically speaking, they did not really come "from" there. From the point of Jewish History, they only went "through" those countries. Before that, they had lived in Germany and Spain and North Africa.

Jews were travelers and temporary residents in those places. However, the present American obsession with genealogy impels thousands of American Jews to go on expensive genealogical tours to places that weren't true motherlands of their ancestors at all. Jews weren't like the Irish, you see. Those countries never accepted them; rather, they were their unwilling and begrudging hosts who ended up expelling them from their soil in the end. Again, these American Jews cannot relate to that, as they think that the whole world is just like America, and they can go to Ukraine to see where their great grandparents came from and what kind of culture people have in those places just like Italian Americans go to Italy. "Oh, so is this what my ancestors looked like ?" they probably say looking at local Ukrainian peasants. But, the Jews did not look like that, dress like that or even speak the language of those places. They spoke Yiddish, had Klezmer music, not the Ukrainian "Hopak" and never wore those Ukrainian Cossack head -dresses. By observing life in Ukraine today, these American Jews will discover little of what the Jewish life was like, since most of what used to be of it there is gone. The Slavic population living in those villages now had as much in common with the Jews as the modern SAR Chinese population had with the British colonials who lived in Hong Kong during the Imperial times.

Still the American Jews keep on going to the towns and villages where the Jews did not even have the right to work the land and where they were unwelcome guests of an alien race. They are flying to countries whose nationality their ancestors could never obtain. That is why they went to America in the first place, didn't they? Such American ignorance about the Jus Sanguinis laws keeps those tour operators in business. However, wouldn’t tours to Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon as well as Iraq and Saudi Arabia be more appropriate? Aren't those the real places where Jews came from? Pity that such tours (except the ones to Israel and, maybe, a secret one to Jordan ) would be quite difficult to arrange.

So, for now, at least, the traditional American attachment to the "Where is your family from?" thing" ' which shouldn't apply to the wondering Jewish tribe, (unless one is talking about the Middle East) is keeping various "heritage tours" in Ukraine in business.