One fine day, Dr. Miriam Shlesinger, lecturer in the
Languages department of Bar Ilan University and former
chairman of Amnesty International's Israeli division,
received a letter from the editor of the scientific journal
The Translator, published in Britain, which stated in
no uncertain terms: "If you don't resign, I will fire
you."
A similar letter was sent to Prof. Gideon Toury of the
Cultural Studies division of Tel Aviv University, who is
considered one of the leading figures in his field.
The one and only reason for their dismissal: their Israeli ID
number. The publisher and editor of the journal, Prof. Mona
Baker, an Egyptian scholar with British citizenship, did not
bother concealing the reasons for the dismissal: "In such a
situation, I cannot accept any cooperation with Israelis and
I do not want the name of Israel to be displayed in the
journal."
Dr. Shlesinger was deeply hurt. She is a veteran Peace Now
and Women in Black activist, with a rich background of human
rights demonstrations. She is a former chairman of Amnesty
International's Israeli division, which tends to talk about
Israel's "war crimes" and at the same time ignores
Palestinian violence. All this did not help her when
confronted with the determination of Prof. Baker.
Dr. Shlesinger stayed in Europe about 6 or 7 years ago to
research her doctorate on simultaneous translating. Baker, a
prominent figure in the field of translation studies at the
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
(UMIST), invited her to join her team. The two became
friends. In the year 2000 Baker asked the Israeli scholar to
join the academic board of her journal. Shlesinger published
articles in the journal, reviewed books, and advised Baker on
editing matters. It was a prestigious position, which
accorded her great honor in the academic world, and now she
has suddenly been unceremoniously fired.
Professional Talents did not Help
"I was appointed because of my professional talents, not
because I am Israeli, and there is no reason for me to be
sacked because I am Israeli. In general, I am opposed to
academic boycotts, which are a form of collective
punishment." Shlesinger is understandably bitter.
In an interview with an Israeli journalist, she says about
Baker: "It was obvious to me that she was absolutely opposed
to anything to do with Zionism. I endeavored not to talk
politics with her, especially since I admire and respect her.
Even when I went back to Israel I maintained contact with
her."
However, nothing could prevent the final move. "My troubles",
she continues, "started a few months ago. Baker was one of
those responsible for a petition calling for an `academic
boycott of Israeli scientists,' which suggested that articles
by Israeli scholars should not be published and that scholars
should not be invited to lectures and conventions in order to
`get Israel to stop committing atrocities.' Baker distributed
this petition amongst language scholars and members of the
academic board [of The Translator] asking them to join
the campaign. I didn't ignore these events, but I also didn't
sign the petition. I wrote a response about why any academic
boycott is an illegitimate tool, even though I agreed with
the criticism of Israel."
None of this helped her, nor did an additional letter in
which she wrote to Baker: "I will continue to demonstrate
against Sharon, to send packages to the refugee camps, and to
support those who refuse to serve in the occupied
territories." She was fired together with Prof. Toury, her
protests being totally ignored. Neither the fact that 6 out
of the 14 members of the academic board resigned in protest
in solidarity with her nor a letter from Hugh Gambeille, the
President of the European Society for Translation Studies,
made Baker change her mind. "On my visit to Egypt and Bahrain
I saw pictures in the media of Israeli army bulldozers
destroying houses in Jenin together with their inhabitants,"
Mona Baker wrote to members of the academic board, and that
was why she had decided to start a campaign for an academic
boycott of Israelis even those who make exactly the same
pronouncements as her against the "atrocities of the Israeli
occupation."
"An academic boycott is an immoral and disgraceful act",
claims Dr. Shlesinger. "For one thing, it is a gross act of
hypocrisy. How can you isolate one country, Israel, as if
human rights violations only take place there? The situation
in China, for example, is terrible, and yet it does not occur
to anybody to boycott Chinese academics."
Jews are Persecuted More When They Get Close to non-
Jews
Dr. Shlesinger, who cannot come up with any defense of her
country, which is forced to fight a severe battle against a
band of rioters who send suicide bombers to blow themselves
up amongst innocent men, women and children in order to wreak
maximum carnage, has not yet grasped the ancient rule that
antisemitism never looks for rational arguments but is always
based on poisonous and despicable false charges against
Jews.
History is now repeating itself when Mona Baker makes a
comparison "between Jenin and the Holocaust," a statement
which infuriated even Dr. Shlesinger who is committed to
continuing her opposition to the Israeli government and to
supporting those who refuse to serve in the occupied
territories. She lacks a most elementary understanding of the
history and nature of antisemitism.
What the Chinese are up to, for example, in terms of human
rights violations is of no interest to anybody, any more than
the blatant human rights abuses committed by the Palestinian
Authority itself.
She does not understand that Jews are always persecuted, but
especially when they become close to non-Jews. This happened
just seventy years ago to thousands of assimilated German
Jews. Only a small percentage of the assimilated Jews managed
to escape the jaws of the Nazi beast, though they had
considered themselves secure.
They, like her, failed to understand what was happening to
them. She asked, "What do they want from me? I also denounce
the acts of the Israeli government, I'm also a victim, my
brother-in-law was killed in an attack when terrorists shot
at his car, and now they don't want my name to be displayed
in the journal because I'm Israeli."
Nor is she the only one: "Lately I have heard from academics
that articles by Israeli scholars are rejected because
they're Israeli. It is difficult to prove this, because they
are only told that their article was not accepted, and the
factor of their origin is not mentioned, but the feeling is
that this is the beginning of a new trend."
Warning to Those Who Think That Berlin is
Yerushalayim
Dr. Shlesinger does not understand "what they want from her,"
just as the assimilated German Jews, who thought that Germany
was their fatherland did not understand what was wanted from
them. They were suddenly exposed to an antisemitic storm, and
all their distinguished contributions to the development of
the economy, science, and culture, were quickly forgotten. As
soon as a drop of Jewish blood was found to be flowing in
their veins, they were "marked" and sent to the "final
solution."
People refuse to draw the appropriate conclusions from these
events nowadays when non-Jews start persecuting a Jew, even
one who has volunteered to cross over to the other side and
join those agitating against the "atrocities of Israeli
occupation."
The origins of this phenomenon may be traced to the
maskilim who despised the Torah and their ancestral
religion, hoping thereby to ingratiate themselves with the
non-Jews.
The Meshech Chochmoh wrote that someone who distances himself
from his nation and invents newfangled and false ideas,
criticizes his heritage and forgets his nation's history. In
his desire to alienate himself from his traditions and thus
liberate himself from the persecutions suffered by his
nation, he unleashes every restraint, thought and
calculation.
It will not be long, adds the Meshech Chochmoh, before he
will make the claim that our ancestors lied to us, and he
will eventually forget his roots altogether, wanting to
become integrated as a serene citizen of [his adopted]
foreign nation. (This may be an allusion to Jews who
converted to Christianity). That is how he exempts himself
from the difficulties of life as a Jew. Thus he will abandon
his religious studies in favor of studies in foreign
languages . . . and he will declare that Berlin is
Yerushalayim . . . Then a violent storm will come and uproot
him altogether (on the posuk, "I will not reject
them," Vayikro 26:44).
From the Jewish point of view the slaps in the faces received
by Jews who aim to ingratiate themselves with non-Jews by
becoming estranged from their religious traditions is a
heavenly sign of grace to remind them of their Jewish origin.
The Meshech Chochmoh writes that Hashem says He will cause
the nations "to despise and abhor them," but not in an
absolute manner that would result in the destruction of the
nation, because then the covenant with the nation would be
breached, but in a manner that glorifies Hashem's Name and
preserves the descendants of Avrohom.
There are many Jews today who returned to their Jewish roots
because of such "reminders."
This is our advice to Dr. Shlesinger and all those Israeli
academics who have been snubbed by academic institutions
around the world, including the U.S.: instead of complaining
about the insults to which they are subjected, they should
praise the Divine Providence, whereby Hashem in His mercy
reminds them of their Jewish roots. They should stop looking
for happiness and investing their future in non-Jewish
societies, because that is not their place.
Heavenly Reminder of Jewish Roots
The Kopishnitzer Rebbe ztv"l used to recall an
incident that took place when the Nazis concentrated hundreds
of Jews in one place in Vienna following the
Anschluss. There was one Jew there who was screaming
hysterically, bemoaning his fate.
The Rebbe went up to him and asked why he was in more
distress than the other Jews present who were in the same
situation as he was. The Jew answered that they could not
understand what had happened to him: "I have been living in a
small village far away from here for more than forty years,
and I had completely forgotten that I was Jewish. Suddenly I
have been reminded of this fact . . . How did the Nazis find
out that I was Jewish? When she heard that they were rounding
up all the Jews, my non-Jewish wife to whom I've been married
for forty years went to the police to report to them that I
was Jewish!"
We would react initially to this story by gasping at the
amazing wickedness of this non-Jewish woman who was
indifferent to the fate of her husband of forty years, but on
a deeper level we can see the Hashgocho protis which
hovered over this estranged Jew. In heaven they wanted him to
have the merit of returning to his Jewish roots, and so he
was sent a "reminder" in the shape of an imprisonment
resulting from his non- Jewish wife informing on him!
