Gandhi grandson falls victim to Zionist lobby
The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, 75-year-old Arun Gandhi, has been persecuted and hounded out of the M.K. Gandhi Institute, founded by him in the U.S., following his remarks that Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in a global culture of violence.
Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of the revered pacifist, became the target of the influential Jewish lobby in the U.S. and, according to his son Tushar Gandhi, was persecuted for his point of view.
Arun Gandhi became the victim of hate propaganda and was left with no choice but to submit his resignation on Friday to the board of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence based at the University of Rochester.
Arun Gandhi had taken a peace mission to Palestine and had met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat just 10 days before his death. He had met Israeli leaders as well, and later sat in silent protest against the construction of what he described as the “apartheid wall” by Israel to block the Palestinians in segregated quarters.
Mr. Gandhi said he had come in the line of fire since then with a particularly virulent arm of the Jewish lobby in the U.S. launching a concerted campaign against him. “I forget their name, but I call them Zionist Nazis,” he said.
Gandhi had posted a message on an online forum where he said that while the Holocaust was the result of a warped mind and the world felt sorry for the episode, “when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on, the regret turns into anger”. He said that “any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead, and especially a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs”.
Gandhi said that in Tel Aviv he had met members of Parliament and peace activists who all said that the wall and the military buildup was necessary for protection. “In other words, I asked, ‘You believe that you can create a snake pit, with many deadly snakes in it, and expect to live in the pit secure and alive?’ ‘What do you mean,’ they countered. ‘Well, with your superior weapons and armaments, and your attitude towards your neighbors, would it not be right to say that you are creating a snake pit. How can you live peacefully in such an atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you?’“
These remarks unleashed a massive hate campaign against Gandhi, resulting in his exit from his own institute. Gandhi’s son said he could only wish that the Jewish lobby had looked at his father’s comments dispassionately and acted on his advice. “That would make them stronger, but instead they have proved him correct,” Tushar Gandhi stated.
Tushar Gandhi said he felt “very sad that the country that teaches freedom to the world had allowed my father to be hounded and persecuted in this manner”. He said that while there were many Americans who were supportive of my father, “official America had maintained a stony silence, and it is their people who come here and try to teach us lessons on human rights”.
Arun Gandhi co-founded the institute with his wife, Sunanda, who passed away last year, at Christian Brothers University in Memphis in 1991 and relocated it to the University of Rochester campus in June, a few months ago.
Gandhi later on Friday said, “My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence.”
However, he stood by his criticism of “the use of violence by recent Israeli governments” and said that “it is also important not to forget the past, lest we fail to learn from it.”
Article Source: TehranTimes.com
