AssyrianLawyer said:
I just wanted to remark how anti-Semitic Assyrians can be sometimes. So I belong to a number of Support Israel groups on Facebook. Today, I received a number of emails and Facebook messages from Assyrians (and from some of my Iranian friends) telling me how disappointed they were that I joined any pro-Israel groups because Jews hate Assyrians. Excuse me, but thats ****ing lame and it admits more to jealousy of how successful the Jewish diaspora has been compared to the Assyrian one (especially of late). Anyway, I just wanted to share that with everyone. The nice thing about getting emails and Facebook messages from Assyrians rather than getting responses from the forums is that I know their real names and I can now place them in my little black book for future reference.
There are some Assyrians who dislike Jews for various reasons. Most of it has to do with the current situation in Iraq and how the Jews are supporting the Kurds politically and militarily, and also through the media, and meanwhile, the Kurds are killing Assyrians. That is the reason why so many Assyrians on Facebook hate Jews. The hate isn't coming out of nowhere if that is what you were thinking. And then there's always the classical "Christ-killers" accusation. But that is an old one, and to my knowledge, it has never been that popular with Assyrians, since it was mostly used by the Roman Catholic Church and we Assyrians weren't Catholics up until medieval times.
I personally don't hate Jews, and I do think they have a right to their own state. However, I do not let it slip through my fingers what the Jews are up to in the Middle East, and it is not helping our cause.
ASHOOR said:
Yes, I too have always had trouble understanding why some Assyrians dislike the Jews. Honestly, their hate is directed/wasted on the wrong group. I mean sure, as some conspiracy theories go, they could be indirectly responsible for our problems and where we are today: but hey, at least they don't physically harm us and chase us out of our land and homes.
We should look at the Jews and make them our example of how a nation can rise back to power, with the help of its people.
While it is true that Jews aren't directly harming us, believe me, they are indirectly harming us. This entire war in Iraq, they pushed for it. They weren't the only ones who pushed for the war in Iraq, but they definitely had an involvement in it. But yeah, Muslims are taking care of the killing of our people. Jews, however, do have an involvement in it, albeit an indirect involvement.
By the way, your recommendation as the Jews for setting a good example for Assyrians is both a pro and a con. The only thing we should take after the Jews is their racial awareness and their solidarity with each other. Other than that though, the way the Jews are handling their situation is very short-sighted and can only result in the rest of the world getting ticked off at their politics and committing a genocide on the Jews. That said, I wouldn't recommend us taking after the Jews in all situations.
What we Assyrians need to do is simply to become a lot more nationalistic. Assyrian nationalism, is basically what we need. And a lot of it.
jonadona said:
What I don't understand is the hate towards Jews and not Isreal. I care about Jews as much as I do about any other Muslim.
I disagree with the occupation, and I do have sympathy for the Palestinians as a human being. Just as I expect the Jews to have sympathy towards Assyrians in Northern Iraq.
You expect too much. Jews still haven't recognized the Assyrian genocide. You know why? Because both the Turks and the Kurds, who both perpetrated the Armenian, Assyrian and the Pontic Greek genocides, happen to be their allies at the moment in the Middle East. Here, read this:
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=681E5075-B42C-4501-94EF-A38915A3DA04
So much for your expected sympathy.
jonadona said:
It should be the Jews hating us for enslaving them.
Oh believe me, they do. Indeed, many of them do hate us. They don't tell it straight to your face though since they're not stupid and don't want to incite antisemitism, but what our forefathers did to the Kingdom of Israel, isn't exactly something they've forgotten. The ancient Assyrians totally destroyed the Jewish state. We Assyrians and our Babylonian brothers started the Jewish diaspora. It's because of us the Jews have been living in oppression amongst other peoples. If you think Jews have just forgotten about that, you are mistaken.
jonadona said:
I am pretty sure Arabization has a lot to with this too. It was sold to us that the Jews are bad and evil. I still remember on my Iraqi passport saying that I can travel to any country but Isreal, so it has to be evil. lol I was only ten.
It has nothing to do with Arabization. Our history with the Jews, on both good and bad terms, goes back thousands of years when Arabs were still living in tents and being nomads.
riza o shourba said:
We're Semites too aren't we? So we're anti-ourselves.....
Our language and race (i.e. our origins) is "Semitic", and the same applies on Jews and Arabs. Basically, we share the same common origins with Jews and Arabs, although, a quite different history as a people. We are however
Assyro-Mesopotamians (hey, I think I just coined that), which Jews and Arabs aren't (i.e. our ancestry is that of the Mesopotamian region and its ancient history). "Anti-Semite" is a failed portmanteau to describe Anti-Jews/Judaism sentiments. It's a misnomer, but in reality it would simply mean being against all Semitic peoples (which includes us). However, the Jews have made it exclusive to them only.
senecaCHGI said:
The Jewish Diaspora of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the current Assyrian diaspora are so similar in so many ways--but our culture has been entwined with Muslim hated of Jews and Israel for a few generations now. I can understand it when I hear it from older people, but it drives me crazy when younger people start talking about Jews running everything, or Jews conspiring to keep us down, or whatever.
Hopefully, our generation will be the last to be really impacted by anti-Semitism, and we can finally reach out to our Jewish brothers and sisters as a people.
This is probably one of the most naive posts I've read in a while. Brothers and sisters? You think they actually care about us? Here's how much they care about us:
http://www.aina.org/guesteds/20071029214021.htm
Yeah, brothers and sisters, eh? Do you know why they're doing that? It's intentional, they are supporting the Kurds by trying to falsify and rewrite history as the Kurds being the native and indigenous people of Mesopotamia, so that the Kurds can have sympathy and get more support from naive and dumb people in the West, and through that, establish a Kurdish state which will be a strong ally of the Jews.
Ever wonder why the media in the U.S. largely ignores the plight of Assyrians in Iraq? Think again.
Tambur said:
You might disagree with the occupation and all but Jews believe that it's their land, I bet you if us Assyrians were able to get our land the same way they did and took over other ethnic groups in the region noone would be complaining out of us.
This world is all about survival.
This is probably the most sober post I've read throughout the entire thread. Yes, it's all about survival, and unlike most Assyrians, Jews 'got it' a long time ago what it's about. Jews are a lot more racially aware than Assyrians.
All in all though, I recommend all of you to watch this:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4635234956967114827
This guy isn't making things up, and he's very objective in his studies. Read more about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_B._MacDonald
I must say however that I'm very disappointed with the naive Assyrians on this forum. I'm not telling you to go hate Jews or anything. Absolutely not, I don't hate them myself and I do think there are many good Jews out there. But politically speaking, they are not our friends, and you're a fool if you believe otherwise; especially if you expect the Jews to feel sorry for us and care about us and our situation.
By the way, every single one of you should read this:
http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/2006/08.28.06/index_mon.php#assyriaadvocate
