Do you remember what was happening way back in 2004? Twenty years ago! You remember, right? CNN was ‘semi-decent’ and the fake news regurgitated today was almost non-existent. We were just three short years, out of that tragic event on September 11, and DARPA’s, “Life LOG” project was still in its beta phase, after morphing into, “The Face Book”.
In 2004, we were smartphone-free, we talked more to our fellow humans (of which there were only two genders), and going to watch your favorite band live in concert was an ‘experience’! Not like today, where you’re standing in a sea of raised arms, holding cell phones, with bright screens in your face.
Just a few weeks ago, we managed to pick up a boxed, Apple iMac G5, that still had its original (and very iconic) keyboard and mouse. It was last connected to the internet in 2009 and has remained ‘air-gapped’ since. It’s been decided here at TheGeorgeHQ, that it will remain internet-free until its dying day.
“The new iMac G5 also comes with a collection of productivity, learning and entertainment titles including AppleWorks, Quicken 2004 for Mac, WorldBook Encyclopedia 2004 Edition, Nanosaur 2 and MarbleBlast Gold” ~ PRESS RELEASE, August 31, 2004
What’s intrigued us the most, since powering this museum piece up, has got to be, the ‘non-woke’ version of the World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition). It truly is something to behold! (ok, we have to admit, playing “NANOSAUR 2” again was pretty cool!)
Fast forward back to 2024. Looking at global events happening right now, thats putting us on the cusp of a nuclear war, we decided to look into a few hot topics, heavily censored by the ‘woke mind virus’ today. Let’s start with a couple of easy ones —Zionism, Anti-Semitism and Palestine
So, what did the ‘World Book Encyclopedia’ (2004 Edition) have to say about it all?
1. ZIONISM
“…is a movement to establish a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient Jewish homeland. Active Zionism began in the late 1800's and led to the establishment of Israel in 1948. Zionists revived the Jewish national language and culture and established the political and social institutions needed to re-create national Jewish life. Zionism now supports various projects in Israel and acts as a cultural bridge between Israel and Jews in other countries. Zion is the poetic Hebrew name for Palestine”. The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition)
The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition) goes on to say:
Movement to Palestine. Anti-Semitism in Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's spurred the creation of the Zionist movement. Responding to the pogroms (riots against the Jews) in Russia, groups of Jewish youths calling themselves Hoveve-Zion (Lovers of Zion) formed a movement in 1882 to promote immigration to Palestine. They started what was called practical Zionism, which established Jewish settlements in Palestine. Theodor Herzl, an Austrian journalist, developed political Zionism, which worked for political recognition of the Jewish claim to a Palestine homeland.
Herzl was a reporter at the famous trial in 1894 of Alfred Dreyfus, a French army officer falsely convicted of treason. The Dreyfus affair convinced Herzl that if anti-Semitism could be an active force in a country as enlightened as France, Jews could not assimilate in non-Jewish society. To him, the only remedy was to create an independent Jewish state.
Herzl organized the Zionist movement on a worldwide scale at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. In the early 1900's, however, many Jews, including the extremely religious and those who sought full assimilation, opposed the new movement.
The Balfour Declaration. In 1917, the United Kingdom issued the Balfour Declaration, which pledged British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. About the same time, the United Kingdom freed Palestine from Ottoman control. The Balfour Declaration was included in the mandate (order to rule) over Palestine that the League of Nations awarded the United Kingdom in 1920. The mandate gave the Jewish Agency the responsibility for Jewish immigration. The Jewish community in Palestine grew significantly in the 1920's and 1930's. It developed various economic, political, and cultural institutions.
Arabs opposed a Jewish state in Palestine, and severe fighting broke out several times in the 1920's and 1930's. Assuming from earlier British promises to them that Palestine would be an Arab state, Arab leaders demanded an end to Jewish immigration and land purchase.
In 1939, the British began to set limits on Jewish immigration to Palestine. Palestine's Jews fought against the restrictions, which they felt kept many Jews from fleeing increasing persecution in Europe.
After World War II ended in 1945, the Zionists wanted to establish a Jewish state immediately to provide a homeland for survivors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the mass murder of European Jews and others by the Nazis. But Arabs continued to oppose the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. In 1947, the United Kingdom submitted the problem to the United Nations (UN). The UN voted to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. In 1948, the Zionists proclaimed the state of Israel.
2. ANTI-SEMITISM
Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews, However, the term is misleading because the root word Semites properly refers to all people who speak Semitic languages, including Arabs and some other non-Jewish peoples. [One could therfore correctly say, that the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, is ‘Anti-Semetic’]
The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition) goes on to say:
Since ancient times, the Jews have lived as a minority group in many countries. Both Christian and Muslim nations often persecuted Jews for not accepting the religion of the majority. When economic or other conditions were bad, Jews were blamed for causing the troubles of society.
During the Middle Ages, Jews in many European countries were forced to pay special taxes and to live in segregated areas called ghettos. Jews also were denied the right to own land and to enter certain occupations. Some countries even expelled many Jews. In 1492, for example, the Jews were driven out of Spain.
Wilhelm Marr, a German author, coined the term anti-Semitism in an anti-Jewish pamphlet called "The Victory of Jewry Over Germandom" (1879).
The new word indicated that many people had begun to discriminate against Jews on ethnic rather than religious grounds. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, many Jews in Poland and Russia were killed in organized massacres called pogroms. A Jewish movement called Zionism developed partly in response to such persecution. The Zionists hoped to establish an independent Jewish nation in Palestine, where Jews could escape anti-Semitism. See ZIONISM.
In 1933, the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and made anti-Semitism an official government policy. The German government stripped the Jews of their citizenship, seized their property, and sent thousands to concentration camps. By the end of World War II in 1945, the Nazis had killed about 6 million Jews in a campaign of mass murder known as the Holocaust.
Anti-Semitism still exists in many countries. In some countries, it affects government policies. For example, the government of Syria denies Jews the right to vote, and it restricts emigration by Jews. Contributor: Yosef Levanon, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor of Jewish History, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.
3. PALESTINE
Palestine, pronounced PAL uh styn, a small, historic land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the world's most historic places. Two great religions-Judaism and Christianity-originated in Palestine. It is the Holy Land, the site of many events described in the Bible. Muslims, the followers of the Islamic religion, also consider Palestine a sacred place.
The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition) goes on to say:
Palestine's location between Egypt and southwest Asia has made it a center of conflict for thousands of years. Many peoples have invaded the region, and there has never been an independent state of Palestine. In the 400 years before World War I (1914-1918), Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. During the war, Palestine came under British control. Both the Arab and Jewish inhabitants of Palestine fought for control of the territory. Following a war in 1948 and 1949 between Arabs and Jews, Palestine was divided among Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Many of Palestine's residents became refugees. Conflicts over Palestine continued between Arabs and Jews after the war.
Early history and settlement. Amorites, Canaanites, and other Semitic peoples entered the area about 2000 B.C. The area became known as the Land of Canaan. Sometime between about 1800 and 1500 B.C., a Semitic people called Hebrews left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan, where they became known as Israelites. Some of these Israelites later went to Egypt. In the 1200's B.C., Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, and they returned to Canaan. The Israelites practiced a religion centered on the belief in one God. Other peoples in Canaan worshiped many gods.
For about 200 years, the Israelites fought the other peoples of Canaan and the neighboring areas. One of their strongest enemies, the Philistines, controlled the southwestern coast of Canaan-called Philistia.
Until about 1029 B.C., the Israelites were loosely organized into 12 tribes. The constant warfare with neighboring peoples led the Israelites to choose a king, Saul, as their leader. Saul's successor, David, unified the nation to form the Kingdom of Israel, about 1000 B.C. David established his capital in Jerusalem. His son Solomon succeeded him as king and built the first Temple for the worship of God. [King Solomon used the best materials to his the Temple, including Cedar from Lebanon]
Israel remained united until Solomon's death about 928 B.C. The northern tribes of Israel then split away from the tribes in the south. The northern state continued to be called Israel. The southern state, called Judah, kept Jerusalem as its capital.
The word Jew, which came to be used for all Israelites, comes from the name Judah.
Invasions and conquests. During the 700's B.C., the Assyrians, a people who lived in what is now Iraq, extended their rule westward to the Mediterranean Sea. They conquered Israel in 722 or 721 B.C. After about 100 years, the Babylonians began to take over the Assyrian Empire. They conquered Judah in 587 or 586 B.C. and destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. They enslaved many Jews and forced them to live in exile in Babylonia. About 50 years later, the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylonia. Cyrus allowed a group of Jews from Babylonia to rebuild and settle in Jerusalem.
The Persians ruled most of the Middle East, including Palestine, from about 530 to 331 B.C. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death in 323 B.C., his generals divided his empire. One of these generals, Seleucus, founded a dynasty (series of rulers) that gained control of much of Palestine about 200 B.C. At first, the new rulers, called Seleucids, allowed the practice of Judaism. But later, one of the kings, Antiochus IV, tried to prohibit it. In 167 B.C., the Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabeans and drove the Seleucids out of Palestine (see JUDAH MACCABEE). The Jews reestablished an independent kingdom called Judah.
Roman rule. In 63 B.C., Roman troops invaded Judah, and it came under Roman control. The Romans called the area Judea (see JUDEA). Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in A.D. 66 and A.D. 132. In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. The Romans named the area Palaestina, for Philistia, at about this time. The name Palaestina became Palestine in English.
4. THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
is a struggle between the Jewish state of Israel and the ARABS of the Middle East. About 90 percent of all Arabs are Muslims. The conflict has included several wars between Israel and certain Arab countries that have opposed Israel's existence. ISRAEL was formed in 1948. The conflict has also involved a struggle by Palestinian Arabs to establish their own country in some or all of the land occupied by Israel.
The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition) goes on to explain:
Arab-Israeli conflict timeline.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is the continuation of an Arab-Jewish struggle that began in the early 1900s for control of Palestine.
PALESTINE today consists of Israel and the areas known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Palestinians lived in the region long before Jews began moving there in large numbers in the late 1800s.
The Arab-Israeli conflict has been hard to resolve. In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Jordan, another Arab country, signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. But Israel has not made final peace agreements with Syria or with the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO). The PLO is a political body that represents the Palestinian people.
In the mid-1800s, Jewish intellectuals in Europe began to support the idea that Jews should settle in Palestine, which the Bible describes as the Jews's ancient homeland.
Historical background.
The word Palestine does not appear in the Bible. But it has long been used to refer to the area the Bible describes. The idea that Jews should settle in Palestine became known as Zionism. In the 1800's, Palestine was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which was centered in present-day Turkey.
In the 1800's, the immigration of European Jews to Palestine accelerated. At first, many of the immigrants and the Palestinian Arabs lived together peacefully. But as more Jews arrived, conflicts between the two groups increased.
So there we go! A quick short history lesson, courtesy of ‘The World Book Encyclopedia (2004 Edition)
Have a great weekend and stay tuned for an announcement this Sunday!