Friend of the Right

Johanan Ramati visited Belgrade in early February. He was presented as a political scientist and composer, whose primary goal was to attend the recording of his work by the RTS (Serbian Radio - Television) Symphonic Orchestra. Ramati's visit was used to hear his views on events in the former Yugoslavia and the world. There were ample opportunities for this during a lecture he held at the Institute for International Politics and Economy, a talk in the Jewish Community in Belgrade and during several interviews he gave to the RTS and some newspapers.

Ramati is an authentic Jewish and Israeli hard-line rightist, a hawk. He is a member of the Likud Executive Committee, the strongest opposition party. While in Belgrade, he spoke in his capacity as President of the Jerusalem Institute for the Defence of the West (it is not said from what, but Muslim fundamentalism is the primary enemy). Ramati acquired his convictions in his native Poland, which had strong Jewish nationalist and rightist political organizations and movements, such as the youth movement Betara, which nurtured many future Israeli leaders, such as Menahem Begin, a long time opponent of the Labor Party and other even more leftist parties, with which they had ideological differences long before the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. These differences have remained to this very day.

When war broke out in 1939, Johanan Ramati was in Oxford (he won a master's degree in political science, economy and philosophy). Ramati joined the British Armed Forces and reached the rank of Captain. He moved to Israel in 1949 and held various posts in the administration, agriculture, the economy, the press and lectured all over the world. He suffered a personal tragedy when his daughter died in an explosion in the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires three years ago, leaving behind five children.

Johanan Ramati has written and talked a lot about the situation in Yugoslavia, both in Israel and elsewhere. His basic thesis is that Germany is responsible for the disintegration of Yugoslavia. It is surprising that he has missed some facts, namely, that Israel has long recognized the situation in the country and the newly-created states, even though it has not established diplomatic relations (Ramati believes that diplomatic relations will be set up with Belgrade and Zagreb at the same time). Or that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman was invited to the opening of the Holocaust Museum in New York, but not Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic (museum officials said later that Tudjman had been invited at the insistence of the US Government). It is also irritating that he always speaks of the Serbs, Croats and Muslims in one breath, lumping all the peoples together. The past must not be forgotten - but not all Croats were Ustashi, and not all Muslims were members of the notorious Handzar division, which never had the chance of destroying Jews, because none were alive or at liberty at the time of the division's formation and active involvement in putting down the insurgency.

Captain Ramati gives assessments of military operations. He criticizes the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) of besieging and capturing Vukovar instead of going around it and heading straight for Zagreb. His main advice to Serbs, is to achieve full national unity. The advice is doubtless, constructive and it is a good thing that Ramati didn't propose the Labor Party or Likud as examples of unity, let alone the far Left Meretz.

Ramati claims that the Serb's greatest enemies are not Croats, but Muslim fundamentalists, i.e. those who are not Israel's main enemies. As far as he is concerned, the regime in Bosnia-Herzegovina is definitely fundamentalist, and a bridge for Islam's penetration into Europe. Everything points to Samuel Mantington's thesis of a forthcoming war between civilizations.

Being a Jew, Johanan Ramati should never forget some facts. After being persecuted out of Spain and Portugal, the greatest number of Jews found sanctuary in the Islamic Turkish Empire, which was more tolerant towards them than Europe's Christian states. And this tolerance was shown to other religions, especially monotheistic ones. For over four hundred years the Jews, Orthodox Christians and Catholics lived side by side with the Muslims in Turkey. During World War Two there were Muslims who persecuted and killed Jews and looted their property, but there were also those who protested against this and hid them. Zeineba Hardaga-Susic, one of the four recipients in the Hardaga family (Izet, Bahrija, Mustafa and Zeineba) of the Medal of the Just, died in Israel last autumn. This medal was recently awarded to deceased Dervish Effendi Korkut and his wife Serveta. Apart from saving the Sarajevo Haggadah, Korkut hid and saved the lives of Donkica Papo - now Mira Bakovic of Jerusalem, when she and some thirty Jews of the Romanija partisan unit returned to Sarajevo. This is something few know of.

It would be interesting to debate why and to what extent Bosnia-Herzegovina Muslims are fundamentalists, but that is not the subject of this article.

However, it has certainly been instructive and useful to meet Johanan Ramati and hear his point of view.