Gandhi grandson falls victim to Zionist lobby

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

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 Israelians 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.”

(Source: Asian Age/AP)-