Barry Chamish
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Barry Chamish (born Winnipeg, 1952) is a Canadian-Israeli religious Zionist activist and writer, best known as a conspiracy theorist.
He studied at the University of Manitoba and later immigrated to Israel. In 1975 he attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Recently he left Israel and currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, while lecturing to religious and non-religious groups in Canada and the US. Some claim that he has joined "Messianic Judaism" or Jews for Jesus [1], a claim he denies.
Chamish wrote several books of which the best-known is Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin? In this book, Chamish blames the Rabin assassination on Shimon Peres, at that time Israel's minister of Foreign Affairs, and on the Shin Bet instead of the convicted assassin Yigal Amir[citation needed]. Amir continues to insist that he is the assassin.
Other theories of some note include the accusation that J.F. Kennedy was assassinated by the Mossad and Lyndon Johnson so Johnson could continue the Vietnam War [2], that the Hurricane Katrina disaster was an act of God in retaliation to the Gaza withdrawal and that Baruch Goldstein "was framed for a massacre he did not commit". Chamish claims that Yoko Ono was behind the assassination of John Lennon and that the song "Imagine" is about the New World Order. [3].
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[edit] Representing Ariel Sharon as a "violent gangster"
Chamish served in an Israeli tank division. [4] He claims to have participated in the Lebanon War as a reserve soldier in 1982.
Chamish has written extensively about what he views as Ariel Sharon's and Shimon Peres's "mismanagement" of the war[citation needed]. At the time Ariel Sharon was Israel's Minister of Defense but Shimon Peres was the country's opposition leader. Chamish accuses Sharon of sending his brigade deep into Lebanon after receiving orders from former Prime Minister Menachem Begin to advance no more than 20 kilometers beyond the border, and then sending word back to Begin that the advance had indeed halted at 20 kilometers. Chamish's brigade ran into heavy fire, and the brigade was given no air support, resulting in half of it being destroyed. Chamish maintains a very low opinion of Sharon based on a number episodes in Sharon's public life [5], painting a representation of a violent gangster.
Chamish also described the drowning of former Israeli minister Rafael Eitan, who was swept away by a wave while working on a dock in Ashdod, as a "hit" by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [6]No evidence was provided.
[edit] Conspiracy theories blaming Shimon Peres
Chamish claims that Yigal Amir did not shoot Rabin and has written on this extensively. One of Chamish's websites carries the name yigalamir.com, after the assassin of the late prime-minister of Israel. Members of Yigal Amir's family told Yedioth Ahronoth in January, 2005, Israel's most sold daily, that "they object to Chamish's ideas, and that they [Barry Chamish and David Cohen (Rutstein)] have no right to publish such a website. They added the campaign angers Yigal Amir himself." [7].
Chamish has also accused Shimon Peres of the death of former Utah Congressman D. Wayne Owens the founder of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation and head of the Middle East Peace Center because "he raised congressional concern about Palestinian-sponsored terrorism...[to] the ire of some Israeli [peace] activists" and because Owens uncovered supposedly fraud he had put himself at risk:
- Barely a fortnight before, Rep. Owens learned the Ginosar scandal broke in Israel. He was either terrified or furious. It's a tossup. If he was terrified, it was because it wouldn't be long before his direct ties to Stephen Cohen would implicate him deeply in the scandals. If he was furious, it was because he finally learned how badly he had been scammed by Peres, Abraham, Masri and Cohen. Either way, he threatened to blow the whistle on the Peres Peace Center. He was poisoned at dinner and dead on a beach by 9 PM. Rep. Owens is now another notch on Peres' gunbelt. [8]
In his explanation for the "Sharon stroke mystery", Chamish explains that this was a murder attempt by Shimon Peres and Yoram Rubin. While he gives no explanation why Peres and a bodyguard would want to kill the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, let alone any evidence, Chamish tells us that before he fell into a coma, Sharon wanted to appoint the Israeli president Moshe Katzav as his deputy and not his close political affiliate Ehud Olmert. Also he explains that Sharon was about to allow business people to build a casino in the dismantled Gush Katif settlement block. [9] Typically no evidence is provided for such murder theories, apart from sometimes loose associations between individuals.
Chamish also claims that Shimon Peres gave away Jerusalem to the Vatican in a secret clause of the Oslo Agreements and that this fact has been widely published in Israel. [10]
[edit] UFOs, Freemasons and United States
Chamish further links his conspiracy theories with the roles of Freemasonry and the New World Order. According to Chamish, a heretical Jewish sect called Frankists (followers of Jacob Frank, himself a Sabbatian), which involve many German and Polish dynasties, including the House of Rothschild, have joined a wider Freemasonic conspiracy (including the Bavarian Illuminati), which he claims are under Heilil as mentioned by Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel. Both of these elements together seem to resemble the positions of American short wave radio host William Cooper.
In the Versailles banquet hall disaster, where a floor collapsed during a wedding, 23 persons were killed and 300 more injured. Chamish, without quoting any evidence, deducts that this was a sort of general rehearsal for the American set-up of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, in which almost 3000 persons died. [11] [12]
Chamish has distributed alleged photos of a secret US base in Israel [13] [14], the existence of which is denied by both countries and numerous skeptics who claim the pictures are merely composites [15].
Chamish has also written a book about UFO sightings in Israel. In the 21st century, he stopped writing about UFOs, although he still claims his analysis on UFOs to be true. [16]
[edit] Ben Gurion and Eshkol
Chamish has also written about the allegedly hidden roles of Israeli Prime Ministers David Ben Gurion and Levi Eshkol. He has attempted to trace the whereabouts of many Jewish Yemenite immigrant children who were taken from their parents after they arrived on aliyah in Israel from Yemen. He writes that Ben Gurion recklessly allowed at least 6000 of these children to be fatally exposed to nuclear radiation [17] for purposes of nuclear experimentation.
In his book Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust, Chamish also claims that Levi Eshkol was a secret Sabbatian, and that the Israel labor party was based on the teachings of Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676) the false Messiah who became an apostate to Judaism by converting to Islam. The book contains no evidence that any modern politician worships Shabbatai Zevi.
[edit] Miscellaneous theories
Barry Chamish connects the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, because Gush (Katif) and Gulf start with GU and Katrina and (Gush) Katif start with KAT. He points out that the remainder of the latter words, after subtracting KAT and rearranging rina, is "if rain". Chamish told Aaron Klein, the Jerusalem reporter of the World Net Daily: Simple human beings cannot fully understand what is going on, but the events certainly must be connected. It's statistically impossible to have two such great natural disasters like the recent tsunami in Asia and Katrina right after each other. This is the hand of God. He is saying something. [18] This view is also supported by some religious Jews who are not conspiracy theorists. [19]
Chamish also accuses Natan Sharansky of being a "liar" [20] who hid his alleged role of KGB double-agent and is not the heroic refusenik that many are led to believe.
He currently has a website and newsletter devoted to a rich variety conspiracy theories about Israeli politics. The long list of theories includes "explanations" for the deaths of Ofra Haza and Leah Rabin who died from natural causes and Rafael Eitan who drowned after he was swept away when working on a dock in the port of Ashdod.
[edit] Criticism on Chamish's work
The conspiracy theories by Barry Chamish were critically addressed, among others, by Prof. Steven Plaut in the Jewish Press weekly [21] and the Jerusalem Post daily [22]. Daniel Pipes has dismissed Chamish's work as "nonsense" [23]. The Outpost dedicated in March 2002 an editorial item on Barry Chamish, including the following criticism on Chamish's "methodology" [24]:
Chamish literally spouts conspiracy theories. Does the Israeli government claim that Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi was murdered by Arab terrorists? Chamish knows better. Prior to his death, writes Chamish, "Zeevi went on the war path against Peres, which was not a wise strategy. Others have tried and others have died." Chamish hints darkly at connections between Peres and the French and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He writes: "It would have been no trouble for Peres and the French to order the PFLP to knock off Zeevi. All we have to do is prove it." (There's unconscious humor for you. Chamish? Proof? A ramble down free association lane is Chamish's notion of "proof.") Chamish promises that the "answer, ultimately will lead to the same organization which murdered Yitzhak Rabin." (Peres, needless to say, was behind that one too.)
Additionally, Chamish has been repeatedly convicted of libel in Israeli courts.[25] [26] [27].
[edit] Bibliography
- The Devil Wore an Angel's Suit. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Split Level, 1972. No ISBN
- Keep Stillman: A Pun. Winnipeg: Split Level, 1973. No ISBN (front cover by Irene Chamish)
- Mack. Winnipeg: Split Level, 1974. No ISBN.
- Alice in Newfoundland. Winnipeg: Split Level, 1976. No ISBN (Poems)
- The Fall of Israel. Edinburgh, Scotland: Canongate, 1992. ISBN 0-86241-355-9
- Traitors and Carpetbaggers in the Promised Land. Oklahoma City: Hearthstone, 1997. ISBN 1-57558-017-9
- Who murdered Yitzhak Rabin? Venice, CA: Feral, 1998. ISBN 0-922915-50-4
- Return of the Giants. Sun Lakes, AZ: Book World/Blue Star, 2000. ISBN 1-881542-66-1
- The Final Days of Israel. Tempe, AZ: Dandelion, 2000. ISBN 1-893302-16-4
- Also published as The Last Days of Israel. 2001. Same publisher and ISBN
- Israel Betrayed. Ainsworth, NE: Counting Coup, 2001. ISBN 0-9708598-5-6
- Save Israel. Modi'in, Israel: Modiin House, 2002. No ISBN
- Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust. Knoxville, TN: Master Press, 2005. ISBN 965-90766-1-4
[edit] External links
[edit] Journal and press articles
- A review of Chamish's book "The Last Days of Israel", Middle East Quarterly by Daniel Pipes (7th review on the page)
- "Israel's Plague of Conspiracism" by Steven Plaut in the Jewish Press
- Paranoid fantasies, from the Editor, Outpost, January 2002, p. 2
- The Chamish Conspiracy, from the Editor, Outpost, March 2002, p. 2 & 10
[edit] Websites and web-based articles
- personal website
- (Hebrew)"The History of the World according to Chamish", Eli Ashad, Eretz Hatzvi, November 5, 2005
- "Three Organizations Denounce 'Investigation' of Pollard Case", "Justice for Jonathan Pollard" press release, June 25, 2003
- "Brit-Am Replies to Queries: Q&A Barry Chamish" by Brit-Am
