July 27, 2006
In Today's Grapevine, two claims stand out for their obvious indifference to anything resembling documented factuality. In the first instance, Hume, writing about support for U.N. ambassador John Bolton among right-wing Jewish groups notes:
Pro-Israel groups are pressuring New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton to abandon the Democrats' filibuster of U.N. ambassador John Bolton, who now has the firm support of the Jewish community.However, Hume offers nothing in the way of referenced facts (no polling numbers, for instance) to back up the rather surprising claim that John Bolton has the "firm support of the Jewish community." Instead, Hume seems to be simply repeating (though without attribution) a satement in the conservative New York Sun by American Jewish Congress president, and Bolton supporter, Jack Rosen. It is worth noting that Rosen's claim is, itself, unsupported by polling data or other factual sources.
In another section, Hume makes the following claim:
If you doubt there is a real strain of anti-Semitism in European opinion, consider this. One of Norway's largest newspapers has published a cartoon comparing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to an infamous Nazi death camp commander who indiscriminately murdered Jews by firing on them from his balcony.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Dutch Socialist party, the country's third largest, has compared Islamic terrorists to anti-Nazi resistors, saying, "During World War II, Dutch people thwarted Nazi Germany's destruction machine by blowing up town halls. ...Things are not all that different in the Middle East. Islamic fundamentalism, including the terrorist wing, is a reaction to Israel's occupation of Palestine."
Hume does not explain, however, why it is anti-Semitic to compare Olmert to a Nazi, or to compare Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation with Dutch resistance to German occupation in World War II. Hume appears to assume that criticism of the Israeli leadership, as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestinan lands is, in and of itself, anti-semitic.
posted by Patriot's Quill at 11:18 AM
3 Comments:
Good point. I, too, am sick of people equating criticism of Israel with anti-semitism. Having been raised Jewish, I particularly loathe the label "self-hating Jew" which tends to be hurled by Jewish Americans at anyone of Jewish background who raises tough, but legitimate questions regarding Israel's history or present actions, particularly regarding the justness of 1947 U.N. partitian that created Israel, or pro-Israel terrorism that forced out Arabs (now Palestinian refugees) at that time. Although there is a healthy culture of intellectual exploration and questioning, particularly of issues related to justice, among Jewish Americans, there seems to be a blind spot, a selective neglect and outright hostility to legitimate questioning of any aspect of their accepted narrative of Israel and its conflicts.
And quite apart from that, it's a mistake to speak of the "Jewish comminuty" as if it were monolithic and homogeonus. Let us not forget, for instance, that Noam Chomsky is Jewish and he is certainly not one to let the criminality of the occupation slide. And I know plenty of other Jews who scoff at the narrative and justifications of right-wing Likudnicks. Chomsky is hardly an isolated case.
Fair point. In my generalization about "Jewish Americans" I'm speaking of what I have found to be the mainstream Jewish American attitude on these two particular aspects of the pro-Israel narrative (justness of the 1947 partition and origin of the Palestinian refugees), and this observation is, admittedly, based largely on my own personal experience (first at an orthodox Jewish school, then among members of a conservative synagogue, friends and relatives)and what I've seen in the media (e.g., letters to the editor from people with Jewish surnames). I've found much more uniformity than I'd like to see regarding ready acceptance (i.e., without research) of the favorable narrative surrounding the creation of Israel and the origin of the Palestinian refugee problem (they contend that the Palestinians simply left to facilitate the invasion of Arab armies, and are therefore responsible for their situation). There is much more diversity of opinion (and more informed opinion) regarding less existential matters like whether or not to continue the occupation, and certainly many American Jews (including my father, who is a very strong supporter of Israel) would like to see either a negotiated withdrawal from the occupied territories or a unilateral withdrawal coupled with a security wall/fence, for both moral and strategic reasons. But I have found that even those favoring a withdrawal (and who are appalled by the Likudnicks' "greater Israel" aspirations) have never questioned the justness of the creation of Israel per the 1947 partition (i.e., the amount of land allocated to Israel relative to the size and recency of arrival of the Jewish population relative to Palestinian Arabs). And even those people often become very defensive, irritated and sometimes downright hostile when related facts and assertions are made, rather than express a willingness to listen and consider what may be important information of which they had not been aware. I'm sure there are exceptions out there, but my best guess is that they comprise a small minority, unfortunately. I don't mean to say that Jewish Americans are worse than any other group in this regard (questioning a favorable narrative), but it was relevant to our friend Britt's comments, and it's also a topic that has been a source of frustration for me over the years, due to the many thick heads I've encountered among many otherwise open-minded, rational friends and relatives who choose to remain ignorant on these issues rather than deal with information that causes discomfort.
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