The efforts to redefine anti-Semitism

Brown Bomber

It seems of late that anything less than the AIPAC/Likud line is fair game for anti-semitism charges.

A number of incidents have have bothered me recently concerning false charges of anti-Semitism against legitimate criticism of Israeli policy, history or action. This bothers me for two reasons 1) Anti-semitism is real and these false charges made by Abe Foxman or William Kristol or any other right-wing mouthpiece only serves to dilute the charge and 2) It is anti-democratic to censor legitimate criticism.

We've had a number of weeks of Hagel being an anti-semite, last week there was a Lib Dem MP facing the same charges and last Sunday in the Times a cartoon appeared that had the ambassodors demanding apologies and the ADL and friends shrieking again about "blood libel" and other assorted nonsense.

This is the cartoon. Obviously it is not complimentary but it is critical of Netanyahu and Likud, their violence towards the Palestinians and their policies regarding the settlements destroying any viable two-state solution whilst claiming they are seeking peace.

I see absolutely no reference to Judaism whatsoever. That is my interpretation at least. I would be open to someone pointing out a reference that i didn't pick up on.

Brown Bomber

From the same cartoonist. Is this anti-Alawite?

hatrickpatrick

In the 21st century, "anti semitism" is defined as any criticism whatsoever levelled against Israel for which there is no rational or reasonable defense.
It's sort of like a trump card in Bridge. You use it if you have nothing else :rolleyes:

The simple fact is that relating condemnation of the Israeli state's behavior as "anti semitic" is like suggesting that condemnation of the Irish state's behavior is racism against the Irish people. If that's true, then I'm probably the most anti-Irish bastard ever to walk the earth :pac:

johnnyskeleton

Feel free to ignore the allegations of anti-semitism if you wish, or listen to them and decide whether they are made out or not in your own mind.

On the anti-democratic thing, it would be just as wrong to censor the criticisms of the cartoons as it would to censor the cartoons themselves.

old hippy

Israel's regime is often correctly crticised, for its disgraceful apartheid state and occupation of Palestinian lands. To call such criticism of the state "anti-semitic" is an insult to real victims of anti-semitism. It cheapens the accusation.

The cartoons, like the infamous Danish cartoons concerning some religion's spokesperson, are insensitive, sure. But there's a long history of that in satire and cartoons.

On another note, it does make feel very uneasy when the decidedly dodgy protocols of the elders of Zion are still taken by some to be true :( by some people out there...

Chuck Stone

Below are the two statements by Hagel that are being touted as anti-semitic.

The political reality is that…the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people [on Capitol Hill].

I'm a United States senator. I support Israel. But my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Not to a president. Not a party. Not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I'll do that

In the first statement Hagel made the mistake of saying 'Jewish lobby' instead of 'Israel lobby'. It's a bit rich that he gets lambasted as an anti-semite by people who are quite comfortable with describing Israel as a Jewish state imo.

As for Hagel's 'intimidation' charge, it is no secret that your career as a politician in the US will face many obstacles if you do not parrot the AIPAC line on Israel. AIPAC's people have attested to their influence themselves.

aipac’s leaders can be immoderately frank about the group’s influence. At dinner that night with Steven Rosen, I mentioned a controversy that had enveloped aipac in 1992. David Steiner, a New Jersey real-estate developer who was then serving as aipac’s president, was caught on tape boasting that he had “cut a deal” with the Administration of George H. W. Bush to provide more aid to Israel. Steiner also said that he was “negotiating” with the incoming Clinton Administration over the appointment of a pro-Israel Secretary of State. “We have a dozen people in his”—Clinton’s—“headquarters . . . and they are all going to get big jobs,” Steiner said. Soon after the tape’s existence was disclosed, Steiner resigned his post. I asked Rosen if aipac suffered a loss of influence after the Steiner affair. A half smile appeared on his face, and he pushed a napkin across the table. “You see this napkin?” he said. “In twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin.”

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/07/04/050704fa_fact

How the second statement could be described as anti-Semitism is beyond me.

The people who cry anti-Semitism when someone doesn't dance to the tune of AIPAC have rendered the term effectively meaningless imo.

Check out Ron Paul being called an anti-Semite for questioning US military adventurism when he backs a supporter of it into a corner!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOV0qCW7nBA

Pathetic.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

wasn't that cartoon called anti semitic because it was published on the holocaust memorial day?

pablomakaveli

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

wasn't that cartoon called anti semitic because it was published on the holocaust memorial day?

That shouldnt matter. The cartoon has nothing to do with the Holocaust.

Oneiric 3

Chuck Stone wrote: »

As for Hagel's 'intimidation' charge, it is no secret that your career as a politician in the US will face many obstacles if you do not parrot the AIPAC line on Israel. AIPAC's people have attested to their influence themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOV0qCW7nBA

If any charge of anti-semitism should be made, not so much by rhetoric, but by action, it should be against the state of Israel itself since the Palasinians are a largely Semite people as well.

Eggy Baby!

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Check out Ron Paul being called an anti-Semite for questioning US military adventurism when he backs a supporter of it into a corner!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOV0qCW7nBA

That is an incredible video. You can see the eejit on the right getting more and more flustered because he knows he's wrong and just keeps hurling around words like "turrurists" and "murdururs". And why did he even call Ron Paul anti-semitic? Even if Paul mentioned Israel (which he didn't, btw) it wouldn't have made sense.

What we are seeing here is a weaponisation of the word "anti-semitic". While there is huge anti-semitism in many places today, critical investigation into the policies of Israel is not anti-semitic.

paul71

The very term anti-semit anti-semetic does need redefinition, the original was and still is broadly seen as a description of very real 19th/20th century Eupopean anti-jewish opinions. Recent events and cultural bias in the US against muslim communities has seen the term being used by Arab-Muslim communities to describe hatred directed towards them as Arabs also belong to the Semitic ethnic group.

Son Of A Vidic

Anti-semitism should be universally condemned, but anti-zionism should be celebrated. Many fail to distinguish between the two, while others deliberately choose not to.

Brian Shanahan

Chuck Stone wrote: »

In the first statement Hagel made the mistake of saying 'Jewish lobby' instead of 'Israel lobby'. It's a bit rich that he gets lambasted as an anti-semite by people who are quite comfortable with describing Israel as a Jewish state imo.

Calling it the "Jewish" lobby is perfectly acceptable. These groups always self-identify as the voice of all Jews, and acting in the interest of all Jews. They consider themselves to be the representatives of the whole Jewish people and the sole legitimate viewpoints in Judaism are theirs.

Neither the fact that a lot of Jews disagree with them, nor the fact that supporting the current Israeli state is not in the interest of Jews generally seems to have entered into their psyches.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

wasn't that cartoon called anti semitic because it was published on the holocaust memorial day?

The people shouting "OMG! Anti-semitism! Stone him! Stone the evil one!" would have still been shouting it even if the cartoon were released on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Gbear

I find it slightly ironic that the OP occasionally waves "islamophobic" styled accusations around.

It's the same in each case - some entities - Israel, the Catholic Church, various Islamic states - do horrible things and when people try to call them on it some variation of "phobia" is thrown about.

There certainly are people with an irrational hatred/fear of Islam and Israel (not sure about anyone being legitimately labelled as anti-christian) but it's usually a sure-fire sign of someone floundering in a debate.

Eggy Baby!

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Anti-semitism should be universally condemned, but anti-zionism should be celebrated.

I disagree. The Jewish people should have their own homeland. As Zionism is the belief that the Jews should have their own homeland, I'm all for it.

But what really irritates me however, is radical zionism; that the rights of the Jewish people to their own land supersedes the rights of others to their own land.