Isreael Shahak

Israel Shahak (Hebrew: ישראל שחק‎; born Himmelstaub, April 28, 1933 -- July 2, 2001) was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic of the Israeli government. Shahak's writings on Judaism have been a source of widespread controversy.
Born in Warsaw, Poland,[1] Shahak was the youngest child of a cultured, religious, pro-Zionist, Ashkenazi Jewish family.[2] During German occupation of Poland, his family was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. His brother escaped and joined the Royal Air Force. His mother paid a poor Catholic family to hide him, but when her money ran out he was returned. In 1943 he and his family were sent to the Poniatowa concentration camp, near Lublin, where his father died. Israel and his mother managed to escape and returned to Warsaw, but within the year, they were both sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Shahak was liberated from the camp in 1945, and shortly thereafter emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he wanted to join a kibbutz, but was turned down as "too weedy".[3]
From age 12, Shahak cared for and provided economic support for his mother who survived the Nazi camp in a very poor physical condition. After a period of learning in a religious boarding school in Kfar Hassidim, he moved with his mother to Tel Aviv. After graduating from high school, Shahak served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in an elite regiment.[4] After completing service with the IDF, he attended Hebrew University where he received his doctorate in chemistry. He became an assistant to Ernst David Bergmann.[5]
In 1961, Shahak left Israel for the United States to study as a postdoctoral student at Stanford University. He returned two years later to become a teacher and researcher in chemistry at Hebrew University, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. He published many scientific papers, mostly on organic fluorine compounds.[6] After the 1967 Six-Day War and the ensuing occupation, Shahak became critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians,[4] a supporter of a Palestinian state, and wrote many articles and several books outlining his views of Israeli society and Judaism.
In his later years, Shahak lived in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem. He died in Jerusalem at age 68 due to complications from diabetes and was buried in the Givat Shaul cemetery.[4] In an obituary published in The Nation, Christopher Hitchens wrote that Shahak's home was "a library of information about the human rights.....He became a well-known activist in international circles, co-authoring papers and giving joint speaking engagements with American political dissident Noam Chomsky, and winning plaudits from Jean Paul Sartre, Gore Vidal, Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said.

Reviewer Sheldon Richman explains that for Shahak, Zionism was both a reflection of, and capitulation to, European anti-Semitism, "since it, like the anti-Semites, holds that Jews are everywhere aliens who would best be isolated from the rest of the world."[8]

In 1994 he published Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, in 1997 he published Open Secrets: Israel's Nuclear and Foreign Policies, and in 1999 he published Jewish Fundamentalism In Israel, co-authored with Norton Mezvinsky. In the introduction to the last book, Mezvinsky and Shahak explained that, 'We realize that by criticizing Jewish fundamentalism we are criticizing a part of the past that we love. We wish that members of every human grouping would criticize their own past, even before criticizing others'.

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[AlexDark62]

I wish this asshole Channer would shut the fuck up and allow Shahak to speak.

[cjtj8]

@1016Sammy No Sammy, I simply think that Mr Shahak was a wonderful human being. I think perhaps you struggle with him because what he says is quite at odds with your preconceptions on this subject. You have very clearly been brought up to believe that Jews are indeed the 'chosen' ones. So when Mr Shahak explains (with evidence) how the Jews are like lots of other people in that they have done bad things and had bad things done to them, it goes against your 'education' (?) Check out what he says.

[YHVHatesIsrael]

It is telling ... the opinion is the most voted to shut the guest Isreael Shahk...

[freddietz96]

@cjtj8 Whatever.

[cjtj8]

@freddietz96 Hey there Dugong brain (that's a sea cow by the way - just staying on the sea creature analogy !) alright, perhaps Hitler wasn't exactly an atheist (though there are schools of thought that suggest he was) but he certainly wasn't a 'christian' in any meaningful sense. He was brought up as a Catholic, but he had long since abandoned any identification with christianity by the time he formed the Nazi Party in the 1920's. Pleased to see you 'took the bait' with your reaction. Hee hee !

[freddietz96]

@cjtj8 Hey there, codfish brain, do a Google search on "Hitler's Christianity". Then, on the 1st page that appears, go to "The Christianity of Hitler Revealed in his Speeches and Proclamations". It'll be staring you right in the face. I know that might be a task, clicking on something right in front of your face, but give a shot.

[1016Sammy]

@cjtj8 well you must be really be into conspiracy theory so it explains a lot I wouldn't argue with you on this issue but I don't agree with his views and that does not mean I think he is crazy U have a right to be on his Bus. I have a right to disagree with his views and trust me that is not coming from just this interview. For you not to see that many of his views are misconceived then I will not argue with you. CONGRATULATIONS. I'll rather be realistic and un-bias. he is UNREALISTIC.

[cjtj8]

@freddietz96 What point was that you oaf ?

For your information Hitler was an 'athiest', he wasn't into any religion.

Perhaps you should let some of that helium out of your head, you dig ?

[cjtj8]

@1016Sammy perhaps you should listen to what he is saying, I suspect that you don't really understand therefore, I think it is you who is soooo out of it AND IT SHOWS !

[1016Sammy]

its easy to hate on israel and sometimes rightly so but Mr Israel should face chemistry and leave politics cos he is sooooo out of it and it shows!

[freddietz96]

@Dodikind I’m just glad my truth stung someone who deserved to be stung. Shows I got my point across.