Stop Israeli Immigration!

Deslea believes that dispossessing millions of Palestinians in order to create the state of Isreal as a homeland for Europe's displaced Jews in 1947 was an act of insanity -- as is continued immigration of ethnic European Jews to Israel -- because it is leading to genocide in Gaza.

"The original Jews are ethnically similar to Palestinians," says Deslea. “Abraham came from present day Iraq, the Romans dispersed them 2,000 years ago and no modern day European following the Jewish faith has any right of ownership to ancient Arab land."

"After WWII, when evidence of atrocities against European Jews became known, everyone was sympathetic but no nation wanted to take them in, but creating the state of Israel as a homeland for them in 1947 solved one problem, but created another that festers on today in the Israeli-Palestinian wars."

"The future looks bleak for Palestinians because Israel exists by virtue of the might, power and money of the USA (notable for exterminating the Native American Indian tribes and stealing their land) -- and the Palestinians themselves are seen as dispossessed pariahs in the eyes of the Arab world."

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict may indeed be about religion but fundamentally it’s about turf, power and money."

"At risk of offending both Palestinians and Israelis, and with deep regret that so many innocent Palestinian children have been killed," says Deslea, "I want to point out some similarities between the Gaza-Israel conflict and the war against smokers, and I ask smokers everywhere to support Palestinian rights and freedoms because bullying and grossly unfair restrictions are what conflicts everywhere are all about."

"Neither war has much to do with the popular reasons put forward for them," explains Deslea. "The Gaza-Israel war may indeed be about religion -- and the war against smokers may indeed be about health -- but we all know what it is really about."

"The Jews were a minority religious group of people who had been treated as pariahs and exterminated like rats in their German and Polish homelands," explains Deslea. "After WWII, when evidence of atrocities against the Jews became known, everyone was sympathetic but no nation wanted to take them in so it was agreed to create the state of Israel as a homeland for them."

"Unfortunately, the creation of Israel in 1947 had the result of dispossessing millions of Palestinians," sighs Deslea. "Solve one problem, create another, how insane!"

"I don't remember exactly when the smoking wars began -- sometime in the 1970s or 80s," says Deslea, "but if you equate the majority of smokers at the time with the Palestinians, and the minority of non-smokers at the time with the Jews, you get the picture."

"A small group of people previously downtrodden now had the upper hand, and not being contented with their new improved status now desired to expand their territory, power and wealth at the expense of the majority."

"To do this, the Israelis blithely used the methods that their former Nazi countrymen in Europe had used against them for the ultimate solution -- genocide."

"These methods have been used since time immemorial by all sorts of people to gain whatever it is they want."

"The first step is organization, where special units or militias are trained and armed if necessary to promote the cause, infiltrating all levels of government, the media and especially educational institutions where impressionable young minds can be molded to fight for the cause."

"The second step is classification, dividing people into us and them - Muslim/Jew, smoker/nonsmoker, fat/thin, rich/poor, etc."

"The third step is symbolization, forcing symbols upon members of pariah groups -- famously the Star of David used by the Nazis, but what about ID cards and the grotesque symbols on cigarette packs?"

"The fourth step is dehumanization, where one group denies the humanity and the rights of the other group -- freedom fighters become despised terrorists or racists or anti-Semites and their property and funds are confiscated; and smokers become filthy, dirty lung diseased morons whose medical rights are denied."

"The fifth step is polarization where hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda and human rights groups are silenced -- think of George Bush saying you're either with us or against us; the lies about WMD in Iraq; and how the world sat by, stunned into cowardly silence, while Iraq was illegally invaded and turned into another killing field."

"The sixth step is preparation of victims for genocide, where victims are identified and separated from mainstream society, isolated in ghettos like Gaza, because of their ethnic, religious or lifestyle identity. (Note how many official forms, job applications, medical histories, insurance forms etc now require your identification as a smoker -- and how many smokers are migrating to smoking ghettos, particularly in Spain and Greece, or are being forced into hiding in their own homes)."

"The final step is extermination where killing takes place with mainstream approval because victims are no longer seen as being fully human."

"I'm sure many Israelis see what their government is doing to the Palestinians for what it is -- as many Germans and Poles saw what the Nazis were doing to the Jews for what it was -- but in both cases the situation had escalated to the point of no return where anybody with any conscience feels helpless to do anything about it."

"The time to stop victimization, brutality and genocide from happening is not when it has happened," sighs Deslea. "We should have learnt enough from history to be able to nip these things in the bud at their very first step of organization where any minority group with a divisive cause to promote infiltrates the establishment."

"Personally, I believe dispossessing millions of Palestinians in order to create the state of Israel as a homeland for Europe's displaced Jews in 1947 was an act of insanity, as is the continuing immigration of European Jews to Israel," says Deslea. "The original Jews were Arabs; Abraham came from present day Iraq; the Romans dispersed the Jews 2,000 years ago; and no modern day ethnic European of the Jewish faith has any genetic right of ownership to ancient Arab land."

"Because the Israelis are a minority group, it should be easier for the Palestinians to exterminate them than for the Israelis to exterminate the Palestinians, but because Israel exists by virtue of the might, power and wealth of the USA (notable for exterminating the native American Indian tribes and stealing their land) -- and the Palestinians are dispossessed pariahs in the eyes of the Arab world -- the future looks bleak for Gaza."

"All they can do now is throw stones and fire off rockets in emasculated anger," sighs Deslea, "which is sort of like how the marginalized Jews behaved 65 years ago in their European ghettoes. For every Nazi that the ghetto Jews killed, hundreds of Jews were killed in retaliation. Why can’t the Israelis see themselves as being no better than bullying Nazis?"

"What Gaza needs -- and what oppressed people everywhere need, including smokers -- is people of conscience all over the world to make their voices heard, to stop feeling helpless and to stop turning a cowardly blind eye to what the fanatics among us are doing."

"Yes, I may be offending both Palestinians and Israelis by likening the Gaza-Israel war with the war against smokers," admits Deslea. "No bombs are dropping, no children are dying, but if the anti-smoking fanatics restrict any more of my freedoms I will most certainly fight back with whatever means I have and be prepared to die in a massive retaliatory bombing in the process."

"So, because the rights and freedoms of Palestinians are being trampled on, smokers definitely have common ground with them."

"Israelis, remove your walls, barbed wire and checkpoints; lift the blockade of Gaza; respect the rights of Palestinians; and unite with them to create a new society based on diversity and acceptance," says Deslea, "and, nonsmokers, think very hard before you demand more of our turf!”