Criticism of Israel and the Inescapability of Antisemitism
Under such circumstances as we just discussed, it is clear that:
- The existence, rights, and dignity of Israel and the Jews are considered to be intertwined to the point that no differentiation between them is possible.
- The existence, rights, and dignity of Israel and the Jews are considered uniquely contingent upon their conduct and whether or not that conduct meets with the approval of the non-Jewish world.
- Because of the beliefs outlined in the previous section, Israeli and Jewish conduct will never meet with the aforementioned approval.
Israel and the Jews are, in essence, held indistinguishable by a court whose proceedings are perpetual and whose verdict is known beforehand.
Under such circumstances, there is no criticism, no evidence for the prosecution, which does not aid in the process of an unjust trial before a monstrous court: Which is not, put simply, antisemitic.
Yes, all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Yes, it is so because of specific historical circumstances. Yes, it is inescapable. Yes, it holds true however well-intentioned such criticism may be. Yes, it holds as true for Jewish as for non-Jewish critics of Israel.
Because it is inescapable, however, there is an ironic solution to it, or at least a possible solution, should critics of Israel be willing to entertain it. It is, as I have already said, a modest imperative: Work toward less antisemitism. This imperative does not demand silence, but it does require a measure of self-reflection that is (and I in no way exempt myself) a task of the most supreme difficulty for us all.
I object to my government sending $8 million per day to Israel -and- I am vocal about it. Are you accusing me of antisemitism for being vocal about it? If so then you are completely wrong.
I trust you also object to the US sending any aid to ”Palestine”, to Egypt, to Pakistan, to Jordan, to supporting the UN, to name just a few.
I doubt it, but the poster should also realize that most – or all – of this aid returns to the US in the form of research, useful equipment and technology, and intelligence. But maybe not..
So would funding NASA, but we’re not doing that, are we?
We got more crap from them building stuff to take with them on launches than we got after they launched.
And even then it was vastly overcosted.
Engineer Here wrote in quaint engineering style,”So would funding NASA, but we’re not doing that, are we?”
You know, for many years I received NASA’s Technology Transfer magazine. It was an attempt to market NASA research to the general business market. I am certain that America is richer for having NASA around. In the same way, I am certain that America is a better place for having Israel among their friends. Technology transfer is not automatic. There must be people around who are interested in producing a better mousetrap. Nothing happens if you sit quietly with your hands folded and your eyes closed.
I would accuse you of ignorance. The money isn’t really money. Any “money” we give them is to be used to buy US military equipment. We are basically subsidizing ourselves. Also, most all of their intellectual property is turned over to us. We get FAR more from them than they get from us. It’s a one way deal, but one where they supposedly enjoy our “protection.” Considering how we force them to constantly act to their own detriment I question that protection. They would probably be better off severing all ties with us.
severing ties Exactly.
Are you accusing me of antisemitism?
Yep.
Of all the taxpayer dollars that go to foreign aid, the military assistance to Israel makes up a tiny fraction and morally is the least objectionable.
You are just the perfect illustration of the article´s point. Thank you for being so transparent.
See my comments on this article on EoZ. The criticism from Israel’s detractors on this thread has proven Kerstein right.
This is as close to a scientific law as you can get because none of the posited circumstances will ever change.
Anti-Semitism for Jews is more than theory as we know from thousands of years of intolerance, persecution and mass murder of them as a people.
People still want to inflict what was inflicted on them in the past even today.
We’re completely wrong? Oh, dear. How ever COULD we have come by that mistaken impression?
Why, yes, I am, because you are hypocritical and ignorant.
First of all you don’t seem to know that the vast majority must be used to buy American-made military equipment or loan guarantees.
Second, I’ll bet anything you are NOT against the US government sending aid to Egypt, the PA, and numerous other countries, right?
To really understand Beinart’s mendacity and ‘intellectual’ veracity (as well as his cohort’s, Thomas Friedman) I refer the readers to Dr Martin Sherman,(a close confidante of mine) and his weekly column at the Jerusalem Post, ‘Into The Fray’. It can be found under ‘columnists’. This week’s column castrates/eviscerates Friedman, last week’s did the same to Beinart.
To those who may assume that Sherman is a lightweight too, I refer, one and all, to -www.martinsherman.net – The Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies. Just as a foretaste, click on the head shots (left hand top side at the site)of those who support his endeavor. See what they have to say. Afterwhich, scroll down to the bottom of his Home page, and see ‘About Dr Sherman’.
Simply put, this heavyweight made mincemeat out of the above two (intellectual) lightweights!!
“A large portion of the world, West and East, has come to believe that Arabs and Muslims have earned the right to murder Jews.”
That is because Saudi and other oil money interests have been paying for an anti Jewish propaganda campaign for years now.
Actually, that’s not the reason. It’s just the excuse.
Antisemitism has been rife in Europe for centuries. Jews were always easy targets when heads of state, from kings to Reichskanzlers, needed someone to blame for the consequences of their wrongheaded and self-serving policies, especially in economics. Not to mention their own personal failings.
On the “philosophical” side, European “great thinkers” were often suspicious of Jews on the grounds that they thought differently. Often, they showed up in the ranks of “free thinkers”, which annoyed the “complex thinking” crowd no end. (One example? Martin Luther.)
Finally, the existence of the Jews as a sort of “in-between” group between the East and the West has always provided a convenient excuse and justification for those “enlightened” types who want to have total power. “We could all get along, Arab, Muslim, Enlightened Post-Modernist and all, if it weren’t for those d***ed Jews gumming up the works”. The fact that such elitists hold similar views about us boorish, unenlightened “bitter clingers” in the United States should give us all cause to reflect.
The main reason modern-day European “elites” are so hot for the Arabs to erase Israel and the Jews from the pages of history isn’t Saudi money. It’s just that they want to be able to show (metaphorically) clean hands when future history books are written.
I personally view the recent hoo-hah in Europe regarding morphing World War Two into the “European Civil War” that brought about the Modern Enlightened European Union (TM) as proof that the process has already begun, openly. My estimate is that future Eurozone school history texts not only won’t mention Pearl Harbor or the Bataan Death March in relation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they won’t have anything about the Holocaust, either.
In a decade or less, if you mention Adolf Hitler to a European under thirty, odds are you’ll get a blank look.
clear ether
eon
This is as pure an example of the logical fallacy called The Undistributed Middle as any I have ever seen. You cannot possibly have had any education in logic.
By all means, defend your country when you believe it threatened. But to call those who criticize particular Israeli government policies “anti-semites” is an extreme injustice, a perfect parallel to that of calling a man a “racist” for refusing to vote for Obama. By making such statements, you are helping to degrade public discourse through rhetoric and character assassination.
Now: Am I am anti-semite for disagreeing with you? I, who have no beef with Israel? I, who maintain that the U.S. should stand staunchly with Israel against its enemies? I, who am married to a Jewish woman and whose children were raised Jewish? Think carefully about your answer, Mr. Kerstein. It will tell us much more about your character than you might imagine.
I have some problems with the piece as well. I am familiar with Benjamin’s previous articles here, and I am surprised by the extent of the despair implied.
I also recall Benjamin ‘socking it’ to several religious-nationalist posters and preaching the virtues of moderation. Yet what have successive moderate Israeli govt’s (including Bibi’s) won Israel in terms of international support? I agree with the religious-nationalists in the sense that unless we declare our rights to the land, and dispense with the myth of the Palestinian Nation, we invite our enemies and others to question and attack. Begin opened up the bottle and let the genie out by recognizing ‘Palestinianism’ at Camp David I. Some of the challenges that have come Israel’s way since are a result.
So I would be interested to know if Mr. Kerstein still favors ‘two states for two peoples’ (west of the Jordan).
Agreed. The biggest mistake Israel ever made was to give truth to the arab lie of Palistine and a Palistinian people. They are arabs – period. The two state solution was Israel and Jordan.
With that being said I am appalled at the anit-semitism that has come out in the open in the entire world. So Kerstein is correct when he says that both east and west have determined that it’s ok for arabs to kill Jews. They choose arabs (who have destroyed every civilized country they have taken a foothold in) every.single.time.
True, and they cover up mass rocket attacks on us, and turn neo-Nazi demonstrators into peaceniks, etc. Living here, though, it’s clear that most of the Israeli media aids and abets in this process. But, yes, he is right that many people consider Israel illegitimate somehow, and it is an existential fact we must deal with.
I know your media. My response would be that a liberal is a liberal is a liberal. Ideology trumps EVERYTHING.
Just so you know, as a Christian, I pray for you and your countrymen every single day.
Most of time, criticism of Israel is very different from criticism of Saudi Arabia, Syria, France, Italy or any other country. Usually, criticism of Israel implies that Arabs, indeed, deserve to kill Jews, and Israel does not have right to defend itself because of its inherited moral repugnance. Accordingly, Jews in diaspora are either open or concealed Zionists, and they do not deserve to exist either. The article formulates it beautifully. This specific nature of the Israel’s criticism makes it antisemitic.
The fact that you have Jewish wife is irrelevant here. The most prominent antisemites are Jews, they have Jewish wives and children and parents.
The reason criticism of Israel is different is because there issues of sovereignty and territory in play. Whichever side you come down on, they are in play. Even the entirety of the population of Israel realizes this. Even the most ardent Israeli supporter of simply annexing the West Bank and expelling the population realizes this.
Where I see cultural hypocrisy in play is in the fact the Kurds of Syria, Turkey and Iraq don’t get together and demand their own state. If they were in a Jewish dominated country they most certainly would. They are oppressed yet don’t squawk quite so loud under Islam, nor did they under virtually the entirety of the Ottoman Empire.
I’m not sure whether Kerstein’s logic holds together, either. But whether or not he’s refutable by abstract principles, the facts on the ground are all on his side. So it’s not clear that he’s guilty of any real “injustice” here.
Mr. Poretto, having married a Jew and permitted your children to be raised as Jews places you in a rare category where your input might be perceived as wishing to be of help or assistance to Jews. It is Mr. Kerstein’s point, in case you missed it, that it will take effort on the part of those who offer criticism of Israel to prove that their intentions are to improve the situation of all those involved – including the Jews. Most solutions offered by outsiders presume that making Jews suffer for oppressing the Muslims is just fine. It is not! Jews have earned the right to separate from the world that seeks to swallow them up. Jews by and large are not Marxists who see individual cultures as requiring suffocation. Marxist genuinely believe that differences between people must be suppressed in order to bring peace to the world, no matter how many must die in the process to attain that goal. The very idea that people can be tolerant of differences is anathema to them. I believe that that makes Marxists evil to their core. Jews deserve the right to retain their exceptionalism because they have literally earned it through blood, sweat and tears. Anyone who wishes to restrict Jewish exceptionalism is an antisemite unless they can prove otherwise.
Well said, Mr. Porretto. You’ve articulated something I noticed right away, as well.
By that logic, even observing that “some of the employees in the Ministry of Public Works have called in sick at a higher rate than normal” would count as criticism.
(Disclosure: Big fan of Israel, and always will be. Only commenting on the logic fallacy here.)
Having said that: I believe, in the main, Mr. Kerstein is right, slight missteps to the contrary.
Congratulations, you are now entering Derrick Bell, Critical Race Theory arguments where people waste their time coming up with logically inescapable, hermetically self-sealing and circular arguments to include as many people on Earth as anti-Semites as possible.
This week, Israel and Jews become one, and I cannot escape the black hole of your logic because, as you say, it is inescapable. Next week, why racism has gone underground for some people but not others and why saying “I don’t like Jews and blacks” is no longer enough. I can merely exist in white privilege or wish there was a bicycle race from Cairo to Damascus via Jerusalem and I become feral.
Ahead: why being dead is no excuse for being a hater.
There is no hermetically sealed argument in social relations, but a short reading of history shows that antisemitism might very well subsume a bicycle race from Cairo to Damascus if it included the demand for the opening of Israel’s borders to those who seek its destruction. Believe me, Fail, if such a bicycle trip was agreed upon between all parties, Jewish participants would outnumber all others.
Well, at least you don’t think I’ve gone feral.
Perhaps the author went overboard….a little. On the other hand, the rising tide of antisemitism in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the U.K., Norway, Sweden, et al, is absolutely incontrovertible.
Because you live in all those places and can sense nuance, layering and subtlety from far, far away. Just like the bar for anti-Semitism is being lowered so far here in this article, you don’t even need a face or a name, but just a broad brush that paints people for casual thoughts which some guy who doesn’t know them reveals to be racist.
Why not just post a picture of Earth from orbit and say ‘racist?’
Yeah … where the Jews are concerned, the Europeans absolutely CRAP nuance.
Seriously! You’d think with their history they’d be a little hesitant in such outright hostility to a people they almost wiped out. But nooooooo! Not only are Jews facing constant barrages from weapons Europeans probably are arming the arabs with, but they’ve allowed the arab population to terrorize and victimize Jews still living in their countries. Jews have actually been told not to show their are Jews out in public. HOW do they NOT see that this is a problem? So much for their blasted diversity!
Those people are dead, 67 years on. Should I start slapping German and Japanese tourists over WW II? Don’t be absurd. No one in Europe did anything to Jews in WW II. Or are we expanding out 90 year old people to represent the entirety of Europe from Portugal to Siberia?
You didn’t link to a picture from orbit.
Having lived in the Czech Republic, Spain, Latvia, and Israel, I believe I have seen and heard more of it than you probably have.
Hah! I’m certain of that, but not in the way you meant it. So out of 60 million people you had conversations with how many – 5, 10 million?
I’ve lived in America all my life, other than 7 years in 20 countries. I couldn’t possibly tell you how many white folks don’t like blacks or vice versa. Is it 3%, 67%?
People who claim to know such things leave just that impression – that they ‘know’ such things. You’ve stated only what you want to believe, nothing about the truth.
Fail, your mathematical reasoning needs honing. Indeed, so does your understanding of human nature. Risk is the mathematical product of the likelihood of an event and its potential damage. An armchair racist is about as dangerous as a five-year old boy. But a five-year old boy strapped with pipe bomb is more dangerous than the quiescent racist. However, words from racists soon become the equivalent of the five-year old with a bomb. Jews need to gauge threat based upon this complex calculus. Sorry! Risk is not simple to calculate, but survival demands that we evaluate it on a moment-to-moment basis. Disdain, cynicism, bitterness, a jaundiced eye all add to the risk evaluation. What I am sure of is that you have a full measure of disdain built into your posts. Thus, I would not trust your pronouncements as to their benign intent.
An understanding of human nature with mathematical reasoning – no wonder you convict people before crimes rather than after – and with a great, big brush. That intellectual space resembles who?
And on top of that you’ve made veiled comment that perhaps I do talk in code after all, and on evidence as thin as the article itself. You have not hoisted me up for view but yourself.
And pray tell what moment-to-moment crisis prompted you to do that?
You forgot the US. Not as vocal(yet), but it’s rising. We can feel it.
All criticism of Israel is antisemitic.
All criticism of Obama is racism.
O.K. I get it now.
If you criticize Obama the same way, as you would criticize any other president, this is not racism. If you criticize Israel in such way that it does not imply the right of Arabs to kill Jews, does not imply that Jews do not have right to have their state, then this is not antisemitism.
The author says that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, because it is the kind of criticism of Israel there is. The problem is not in criticism, but in type of criticism which is directed against Israel, and only against Israel.
You have nailed it.
(Mr. Kerstein, OTOH, is very fuzzy here.)
If you criticize Obama the same way, as you would criticize white president, this is not racism.
The criticism of Israel, usually, implies that Arabs have right to kill Jews. This is a unique type of criticism, directed only against Israel. This is why it is antisemitism. If you manage to criticize Israel in some other way, than this will not be antisemitism. But this will be very different from the usual criticism of Israel we see everywhere.
Good summations.
Marina, while I agree with your understanding of Kerstein’s premise, Kerstein didn’t phrase his premise correctly. He wrote:
“All criticism of Israel is antisemitic because antisemitism is form of power and a means to power.”
His brush is too broad, and it paints over my situation, as an Israeli citizen who freely criticizes the Israeli government left and right (not even the Bible records a perfect Israeli government, exempt from all criticism).
It’s not unusual to hear Israelis criticize the government of Israel when green lights are too short at a traffic intersection. In fact, I think more than any other nation on earth, Israelis believe its a fundamental human right to criticize their own government.
Except for a few nutcases, Israelis pledge our lives not to live in a totalitarian dictatorship like our neighbor countries, where it’s a capital crime for citizens (serfs and slaves, more accurately) to criticize their government.
The way Kerstein phrased his premise denies Israelis the right to criticize their own government, while allowing non-Israelis to have that right – therefore, Kerstein’s phrasing is actually anti-semitic (even if it’s due to poor phrasing rather than intention).
Israel doesn’t want to be a member of a “special class”, even if it provides complete exemption from 100% of criticism, when up to 99% of criticism is malicious. Israel insists, however, on our right to be an equal member of the full class.
To paraphrase Marina, it’s enough to note when somebody condemns Israel, the USA, Canada, or any country for actions they ignore or support when done by other nations, they have a rotten core.
When Communists, Islamofascists, and Nazis criticize democratic nations for “not respecting human rights”, their motivation to lie should be suspected.
I’m feeling my age–I can remember when the Arabs and their sympathizers insisted that they weren’t anti-Semtic…no, indeed not, they loved Jews…but just anti-Zionist.
That was then and now bombing synagogues and assaulting Jews on the public streets is understand if not condoned because it’s a natural reaction of frustration for people who are upset about Israel’s oppressive treatment of the Palestinians.
Beinart has jumped on the bandwagon, which he shares with Sarah Schulman, of “Pinkwashing” fame, and North Korea.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11536
The article is so bad that I am ready to dismiss it as a sock puppet plant. Israel survives because it is a vibrant democracy open to criticism. This allows free flow of information and ideas and a society with robust civil liberty. A small country with many enemies needs to be quicker and smarter.
I could write a whole post here listing mistakes made during the 2006 Lebanon war as I have read up on the subject recently. Does that make me antisemitic? No, and review of those mistakes are the only way to ensure a better outcome the next time.
There is no question that a lot of the bile directed at Israel is based in antisemitism but a government not open to criticism is nothing but totalitarian and that is not Israel. We need to call out antisemitism when we see it because it exists. At the same time, legitimate criticism must be met on its own terms. That balance, difficult as it may be, is vital for survival of Israel and the Jewish people.
Articles like this only hurt the cause and confuse the issues.
I understand where the author is coming from but I would put things differently. Instead of declaring that all criticism of Israel shall henceforth be condemned as a matter of cosmic principle, and opening myself to ridicule, I would simply observe that a great deal of what passes for criticism where Israel is concerned is plainly motivated by anti-Jewish animus, and that crude denigration of Israel fosters antisemitism. I think this latter formulation is sufficient, and the intelligent would not be in the least offended by it.
As a contributor to PJ Media I am appalled that this fundamentally stupid article, which in its style and method is no different from the worst bile and idiocy of the New Left, would make it on to the screen.
Well………… Yes.
And as Foucault (a notable admirer of Israel) might have put it: this is an extraordinarily badly-written article. I spent several minutes in a futile search for the missing lead paragraph, wondering all the time who or what Peter Beinart might be, now that he is (apparently) no longer Peter Beinart.
Indeed, sir. “The erstwhile Peter Beinart responded with a simple “someone actually says it,” which is odd, because he has been accusing everyone but himself and a few of his friends of saying it for almost three years.” Whaaaaat?
Stupidity on stilts.
That summed it up nicely.
“Yes, all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Yes, it is so because of specific historical circumstances. Yes, it is inescapable. Yes, it holds true however well-intentioned such criticism may be. Yes, it holds as true for Jewish as for non-Jewish critics of Israel.”
Should we conclude, then, that Alan Dershowitz is antisemitic, since he thinks Israel should be criticized when it’s warranted and that it’s OK to criticize?
This is sick, and I can’t believe I’m humoring the moron who wrote it.
The world at large is not accustomed to Jewish muscle. It has been flexed for thousands of years but only in recent memory as a Nation. We could turn Iran into a parking lot that glows in the dark in a moments notice. The Israeli economy is larger than that of all the Arab states combined. The Beinarts and Freidmans of the world are like the Jews that chose to stay in Egypt as Moses led our people to freedom.We Jews spend to much time concerned about how others think about us. I could not care less. Lets get back to building our land and raising our children. Nothing else is of any real value.
They hate us? So what? Jews who are concerned -come home to Israel and breath the free air of the Jewish commonwealth. Let the rest of the world go suck eggs.
MBY from the Holy City of Yerushalayim
“We could turn Iran into a parking lot that glows in the dark in a moments notice. The Israeli economy is larger than that of all the Arab states combined.”
One can bet Obama lays awake at night wishing these things were not so & how could he make his wish come true.
Sharp post.
I would bet he spends most of his nights in pure self indulgence with little concern for Israel or the USA for that matter.
And blonds have more fun and Johnny can beat up Chucky.
“We could turn Iran into a parking lot that glows in the dark in a moments notice” – No, you can’t. China would not stand for it and Iran is China’s gas station. Sorry to break it to you but Israel must operate w/in the limits of realpolitik. That may ultimately include a conventional strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities (probably a bad option w/o US participation) but no nuclear parking lots are on the horizon. Your PM and DM are smart and experienced men of affairs and they understand this.
The ties between China and Israel are growing. Israeli companies are busy cleaning Chinas water. You can’t drink oil. In any case if the choice is between survival and upsetting another country …
I am heartened when I read about Israel’s growing economic ties w/China and India, although I am not sure of their geo-political significance. In any case, I expect that China has strongly registered its feeling to Israel about the value China assigns to stability in the Persian Gulf. A limited conventional strike on Iranian facilities by Israel is one thing but your boasting of supposed Israeli freedom of action to conduct a major nuclear strike on population centers (“could turn Iran into a parking lot that glows in the dark in a moments notice”) is another. That’s not the sort of thing China or many other powers would stand by for, no matter how much they enjoy Israeli drip-irrigation technology.
My point was that Israel, despite its impressive strengths as a small regional military and economic power, does not enjoy anything like complete freedom of maneuver in strategic affairs. Do you really disagree?
” …. complete freedom of maneuver in strategic affairs. ”
There is no such thing for any country.
If you don’t think that criticizing Israel is anti-Semitism, you should watch the BBC. During the last military action against the Hamas, casting lead, a well known news commentator referred to the Israeli forces as “the Jews”.
Is all criticism of black culture and black actvity ultimately racist?
Yes…..But that doesn’t mean that what you/we are saying doesn’t have value. The gangsta culture is the most destructive thing I’ve ever seen (to a people that were ok and civilized before that) except islam, which has stunted and froze forever a people that were incredibly creative and colorful.
But let’s be blunt. You can’t compare the two. No one tried – for the last 1000 years and almost succeeded 70 years ago – to wipe out the ENTIRE black community, ever. Blacks trying to compare themselves to Jews are so weak its ridiculous!
That depends. Does your criticism of Black people start from the assumption that it’s OK to kill them if one is sufficiently angry, and that all (say) KKK lynchings of blacks are just a “reaction” to “Black crime”? Yes, I’d say that’s racist, wouldn’t you?
This is the opening point of the so-called “anti-Zionism”: it’s OK to wipe out the Jewish state, and ONLY the Jewish state; Israel does not have a right to exist, and ONLY Israel doesn’t have a right to exist; terrorism and murder of Jews, and ONLY of Jews, is justified.
A lot of criticism, IMO, is just ignorance of the facts and being misinformed by those who are antisemitic. That does not make the misinformed antisemitic, just gullible.
The joke is on those that follow and defend nonsense including this article.
Saudi Arabia has been manipulating events in the ME since the mid 1700′s, even before the thirteen colonies became the USA. The Funding of Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, the attacks in Mumbai, funding of Sharia Schools worldwide including those in the USA…yet not a single western media article regarding Saudi management and funding of global terrorism.
This is willful ignorance of the worst possible type.
shame on PJM, shame on us all.
It is almost laughable and at the same time sad for Mr. Kerstein to create an umbrella large enough to cover all criticism of Israel in one dark shadow that is analogous with Antisemitism. Improving any state whether democratic or not involves an active analysis of and response to its policies by the media, the public and the widest variety of private institutions. Israel is not above or immune to criticism because of its history or the history of Antisemitism. At times this criticism comes from the left, at times from the right, from inside its borders and across the globe. Freedom demands evaluation which is in no way necessarily hostile.
This author is full of hot air. Most people do not think it’s OK for Arabs to murder Jews, any more than they think it’s OK for Hutus to murder Watusis. Most people just don’t care. They have their TV and their alcohol and they just don’t care. Also, the author’s last bit about how we Jews need to reflect and change is absurd. THe irrational hatred of anti-Semitism cannot be changed or cured by Jews.
What has to be asked is … Why is every single move that Israel makes — that tiny little nation — every “nuance,” under a microscope, up for discussion, evaluation, condemnation or (rarely) not. What is so interesting to — especially Europeans — about Israel?
How is it that Europeans, who are so dedicated to the “non-judgmental” — exempt Israel from their “non-judgment?” What is it that makes them feel so superior as to constantly stand in (mostly irrational) judgment — when they do so for no others (except Americans, that is)?
While in Europe, casual conversation, at a party, a bar, at dinner, so often and so easily turns to Israel (Israelis) and their awfulness.
Why aren’t they much more appalled at what’s going on in Syria today? You can be sure you won’t find that subject as part of acceptable dinner chit-chat.
Where are the outraged street marches?
Or the Egyptian slaughter and persecution of Christians? Hardly a peep, if any.
Or that Iran executes its homosexuals?
Sudan anyone?
Or, did you hear … China has taken over Tibet?
China is now attempting to annex a Philippine island?
There’s only one answer for this … anti-semitism.
Those who are shocked and are criticizing Mr. Kerstein — are ignoring his main points:
——————
Under such circumstances, there is NO CRITICISM, no evidence for the prosecution, WHICH DOES NOT AID in the process of an UNJUST TRIAL before a MONSTROUS COURT: [There is no criticism] Which is NOT, put simply, ANTISEMITIC.
—————-
Under such circumstances as we just discussed, it is clear that:
– The existence, rights, and dignity of ISRAEL … AND THE JEWS … are considered to be I-N-T-E-R-T-W-I-N-E-D to the point that no differentiation between them is possible.
– The EXISTENCE, rights, and dignity of Israel … AND THE JEWS … are considered … UNIQUELY — UNIQUELY …
CONTINGENT …
UPON THEIR CONDUCT … AND …
WHETHER OR NOT that conduct
MEETS with the APPROVAL OF THE NON-JEWISH WORLD.
– Because of the beliefs outlined in the previous section, Israeli and Jewish conduct will NEVER meet with the aforementioned APPROVAL.
ISRAEL AND THE JEWS are, in essence, held INDISTINGUISHABLE by a court whose proceedings are perpetual and WHOSE VERDICT IS KNOWN BEFOREHAND.
UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES …
there is NO CRITICISM, no evidence for the prosecution, WHICH DOES NOT AID in the process of an UNJUST TRIAL before a MONSTROUS COURT: [There is no criticism] [w]hich is NOT, put simply, ANTISEMITIC.
——
…. an ironic solution to it …
WORK TOWARD LESS ANTISEMITISM.
This imperative does not demand silence, but it does require
A MEASURE OF SELF-REFLECTION
(and I in no way exempt myself)
a task of the most supreme difficulty for us all.
You gotta be kidding me.
So now anyone who says anything bad about israeli policy is an antisemite, even if they don’t know it, even if they would be horrified to heard it.
Brilliant. I’m amazed nobody thought of it earlier.
Meanwhile, there are people who really do hate jews just for being jews. They believe and peddle vile conspiracy theories to try to alienate and demonise jews everywhere. They vandalise jewish property, attack jewish people. They really are an actual danger to jews.
But you can’t talk about those people now. You don’t have a word for them any more. You DID have a word, and a perfectly usable one, but then you went and watered it down to mean people who think maybe the system of political representation in the knesset is a bit silly and gives too much power to political parties, or that maybe it would be easier for software companies if israel could settle on a single date for daylight savings each year, or who think that religious or ethnic identity shouldn’t be a factor in determining somebody’s eligibility for citizenship. Those people are now antisemites. And they’re so frequently called that, that a child growing up now will one day be baffled to discover that there’s a whole group of really very nasty people that nobody talks about any more, who are apparently ALSO called antisemites. And they’ll wonder why that is. Well – take a bow.
Well said.
Your points of criticism of Israel – changing dates for DST, Knesset politics – are adding to Kerstein’s thesis. Your concerns exceed necessary scrutiny by light years. Your last criticism has to do with your frame of reference which you would like to call benign, but is in effect antisemitic.
“religious or ethnic identity shouldn’t be a factor in determining somebody’s eligibility for citizenship.”
Jews and Judaism deserve a safe harbor and you would deny it to them because of your essentially Marxist view that no one has a right to be different, no group has a right to be different. All differences should be eliminated for the benefit of mankind, no matter how many people have to die in the process. That framing is classic Leninist theory and you probably don’t even know it. If you did know it, then you are indeed an antisemite.
All you have to do is leave the Jews alone and they will provide tolerance and patience for group and individual differences in excess of 90 percent of other world groupings. Sudanese, Ethiopians, and other Africans risk death and impoverishment daily to cross the Egyptian border into Israel, because Jews tolerate the stranger better than most, because Jews were strangers in Egypt 3000 years ago. Jewish history is the Jewish future. Attempts to neutralize Jewish history by belittlement is an attempt to eliminate a culture that can save the world from itself. Antisemitism is destructive to humanity. Period.
“Jews and Judaism deserve a safe harbor and you would deny it to them because of your essentially Marxist view that no one has a right to be different, no group has a right to be different.”
Relax, dude. You’re like one of those Frankfurt School leftists who shout racism racism racism whenever someone criticizes the congressional black caucus.
the commenter was probably expressing his distaste over racial definitions of citizenship. it s agood thing to criticize. being an american (and being a lover of the constitution, esp. the 14th amendment) i happen to agree. am i an antisemite for loving the 14th amendment and wishing other coutries had similar principles?
that said, israel has to watch out for getting flooded with radical arabs, so its probably best it didnt go messing around with its citizenship laws right now.
the way you throw the word antisemite around is nauseating. you’re like a child. no one takes you seriously. no one takes these types of articles seriously. we can be staunch israel supporters and want israel to crush hezbollah and hamas without extending the word “antisemite” to our own side. get a life.
“Relax dude!” That’s the best you can do to address rational arguments? What I can see is that human communication is exceedingly difficult. We live in a world where meaning has been obliterated, history has been trashed, and truth is an anachronism. If many wish to believe that life is meaningless, by all means let them do so.
In contrast, Jews have trudged through history and have refined their values in discussions far deeper than you can even imagine (Try a single page of Babylonian Talmud). I suggest to you that in the real world where every possibility exists in the future, the past must inform our current actions. For Jews, the Holocaust forms the foundation of Israel’s political reality. The Exodus from Egypt molds our view of freedom. The thousand years of sovereign existence in the land of Israel causes us to appreciate the current State of Israel.
The very idea that you look to the Fourteen Amendment as a principle suggests that you are far more Jewish than you think. Principles and precedents of law are human inventions that are delicate in the extreme. Your trust in them suggests an advanced state of humanity that is not shared by those in power. We are so blessed in the United States to retain these illusions of safety, but only because they are shared widely by the populace. But, damn, fact checker, they are so fragile. Have you any idea how quickly “restraint” among the powerful disappears.
you want to be a mindless lemming and sign on to articles claiming you can’t criticize without being a bigot, go ahead. you’re a waste.
by the way, don’t flatter yourself by claiming your argument was “rational.” you agreed with an article that said that all dissent from a government’s positions is inherently bigoted. i can’t think of anything more irrational and dangerous. you’re a lemming. support israel, but do it properly.
“erstwhile Peter Beinart?” Who is he now?
he’s HAMAS!!
Antisemitism is a curious thing, and it’s been put into play in many major upheavals over the course of history. Probably the worst usage of Jews as scapegoats was what the Holy Prophet Mohammed did in the 7th century. Rupert Murdoch got it right when he said, a couple of years ago, that as Israel goes, so will go Western Civilization. There are reasons this is true. But another question is why antisemitism exists at all. I can think of one only one valid reason for antisemitism, but is probably too simple to gain currency: antisemitism exists out of jealousy.
Israel is a great country , but its not my country. I agree with giving them aid. Over our history Great Britain has proven the most durable and crucial ally. And by the way brits and americans criticize the crap out of each other.
As an American I say my fellow citizens are not just free to offer criticism they have the obligation. The name calling is not deserved. Suppression of speech with name calling really more of a sophisticated European approach isn’t it? Maybe the author can solicit 50 billion a year in support from France instead.
A slightly different view than the author’s assertion that Israel is above criticism: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (From the notorious anti-semite Amos, chapter 3).
I think most of you are mistaking my assertion that antisemitism is inescapable as an objective phenomenon – a result of historical processes and forces beyond our power to control – for the claim that everyone is antisemitic in the subjective, personal sense.
Mr. Kerstein, I hope I just posted a lengthy response, but based on computer vagaries I’m not sure it WILL post.
Therefore, I ask indulgence for a perhaps duplicate post, but it was important to me that I get it heard.
To wit:
Like many people, I have tried and tried to figure out why Jews were such a persecuted people throughout history. Here is my theory, however simplistic it may seem:
Careful readers of the Old Testament of the Bible will note that Jews, in the main, were NOT warriors. Rather, they were — and are — adapters.
Lives have always been influenced by cycles of warfare and relative quiet. Thus is the ebb and flow of grabs for power — he with the strongest fist gets the upper hand. Connect this with a people who consider every means to avoid conflict, and you have what I call the Guilt Enemy.
That is — Jews became a natural target by virtue not only of their unwillingness to use force to protect their lives, but in a sense “creating” their own “enemy” status. The power-grabbers know, in their souls, that what they are doing is wrong — and they have always lashed out at the easiest target — Jews — knowing that Jews’ tranquil lives are the very reason they feel guilty about their wickedness, thus serving the double purpose of venting their anger in killing, and trying to undo the very reason for their anger. A tranquil, cooperative life flies directly in the face of the use of fists, and they know it. Their big enemy becomes, then, the Guilt.
(Still with me? *wry grin*)
I could go on with observations about power-grabbers, and how persuasive they are at convincing large numbers of people to agree with them (not the least with the aid of a little threatening tweak here and there). But that should be self-evident.
Fast-forward to modern Israel. Well, whaddya know … not only are the Jews not rolling over, but they are beating off more powerful threats to their existence than have ever beset the strongest kingdom in history.
This is anathema to power-grabbers, of course. But what we are dealing with now are what has always been a powerful prop of power-grabbers — the weak-willed hangers-on. If you ask me, it is the threat that, throughout history, has been ignored, to Israel’s, and by extension, the rest of the world’s, peril.
The hangers-on are entrenched in the corridors of the power-grabbers. They are the grease that keep them going — in the name of protecting their own miserable, morally bankrupt selves. Look in any microcosm of any power grab, and you will see them. Indeed, many poor Jews, faced with deportation to the gas chambers, bought themselves one last minute of freedom by signing off on someone’s name on the train.
That there are weak wills in humanity is in no doubt. It is people’s choices that define them.
Israel has decided to make it a common principle — like our own Declaration of Independence — that defending Jews is priority one.
So that leaves the rest of the world. And today’s world — which is run by the weak-willed (in my opinion) — is declaring war.
Why is the United States so vilified for its actions in self-defense? Because the world holds it to a higher standard. Guilt!
Why are Jews so viciously vilified for its (amazingly restrained!) actions against its enemies? Again, the Enemy — Guilt.
*sigh* … I’ve spent the better part of an hour posting this, and hoping I don’t sound too inarticulate. I guess it shows that this is something about which I’ve felt strongly pretty much all my life, however limited my ability to express.
Thanks for listening.
Jews have not been targets because they are Jews but because they were not Christians and Muslims, the two great religious movements that have dominated the Mediterranean basin for 17 centuries.
What rubbish.
YOU are rubbish, for dismissing such an important aspect of history with a stupid remark.
you can list all the historical atrocities against jews that you want, but no amount of history can justify an article that essentially says we should shut up and never criticize a government without being called bigots.
Like many people, I have tried and tried to figure out why Jews were such a persecuted people throughout history. Here is my theory, however simplistic it may seem:
Careful readers of the Old Testament of the Bible will note that Jews, in the main, were NOT warriors. Rather, they were — and are — adapters.
Lives have always been influenced by cycles of warfare and relative quiet. Thus is the ebb and flow of grabs for power — he with the strongest fist gets the upper hand. Connect this with a people who consider every means to avoid conflict, and you have what I call the Guilt Enemy.
That is — Jews became a natural target by virtue not only of their unwillingness to use force to protect their lives, but in a sense “creating” their own “enemy” status. The power-grabbers know, in their souls, that what they are doing is wrong — and they have always lashed out at the easiest target — Jews — knowing that Jews’ tranquil lives are the very reason they feel guilty about their wickedness, thus serving the double purpose of venting their anger in killing, and trying to undo the very reason for their anger. A tranquil, cooperative life flies directly in the face of the use of fists, and they know it. Their big enemy becomes, then, the Guilt.
(Still with me? *wry grin*)
I could go on with observations about power-grabbers, and how persuasive they are at convincing large numbers of people to agree with them (not the least with the aid of a little threatening tweak here and there). But that should be self-evident.
Fast-forward to modern Israel. Well, whaddya know … not only are the Jews not rolling over, but they are beating off more powerful threats to their existence than have ever beset the strongest kingdom in history.
This is anathema to power-grabbers, of course. But what we are dealing with now are what has always been a powerful prop of power-grabbers — the weak-willed hangers-on. If you ask me, it is the threat that, throughout history, has been ignored, to Israel’s, and by extension, the rest of the world’s, peril.
The hangers-on are entrenched in the corridors of the power-grabbers. They are the grease that keep them going — in the name of protecting their own miserable, morally bankrupt selves. Look in any microcosm of any power grab, and you will see them. Indeed, many poor Jews, faced with deportation to the gas chambers, bought themselves one last minute of freedom by signing off on someone’s name on the train.
That there are weak wills in humanity is in no doubt. It is people’s choices that define them.
Israel has decided to make it a common principle — like our own Declaration of Independence — that defending Jews is priority one.
So that leaves the rest of the world. And today’s world — which is run by the weak-willed (in my opinion) — is declaring war.
Why is the United States so vilified for its actions in self-defense? Because the world holds it to a higher standard. Guilt!
Why are Jews so viciously vilified for its (amazingly restrained!) actions against its enemies? Again, the Enemy — Guilt.
*sigh* … I’ve spent the better part of an hour posting this, and hoping I don’t sound too inarticulate. I guess it shows that this is something about which I’ve felt strongly pretty much all my life, however limited my ability to express.
Thanks for listening.
reaction to an epidemic of hate-filled condemnation of Israel that is surging world-wide, and genocidal in its intent.
Exactly!
that may be. but it’s still a ridiculous article. do you agree with its central proposition, that we (including israel supporters like me and others) should all be quiet no matter what the israeli govt does, otherwise we’re effectively antisemitic?
Fail, just place any criticism of Israel in the context of its current uses by the Left to dehumanize an entire country. If you wish to permit the greater Leftist evil, then do not qualify the criticism or do not bother to juxtapose it to other governments’ behaviors.
The recent pictures of an Israeli Colonel whacking a Danish anarchist with a gun butt was juxtaposed to the constant beating of Danish protesters by Danish police on a number of websites. That was fair. The apology demanded by the Danish government from Israel was unfair in the extreme. They permitted their citizen to come to another country to try to undermine it and then complained about his treatment as though their sovereignty had been violated. What unadulterated gall (chutzpah).
As I tried to point out earlier, that is not what I said.